THE PLOUGHMAN'S PETITION.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume III, Issue 215, 21 August 1847, Page 4

THE PLOUGHMAN'S PETITION.

Kind gentlefolkSj Members of Parliament, please ye, I'm a poor agricultural labouring man ; > I »m sure I'm uncommonly sorry to tease ye, But I hope you'll do something for me if you can. Eight millions and more to the Irish you've granted; Very well, I have nothi- g to say apaiiW ihat ; I am told, and believe, that the money was wanted, From starvation to save poor unfortunate Fat. But you, who conduct the affairs of the nation, So considerate to Paddy in vant and distress; Can't you help me a little in my situation ? I don't think I deserve >our benevolence lesi. I "work -well for my living at least — what's my payment f Recollect that a wife and > oung children have I — Seven shillings a-week. Will it huy food and raiment T If it will, will it leave ut a mite to lay bye? You tell me, unless I can save from my wages A provision enough to m intain me when old, That the -vyorkhouse the only resource of my age ii; How to save I should very much like to be told. You say that the workhouse, by statesmen discerning, To punish improvident people -was meant ; If you'll show how a man with the pittance I'm earning Can be provident, gentlemen, I'll be content Of my labour I'm told that dependent the pay is On the law, as 'tis called, of suj ply and demand; If that pay is too little, then all I can say is, There is something amiss in the law of the land. If you cannot insure us, by wise legislation, For an honest day's labour an honest day's hire, Don't you think now to render us fair compensation, That boh reason and justice your honours require? Put the means in our pow'r, and •we'll readily hoard them, To provide for our age, as you say we should do ; If your law of supply and demand won't afford them, We've a. right to expect the provision from you. We do all that ire possibly can for a living; There are some, 1 believe, I can mention that don't; Unto those that will work sure there's real on* for giving, If there's any for giving to people that won't. To the truly deserving of succour extend it; And if able to scrape up a few millions more, On a sort of asylums suppose that you spend it— For your old agricultrual destitute poor. Punch.

M. Soyer's Soup. — The celebrated cook of the Reform Club has published the following recipes for making soup, at once cheap and good, to distribute. The plans which he has promised to disclose, are calculated greatly to improve the quality and cooking of the soup provided for charitable purposes, and to facilitate its distribution :—: — The Receipt for Soup No. 1. — I first put one ounce of dripping into a saucepan (capable of holding two gallous of water,) with a quarter of a pound of leg of beef without bones, ' cut into square pieces about half an inch, and two middling-sized onions, peeled and sliced. I then set^tbe saucepan over a coal fire, and stirred the contens round for a few minutes with a wooden (or iron) spoon until fried lightly brown. I had then ready washed the peeling of two turnips, 15 green leaves or tops of celery, and the green part of two leeks, (the whole of which, I must observe, aie always thrown away.) Having cut the above vegetables into small pieces, I threw them into the saucepan with the other ingredients, stirring them occasionally over the fire for another ten minutes ; then added half a pound of common flour (any farinaceous substance would do,) and half a pound of pearl barley, mixing all well together. I theu added two gallons of water, seasoned with three ounces of salt, and a quarter of an ounce of brown sugar, stirred occasionally until boiling, and allowing it to simmer very gently for three hours, at the end of which I found the barley perfectly tender. The above soup has been tasted by numerous noLlemen, Members of Parliament, and several ladies, who have lately visited my kitchen department, and v.ho have considered it very good and nourishing. The cost, at full price, was as follows : — Quarter of a lb. of leg of beef at 4d. per Ib. .Ad. Two oz. of dripi ing fat at 4d. per lb OJ Two onions and other vegetables 1 Half lb. of flour, seconds, at ljd. per lb. ..Of Half lb. of pearl barley at 3d. per lb 1 § Three oz. salt, with half oz. brown sugar.. 0£ Fuel 1 I Two gallons of water o—60 — 6 This soup will keep several days, when made as above described. ' I The above expenses make it come to fd. per quart in London ; but, as almost everything can be had at much less cost in the country, the price of this soup will be still more reduced. In that case, a little additional meat might be used, and by giving away a small portion of bread or biscuit, better support would be given to the poor at a trifling cost, and no one, it is to be hoped, hereafter would hear of the dreadful calamity of starvation. The Receipt of the Soup No. 2. — This can be made cheaper and in less time.— Proceed as Receipt No. ! 1 explains; (as,regards the fat, meat, onions, and the other vegetables,) but add one quart of water upon the whole, which' you let boil twenty 1 mMutes, stirring now and then to prevent binning ; or else, if convenient, set it by the side of the fire, and add one pound of maize, mix well together, and fill the stewpan with six quarts ofwater ; season as above ; let it simmer one hour, skim lightly, and it is then ready for use. If a large quantity is to be made, say one hundred gallons, any kind of vessels now in use, 1 such as- copper or cast iron, will do : have ready a 1 ' spatula; or piece of board the shape of a cricket bat, about six inches wide, tapering" towards the top as a handle, (which must be from one foot and a' half to two 'feet above the 1 surface^ of the vessel,) to stir ' wUH ; : the fire being well lighted, take twelve pounds of solid 1 meat j or eighteen pounds with'the bones, (legs or clods of beef, with - a portion of cow heels; is excellent for 7 the' purpose 5 , bat any kind 1 of edible meat fr dm beef to' doe venison > will do,) 1 cut itin pieces about 'one mch 1 square, put three pounds atid a half 'of fat. ' ' In cue * .n h< t f? 1 I s*'J* I- 1

