MISCELLANEOUS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 768, 11 December 1852, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

A New Religious Sect. — It is a fact that, not far from this metropolis, there is an extensive sect who never call in medical aid to assist their women in childbirth ; who never have have their children vaccinated ; who, through all the perils of the distempers incident to infancy and childhood, never seek or use the aid of medical science ; who, in any case where a surgical operation — nay, even amputation — might relieve suffering, or preserve life, refuse suc-h aid as sinful and superfluous ; who, in the most violent acute diseases, or the most contagious fevers, do nothing more, and put faith in nothing more, than the laying on of hands, praying, and anointing with oil. If the sufferer die, "It is the Lord's will ; " and that is the all-sufficing phrase ! There is something alarming in the spread of this fanaticism. Some day there may come small-pox of a peculiarly virulent type, or a contagious fever, and sweep off a whole population. But when you tell them so, they only smile at your unbelieving heathenism. They have already been in danger of a severe legal sentence for the neglect of medical means where death has taken place ; but they are ready for the martyrdom of legal or any other persecution, and would flourish under it. We heard brother Witness deliver one of his open-air Sunday harangues. All the world was still pagan but Goosetrap Witness and his friends. Brother Witness did not parade much human learning or education. It was all miracle and grace, and very bad grammar. He declared that the ordinary teachers of Christianity deceived the people by telling them to trust in God, walk orderly, and hope for salvation. "Ah, my brethren ! " he added, " there is no hoping and trusting in this thing. Every man knows whether he be in a state of salvation or not. He knows the day and the hour to a minute, when salvation was vouchsafed to him ; I know my brethren, the blessed day, to an hour and a minute, when salvation came to me. I was at brother Melksom's, in London, ten years ago. Brother Melksom was always full of rejoicings, singing at heart like a pilgrim that has cast off his burden, and already sees the golden gates afore him. I found that he had got something that I had not, and I prayed and prayed night and morning, and noon and morning, and noon and night ; and one morning, at fifty-three minutes and seven-and-a-half seconds past seven o'clock, salvation fell upon me like a cloud of fire. I felt that if I had wings T could have flown at once to Gudgeon-brook, to tell my friends ; but not having them, I hastened down stairs, and said, ' Brother Melksom ! we will have some breakfast ! ' " The wonderful climax, " Brother Melksom, we will have some breakfast ! " seemed to produce an astounding sensation on the auditory. — Dickens' Household Words". A Match-Making Disease. — The existence in the world of a curious form of disease, which had been manifested in the human body since the invention of lucifer matches, and caused by fumes from the phosphorus used in their manufacture, was first made known to the public in 1848. * * * The phosphorus, it is agreed on all hands, does not act injuriously on the constitution generally. The fumes do .not necessarily affect the lungs, as we might have supposed. The German workers affirm that their general health does not suffer in'the least ; and experience in London goes beyond that, it is even improved after attendance at the factory. It is ascertained also, and this is important to remember, that exposure for a day or a month will not produce the

phosphorus disease ; it rarely breaks out on any person who has been less than four years at the factory ; most of those who suffer have worked pieviously for a longer time. Most writers have been induced to suppose that the disease begins with aching in a tooth that has been previously more or less imperfect, or in people whose gums are not firmly adherent to the bone. An unsound constitution, especially scrofula, at any rate, favours the development of the disease. The next symptom is a decaying of the jawbone. Pieces of it, probably as large as peas, work themselves out. The disease has destroyed its vitality ; for bone also lives and requires its blood-vessels and its other apparatus. When bone is dead, an admirable provision is made, by which the healthy parts combine to cast it out. The surgeon generally takes care to extract the disease artificially before it has become so violent as to threaten life. Occasional deaths are the result of this affection, but commonly there is no more than great suffering for a certain time, and then a permanent and grievous disfigurement. Many sufferers, on the other 'hand, have stated that constitutional ailments with which they were previously afflicted, have abated when the jaw disease