The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-11-21 00:00:00

VARIETIES.

It is with narrow-souled people as with narrow-necked
bottles ; the less they have in them, the more noise they
make in pouring it out.
A. CONTRAST.—The State Government of South Caro-
lina' where there are 34,000 slaves to 260,000 free people,
costs 4347,000, or SI 33c. per free head. Massachusetts
governs 800,000 free people for 57 cents per head.
Even in the drama, says Frederick Douglass (North
Star), when the poet presents the Moor of Venice as an
African, the refined sensibility of American taste can only
admit him to be played white !
Louis Blanc has written to the London papers to com-
plain of his having been obliged to leave the Luxembourg
without a centime. Let him console himself. It is the
lot of great men to get " more kicks than halfpence."
CONSECUTIVE CONUNDRUMS.—What does the Ban of
Croatia most resemble ? The Pest(h) of Hungary.—
What does the Pest of Hung(a)ry most resemble ? Union
Relief.—And what is Union Relief most li Ice ? A Divorce
Bill.
EDITORIAL TROUBLES.—The Victoria (Texas) Advo-
cate, of July 27, apologises for a lack of matter, by say-
ing that the senior editor was shot and badly wounded,
the junior editor had the chills and fever, and there had
been no mails there for two weeks.
AN OBVIOUS INFERENCE.—An lowa stump orator,
wishing to describe his opponent as a soulless man, said,
" I have heard some persons hold the opinion, that just
at the precise moment after one human being dies another
is born, and the soul enters and animates the new-born
babe. Now, I have made particular and extensive in-
quiries concerning my opponent thar, and I find that for
some hours before he drew breath nobody died. Fellow-
-citizens, I leave you to draw the inference !"
CHIEF JUSTICE MANSFIELD.—This great lawyer, pro-
bably with a view to prolong his own days, was always
anxious, when old witnesses were in court, to know their
customary habits of life. It so happened that two very old
men named Elm were one day the objects of his inquiry.
" You are a very old man," said his lordship to the
elder brother, " I suppose you have lived a very temperate
life ?" " Never drink anything but water, my lord,"
said Elm. " Nor you neither, I suppose ;" said the
judge, addressing himself to the younger brother.
When I can get nothing else, my lord," was the reply.
" I always took my glass with my friend." " Well, then,"
replied his lordship, " all that we can say is, an elm will
flourish wet or dry."
WHAT IS LIBERTY ?—The various nations of Europe
are attempting to solve the question in various ways. In
France, since February last, it has consisted in the plant-
ing of trees and the erection of barricades, in the as3ertion
of the right to labour, and the practical stoppage of de-
mand. Berlin and Vienna, Hungary, Lombardy, and the
German states, would return much the same answer to
the question as Paris. Every man is to do what he likes,
—is that it ? The definition would appear somewhat too
large. Some men are for cutting throats, and others for
retaining their throats uncut. A desires B's horses, his
sideboard of plate, his realty, his chattels, his choses in
action. B desires, very naturally, to retain them for him-
self. The definition must at once be narrowed. B must
be shorn of his goods, or A of his liberty; there is no es-
cape from the dilemma. Why, then, stir up a nation to
its depths by mooting questions of impossible solution ?
Why not acquiesce in the inevitable ? Why suggest to
the suffering, the labouring, and the poor, that their toil
and their misery are but mistakes in a problem ? Let the
industrious and unfortunate be rather taught that in obe-
dience to law, and the maintenance of order, lies their only
safety. The fate of the poor in an opulent and orderly
community is bad enough ; in a country vexed by civil
broils, and despoiled of its commerce, it is the lowest con-
dition to which humanity can be reduced. Such' how-
ever, has been the continental system of late. The Euro-
pean hierophants of liberty in the nineteenth century have
but succeeded in spreading a table just out of arm's reach
of the hungry TANTALUS.—Times.
A LOG-HOUSE IN THE BACKWOODS.—The log-house
consisted of two rooms separated from each other with
boards so badly joined, that crevices were in many places
observable. Each room, from thirty to forty square
yards; beneath one of the rooms was a cellar; the walls
of the house consisted of layers of strong blocks of timber,
roughly squared and notched into each other at the cor-
ners; the joints filled with clay. The house had two
doors, one of which was always closed in winter and open
in sumner to cause a draught. The fire was on the floor
at the end of the building, where a grotesque chimney had
been constructed of stones gathered out of the land, and
walled together with clay mud instead of cement. The
house was roofed with thin oak boards, nailed upon each
other, so as just to overreach. The floors of the house
were covered with the same material, except a large piece
near the fire, which was paved with small stones also ga-
thered from the land. There was no window to the house.
My hostess observed, " Upon the whole it was as well
without, for in winter the house was warmer, and in sum-
mer than any window." It is quite common to see at
least one bed in the same room as that in which the fire
is kept. There was no chamber, only a sort of loft, con-
structed rather to make the house warmer than for addi-
tional room. Adjoining one side were a few boards nailed
together in the form of a table, and supported principally
by the timber in the wall. This was dignified by the name
of the sideboard. In the centre of the room stood another
small table. covered with a piece of coarse brown calico ;
this was the dining table. The chairs, four in number,
were the most respectable furniture in the house, having
bark of hickory plaited round for bottoms. Besides these
there were two stools and a bench for common use ; a
candlestick made of an ear of Indian corn, two or three
trenchers, and a few tin drinking vessels. One corner of
the house was occupied with agricultural implements, con-
sisting of large hoes, axes, &e. for stubbing, flails, and
wooden forks, all exhibiting specimens of workmanship
rather homely. Various herbs were suspended from the
roof, also two guns, one of them a rifle, several hams and
sides of bacon smoked almost entirely black, two or three
pieces of beef, &c. Under one of the beds were three or
'four large pots of honey, of which Mrs. P. was not a little
lavish, as she used it to every meal along with coffee. The
"furniture in the other room consisted of two beds and a
land-loom, with which the family wove the greater part
-of their own clothes. In the cellar I observed two or
three large hewn tubs, full of lard, and a lump of tobacco,
the produce of their own land, in appearance sufficient to
serve an ordinary smoker for his life.— The Yorkshire
Partner in itlinoie.