there should be difficulty to procure the fat, > put in one gallon of water instead ; then you have ready twelve pounds of onions, lightly ] eeled and cut in slices, and twenty-four pounds of vegetables of any kind, mixed, such as carrots, parsnips, turnips, leeks, celery, cabbages, savoys, sorel, spinach, mangel wurzel, swede, and Jerusalem artichoke, all cut in a slanting direction, which facilitates greatly the cooking,) with the meat into the copper left stewing about one hour, stirring the whole contents until the moisture is nearly gone, which will depend entirely on the fire ; then add enough water to cover the whole, which you wili let boil ten minutes ; then add twenty-five pounds of flour, and mix it well together ; then add thirty pounds of either barley or rice, season with nine pounds of salt, and three pounds of brown sugar; afterwards fill the copper wiih water, and boil the whole contents for two hours or more, until the barley or rice is quite tender ; the soup is then ready for use. In case either the barley or rice did not produce the thickness required, (as those ingredients may differ in quality,) then add, if too thin, a few pounds of flour or oatmeal, previously mixed with cold water, to make it a liquid paste, and pour it in when boiling, about twenty minutes before serving it out. But the proper thickness is easily ascertained when ihe soup hangs lightly on the back of the spatula or ladle. One hundred gallons of this soup will cost under £1. Loss of the • Caraibe' French SteamFrigate. — The Presse publishes the following letter, dated St. Louis, January 13th, 1847, describing the loss of the vessel above named, and censuring in severe language the precipitation with which that vessel was abandoned. — " Nothing is spoken of here but the loss of the steam-frigate Caraibe, commanded by Admiral Montanguies de la Rogue. About seven o'clock yesterday nforning that frigate returning from the Canary Islands, where she had been to convey M. Boust, was wrecked on the coast, five leagues to the north of St. Louis. A heavy fog covered the sea at that time. The Commander was aware that he neared the land, since he had stopped her from midnight to six o'clock in the morning. At six o'clock he got up his steam to reach St. Louis, but during the time she was stopped the currents had carried her so close to the shore tlrai she was no sooner set in motion by the steam than she struck on the ground. The misfortune occurred at the moment the Commander, having a doubt as to his position, had given orders to heave the lead, After having fired some cannon shot in order to obtain assistance, the Admiral ordered out the boats. But the frigate was surrounded by breakers and according as the boats were launched they were swamped, and all hands in them perisheiJ, with the exception of one seaman, who brought an account of the disaster to Sr. Louis towards ten o'clock. The entire population of that town instantly proceeded to the wreck. With unheard of efforts they sneceeded in laying hold of the ropes of the fiigate, and held her down to the ground. It was by these means the crew was saved, but three-fourths of the seamen would have perished had not the intrepid negroes of Guetudar seized them as they dropped into the water. Nevertheless, I saw six perish with my own eyes. The landing was effected with great precipitation, and many of the crew perished who might have been saved. Some boats, which arrived from St. Louis, brought off all the officers, and the Admiral, the last, towards seven o'clock in the evening. The ship remains a total wreck, without any hope of saving. She was abandoned with by far too much precipitation, for where she lay the men might have remained safe on the poop during several days. The Admiral bivouacked with the crew on the sea shore, in order to save as much of the stores as possible, and they still remain there. It is a great misfortune for France, and a great misfortune for the Admiral. He was indeed truly unlucky to have lost a superb irigate without any reason with twenty of his crew drowned ! There were several soldiers on board the Caraibe who escaped from the Pipin when she was wrecked, and were subsequently on board the Caiman when she went ashore. The Tuant Herald says of the loan of £8,000,000 for Ireland : "It is the first instalment of what we have been robbed by the ' blighting' Union." — It was "the 'blasting' Union" in the Nation. We learn from the Gateshead, Observer, that a Sunday collection having been made at the Bethel chapel, Darlington, on behalf of the destitute Irish, one of the pisantry called in the, afternoon " for his shaie !" The Potatoe. — Two near neighbours, farmers or gardeners, holding land at Shields, had opposite luck with their potatoes. One, who used sea-weed with his' stable-yard manure, lost hardly a single potatoe ; the other, who used stable-yard manure without sea-weed, lost almost every potatoe on his farm. Salt has been mentioned as a preventive of the disease, and our story seems, favourable to its efficacy.— rlbid.

