ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 473, 16 February 1850, Page 2

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

The fees of Mr. Wakley, M.P., as one of the coroners of Middlesex, amounted lisf year to £4015.

Electric Telegraph in Ireland. — This invention has been introduced into Ire land, and is now in operation on a portion of the Great Southern and Western Railway.' " One peculiarity of this telegraph," says Saunders's News Letter, " is, that the wires usually placed upon poles are in this instance buried at a considerable depth in the ground. . No person travelling on the line would suppose that such a mysterious agent as the Electric Telegraph was at all in operation. Two great advantages are .gained by the.adop.tion - of this plan — namely,, security from the effects of lightning and depredations. The means employed for generating the electric fluid^are somewhat novel, and consist in the use of a certain salt known to chemists as chloride of calcium, being in fact, the pure base of lime. This salt has the property of attracting sufficient moisture from the atmosphere for keeping up the supply necessary to work the telegraph, thereby entirely dispensing with the use of acids, found by all electricians so destructive to the metals employed."

It » stated, that from accurate calculation, it has been found that one half-hour's rain rent ores from the sewers of London more deposit and detritus than one hundred thousand men could recmve, working for ten hours. The first importation of iron from America had taken place, and consisted of 150 tons, landed at Liverpool from that continent. It is said to be understood from the best ■aifthoriiy that the Dutch, fearing the effect 'of- the repeal of our navigation laws upon their ship-building, are about to repeal the duty upon copper, iron, and other articles that enter into (he construction of ships. — Times. It may be recollected that at the great conflagration of the Houses of Parliament, which took place in 1834, several books and important papers were either lost or consumed, amongst which were some of the manuscript journals of the House of Lords. Within the last few days, however, it has been ascertained that a portion of the latter at least was not consumed, and their existence was brought to light in a most siugular manner. It appears that a few days since a gentleman residing in Walworth was passing along the Walworth Road, when his attention was attracted by some old hooks, &c, in the shop of Mr. Terry, cheesemonger, at the corner of Amelia-street, and which the latter had purchased as waste paper. Ou closer inspection he discovered no less than 13 books which appeared to be the journals or daily minutes of the proceedings of the House of Lords, comprising the following dates : — 1780, 1787, 1788, 1789, 1790, 1791, 1792, 1798, 1799, 1801, 1803, 1805, 1806. The gentleman, accordingly, on Monday, purchased one of the apparent journals, with which he repaired to the library of the House of Lords to learn if it were genuine, when some of the parties there immediately detained it, and having been informed where the rest were, on Tuesday morning three messengers proceeded to Mr. Terry's, and purchased the whole thirteen, which really proved to be the actual journals of the above-mentioned dates. The price they paid for these important documents was merely that of common waste paper, being no more than £1 15s. for nearly 1 cwt. — Daily Ncs.

The Duke in 1815. — In the course of a trial last week,- before the Civil Tribunal of Paris, on the affairs of Madame Recamier, the AiJvofaie.Lattglns, Ji»ving documents to produce, read, as be said, " a specimen of British gallantry," the following letter from the Duke of Wellington to the lady, written when the Allies were in Pans :—": — " Paris, Jan. 13. — I confess, madam, that I do not much regret that business will prevent me fiom calling on you after dinner, inasmuch as every time 1 see you I leave you more penetrated with your charms, and less disposed to give my attention to politics. I will call on you, however, to-morrow, on my return from the Abbe Sicard's, and hope to meet you, notwithstanding the effect which these dangerous visits produce on me. Wellington.' ' — Galignani.

