Wisconsin herald, and Grant County advertiser. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1844-1845, 1845-12-20
Foreign Items.

Foreign Items.
England.-Hitherto the cycle Of
the seasons has befriendcd Sir Robert
Peel. Four good harvests in success
sion have filed his exchequcr--filled
stomachs of the liegcs--made the ma
ton prosperous--the people contcnted.
Alas! the scene is changed--the evil
day has come upon him, and has found
him unprepared to face it. Famine,
gaunt, horrible, destroying famine
seems impending. Fears have seized
the public mind. In Ireland things
look appaling-in England gloomy.
The granaries Of the continent arc ex-.
hausted. The corn fields of the Wis
tula, the Daunbee and the Elbe, are
barely sufficient for the local wants Of
the inhabitants. The nation is in
commotion; and the cry OF 'sopen the
ports and let in corn, doly free" is
heard on all sides, revcrberated from
every part of the empire. The 'pres-
ure from without has made itself heard
in Downing-st.; and faith in the sliding
scale--Pcel's sliding scale--is gone
forever. A third Of the potato crop
in Ireland is destroyed. The govern.
ment has sent scientific professors to
the scene of the mischief, and the aw-
full truth is out that this portion of tha
peoples food---the csculent that Cob
bet abhorcd--is unfit for use. What
is TO be done in this terrible, this I'M
looked for emergency! 'Open the
portsp is the exclamation; and there
stands the shivering Premier, like a
reed in the wind, paralyzed between
affection for his sliding scale the horrors
os public famine. There he is bal
ancing the pros and cons! But neces-
sity is superior to consistency, superior
to law. The Ports must be opened!
O'Connell, who assumes TO be the tri-
bunc of the Irish people, goes beyond
this. He demands large grant
of public money 20 the extent ola mil
lion and hall, to be expended in the
purchase Of food--he calls for tax
of fifty per cent. on the absentecs, and
tax of ten per cent. on the residents
The asks for the prohibition Of corn
and provisions leaving the island--and
the prevention Of disiillcries consum-
ing grain. Large demands these; will
they be conceded? A day or two will
find wide margin for the exercise Of
its ingenuity.
Russia.--Our whimsical Emperor
instead of going to the southern pro-
vinces, and towards the scat of war in
Caucasus, has suddenly bolted to italy,
to join the Empress, who certainly did
not expect him. There is nothing the
autocrat delights in so much as taking
people by surprise; and, in particular
TO pop in upon his wife and family
when they believe him hundreds Of
miles away, affords him the highest
giee. To obtain this qualification he
sometimes descends to the most child
ish Understanding the dress OF
courtiers. subordinate officers, and
even common soldiers.
An ukase has decided that the Gus
tom house line of dcmarcation between
Poland and Russia shall cease. In
political point of view this measure is
unobjectionable; but it is new and
terrible blow at Poland's nationality.
Step by step, and bit by bit, and in
spite OF all obstacles, the Emperor
proceeds in his great task Of absorbing
and matchmaking the Polish kingdom
and the Polish people in the vast en-
pire and people of Russia.
A railway is projected from st. Pc
tersburg to Odessa, from the Baltic to
the Northern Sea, with an embranch-
ment towards Persia, and thence to the
East Indies and China. 1t is a gigsn-
tic project that, and will astonish even
your boldest railway SPECTATORS. But
il the Car resolves upon if, il viii be
done. On such line people, in the