The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1852-12-25

MARRIED AND GIVEN IN MARRIAGE.-An Aus
tralia correspondent of the Alta Californian
gives quite an Interesting account of the Brit
ish convict system in Van Dieman's Land, and
thus describes the marrying mania which exists
among the convicts who are out at service, and
the reason therefor. He writes:
"But the only care of the Government seems
to be to get these people off their hands as fast
as possible, and another method has now been
nit upon in finding roody norknt for thOus-
ands OF the convicts, and thereby relieving the
EXchequer Of the expense of maintaining them !:
and presume the man that first devised it was
made baronet by the British Government 1t
is neither more nor less than encouraging. be-
tween the convicts and the free portion of the
inhabitants, matrimonial alliances In these.
young ladies alliance themselves to old men.
and young men marry old women. l will ex-
plain. A female convict. by becoming the
spouse of freeman, is entitled to all the rights
and privileges of a free woman. As long as she
keeps with her husband, the bonds of matrimo-
ny are the only bonds to which she is subject.
The same with male convict. By marrying
free woman, he becomes by virtue of his Office
as husband as free as the Governor himself
as long as he conducts himself to the satisfac-
ton of his better-half The consequence of this
clever stroke of policy is that marriages of this
description are continually coming off with
this accommodating country, as young a lady
as he pleases; that is, if he is not over scrupu-
lous as to her past character, which is never in
Van Dieman's Land, by the bye, taken into
consideration. He has many hundreds to choose
from, not one of whom will spurn his offer, so
anxious are they to escape from Government,
that question whether one of them could be
found who would refuse her hand even to Old
Nick himself And on the other hand any
Australian lady verging on fifty, can be sup
piled. if she require it, with as youthful hus-
band as her heart can desire. There are before
her men of every age and condition to select
a partner from--parsons, doctors. clerks, trades
men and laborers-few will hesitate a moment
when she breaches the subject. The vast ma
jority, to get out of the Government power,
would marry the Witch of Endor herself, if that
would accomplish it."
CcINAGE CT The MINIS OF THE UNITED STATES.
-Since.the '1st of January last, there have been
coined at the U. S. Mint in Philadelphia and its
several iraLches, S45.2:I ,t5e in gold; $751;
604 in silver, al.G .S40,335 in copper-total.
S46, 6,O49,5s9. The deposits of gold at the sew
eral mints, during the same time, amounted to
ifornia.
The deposits of gold at Philadelphia since
the lst inst, amount to S4,792, 900, against
S4,960, 900 for the same time last year. AnOth-
er steamer is now nearly due with large a.
mount of gold dust, but the total deposits for
the year will hardly reach the amount deposit
ed during the year 1851. In that year the de-
pOsits of gold for November and December were
S1l ,762, ,669, of which Sl09, III were foreign
gold. This amount will hardly be reached for
the corresponding months of the current year.
The deposits of foreign gold Chiefly coin) for
the first ten months of the current year, at all
the mints, have increased, as compared with
the same period of 1851, S333,6 In domestic
gold. the deposits of California gold have fallen
off SS0,596, but the amount from other States
has increased Sll2,742.-U. S. Gazette.
The CALORIC SHIP.-The New-York Times
says: "The experiment of Mr.. Ericsson, Of ap-
plying heated air to the propulsion Of ships, ls
rapidly approaching crisis. The trial ship for
this object was launched in this city several
weeks ago, and by the first of December her
machinery will be ready to test the feasibiiity
of the discovery as substitute for steam
Opinions are much divided on the subject
The revolution which it proposes in navigation
is too wonderful not to enlist the 1iveliest con-
Germ among business men. The principle, il
succcssful with water craft, is capable of appli-
cation to nearly all machinery now driven by
steam. Mills, factories, and railway locomO-
tives may employ it. The discovery, rapid ex-
tension, and employment Of the magnetic tele-
graph, are not more remarkable than this will
be if its practical working should correspond
with the now sanguine hopes of Mr.. Ericsson
and the friends who are furnishing him with the
means"