ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 604, 17 May 1851, Page 3

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

[From the Adelaide Observer, April 12.1 At length we have some late intelligence from Europe, brought by the emigrant ship Oceola, from London Dec. 26. By far the most important event, in relation to this hemisphere, is the departure of the Bosphorus, screw propelled steam-ship, for the Cape of Good Hope. She sailed on the 18th Dec., and was to touch at Madeira, Cape de Verds, and Sierra Leone. By advices received from the Cape, on the 10th instant, we find that she had reached her destination in safety, on the 26th January, having accomplished the total distance, including all stoppages and delays, within 40 days. She proceeded on her return voyage on the 2nd February, with a mail, including despatches from Sir Harry Smith to the British Government, and also carried a cargo of colonial produce. The highest quotation for tallow was 395. 6d. per cwt.; the highest Australian, 375. 6d.; Sperm oil, American, in Liverpool, was quoted at £35 to £37. In the copper markets, the latest quotations were £B4 for tough cake, and £63 per ton for tile copper. The state of the woollen manufactures in England was most satisfactory, the approaching exhibition having given an extraordinary impulse to the clothing trade in general. Fine wools, it was thought, would not only maintain their value, but probably experience an advance. The London Observer of Dec. 22nd says: —“ A rumour was very prevalent last night, of the safety of Sir John Franklin, and of his expected arrival in London, within a fortnight

from this date. This rumour was strengthened by an announcement from the stage of the Haymarket theatre, soon after 10 o’clock, on the conclusion of the plav of * Henry the Eighth,’ Mr. Frederick Webster, the stage manager, announced, amidst great applause, the news, which he said he had from good authority. We have made enquiries, however, at the Admiralty, at the home office, at several clubs, at the electric telegraph offices, and every place where the intelligence was likely to be known, but have not succeeded in meeting with a single person likely to be well informed, who knew anything whatever about the matter. We are therefore bound to express our opinion, with regret, that the rumour rests on no better foundation than the authority we have stated. Would to God that it may turn out correct.”

The Great Britain steam-ship had been sold by the Directors of the Great Western Steam-ship Company, for £lB,OOO, being about the seventh of her orginal cost. The invention of M. Claussen forbleaching flax, by a process which adapts it to the machinery for cotton spinning, appears to realize, in a very considerable degree, the promises which have been held out.

A letter, dated Kilkenny. December 18, states than accident of a serious nature occurred to Mr. Daniel O’Connell, youngest son of the “Liberator,” while out shooting at Rockfield. After discharging one of the barrels of his double fowling-piece, he was about reloading it, when the other undischarged barrel exploded, shattering the left hand frightfully, Medical aid was instantly procured, and after the hand was dressed and bandaged, Mr. O’Connell proceeded on foot though suffering intensely, to the house of his uncle, Mr. James O’Connell, Lakeview. At a later date our correspondent writes : —“ Serious apprehension is entertained that lockjaw will ba the result of the injury which Mr. D. O’Connell sustained. The part injured was the right hand ; the palm, and the two forefingers, and the thumb were torn to atoms.”

It was rumored the Queen of Spain was again in an interesting state. The Queen had publicly manifested her displeasure with Narvaez by forbidding him to take a seat in the royal box at tbe theatre; and the hitherto favoured minister consequently sent in his resignation, but next day he was persuaded to withdraw it, and thus prevent a ministerial crisis.

Another conspiracy had been discovered in the south of Russia.

The Lord High Commissioner of the lonian Islands had been obliged again to prorogue the House of Representatives in order to prevent the adoption of a seditious decree, declaring their determination to reject the protection of Great Britain and join their own nation—independent Greece. The cholera was still severe in Jamaica ; 5,000 deaths had occurred at Kingston. High Sum for a Military Step.—lt is confidently reported in military circles that the large sum of sixteen thousand pounds has been offered by the Major of a Lancer Regiment, recently quartered here, for the purchase of the Lieutenant-Colonelcy, and refused after two days’ deliberation. The highest sum ever given for tbe purchase of a step was, we believe, twenty-thousand pounds.— Brighton Paper.

