MISCELLANEOUS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 689, 10 March 1852, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS.

The Oratory of the House of Commons.—Among the improvements of late years in the House of Commons, one of the most satisfactory is the growing impatience of rhetoric for rhetoric’s sake; in a word, of mere talk. The anti-Papal Bill was an exception, and so distinct that it serves to prove that the rule is as we have given it. Judge Ddncan, in a recent address delivered at Clarksburg, United States, on his return as American Commissioner from the Great Ek-

hibition, thus refers to his visit to the British Parliament and the Courts of Justice: —“ I was present on one occasion in the House of Commons, when a measure came up, which involved the whole financial policy of the Government, and the state and condition of the industrial classes. It was debated by the Prime Minister, Lord John Russell, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Disraeli, and a great many other leading members. The debate opened at six o’clock p.m., and dosed at twelve, when the vote was taken and the question settled. Thus, in a debate of six hours, a great measure was disposed of, after a discussion so full that every one present was satisfied that all had been said, on both sides, that the subject required. Yet a measure of a similar character, in the American Congress, could not have been disposed of under six weeks’ constant discussion. I was forcibly struck with the close adherence of the English speakers to the subject of debate. There was nothing extraneous or redundant; no flourish or ornament; but that which seemed to characterise the speakers particularly was their plain practical good sense, and an ability for condensation. Yet they are, in some respects, not good speakers. Their manners are cold without action or fluency. They hesitate and stammer, and seem to beat a loss. In the courts of justice, the same brevity and condensation prevails in the speeches of the barristers that distinguished the speaking in the House of Commons, and the judges, who are deemed to be a learned, dignified, and hard-working set of men,, deliver their opinions so concisely, and yet so distinct and clear, that the minds of the most ordinary persons present can understand them.”

Dead Letters. —By a return to an order of the House of Commons, we find that the separate amount in cash and bills, and the sum realized from the sale of property other than money found in dead letters, and the estimated value of any undisposed of, from the sih January, 1849, to the sth January, 1851, is as follows : —Cash, including bank notes found in all letters returned to the Dead Letter-office, £18,870 10s. 4d., nearly the whole of,which was delivered t<> the writers. Bills, including cheques, notes of band, money orders, &c., found in such letters, £1,226,282 19s. Id., nearly the whole of which was also delivered to ,the writers. Sam realized by il»c sale of j.Topoty other than money found in such letters, nil. Estimated value of any undisposed of cannot be given. The following are the rules by which the dead letter department is regulated with respect to such letters:—No letters are forfeited; if all methods taken to effect the delivery of letters fail, they are brought back, opened, and returned to the writers. Letters refused by the writers, and those for which no owners can be found, are destroyed for want of space to preserve them. Dead letters from foreign countries, with which the General Post-office exchanges such letters are sent back to the countries from which they are received ; in order that the postage due to the British Post office maybe repaid. Letters, however, containing cash are never destroyed, but the amount, when the writer cannot be found, is paid into the revenue at the end of three years. A registry and index are kept of the letters and their contents, which are restored to any claimants proving themselves to be entitled to them. Dead letters containing bills and properly other than money are kept three years; at the expiration of that period they are destroyed, and the properly is sent to an auctioneer and sold by public auction. The proceeds are paid to the account of the revenue.

Editorial Pleasures. — A gentleman called Doolittle, educated at Harward University, and a native of Connecticut, was transplanted south to edit a violent party paper, in a locality where “ revolvers,” ad infinitum, and a whole army of bowieknives, bad astrong influence in preventing the freedom of speech. He held his situation six months, was stabbed twice, shot three times, once well cudgelled, and once thrown into a horsepond, but he congratulated himself upon never having been kicked. He retaliated upon his tormentors, by shooting two of them as dead as doorposts’ and then be departed for more peaceful latitudes. A New York paper declares that this is a fact.

An American Tragedy. —A mortal combat occurred a few miles from this place on the 18th ult., between A. C. Hopper, a citizen of this county, and his brother, a resident of Kentucky. It seems that an elder brother of the Hoppers died in Kentucky a few years since, a bachelor. He had some property, which a younger brother desired to keep without making any division with his other brothers. The other brothers, including A. C. Hopper, insisted on a division, and had the property administered upon and sold. This greatly enraged their younger brother, who was a desperate character. At the saie A. C. Hopper purchased a negro woman and children and brought them home. So things went on—the younger brother havibg ftreateh-

ed to kill, or burn up, those of his brothers who interfered in the property of bis deceased brother. A day or two previous to the 18th ult. A. C. Hopper learned that his brother was in ambush, secreting himsell in the woods about his plantation, and was armed, as he suspected, for the purpose of assassinating him the first opportunity. He procured one or two of his neighbours, armed himself, and with one of his sons proceeded to ascertain the whereabouts of his brother and drive him from his lurking place. The company finally discovered him by the popping of a cap, snugly camped in the woods, with implements of death, one or two horses, &c. Immediately after popping the cap, he seized his rifle and fired upon A. C. Hopper, the contents taking effect. A. C. Hopper, recovering somewhat from the effects of the shot, fired on his brother. Having a double-barrelled shot gun, he discharged the contents of both barrels which took mortal effect. Both, mortally wounded, now closed on each o.her, A. C. Hopper breaking his gun over the head of the other, cutting with knives, &c. The younger brother expired instantly. A. C. Hopper only lived a few hours after he was taken to his residence. — Tren. (Tenn.) San.