MISCELLANEOUS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 592, 5 April 1851, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

The President of the Republic has presented to the Museum of the Louvre, David’s celebrated painting of Napoleon Buonaparte crossing the Alps.

Accounts from Cherbourg of the 21st instant, state that a violent hurricane was at that time raging there, which had driven the waves 50 feet above the breakwater. Above 100 vessels had taken refuge in the harbour. Admiral Dubourdin’s division was still at anchor in the roads, under sailing nrHprc fnr Brest.

Great excitement continued to exist in America relative to the operation of the Fugitive Slave Bill. Meetings had been held in various parts of the country to express the opposition of the people to the provisions of the law. The religious press in several cases had taken strong ground against the surrendering of the fugitives ; nor had the pulpit been silent. It was maintained by Mr. Giddings, the Senator for Ohio, that no slave who has made his escape to Canada, and once touched British soil, could be again reduced to slavery, according to the decision of both northern and southern courts. The slave Hamlet who was seized in New York under the provisions of ths Fugitive Law, had been purchased by the subscription of several citizens and restored to liberty. The Madrid steamer which conveyed the last Peninsular mail to Southampton, brought a fine young lioness, about a twelvemonth old, as a present from the Queen of Portugal to the Queen of England. The lioness was in a large cage on deck, and was so tame that her keeper used to go into the cage during the voyage to play and wrestle with her.

A porter of a house in Paris having recently gone on the roof to clean out a gutter, lost his balance and fell over into the court. Some clothes were drying an a line, across which he fell, thus breaking his fall, and the linen coming under him, and forming a kind of bed, he escaped without the slightest injury.

At the late York archery meeting an arrow stuck in a lady’s bustle as she was leaving the ground, and she was walking away without perceiving that she was decorated with so novel an ornament, when some of the bystanders informed her of what had happened, and she smilingly withdrew the shaft.

The Ojibbeway Indian chief, Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh, or the Rev, George Copway, who

figured at the recent meeting of the peace congress at Frankfort-on-tbe-Maine, has published an English poem, entitled “ The Ojibbeway Conquest.” A person named Diamila, who was formerly employed in the Vatican library and museum, at Rome, has been sentenced to the galleys for twenty years, for having stolen from the Vatican a great number of the rarest antique medals and coins.

A beautiful specimen of “ Ray’s sea bream, a fish of which only about six are known to have been taken on the British coasts, was lately caught at Kirkside, Kincardineshire.

At the meeting of the American Association for the advancement of Scieuce, Professor E. Locomis described a house in Four-teenth-street, New York, where the shuffling of a slipper across thick and heavy carpets produced a sudden and violent electrical discharge. The phenomena are stated to be observed only where the house is large and dry, warmed by furnaces, and furnished with heavy carpeting.

The Literary Gazette relates an anecdote touching a remonstrance addressed, in a railway train, to a French lady, against beating a baby, to which she replied, “Vat, no,t beat him, leatle dog, six moot old and not listen to reason 1”

The black Malibran received her Majesty’s command to perform in a concert at Windsor Castle, on the 9th November, the natal anniversary of the Prince of Wales.

Among other visitors expected at the Great Exhibition was a German chorus, made up of many Liedertafel societies, rivalling in number the never to be forgotten Cologne gathering (an assemblage of more than 2000 voices) the intention of which was to give performances in London.

