ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 294, 24 May 1848, Page 3

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

Her Majesty has been graciously pleased to bestow on the Marquess of Normanby the order of the Grand Cross of the Bath, vacant by the death of Sir Robert Gordon. Transmission of the Queen's Speech by Electric Telegraph. — On Tuesday the electric telegraph was brought into active ope-

ration on a grand scale, for the purpose of transmitting the Queen's speech throughout England and Scotland. An early copy of the speech was expressed from Westminster to the Central Stations in the Strand, and at Euston square. It was completed to Southampton, where a steamer was in readiness to express the speech to the Continent, in about an hour. In the course of two hours it was transmitted over 1,300 miles, to sixty central towns or stations. A circular has been issued from Downingstreet, instructing the authorities in the colonies, that the Roman Catholic prelates are henceforward to be addressed by the proper titles appertaining to their rank in their own own church ; but they are not to be designated by the local titles derived from the name of the sees which they hold. State op Ireland. — The following accounts of two murders appear in the Mayo Constitution : — "On Wednesday last, Mr. John F. Rourke, coroner, held an inquest on the body of Robert Hennelly, who was barbarously murdered by four ruffians early in the evening, in this town, on Monday week. Several witnesses were examined, and among the rest, Mr. Neal Gallagher, through whose exertions and courageous conduct, two of the party were arrested in the fact. Much credit is due to the townspeople, who, in the absence of the police, hunted three of the murderers down, and succeeded in handing them over to the authorities. The following verdict was returned by the jury :: — * Wilful murder against Martin Mulroony, Arthur Dempsey, and Thomas Muldoon, aided and abetted by others unknown ; and we beg to express our high approval of the praiseworthy conduct of the inhabitants of the town for their exertions in arresting and handing over those parties to justice.' We regret that the coroner did not permit evidence to be adduced against Bourke, one of the accused, who was evidently a principal, inasmuch as he it was who hired the assassins to commit the deed, and we learn that since his enlargement be fled the country. We are unable, from press of matter, to give the inquest, which we have of considerable length. On the 19th December, Thomas Gannon and Patrick Gannon, both of Cregganbawn, about five miles from Louisburgh, were disputing about land : Patrick Gannon, who is nephew to Thomas Gannon, was turned out of the house ; he then secreted himself in the neighbourhood until he saw the uncle pass ; he then flew at the ill-fated man, gave him a blow of a * loy' which broke his skull ; he died in a few hours after. A verdict of wilful murder has been returned. The police were on the spot shortly after, but up to this time there is no trace of the offender." The effects of the new pacification bill on the Tipperary sharpshooters are thus described by the Nenagh Guatdian: — "Last Sunday will be a memorable day amongst the ' real Tipperary boys.' Vast numbers were to be seen in every direction armed with guns — taking, as they said themselves, their * farewell shot.' Some of the peasantry are already beginning to offer their fire-arms at first cost price, others at half price, to the vendors they purchased from ; but there has been no transfer of stock of this description, their respective armouries being already overstocked." The same paper announces the arrest of one of the murderers of Mr. Roe, of Rockwell :— " We have just learned that Sub-Inspector Cox, on Monday moruing last, at three o'clock, had succeeded in capturing one of the assassins of the late Mr. W. Roe, named Lanergan (or Loughnane), at his residence at Boy ton - rath, from which he had been absent ever since the tragic deed was perpetrated until Christmas-day. This fellow is brother to the person who figured in print so oiten, by writing letters from Boytonrath, justifying the murder of Mr. Roe." The Cork Constitution also announces the arrest of a murderer, one of the party charged with killing the ganger on the Casbel railway : " On Christmas-day, Sub-constable White, of the Capwell station, arrested a man named John Darcy, a labourer, charged with the wilful murder of a man named Michael Smith. Smith was ganger on the Great Southern and Western Railway at Ballybrothy, in the Queen's County, and having declined to comply with some orders issued by the agrarian legislators, he was murdered on the 13th of November. The murder appeared to have been perpetrated with hammers, his skull being shattered to pieces, and his blood and brains scattered around where the body lay. After the murder Darcy fled, and having come into Cork, enlisted in the 67th regiment, which is about to sail for Gibraltar. He was arrested by sub-constable White, when on parade in the barrack-yard. This arrest has led to the discovery of further information respecting the murder, which, it is expected, will result in the capture of two others who were engaged in the crime*'*— Times, Dec, 31.