sets in. It is also a fact, that the entire loss of the lower jaw in youth does not involve always its permanent disappearance. Bone does not, however, appear to be so readily reproduced after its destruction by phosphorus as when destroyed by other causes. — Ibid. Education in the French Abmy. — The Siecle writes as follows on the state of education to be found in the French army :—": — " Much is said in France of the progress which is being generally made. Beyond any doubt a progress is taking place, and rapidly; but how much way has it not yet to pass over ? How far distant are we not from the object which we ought to have in view? The Government has just published certain returns which the optimists of ignorance ought to be delighted at. They relate to the state of education in the army. On January 1, 1851, our army, that is to say, the ilite in bodily strength of our adult population, was composed of 242,104 non-com missioned officers, corporals, or privates of the infantry. How many of these men do you suppose had obtained a primary instruction of an ordinary degree ? Alas ! it is sad to confess that out of that number more than one-fourth, that is, 73,471 men, could neither read nor write; 32,726 could read only ; and not more than 17,009 non-commissioned officers, 21,628 corporals, and 97,270 soldiers could both read and write. In the cavalry the proportion of ignorance, without being so considerable, was almost as afflicting. Out of 55,922 men, 14,132 were without any instruction whatever, and 7,629 others could only read. The number of those who had received a better educatiou amounted to 34,161. It was necessary to get to the special corps to meet with results less to the disadvantage of the general state of our institutions. Out of 30,256 non-com-misioned officers, brigadiers, or privates of the artillery, 20,919 knew how to both read and write ; out of 9,631 non-commissioned officers, corporals, and soldiers of the engineers, only 1.469 were in a complete state of ignorance. The number of persons so ignorant was nearly as great in the waggon train, which, however, contains only 5,681. In fine, the French army, containing 364,675 soldiers, corporals, or noncommissioned officers, bad in its ranks 102,551 men who could neither read nor write. We think it right to state that the military authorities were endeavouring to diminish these afflicting results, since at the period when the returns were made 46,000 military pupils were attending the regimental schools. But the total of 102,651 persons totally ignorant did not the less subsist ; and it was necessary to add to that amount 40,090 men, all whose knowledge consisted in a little reading. Other persons may draw a political conclusion from these facts ; for our parts we content ourselves with a practical one. If more than one-third of the army has an insufficient primary education, it may be safely affirmed that such instruction is wanting to more than one-half of all the inhabitants of the country. We address ourselves to all, without distinction of opinion, and we ask whether such a state of things ought to exist? We ask whether it is not time to think of carrying out the promises of so many Governments and so many Constitutions which have succeeded each other during the last sixty years'? We willingly admit that during that period much progress has been made. There have been efforts and sacrifices ; but reflect on the road which still remains to be gone over, and see whether those efforts should be discontinued, and whether the enemies of progress should be listened to. One-half of the nation in the most complete ignorance ! One-half of the nation to be enlightened ! What an important duty for the Government ! What a : heavy obligation for society. j Extra Business at the General Posti office. — In consequence of the elections that ! are now going forward in the different cities, boroughs, and counties of the united kingdom, the increase of business in that department is nearly incredible, and the employes are obliged to do extra duty. No less than upwards of 250,000 electioneering circulars were sent to the General Post-office, St. Martin's-le-Grand, on Tuesday last, from the different committees (City of London, Westminster, Tower Hamlets, Finsbury, Marylebone, Southwark, Greenwich, &c.) to be distributed by the London District Post. This was the largest number that has been known (exceeding St. Valentine's day), and many of ths letter carriers were not able to make their deliveries until very Ue at night, as it was most urgent to tbe candidates that the electors should have the circulars in time. — Times, July 9. The Detective Dreamer. — On the 2nd of this month (June) Mr. West, of the firm of Partridge and West, missed £100 from a box it* bis bedroom •, by no means a pleasant discovery. He gave information to the police, wishing first, however, to try bis own band at their profession. Not succeeding, he again invoked their aid, and Mr. Charters, on Monday, deputed Police-ser-geant Frank Smith to assist him. Smith went at once to Mr. West's lodgings in Colton-street, examined the money-box, and informed himself of the condition in which it was when the robbery was first found out. It appeared that the property consisted of £45 in bank-notes and 55 sovereigns ; that it waa carefully" placed in a nutmeasure, covered with a handkerchief, another uu>measure placed over it, and the box was