STORY OF A GUTTER.
(From " Warren's Duties of Attorneys.")
I am strongly tempted to give you two cases in point
here, one of which came under my notice professionally,
the other happened to myself personally. Some years
ago, a neat little school was erected by a few charitable
individuals, under the superintendence of an experienced
surveyor. The building, inclusive of the ground on which
it stood, cost about £1,400. Adjoining, on each side,
were some small tenements, behind which ran a long open
ditch, into which they drained, and all of them belonged
to one individual. Along the back of the school, and in
the course of the ditch, was constructed, with great care,
a large barrel drain, repeated application being made to
the owner of the adjoining premises, to know whether what
was done was satisfactory to him as such adjoining pro-
prietor. He maintained an ominous silence till about six
months after the erection had been completed, when ac-
tions were brought against the trustees of the school, for
an alleged obstruction to the drainage of the adjoining
house, and to the issuing of the smoke from the chimney
of a small washhouse adjoining the school wall. To pre-
vent litigation, a small sum was offered to the Plaintiff,
without prejudice, and under protest that no injury what-
ever had been done to his property. His attorney, how-
ever, rejected the offer, insisting on a sum so preposterous
in amount that the defendants resolved to resist the ac-
tions. The causes came on for trial in due course. Two
gentlemen, one now on the bench, the other in the House
of Lords, ed for the respective parties, with a formidable
array of witnesses, models, and plans. The causes were
referred to arbitration. After many meetings, and the
examination of a host of witnesses, among whom were six
of the most eminent surveyors of the metropolis, the arbi-
trator awarded in favour of the defendants on all the is-
sues ; but the plaintiff succeeded in setting aside the
award for a technical defect. On this the causes came on
again for trial; were again referred, but to a different ar-
bitrator ; and, after a still more protracted reference, the
arbitrator again decided in favour of the defendants, giv-
ing them all the costs, which were swollen to an appalling
amount. By this time, however, the plaintiff in his turn
begged for mercy, lamenting that he had ever been in-
duced to embark in such extensive litigation. He and his
attorney afterwards got, as the phrase is, to loggerheads;
I believe each sued the other ; both had reason to regret
the issue; and, as for the defendants, I forget whether
they succeeded in recovering the costs from the plaintiff.
There was really no pretence for bringing the actions ;
and even had there been, the sum offered by way of pur-
chasing peace was abundantly sufficient to have obviated
any conceivable injury or inconvenience to the plaintiff;
but he preferred to take the chance of eighteen months'
harassing and expensive litigation and see the result.
And what intolerable injustice arid cruelty towards the
defendants ! A few months previously, I was not a little
annoyed by finding that a leaden gutter, running along
the roof of the stables which were at the back of our little
garden, having given way, let the water run down into the
aforesaid garden. In rainy weather this caused a nui-
sance which I resolved to get rid of ; so I wrote to the
owner of the stables, a gentleman of fortune, who took no
notice of three letters, which led to the fourth, in pretty
strong terms. This elicited a very offensive answer, which
I had in my hands when a client of mine came into my
chambers. That client was your present president; and
into his confiding breast I poured my sorrows. I insisted
on his instantly issuing a writ, in an action on the case,
" to bring my gentleman to his senses." • " Pho ! pho !"
said my friend, " I'll set it right for you." But I'll
not be insulted with impunity." " I'll take care that
you are not," quoth he, but with a smile which I did not
like. " Upon my word," said I, " I believe you are going
to repair that gutter yourself." " No, no,' he replied ;
" I will really take care that the matter is satisfactorily
settled, both to your feelings and your interests ; so you
may start to-morrow for circuit in peace. The next
thing I beard was, that he had got up a " case" for the
opinion of my late friend, Mr. John William Smith, who
took care to start such a series of ingenious and perplex-
ing doubts as to my right of action as not a little asto-
nished and irritated me. Under these circumstances, it
was said that the thing had better stand over till my re-
turn, as it did ; but by that time there was a capital new
zinc gutter running along the entire length of the stable,
and a little packet of letters lying on my table, headed
" in re the Gutter !" and this consisted of a little corre-
spondence between your president and a highly-respecta-
ble attorney of the proposed defendant, who was a magis-
trate for the county of Middlesex, but an irritable person.
When, however, our two representatives met, they
laughed heartily at their respective clients, and said that
they would rather put up the gutter at their joint expense
than suffer us to go to law about it. This, however, was
not necessary. My friend's opponent represented the
matter in its true light to his client ; we were, it turned
out, both staunch supporters of the same political opi-
nions, and knew several of each other's friends ; and he
not only put up a new gutter in the very completest style,
but wrote me a letter, couched in the handsomest terms
of courteous apology. When I inquired some time after-
wards what were the costs which I had to pay, your pre-
sident said " Pho !" And when I told my friend, Mr.
John William Smith how the Gutter business bad ended,
he laughed kpoor soul!) immoderately, and said that he
had taken uncommon pains with his " Opinion !" Now,
gentlemen, suppose my opponent and I had fallen into
the hands of such persons as he who figured in the fore-
going anecdote ! What a God-send each would have seen
in that same gutter ! What a conduit-pipe for turbid and
expensive litigation. I trust, gentlemen, that you will re-
gard these two incidents as not devoid of interest, but as
somewhat apt illustrations of the course of conduct on
which I have so earnestly commented in a previous lec-
ture. What mortification and suffering are inflicted or
averted by those who disregard or observe such injunc-
tions !

AMERICAN ENTHUSIASM.—An American editor prints
the following appendage to a marriage advertisement :
" We caught a refreshing glimpse of this interesting and
lovely pair as they whirled through Rochester on their
matrimonial tour to our great American Niagara Falls, in
the fulness of a love called into being by his devotion to
the cause of our despised people. We wish our friend
Cadwell long life and unending fields of happiness."

THE MOST FAVOURABLE STATES FOR AN ENGLISH
EMIGRANT.—In Michigan there were 60,000 square miles,
and the proportion of inhabitants was 5 3.10 ; just a man,
woman, or child, for every 640 acres ; the state, at the
same time, being capable of supporting sixteen millions
of people without being any more crowded than England.
Illinois contained 52,000 square miles, and the number of
inhabitants was only 9 1.10 to the square mile. This
state was more fertile throughout than England was.
There were no high barren mountains like those of Wales,
Westmorland, and Cumberland ; and there was no ridge
or backbone like that which runs from Northumberland
through Derbyshire to the midland counties. Almost
every acre of the land was capable of cultivation. In this
state also there was room for the whole population of
England. The state of New York contained 45,000
square miles, being only one-fifth less than the size of
England, and had only 52 7.10 inhabitants to the square
mile. An erroneous notion was prevalent that all the
places near the coast were filled up ; but in the state of
New York itself there was a whole county that had never
yet been surveyed, having no inhabitants but a few In-
dians—and bears. There was no doubt that a careful
man, going out with a little money, would find just as
good a bargain in land in that state as farther west ; with
the advantage also of ready communication with the sea
by the port of New York. Pennsylvania contained 40,000
square miles, with only 39 inhabitants to the mile ; noble
rivers and delightful valleys, and abundant natural facili-
ties for dairy produce, and it abounded in iron and coal.
Ohio contained the same number of inhabitants to the
square mile as Pennsylvania, and in the centre of the
state there was a considerable amount of prairie land,
which, however, would require to be drained before it
could become productive and healthy. Indiana contained
37,000 square miles, and 18 5.10 inhabitants to the mile.
The vast state of lowa, on the western bank of the Mis-
sissippi, contained only the fifth part of a man to the
square mile. Wisconsin, another state of vast extent,
which was thickly peopled in its southern part by German
settlers, who sometimes arrived at the rate of a thousand
a day, contained 100,000 square miles, and had only
three-fifths of a man to the mile. It was advisable for
skilled artizans not to pass the Atlantic towns without
making a trial for employment. Workers in iron should
visit New York, Boston, Lowell, Philadelphia, Pittsburg,
Cincinnati, Steubenville, and Louisville, before going far-
ther west. Agricultural labourers, however, should not
stop a day in New York, but go instantly west, where, if
willing to work, they might earn 3s. and 4s. a day.—
Prentice's Lecture.