Thb Five Commanders-in-Chief, — Both Sir Willougbby Cotton and Sir George Berkeley are senior to Sir Cbailes Napier in the army list, and both it is said have resolved to vacate their commands on the arrival of the Conqueror of Sindh in India. In addition to this contretemps, Sir Charles will have to meet Sir William Gomin, who it is expected will leave Port Louis at the first summons, for the scene of action. The supercession of officers so well known as both the Chiefs Of Madras and Bombay, is tolerably suggestive of the influence which las been at work to secure for Sir Charles Napier the Indian Horse baton. If it were firmly believed at the Guards that Lord Gough was unequal to the crisis, xhat more easy than to hurry either Sir Willongbby Cotton, Who' has seen active Indian service, or Sir George Berkeley, elsewhere distinguished, to the field, where they must have been: long before Sir Charles could set foot in the country, with the additional advantage of having watched the progress of the war from its vicinity. Yet so anxious was the Duke to avail himself of the opportunity to carry his point against the Directors, that he overlooked the insult to two distinguished officers, or did not heed it at the time. The landing of the four displaced veterans in England will be an odd sight : Gough aad Gomm, Berkeley and Cotton. They might engage a steamer between them, and make an affecting group at Southampton. Sir Charles, if nothing else was left for him to do, has routed four Peninsular heroes at a coup. — Singapore Free Press.

London Bankers. — The oldest bankinghouses in London are Child's at Temple Bar ; Hoare's, in Fleet Street; Strahan's (formerly Snow's), in the Strand ; and Gosling's, in Fleet Street. The original bankers were goldsmiths — " goldsmiths' that kept fanning cashes" — and their shops were distinguished

by signs. Child's was known by the " The Marygold,"-— still to be seen where the cheques are cashed ; Hoare's by " The Golden Anchor" — to te seen inside ; Gosling's by " The Three Squirrels"'— still prominent in the iron work of their windows towards the street. The founder of Child's house was John Backwell, an alderman of the city of London, ruined by the shutting up of the exchequer in the reign of Charles 11. Stone and Martin's in Lombard-street, is said to have been founded by Sir Thomas Gresham ; and the Grasshopper sign of the Gresham family was preserved in the banking-house till late in the last century. Of the West-end Banking houses, Drummond's, at Charing Cross, is the oldest ; and, next to Drummond's, Coutts in the Strand. The founder of Drummond's obtained his great position by advancing money to the Pretender, and by the king's subsequent withdrawal of his account. The king's withdrawal led to a rash of the Scottish nobility and gentry with their accounts, and to the ultimate advancement of the bank to its present footing. Coutts house was founded by George Middleton, and originally stood in St. Martins-lane, near St. Martin's Church. Coutts removed it to its present site. Thp great Lord Clarendon, in the reign of Charles 11. kept an account at Hoare's ; Dryden lodged Ms £50 for the discovery of tlie bullies who waylaid and beat him, st Child's, at Temple Bar ; Pope banked at Drummond's ; Lady Mary Wortley Montagu at Childs ; Gay at Hoare's : Dr. Johnson, and Sir Walter Scott at Coutts ; and Bishop Percy at Gosling's. The Duke of Wellington banks at Coutts; the Duke of Sutherland at Drummond's ; the Duke of Devonshire at Snow's or Strahan's. — Cunningham's London Guide Book.