Foreigners’Englishman.—The amount of instruction on the manners, habits, feelings, modes of expression, gesture, costume, and general demeanour of his compatriots which an Englishman may glean at some of the foreign theatres, when an Englishman is being represented on the stage, is perfectly astounding. We have in this way become acquainted with English characteristics of which the most comically inclined maniac could never dream after the most dyspeptic of suppers. It is not long since the mirror held up to Nature—that is English nature reflected by the French—revealed to us at the Ambigu Comique and at the Theatre desVarietes, in Paris, “ that of ourselves of which we knew not of ” —dreamt not of. One gentleman who supported not only the character of a prefect, but an enormous cocked bat, assured us that when we were at home we groaned under the tyraunv of a feudal government, which ground us to the dust; that our commonalty was over-rid-den and harrowed by tax-exacting aristocrats; that they died of starvation in heaps ; that if they dared to call their souls their own, the latter were summarily released from their bodies by a nnlino OD Members of the Royal Humane Society. In another scene the same public instructor told us, that al! Englishmen (of course including the starved Commonalty) possess enormous wealth, which they usually employ in the purchase of "Le titre de ‘Lord;”' an unnecessary outlay, as every person not a tradesman receives a title as a matter of course. Yet this avails them little, as the different orders of our nobility hold no communication with persons of higher or lower rank; our national pride preventing the one, and the best of all reasons—“because they can’t”— the other. Our patricians ride abroad followed by armed retainers ; nor is there any vulgar person allowed to come between the wind and their nobility ; the streets being expressly cleared for them by the constables. When at home, however, seated in a golden chair, in company with the Spleen, “ Lajeune Miss," his wife, and a “ boulle-dog,” a native of our kingdom passes his time chiefly in drinking tea with lemon in it, and saying “ Hoh ! —hah ! —yeeas I—Gottam !—and ver gut I” Our ladies are a little too much given to fighting, and a little too lightly won. We sell our wives. This is a very common mercantile transaction indeed. A “ pen” of no mean dimensions is appropriated in Smithfield for the interesting periodical auction. Our Queen makes away with many millions a-year, and cuts off the heads of any persons to whom she may take a dislike, or hangs them, without the intervention of Judge, Jury, or any other functionary than the executioner, who—another Tristan, the Hermit—is a regular member of the Royal household. We are, however, for the most part, a harmless and ridiculous race, affording excellent sport to innkeepers and adventurers. We eat prodigiously. Indeed, so great is our love for good cheer, that we name our children after our favourite dishes. If a person in good society is not called Sir Rosbif, he will probably answer to the name of Lord Bifstek- - in honour of the two great national dishes, which we have spelt in that manner from

time immemorial. — Dickens's Household Words. .. . ■

The Duke of Wellington’s Habits. —“The Last Man in Town” writes thus in the Weekly News :—“ The Duke is the creature of method. He suffers nothing to disturb the even tenour of his course, either in official or household existence. There is no occasion for him to weigh himself every day, or to take a greater amount of exercise to-day than he did yesterday, for the equilibrium of his health is rigidly preserved through the uniformity of his regimen, the unvarying durations of his rest, and the punctuality of his hours of equitation. Rising at four o’clock in the morning, he lights his own fire, performs his own toilette, and proceeds to read or write—if that may be called writing which has become to the unpractised eye a mass of curious hieroglyphics. But these are not the materials of the “ page.” I mean to speak of Apsley house. Beneath the road which runs under the archway, contiguous to the Duke’s residence, is a great excavation, walled in with the strongest masonry above, below, and at the sides. It is divided into apartments, papered, warmed, and kept dry by means of flues and lighted (when necessary) with hanging lamps. In each subterranean apartment are shelves, drawers, and cupboards, all locked and secured after the most approved methods. To one chamber are devotedall the documents connected with the Duke’s early career, before he went to India; in another all the documentary illustrations of his Indian life ; a third contains the papers (and how voluminous they are may be guessed) referring to the Peninsular War; a fourth is appropriated to the operations in the Netherlands—the occupation of Paris by the Allied Armies ; a fifth to the Dnke’s Missions ; and a sixth to his political life at home. All this vast mass of documents is arranged with precision, endorsed, lettered, numbered, and indexed, so that when the curtain shall fall upon the great man who has imparted to England a military character, and who has occupied more space in the contemporary world’s thought than any one in the whole range of history, the biographer and the historian to' whom he may bequeath the office of writing bis remarkable life, may know where to lay his hand upon every paper that may serve to elucidate both the most striking and the most insignificant events.” The Irish Sea Serpent. l —The Irish seem to be taking the American sea serpent “ quite intirely” out of the hands of the Yankees. It is a difficult labour to imagine an Irish-American sea serpent. The only picture we can draw of him is with a short pipe in his mouth, brandishing a shillelagh with one of his fins, shouting out, “ Will any jintleman just tread upon my tail ?”— Punch. Attraction of the Bottle, — Some “ bottle-nose whales” have been seen off Ireland. It is but fair to infer, then, that they were pointing their noses towards the Cork. —lbid.