THE ATTORNEY AT THE DEATH-BED SlDE.—Speaking
of the sudden emergencies which demand the energies of
the legal man, Mr. Warren says :—" Take a case which I
glanced at in a former lecture ; your being sent for in
haste to prepare the will of some one suddenly seized with
mortal illness, or who has suffered from some dreadful
accident, hurrying him to a premature death-bed. It may
be a person of great wealth, whose property, both real and
personal, is in a complicated condition—whose business
transactions are extensive and intricate—who has a large
family to provide for. He is suddenly !Alen, by the Su-
preme Disposer of events, to turn his pale face to the wall.
Haste ! haste ! life is ebbing fast away ; his family are
weeping around him ; but be is waiting for—is thinking
of—you, in his agony and alarm ; he has but an hour or
two—it may be less time—to live ;—he has, with this fatal
imprudence, delayed making his will till this terrible mo-
ment, and you are now suddenly summoned, as the near-
est professional man accessible. Writing materials are at
hand ; the medical man has ominously whispered that you
have not a moment to lose, and he leaves you for a while
with his dying patient. As you look on him—as you lis-
ten to him—are you flustered and bewildered ? Does
your ill-regulated, turbid mind fail to follow your unhappy
client, so that you do not distinctly perceive his intentions
and wishes—intelligible though they really are—for the
disposition of his property ; do you feel a sickening con-
sciousness that you cannot carry them into effect ; or do
you, perhaps, imagine that you can when you really can-
not ? You draw up, however, a document, professing to
secure the interests of many tenderly-beloved children,
and other dear afflicted beings dependent upon the testa-
tor, and their very sobbings may be audible to you. Hav-
ing caused that instrument to be executed, you quit the
apartment, assuring your client almost at the last gasp,
that as far as regards his worldly affairs, he may depart in
peace, and you depart with his feeble thanks in your ears,
the pressure of his feeble finger on yours ;—and yet, the
instant that the will comes into operation, it explodes, as
it were, like a shell ! shattering every interest which it
touches ! It plunges every body and every thing into in-
extricable confusion ; involves those whom your poor
client best loved, in ruinous and sometimes malignant and
interminible litigation : your blunder is proclaimed, can-
vassed, and sought to be rectified in court after court of
law and equity ; you are unable to bear the agonizing but
unavailing reproaches of those on whom your ignorance or
incapacity has entailed such lamentable evils. You dare
not go near the grave of him whom you have so dreadfully
deceived and wronged."—Warren on Attorneys and So-
licitors.

etneval
The Bentinck testimonial now exceeds £lOOO.
A wheat stack that was built fourteen years since is now
standing at Lanchester, in Durham.
The Sheffield burgess roll exhibits the startling decrease
of 1925 burgesses during the current municipal year.
So many sprats were caught last week at Teignmouth,
Devonshire, that a large basketful was sold at the rate of ld.
The cholera amongst the convicts at Woolwich has
greatly abated.
The Times denounces the Polish ball, which was held
on Thursday night, 'as " a bitter mockery upon the
sufferings of the English poor."
The Duke of Cambridge presided at the annual meet-
ing of the Governesses Benevolent Institution on Thurs-
day.

A few days since a pear, which weighed alb., and mea-
sured 14 inches in length, and 10 inches in circumference,
was gathered in a garden at Waresly, near Stourport.
A woman died in London on Sunday last, from the ef-
fects of an overdose of laudanum, which she had taken for
the purpose of lulling herself to sleep.
THE EDINBURGH CHARTISTS.—The jury have acquit-
ted John Grant of sedition, and found Robert Hamilton and
Henry Ranken
2he convict Barber, who was sentenced to transporta-
tion for life, for being an accessory to forging a will, has
been granted a free pardon.
Seven fine sheep, which had strayed on the North Bri-
tish Railway, near West Barns, were killed by a passing
train on Sunday week.
Last week a child, three years old, was choked to death
at Sheffield, by a piece of raw turnip, which had been
given it to eat.
A fishing smack was wrecked at Cellardyke, Fifeshire,
on Friday week, and the crew, eight in number, were
drowned.

The cold has brought immense shoals of herrings to the
coast. At Brighton the nets enclosed in one day from
eighty to ninety thousand.
Professor Owen, of the College of Surgeons, has given
his opinion that the " great sea serpent," respecting
which so much has been said and written lately, is a seal.
Charles Anthony Dean, the inventor of the diving ap-
paratus, committed suicide in London last week, by cut-
ting his throat with a razor. Intense study had turned
his brain.

The female Esquimaux, who recently arrived with her
husband in this country, died on the 23d of June, whilst
returning in a vessel to Davis Straits. She was interred
with Christian burial at Frow Island.
DANISH CATTLE.—The vessel Eider arrived at the
Brunswick-wharf, Blackwall, from Tonningen, has
brought the large number of 198 oxen and cows, consigned
to order, the produce of Denmark.
The Governor, the Chaplain, and the Wardswoman of
the Hull gaol have been dismissed from their res pective
offices, on the recommendation of Mr. Hill, her Majesty's
inspector of prisons, for neglect of duty.
Mr. Robt. Chambers, the writer and publisher, was
proposed for Lord Provost of Edinburgh, but rejected by
the electing body on account of peculiarities in his theolo-
gical opinions.
A Scotch paper mentions that on Friday two fishermen
belonging to a St. Andrews' fishing boat, who were indulg-
ing in some rough play while their craft was at sea, fell
overboard and were drowned.

ENORMOUS OTTER.—On Wednesday Jonas Jowett, a
workman employed in the paper mill, Otlev, on the banks
of the Wharfe, captured an otter, weighing no less than
26th, and measuring four feet two inches.
JOSEPH ADY MADE SAFE.—Joseph is now an inmate
of Tothill-fields prison, where he is confined for a debt
due to the Postmaster-General for the postage of returned
letters.

A Staffordshire paper mentions that, on Tuesday week,
a man who was carrying a sick girl upstairs to bed, at
Bloxwich, accidentally slipped, and fell backwards with
such violence that the patient immediately expired from
the shock.

On Thursday, a Sheffield table-knife grinder's grind-
stone, turned by steam, suddenly broke into several pieces,
and one of the fragments striking his daughter, aged 12
years, who had just gone into the factory with her father's
tea, killed her on the spot.
On Saturday, notice was affixed to the entrance of the
Royal Pavilion, at Brighton, announcing the intention of
the Commissioners of Woods and Forests to apply for
power at the ensuing parliamentary session to dispose of
the royal property and ground attached by public auction.
A HAPPY COUNTY.—In the county of Pembroke, says
the Principality, there is not a single policeman, and,
notwithstanding their absence, the High-Sheriff was en-
abled at the last March assizes to present Justice Wil-
liams with a pair of white kid gloves.
Mr. Thorneycroft, the new Mayor of Wolverhampton,
has purchased the mace of that borough (which was ori-
ginally given to it by the Duke of Buckingham, in 1842,
and afterwards returned to him), and has presented it
again to the corporation of that place.
In consequence of the reduction in the Bristol Dock
Dues, a large Newport ship has just been ordered to the
former port with a cargo from Quebec, instead of going
to Newport; Bristol being now considered by her owner
a cheaper port than Newport.
THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM.—There has been a re-
markable movement in Rochdale respecting the sacra-
ment of baptism. Almost every Sunday there are adult
baptisms in this church. There have been no less than
forty from January last to the present month, and in pre-
vious years many others have occurred.
THE MURDER AT STROOD.—OR Thursday evening the
coroner's jury concluded their inquiry at the Guildhall,
Rochester,.—The jury returned the following verdict :
" That the deceased, Mary Abbott, died by suff.cation,
having been murdered by Maria M'Gill, Thomas Gill
and James M'Gill.