Joeked. The thief had taken out the money, replaced tbe handkerchief and measures,, and locked- the box, leaving no outward appearance of any one having interfered with it. This was sufficient to convince Smith that no stranger had perpetrated the theft, and, after well searching, he informed the landlady of bis conviction. She seemed astounded, but declared her entire ignorance of the transaction. Frank then — and he is never at a loss for an expedient — gravely repeated to her that the money had been taken by a person who knew well where it was, who had seen it before tbe day on which it was stolen, and who had plenty of. time to put thio»s straight after it was stolen. She said, " You, perhaps, think I took it ? " He replied that he did think so, and fold her that he had a dream on the previous night which convinced him that he was right. He also said that he dreamt that the money was brought back, and placed in a fishbasket in the back yard, and told her, that unless it was brought back in two days, be had the means at his disposal by which he could make out clearly who was the thief. The landlady seemed taken aback still more by this speech, but she merely said, •' Well, if it is brought back it won't be by me." Smith then took his departure, assuring her that he would find out tbe thief and the money, and well assured himself that his new patent, dream would have the desired effect, although the money could be found nowhere about the house. On Tuesday afternoon, as Mr, West was removing some fisb-baskets out of the yard, he found his money — the gold wrapped up in the Dotes — all safe in the very basket where Frank Smith told the landlady he had dreamt he saw it ! Smith talks of taking out a patent for his discovery of the efficacy of a dream-invented at the right moment and in the proper place. — Leicestershire Mercury. Our Doubles. — Look at Lord de Rougecoffer, secretary of tbe department of State for no matter what affairs, and see how doable a man habit has made him. To look at him throning on the Treasury bench, you would think that nothing less than tbe great cauldron of broth political could simmer and bubble beneath his | hat, and that the domestic loUau-feu could find no place there. To hear him pleading with aJI tbe majesty of official eloquence, the cause of tapeology, irremediably crushing into an inert and shapeless mass Her Majesty's Opposition on the other side of the bouse (he has been crushed himself, many a time, when he sat opposite), sonorously rapping tbe tio box of office, zealously coughingdown injudicious grievance-mongers, nay, even imitating the cries of the inferior animals, for the better carrying on of the Government of which lie is a member ; to watch the wearing and laborious course of his official life, the treadmill industry to which he is daily and nightly doomed, the matter-of-fact. phraseology and action to which he is confined, — to observe all this, you might think that he was an incarnation of Hansard's Debates, Babbage's calculating machine, and Walkinghame's Tutor's Assistant, indefinitely multiplied ; that his bowels were of red tape, his blood of liquified sealingwax, his brain a pulp of mashed blue-books. Yet this Lord de Rougecoffer of Downing-street, the Treasury bench, and the division lobby, this crusher of Oppositions and " poob-pooher" of deputations, has a double in Belgrave-square, enthusiastically devoted to the acquisition of Raphaels, Correggios, Dresden china, and Etruscan vases; a double so thoroughly a magister coquinee that he seriously contemplates writing a cookery-book ; a double enjoying Punch, and with an acknowledged partiality for Ethiopian serenaders ; a double at a beautiful park down in Hampshire, who is regarded as an oracle on all matters connected with agriculture by illused and ruined gentlemen with top-boots and heavy gold chains ; who has a penchant almostomouniing to a foible for the cultivation of the ; a double who is the delight of the smaller branches of a large family ; who can do the doll trick to a nicety, make plumb-puddings in his hat, cut an orange into a perfect multiplication table of shapes, and make as excellent a " back " at leapfrog as any young gentleman from ■8 to 12, inclusive could desire. The lord in Downing-streeet vomits statistics by the column ; the lord in Belgrave-square is an indifferent hand at counting at whist, and never could understand a betting-book. The