Antarctic Ocean. — The Barque Franklin, Cooper, has just arrived from the Arctic Ocean, having taken 300 barrels of oil from the Bth of June to the Bth September. Before Captain Cooper tried his fortunes within the Arctic circle, he successfully navigated the Franklin " among the tumbling mountains of ice." floating within the Antarctic circle. At ,'Hobart Town, Captain Cooper met Lieutenant Smith, who accompanied the English navigator, Ross, in his late exploring expedition to the south. From him he learned that an abundance of whales were seen in high southern latitudes, and that the weather was good. This hint was enough ; off starts the Franklin, and in January of the current year Captain Cooper advanced as high as 66% in about East lat. 165*. He saw many whales, including hump-back, fin-back, sulphur bottom, and sperm, but no right vfhales, or the species to correspond to the Greenland or Polar whales, as he expected. In that region he found the weather unfavourable for whaling, and after cruising for twenty days he steered for the north. Sometimes a hundred icebergs would be in view at once. The thermometer did not sink lower that 32' F. Captain Cooper remarks, that should any vessel go there they must not stand in fear of ice. It would appear that the seasons vary much in those high latitudes. Some years it is good weather much higher up than in others, and of course the icy barrier is broken up, at different places, in different years, which may account for the confusion in the statements of different explorers. In recording the simple facts connected with the attempts of our countrymen to take whales within the Arctic and Antarctic circles, we are reminded of Burkes remarks, three-fourths of a century ago, in Parliament : — " And pray, sir, what in the world is equal to this ? Pass by the other facts, and look at the manner in which the New England people carry on the whale fishery. While we follow them among the tumbling mountains of ice, and behold them penetrating into the deepest recesses of Hudson's Bay and Davis's Straits, while we are looking for them beneath the Arctic Cir- | cle, we hear that they have pierced into the opposite region of Polar cold." — The Friend, November 1.

Flogging in the American*' Navy. — We believe it is now pretty generally admitted that more than three-fourths of the men who comprise the ships' companies of American men-of-war are British seamen. Our readers, with this admission, will form some notion of the treatment our countrymen receive upon reading the following paragraph, the truth of which has not been denied by a single officer of -the ship, or a single person in or out of authority in the United States : — " 44,835 Outrages. — During the late cruise of the United States ship Independence, there were 44,835 lashes inflicted on the crew, at the time when they were engaged in dangerous service on the Pacific coast." Now taking these three years as the term of service of the Independence, or 1,095 days, this will give an average of nearly forty-one lashes per diem ; and allowing the proportion of the ship's company subject to the infliction of the lash to be 300, and considering the Jaw regulating punishments in the American riavjf limits the number ©flashes to twelve at one

lime, it follows that on an average, during the ' three years' druise of the Independence, nearly three men and a half were flogged every day, and the whole 300 were flogged more than 12^ times, and each man received nearly 150 lashes. This amount of punishment awarded to 300 men, no matter whether British seamen, natives, or niggers, reflects an eternal disgrace on the American flag, the stars of which henceforth should be utterly abolished in favour of the stiipes. We cannot help contrasting this report from ' free and enlightened America,' with the official returns of the number of lashes inflicted in the British Navy in two years. In 1844, in a navy comprising 40,000 officers and men, the number of lasbes inflicted was 42,000 ; and in 1845, the number of lashes decreased to 32,000 ; and in later years the decrease was still more remarkable. In an American frigate of 500 officers and men, more than half as many more lashes were inflicted in three years than in the whole British Navy of 40,000, in one year.