The following very characteristic order has recently been issued by Sir Charles Napier, and very strongly recalls to mind the stringent laws against vagrancy promulgated in the days of Queen Elizabeth : — " The cantonment of Kurrachee is infested by vagabonds who came with the troops from Bombay. The police and bazaar masters are to arrest all such men as have no ostensible means of earning their bread, and send them back to the place*from whence they came to Scinde. Those who do not belong to Bombay, are to be put to work on the roads for a month, and then liberated for three days ; at the end of which time, if they do not find work, they are to be again sent to the road gangs. There are good wages and plenty of work going on in Scinde ; and the Lieutenant-General (Governor) will not allow vagabonds to be loose on the public to rob industrious people. This order to' apply to all the other stations in Scinde."

The Naval Uniform. — The Lords of the Admiralty have directed that a surtout frock-coat shall he established for the undermentioned officers with the following distinctive marks, viz. — Admiral, with four rows of lace, of five-eighths of an inch on the cuffs, without epaulettes. Captain, with three rows of lace, of half an inch on the cuffs, without epaulettes. Commanders, with two rows of lace, of half an inch on the cuffs, without epaulettes. Lieutenants and masters, with one row of lace of half an inch on the cuffs, without epaulettes. The surtout coat of all other officers to be perfectly plain. The coat to be of blue cloth, double breasted, with the naval uniform button. Warrant-officers, midihipmen, masters' assistants, and cadets, to wear their present dress. Commissioned officers when on shore in full dress, or in any undress coat, with epaulettes, must appear in the regulation cocked hat and sword. Patterns of the surtout coat, as well as of the belt and sword, to be worn in future, will be sent to the several home ports and foreign stations for the guidance of the officers. No scales are in future to be worn. Admirals, and all other officers in command, are desired to pay strict attention that these regulations be rigidly adhered to.

Fashionable Failures. — Tbe Duke of Roxburgh, the Earl of Eglinton, and Mr. Campbell, of Islay, are bankrupts. The liabilities of the two former are said to be very heavy. Those of the latter are estimated at £670,000 ; the assets are valued £800,000, but it was calculated that tbe sum could not be realized in the existing state of the money market. Lord Eglinton gives up all his property, and will be allowed £500 a-year' by his creditors. Viscount Kenraure, of Galloway, is also in the Scotch Gazette. The sale of newspapers and periodicals at the different railway stations in London, is becoming so profitable, that the companies now exact a rent from the vendors for tbe privilege. It is said that the sale of papers and periodicals at the London bridge station, returns a profit of ten guineas a week, and that the directors have put the privilege up to competition at a high figure. The rent payable for this privilege at the Euston station, is at the rate of £70 per annum, though until lately the privilege was accorded free of payment. A remarkable undertaking is in progress in Sweden — that of lowering the waters of the great lake of Oieren twelve feet, which has become necessary in consequence of the construction of a railway from Stockholm to Gothenberg. The work is done exclusively by soldiers.

Reform Banquet. — A reform banquet, on the largest scale witnessed since that of the Chateau Rouge, took place at Lyons, on Tuesday. Sixteen hundred persons assembled in the Coliseum, and had a building more spacious still been available, more than twice that number would have united in this manifestation. The president on the occasion was M. Alcock, counsellor of tbe Court Royale of Lyons. All, the usual toasts were drunk. The health of the King was omitted.