CONSERVATIVE MAYORS.—After a lapse of twenty
years, Durham has a conservative mayor in the person of
W. Henderson, Esq., of whose fitness for the office it is
enough to say that the majority of the Council are radical
in politics. Norwich has also this year a conservative
mayor, after a lapse of thirteen years.
The Mining Journal notices a newly invented razor,
with a guard which so effectually protects the skin from
the cutting operation of the razor that the manipulator
may shave upwards, downwards, and in every direction,
as quickly as he pleases, without the slightest danger, or
even possibility of injuring the skin.
CRUELTY.- -At Southwark police office on Friday, a
man, named Hanison, and his wife were committed on a
charge of illusing their own daughter. The poor creature
was in a state of starvation, and bore marks of severe
chastisement, and was seen to eat ravenously potato peel-
ings and fish bones designed for an animal.
A shepherd died a few days since in the Leeds Infirm-
ary, from the effects of a wound which he had received in
his left thigh, while he was using a knife to dress the feet
of a sheep. During the operation, the animal suddenly
started, and came in such violent contact with the knife,
that its blade was driven into his thigh, and penetrated
the femoral artery.
On Wednesday the Adelphi Theatre, Glasgow, was
totally destroyed by fire. By a curious coincidence, at
the time the flames were first discovered the performers
were rehearsing the play of " The Ocean Monarch, or the
Ship on Fire." The loss on the building will be above
£2OOO, and the loss in furniture, dresses, &c., will be
very great, as no insurance was effected.

In May, 1840, when an additional grant was applied for
in the House of Commons in order to complete Mr. Bab-
bage's machine, Mr. Wakley inquired whether it was
likely to be of any use to the public ? Upon this Sir
Robert Peel felicitously replied that "the machine should
be put to calculate the time at which it would be of any
use." The machine is now in King Geo. lll's Museum
at King's College, London. ,
A verdict of manslaughter has been returned against a
midwife at Worcester, for alleged misconduct in attending
a woman in her confinement. The surgeon who had been
at length called in deposed that the child, on his arrival,
was born up to the head, and had remained so for nine
hours. It was dead, and had been so for several hours.
The mother was sinking when he first saw her, and she
died soon after.

Mr. Padmore, the newly-elected mayor of Worcester
is a dissenter, and has refused to comply with an imme-
morial custom of attending Divine service at the Cathe-
dral; nay more, his " conscientious scruples" were so
constraining, that they compelled him to abrogate the
" civil and religious liberty" of all the other members of
the Corporation, and absolutely to prohibit them from
attending the Cathedral "in form."
__ .

62 instead of 65 is the reported number of cholera cases
for the week in the metropolis. In Edinburgh the pesti-
lence still continues unabated, 642 being the total number
of the last return from that town and neighbourhood ; of
these 310 have been fatal. The whole number of cases in
England and Scotland is stated at 1,015, of which 509
have been fatal, only 169 recovered, whilst in 337 instances
the termination is not known.

Mr. Price, of the Dolphin, Broad-street, Bath, received
a letter by the post on Monday, bearing the Chippenham
post-mark. Upon opening it an explosion took place, and
blew one part of the letter to atoms ; and although luckily
it only tore a small piece of skin from his face, it might
have done him a very serious injury. In another part of
the letter there was another portion of combustible matter
that did not explode.
One day last week, a gentleman who visited an inn at
Taunton accidentally dropped a £lO note in the passage,
and did not discover his loss until the following day, when
he returned in order to make inquiries after the note. He
then learned that on the previous day a dog had carried
into the bar a mangled note, which was secured by the
landlord, who accidentally observed the value of the paper,
and which proved to be the missing £lO note.
SINGULAR ACCIDENT.—On Saturday week, a little boy
about four years of age, named James Hardcastle, and
another boy were coming from school at Kirkburton,
Wakefield, the former was trying to get on his compa-
nion's back, and in doing so fell to the ground upon his
head. From the post mertem examination it appeared
that death had been caused by water on the brain, caused
by the fall, and a verdict in accordance was returned.
The Poor Law Board have appointed Lord Courtenay,
M.P., to be an inspector of the unions in the counties of
Dorset, Southampton, and Wilts. Lord Courtenay's
father is the owner of an estate worth £16,000 a-year in
the county of Limerick, and one of £BOOO a-year in Devon.
The poor rate in Ireland has eaten up both, and reduced
Lord Courtenay's father's son to the condition of a pauper
upon the out-door list.
NEWSPAPER AFFAIRS.—The present year has witnessed
greater changes'among the country newspaper press than
any previous year of which we have knowledge. The
mortality has been extraordinary. In Newcastle the
Advertiser is dead. In Birmingham, the Advertiser, too,
is gone. In York, the Courant has been discontinued.
In Sheffield, the Iris and the Mercury are no more. In
Manchester, a few weeks ago, the Advertiser was incor-
porated with the Times, and now the Times itself is amal-
gamated with the Examiner, the one paper bearing the
names of the two. Profitable newspapers do not die. The
owners of two paying concerns do not lay ihcir heads
together to convert them. into one.

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

NEw MODE OF SHOPLIFTING.—SeveraI men combine;
they fix upon a valuable article in a shop window and near
the door ; then, crowding about the entrance, one of them
feigning intoxication, asks for some trifling thing at the
counter. On turning to go out he stumbles, in order to
make a confusion, and the theft is committed by his col-
leagues.
Two busts have been modelled of Lori George Ben-
tinck, one in miniature by Count D'Orsay, the other of
life size by Mr. Matthew Wyatt. The eloquent testi-
mony of Mr. Disraeli to the felicitous skill with which
Count D'Orsay has " reproduced the blended energy and
beauty" of his noble and lamented friends physiognomy,
and to " the living resemblance of George Bentinck "
that this bust presents, renders other praise superfluous.
SELLING HORSES BY WEIGHT.—On Thursday last Mr.
Fickling, dealer, of Brandon, who attends that market,
offered two young colts for sale for £l2, but finding no
person willing to purchase at that price, he was offered
ss. per stone for them, which he accepted. The colts
were taken to Lakenheath next day, when the weight was
found to be 65 stone, which, at ss. per stone, amounted
to £l6 55., thus realizing a good profit to the seller.—
Suffolk Herald.
PRINCE ALBERT'S STOCK.—Prince Albert's annual sale
of live stock has just taken place at Norfolk FArm. There
was a large attendance of dealers, and the animals fetched
good prices. The stock sold, independently of yearling
fillies, included 73 fat Southdown ewes, 83 two-tooth ewes
of the same breed, 11 short-horn barren cows, 4 Alderney
cows in calf, 20 Welsh cows in calf, 13 Welsh heifers 31
shorn-born heifers, besides half-bred Hereford heifers,
and a very fine Hereford ox.

