MISCELLANEOUS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 557, 4 December 1850, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

The Queen's Visit to Scotland. — Great preparations are in progress in anticipation of the visit of her Majesty and Trince Albert to Edinburgh, in August nexf. Holyrood Palace is undergoing extensive alterations and repairs, to fit it for again becoming the abode of royalty. Prince Albert is expected to lay the foundation stone of the new National Gallery, on the Mound ; and a royal residence of sereral d*y> in Edinburgh is anticipated. — Bells Messenger. M. Soyer has sent in bis resignation to the Reform Club.

Qualifications of Officers for Promotion. — The following circular memorandum has lately been sent to commanding officers respecting the qualifications of officers for promotion. — " I have it in command to explain, with reference to the circular memorandum of the 14tb May last, that although the educational part of the examination of officers, preparatory to attaining

the rank of captain, is proposed to be deferred for two years, the professional portion of it is to be carried into effect immediately ; and that henceforth the qualifications of candidates for promotion to the ranks of lieutenant and captain respectively, as far as relates to military evolutions, and to the details of regimental discipline and economy, are to be duly ascertained by a board composed, of the three senior officers present with the regiment, and therein prescribed, whose certificate must accompany all future recommendations Tor promotion. (Signed) G. Brown, A.G. Horse Guards, June, 1850." — Atlas.

Rapid Transit betwen London and Paris. — The Uimes announces that the journey from London to Paris and back, 560 miles, was performed last week, (May) in twenty hours and a quarter.

Arrangements in Chancery. — The new arrangement of the Chancellor's duties is to be accomplished by giving the Queen power to appoint a Chief Judge in Chancery, with all the pretent jurisdiction of the Lord Chancellor, except in bankruptcy and lunacy. The new Court of Appeal may he established by her Majesty's letter patent ; it may consist of the Lord Chancellor, the Chief Judgein Chancery, the Master of the Rolls, the Vice Chancellors, and the Lord Chief Baron, "'go that three of such Judges shall form a Court" of which the Lord Chancellor or the Chief Judge must be one. The bill does not say from what courts, or concerning what matters, appeals shall be enlertainable by the court which th~ crown is thus empowered to create. Where he judgment of the court is an unanimous confirmation of the decree appealed against, it is to be held final ; but where it is not unanimous, and also where it is a reversal of the decree appealed against, it may itself be appealed against to the House of Lords, as at present the decree of the Lord Chancellor may Le appealed against ; and in hearing the appeal the Lords may call for the attendance of the common law judges. The new Chief Judge in Chancery is to have precedence next after the Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench, to be paid by a fixed salary £7000, and to be removable on Parliamentary address, like other judgps. The salary of the Lord Chancellor is tv be £Booo a year, without any other emoluments ; that of the Chief Justice of Common Pleas to be £7000 a year without other emoluments. The following tragical incidents are related in the French papers : — About three years ago a tradesman, inhabiting the Quartier Breda, destroyed himself in a fit of desperation, after having written a letter in which he declared that his reason for making away with himself was that he could not survive the knowledge of his dishonour. A thousand reports were current at the time as to the precise cause which led to the calastroj he. When the husband' was dead a liaison sprung up, and was almost publicly acknowledged between his widow and a young man in the neighbourhood, but satiety was soon followed by coldness and scenes of teproach, caused by the jealousy of the widow, whose lover seemed to neglect her more and more every day. The intimacy between them still continued, bowever, notwithstanding the clouds which so frequently disturbed its course, and the young man was accustomed to take his meals almost daily at the house of his mistress. On Thursday last he had dined there as usual, when, having scarcely risen /rom table, hs was seized with burning pains and vomitings, sufficiently alarming in their character to cause the assistance of a medical man to be called in. Immediately on his arrival, at the first examination of the patient's countenance and of the substances vomited by him, the man of science suspected the case to be one of poisoning. His treatment was that usually resorted to in such cases ; but in spite of the promptitude and energy of the measures adopted the patient, expired, accusing- his mistress of the deed. As for the individual in question, as soon as the first symptoms of poison appeared, she became completely wild, and when her lover was dead she appeared struck with stupor, shut herself up in her apartment, and refused all assistance or consolation. She remained thus secluded during two days, when suddenly the neighbours heard proceeding from her lodging the sound of an exploded fire-arm. The doors were broken open, and the commissary of police summoned. Or iiis arrival all that wasfound was a lifeless corpse. The unfortunate woman had shot herself through the heart with the same pistol with which three years ago her wretched husband had terminated his existence.

