Miscellaneous.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IX, Issue 573, 1 May 1858, Page 4

Miscellaneous.

The appointment of an Ambassador to the English Court from the Emperor of Russia in the person of Baron Brunow may be regarded as a political fact of some significance. The rank of ambassador has not been conferred on a Russian Envoy since 1839, when Count Pozzo di Borgo was "succeeded by Baron Brunow. No public man was, perhaps, more anxious to preserve the long continued amity between England and Russia than Baron Brunow, whose lot it was to be compelled to return from his post on the eve of hostilities. The return of Baron Brunow with thehighesti-ank that can be held by the envoy of one country to another may be regarded as strong evidence of the friendly disposition of the present Emperor, and of his just appreciation of the interests of the two countries. — Times, January.

An extraordinary proof that the most fearful hurts may not be instantly felt by the sufferer is said to have been given at Thelwall station on the Warrington and Stockport Railway, on the evening of the 4th of January. "A Mr. Knowles, a gentleman of independent means, was proceeding with his father-in-law, Mr. Hampson, schoolmaster, of Salford, to the station to take the train from Wairington to Manchester. When within a short distance of the place, they saw the train approaching, and be : gan to run ; Mr. Knowles so swiftly, it seems, that he was unable to stop himself, owing perhaps to his being destitute of one arm, and he plunged into the station and fell on the railway in front of the advancing engine before any one could catch hold of him. Before he could rise again the locomotive passed over both his legs, completely smashing the right limb below the calf, and tearing off the left foot. Notwithstanding these severe injuries, the unfortunate man appeared to be for the moment unconscious of them ; for on the stoker running up to his assistance, Mr. Knowles held out his hand with some money, and requested the man to get him a ticket. Mr. Thompson, surgeon, of Chorlton-upon-Medlock, was in the train, and promptly applied ligatures to the wounded parts; and the sufferer was removed to Lymm, when three other surgeons attended upon him; but he sank rapidly-after his arrival there, and expired in little more than three hours after the accident."

The -following curious -illustration of bank " management" in Glasgow is furnished to the ' Times' by " the editor of the Belfast ' Mercantile Journal,'

"Not many years since, a certain gentleman became indebted to one of these banks to the extent of several hundred thousand pounds: when he was hauled tip it was found that he had 'no assets'; and the.bank, therefore ' insured his life ' to the extent of their debt, upon which they of coui'se pay a very heavy annual tax. This gentleman called on the bank some time after, and told one of the managers, ' I am offered a lucrative situation in Sierra Leone; but you know if I go out there, the policy will be vitiated; however, I must go, as I cannot starve.' What, then, was to be done ? The same man is now comfortably living on the Continent on an annuity granted him by this bank; which annuity, added to the premium of insurance, forms a nice little item in the expenses of the establishment. The amount involved in the above transaction was, I have good grounds for believing, no less than £350,000 ; and I am also further led to believe that this amount forms part of the 'assets' of the bank. If so, you will admit that a strict investigation into the nature of these assets is most desirable. In fact, such disclosures serve to show the necessity for the appointment of a special committee by every banking establishment, selected from among the shareholders and sworn to secrecy, whose special duty it should be to examine into and report upon the validity of the asset account at every general meeting of pix>prietors."

The great 36-inch mortar, in the invention of which some say the Premier had a hand, has been tested at Woolwich. This huge gun is made of separate pieces of iron hooped together. It throws a shell one yard in diameter, and weighing twenty-four hundred-weight. Some idea of its size may be obtained from the fact that to load it men mount to the mouth by a ladder and enter the chamber to place the charges. The shells that were fired were not filled, and the mere weight of the huge ball produced tremendous effects—"At the moment of impact there is a report seemingly more powerful than the report of a discharge. Nor is it quite like the noise of a gunpowder discharge either. Fancy a hundred thousand drummers to give one stroke at one and" the same time, and the notion would be more fitting. Within a radius of two hundred yards the air is filled with fragments ; stones, clay, turf, water, roots of trees go whirling aloft, as though a volcanic crater had suddenly belched forth." The result of the trial is called ' successful,' although at the fifth round the middle ring partially gave way. But it was clear that 36-inch shells can bey projected nearly a mile. . - The question of University "reform" or "improvement," long a stirring topic in the Scotch newspapers, has made its way to the platform. On the 31st Dec. a meeting on the subject was held in the Queen street Hall, called together by the acting committee of the association for the improvement and extension of the Scottish Universities. The meeting was attended by distinguished men of all parties. Lord Campbell, the chairman, opened the proceedings with a long speech ; the other speakers were the Dean of Faculty, Principal Campbell of Aberdeen, Dr. Candlisli, Sir Edward Colebrooke, Mr. Stirling of Keir, Dr. Robertson, Lord Neaves, Principal Tulloch of St. Andrews, Dr. Guthrie, the Lord Advocate, and Dr.