Humboldt's Birthday. — Alexander yon Humboldt completed bis eightieth year on Friday, the 14th instant, and the announcement of his continued health and unabated faculties is htiled with delight in every land. Few spectacles can be more cheering to the sight than the aged philosophei, wise, happy, and venerated. Humboldt is a living triumph . over impossibilities, a reconciler of the irreconcilable. After wandering about the globe, not in the hurried career of a tourist, but in the patient scrutiny of the naturalist and the geologist — after twenty years spent in literary labours, at Paris, that would have blinded stronger men, building up books upon an enormous seale — he returns to find rest in a court ; and yet again from that ungenial sphere he pours forth his bold philosophy in language unstinted and untarnished. Two truths often seem opposed to each other, or separately incredible, till they are brought together: it has been Humboldt's function to bring truths together, and expound their relations in time and space, and thus to rebuke many a needless conflict. From him the despot and the revolutionary, the bigot and the sceptic, may learn the complement to laws of which they see only a part, and may know that what they are fighting for, to bloodshed, is decreed, all in its good time. The other day, one of last year's " trees of liberty" was blown down in the Place de la Bas tile, — a mournful omen to the soldier of liberty ! — Humboldt, looking across long ages sees the laws that govern that blustering wind — he sees the Bastile swept away, the Republic, the Restoration, the Dynasty of the Bourgeoisie, and now this miserable tree typifying such liberty as the French could plant in 1848 and Lamartine "immortalize"; but beyond, borne on the wings of Time, whose stream cannot be turned back, is the liberty which despots cannot hinder and revolutionists cannot snatch. Sitting in the narrow circle of his King's court, Humboldt expounds the laws of the Kosraos, and proclaims the future consummation of human science in the tree government ot man. If ever there was a typical man, it is he who still lives with us ; whose new gifts are still awaited with expectant gratitude. The universe exists, boundless and eternal ; and he has looked upon it — it has been his, mortal thing creeping upon this earth of ours, to look forth upon the universe in time and space, and to open for bis kind that vast and wondrous vision, in all its beauy — not only to their knowledge, but to their affections. It has been his to show, that the political late of man rests, as to its essential progress, on the changeless laws of that universe ; bis to show that the wisdom of the seer and the station of the court minister may be united with the unpretending good nature, the practical tolerant virtue, of the honest and kindly man. His own personal success illustrates his philosophy : he has succeeded in small things without forfeiting success in great ; he has played his part in daily life without forgetting eternity ; he has served kings, and borne consolation to the humblest tnd most oppressed by proclaiming the laws that govern kings, and discovering in the order of the Kosmos the charter of mankind. — Spectator, Sept. 22.

The Rigour of Republicanism. — A power, unlimited, undivided, uncontrolled, has been erected by the present French Constitution in the National Assembly. It has been used for the defence of society ; it has sustained a sanguinary contest of five days in the streets ot Paris, and triumphed against those barricades from which two branches of the Monarchy had been ignominiously repulsed ; it chastised that insurrection with a rigour and authority unknown to the slow and cautious march of law ; it has twice placed Paris under martial law for considerable periods, and it hag now placed on the statute book that form of repression which was formerly denied by the tribunals to the monarchy ; it has enacted a law on the press of extreme severity ; it has authorized the prosecution of an entire

party within its own walls for high treaton } the Liberal Opposition of the late reign having been converted into the Ministers of the Republic, have distinguished themselves hy these measures, in defiance of the principle! of their former lives ; and an overwhelming majority of the National Assembly rather accelerates than controls their progress. Well might King Louis Philippe exclaim, as he is reported to have done after the days of June — • // ny a que lest/ouvcrnmens anonymes gui puissent faire ces choses Id" Where the principle of authority is represented by a reigning Sovereign on one hand, and checked, by various institutions on the other, such responsibility is not easily incurred, and such extraordinary measures are only adopted with the utmost difficulty and circumspection. The will of the French National Assembly it, on the contrary, as rapid and omnipotent as if the whole force of an empire resided on the votes which turn a division. There is, indeed, more strength and instantaneous power in the decrees of such an authority than we can conceive in any other form of government, but in exactly the same proportion there is less genuine liberty ; for it must be remembered that the same intolerance will always be shown by each majority to each minority, so that the government of a country living under such institutions will cease to be the result of the pa* cific conflict of free opiuions, and will alternately be regulated by the absolute will of the dominant par:y. A state of things more inimical to freedom, to stability, and to peace can hardly be conceived, for the will of the majority tends to drive every Administration to the excess of its own principle and consequently to its ruin. — Times.

A Mysterious Criminal. — 'A Certain mandate of the police which has been stack up all over Paris for the last few days has excited the most intense curiosity throughout every circle. The mandate in question is an appeal to all good citizens to arrest a certain individual, whose real name is yet unknown, but who calls himself Petit JeaD, and who has recently escaped from the' Bagne at Rochefort. The description of this hero has set all the fashionables on the gui vive. He is represented, as of "tall, commanding figure, with bronzed and handsome countenance, hands remarkably well proportioned and aristocratical, and his whole person dis* tingu6 in the extreme ; his address and bearing that of a perfect gentleman ; teeth very white and regular, one only discoloured by the use of the short stump pipe, the only means of smoking permitted at the Bagne." One can just fancy the numberless suppositions as to the identity of the personage this announce* ment has given rise to— • the one moit accredited being that he is a Corsican relative of the President, who was arrested some years ago in one of the highest salons of Paris while sitting at the whist table with Prince Talleyrand and Baron Rothschild, by an individual who had knowledge of his Corsican antecedents, and of the part he had played in the butchery of a whole family to fulfil the murderous vendetta.