Officers Cashiered.—The officers who were on their trial, by court-martial, at Cawnpore, at the departure of the last India mail, for having broken their arrest, and fought a duel, have been sentenced to be cashiered. Sir Charles Napier has pardoned Ensign Huxam, who was wounded, but Lieutenants White, Smith, and Lichfield lost their commissions.—Atlas. Steam Communication with Australia. —On the subject of steam communication with India, China, and the Australian colonies, the London Daily News of the 23rd December has the following remarks and highly important announcement. —“ On several recent occasions we have endeavoured to expose the fallacious policy pursued by Her Majesty’s Government, in permitting the greater portion of steam communication with the East to be monopolized by one company ; and we have also endeavoured to direct public attention towards effecting a remedy. The recent proceedings of the Peninsular and Oriental Company have at length supplied the desired opportunity, and the publication of the report for the last half-year has, we are glad to say, most vigorously revived the subject. By that report it is very manifest, great difficulty has been experienced by the managers so to apportion their enormous gains as to bring their dividends down to 8 per cent, per annum, with a modest bonus of 2 per cent, for the last half-year; and we rejoice at being enabled io announce to our readers and tbe public in general, that information has been received at the various public offices of the formation of a new company, composed of mercantile men of known characier and stability, who will be ready to place vessels of a superior order and power on the greater por-

tion of the line at a very early period, and i that in the new company we have reason to i believe care will be taken that every mercan- i tile interest, both in this country, India, Ceylon, the Mauritius, China, and Australia, will ] be fully represented. The objects the com- ' pany have in view will combine enlarged ac- i commodation for passengers and merchandize, i at fair and reasonable charges, by vessels constructed especially for the purpose, with po- ' wer equal to any emergency, and with every modern improvement that science and utility can suggest. The letter of a Daily News correspondent on the same subject concludes with the following passage : —“ The recent accounts from Australia render the immediate establishment of steam communication imperatively necessary, and the Government will incur a fearful amount of responsibility by permitting any further delay.” Major-General Jervois has been induced to accept the Hongkong command. It will be remembered that this officer, a few months ago, resigned the Mastership of the Ceremonies at Bath. The gallant officer having had ■considerable experience of Terpsichorean gaities, will no doubt exert himself to introduce choregraphic pursuits into the Celestial Empire. If St. Vitus’s dance, instead of malaria fever, were the disease which assails our troops in China, the general would be peculiarly fitted to control and regulate it; and, we dare say, if the Chinese again show fight, he will lead them “ a devil of a dance.” These considerations are important. Independently, however, of the peculiar claims which they confer, we believe Major-General Jervois to be a good and efficient officer. — United Service Gazette. Gunpowder—Liverpool endangered. —The attention of the commercial classes of Liverpool, as well as of its residents generally, has been awakened to an alarming contingency. Within mile of the docks there are magazines containing 16,767 barrels, or 721 tons, of gunpowder —a quantity far larger than is believed ever to have been accumulated before in any one spot. These buildings are not fireproof, they are without •the means of ventilation, except by leaving the windows and doors open, and are not even provided with a lightning conductor. So complete indeed is “the resignation to chance and srood fortune.” to use the words of a reo - cent report by a' government officer, that no guard by night patrols the place to protect it from robbery, or give an alarm on the first outbreak of fire in the neighbourhood. The sensation created among the owners of property in Liverpool by these revelations may easily be imagined. The effect of an explosion of such a quantity of powder cannot be estimated, but it is generally believed that it would ruin the shipping of the town, and destroy thousands of lives. An explosion at Leyden of about a fiftieth part of what is deposited at Liverpool, is said to have blown down 400 houses. It appears also that about 40,000 barrels are delivered yearly from the magazines, to boats on the river, that the

