Miscellaneous.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VIII, Issue 495, 1 August 1857, Page 3

Miscellaneous.

Sir Benjamin Hall appoints soldiers who have distinguished themselves to be keepers of the public parks. The last appointment in Eegent's Park- was that of Corporal Shields, of the Welsh Fusiliers; who wears the Victoria Cross and the Cross of the Legion of Honour for the gallantry at the attack on the Eedan, when, he and four other soldiers recovered the dying Lieutenant Dyneley from some rocks close to the works.

Serious apprehensions of a murrain among cattle are entertained in England. Already in the crowded cattle-sheds of large farm-steads numbers of cattle have suddenly died. Mr. John Eadcliffe, a surgeon, who, while on the staff of Omar Pacha in 1855, witnessed the devastations of the murrain in Asia Minor, describes it as a pulmonary affection. He recommends better ventilation, less crowding in cattle-sheds, and cleanliness in the yard. He puts no dependence on a seaboard quarantine.

It is with i-egret we have to record the death of auother victim in the cause of African exploration. Intelligence has been this week received at the Foreign Office from our British Consul at Tripoli, of the assassination of Dr. Vogel, whose arrival at Kuka, on the borders of Lake Tsad, in the best health and spirits, has been formerly announced. The letter received at Tripoli i 3 from Corporal Maguire, one of the Sappers sent out with Dr. Vogel, and is written-from Kuka. Dr. Vogel had departed from that place comparatively alone on a most perilous journey eastward, with, the view of reaching the Nile. He is said to have advanced through Birgirmi into Waddy, and to have .been there murdered. The Sheik of Bornu has promised to forward particulars to our Consul at Tripoli, as soon as they have been ascertained.— Literary Gazette. How Me. Macattlay Weites History.—• The portraits are perhaps those in which there is a slight mixture of caricature, and we are not certain that the best histories ar.e not those in which a little of the exaggeration of fictitious narrative is judiciously employed. Something is lost in accuracy, but much is gained in effect. The fainter lines are neglected, bat the great characteristic features are imprinted on the mind for ever.— Macaulay's Essay on " MacJriavelli."

In the proceedings concerning the British. Bank there was a novelty—a witness, who, generally, answered questions in a direct manner. The witness was Mr. Humphrey Brown, formerly Member for Tewkesbury. His evidence did not disclose much new matter, the subject of his debt to the bank having been one of those most fully treated of by others. A bit or two, however, may be picked out. He became a director in February 1853; he began his career characteristically—he " qualified" by giving a note-of-hand for £500 in exchange for ten shares ; he afterwards doubled his " stake" in the company by giving Cameron a note for £1,000 in place of the one for £500. He opened an account with the bank, and paid in— £18 145.! Mr. Linklater—" And on the same day that you paid that in, did you do them the honour to borrow upon your note-of-hand £2,000?" Mr. Brown—"l did. Security was contemplated on a vessel worth £7,000, but that security was not completed until June," [three months after,] Mr. Brown obtained enormous advances, entirely through Cameron, who "for most purposes was the banker." When the bank stopped Mr. Brown was a debtor for £6,000! As security, he had mortgaged ships which had already been mortgaged to Mr. Walton, formerly governor of the Bank. Commissioner Holroyd characterised one of Brown's proceedings with the ships as " a most fraudulent transaction." Mr. Brown freely accused Mr. Owen, Mr. Esdaile, and Mr. Craufurd, of stating in their evidence what was not true. Mr. Commissioner Holroyd _ gave judgment on May 14. As the examinations have closed with the exception of some formal depositions, he thought it is duty to interpose "at once, lest justice should be defeated, and to direct copies of the examinations to be transmitted to the Attorney-General, so that the Government may be advised by its Law-officers as to the institution of criminal proceedings. "I do not believe," he said," that a scene of greater recklessness, fraud, and criminality of conduct in the management of a banking establishment was ever exhibited in a court of justice than is disclosed by the examinations taken in this court under the adjudication of bankruptcy against the Royal British Bank; and I may observe that these examinations will be admissable in evidence against the parties in case of a prosecution." After a clear and perspicacious review of the evidence, the learned commissioner states that the following charges have been established against the authorities of the Bank. First, commencing business before all the shares were subscribed for, and thus imposing upon the Board of Trade; making, declaring, and publishing false statements and balance-sheets of the assets, liabilities, and profits of the bank,, for the purpose of concealing the actual state and

position of the affairs of the corporation •, declaring dividends when no profits had been made, and when great losses had been incurred ; conspiring to raise the price of the shares of the company by illegal means and with a ■criminal view; conspiring to obtain a supplemental charter by false representations and false reports and balance-sheets: by making repeated gross misapplications of the funds of the bank.; by large loans to some of the directors and other persons on terms of the utmost risk, and in total disregard of the discretion vested in tlie directors by the charter: by embarking in a hazardous speculation quite foreign to the legitimate business of banking (the Welsh mines); and, lastly, by not exercising proper superintendence and controller the general managers in conducting the business and affairs of the company. After condemning the auditors for signing fictitious accounts, the Commissioner went on—" The directors of such a Company therefore ought to be, and I think it will be found that they are, amenable to the law for their conduct as directors, and subject to punishment for not faithfully discharging their duty." Finally, lie directed that the proceedings under the bankruptcy should be forthwith brought to the special notice of her Majesty's Government.

