The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-01-28


traveller that new and fearful mode of execu-
ton has been adopted by the King of Delhi.
Inc instrument and process are thus described:
A box, each side of which is fifteen feet
square, is constructed of timber eighteen inches
thick, dovetailed together and braced with iron
rods. The outside of the bottom of the box ia
covered with plate of beaten iron, one inch
in thickness. The interior is filled with per-
feet cubes of granite, weighing in the aggregate
several thousand tons. A machine is erected
after the manner of an ordinary pile-driver, but
OF course on an enormous scale, and of tremen-
dous strength. The mass is raised by powerful
machinery, cast In Birmingham for the express
purpose, though it is to be presumed that the
machinist by whom it was furnished had no
idea of the horrid purpose for which it was
intended. The human victim is placed upon
block OF granite, of a corresponding surface,
buried In the earth Immediately beneath the
enormous MACS, and covered with a plate of
iron. At signal given by the vicramadack,
the executioner touches spring, the mass falls,
aud the victim, crushed at once is suddenly an
initiated and spread out like a sheet of paste
board The huge weight being again raised,
the fauened body is withdrawn and dried in
the sun. When completely prepared, it is hung
over the wall of public building, there to serve
as warning to the multitude"
The probable expense of the Utah expedi-
ton may be judged of by the estimate yesterday
submitted for subsistence stores of the Utah
expedition for eight mouths. This item, small
in comparison with transportation and other
expenses, is over a million and quarter. The
estimate referred to is based on the army or
ders of the 18th Of January, and provides for
eight thousand souls in the expedition, about
five thousand six hundred of which will be
| troops. The present expedition, civil and mil.
| itary, embracing steamers, employees, servants
| &C., numbers about three thousand, and the
transportation, and subsistence for the same,
up to the present time, amounts to a large
sum-how much we may know when the def
cheney bill shall be reported.
| The Colonization Society have recommended
to the Government, as a means for promoting
the suppression of the slave trade, the employ.
ment of more steamers on the coast of Africa,
instead of sailing ships. The officers of the
United States navy employed on the coast of
Africa have urgently recommended the same.
The British Government employs some steam
ers of great swiftness and light draft for that
purpose, and one of them has recently captured
no less than six slavers, some of them Amer
lean.
From notice of Surgeon General Lawsons
report in the American Journal of the Medical
Sciences, it is ascertained that the tallest men
enlisted in the United States army are from the
State of Georgia, where, out of one hundred
enlisted, thirty were six feet and over; while
the shortest men are from New York, where
| only four out of one hundred were six feet
The talest recruit from Georgia was six feet
six and half inches, and the mean height Of
the recruits thence was five feet eight inches.
| lie, al
six feet one and half inches, and the mean
height of New York recruits was FIVE feet six
| inches. The Southern and Western States pro-
duce the tallest men, and the Middle and East
ern States the shortest.
| The Philadelphia Bulletin learns from in.
quiry into the condition of the ice.houses along
the Schuylkill, that with some rare exceptions
but little stock remains on hand. The lar
gest establishment has only about four hundred
tons some have five or six tons each, while
| others have none at all.
In the New York icehouses, the stock rare
", if ever, runs out and it is not unusual to
find ice in them that is four or five years old
They have on hand, now, about half supply.
The Boston ice-dealers propose sending out
steam-tugs to the Banks, for the purpose Of tow
ing in few icebergs to fill their ice houses
The Bostonians are an ingenious people and
having many local advantages that New York
ers have not know how to improve them.
Both branches of the Virginia Legislature
have passed bill providing for the conveyance
TO the State of Virginia of the birthplace Of
| asnington, ana the nome ana graves OF his
progenitors in America. The adoption of this
measure may be regarded as patriotic prelude
| to the contamination of the noble enterprise in
which the Ladies Mount Vernon Association
is engaged. The bill appropriates $4,000, to
enclose the places with an iron fence, and to
erect substantial tablets, to commemorate
for the rising generation these notable spots"
as required by Lewis W. Washington, in his
offer of conveyance.
NJ GailIardet, writing from Paris to the Cour.
rier des Etats UniS, says:
"The diplomatic record has been enlivened
by the accounts given in letters from Berlin of
the mode of life of Mr.. Wright, the new minis.
ter Of the United States at the Prussian Court.
| AS he belongs to the Temperance Society, he
| gives nothing to drink but water to bis guests
| when he invites them to dine. He sets before
them dishes of maizs, which is compared to
the black broth of the Spsr.ans, and much
amusement is aft Jrded by his going to market
himself to purchase his simple food"
| Detroit Jan. 2l.-An extra session of the
| State Legislature convened yesterday at Lam
| sing. The exigencies demanding special ses-
sion, as stated in the Governors message, were ::
A revision OF the judicial districts of the State
so as to include certain counties which have
| been left destitute of means for the collection
| of debts and punishment Of crimes; some
provision for deficiencies in the finances of the
| State, which he proposes to meet by Temporal
| ~ loan of 5000, and if necessary, the issue
and sale of new stocks sufficient to redeem those
| falling due this year. He also recommends an
appropriation for repairs to the st. Marie ship
| canal made necessary by damages sustained
| during the past navigation season. The Gov
| ernor approves the action of the commissioner
of the land office in Withholding the swamp
lands from sale, and favors the reduction of
the price of public lands, and condemns the
action of the Federal Government relating to
Kansas affairs.
The work on the United States steam frigate
Niagara, at the Brooklyn navy yard. is being
prosecuted with unequalled vigor. Her decks
present perfect hive of carpenters, caulkers,
riggers, &C., all actively engaged in their re-
spective vacations; while below, in her engine.
room, engineers are busy night and day, ma
king such alterations and repairs in her machin.
cry as will better facilitate, both in. time and
speed, her coming undertaking of laying the
Atlantic submarine cable. She is likewise
being thoroughly eaulked outside as far as the
water-line. In fact 1t seems, from present in.
dications that every precaution will be taken,
by the officers in charge of the work of re6.ting
her, to remedy every possible evil that she may
have had before, and at once fit her for her
coming mission in the spring, without her hav
ing to undergo the Inconvenience that were
consequent on her previous bad internal ar,
rangement.