SWAN RIVER.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume II, Issue 93, 20 June 1846, Page 4

SWAN RIVER.

His Excellency Governor Clarke opened the Legislative Council on the 3d April. The revenue of the past year was stated at £7,400, and his Excellency had expressed his intention not to initiate any new item of taxation; The duty on tobacco was recommended by him to be reduced to Is. per lb., and that on cigars and snuff to 2s. 6d. per pound on the colonial value. Major Twiss, of the Royal Engineers, who had been sent from Van Diemen's Land for the purpose of fixing upon suitable defences for the town and anchorage at Freemantle, had selected a site for a fivegun battery, together with magazines, guardhouse, and other accommodations for an officer and thirty men. It was currently repoited that the Governor intended to bring in a bill for opening the ports of Swan River to all vessels free of any charge for pilotage or harbour dues. — Australian, May 21.

Relics. — The Journal dcs Ddbats, speaks of the purchase some time since made by Prince Albert, of the coat worn by Nelson, when he received his death-wound, at the Battle of Trafalgar — for presentation to Greenwich Hospital — takes occasion to bring together a number of examples in illustration of the large sums paid under the relic-and-rarity mania ; particularly by the rich enthusiasts of our own island — more especially, it seems, subject to that species of influenza. Some of the cases reported will require testimonials, not likely to be forthcoming, ere they will be inclined to admit these amongst the statistics of the passion. The ivory chair which Gustavus Vasa received ffom the town of Lubeck, was sold, the Journal dcs Bibats says, in 1823, for the sum of 58,000 florins — not far short of £6,000! This is a startling anecdote to begin with ; but such a one was absolutely necessary to prepare the mind for the reception of the following : — The coat worn by Charles the Twelfth of Sweden, at the Battle of Pultawa — preserved by Colonel Rosen, who followed the adventurous monarch to Bender — was sold, in 1825, at Edinburgh, for the sum of £22,000 sterling ! This anecdote, the French paper, itself, thinks should have confirmation. It makes the rest, however, easy of acceptance — though there are some even of these which might be a little difficult of digestion by a faculty less powerfully stimulated. M. A. Lenoir, the founder of the French Museum relates that, during the transport of the remains of -Abelard and Heloise to the Petits Augustins, an Englishman offered him 100,000 francs (£4,000) for one of the teeth of Heloise ! At that quotation of the price of bone, Lord Shaftsbury had a great bargain of the tooth of Sir Isaac Newton, for which he paid only £730, in 1816! For want of an Englishman at Stockholm, in 1820, the head of Descartes (teeth and all) was absolutely given away, as the phraie is, at the sale of Dr. Sourmon's cabinet, for 99 francs. The following cases fall within the more mild and familiar examples of this affection — though it will be seen that the English examples continue to be far more striking than the foreign imitations. Voltaire's cane was sold, in Paris, for 500 francs (£20) ; Rousseau's waistcoat for 949 francs, and his copper watch for 500: — Kant's wig, in spite of all the promise contained in the apophthegm which suggests the seat of a doctor's wisdom, brought only 200 francs ; whereas, the wig of Sterne fetched, in London, 200 guineas — 5,250 francs! Luckily, the inference, against the philosophers, as to the relative value (according to collectors' measure) of the good things severally covered by the two latter articles, is escaped, by virtue of the differences in the development of this passion established in the previous cases. The hat worn by Napoleon at Eylau, was,, in 1835, carried off, by M. Lacroix, from thirty-two competitors, for the sum of 1,920 francs — about £77; while Sir Francis Burdett paid £500 for the two pens used in the signature of the treaty of Amiens.

Confidence or Courage. — It is conscious ability — the sense of power. No man is ever afraid of attempting what he knows he can do better than any one else. Charles Fox felt no diffidence in addressing the House of Commons ; he was reserved and silent in company, and had no opinion of his talent for writing ; that is, he knew his powers and their limits. The torrent of his eloquence rushed upon him from his knowledge of the subject and interest in it, unchecked and unbidden, without his once thinking of himself or his hearers. As a man is strong, so he is bold. The thing is, that wherever we feel at home, there we are at our ease. The late Sir John Moore once had to review the troops at Plymouth before the King ; and while he was on the ground and had to converse with the different persons on the course, with the ladies, and with Mr. Pitt, whom he thought a great man, he found himself a good deal embarrassed ; but the instant he mounted his horse, and the troops were put in motion, he felt quite relieved, and had leisure to observe what an awkward figure Mr. Pitt looked on horseback. Theodore Hook, when dining with the author of a work called " Three Words to a Drunkard," was asked to review it. " Oh, my dear fellow," said Hook, " that I have done already, in three words, tass the bottle." According to the statistics of Paris, that city contains only one baker for every 1,774 inhabitants — but one wine dealer for every 83 !