Losses in the French Navy. — " Everybody," says the Constitutional ', " deplores the new catastrophe which has befallen our navy, and inquires what can be the cause of those frequent shipwrecks, of which it appears to have the melancholy ] rivilege. In the course of two years the state has lost twelve ships of war: — the ßerceau, a 30-gun corvette, which was swamped at sea ; the Collibri, of four guns, belonging, as well as the Berceau, to the Bourbon station ; the Doris, 6-gun schooner, which sank in sight of Brest ; the Levrette cutter, of six guns, lost on the coast of America ; the Seine, 24-gun corvette, wrecked at New Zealand ; the Gloire frigate, of 54 guns, and the Victorieuse, of 24, on the coast of Corea ; the Greenland, steam-frigate, of 450 horse power, on the coast of Africa, on her return from the expedition to Mogador ; the Caraibe, of 450 horse, on the coast of Senegal; the Papin, steam corvette, of 160 horse ; the Sphynx, also of 160 horse ; and the Eridan, of 60 horse, in Guyana. Those calamities have entailed a loss of several millions on tha country. It is needless to

observe that the reputation of oar navy likewise suffers from these repeated disasters. It is certain that the English navy experience fewer losses than ours. It has, nevertheless, a greater number of ships at sea." The tribunal of correctional police of Paris have sentenced, by default, M. Gudin (Ute aide-de-camp of King Louis Philippe), for cheating at cards, to three years' imprisonment, and 2,000 francs fine.

The Affairs of Italy. — Letters from Rome of the 18th instant, state that tbe liberal and retrograde parties were respectively making desperate efforts to secure the support of the Pope, and that Lord Minto had taken a decided pait in favour of the former, and nearly succeeded in persuading his Holiness that the war in Switzerland had been directed, not against the Catholic religion, but against the Jesuits. The celebrated preacher Father Ventura himself, had an interview with the Pope on the 16th, at which he did not hesitate to condemn the marked predilection his Holiness had lately evinced towards that religious order, and observed that if he wished to serve the Jesuits, he should not do so ostensibly, because his alliance with them would destroy his cause and that of Catholicism; by involving both in the unpopularity attached to that order. The Pope, who is under the influence of his new confessor, cut the conversation short by requesting Father Ventura to drop the subject. Lord Minto was still at Rome, vainly endeavouring to prevail on the holy Pontiff to revoke the bull against the Irish colleges, not from any objection on the part of his Holiness, but from the unconquerable opposition of the sacred conclave. The attempt of his Lordship to establish diplomatic relations between England and Rome appears to have been equally unsuccessful. The Pontifical Government was well disposed to agree to the proposition, but on condition that a nuncio should be accredited in London. To this Lord Minto objected, in the name of his Government, which would only consent to re* ceive a lay representative. Mousignor Corboli Bossi was to be elevated to the dignity of Cardinal, and would, in all probability, succeed Cardinal Ferretti iv the post of Secretary of State. Our private letters from Naples of the 18th instant, announce the arrest of Don Camillo Caraccolo and the Duke d'Albanetto, for having joined in the popular demonstration of tbe 15th instant. Other rather serious indications of Liberalism are mentioned in these letters, the details of which we are compelled to hold over. Letters from Genoa of the 23rd instant, announce an insurrectionary movement in Sicily. It is stated that 7000 armed peasants had descended from the mountains, and entered Palermo, and that the garrison had in consequence retreated from tbe city into the citadel. — Times, December 31.

Queen Pomare. — Yesterday the diligence of the Messageries Royales brought to the Hotel de France twenty-one children, relations and servants of Queen Pomare, whom Admiral Bruat is taking to Paris. When they had dined, most of tkem were taken to walk about town. One of them, who is decorated and speaks a little more French than the rest, said that Queen Pomare had sent them to be made acquainted with the king. They all took their departure this morning, jyith the Admiral, for Paris. — Auxiliare Breton of Rennes, 13th of November, 1847.