Christison. They all appeared to be very mn 1 in earnest in the exposition of their vie The resolutions declare the necessity f Or m encouragement to the attainment of hi o-h ex °\ Q lence in literature and philosophy ; an°incre in the efficiency of professorial instruction If so that the distinctive character of the Scott h Universities may be preserved; an increase f professorial endowments with provision for . tirementsj new professorships; the extension?" graduates of a share in University governmeni and an improved system of examinations A Mr. Raney of the United States exhibited at Windsor, before the Queen and Prince Co sort, the great powers he possesses over horses" He began with a wild colt from the Prince farm. "After being, alone Avith the animal about an hour-and-a-half, the. Royal part entered, and found Mr. Raney sitting <£ \Z back without holding the rein, the horse stand ing perfectly quiet. Mr. Raney then made a few remarks in regard to his great experience i tt the treatment of this noble animal." A drum was afterwards handed to Mr. Raney, which h& beat with fury whilst sitting on the horse's back, without the colt exhibiting any signs of fear. The Royal party afterwards withdrew for a few minutes, and on their return found the ..animal-lying down and Mr. Raney knocking its hind-legs together, one of which he put against his face. Afterwards, a restive horse from Mr. Anderson's stables in London, which Mr. Raney before handled, was brought inthis horse was placed at one end of the ridinghouse alone, Mr. Raney went to the other end and at his command the horse walked quietly up to him. He then made the horse lie down in the presence of the Queen; when Mr! Ranejr crawled between his hind-legs, and over him in various ways. Mr. Raney theu rolled, the horse on its back; the horse afterwards was placed in various positions, in which it stood without holding and without a bridle. Dr. Cblenso, Bishop of Natal, some time since published his opinion that where a Native convert had several wives Christianity did' not require the' repudiation of any of them. The view was brought under the notice of. the late Bishop of Norwich; and he referred to the Archbishop, of Dublin, and Dr. Whately wrote "as follows-^-" Puzzle-headed people are apt to confound together the making of a contract whichis (in a Christian community) not allowed,' and the keeping to a contract which, when it was" made, was lawful. I-hold with the Bishop [Colenso} that a man who puts away a wife, even though he has another, • causeth her to commit adultery.' " This was written in 1856. In 1857 Dr. Whately; gave permission to publish his opinion. " It is my design to give you, in the very just cause you are engaged in, all the support inmy power, and lexpeeted the publication of what I had written with that view. Thedivorces,which someofthemissionaries advocate, create so manifest and great an obstacle to the propagation of the Gospel, that nothing* could justify the adoption of such a procedure, except its being clearly a point of moral obligation ; instead of which it is, I am convinced, a procedure decidedly immoral."

Miss Jessie Meriton White, who was arrested at Genoa in June, and detained in prison, on suspicion of being implicated in the Mazzinian plot discovered in that city, has published an account of her treatment in prison. When arrested, she appealed to Sir James Hudson ; but he declined to take any steps in her behalf, considering that her proceedings " had for their object the setting, of the King's authority at defiance, and the subversion of the law and public peace." Miss White refused to quit the country, and insisted on being tried. She was well treated in prison; having a large any room to herself, and kind and courteous attendants. After being examined many times, she" was released, in November; and she appears still to be at large in Genoa. In the Court of Exchequer, on December 21 was tried an action to recover the sum of £100 money lent by the Honourable Mary Jones, daughter, of the late and sister of the present Lord Kanelagh, to a Polish " exile," styling himself the Count de Waszkowski, and understood by her to be the son of the celebrated Prince Wittgenstein. The lady and gentleman found themselves lodgers in the same house, 74 Ebury Street. The, Count evinced a strong desire to be introduced to the Honourable Mary Jones; and to bring about his object, he waylaid her maid, and. won her esteem to the extent of getting her to be the bearer of sundry bouquets v and letters to her mistress. These tokens were invariably returned—the flowers unscented, the letters unread; but the Count was not to be daunted. Finding this to be the case, the lady determined to see him and to request him. to disj continue his undesired attentions. They met; l and the Count told her such a story of his sufferings as moved her heart to pity—pointed by the prospect that he would come into estates worth £4,0,000 per annum on the death of his princely parent. She could resist his overwhelming fascinations no longer; before the end of three months from the date of the interview they stood engaged to be married to each other. Daring this interval, unfortunately, the Count's remittances ceased to be forwarded with as much regularity as he could have desired : ho informed his betrothed- that he had been obliged to pawn his watch, and requested her to be good enough to lend him £100 to got it back, and to put him in funds—until ho received his remittances. The lady took him to her bankers, Messrs. Drummond, drew a check, and handed him the proceeds; taking a memorandum written upon a penny stamp, by which the Count promised, at a given date, to repay the sum borrowed. A few days later and _ the wedding was to have taken place; the time, therefore, was come when the settlements were