The Projected Wordsworth Monument. — The meetings held at the house of Mr. Justice Coleridge for the purpose of initiating a subsciiption to do honor, in some form, to the memory of Wordsworth have resulted in the formation of a powerful committee, with the Bishop of London nt its bead. The objects v/hich this committee have in view are, to place a whole-length effigy of the deceased poet in Westminster Abbey, and, if possible, to erect some monumeut to his me-

mory in the neighbourhood of Grasmere. The list of subscriptions is headed by the Qusen and her Royal Consort with a sum of £50. Machinery in Russia. — From a' recent statement it appears that machines for cotton and flax spinning, and for cloth factories, are by Russia principally unposted from England. The importation is duty free. The value, in silver roubles, of the machinery imported was, in 1842, 517,208; 1843, .975,386; 1844, 1,318,692; 1845, 1,630,529; 1846; 1,918,972; 1847, 1,884,847. There are several large factories in full operation in Moscow, which produce very creditable locomotives and fixed engines. Iron steamers have also been built, which have been very favourably reported on. The smaller kindi of machinery are made in great perfection, and the mechanics employed are, in this instance, chiefly Russians. The value of tbe machinery made in Moscow during the year 1848* amounted to 100,000 silver roubles, hardly a tenth of the value of the quantity imported. — Mining Journal. , Locks. — At- a recent meeting- of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Mr. Chubb read an interesting paper oh the construction of locks and keys. The most ancient, he said, was the Egyptian lock, the essential principle of which was that of moveable pins, or studs dropping into, and securing the bolt, all of which must be raised to the proper height, by corresponding pins in the end of tbe key, before tbe bolt could be unfastened. This lock was the foundation upon which most of the' ingenious inventions of late years had been based. Locks with fixed wards were, he said, bad in principle, because they could easily be picked. In Cliubb's locks there were six separate and distinct tumblers, placed over each other, and capable cf being elevated to different heights, but all moving on tbe centre pin. This lock differed from the others, in having a " detector," by which any attempt to pick, or open tbe lock with a false key, was immediately notified, on the next application of its own key. The principle was such that nearly eight million changes could be made. — Liverpool Journal, A Norfolk farmer, not accustomed to literary composition or letter writing, having lost a new hat at a county meeting, and inquired into its possible mis-taking, addressed the following grammatical note to its supposed possessor: — "Mr. A. presents compliments to Mr. B. I have got a hat which is not his. If be have got a hat which is not yours, no doubt they are the missings onev'* - Rather over Nice. — Notwithstanding the height of civilization indicated by the discovery of the electric telegraph, we heard a lady object the other day to receive a message by it, on the ground that any information conveyed by means of electticity must require the use of shocking language. — Punch. It has been suggested by a wag, vow, alas! in his dotage — a veteran who has seen better jokes — that the most appropriate names for our Minister at Greece and our Foreign Minister at home would be Penny Wyse and Palmersion Foolish. — N.B. If there is any individual who cannot or will not see any joke in this, he is requested to wink at U.-Ibid. We see that there is advertised a "Free Trade Polka." We do not think this a very happily-chosen title, for we have, been down to Kent lately, and there the universal complaint is, that, though there is Free Trade enough in corn, there is no Free Trade yet in Hopt.— lb.

The Decendants of Robert Burns. — We coppy the following interesting notice from the Daily Neus : — There is an interest attached to *ll that relates to the great poet and the unsuccessful ploughman which extends over the whole Anglo-Saxon race.' The little fact which we are about to state may, therefore, be worth noticing. For some time there has been travelling in the interior of the re- , mote island of Borneo, and sojourning among its rude people of head hunters, a yonng man of the name of -Burns, and this, young man is the grandson of Robert Burns and " bonny Jean." This adventurous youth has not only beeu hospitably and kindly treated hy the rude Dyaks, but a prince of the Kayan nation, the most powerful of the island, has given him one of his daughters to wife ; so that the future biographies of Robert Burns will, in . all human likelihocd, be able to enumerate among his descendants those also of a Bornean prince. Mr. Burns has discovered mines of antimony and coal fields in Borneo more extensive than any in the world, out of America. He seems, moreover, to be not only a person • of great enterprise, but also a man of intelligence and good education ; for he has written and published by far the best and most authentic account of Borneo which has hitherto been given to the public. The grandson, in short, of him wbo sang " on the banks of Ayr," is an intrepid and intelligent traveller in the woods of Borneo and on the Equator. We do not think the poet could have anticipated this destiny, although, for his forefathers, it was among his aspirations that some of them may possibly have followed the Scots kings in

the charge of a hostile force or the storming of a breach. What is the Difference. — The following question is said by the New York Era to have created much excitement in a debating institution : — " What is the difference between there being conscience enough in all ■women, and women enough in all conscience?" After three weeks' discussion, the president decided " there was a difference, but wherein, it consisted he was quite uncertain."

