ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 716, 12 June 1852, Page 3

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

The Royal Horse Guards v — It is said that a court of inquiry is about' to take place

in this regiment relative to the recent defalcations of a subaltern, and which amount, it is said, to £87,000 ! An Episodk in the last FrtENCn Revolution. — a letter from Lorgues* published in the Gazette de Lyon, gives some details relative to the circumstances which took place after the combat at Aups. It says, — " The soldiers had been told the house in which the prisoners were kept for three days was full of insurgents. The troops, being thus misled, fired on the house, while .onTthe" other side the reds were breaking in the doors to murder" these unfor- 1 tunate men. M. Andreol de Laval, seeing that his friends were on the point of perishing, jumped out of a window on the second story to tell the troops not to fire, and died out, ' Save the prisoners !' The soldiers, thinking that he was an insurgent who said, 'I surrender myself a prisoner,' replied, 'We give no quarter !' and"4o of them fired at him at two yards' distance. The prisoners then- cried out, 'He is not an insurgent !' and all the soldiers raised their hands to Heaven. M. de Laval, believing 1 that he was about to die, desired to clasp the captain's hand to intimate that he bore no enmity to him. He turned towards him, crying, ' I xdie satisfied since I have saved my companions. Vive le 50th.' The captain rushed forward, exclaiming, ' Oh, what a cause of regret !' He declares that he never beheld^ so great an instance or courage, and never would forget the scene before him. M. de Laval received a wound in the foot, another in the shoulder, one near the temple, and grains of chot from the in« surgents in several parts of the body ; he has also a bayonet stab in the arm ; his paletot has been pierced with nine balls ; his cravat, cap, waistcoat, and boots are all torn to pieces with balls, and yet he has not received a single severe wound ; in fact, the whole case is quite a miracle. M. de Laval has determined that all his clothes shall be hung up at St. Ferreol, the place of the celebrated pilgrimage, near Lorgues.."

The Fortified Line of Enceinte round Paris — which has caused so much observation and discussion, is composed of a rampart, ditch, berm (broad enough to be manned by skirmishers, or riflemen), and raised glacis, ' as accurately as I could measure them — which any person is allowed to do — of the following dimensions : — Height of the masonry of the escarp, above which is an earthern parapet, 33ft. ; breadth of the ditch, from 55 to 150 ft.; height of crest of glacis above the bottom of the ditch, 26ft. The masonry of the escarp is so well covered in front, that it would evidently be impossible to breach it from a distance ; and the enceinte, being a bastioned line, is in every part thoroughly well flanked ; besides which, its extent is so great that, practically speaking, it possesses almost the advantage of being a straight interminable front, which of course would prevent an enemy from enveloping its works for the purpose of enfilading them. The counterscarp has not been reveted ; and thus not only has a great expense been saved, but as the army of defence would always be on a very large scale, the slope upwards to the covered berm and crest of the glacis would enable columns of troops of 10,000 or 20,000 men to make sorties on extended fronts from_the ditch, which would again afford them most easy and convenient shelter if repulsed. The passage through the enceinte for the high roads (similar to that in which my carriage was standing) would, of course, have proper gates, barriers, and loopholed defences applied whenever there appeared any probability of their being required, and at the same time the works would, be armed. The fortifying of Paris is generally acknowledged to have been a very judicious measure, and in this opinion I quite concur. Wars will hereafter be more likely to be made by coalitions than formerly, and France more than any other country is like to be attacked by a powerful coalition. The armies of the continent of Europe are much larger than they used to be ; an.l from these facts combined, it is un« deniable that France may be assailed by 400,000 or 500,000 men at once. Under such circumstances, the old lines of frontier-fortres-ses would not, as they were intended, afford the resources of checking the enemy at the threshold for months, because h&Vwould have forces .enough to mask or watch them, as also his communications, and to make a dash at the capital with 100,000 or 150,000 troops, as was done in 1814, and again after Waterloo, and as, on similar principles of his own originating, Napoleon did in 1809 and 1812, &c. Besides this, the frontiers of France, by the peace of 1815, have been left comparatively open as regards the covering by fortresses, and thus all the studies and labours of Vauban, Louis XIV., and Bonaparte, have been completely annulled. If Paris, therefore, could be made defensible, so as to afford time, before it were taken, to give to the Government a chance of reorganising new armies, and of x then acting upon the more extended lines of operations of the invader, it would more than replace the advantages of the frontier-fortresses, inasmuch as the movements against it would be much more difficult to support, and consequently much more dangerous to attempt.— i/e«e?'s Faggot of French Sticks.