The fall of houses supplies the place of fatal railway " accidents." Early on the morning of the 9th May, three houses in Tottenham Court Road fell dowu, and caused the immediate death of five persons, while others were badly hurt. Between Grafton Street and Tottenham Place there were seven houses, five of which •were occupied by two furniture-warehousemen : Messrs. Maple and Co. held those numbered 145 to 147, and Mr. Hunter L Tos. 148 and 149. Eecently a portion of the house No. 148 had been destroyed by fire ; Mr. Hunter was having it rebuilt: Mr. Maple thought this a good opportunity to have some alterations made on his own premises adjoining No. 148; so that the two houses were pulled to pieces at the same moment. On Friday afternoon, the districtsurveyor inspected the place; he pronounced the party-wall of ,No. 147 to be unsafe, and directed that it should be- immediately " underpinned" and a new wall carried np as high as the first floor. When the."workmen arrived on Saturday morning, they went to work on this wall, and made two large holes in the lower part, one at each extremity of the wall. Soon after seven o'clock, Mr. Hughes, one of Messrs. Maple's clerks, noticed dust coming from the wall; the instant after, a bricklayer called out -to him to " run for his life" ; he darted into some back premises, and had hardly done so when the wall fell, dragging down with if three more houses —Nos. 146, 147, and 148. At the moment the houses fell there were a good many persons in and about them—besides the shopmen, clerks, and young females employed at Maple's, there were workpeople engaged in the building operations.

Several persons appear to have got out of the ruins tin aided, and not much hurt. Measures were taken to dig out those buried in the rubbish. Frederick Byng, a clerk, who was suffocated while lying in bed —Ann Briscoe, the cook at Maple's, who was employed at the moment in pi-eparing breakfast for the establishment—Richard Turner and George Garnett, cai'penters, who were at work in a second floor— and George Kevil, a labourer—were taken out dead. Mr. Joseph Taylor, son of one of the builders employed, though rescued alive, suffered much, a beam having fallen across his body. A large amount of property was destroyed on the premises of Maple and Co.; but Mr. Hunter's house did not contain any furniture.

Details of the Chinese outbreak in Sarawak, supplied by the journals of the Straits, and a letter by Sir James Brooke to a friend in London, have filled a prominent place in the news. The insurgents were emigrants, known as the Kungsi, and had been established in the country before Sir James Brooke arrived there. He had, it appears, dealt rather sharply with them in suppressing opium-smuggling, and by otherwise compelling them to obey his government. Although there had been rumours of resistance to authority, the Government treated the matter lightly, and thus the outbreak was a real surprise.

Sir James Brooke says, " I had been unwell for some days, and on the night of the 18th retired early to bed. My servant was sleeping in a room near mine, and Mr. Steel and Nicholas 'occupied a small bungalow close by. Between twelve and one o'clock, I was awakened by yells and shots ; and, seizing my sword and revolver, I opened a window, and saw that the house was surrounded. The noise told me it was by Chinese. I opened door by door, in the hope of finding means for escape, but in vain. I told Penty (his Native servant) that our deaths were at haud ; and, as the last hope, went down to the bathing-room, weich was under repair, The door was not fastened. I opened it gently ; and, seeing the way clear, ran across the lawn to the creek on the right hand of the house, and took the water close under the bows of the boat which, had brought the murderers to their bloody work. I carried my sword and pistol across with me. Glad was I touch ground on the far side, though not above thirty yards. I struggled through the deep mud, and Jay down exhausted and panting in the road. Recovering breath, [I got to the nearest house, and, launching a canoe, pulled up to the Datoo ■Bandars kampong."