wheels of the carts which convey them have tyres of iron, that the horses are shod with the same metal, and that sometimes powder is sprinkled from leaky casks as they go along. The Government, on the matter being represented, have expressed the greatest surprise, hut the onus of providing a remedy rests, in their opinion, with the town council. That body are of opinion that no arrangement can be effected without an act of parliament.— Atlas, Dec. 7. The Mayor of Liverpool has received a communication from Sir George Grey, Secretary of State, directing the immediate removal of the gunpowder magazines at Wallasey. This intelligence will be hailed with satisfaction by all classes, but more especially by the inhabitants on the Cheshire shore, who reside in the immediate vicinity of this dangerous depot.— Atlas, Dec. 14. The Two Presidents. —The last address of an Executive chief presented to the world was that of Louis Napoleon, who only the other day was in lodgings in King-street, St. James’s, but who now, by the expulsion of an elected King, presides over the fortunes of France. The address which this morning occupies so many of these columns is from Millard Fillmore, formerly a linendraper’s shopman, and now by the death of his superior, the federal head of the United States of America. A eentury ago, in the days of Louis XV. and George 11., the wildest imagination could not have foreshadowed two such documents, two such personages, and two such trains of events as have placed them where they are. If it was then somewhatless improbable that a number of British colonies should win their independence and form a federal union, than that the grandson of a then existing advocate in Corsica should be the President of a French Republic ; on the other hand, the message of the American President is, on the whole, a greater, a more comprehensive, and more significant marvel. The message of the French President seemed to exhibit him as healing the wounds and consoling the griefs of an ancient and distressed

monarchy ; as allaying its tumults and repairing its resources, and as much occupied in mending the past as in planning the future. The document now before us is eminently prospective and hopeful. It is full of new opportunities, creative energy, and expanding empire. The days of Washington, Franklin, and Maddison, are already ancient in the annals of a republic which within five years has established its own undisputed sway from the St. Lawrence to the Rio Grande, and from ocean to ocean, and within three years has planted a wealthy and populous State on the shores of the Pacific, — Times.

France. —France is drawing the attention of our vigilant politicians, in divers ways. A banquet is held in the Hotel de Ville of Paris, to celebrate the second anniversary of “the elected of the 10th December,” and the principal speeches are scanned to extract some practical meaning. M. Berger, the Prefect of the Seine, proposes the health of the President, and talks in a very reactionary tone about the time when Order was assailed by Anarchy in that hall ; an allusion to the revolution, which not only made a “ sensation” among the banqueters, but also makes practised politicians on this side of the water devoutly believe that France has seen the error of her ways, and is never going to do so any more. Prince Louis Napoleon, though expressly repudiating all power based on reaction, also speaks slightingly of mere revolutionary governments, and talks of further modification of the constitution “ without disturbance all of Which is taken to establish the fact that France is quite reformed! the more so as the Saloon of the Throne was superbly decorated—quite royally I Again, in the National Assembly, M. de Montalembert has been proposing a bill to secure observance of the Sabbath. This would be an improvement —if it were possible. France never enforced a melancholy observance of the Sabbath ; but trading infringements of the sacred day are a modern innovation, and a very bad one. We doubt, however, whether they are now so universally identified with the customs of the people as to be beyond abolition by statute. More imaginative politicians have been set speculating by a rumour that the French Government, contemplating the influx of gold from California, intends to introduces measure to abolish the joint gold and silver standard in favour of a silver standard alone. It is absolutely necessary to do so, says a distinguished English journalist: mankind numbers 1,000,000,000 ; the gold currency of the world is £300,000,000 ; the additional amount needed annually is £3,000,000 ; but California is adding £10,000,000 a year. So writes the alarmist. The Globe relieves our fears with stiff but decorous dubitations : is mankind exactly a billion, or is not the number really unknown ? is the currency only three hundred millions ? will California add ten millions a year for a continuance I — and that is the real question. Probably not. The

workings become more difficult and costly as they proceed. Besides more gold is wanted. Well said, Globe ; certainly there is no need for fear, as yet. Nor need we go to France to learn our practical duties in political economy : for France is a tyro in that science, whatever progress individual Frenchmen may have made ; and France is given to theoreti-