Kossuth in New York. — The chief feature of Kossulh's proceedings on Wednesday was his remarkable speech to the deputation from Tam-many-hall. It will be read with deep interest throughout the country. The Whigs have had their turn of Kossuth. l Now is the chance of the Democrats, who appeared to slumber, but but are evidently now awake. ' Young America ' is up, and asserts his prior right to the intervention platform,- which he says was stolen from him by the genius of Whig abolitionism. Which party will bid most for Kossuth ? 'Both want to have their man next President. The cause of Hungary Is a trump card, and may win the White ' House if skilfully pkyed. It seems that the ladief are so much in love with Kossuth that they wanted to kiss him, much in the same fashion as they used to kis3 Henry Clay. It will be seen by reference to the movements of Kossuth on Thursday, that he was presented with a splendid copy of the Bible, as an appropriate gift to the champion of civil and religious liberty. It is evident that Kossuth has taken deep hold of the religious sentiment of the country, and that he is cultivating it for the advancement of the cause of Hungary. - The enthusiasm of some of the Pro- | testant sects — and particularly the clergymen and

ladies — amounts almost to a religious mania. They regard him as a sort of second Luther, who' is destined to shake the Papal system to pieces by his pleaching. From Kossuth's statement on Thursday the programme appears to be as follows :— ' Alter giving yesterday evening to the lawyers in Triplex- hall, and this afternoon to the ladies, heleave& on Monday, for.* Philadelphia,.-whenee he prooktfds. to^gkitttorje/ ■ and thence to WashingtnrT; and after getting What practical aid he can from Congiess and the Government he will then visit Cincinnati, of whose citizens "he has expressed such warm admiration, although he does not like the soubriquet of their city — "Queen of the West.'" It is too monarchical a name for the great leader of republicanism in Europe, and apostle^" of freedom everywhere. The proceedings of Thursday were wound up by a lecture of Kossuth in the Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, of ..which the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher is the pastor. The church was filled. The lecture was not so able, on the whole, as some of the discourses he has delivered since his arrival in New York. He related one very interesting fact, showing the religious toleration that was enjoyed under the republic of Hungary during his governorship. Though a Protestant fey birth and conviction, he appointed a Catholic bishop Minister of Public Instruction. We rather think he would not appoint Archbishop Hughes to that office. — New York Herald.

How ouu Ancestors "Protected" us. — In the reign of James the Fourth of Scotland, the magistrates of towns were enjoined " to set prices upon bread, ale, and all other necessarie things, wrought and bought." James the Fifth appointed a commissioner " for setting prices on craftsmen's work and stuff, victual and salt." Then, the law told every man what price he was to set upon all goods in his shop : now, the tradesman is left to make- for himself complex calculations, and to discover through much trouble what he ought to charge in order to insure an honest living. Queen Mary decreed that prices should be set also on wild and tame fowl. " The black cock," says her Majesty, per statute, " is to be sax pennies, and the tame hen eight pennies." . . Charles the Second prohibited the importation of gold and silver lace, buttons, thread, or ribands whose gold or silver were to be found or counterfeited ; linen, cambric, damask, calico, cotton, wool lint ; carpets, silk beds, stockings, shoes, boots, gloves, &c. James the Sixth had interdicted the exportation of linen cloth, lint seed, candles, tallow, butter s hides, shoes, cattle, coals, flesh, horses, wool, skins, herrings," &c. Charles the Second added to the list worsted, woollen yarn, broken copper, brass, or pewter, under pain of confiscation, one-half to the king, one-half fo. the apprehender. The British subject was evidently being, taken care of; he felt everyday of his life, as a child does, the paternal coercion for his good. As for navigation, it was very properly attended to. "It was forbidden that any vessel should pass out of the realm without the king's consent." (James the Sixth,) It is well known what caie a father takes to keep his children from uncontrolled rambling on public highways. Nothing can be more scandalous to any family than a neglect of this precaution. The wise spirit of our ancestors perceived this, and James the Fourth enacted, "That no man, spiritual or temporal, pass forth the realm without license, or being abroad, do anything against their li* cense." They were ordered to be good boys ; and were kept out of the temptation of strange pie-men and pastrycooks by the further provisions of the statute. . . Money was protected no less carefully. We all know how, in the present day, coin slips out of our fingers. Formerly, however, Britons were commanded by the law to hold it tight. Under Chailes the Second a strict act was passed " appointing merchants to swear before the Treasurer not to export coined money ; nor to suffer the same to be exported; nor 'to conceal the exporting thereof. And that no merchant or skipper trade or make voyage, to y am forraign place before they take the said oath." And there is only allowed to passengers sixty pounds (Scots pounds, twelfths ot a pound sterling) for their charges ; all licenses aie discharged, except to I such as should make faith, or give bond that the money is to be bestowed for timber in Norway, or "" for victual in time of extreme dearth; and that they shall return the superflus." — Didcens's Household Words. i

A Change, and the Cause, of it. — Give a Chartist a large estate, and a copious supply of ! ready money, and you make a Conservative of , him. He can then seethe other side of the moon, which he could never see before. Once a determined Radical in Scotland, called Davy Armstrong, left his native village ; ai>d many years afterwards arr old fellow grumbler met him, and commenced the old song. Davy shook his head. His friend wa? astonished, and soon, perceived that Davy was no longer a grumbler but a rank Tory. Wondering at the change, he was desirous of knowing the reason. Davy quietly arid laconically replied, " I've a coo (cow-) noo." — Bell's Messenger.