The Duke of Wellington completed his 60th year in the army on the 6th March, having joined the 73rd Regiment as Ensign, on the 6th of March, 1787. He is, we presume, the oldest soldier in Europe, actively and professionally employed, at the present time. Anecdote of the Duke. — During the regimi of the Peel Administration an important situation in Ireland became vacant, to which a relative of the Duke's wished to be appointed. He therefore wrote to his Grace, and, after having stated his wish, concluded his letter with these words : — '* One word from your Grace will be sufficient." The Duke the following laconic and characteristic reply :—": — " Dear , not one word — from yrs. affly., Wellington. A Kino's Mistress. — The King of Bavaria has made the danseuse, LoJa Montes, who exercises such a remarkable fascination over his Majesty, a countess of the empire, under the title of the Countess of Hernberg. A Brave Man in a Fix. — Vice-Ad-miial Sir Alan, afterwards Lord Gardner, a man of undaunted bravery, but of remarkably sensitive and retiring temperament, being at that time member for Plymouth, was, according to custom, to receive, through the Speaker, the honour of the thanks of the house in his place in Parliament. On the appointed day, before the commencement of business, he entered the Speaker's private room in great agitation, and expressed his apprehensions that he should fail in properly acknowledging the honour which he was about to receive. " I have often been at the cannon's mouth," said he, " but hang me if I ever felt as I do now ! I have not slept these three nights. Look at my tongue." The Speaker rang for a bottle of Madeira, and Sir Alan took a glass. After a short pause he took a second : and then said he felt somewhat better ; but when the moment < f trial arrived, and one of the bravest of a gallant profession, whom no personal danger could appal, rose to reply to the Speaker, he could scarcely articulate. He was encouraged by enthusiastic cheers from all parts of the house ; but after stammering out with more than the usual amount of truth, " that he was overpowered by the honour that had been confened upon him," and vainly attempting to add a few more words, he relinquished the idea as hopeless, and abruptly resumed his seat amidst a renewed burst of cheers. — Life of Viscount Sidmoulh. No less than £3,424,81 1:5:9 now stands in the Court of Chanceiy in the name of the Accountant-General, the accumulation of dividends unclaimed by various suitors to whom they were due. In the Clitistian combat, not the striker, as in the Olympic contest, but he who is struck, wins the crown. This is the law in the celestial theatre, vrheie angels are lookers-on. — St. Chry<-ostom. Mr. Gutzldff thinks the Chinese the most prolific nation in the world : all marry, and not one marriage in a hundred is unproductive. In the census which he made of Tinghae, a city containing 30,000 inhabitants, there was but one unmarried female, and she was an English lady. A fiiend having called on the Rev. Sidney Smith to request that he would sit for his portrait to Landseer, the celebrated animal painter — " Is thy servant a dog," sa ; d the witty divine, " that he should do this thing?" The undergraduates had some "good cries" at the Cambridge election. Among others — " Three cheers for the Field Marshal's first victory." — "Cambridge for Germany." — " Shortly will be published, the Master of Trinity's (Dr. Whewell's) Court Guide."— " Albert hats and Trinity mitres." Latest Case of Monomania. — A gentleman who fancied himself a pendulum, always went upon tick, and never discovered his delusion until he was carefully wound up in the Queen's Bench. " O dear !" yelled out an urchin who had just been suffering irom the application of the birch ; "Oh my, thpy tell me about forty rods make a furlong ; but I can tell a bigger story than that : — Let 'em get such a plaguy lickin' as I've had, and then they'll find out that one rod makes an acher."