lord in private life is a nobleman of unimpeachable veracity, of unquestioned candour a,d sincerity, and enjoys the possession of an excellent memory ; the lord in St. Stephen's confidently affirms black to be white, prevaricates, and backs out of obligations in an unseemly manner, and has a convenient forgetfulness of what he bas said or done, and what he has promised to say or do, which is really surprising. — Dichens's -Household Words. Taxation in Algeria. — The Sieole has an article of some interest on the system of taxation adopted in Algeria. It says — "We had in Algeria a virgin soil which God seemed to have given us expressly to make in it, without danger, economical and administrative experiments. But nothing of that kind bas been done. Tbe tax.gatherer bas transported his old institutions into Algeria— *from tbe octroi to tbe droits reunis — from the measure of the Custom-house officer to the stamp-duty. It is more difficult than is generally thought to make Frenchmen abandon their customs. A strange thing it ceitainly is. We have the reputation of being an audacious, enterprising nation, while, on the contrary, every novelty terrifies us. It is a vulgar saying that "we are an ungovernable people par excellence, and | yet there is not a country which pays its taxes with more resignation and even cheerfulness. ' They sing— therefore they will pay,' Mazarin ■used to say, and things have not changed since <his time. The receipts of Algeria are down in the next year's estimates for 12,740,000f. It suffices to place under tbe eyes of our readers the heads of the chapters which make that sum, to justify tbe preceding observations : — Direct taxes, 450,000f. ; registration stamps and domains, 3,300,000f, ; forests, 40,000f. ; indirect taxes, l,l50,000f.; doors, 650,000f. ; Arab taxes, 4,200,000f. ; various receipts (rents, mines, &c), 550,000f. ; ditto, 200,000f. ; Customs and salt, 2,2oo,ooof.—> total, 12,740,000f. Apart from tbe Arab contributions, which ajone form about the third of the total sum, this budget, it will be seen, is the miniature of our big one. Algeria has ieen spared no tax, direct or indirect ; on tbe contrary, the machinery for levying taxes has been made more complicated under .pretext of control. ' And yet the Arab tax, which we found established, and which we have maintained, only demanded some improvements in order to afford

'us the simple and easy -application of a system of taxation based solely on incomes. The taxes which we levy on the native populations have several denominations, which vary according to the localities, but in reality they have a common origin. It is a sort of tithe levied on the crops and cattle, with this peculiarity that, instead of being paid in kind, it is paid in money, according to the estimate of the price of the object taxed. The achour is the tax on corn ; the zekhat that on cattle. Independently of these two principal taxes, the wandering tribes are made to pay the hoclcor, that is, the rent of the land occupied by them, which, according to the principle of the Mussulman law, belong to the sovereign. The eussa is a tax which the tribes of the Desert pay when they come periodically in the Sahe.l to purchase corn and effect their exchanges ; finally, the Jezma is the Kabyle tax, which, from about 41,000f., in 1848, rose the year after to more than a million, and which gradually increases as we consolidate our domination over these industrious tribes. The 12,740,000f. set down in the budget do not, however, constitute the whole of the Algerian receipts ; they only represent the portion of the tax which reaches the Treasury. The local and municipal taxes, which in 1849 amounted to 1,522,499f., are almost double at present, and the general resources of the conntry are such that the public revenues would easily attain proportions hitherto unknown, if we were to administer Algeria with intelligence. To moralize the levying of the Arab tax is, in point of fact, the most important task coufidedjous with respect to the native populations.* The sum of about 6,000,000f. already paid by the Arabs is no doubt inferior to the taxpaying power of the people. In fact, they really pay more, and we should obtain it if we were to suppress the agency of the native chiefs in financial matters. Iv such things Arabs are not very scrupulous. These chiefs, whatever may be their denominations, are fermiers-generaux, who pay us a stipulated sura, and afterwards make shameful exactions. They fix the taxes themselves ; lighten the burdens for some, and overcharge others beyong measure, according as their passion or interest may dictate. The Arabs who are the victims of these abuses, committed in our name stand aloof from us instead of drawing nearer. In France the taxpayer pays his taxes direct to the receiver, and the payment is only valid on that condition. Our readers know the long-standing abuses which were remedied by this