MISCELLANEOUS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 571, 22 January 1851, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS.

On the morning of Monday se’nnight, September 2, about five o’clock, the travellers on the road between Greenwich and Woolwich were astonished by seeing the highway actually covered with millions of young frogs or tadpoles, similar to the flight of locusts which invade and devastate whole countries at a sweep. Embarkation of Troops for India.— On Thursday an unusually large number of troops were embarked at Chatham, consisting of 56 men of the Bth foot, 53 men of the 64th 28 men of the 78th, and 30 men of the 83rd. The following officers accompanied the troops : Captains Hartley and W. K. Stuart; Lieutenants F. B. Toster, Hinchcliffe, J. R. Croker, and H. M. Havelock ; Ensigns F. M'Pberson, V. Ryan, D. M. Murray, and W. Winneeatt; Assistant Surgeons Fowler, Martin, and G. Coghlen—making a total of 14 officers and 179 men. — Bell's Messenger, August 19. Advices from Vienna of the 29th August state that the Russian cabinet had resolved to induce the German powers to join a grand diplomatic congress to be held at Vienna. At this congress the pending questions of European policy are to be decided, and a new basis for the system of states is to be established. The journey of Count Nesselrode, to Ischl, is said to be undertaken for the purpose of gaining the Austrian Emperor and his cabinet for this Russian idea, and to ensure to it the support and co-operation of Russia. Letters from Vienna of the 29th August, say that in several provinces of Russia the peasants are in insurrection against the nobles and that in fact a veritablejVzcyyene is raging. Marshal Haynau arrived at Aix-la-Cha-pelle on the 9th August, suffering from the severe flogging he received from the Bankside draymen. He was treated while passing through Belgium with silent contempt. Jean Stauff, who had been condemned to >»tual imp'isenment for having assassi-

nated the Countess of Goerlitz, at Darmstadt, has just confessed his crime in the prison of Marisnschlop. He declared that he had entered the room of the countess to announce to her that he was going out, when, finding no one in the room, he was tempted by the articles of value he saw there to commit the robbery. While doing so the countess came in; a struggle took place and he seized her by the throat and strangled her. He afterwards placed the body in a chair, and, putting round it a quantity of combustible articles, set fire to them.

Intelligence has been received from St. Domingo that Faustin I. is preparing an expedition against the Windward Islands, both by sea and land. Three white inhabitants had been beheaded, for what the authorities considered " too free an expression of political opinions.” Auriferous Stone from Jamaica. —A large lump of auriferous rock or stone has just arrived from the neighbourhood of Anatto Bay, Jamaica. Split open, it appears almost one compact mass of gold and silver, the pure silver ore laying in small lumps thickly interspersed with gold particles. This lump will yield about 70 per cent, of the precious metals. This is considerably richer than many of the Californian specimens.— Allas, Aug. 17. Speculative politicians are watching with interest the assembling of the Councils-General, as is is said that they are prepared to take a new ground in giving distinct expression to the national sentiments on the practical conduct of public affairs. This growth of the municipal faculty in France would be not more new than hopeful. One fears that the genius of the people, though " republican,” is not democratic, but tending too much to the military or hierarchical—that love of rank and power which is willing to purchase with obedience to those above, the luxury of commanding those below —for true working in coequality. But " you never know till you try and experience rnay have brought the French in matters of local polity to the point so long since attained by the Anglo-Saxon family and even by the Basque family.

Mob Law in America.—A dreadful instance of mob murder has occurred in Culpepper, in Virginia. A free negro named Grayson, had been twice tried, and convicted by a jury of having murdered Mr. Miller, of that place, and on each occasion the court granted him a new trial, on the ground that the testimony hardly justified suspicion, much less guilt. A mob rose, and, headed by several men of so called respectability, broke open the gaol, placed a rail across two trees, and hung him. Before he was strung up, they gave him one minute to confess, when he solemnly declared his innocence. — Bell's Messenger. The Chief of the Ojibway Nation. —Amongst the passengers by the steam-ship Niagara, which arrived here on Saturday week, was the Rev. George Copway, or Kah-Ge-Ga-Gah-Bowh, a chief of the Ojibway nation, of whose biography some remarkable passages may be stated : —Twelve years ago he was a hunter in the woods of America, but having obtained his education at the expense of some benevolent gentlemen of the State of Illinois, during the years 1838-9 he returned to his nation, determined to labour for the elevation of his tribe. He has devised a scheme for concentrating and civilizing the American Indians of the northwest, upon territory to be purchased by the free contributions of the American people ; and we understand he intends shortly to hold a meeting in this town, with the view of explaining the object at which he aims. He is a fine, noble-looking man, very intelligent, and speaks the English language with great fluency, correctness, and elegance. He purposes attending the Peace Congress at Frankfort, and his stay here will necessarily be very limited. On Wednesday he sat on the bench with Mr. Rushton for a short time, and appeared to take great interest in the proceedings of the police court. — Liverpool Albion, July 29. Important Discovery of Iron Ore on the shores of Lake Superior.—The Pittsburgh American describes a sample of irou ore recently received from Lake Superior:—"lt is apparently a pure oxide of iron, and said to exist in immense bodies on the lake shore abounding in timber. It is worked in refineries or bloomeries as pig metal, and the blooms, it is said by those interested, can be delivered in Pittsburgh at forty dollars per ton. Those which have been brought are rough and uncouthly made, but the iron ia of number one quality. The workmen employed convert the ore into blooms for eight dollars per ton, the materials being furnished them. If this be so, and our account be from a reliable source, there is another revolution promised in the iron business of this country and the world.” New York Journal.