Slavery Thirty Years ago.—The Savannah Georgian publishes the following hit at the North: —Some thirty years ago the pious people of Rhode Island were shocked and outraged on finding that a blacksmith was at work on the Sabbath. The sound of his hammer and the reverberations of the anvil sorely annoyed the shepherd of. the village flock, and the more so as the blacksmith was a pillar of the Church, and a bright and shining light of the congregation. Of course he was churched — taken to task. In defence of himself, he stated that one of the slavers, in getting ready to go to sea, found ch g wag ficient in handcuffs, and he was obliged to work all Sunday to supply her! The good shepherd of the flock decided that it was a work of necessity—justified by the Gospel — and Deacon Hart was excused. Twin Steamers.—-“ Twin” steamers, on the plan adopted in the United States, are to be tried on the Thames. The Gemini, the first constructed, made an experimental trip on Tuesday. It is made according to a patent obtained by Mr. Peter Borrie. . “Two hulls, which are chiefly constructed of iron, are placed side by side, with a space or canal between them, in which the paddle-wheel works, and are strongly connected together by the deck which extends over. all, and also by a plate-iron arch below the deck, and a number of wrought iron stays between them, so that the two divisions of the vessel are bound together in the most secure manner. The hulls thus joined afford a great extent of deck room; with a very small amount of tonnage, or of resistance from the area of the section passing through the water ; and as both ends are exactly similar, the vessel will sail with equal facility either way without turning. The keels and stems are not placed in the centre of the hulls, but are situated toward the inside of them, so that the water lines are very fine in the inside, which diminishes the tendency of the water to gorge up between. the hulls,which gorging up of water has been a material drawback to the success of twin steamers hi-* therlo constructed, as it not only tends to se«

parite the two hulls, but also greatly increases the resistance of the vessel in passing through the water. The inner bilges of the hull are much fuller than the outer ones, in order to afford a greater degree of buoyancy on the inside ; which is necessary for supporting the weight of the deck, &c., between the hulls.” The vessel is to be fitted with “ saloons” and hurricane deck,” on the American model. — Spectator, Sept. 28. Female Cricketers.—The Hampshire women have caught the cricket furor, and it appears that the married and single test their skill and prowess annually. The match this year came off on the 3nd August, and created more than ordinary interest The Morning Herald says 4 “ Upwards of 690 persons, amongst whom we noticed many of the neighbouring infiuentiala, were present to witness the performances of these aspirants to cricketing fame. The ladies, bath married and sinele, behaved themselves throughout the whole proceedings is a highly creditable manner ; and to their clean and tidy appearance we give our testimony.. From the statement of the score, it appeared that the single women this year gained the victory by 30 runs, albeit the play on the part of their more aged opponents was extremely good. We cannot bring our remarks to a close without awarding due praise to the spinsters for the spirited manner in which they ‘Contested the game, two or three of whom deserve particular commendation. The old-fashioned high home and steady style of bowling of Hannah Baker was very effective, and her batting anything but indifferent. Emma Dixon, who sent the ball in all directions with the coolness and prowess of a Felix or a Pilch, added 15 to the score.; and a catch made hy Miriam Palmer would have done credit to any old fielder at Lord’s. The single scored 46 and 41.; and the married, 19 and ®32. On the termination of the game, a novel and laughable match was made by a sporting gentleman of the neigbbourhood, who offered to back the fair and renowned Hannah Baker to play a single wicket match with a gallant sporting-captain; a challenge which he, asan officer ofher Majesty’s army, felt in honour bounfftaaccept. The odds, of course, were in favour of the male “crittur;” but Hannah, nothing daunted >by the apparent inequality of the match, courageously took the field against her adversary, and obtained the advantage by one run, amidst the cheers and applause, lasting long-and loud, of the company present. The twoinniuga were played by each with great care and precaution, the umpires concurring in the decision that the game was fairlyfought by both, and nobly won by Hannah, for whom thecompany, in hunting phraseology, 'Capped round, and presented her -with the amount The women were afterwards regaled with tea, and spent the evening <in dancing and festivity. The Trialsof Poverty.—Cant as we may, and as we shall to the end of all things, it is harder for the ipoor to be virtuous than -it is for the.rich:; and the good that is in them shines the brighter for.it. In many a noble mansion lives a.man, the best of husbands and of fathers, whose private worth in both capacities is justly lauded to the skies. Butbring him here upon this -crowded deck. Strip from his fair young wife her silken dress and jewels, -unbind her braided hair, stamp early wrinkles on her brow, pinch her pale cheek with -care and much array her faded form in. coarsely patched attire; let there be nothing ■but his love to set hex forth or deck het out, and you shall put it to the proof indeed. So change his station in the world, that he shall -see in those young things who climb about his knee—not records of his wealth and name, but wrestlers with him for his daily bread—so many poachers on his scanty meal—so •many units to divide his every sum of comfort, and farther to reduce its small amount. In lieu of the endearments of childhood in its •sweetest heap upon him all its pains and wants, its sickness and ills, its fretfulness, •caprice, and querulous endurance; let its prattle be, not of'engaging infant fancies, but of cold, of thirst, of hunger; and if his fatherly affection outlives all this, and he be patient, Ul UIO VUIIUiCU O 11VC3. and mindful always of their joys and sorrows ; then send him back to Parliament and Pulpit, and to Quarter Sessions, and when he hoars the fine folk talk of the depravity of those who live from hand to mouth, and labour hard to do it, let him speak up, as one who knows, and tell those holders forth, that they by parallel with such a class, should be high angels in their daily lives, and lay but humble siege to heaven at last. Which of us shall say what he would be, if such realities, with smallrelief or change all through his days, were his! Looking round upon these people ; far from home, houseless, indigent, wandering, weary with travel and hard living; and seeing how patiently they nursed and tended their young children; how they consulted even their wants first, then half supplied their own; what gentle ministers of hope and faith the women were; and how very, very seldom, even a moment’s petulance or harsh complaint