Meanwhile, the Chinese had taken the two forts-near Kuenin, the Government town,,togewith the arms and ammunition. They attacked all the persons connected with the Government. Mr. Crookshank, a magistrate, was wounded, defending his wife,: and he Left her for dead, amid a crowd of rebels, who cut off'her hah',

tore her rings off, but did not kill her—indeed, one gave her water; and finally she was taken to the Bishop's house. Mr. Middleton's house was set on fire. He escaped; but his wife from a place of concealment, with the burning rafters about her, saw the ruffians " kicking about the head of her eldest child." The youngest child was murdered, and thrown into the flames. Mr. Wellington, a metallurgist, was killed, his head cut off, and his body thrown into the flames. Strange to say, the Chinese did not attack the Bishop; and they finally quitted the town, on condition that they should not be attacked by the Malays. Sir James Brooke, who had sought refuge among the natives, was joined by the survivors. They immediately began to animate the Maylays for a struggle. He collected a small force, and proceeded towards the town; but finding it in flames and the enemy there, he withdrew. In the evening a steamer arrived with arms and ammunition; and havingabase of operations, Sir James returned to the attack, drove " the miscreants " out of the town, let loose the Dyaks on them, pressed them hard, and either killed them or forced' them to take refuge in the jungle. On the 10th March, however, the Chinese resumed.the offensive, coming down the river well armed. They declined an engagement offered by the" Datoo Bandar " with a single praliu, and landing threw up a stockade. More watchful than his enemies, the Datoo first cut off their boats; then obtaining reinforcements from Kuchin, he stormed the stockade, cut the garrison to pieces, and drove the fugitives into the j tingle. "On the night of the 11th, "Sir James writes," I 'heard that Balidah and Simovar had been abandoned, and hurrying up the following morning, the intelligence greeted me that Bank was likewise deserted, and had been burned, and that the Chinese were in full retreat towards Sambas. This took us by surprise: but our force got upon their trail on the loth, and, after three days' desultory fighting, drove them across the frontier with great slaughter ; the enemy, howevei', making a desperate resistance in defence of the women and children, and the efforts of our people not being able to break them. Had twenty-four hours' delay intervened to allow a concerted attack, we should have had them all; but as it is, we may. be thankful j for a mere remnant of the body of Chinese men has escaped, and the capture of the women and children was not to be desired. Even now, however, this mass, driven to the further side of the Sambas river, must suffer great loss, and may altogether perish in the wild jungle for want of food and exposure. Thus the punishment has been almost as sudden and far more sharp than the treachery and first success of this miscreant body. A thousand and more have been killed in different places, their flourishing settlements destroyed, and not a rooftree to cover their dastard heads m the country. The numbers starved in their flight by being lost in the jungle it is difliculfc to reckon, but it must be considerable; and out of a population of 4000 or 5000 certainly not more than 2000 have escaped, and half this number is composed of women and children. " The loss, it seems, has fallen chiefly on Sir James Brooke, Mr. Crookshank and Mr. Middleton.

The beards of the Crimean soldiers have been ruthlessly condemned by the authorities to be shaved off: the pioneers only are to be allowed to wear beards.

The Southern parts of Eussia that suffered by the war are to be released from taxation for varying periods, and compensation is to be given to individual victims.

Sixteen ships out of the eighty sunk at Sebastopol have been raised.

The Portugese Government are preparing to send out a reinforcement of 300 men to Macao.

The uniform three-farthing postage has now been in operation in India for two years : the number of letters and newspapers convej'ed has doubled, and it progressively increases. The loss of revenue at present is £30,000 annually; but that deficit is expected to be extinguished in another year.

The' Bengal Hurkaru' reports two marriages of respectable Hindoo widows at Calcutta.

The revemie of Canada last year was £1,497,385; the expenditure £1,309,438; surplus, £187,152, to be added to the large balance to the credit of the province which, has accrued in former years. No less than £300,000 is expended on medical charities in London annually. The fourteen general hospitals possess an income of £109,687 from property. The commerce of Genoa has increased greatly: there is barely sufficient quayaccommodation for the crowds of shipping that enter that port.

The revenue of Prance improves. In the first three months of this year the receipts were 14,202,000 francs in excess of those of the same period last year.

As the Bussians don't readily take up'shares in the great railway scheme, the Imperial family has set them a significant example by subscribing for a considerable number. A private communication from Constantinople states that " the British Minister and the Indian Company have abandoned the plan of passing the electric wires for Constantinople to India through the Ked Sea. It is determined that the wires shall follow the Euphrates railway." Vesuvius is in a veiy active state of eruption and the spectacle by night is very grand. Cock-fights are not yet entirely things of the past: a publican. at Liverpool has been fined for permitting cock-fighting in his house; he had a " pit " constructed of sods in an- upper room. i

The Paris academy of sciences has been presented by M. Lartet, professor at Audi, with three fragments of the shoulder of an unknown bird; dug up in the department of the Gers. The three fragments placed end to end measured 58 centimetres, or nearly 23 inches, — about a third more than the albatross, which, of all known birds has the largest humerus; so that the entire length must have been considerably more. From the form of the bone it would would appear that this bird belonged to the same genus as the albatross. M. Lartet, however, proposes to consider it as belonging to a distinct genus, under the name of Pelagornis miocaenus.

