ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 625, 30 July 1851, Page 4

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

Nicaragua. —Letters from San Juan de Nicaragua announce that Mr. Chatfield, her Majesty’s Consul in Central America, had been recalled. Great progress was being made in the ship canal. Four distinct surveys of four distinct routes bad been made by the corps of engineers in the employ of the company, and the last one, which had been determined on by the company, offered every facility for the construction of a grand ship canal, at an expense far less than was anticipated. Mr. Childs, the chief engineer, with a corps of able assistants, immediately on his arrival in Nicaragua, entered upon the duties entrusted to him, and the result was, that the survey had been completed, and in a short lime the work of digging would be commenced. It was first supposed that (he terminus of the ship canal would be at Realejo, but a shorter and better route had been discovered.—Liverpool Albion, Feb. 17. United States. —The American House of Representatives have passed a bill for cheap postage, by 130 to 75 votes. It is now before the Senate for concurrence. For each letter not weighing over one half-ounce the charge will now be three cents.; and for each additional half ounce, or fraction of half an ounce, three cents. Newspapers will not enjoy the privilege of their English contemporaries. Those delivered within the State in which they were printed will be charged half a cent.; those within the county of their publication, and sent from the offices to actual subscribers, will be free ; all others, together with pamphlets, magazines, &c., without manuscript, and not jnore than two ounces in weight will be charged one cent. A new piece is to be coined at tne mint of the denomination and legal value of three cents., or three-hundredths of a dollar, to be composed of three-fourth I gjlvnr and one-fourth copper, Suitable stamps were to be sold for this coin.— Atlas. Probable Abdication of the Pope. You may remember that, in my correspondence upon Civita Vecchia, in May, 1845, while yet the siege of Rome was undecided and the restoration nf.fha .vi. uuvviiaiu, 1 more than once hinted at the possibility of Pius IX. retiring from public life, and abandoning for ever the cares of State, for which he was m every respect unsuited. I had my information then from a personage who knew the most secret thoughts of the Pope, and who moreover had received his confidence on the subject. It is true that the resignation did not take place, and therefore that I exposed myself to the charge of having listened to those who had an interest in leading me astray. But I have never doubted my authority, and h x am not now again grossly deceived, the prospect is nearer its accomplishment than any of us have imagined. I am told in a high quarter that PioNono, more than once durin? his residence at Portici, stated to the cardL nals most in his confidence, that he had senous thoughts of abdicating, and that if such a step could be reconciled with the interests of !k/!l UrCh ’ Was P re P ared to take it; but that the cardinals, though the vista of the Popedom was opened to each, were unanimous m (.eclating the measure as untimely, and entreated him to relinquish the idea. “ Wait ” rt?n“ d ’ '? atl ® aBt tin y° ur restoration to he Uuinnal, and do not give Mazzini and the Republic the triumph of boasting that in your person .he, h„ e de ..ro,ed the

that your abandonment of pl, caused alone b, them." The pT’J»» himself to be persuaded by thia I am informed that, since his return his longing for the quiet of a with double force, and that the ca» ( ii2V* Ctt, » lag how strongly his are less indisposed to accede to they were at Naples Nay, l am the question is at this moment the suf; 1 their secret councils, and that matZ? 1 proceeded so far as that the convdetti 9 Pius IX. means to end his days h M ’ been named. — Roman Correa, of the Wreck or the Steamer “Johm Am UPWARDS OF 100 LIVES EOST.—On morning, the 27th January, at three the steamer John Adams, Captain H. A F with a heavy freight and a large ’numC’i passengers, bound for Cincinnati, when? the head of Island 82, struck a snag or h? and sank in two minutes. The cabin pJn from the hull, and the latter went • about sixty feet of water. She had aWfln or 100 passengers, a few of whom wete 81 J The cabin, in breaking from the hull sei) ated in the middle, which doubtless was t cause of many of the cabin passengers bsi? their lives. The ladies in the cabin weij saved, After suffering many hours io J water, they were enabled to get ashore ati plantation of a Mr. Carter. The f OTj J portion of the cabin, with the fixtures, down to Island 83, where it grounded. About 3 p. m., the Peytona came along and tookth passengers on board from that part of ifo wreck, from whence she proceeded with all possible haste to the other portion of the wreck, when she took ali on board with the exception of Captain Jones and his family Mr. Wilson, the mate and a few others* Owing to the time of her sinking, every one being asleep, and it being so sudden, few we « able to get sufficient clothes to cover themselves, and many of them are indeed in a most destitute condition. From Capt. Shalcrosi and others we make up the following summary of persons on board and the number saved. The number on board was as follows Cabin passengers, 100 ; deck passengers, 87; offi. cers, 11 ; crew, firemen, and hands, 32, to. tai, 230. The number saved, as near as can be ascertained, is as follows; —Cabin passengers, 84 ; deck passengers, 5 ; officers, 11; crew, &c., 7: total saved, 107- Lost, 123, The deck passengers were Californians, and Garmas. and Irish. CiKttnati.

St. Bartholomew’s Medicine Chest. —Between £2OO and £3OO are spent every year for strong, sound port wine for the sick poor in St. Bartholomew's Hospital. It is bought in pipes, and drawn off as needed. Nearly 2000 pounds weight of castor oil, 200 gallons of spirits of wine, at 17s, a-gallon; 12 tons of linseed meal, 1000 pounds weight d senna, and 27 cwt. of salts, are items in the annual account of drugs. The grand total spent upon physic in a twelvemonth is £2,600, 5000 yards of calico are wanted for rollers, for bandaging ; to say nothing of the stouter snd stiffer fabric used for plsstsrs, Mort than halfabundred-weightofsarsaparillaisused every week—asign.bow much the constitution of the patients requires improvement. Inayear 20,700 leeches were bought for the use of ibo establishment—an invasion of foreignerswithout parallel, till we have the influx ofthe Great Exhibition—for the leeches brought to bit® onrl rlia ir» akin T reafllPFPd hi XJUUUUU UUDpiKJI G‘V •- in France and Poland in Africa and SpainA ton and a half of treacle is annually usrf to make some kinds of syrup ; the five casks of hips which, mixed with a cask of sugar, make linctus for coughs, have been already tioned ; but one little fact, in addition, telpecting it should not pass unnoticed; preparation for coughs is red in color, aw looks fruity and tastes somewhat sweet, ba f ‘ ing still, however, an acid dash. As win® comes the coughs increase, and the demsW upon the stock of liuctus becomes heavier heavier. This is expected and provided but one season it had been larger even th an usual. The same children and the women came again and again, most ingly; when, in consequence of some in<p irie it was found that one of the most urg«“ claimants for the favourite physic lived by ft ing sweets and pies to children, in a u ’®" street near Smithfield, and that she used favourite linctus to make fruit tarts of,-’*” en’s Household Wards.