Extraordinary Narrative. — We find the following thrilling narrative in a letter received a few days since from Paris : — "The week has been marked by the death of one of the roost leading characters of the empire, whose early life was one continued series of struggles against fortune, and who had ended by leading her captive and enchaining her to his side, after she had led him through every danger, sorrow, and crime. Envy and his rapid rise had, indeed, at one time fixed upon him the murder of hiß own son — many people believe his guilt even to this day, and those who, like himself, have placed their whole stake upon the attainment of wealth — upon commercial honour and financial influence — are forced not only to excuse the deed, but even to defend it. During Napoleon's war with Spain, the individual in question had succeeded in obtaining the contract for the supplies of forage for the troops, upon which he had founded, with all appearance of justice, his hopes of a splendid. and speedy fortune. The deposits at the time were compelled to be immense, in order to deter needy speculators from entering into competition, but as the gains were known to be enormous likewise, speculators were always capable of producing the sum required. By dint of much effort, and using every resource in his power, M. O-— — had succeeded in gathering together the deposit, which was placed in the hands of a banker before the opening of the contract. His was the lowest tender, and he was accordingly pronounced the successful competitor, to bis own great delight and the despair of his rivals, who judged his character sufficiently to know that if Be once got his foot in the stirrups he would not be long in riding over their necks. Judge, then, of his consternation upon being informed that his contract was broken by his non-fulfilment of the agreement concerning the deposit, and that not more than half the sum required by the regulations remained in the banker's hands ! * A draft was handed in by which the greater part of the money originally deposited had been drawn out the day before. Suspicion immediately fell upon the eldest son of the contractor, a wild and dissipated young man, who had already given him much uneasiness by his extravagance. The father immediately sent for him into bis study, and accused him of forgery. 'Is this your writing?' said be, without taking bis eyei from the young man, who had turned pale when he beheld the signature appended to the cheque. 'It is/ replied he, in a low and trembling voice. 'You paid this in yourself?' said the father. ' I did,' was the dogged reply of the youth. 'Then take the receipt!' shouted the wretched parent, as he drew a pistol from his pocket and shot his son dead upon the spot. The youth fell without a groan upon the carpet, and O , with the same stoic firmness which had impelled him to commit the crime, immediately rang the bell and ordered the servant to go and fetch the guard and take him into custody. He was conveyed to the Abbaye, and as soon as Foucbe became apprised of the catastrophe he went to seek the Emperor. Napoleon was much agitated at the news ; be felt that 0 was a man after his own heart, and one upon whom he could rely for the removal of all difficulties. He paced the room for some moments with folded arms, biting bis lips, as he strode hurriedly across the floor. 'It is a bad job,' said be at length, as he scratched bis head, as was his wont when embarrassed in his mind. "Tis a bad job for O , but we must bring it in suicide, and be must execute our contract for nothing.' As the verdict was pronounced, so it was executed. O furnished the forage without payment, and became one of the richest men in Europe. He has died, 'tis said, possessed of seventy millions — he has died at a good old age, if eighty-four years can be called anything good — he has died in bis bsd, a green satin bed with gold bullion fringe and tassels — all bis kind friends and relatives surrounded him, and bischildren's children gatheredabout tberoom, The priests were, too, in their dresses and decorations, de premiere classe, as they always are when a rich man dies, and he confessed and obtained absolution and breathed his last in peace ; and yet somehow, no one envies him his solitary thoughts when living, nor the memory he has left behind." — Bell's Messenger.

Theatricals in California. — "At the time of which I am writing, Sacramento City boasted the only theatre in California. Its performances, three, times a week, were attended by crowds of the miners, and the