broke out amongst them ; I felt a stronger love and honor of my kind come glowing on my heart, and wished to God there had been many Atheists in the better part of human nature there, to read with me this simple lesson in the book of life. — Dickens's Notes. An association of robbers has just been discovered established at Belleville, in a remote street. The details of this society remind one of the famous Cartouche and Maudin. This troop, organised and governed by regular statutes of a most curious kind, and which are now in the hands of the police, had a captain, a lieutenant, two sub-lieutenants, four serjeants, and eight corporals. This staff had under its orders 120 men. Having been frequently in the hands of justice was the sole title for admission to the corps. These 120 communists formed 12 sections — each charged with the cure of an arrondissement of the capital. Each section was designated by a slang title or name, thus—Les Changeurs, Les Tireurs, Les Solitaires, Les Emponsteurs, Les Ramastiques, Les Rats, Les Charriers, Les Aumoniers, Les Broquilleurs, Les Boucardiers, Les Fourligneurs, et Les Domanges. It requires intimate acquaintance with thieves’ slang to explain these terms. The captain and two serjeants of the troop were arrested on Sunday, at the moment they were entering the court of the Treasury, with what object they themselves best know. They were recognized by a police agent who had been employed on a former occasion in arresting the serjeant of the troop, named Merle by the world at large, but known by his brethren as Le Vignoble ; and it was this arrest which led to the discovery of the band. 41 The captain of the troop, who passed in society under the title of the Baron of Ardennes, is, it appears, a young man of good family, and has received an excellent education. He has been in the army, and has performed on the stage. He had for his mistress a beautiful young woman, who had been the wife of a captain in the merchant navy, but who quitted her husband and family to share the fortunes of the adventurous Baron. A curious fact is mentioned as connected with the doings of the Baron. He and his mistress were only the other day present at the ballet of the Violon du Diable, in a box close to the one occupied by the Nepaulese Princes, and their idea was to deprive the distinguished strangers of the rich ornaments they wear in such profusion on their dress. That this was not done, was ■merely owing to the accident of the director of the opera having offered his box to the Princes, which they accepted. The sergeant, named Merle, alias le Vignoble, and whom the Baron had been always unwilling to admit in the troop, declares, among other interesting disclosures, that the chief of the section, Les Aumoniers, is an apostate priest. The priest, disguised in the costume of an Indian missionary, only a few days ago succeeded in plundering an old lady in the Faubourg du Roule of 11,000 francs. He scrupulously paid over the amount to the treasury of the troop. His pay, which was to have been issued the day before yesterday (the payment of salaries took place fortnightly) was 450 f., or at the rate of 900 f. per month. The captain was allowed two elegant carriages for his own private use. They are now lodged at the Prefecture. Scene in the Canadian Assembly.— The numerous uproarious scenes which from time to time have distinguished the career of the Legislative Assemblies in the United. States seem to have excited the ambition of certain Canadian legislators, who are resolved to more than rival their republican neighbours in a contemptuous defiance of the common laws and observances of a civilised people. * J _ m.aa v vauauiau jl amamcnv nao piuiugucu UU the 3rd instant by the Governor-General, and after the members of the Government, with the exception of the Solicitor-General,, had left the house, a scene occurred so thoroughly disgusting that we question whether even Captain Rynders and the rowdies of New lork will not disown fellowship with the shameless actors. It appears that, below the Legislative Chambers at Toronto, there is a kind of cellar, in which wine, whisky, gin, &c., are sold to the members. To this place several seem to have resorted on the night of the 3rd. While measures were being passed at railroad speed by a few members near the table, some were playing at ball, and others pelted each other with anything that lay at •hand. The chairman would say with all the rapidity of which the human voice is capable 4 Shall the second clause pass carried ? shall the third clause pass carried ? shall the preamble pass carried ? Between the asking of the question and the announcing of the result there was no pause. The committee would rise, and the house pass through another scene with scarcely inferior rapidity. The Toronto North American says, ‘ the appearance, of the house was that of half-drunken rowdies, and even the sober members partook of the excitement, and shared the spirit of boyish mischief that possessed the whole.’