At a meeting of the Andover Town Council, to choose
a mayor, several gentlemen begged to decline accepting
the office which was offered to them ; and, ultimately, six
names were put into a hat, whence one was drawn. Mr.
Mortimore, whose name came forth from this ballot, was
forthwith declared the new mayor, but he immediately left
tie council-chamber, saying that he would rather pay the
fine than serve, though it is thought that when his irrita-
tion has cooled he will accept the office.
REMARKABLE CIRCUMSTANCE.—The general failure of
the potato crop in the neighbourhood of Kenchester, and
Bishopstone, in this county, is pretty well known; but
there is one most remarkable exemption which is worthy of
record. Amidst the most universal wreck, the crop on
the Bunshill estate has been gathered entirely in a sound
state, and quite unaffected by the disease. The same was
the case last year. It does not appear that any peculiar
culture was resorted to to obtain this result.—Her9ford
Journal.
DESTRUCTION OF A VESSEL BY FIRE.—On Tuesday,
a Scotch schooner, named the George, Mr. Mills, master,
bound to Arbroath, which had sailed from Sunderland on
the preceding evening, with a cargo of lime, was driven on
Herd Sand, near Shields, where she beat heavily. The
sea broke over her and got amongst the lime, which quickly
heated and set the vessel on fire. As soon as practicable
a large number of hands boarded the vessel and adopted
every possible means to extinguish the fire, but ineffectu-
ally. The vessel burned the entire night, and on Wed-
nesday morning was a total wreck, being burned to the
water's edge. She was insured to the amount of £7OO.
REJOICINGS AT BRlSTOL.—Tuesday was kept as a pub-
lic holiday at Bristol, to celebrate the freedom of her port
Early in the morning the whole of the shipping, from the
Stone-bridge to Cumberland-basin, a distance of two
miles, were dressed up in the flags of all nations. In the
course of the day a procession took piece, unrivalled in the
annals of the port—a procession of the trades, headed by
the members for the city,,the mayor and corporation, ac
companied by fifteen bands of music, and numbering over
16.000 persons in its ranks. It reached one mile and a-
half ; and as amidst the roaring of cannon and the ringing
of bells it passed through the public streets the cheers of
the congregated multitude rent the air.
DEATH FROM CHLOROFORM.—On Tuesday, Mr. Car-
ruthers, a gentleman of fortune, residing at Dormount,
Annan, lost his life from the incautious application of
chloroform. It appears that the deceased was afflicted
with asthma, and having found relief from inhaling the
subtle vapour, had frequent recourse to it. On Tuesday
he was found sitting at the table in the position in which
his servant had left him on the preceding night, but it
was soon discovered that the unfortunate gentleman was
quite dead, and to all appearance life had been extinct
for some hours. On the table was the evidence of the
fatal occurrence—the handkerchief which he had used in
applying the chloroform to his mouth.—Carlisle Patriot.
MURDER AND RIOT IN CARDTFF.—On Sunday, an
Irishman, named Conners, stabbed a Welshman with a
knife, in consequence of a street row, which had its origin
in the bad feeling that exists between the Welsh and Irish
" navvies" in Cardiff. The man died, and his friends be-
came riotous. On Monday evening the excited and ex-
asperated populace attacked the dwellings of the Irish,
broke their windows, burst open their doors, and burnt
some of their furniture, and had it not been for the inter-
ference of the police a serious riot would have been the
consequence. They also attacked the Catholic chapel,
demolished the windows, and did considerable damage to
the priest's house.
NOMINATION OF SHERIFFS.—The nomination of she-
riffs of counties for the ensuing year took place on Monday
last. We select the following from the list :—Yorkshire
—Octavius Henry Cyril Venables Vernon Harcourt, of
Swinton-park, Esq. ; Sir Henry Lowther, of Swillington,
Leeds, Bart. ; and Andrew Montague, of Melton-on-the-
Hill, near Doncaster, Esq. Cumberland—Andrew F.
Huddlestone, of Hutton John, Esq. ' • Thomas Salkeld, of
Holm-hall, Esq. ; and George Head Head, of Rickerby-
house, Esq. Cheshire—Thomas William Tattoo, of
Withershaw, Esq. ; Sir Arthur Ingram Ashton, of Ashton,
Bart. ; and Thomas Marsland. of Henbury, Esq. Durham
—John Eden, of Beamish-park, Esq. ; Frederick Acklom
Millbanke, of Hart, Esq. ; and Robert Hildyard, of Hors-
ley, Esq. (41 humberland—Wm. Hodgson Cadogan, of
Brinkburn Priory, Esq. ; Sir Walter Claverley Trevelan,
of Wallington, Bart. ; and John Hodgson Hinde, of Stel-
ling-hall, Esq.
MELANCHOLY SUICIDE.—A painful event has happened
in the family of Mr. Matthew Trickett, in the village of
Carisbrooke, which has plunged into grief the relatives
and friends of an amiable young lady, about eighteen
years of age, who, in a moment of delirium, produced by
wrong impressions, committed suicide. It appears that a
disagreement had arisen beween her and other young
members of the family, which so affected her mother, who
was in poor health, that she fainted. Deceased, thinking
her parent was dead, ran out of the house in a frantic
state, and was not seen or heard of by her friends until
Friday evening, when a rumour reached her home that
her body had been washed up at Cowes. At the inquest
the body was identified by a sister residing near. The
body was found on the shore, about four miles from her
home, and her footsteps were traced on the sand. The
verdict was " Found Drowned."
MURDER AT ST. LEONARD'S-ON SEA.—Great excite-•
ment has prevailed at St. Leonard's since Sunday morn-
ing, in consequence of a robbery to a large amount having
been committed, during service, in the house of Miss M.
A. C. Moore, of Catharina-villa, above the Quadrangle,
accompanied by a violent assault upon the cook, who has
since died in consequence of the injuries inflicted on her
by the thief. Among the articles stolen were a lady's
gold watch, an old pinchbeck watch, two gold keys, a
small French watch set with pearls. a bunch of seals, and
several gold necklaces and rings. The cook, who was 60
years of age, and had lived in the family 25 years, was in-
sensible when found in the passage, and she never re-
covered her consciousness till the time of her death, which
took place on Tuesday. John Pearson, who for-
merly lived as coachman in the family, and who had often
quarrelled with the cook, is in custody, charged with the
Jobbery and murder.
HAS A CAT NINE LIVES ?—A most extraordinary
circumstance lately occurred at Bedford, which has given
rise to much discussion and speculation. It apperas that
Mrs. Halfhead, of Harpur-place, had three kittens, and it
was thought proper only one should be kept ; accordingly
orders were given that two should be forthwith drowned,
and two were drowned, says our informant. The dead kit-
tens were then buried in the garden. Six weeks after-
wards a kitten was seen to come out of the ground on the
spot where the two unfortunates had been buried, and it
was immediately recognised as one of those identical vic-
tims ! To remove all doubt about the matter, the ground
was turned up, and only one dead kitten found in the hole.
It is supposed that it was a case of suspended animation,
and, if so, it is the most protracted case of the kind that
has come to our knowledge. At all events the cat is alive
and well, but much smaller than its brother, who did not
go through the process of drowning and burying.—Bed-
fbrd Times.
Trig BEGGING TRADE IN LONDON.--At the missionary
meeting in Bristol, last week, the Rev. John Branch, of
London, said that, two or three years ago, when engaged
as a missionary, he went to a house in Westminster, in
which lodged a large number of persons, the only test of
whose characters consisted in their ability to pay 3d. per
night for their beds. In one room of the house he found
forty persons seated round a large fire, close by the side
of which was a young woman, with a baby in her arms,
not more than nine months old. From the hectic flush
upon the poor infant's cheek , and its short hacking cough,
he saw that it was fast dying. He asked the young mo-
ther if she was aware of that. She replied, " she knew
her poor child was dying, and, God help her, she did not
know what she should do when it was dead." He asked
why ? " Because," she replied, " she begged with it ; and
when it was dead she should have to give 9d. a day for
another to beg with." This was a common practice in
London. He had been in a shop where women were re-
gularly fitted out as widows, and where a stock of children
were kept to be let out at 9d. a day each, to accompany
professional beggars.
ENGLISH AND AMERICAN MACHINERY.—By the last
arrivals from New York and Boston it appears that the
iron-masters are becoming alarmed at the large importa.
tions from this country during the present year. Although
iron is very plentiful in different states, it is, generally
speaking, of an inferior quality compared with British, in
respect to ductility and tenacity, and, consequently, but
ill-suited for shipbuilding and machinery. It is a singular
fact that the boilers of the United States steam-packets,
the Ocean, Washington, and Hermann, from New York
to Bremen, have each become out of order during their
trips, and obliged to undergo a repair before putting to
sea aga'n, whilst those of the British North American
royal mail packets from Liverpool, Halifax, Boston, and
New York, have not yet experienced the slightest acci-
dent, either to boilers or machinery, which are of British
manufacture. We do not make these remarks out of any
prejudice, as we are aware that great improvements are
being introduced in the manufacture of iron in the United
States, but at present their metal, either wrought or cast,
is not equal to that of England—for rails and chairs it
may do, but for shipbuilding purposes and machinery it is
not suited. As we stated in a former number, a company
has been formed at New York for building six large
transatlantic steamers, the engines and boilers of which,
we understand,,are to be made of British metal. The
French attempted a line of steam-packets last year be-
tween New York, Havre, and Cherbourg, which proved a
failure, in consequence of the inferior quality of their
machinery, which was made by French contractors.—
' Mining Journal..