Extraordinary Combat. — Capt. Rochfoit of ihe British and Irish Company's screw vessel Rose, arrived at Dublin lately from London, and reported having on I. is passage fallen in with a whale of large dimensions, on a Sunday morning, at 2 o'clock, seven miles south west of the Lizard. This monster of the deep was suffering severely at the time in an encounter with two well known enemies of his tribe — a sword fish and a thresher. The formidable creatures generally go together through the waters and are reputed to bft joined in a league of unrelenting enmity against the cetaceous animals. Captain Rochfort and the crew saw the combat for about three quarters of an hour, but being obliged to continue their voyage homewards, they had to forego the pleasure of witnessing the struggle to its close, and taking in tow to Dublin the body of the vanquished, for of his being eventually worsted in the affray there no. doubt whatever. The sword-fish was" seen once driving his tremendous weapon into the belly of his victim, as he turned on bis side in agony. The thresher fastened on his back and gave him terrific blows, which were heard at a distance with great distinctness. The latter not having any power to strike in the water, it was instinctive policy of the sword fish to make the attack from below ; this causing the whale to rise above ike surface, which he did at times to a remarkable height, the other assailant, which was about 90 feet long, then dealt out his blows unsparingly, with all the force of his lengthy frame — betweea them their victim must have suffered extremely ; he spouted blood to an immense height, and crimsoned the sea all around to a considerable distance. Being within 200 yards of the ship, to which the whale appeared to make for protection, the conflict was distinctly visible to all on board, who regretted it was not permitted them to await the issue, and carry off the p'ize from epicure whalers, whose palates are satisfied, notwithstanding all their labours, with the tongue of their un-

:Trit>kly tiritagonist, upon which alone they condescend? to feast, leaving the carcase to some coarcer appetite, or, as it may be hoped in this instance, to some lucky fishermen, whose toil r ia securing it will be well repaid.-*-jD«i£/«fc ,M*tX A South American journal states, relative to the cargo of ladies who lately left the United! States for California; — *' Before Mrs. B?alnbam's enterprise was heard -of on that -coast a merchant of St. Jago, in Chili, advertised for 200 young;, white, poor, and virtuous girls (ninas jovenes,blancas, pobres y de-con-■ducta intachable) and of average prettiness, to be taken. to California, and there honourably -married to tbe thousands of North Americans and other strangers, who, having made their 'fortunes at the mines, are now anxious to . throw themselves af tbe feet of the first passable specimens of womanhood whom fate and •a happy wind may cast upon their shores."

Matrimonial Advertisements in Trance. — La Liberty dv Nord of Boulogne-sur-Mer, states that the pedestrians who daily pace the Rue de l'Ecu, or High street of that town, stop in crowds to read the following notice which is exhibited in the casement of a shop situate at the end of the said street : — " A young English lady, aged 30, and in the .possession of a fortune of 10,000f. per annum, is desirous of being once more united in the bonds of matrimony to a French gentleman of her own age ; he must be tall, well made, of noble and aristrocratic manners — in short, a man of perfect ton and high fashion. Address to the office, 91|, Rue de l'Ecu." This advertisement is quite serious. Several .amateurs presented themselves as eligible suitors, but hitherto no one has been found worthy of the hand of the fair uriknown. Amongst other aspirants is mentioned the ..name of an old rentier (old fool !) resident in the Hue dcs Viellards, who presented himself three times. So the field is .still open.