New Submerged Propeller. — An experimental trip was made on the Thames, on Monday, by the Earl of Dundonald and several scientific gentlemen, in a small steamvessel of twenty horse power called the Albion, to test the efficiency of a new method of pr*opelling steam-boats, invented by Mr. Simpson. The new propellers consist of wheels acting horizontally or vertically, in a case entirely underneath the water. Those used in the Albion are constructed with "four plain leaves or floats fixed on a vertical shaft, surrounded by the case. This case is a concentric circle, rendered eccentric by its position with relation to the wheel, which it exceeds in size sufficiently to give effect to the centrifugal action of the water. The principle of the invention may be stated to consist in the ejection of a column of water in a parallel line with that of the vessel's motion, which column acts against the water outside the vessel, and propels it with great force. The diameter of the submerged propeller-wheels of the Albion is only twenty-four inches, and the wheels necessary to be used in a boat of 300 tons pr 400 tons burden would not, it is stated, exceed 30 inches in diameter. The vessel attained a speed of from ten to twelve knots an hour, and moved through the water without causing any surface swell. Lord Dundonald expressed a high opinion of the value of the invention, which he considered peculiarly applicable to the propnlsion of steam-boats on canals or narrow rivers. The invention is very interesting to scientific men, and, if it be found to work well on a large scale, must cause a revolution in the construction of, steam-vessels.

Extraordinary Evidence. — H. Borthwick, brewer, and Henry Dobson, labourer, were charged before the Sheriff of Edinburgh, with having forcibly entered a pigeon-house, cilled Sheriff-hall dovecot, near Dalkeith, the property of his grace the Duke of Buccleuch, aud with stealing about 70 pigeons. The pigeons were sold to a spirit dealer, who keeps the Carriers' Quarters, at the head of the Cowgate. Part of the pigeons were taken out to Dairy ; where they afforded sport at a shooting-match ; but the robbery having been discovered, the thieves were traced by the ■county criminal officers and the greater part of the pigeons were recaptured. The stolen property, however, having been difficult of identification, an excellent expedient was resolved upon, to find out from whence they had been taken, which was to let the pigeons fly at liberty, in the expectation that they would fly to their former cot. Accordingly, a number of the birds, w ith ribbons and other marks attached to them, were set free from the top of the county-hall buildings, and another flock was taken to Samsons-ribs, and liberated there, and the persons who were stationed at Sheriff-hall, to mark if any of the stolen captives returned, observed in a few minutes after the appointed hour, a number of the older birds, and those who were stronger in the wing, regain their place of abode. The flight of one of the pigeons from Samsons-ribs to Sheriff-hall, a distance of four or five miles, was accomplished in less than five minutes. The robbery being thus confirmed by natural evideuce, the jury unanimously returned a verdict of guilty, and Borthwick, an habitual and reputed thief, was sentenced to eighteen, and Dobson to six months' imprisonment. — Edinburah Paper.

A Royal Salute.—" John 1.," we are told, " had risen early to hunt at some distance from Cintra. In passing through his chamber he chanced to meet one of the maids of honour, and presented a rose to her, at the same time saluting her on the cheek. The gallantry was not unwitnessed, for the queen was entering the room by a side door. In the confusion of detection, the king could only say, * Por bern, por bem ;' meaning that he had meant no harm, only taken an innocent liberty. The queen made no remark ; but her revenge showed that she was not implacably offended. On the king's return, after a few days, be found the roof of his dining-room painted all over with magpies, each bird holding a rose-branch in its claws, and a label in its beak, on which label were painted the words, ' Por bern, por bem.' The king was pleased to be rebuked so playfully, and adop- • ted the Por bern for his motto. This was our guide's version of the tale, and much the prettiest of the three traditions that are current. A second tells us that the king himself .caused the ceiling of the room to be painted in that manner, in attestation of the innocence -of the proceeding in which he had been detected, and that be now applied, in the sense of -our ' Honi soit gui mal y pense,' the motto 'Por bern, 1 which he had previously adopted as a declaration of his disposition to do good to his people. The third interpretation is, that the adventure was whispered from mouth to mouth among the ladies, to the scandal and gieat distuibance of the poor maid of honour, and that the king, to punish the palace gossips, caused their malicious garrulity to be thus typified." — Journal of a Residence in Portugal.