DEATH OF A MISER.—An inquest was held on Thurs-
day, at Smithfield, London, touching the death of David
Thomas, aged 75, formerly a solicitor, and late a money
lender, well known in the commercial world as a man of
immense wealth. The deceased lived in a room in a house
in Smithfield, in the most penurious manner; he some-
times divided a herring for a meal, and almost denied
himself the common necessaries of life. In his pocket
was found a check for £lOO, and in his room were two
boxes containing deeds and documents relating to cash
affairs at his bankers. The cause of his death was stated
to arise from exhaustion, occasioned by the want of proper
food.

A GASTRONOMICAL TRICK.—A curious experiment has
been practised by some railway excavators on a woman at
Swallow Nest, with whom they lodged, and whom they
suspected of helping herself rather too freely with their
victuals. Having procured a cat, they skinned and dressed
it the same as they would have done a rabbit, and in this
state took it to their lodgings, and gave it to the suspect-
ed pilferer to make a pie. She carefully obeyed their or-
ders, and having baked it, placed the dainty dish before
her lodgers, who pretended that the crust was too rich for
their stomachs, and made the woman a present of it. She
gladly accepted the gift, and it being a delicacy which she
was not accustomed to eat, she very much enjoyed it.—
Sheffield paper.
SINGULAR Loss TO THE CUSTOMS.—A curious custom-
house case was discovered en Wednesday, and made much
merriment in the city. A merchant entered 700 foreign
watches, apparently gold, for payment of duty, valuing
them at £770, and at that rate offering to pass them for
duty. The custom-house officers, conceiving them, in
their wisdom, to be much undervalued, took the watches
to account, and paid the merchant importer the £770,
with the 10 per cent legally exigible and additional in
such case. On Wednesday, the watches were, in the
usual way, put up to auction at the Commercial Rooms,
Mincing-lane, when for the first time it was discovered
that the watches were of brass, tinselled over with gold,
and not worth £7O. It remains to be seen whether the
loss in this, as in other cases, will be charged to the trea-
sury, the profits, when such there are, being always taken
to account of the customs fund.—London paper.
MUNIFICENCE OF JENNY LIND.—We are informed
that the net proceeds of the provincial tour of engage-
ments Madlle. Lind is at present fulfilling, calculated to
amount to something near £6,000, she intends to trans-
mit to Stockholm for the completion of the hospital com-
menced under her auspices, and by funds raised at a con-
cert she gave in that city, when leaving home for England
to take her place at her Majesty's Theatre last season.
If we add to what has already been realised for this phi-
lanthropic object, the further sum she intends to devote,
the £lBOO she cleared for the Brompton Hospital, the
£5OO left by her and her companions in Dublin, the £2OO
sent on her account to the Norwich Festival, the sum
raised for the Covent Garden corps, the numerous small
sums that have been scattered abroad by her in every
direction, and count also upon the amount yet to be
realised by her gratuitous concerts in Manchester, we
think no one will deny that, though her remuneration as
a vocalist and an actress may be high, her hand is liberal
in dispensing what it receives, for the best purposes.
PARTY JOBBING.—A contemporary says, " In Chelten-
ham, whenever any local office, however unimportant or
unprofitable, becomes vacant, a movement is immediately
made by the Liberal party to possess themselves of tile
same. Through the supineness of the Conservatives, the
Whigs have hitherto secured a monopoly of the local
offices, at least nearly all of them which are worth having,
either for emolument or honour." One instance, among
others, of this is given in the election of two relieving
officers. Two candidates were generally approved of as
the most eligible, but being Conservatives, six ex-officio
Whig guardians, rarely attending the meetings of the
board, and knowing nothing of the merits of the compe-
titors, stepped in and turned the scale in favour of their
opponent. In point of fact, this system of jobbery is now
pervading all England, from the highest department of
the state to the lowest parochial office. To be a Conser-
vative is, in the eyes of an oppressive ministry and their
rapacious hangers-on, to be unworthy of trust, yet this is
the sort of government that declared its intention to rule
without patronage.—Hereford Journal.
WELCH FLANNEL.—During the Queen's recent visit to
the Highlands she happened to meet with a lady from
Wales who was dressed in the national flannel. The
Queen was much pleased with it, and obtained from her
fair informant the name and address of t he humble weaver
of the admired article. Her Majesty commanded that an
order should be despatched to the weaver, who resides in
Neath, for a large quantity of the same material. The
honest Cambrian, not being used to receive epistles from
such high quarters, could not understand what it was all
about ; so he carefully folded up the letter and put it away,
thinking that the safer course. The lady had by this
time returned from her visit to the Highlands to the
neighbourhood of Neath; and, thinking it not unlikely
that the Queen might have ordered the man to be written
to for the flannel, went to him, and asked him if he had
had a letter from the Court ? Finding that he had, but
had done nothing with it, she informed him of the real
state of the case, and, selecting from the astonished
weaver's stock such flannels as she thought would suit,
immediately despatched them to her Majesty. The lady
had scarcely done so, when a second letter from the Queen
was left at the man's house, demanding why her Majesty's
commends had not been attended to.—Cambrian.
FRATERNITY.—At the dinner given by the Lord Mayor
at the Mansion-house, on Thursday, at which most of the
cabinet ministers were present, M. de Beaumont, the
French Ambassador, spoke as follows :—" I hope I may
be allowed to take first this opportunity of offering to you,
and to all persons here present, the best thanks of my
country for the cordial hospitality which has been of late
so kindly bestowed on a great many of my countrymen,
on their visit to this large metropolis. (Cheers.) The
land of England is a land of liberty—(great cheering)—
and of hospitality for all foreigners ; but it will be permit-
ted to me to say that it is, moreover, a land of friendship
for Frenchmen. (Cheers.) England has opened her heart
as well as her frontiers to Frenchmen. I dare say that she
thought she did right in doing so. She did right for her own
interest. A noble country like England, in order to be
admired and blest, wants only to be known, The best
answer that she can make to still existing, though every
day vanishing prejudices, is to show herself to every eye.
Let us, my lord, enjoy—let Europe, let all the people of
Europe enjoy—the blessing and the benefit of that mutual
good understanding which is, and will ever be, the best
security of the maintenance of the peace of the world.
We no mere entertain, neither in England nor in France,
that false opinion, that the prosperity of one country is
founded upon the misery of the other.—(Loud cheers.)
SCREW PROPELLERS.—On Monday the Earl of Auck-
land, First Lord of the Admiralty, with Captain Ellice,
Mr. Edye, and Mr. Lloyd, met Captain Carpenter at the
hall of the Polytechnic Institution, London, to see his
model of a vessel worked, not by a single propeller placed
in the " dead wood," but by two propellers, one under
each quarter, each propeller being joined to a shaft out-
side the frame of the vessel. The invention, in its infancy,
was described in these columns ten years ago, but the
apparatus was then to be worked by manual labour at a
windlass ; this is now to be superseded by steam, and
Captain Carpenter states, as the result of a vast number
of experiments which he has made, that greater speed
can be attained, and more power effectually used, by
means of two propellers thus placed, than by any other
method that has been devised, whether with the screw or
with the paddle-wheels. This mode of construction pro-
mises also other advantages, such as more stowage-room
than with the dead-wood propeller and its shaft along the
middle of the ship, less vibration, and greater facility of
detaching the propellers when that is to be done. The
propellers may have either flat blades or curved vanes,
but Captain Carpenter seems to prefer the flat blades, of
which Mr. Taylor is patentee. The model will remain at
the Polytechnic. Institution. It was passed along the
water by means of a common clock-spring wound up.
Lord Auckland stayed for nearly an hour, and seemed to
take a deep interest in the whole subject of screw pro-
pelling.
LORD CARDIGAN AND CAPTAIN NOEL.—We find that
not long after his liberation from the second arrest, Capt.
Noel, not being exactly on the spot where at the moment
he ought to have been, Lord Cardigan peremptorily
called out to him, " Captain Noel, go to your troop, sir!'
To which order the captain replied, " I am with my troop,
sir ;" being immediately answered by his lordship, " You
are not, sir ; none of your London manners here !" Hurt
by the colonel's words, he asked for a private interview,
at which he asked Lord Cardigan why insulting language
had been applied to him on parade, in the presence of his
troop ? The answer received was, " Get out of my room,
sir ! ' Thereupon Captain Noel laid the whole matter
before the Commander-in-chief, who, after a considerable
correspondence with the parties, directed, through the
Adjutant-General, that Captain Noel should apologise to
Lord Cardigan, a direction with which Captain Noel, in
the presence of the Adjutant-General, Lord Cardigan,
and authorities, refused to comply. The Honourable
Captain Noel is member for the county of Rutland ; his
father, the Earl of Gainsborough, is a supporter of the go-
vernment,though the captain himself is a Conservative; his
maternal uncle is Sir G. Grey, the Home Secretary, and
his stepmother is lady of the bedchamber. Captain Noel
writes to the commander-in-chief, expressing his wish to
obey his grace's commands, but praying in the first in-
stance for a court of inquiry. The Duke of Wellington
refuses the court of inquiry upon principle, and a court
martial is impracticable, for before such tribunal Lord
Cardigan must prefer his charge. Here the matter rests.
DISTRESSING CASE.—Amongst the applicants for as-
sistance, on Thursday at Lambeth police-office, was the
once celebrated Miss Ducrow, who some years ago had
charmed the hearts of half the playgoing young men in
the metropolis, by her extraordinary feats in horseman-
ship at the theatre of her brother, the late Andrew Du-
crow. From the statement of the poor creature it appear-
ed that 13 years ago she married Mr. Broadfoot, then her
brother's prompter, who treated her with kindness until
the death of her brother, but since that time his conduct
towards her had been quite the reverse, and he ultimately
left her to live with another woman. Owing to his deser-
tion, and her being unable to obtain anything to do in
her profession, she was reduced to such an extremity as
to be obliged to go Lambeth workhouse and became an
inmate there for some time. She left the workhouse in
the hope that her mother would allow her to live in her
apartments, or give her shelter, out this she refused to do.
She then applied to one of the relieving officers of Lam-
beth parish, for relief, but he refused to give her any, and
she was at that moment in the greatest destitution. In
reply to the question of the magistrate, the applicant said
her brother had died possessed of considerable property,
which he left to his wife, formerly Miss Woolford, and
who, since his decease, again got married. He had, how-
ever, settled a weekly stipend on his mother of 305., and
the sum was paid to her every Monday morning. The
last time the applicant heard of her husband he was stage-
manager at a theatre in Glasgow, where he no doubt had
a good salary. Mr. Norton directed that 10s. be at once
given to the poor woman for her immediate relief, and
that a communication should be made to the husband,
with the view of compelling him to provide for her main-
tenance.