The Hungarians hit upon an ingenious device to place the national colours before the Imperial pair on their visit toPesth; when the Court went to the theatre on the 7th, there were exhibited in front of the seats of the Emperor and Empress three immense bills of the play, of " red," " white," and " green " silk. Mr. Dallas and Baron Damier the Haytian Minister were at the opening of the Manchester Exhibition. While Mr. Dallas was conversing with the Belgian Ambassador on the dais, Baron Damier approached. The Black Ambassador came up the steps, and his Belgian Excellency, with the politeness of a Frenchman, rose and" shook him by the hand. The Haytian glanced at Citizen Dallas, as if he expected a similar greeting; 'but a wave of the hand, directing him to pass by, was all that the representative of that Republic which declares that all men are equal could give to his black brother. The sight caused many smiles and curt remarks unfavourable to our American cousins.—" Wai'rington Guardian." Some people find a coincidence in eveiything. Thus, the " Ipswich Journal" says—" A lady has called our attention to the remarkable coincidence that the first letters of the surnames of the four last Bishops of Norwich correspond with the consecutive consonants in the word "Bishop," namely, Bathurst, Stanley, Hinds, and Pelham;"

It is said that the cause of complaint of the French Government against that of China is not only the execution of a French missionary, named Chapdeline, but that the Mandarin who committed that act of barbarity caused the •treaty signed between France and. the Celestial Empire to be solemnly burnt on a pile of wood.

It appears that the last party of Filibusters who set out to join Walker have met with the greatest misfortunes. When their steamer blew up they were forced to appeal to Captain Erskine, commanding our naval forces at Greytown, to take pity on them and convey them in his man-of-war to Aspinwall. Captain Erskine complied with their piteous prayer; disarmed them; took them on board his ships; lauded them at Aspinwall, and saw the greater part shipped off for New York. ,'

Naples is now entirely garrisoned by Swiss troops, the regiments of Neapolitan soldiers having been quartered in towns where they never before had been stationed. -

The Emperor Napoleon, has, it is said, again written to the King of Prussia on the subject of Neucliatel, pressing him, in as urgent a manner as he can, to accept the solution proposed by the representatives o£ the four powers, and already accepted by the Swiss Government. The Swiss still declare they cannot advance a step more in the way of concession; whatever is to be done in that way must come from Prussia. —" Times."

The House of Assembly in Nova Scotia has passed the Submarine Telegraph. Bill. Lord Napier was present at the annual dinner of the St. George's Society, New York. To the toast of " Her Majesty's Ministers'" he answered, in a speech dashing in manner, pleasantly piquant in bantering allusions, frank and cordial beyond all diplomatic restraint, but grave and vigorous in matter. He avowed himself to share a useful employment with his venerable friend the United States Minister in London—"the employment of holding aloft the ensigns of friendship between the two great branches of the English race.

A good deal of interest has been excited by the protracted investigations connected with the charge against Thomas Fuller Bacon and Martha his wife, for the murder of their two children in December last. The charge was finally brought to trial at the Central Criminal Court on the 13th and 14th May. It may be recollected that the two children were found dead in the house of their parents, and that Mrs. Bacon, when arrested, said that a man had got into the house by the window and cut their throats. She had been confined in a lunatic asylum, and was believed to be insane. Her husband left home for Eeigate early on the morning of the murders—it is now believed while the children were yet unharmed; but suspicion soon fell on him, and he was arrested. In his examinations before the Police Magistrate, he made several assertions to back up his wife's fabricated story of the burglar; but these were proved to he falsehoods, and suspicion settled more darkly upon him. It was increased when his wife, in a letter to the Magistrate, charged her husband with the murders, and with an attempt on her own life. When the evidence was all brought together at the trial, it was seen, however, that, except the lies he told to escape suspicion and to screen his wife, there was no evidence to implicate Bacon. In fact, it was shown that Mrs. Bacon must have committed the murders. The jury found Bacon "Not Guilty;" and Mrs. Bacon " Not Guilty, on the ground of insanity." Lord Campbell concurred in this verdict. He thought it right to say, that since the female prisoner had been confined in Newgate she had stated to the ordinary thfet she alone killed the children. Bacon is still in custody, on a charge of poisoning his mother, at Stamford. 4"

Five little boys found a bottle of whisky at Liverpool, and handed the bottle about till all the contents had been drunk. They were found insensible, and one died from a t oplexy. A Dr- Dussort has seen an aerolite tall near Colmar, in France. He was walking on the bank of the 111, when his attention was suddenly attracted by a whistling noise like that ol a shot, or of a flock of birds passing rapidly through the air. At the same moment he saw passing at about a hundred yards above him a black body, spherical at one end and pointed at the other, the whole measuring, as well as he could judge, from thirty to forty centimetres (11 to 15 inches) in length, and about the thickness of a man's arm. From the Doctor's indications, men have been busied for some time in endeavouring to discover this aerolite, but have not succeeded.