Influence of Climate. — The European is not made for the southern climates of Asia. Carrying with him, in his first adventure, his original energy of mind and frame, he is astonished to see the land tenanted by human Wings who are content with mere existence. The bold climber of the hills,— the daring mariner, — the intelligent and delighted inquirer into all the wonders of the earth and •ocean., sees himself surrounded by men lying on sofas, living only to eat, and carfrless of the whole brilliant profusion which tissues the ground, or fills the forest, or variegates the shore. But the second generation inevitably feels the influence, and the son of the sinewy and susceptible European become the languid, self-satisfied, and voluptuous Oriental. In fact, the two races are totally different. The Asiatic has some noble qualities. The Creator has not altogether effaced his image in any region of human habitancy. He has fancy, keenness of conception, desperate but unwilling bravery, scientific faculties, and a qniet delight in the richness of his own lovely islands and pyramidal mountains. But to the European alone is alloted the roaster quality of energy ; and by that gift he drives the ,world before him. This resistless quality lie perhaps owes chiefly to his sullen skies and rugged soils. Even in the East, the man of the desert, the son of the storm and the snow, has always been the conqueror of India. The Osmanli sultans were iorced to raise the boldest of their batalions among the Christians of the north of Greece. And we shall yet see the Australian sweeping before iiin the indolence of the Birman and the Javanese. This he will owe to the sterility of

his fields and the half European blasts of his more salubrious and stringent atmosphere. The maxim of Montesquieu, that " poverty always conquers wealth," solves but half the problem. The true solution is, that the poverty of the soil compels the exertion of a vigour, which severity of climate alone cau generate among a people. For three hundred # years the population of Jutland and Denmark almost annually swept the southern shores of Europe itself. The Norman was invincible on land. Even the great barbarian invasions, which broke down the Roman empire, were the work of nerves hardened in the forest and the desert. The same causes have made the storm-beaten Englishman lord of India. But India will never be a British colony. It will never be, like America, a land of Englishmen. The second generation will be Indians, while Australia will be the southern England. This is evidently the law of a Will above man. — BlackkoocTs Magazine.

Re-asonjng Powers in Bieds. — In places frequented by the common blackbird and thrush, you may sometimes see a stone, which may be called the butcher's block of these birds ; to this they carry the snails (Helix aspera, H. hortensis and nemoralis) which they collect, and which they seem to know that their bills, without the aid of such a solid fulcrum, would find some difficulty in piercing. A still higher effort of reflection, and, it may be said, of invention, is related by Mr. Yarrel ("British Birds," vol. iii. p. 465) of a gull, which, for the first time, had made a lark its prey, but had some difficulty ' in devouring it. After some ineffectual efforts to swallow it, he paused for a moment, and then, as if suddedly recollecting himself, he ran off full speed to a pan of water, shook the bird about in it until well soaked, and immediately gulped it down without further trouble. Since that time he invariably has recourse to the same expedient in similar cases. It is amusing to observe the proceedings of the cormorant shag (Telicanus carbe and P. graculus), and the loons (tolymbi) t in Jealing with the refractory subjects which they sometimes fish up in the course of their researches under water. If the prize be a crab, it is taken to the surface, and, fully aware of the danger of attempting to swallow it whole, it is there dropped, and a smart peck of the bill is made at the legs. These are either knocked off by the blow, or the crab is induced to throw them off, according to the known practice of these creatures when injured. Each of these is then seized and swallowed in succession ; and the body, by this time become a mere lump, is gulped down last of all. A laucce, or shanny, if caught or held by the tail, is flung aloft, and caught in a convenient posture as it falls. If the prey be a flounder or plaice, it is thrown on the surface, and pecked so violently as to break or dislocate the firm arrangement of transverse bone, and thus deprive the muscles of their strong contractile power, by which so rigid an obstruction was thrown in the way of swallowing. It is then rolled up in a cylinder and easily disposed of. A close observer of nature informed me, that his attention was directed to a cormorant, which appeared to be much distended about the neck and throat ; but, while watching its proceedings, the bird t discovered his presence, and endeavoured to escape, by which means its attention became distracted, and an eel started from its jaws, and employed much active efforts to effect its retreat. Unwilling to lose so valuable a morsel, the bird pursued it, and was again successful ; but it was not now in haste to ingulph its prey. Repeatedly and violently did it peck the fish through the whole of its length, and then again seized it across its bill; but, still finding it capable of too much activity, it continued to peck until the whole of its powers of contortion were subdued, and there was no further risk of its again effecting an escape from iis dungeon. — Couch's Illustrations of Instinct.