CAUTION TO QUACKS.—Matthew Symes, baker and
beerhouse-keeper, of Burstock, Dorset, has just been
committed to Dorchester gaol to await his trial at the
assizes for the offence of manslaughter. Symes had ino-
culated two of the children of John Hoare, a dairyman,
though repeatedly admonished that he was acting illegally
in inoculating children, which he appears to have been in
the habit of doing. Both the children died, and it was
proved on the inquest by a medical man that they had
died from small pox, received through inoculation and not
naturally. The coroner, Mr. Cory, called the attention of
the jury to the 3rd and 4th Victoria, cap. 29, which makes
inoculation illegal, and a jury of 18 respectable persons
returned a verdict of " manslaughter" against Symes.
INFLUENCE OF LEVEL ON ASIATIC CHOLERA.—Let
us now ask ourselves this question—Why is it that there
was such an immense majority of cases on the south side
of the river ? I answer—On account of the low level, and
the warm, damp atmosphere, and the scandalously bad
drainage resulting therefrom ; to which I may also add
the filthy river water consumed by the inhabitants. A
river's bank implies a low level; and if that low level be
increased in extent, it augments the difficulty of proper
drainage, and encourages that stagnant, close, and moist
atmosphere which diminishes the vital energies of the
system, and predisposes to disease. I have ascertained
the levels of most of the parishes ravaged by the cholera,
and find that in all, except St. Giles's and Marylebone, the
level is low, and is generally corresponding with the diffu-
sion of the epidemic. Extensive districts on the other
side of the water are under high water mark : the Brick-
layers' Arms is 6 inches below that level, and the Obelisk
in Blackfriars-road is only 5 inches above it. Lambeth is
built upon a marsh. The parishes on the north bank are
generally on a higher level than those on the south hank,
though still very low. Chelsea Hospital is only 11 feet 7
inches above the level; other situations are much lower:
the water in the park at St. James's is 5 feet 1 inch below
the level ; Westminster next the river is universally low.
Limehouse, Shadwell, Radcliff, all are low; the highest
measurement that I have obtained, that of St. George's-
in-the-East, being 30 feet. Even the London Hospital,
Whitechapel, nearly 14 mile from the river, is only 36 feet
4 inches above the level. The exempted parishes are on
a high level, and pour the filth of their sewers into these
low level districts, where it is kept in a state of suspension
by the flow of the tide, and poisons the health of the in-
habitants.—llledical Times.

HORRIBLE OCCURRENCE.—On Friday, as the 6 40
a.m. goods train from Elms was nearing the Barnes sta-
tion, on the Richmond line, the engine-driver perceived
what he at first conceived to be a stuffed figure. to repre-
sent a man, leaning against the wooden fencing of the
line, and about 120 yards from the station, and pointed it
out to Waters, the guard, who ordered the immediate
stoppage of the train. Upon going to the spot, they
were horror-struck at finding a human being, surrounded
by a pool of blood, and not only dead, but partly frozen.
The blood was easily traced in a direct line to the up-rail,
(and here it was evident the accident, whatever it was,
had happened,) but that the unfortunate victim should,
after its occurrence, have crawled to the spot where he
was found in, considering the horrible injury he had re-
ceived, would have been considered impossible had it not
been that the grass and weeds, which he had convulsively
grasped and torn up in his struggle to get removed out of
danger, fully confirmed that fact. The deceased, who was
a man upwards of fifty years of age, had had his left foot
all but severed, a tendon only uniting it to the leg, and,
extraordinary as it may appear, the deceased, who had
his open pocket-knife firmly grasped in his right hand,
had cut away his leather gaiter prior, as is supposed, to
his entire severance of the limb, when he sank from ex-
haustion, and literally died from loss of blood. He was
subsequently ascertained to be John Sharp, a hawker of
crockeryware, living in the Hammersmith-bridge-road.
He had left Richmond by the seven o'clock up-train on
the previous evening, and should have got out at the
Barnes station. He had probably, however, fallen asleep,
and waking up after the train had got in motion, rashly
alighted. The carriage had probably no other passenger
save the deceased, as no one had made any statement of a
person leaving the train in such a manner. Another train
had passed up subsequently, but nothing was seen of the
deceased, and two trains passed downwards. The night
was very dark, and the accident happening, as it did, on
the common, was less likely to be noticed.

