Extracts. NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 149, 3 November 1847, Page 3

Extracts. NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

Mad Charley, as Admiral Napier is familiarly called, has issued the following Poster, which is quite in keeping with that with which, as Captain, he commissioned the Powerful, and desciibed her as a ship " likely to take her own part in the event of difficulties " This is the Admiral's present yarn :—: — " The crew of the St. Vincent is increased to 850 men. Any young fellows who aie fond of fun bad belter rally round the ' Old Commodore,' whose ' bit of blue' flies at the nnzzen, and who is looking out for squalls. Apply on board the Flag Ship." This smells of the "Salt" of the last war, when invites, like the following, "astonished the Browns":— Who Would Enter For A Small Ciaft ? Here's Your Fine, Whacking, Donble Banked m Frigate !LEAN O E R, Gan Stow Corvettes On Her Booms j Eighteen Gun Brigs O:i JJer Quarters; And Tens Up Astern ! Every Man A Double berth. Can Plaj At Leap Frog On Her Lower Deck With Hammocks Slung. Twenty Prime Young Fellows Wanted For The Admiral's Barge j None Need Apply That Would Not Eat A Yankee Alive Going To That Fine Full-Bellied Station Called Halifax, Where You Get A Glass Of Boatswain's Grog For Two-Pence, And A Cod Fish For A Biscuit. God Save The Kino. The Lkander And A Full Bellied Station. Such the characteristic announce posted through out London in the early part of 1816, by the 2nd Lieutenant of the Leander, which ship, however, instead of proceeding to the Aldennanic station aforesaid, was despatched to Algiers, to whose Corsairs she imparted a belly-full ; cookint/ their goose after the much-approved nautical recipe so familiar to Btiiish Tars.

Extraordinary Fraud. — A discovery of a must ingenious and extraordinary fraud has been lately made in the London and Saint Katherine Docks, which has created a great sensation in the mercantile world. A feiv days ago, a Jew, whose name for obvious reasons, is omitted, arrived as a passenger in a ship lioin Sydney ; among the cargo entered as freight, were 70 casks of tallow, which were landed as such by the revenue officers, and entered as such in the usual manner. Subsequently a Custom-house officer, named Dean, made a more caieful examination of the reputed casks of tallow. On removing the bung, tallow was visible under-s neath, which was totmd to be contained in a tube made of tin, extending from the bung- hole to the opposite side of the cask. On removing the tube the real contents of the cask — brick-dust, irondust, and ashes — were brought to light. All the other cask* were filled with similar materials, a small quantity of tallow only being inserted in a tube in each cask. On Monday, another ship arrived ftom Sydney, with 90 casks tallow, consigned to the same individual, and upon being examined by an officer named Evans, they were ascertained to be filled with brickdust, and iron dust, and ashes, like the others. The weight of each cask is 12001b., and it appears that the Jew obtained an advance of £7000 upon Hie tallow from a Joint-Stock B^nk in the city — he has since absconded. The casks and theit content have been seized by the Customs, and the Police are now on the look-out for the author of the fraud, it is supposed that he has gone to the Continent,— Glasgow Paper, June 10.

France.— The subject of colonial slavery, for some time in abeyance, has been suddenly mooted in the Chamber of Deputies, with a most unexpected result. In July, 1816, the Chambers passed alaw to ameliorate the condition of the slaves ; allowing them certain days for work on their own account, right to purchase freedom, to marry, &c. The execution of the law was entrusted to tribunals in which the slave owners con etituted the majority ; and the consequence is, that it has become a dead letter through the flagrant partiality and evasions of public officers. Petitions from the French colonies, praying for the abolition of slavery, were presented on Saturday ; and a discussion was taken on Monday, May I. The petitions were strenuosly supported by M. Lasteyrie and M. Ledru Rollin ; with frightful statements as to the cruelties practised in Gaudeloupe and Martinique. For example— a little negro boy entered a garden ; he was seized by the owner, and taken before the Mayor; the magistrate drew out his penknife, and cutting off the end of the boy's ear, forced him to swallow it. A child was suspected of having poisoned an ox, which had died. The head of the ox was cut off, and suspended round the neck of the child, who was compelled to carry it until the effluvium produced by the decomposition of the flesh relieved the child from its torments by death. An aged woman was tied naked by the four limbs, aud her son was compelled to hold her while the whip was applied to the naked back of the woman, until her offspring was covered with the blood which spouted from her. A female, five montha gone with child, was bound upon a ladder by the four limbs, a billet of wood being stuffed between her bosom and the ladder, to render her back convex ; the lash was then applied, until premature delivery was produced under the operation of the torture. The blows inflicted upon her head broke out her teeth, destroyed one of her eyes, and deprived her of hearing. Another female, also pregnant, was submitted to the whip until her back was covered with bleeding wounds ; and then, by a devilish refinement oi torture, a solution of pimento and lemon juice was poured into the wounds. There was at times a show of punishment for these outrages, but only nominal penalties were inflicted. The man who tortured the

woman into premature labour was brought before the Correctional Police, and sentenced to fifteen days imprisonment! An officer who tried to procure due enforcement of the law, in the case of the child that was killed, was "advised to leave the colony, for his health," he refused,— but ultimately he was re-called, and placed on half-pay ! The Chamber received these statements with violent exclamations of incredulity; but M. Ledru Rollin adduced minutes of evidence and other proofs. Disbelief was succeeded by undisguised horror. M. Jolivet, who rushed on the tribune, and vaguely denounced the statements as " infamous calumnies," was driven from his post by shouts of indignation. The Minister of Marine and Colonies " deplored " that such facts had been brought forward —he did not think that any one however different the results that could be desired, was justified in unfolding such a long catalogue of grievances. There would be abuses in all communities. Admiral Mackau was persisting in the demand for " the order of the day,"— analagous to our " previous question ;" but M. Guizot perceiving the sense of the Chamber, broke in with the declaration, •* II ny a pas d'opposition ;" the motion should not be resisted. It was, that the petitions be referred to the Minister of Justice. This result is understood to sound the knell of slavery in the French colonies.