American Cotton Factories in Ireland. —A correspondent of the Morning

Post makes the announcement, that “ the American cotton-growers are about to establish factories in the West of Ireland; a prospect which opens to his Protectionist fancy a pleasant vista of ruin to the “ capital of the kingdom of cotton, Manchester, The American manufactures have long felt, that whilst wages were so high in America they struggled in vain against English manufacturers ; labour of all sorts being fully fifty per cent, higher in America than in England. The Southern slave-owners, exerting themselves in Congress in favour of their British allies, have prevented that protective duty being laid on that would make up for this heavy item of expense in manufacture and place them on an equality with foreigners. Hence, the manufacturers languish or exist only successfully where slave-labour is applied. They perceive that it will be in future as cheap to transport cotton to Galway, Limerick, or Sligo, as to carry it to New York, Boston, or Philadelphia; whilst the labour required to manufacture it in the West of Ireland will be nearly forty per cent, less than at Manchester, and the vast water-power existing everywhere will enable them to dispense with the costly steam-power British manufacture depends upon. The amount of water-power in the West of Ireland is prodigious. Alexander Nimmo, an eminent Scotch engineer, calculated that the water-power which flowed idly to the sea at Galway would suffice to turn all the machinery of Glasgow ; and there is little doubt that the Corrib and its tributaries possess a power, now useless, equal to all the steam-power of Lancashire. Influenced by these considerations, the American manufacturers have determined to contend on Irish soil with Manchester for the possession of the British markets all over the globe ; and with their intelligence, enterprise, and capital, and with the free action the present British tariff and navigation laws afford them, there is little doubt, in so favourable a locality as the West of Ireland, they will do so with eminent success.”

Parisian Orgies.—There are many roads to the infernal regions in this Paris. Some choose one path—some another. Some go through the gate of Mabille, others prefer the small door of No. 13, in that little back street of the Palais Royal, where a number of palefaced men and rouged-up women gather round a green table, and watch with straining bloodshot eyes, the ioiling balls of ivory, as they are tossed to and fro by the careless hand of the croupier. Some, again, love to go upon their road in a still more modest, unassuming manner than either, and live lor the purpose in a small low cellar under the pillars of the hail, over the door of which a blue infernal light is burning all night long (a fitting fingerpost for this most infernal road of ail), beneath which is inscribed in flaming letters, “ Paul Niquet.” This is the most extraordinary place in the whole world, and has of late acquired a celebrity which its founder, whose name it still bears, could never have anticipated, and certainly never desired. It is the most celebrated tapis franc in Paris, and is permitted by the police to remain open through the night ostensibly on account of its proximity to the hall, but in reality to facilitate the arrest of thieves and escaped convicts who repair hither in great numbers. On Tuesday night was held in this cellar the grand fete in commemoration of Paul Niquet himself, who dying about four years ago full of years and honour, after having amassed immense wealth, left an annual legacy of a gratis night to be given to his°favourite customers, to be continued as long as they lived. Accordingly, the night of lUesday witnessed the usual swarming together of the dark, mysterious population peculiar to this extraordinary city to witness the assemblage of old friends which the prospect of a night’s carouse gratis brings together from all parts of the country. It was a ghastly scene—a realisation of Hoffman’s wildest visions—a spectral phantasmagoria—phantoms from the shadowy demon world, meeting to rejoice over the woes and miseries of mankind. The celebrities of the bagne the heroes of the Conciergerie and La Foue —were all gathered there of course: and were, perhaps, the loudest and the wildest in tneir mirth and jollity. There was no lack of the artist-world either, intent upon seizing the fugitive expression of energy and reckless daring which preceded the stupor of drunkenness. Some of our most dainty novelists were also present in disguise, and most of all, they do say—but I vouch not for the truth that the most illustrious personage—no—the nephew of the most illustrious personage of whom France can boast could not resist the curiosity which the description of the scene baa inspired, and was there—also disguised as a waggoner—and accompanied by an English gentleman well known io the sporting world, dressed as a helper at a livery stable. Gossips do say that these two gentlemen were the hfe and soul of the entertainment; 1 but then, when great people are in the case,

there is no reliance to be placed on any on e for people do grow so very partial.— Correspondent of the Atlas.