WRECK OF TWO EMIGRANT SHIPS.—On Monday night
two deplorable shipwrecks of German emigrant vessels,
with between 300 and 400 passengers on board, took place
on the long and Goodwin Sands. The unfortunate vessels
were both from Bremen—one, the American built ship
Burgundy, Mr. Hunt master, 500 tons burden, with 300
emigrants, for New Orleans ; the other, the barque Atlan-
tic, Mr. Foster, belonging to Bremen, bound for New
York, also with passengers, the number not exactly known.
The greater part of the day the weather was exceedingly
boisterous. In consequence of hearing signal guns,
several smacks, as well as her Majesty's revenue cutter
Desmond. bore down in the direction to ascertain the
cause. On nearing the centre bank of the sands in ques-
tion a large vessel was discovered completely on the shoal,
almost engulfed in heavy breakers. She proved to be the
Burgundy, having, it was reported, been carried on by
the rapidity of the currents about ten o'clock. It was
impracticable to get her off, and her destruction seemed
inevitable. The crew of the surrounding vessels, on as-
certaining the great number of human beings on board,
lost no time in arranging a plan for their rescue, which
was providentially successful, for the whole of the poor
creatures, numbering between 200 and 300, including the
crew, were safely taken off the wreck. Their condition
was truly deplorable. A large number had been taken by
a French schooner, it is conjectured, to the French coast.
The Long Sand has two lightships, one at each extremity
of it, sufficient to warn the mariner of danger ; probably,
however, the hazy state of the atmosphere obscured the
lights. The wreck of the Atlantic was discovered the
same morning on the Goodwin. She had got on the out-
side of the sands, and was fast settling down, when se-
veral hamsgate and Deal luggers came up to her succour.
Although the weather was fine, a tremendous sea raged on
the sands, sweeping over the ill-fated vessel every instant.
Four lives had already been lost—the master, two passen-
gers, and a boy, who were swept overboard and not seen
afterwards. With great difficulty the Deal boatmen suc-
ceeded in saving the crew and some of the passengers,
while the remainder of the latter were taken off by several
Ramsgate vessels, and conveyed to that port and those ad-
jacent.

DARING ESCAPE FROM PRISON.—A most daring es-
cape was effected from Cardigan gaol at three o'clock on
Tuesday by three prisoners of the names of William
Davies, John Bradshaw, and John Clifford, the two for-
mer being under sentence of 20 years' transportation, and
the latter of six months' hard labour. A breach was
made in the west wall of the wheel-room (which is only
22 inches thick, and built with very small stones and poor
mortar), by means of four iron bars, part of the railing
in the same wheel-room. The deputy-governor's sus-
picions were first aroused by seeing John Clifford appa-
rently watching his movements ; this prisoner, upon
seeing Mr. Evans approaching, ran and told the rest that
he was coming, whereupon the two convicts, who were
very powerful men, placed themselves between the deputy-
governor and the wheel-room door, to prevent him from
seeing what was done. They were in the act of leaping
forward at the deputy-governor, when the latter presented
two loaded pistols at their heads ; this drove them back,
but before the deputy-governor could get an entrance they
shut the door and calle upon those on the treadwheel to
assist, which they quickly did. The deputy-governor
then called upon Thomas Jenkins, a carpenter, to assist
him in endeavouring to force the treadwheel door open,
which they succeeded in doing, and found that the two
convicts and another prisoner had escaped ; an immediate
pursuit was made, when Clifford was apprehended two
fields from the gaol. The carpenter soon came in sight
of the convicts and followed them closely, and behind a
bush found Bradshaw, whom he very soon dragged from
Isis hiding-place. Upon seeing that the carpenter was
alone, the convict made a desperate effort to thrust him
into the water, but failed. The gallant carpenter, who is
a little man, then knocked him into the water, and held
him there until he was greatly exhausted ; he then
allowed the convict to rise, and conveyed him back to
gaol. He again returned to the field of action, and found
the other convict secreted underneath a cliff by the
side of the brook, not twenty yards from the former.
This fugitive, being a very powerful man, endeavoured to
release himself, upon which the latter called for assistance,
and Captain Evans (the governor's son-in-law), who was
close by, came and assisted the undaunted little carpenter
in conveying his second prize to prison, where the delin-
quents were put in heavy irons.—WelAnzan.
EFFORTS OF DISSENTERS.—Ir
,the midst of the Foreign
Missionary Jubilee of the Church, the Home Missionary
Society of the Dissenters has been holding its meetings;
and at one of these, at Bristol, statements, well authenti-
cated, were made of the state of the large bodies of our
native population, almost as appalling as anything we have
heard of heathen lands. It was declared, for instance,
that " Mr. Mathison had calculated there were in this
country four millions of people destitute of the Gospel ;"
and the object of the Society, the speaker added, " was to
lift up this vast number of human beings from their state
of spiritual degradation." Another speaker, himself a
Home Missionary, stated that in London, which was the
scene of his labours, "he had ascertained that in one
street alone there were 480 children who obtained a living
by pillaging, and in two districts visited there were no less
than 600 unfortunate females, in the depth of misery and
vice." This, indeed, we know from other sources, may
be taken as a fair sample of some of the most densely popu-
lated streets and lanes of the metropolis of Christian Eng-
land ! Well might this missionary describe it as an "aw-
ful moral contagion," and declare that " no mere pulpit
labours could ever remove it !" The same speaker
related another, and, if possible, still more dreadful
instance of demoralization, which had come under his
own observation. "He once," he said, " went into a
room in a house in a low part of London, in which he saw
assembled four or five young thieves, and three or four fe-
males, seated round what appeared to him to be a table
covered with a long sheet, on which was placed some to-
bacco and pipes, some gin, a dice-box, and a greasy pack
of cards. On entering the room he was sensible of an un-
pleasant smell, and asked one of the young men, who rose
as he entered, what was the occasion of it. He said he
supposed it was the body of poor dead Tom, which lay in
the coffin. The coffin was covered by the sheet ; the man
had died in the room, and over the corpse of their friend
his companions had staked their money and played cards.
People," he added, " might talk about evangelising
the poor as much as they liked, but until scenes like
those were explored, the disease which infected society
would never be removed." It is impossible to deny this
most reasonable conclusion. Scenes like those must be
" explored"—cases like those must be administered to,
if the dreadful evils of our social system are to be remo-
ved, and Christianity is to have its perfect way among us.
"It might be asked," the Home Missionary added,
" what could be done with persons like those we have
mentioned ;" and his reply was, that " he had been able
himself to test conversions among that very class,"—and
he proceeded to relate several instances of conversions,
of men whose lives had been spent in the practice of
the most debasing vices."