owners realized a very handsome profit. The canvas building osed for this purpose fronted on the levee, within a door or two of the City Hotel ; it would have been taken for an ordinaiy drinking-house, but for the sign, 'Eagle Theatre,' which was nailed to the top of the canvas frame. Passing through the barroom we arrived at the entrance ; the prices of admission are : Box, 3 dollars; Pit, 2 dollars. The spectators are dressed in heavy overcoats and felt hats, with boots reaching to the knees. The box-tier is a single rough gallery at one end, capable of containing about a hundred persons; the pit will probably bold three hundred more, so that the receipts of a full bouse amount to 900 dollars. The sides and roof of the theatre are canvas, which, when wet, effectually prevents ventilation, and renders 'the atmosphere hot and stifling. The drop-curtain, which is down at present, exhibits a glaring landscape, with dark-brown trees in the foreground, and lilac-coloured mountains against a yellow sky. The overture commences ; the orchestra is composed of only five members, under the direction of an Italian, and performs with tolerable coirectness. The piece for the night is 'The Spectre of the Forest,' in which the celebrated actress, Mrs, Ray, 'of the Royal Theatre, New Zealand,' will appear. The bell rings ; the curtain rolls up ; and we look upon a forest scene, in the midst of which appears Hildebrand, the robber, in a sky-blue mantle. The foliage of the forest is of a dark-red colour, which makes a great impression on the spectators, and prepares them for the bloody scenes that are to follow, The other characters are a brave knight in a purple dress, with his servant in scarlet ; they are about to storm the robber's hold and carry off a captive maiden. Several acts are filled with the usual amount of fighting and terrible speeches ; but the interest of the play is carried to an awful height by the appearance of two spectres, clad in mutilated tent-covers, and holding spermaceti candles in their hands. At this juncture Mrs. Ray rushes in and throws herself into an attitude in the middle of the stage; why she does it, no one can tell. This movement, which she repeats several times in the course of the first three acts, has no connexion with the tragedy ; it is evidently introduced for the purpose of showing the audience that there is, actually, a female performer. The miners, to whom the sight of a woman is not a frequent occurrence, are delighted with these passages and applaud vehemently. In the closing scenes, where Hildebrand entreats the heroine to become his bride, Mrs. Ray shone in all her glory. 'No!' said she, 'I'd rather take a basilisk and wrap its cold fangs around me, than be clasped in the hembraces of an 'artless robber.' Then, changing her tone to that of entreaty, she calls upon the knight in purple, whom she declares to be 'me 'ope, me only 'ope!' We will not stay to hear the songs and duetts which follow ; the tragedy has been a sufficient infliction. For her "artrending' personations, Mrs. Ray received 200 'dollars a week, and the wages of the other actors were in the same proportion. A musical gentleman was paid 96 dollars for singing 'The Sea! the Sea!' in a deep bass voice. The usual sum paid musicians ! was 16 dollars a night. A Swiss organ-girl, by playing in the various hells, accumulated 4,000 dollars in the course of five or six months." — Taylors Eldorado.

The Westminster Palace. — To mean one thing and to do another, is the last sign of weaknes ; but it is a sign of which this courtry in its collective and official capacity is often guilty. The vast structure southwest of Westminster Bridge is a prominent instance. It turns out to be different iv every respect from the original intent. The estimate was about £785,000; the expenditure has been or is to be about £2,500,000. There was to have been accommodation for 460 members in the body of the house ; it only suffices for 437 ; the lobbies are too small ; the gallery destined for strangers is wanted for members. In defence, Mr. Barry avers that so many alterations were forced upon him; and Sir Robert Peel convicts Mr. Hume of suggesting some of those expensive alterations. Mr. Hume, said Sir Robert Peel, quoting a blue book, suggested the bouse for the sergeant at arms, and Lord Besborough assented "with very j;reat reluctance." So that the very man who meant to enforce economy enforced expense. But that is far from being the most striking fact ; what is most amazing is the growth of the huge building out of so feeble and vacillating a purpose all round. Here ari&es a vast pile, with so little defined intent that its erectors may be regarded as blind instruments. Its growth might also be accounted spontaneous, like that of an immense vegetable ; or at the most like a coral reef, whose architects conspire under an instinctive impulse. The House of Commons owned a ne?d for a pile of building ; a committee superintended plans ; a commission superintended the work ; Mr. Hume checked the expense ; but the

recommendations of the committee fall aside, the commission follows rather than leads, Mr. Hume becomes the channel for an augmented expenditure. Nay, the very architect does not plan the thing which exists ; he is overlaid by the committee, and the commission, and the artists, and the ventilator, and the officers of the house, and the treasury. But ultimately, by the blessing of fortune, a something does rise from the ground, which is claimed and disclaimed, by all concerned, with equal zpal — and equal truth. — Spectator. The Portuguese Wine Trade. — The following remarks of Dr. Affonseca, in the Portuguese Chamber of Deputies, will explain how it is that it is found more profitable to ship wines for the English market vid New York, than to send them here direct: — "The subject of his observations was the tariff of import and export duties. Having been very recently in London, he said, he had there paid particular attention to the state of the trade in wine from Oporto, wh eh he found to be most deplorable as compared with what it used to be formerly. Among other things he had discovered, to his great surprise, that a pipe of good port could be bought there for somewhat less than its shipping price at Oporto. On inquiring into the cause of this, he ascertained that it was the absurd distinction, as regarded export duties, made be- | tween wines of the self-same quality when shipped to England or to the United States of America. In the former case the duty, with the various extras appended to it, was somewhere about £8 sterling ; in the latter little more than 400 reis, or 20 pence. The consequence was, that, of late, some parties at Oporto had begun to avail themselves of the opportunity for fraud thus afforded, by shipping wines for New York, which on arriving there were landed in bond and then reshipped for England, whereby, notwithstand- ! ing the double freight, a saving of between £3 and £4 a pipe was commonly effected." — Bell's Messenger. \