i made The lady was firm in resolve to t0 b£r property settled upon herself en regie ; tTlhe Knt insisted that "where honour bU l affection existed, marriage-settlements were ani !3" ;at all events, he stipulated that T\/S fortune should be settled upor, himse f. m Kdv would consent to nothing of the kind; flthe dispute enlarged into, a quarrel, ending ? i i refusing to marry him at all, and dein hr « Jback her £100. Hence the present ding The Count pleaded a set-off in the &\ P »nf a hill for tailor's wares, jewellery, "^inioTke, and other matters, ordered »at *ftf request." He denied that he had p cpntea himself as a count, or the son of a Tee w h a prospective income of £40,000 a PT o as anything but a teacher of languages. Sp admitted that he had known Mrs.Swynfyn, i!;nHffin Swynfynu Swynfyn—was in fact sS*a to he married to her; but the marriage S broken off, and he got £300 from her f nilv for giving up her letters. He said, he hadhadmoneyfromagreatmanyladies,ahdthat, "when he had done with one lady he took on with another." The Jury without hesitation, returned a verdict, for the plaintiff for the omount claimed. By the death of Mademoiselle Kachel,—which occurred during the night of the 3rd and 4tli of Tan at a country-house in Canet, near Toulon, iiacedather disposal by M. Sardoux,—the annals of French classical tragedy are brought to a close and will not be resumed till some new srenius yet unforeseen, appears on the stage to Animate the oldfashioned figures that were considered Greek in the golden age of Louis XIV. A love of Moliere is implanted as irradically m the French mind as a veneration, for Shakspere in the soul of Britons, and his tenure of the stage does not depend absolutely on the state ot the histrionic profession. But it is otherwise with the tragedians. Corneille and Racine are poets of the literary. world, not of the Irench people; and it is only by their association with some great actor that they maintain a theatrical existence. Of late years, thanks to the genius of Mademoiselle Rachel, the plays distinguished ]w important female characters stood high in the list of acted. classical dramas, while the parts m which Talma had achieved his gigantic reputation were slightly heeded. JSTow the female link is also snapped; and whether classic tragedy will ever resume a commanding position, is a question beyond the power of solution. Mademoiselle Rachel was born in March 1820, at the village of Munf in Switzerland. Her father was a Jewish hawker; and m early life she was an itinerant singer at the French cafes. Under the protection of M. . Choron, who accidentally,; itis said, discovered her talents, she was regularly educated tor the stage; and after an abortive debut ; at the trymnase, commenced in June, 1838, at the Theatre Francais, that brilliant career, as a tragic actress of the first class which lasted till the malady which has just terminated her existence caused a cessation of her professional toils. Her first appearance in London, at Her Majesty's Theatre, was in the year 1840, when she played Hermione in the Andromaque of Racine; but it is with the St. James's Theatre, where she acted m several successive seasons, that her name will be associated in the minds of the London public. Ihe last illness of Mademoiselle Rachel was more than a year, in duration, and was accompanied by intense suffering. According to the Pays, one of her sisters, foreseeing on Saturday the fatal termination of the malady, sent to Nice for a Rabbi, who arrived in time to read, the prayers for the dying, prescribed by the Hebrew religion. The remains of the deceased artist are to be brought to Paris by her brother M. Raphael Felix. . ■ i i i There is now on the eve of being launched at Cumberland Ironworks, Bristol, a ship ot 1200 tons, built expressly for the firm of Miles and Kington, of Bristol and Melbourne, to be employed by them in the Australian trade, lhis ship possesses in a peculiar degree all the qualities necessary for a transport. She is built, firstly, to sail at a high velocity, and at the same time is fitted with Hyde's patent enclosed screw. This screw is so arranged that it offers no impediment to the ship when under canvas, and is enclosed within the run of the ship by means ot two sliding plates or shutters; the screw being keyed on the shaft as in ordinary cases, it cannot therefore be subject to the accidents and wear ot a lifting or feathering screw, and is pronounced bypractical mariners to be the very thing wanted for long voyages. The ship in question is 250 feet long by 32 beam, and 20 deep, bne is to be fitted with machinery combining high and low pressure steam and surface condensers, which combination, from the nature ot the arrangement, although only 70 horse power, can be worked up to 300 horse power with an expenditure of not more than 6 tons of coal in twenty- " four hours, and she can stow besides 1,000 tons of cargo, coals enough for the voyage to India and back, assuming one-third of the run to be under steam. This is a clipper ship and a steam ship combined possessing all the recent improvements, without reference to cost, to insure her being one of the most successful clippers yet constructed. The builders are anxious to submit the ship and all her appurtenances to maritime critics, and are bold enough to challenge her against all the clippers of her tonnage yet built.— English paper.