At length the members hit upon the plan of crumpling bills which they were to pass into laws, and throwing them at each other as school-boys do snow-balls. One Malloch, the member for Carleton, being more intoxicated than the rest, was singled out as a target. After receiving one of these budets from the hand of the celebrated Sir A. M’Nau, Mr Malloch seized the large metal inkstand used by the clerk of the house, and was about to throw it at the head of the Canadian Protectionist leader, but was checked by the ink running on his band, He then drew himself up as if preparing for hostilities, and having buttoned his coat, walked towards Sir Allan with clenched fist, and outstretched arm, vociferating— ‘ I’ll take the responsibility o f j tj d_ n me if I don’t, if Ibe expelled on Monday.’ One hon. member, named Sherwood, then went up io the enraged Malloch, and ‘stroked him on the head,’ and shortly ‘ every one must have a snap at the wounded dog.’ The reporter of the North American, who seems to enter with a relish into the description of the scene, continues : —‘ Malloch now became the target for nearly all the bullets that could be manufactured out of those incipient laws called bills. Tache was the great and secret enemy. He commenced a sneaking guerilla warfare. Manufacturing his bullets in the lobby, Tache would steal into the house, walking along the outside of the bar in that skulking style that sportsmen sometimes steal upon their game, and, rising up, would peep over the bar and fire at the devoted head of the enraged Malloch, and then retreat to the lobby. Startled by the assaults, the hon. member for Carleton would turn round to spy out his concealed enemy when he was fortunate if he did not encounter several shots from an opposite quarter. At length, when he could stand it no longer, he sprang to his feet and staggered outside the bar, where, beyond muttering a few curses, he exercised no revenge. This scene occupied thirty minutes. All this time the house was engaged in legislation, and passed several important measures.’ When the house adjourned, the effects of intoxication were more visible than before. One member knocked the hat of a brother legislator over his eyes. ‘ Richards drew out his huge tobacco box, and coolly lit his pipe. Paper bullets flew thickly, and the house broke up in a state of great merriment.’