Health in Bed. — It seems an accepted opinion, not only of the great mass of people but of the bulk of the profession, that remaining in bed destroys health ; but the value of this opinion must be placed in its true light. If health mean the mere muscular power in the usual exercises of the body when free to move, then some countenance may be allowed to this opinion. Certainly, the muscular subject cannot vault in his saddle, or throw the quoit after being kept to his bed, as otherwise he would have been able to do. But if health mean the orderly exercise and equable succession of those functions of which life is made up, then I have reason for thinking that with some precautions health is very well maintained in bed. I have often known patients to have been in bed not only months but even years, and I have observed that all those processes which present themselves as marks of health are present. I have seen patients, after having been in "bed some time, enjoy their food with an appetite to which they had been unaccustomed ; sleep unaided by sedatives in a more than usually composed

manner ; the natural relief of the bowels being regular, and the skin performing its functions uninterruptedly. In short, these patients have been in the very best state agencies to repair imperceptibly the disturbances from injuries and other causes. Without the repose of bed, the surgeon often would idle away his time, waste his resources, and inflict suffering upon his patient in the greater number of his cases. The prejudice against this treatment has arisen from the fact that patients are generally sent to bed with a wasting disease upon them ; and when the period of convalescense approaches, they attribute to bed that weakness and debility which is the consequence of the complaint for which they were consigned to it. — Vincent's Observations on Surgical Practice.

The Humanising Influence on Cleanliness.—A neat, clean, fresh-aired, sweet, cheerful, well-an anged, and well-situated house exercises a moral as well as a physical influence over its inmates, and makes the members of a family peaceable and considerate of the feelings and happiness of each other ; the connection is obvious between the state of mind thus produced and habits of respect for others, and for those higher duties and obligations which no laws can enforce. On the contrary, a filthy, squalid, noxious dwelling, rendered still more wretched by its noisome site, and in which none of the decencies of life can be observed, contributes to make its unfortunate inhabitants selfish, sensual, and regardless of the feelings of each other; the constant indulgence of such passions renders them reckless and brutal, and the transition is natural to propensities and habits incompatible with a respect for the property of others or for the laws. —Topic, No. 2. "Ever Blooming, ever New," —We are told, by creditable eye witnesses, of a practical application of the theory of temperature in the preservation of fruits, flowers, and vegetables, which has recently been patented by a citizen of Philadelphia, and which is now actually in operation. A large apartment is built under ground, the sides of which are lined with a double wall, containing sawdust. Over the ceiling is a room filled with ice, which, gradually melting, filters through the sawdust ■and keeps the temperature of the underground apartment always at thirty-four degrees Fahrenheit, just two degrees above frost point. In this apartment lemons, apples, oranges, flowers, strawberries, &c, are preserved with complete freshness for any desirable length of time. A gentleman connected with this office saw apples, perfectly fresh and as fragrant as when ripe, that had lain in this preservatory since October last. Lemons, too, are there as fresh as ever, which were imported months ago, and bought for five levies a box, being now worth as many dollars; Flowers, berries, and the most perishable fruits, have been kept in the same manner long enough to show that the preservative powers of this place are probably indefinite, and that hereafter no obstacle will exist to the enjoyment in midwinter of all the luxuries of the summer. This is almost as good as capturing a city. —PhilaNative American.

delphia What shall we do with our Criminals? —This is a question which, as Sir George Grey very properly says, there is a great deal of difficulty in answering. We think, however, we are enabled to offer a suggestion to the worthy Home Secretary, which will greatly assist him in the difficulty he finds himself under in disposing of criminals, now that the transportation system is no longer carried on as formerly. Our plan is, to convert some of the worst offenders into Irish landlords. It may be objected, however, that this would be almost equivalent to the restoration of the system of capital punishments, when we seem to be on the eve of their abolition. —Punch. " Want Washing." —An American paper has this advertisement: —" Two sisters want washing."