cal panics *. moreover, we are not yet certain that the French Government is under the panic specified. However, it is a “ suject” to write about not yet much hackneyed, nor quite deprived of its excitatory properties.—Spectator, December 14. Death from Poison entering a Cut. —A melancholy death occurred last week at Phaup, a farm situated in the upper district of Ettrick. A week or tw*o ago a young man had been employed in smearing sheep with a liquor or preparation in which there was a considerable quantity of arsenic. He had a cut on one of his fingers at the time, and the wound had been incautiously exposed, so that it had imbibed the poison of the liquor. He became seriously ill, and grew worse till last week, when he died in the greatest agonies. The whole skin, with the exception of a small bit on the back of his neck, came off his body, and the disease presented features which the medical gentlemen who attended him had no experience of.— Atlas, Dec. 7. Singular Life Assurance Speculation. —Towards the close of the last century two gentlemen, then aged about thirty years, while strolling through the streets of London, entered a life assurance-office and inquired upon what terms their joint lives could be insured for the sum of £30,000, to be payable only in the event of either of the assured arriving at the venerable age of ninety. They were informed that the terms would be £IOOO deposit* end sm smnmil premium of £5 rpha conditions were accepted. Time wore on, and, long before the allotted period, one of the friends sunk into the grave. The clergyman, however, survived, and at length the lookedfor period arrived, and with the year that has past away the venerable clergyman completed his ninetieth year and claimed the reward.of

his patient endurance. The demand upon the office was honourably met, and the subject of this extraordinary notice, we are informed, still lives, hale and erect, in a rural district not far from the great capital, with a fair prospect of enjoying with his family for some time to come his singularly acquired fortune. Cricket under Difficulties. At a return match between the young cricket club of Burneside and the junior members of the Kendal Club, one of the most remarkable features was the playing of Walker, a youth from Burneside, without hands, having been unfortunately deprived of those useful members by an accident at the paper mill. Maimed as he is, he can do anything in the game but bowl. He bats very tolerably, and certainly most extraordinarily for his means; catches a ball upon bis chest, with the assistance of his arms; and throws up a ball with remarkable precision by means of his foot, Westmoreland Gazette. A Barber Outgeneralled. — ‘ln a private letter from Lyons an anecdote of an amusing kind is related of General Castellan, which any one acquainted with the bold and somewhat eccentric character of that distinguished officer will not find much difficulty in believing. A few days since a barber and hairdresser of that city —well known for his Socialist opinions—was in the act of operating on a ‘friend and brother.’ While holding between his thumb and fore-finger the nasal organ of his Socialist customer, and passing his razor over his chin, he cried out, ‘ What would I not give to have at this moment the head of General Castellan as I have yours ! I should soon settle his business !’ The next morning at an' early hour, to the great amazement of perruquier, who should be seen but General Castellan himself approaching his door, followed as usual by a mounted orderly! The General never ap-

pears but in full dress, and decorated with all his orders ; and this is so invariably the case that the same story was told of him when he commanded in Perpignan, that was related of the Laird of Dumbiedikesand his laced cocked hat—namely, that he goes to bed with them. Be that as it may, the General dismounted from his horse, entered the shop, and sat down in the chair set apart for customers. ‘ I understand my good friend,’ said he to the gaping barber, ‘that you have expressed a wish to have my head between your hands. Be so good as to shave me.’ The affright of the artiste and the sang froid of the General may be more easily conceived than described. He said not a word, but set himself mechanically to prepare his implements. The General remained fixed like a statue, though the trembling of the barber’s hand might have unwittingly executed the patriotic threat he bad uttered the day before. The General, however, escaped without accident. He washed and dried his face ; put a five franc piece into the hand of the dismayed and speechless scraper of chins, and looking him straight in the face, said, ‘ Mon cher ami, I was anxious to prove to you that I am not the man to be frightened by threats of any kind. Be so good as to be convinced of the fact, and to mention the same with my compliments to your friends. Bon jour !’ liie kjruerai men uOvvtu very puiiiciy, (jiiiucd the shop, and remounted his horse.— The Times,

A Sensible Cook. —At a recent meeting of one of the clubs at Paris, a violent democrat declaimed, amidst the applause of his hearers, against the evils of property and the injustice of landlords, and urged confiscation. He was succeeded by a cook, who manfullv stated his disinclination to concur in the recommendation of the orator. He endeavoured to show that the sweeping charge against landlords was unjust, that there were many good as well as bad, and that it would be unfair to include all in one condemnation. “But let us,” he added, “take another view of the case. If you confiscate their property, and give it to others, what advantage would result? I, for example, am cook to a gentleman who, until the late revolution, held the rank of Duke. He is a kind man, and liberal to those who serve him. I receive from him good wages, and I give him in return good dinners. We are mutually satisfied. Reverse the order of things! I should be sorry, gentlemen, to invite you to dinners of his cooking.” Gossip about the Siamese Twins.—

Boston, lately communicated the following among other interesting particulars in regard to the Siamese Twins The connecting substance is very strong, and has no great sensibility; it can be severely handled without causing pain. No pulsating vessel can be felt in it. The slightest motion of one is immediately followed by the ether to the same direction, so that the same wish seems to influence both; this is quite involuntary, or a habit lormed by necessity. They always race in one direction, standing nearly side by side, and cannot, without inconvenience, face m opposite directions. One is rather more intellectual than the other; the most intellec-

tual being rather irritable, the other bein tremely amiable. The connection bet* these twins might afford some very im ef . B observations in physiology, therapeutic llB pathology. There is, doubtless, a conn ’ by minute blood vessels, absorbents 8t]( j BCtl(1B vous filaments which might transmit th tions of medicines and the causes of dj^ ac ' As far as known any indisposition of tends to the other ; they are inclined to and act at the same time and in the quantity, and perform in the same ma? 16 other similar acts. It is supposed that they are asleep, touching one awakens’ botl> U but when awake, an impulse given to oned not affect the other. The slightest move/ 61 of one is so soon perceived by the other th?' careless observer might think they multaneously. No part seems to have ac' ception common to both, except the middle 'f the connecting substance and its neighbour hood; for, when an impression is made atthi* time, it is felt by both, while beyond' this space it is felt only by the one of the side to which it is applied. From the limited vaj. cular and nervous connection that can be dis' covered, Dr. Warren supposes that the influ' ence of medicine, transmitted from one to fl, other, would be inconsiderable, and the sain would apply to most diseases, for instance,] slight fever, would not probably extend one to the other; while diseases, communin. ble through the absorbents or capillaries (n small pox) would readily be transmitted. beating of both hearts coincide exactly, as the pulses under ordinary circumstances; i[ one exerts himself without the other, hispolu alone will be quickened, while the latter isnn. changed. They breathe also exactly together, This harmony in corporeal functions would lead us to ask if there be a similar harmony in the intellectual functions; if they are idea, tically the same persons. There is no reast®

to suppose that their intellectual operation! are any more the same than they would hit any two persons, confined together, educated under similar circumstances, and with similar habits and tastes. Then would come th question whether they could be separated wi safety. Perhaps such an operation wouldnot be necessarily fatal, but the peritoneum may be continuous from one to the other, and the opening of this great cavity might be attended with dangerous symptoms. Should one di* before the other, it should be immediately performed, but no surgeon would be justified in attempting such an operation to free thea from a mere inconvenience ; which incoovJ nience, if we may believe the reports of tbeil domestic affairs and flourishing condition it worldly goods, is, after all, of no very gres consequence. — Ne'r York Courier, Streetography.—Set down the cleverest country gentleman in any one part of Loudos to find his way to any other part of it withthe best map to be got, and he will be only ablets find it in a cab; for those who have the order ing of these things in certain districts ol the metropolis, believing that the names d streets ought to be known by the world st large by instinct, take little care about getting them written up. The other day a gentleman of inquiries, found out at last th residence of a young baronet to whom bew accredited near Portman-square. He w«l unusually methodical about trifles, even kt a German, and had taken very good care It note down the name of the street in which h had fixed his temporary lodging. The bailnet, when he was taking leave, naturally ®' quired where he should have the pleasured returning the visit ? The German prodocd his pocket-book, and gravely read from J “ Number nine, Stick-no-bill-street.” no bills” being the only words he couldw written up against the houses, he of w®' l adopted them as his proper address. A si®' lar mistake is recorded of an American W Fourth-street, Philadelphia. He, too, search of the address on a letter of introc l.t tion ; and, when he got into the street, stually disbelieved the information him that he had arrived at his proper e! nation. “Don’t I see,” he said, at the corner, “that this is F. P« yL Feet-street?” and returned to b* s out delivering his letter. — Dickens's' hold Words." The Press and the who would—if they could —bring aS under the yoke of superstition, may the opposition which they encouat f r 4 n el j l yj designs to the agency of the Arch- ® but the real truth is, that the only have to contend with is the P ninv ‘ Punch.