simple measure, now become a custom. What the interests of Algeria loudly call for is that, at all events, her taxes shall be levied directly, without any middle hand, as in France." — Times. Lord Palmehston and the Duties of the Foreign- Office. — We cannot think that the Foreign-office, as administered by Lord Grariville, at all deserved the slur which it has pleased Lord Palmerston to fling upon it, ol having assumed in its language to Austria a tone so humble as to be derogatory to the pride and hurtful to the interests of the country. Nor can we admit it to be wise, as a general and unexceptionable rule, that Downiug-street, to make itself respected, should always be defiant and never conciliatory. Let us admit, for argunrent sake, that Lord PalI merston was uniformly right in his views of j Austrian and Italian politics. Let us suppose it \ highly desirable that the Austrian dynasty should have lost Lombardy. Supposing tins right, an'l Lord Palmerston warranted in seeking and abetting it ; admitting also that, in having had the misfortune to incur the hatred of the Austrian Court and Cabinet personally directed against him, Lord Palmerston was in no wise blameable or imprudent ; still it by no means follows that after vicioiy bad decided for Austria against Lord Palmer ston, it woulj have been wise in Lord Granviile to take upon him all the odium and obloquy of his predecessor's character and position. Even assuming that Lord Granville most fully admired the policy, and most cor- : dially adhered to the acts of Lord Palmerston was it not still his duty, on taking office, to make i what profit and advantage he possibly could of his ' newness to politics, and of his character unimpli- J cated by any hostile act towards Austria ? It ! may have been good policy io an English Minis- . ter to weaken and divide the Austrian empire. But that policy having failed, the next best ! policy was to come to a better understanding with ! a Power which has been enabled for the time to ' overcome its difficulties. The Czar permitted \ Austria, under Schwarzenberg, to bestride Europe ] as a Colossus. When Lord Palmerston saw ' Louis Napoleon assuming the same attitude in I France, he was for conciliating Louis Napoleon. J Wby not be equally conciliatory to Austria in the J like circumstances, or at least allow Lord Granviile to be so ? Lord Granviile professed no ' opinion as to the manner in which Prince '' Schwarzenberg dealt with the public liberties or ] constitutions of the Austrian or Hungarian pro- ' vinces. His aim was merely to obtain redress ' for some missionaries expelled from Hungary and ( Galiicia, no doubt because they were English.Lord Palmerston declares he would have taken ' up the matter in a high tone. And he would : have been right, for he could use no other. But ' Lord Granviile bad well grounded hopes, that by * not taking the matter up as a political question, ( and by appealing to the good feeling rather than challenging the animosity of the Austrian minis- I ter, he would not only best attain satisfaction in i the particular instance, but a cessation of that * petty, that inconceivably shabby persecution of ' Englishmen which had become general, and very i difficult of more grave redress. We do not think ! there exists an impartial man who would not de- ] clare Lord Granville's suaviter in modo to bave 1 been right. As to the fortiter in re, the case did < not admit of it. Russia at this moment admits i none of our missionaries. It prohibits the en- '< trance into Russia of all ecclesiastics with eccle- < siasiical objects. It will not hearofconversion, nor of Bibles, nor of meddling with the Greek ' Church. Russia is indignant wiih those English- < men who have avowedly gone to the East to make f converts from the Greek Church. This, no 1 doubt, is narrow and wrong. But we have no < right to use violent language to Russia because it < chooses to act on these principles ; and to use de- < fiant language to Austria because it has expelled i harshly aud rudely Euglish ministers from Hun- 1 gary were idle. Austria might say, we find the i Hungarian Jews to be our friends, we find the 1 Hungarian Protestants our enemies ; and the i conversion of one to the other persuasion is in- 1 imical to our interest now, however we winked . at it formerly. We cannot make war upon Austria for saying or doing this. , All we. can do < lia such a case, we must do by fair means — by ex- i

postulation, persuasion,. and atnityj One of tbe most insulting things that^ Austria did to us was certainly tbe order issued with regard to such English armed vessels as should sail or steam up the Adriatic and visit Trieste. Our commander in the Mediterranean has only avoided difficulties by Dever allowing one of our armed vessels since then to approach Trieste. If' defiance could do any good with Austria, here was an opportunity — here was a time. But our naval commander in tbe Mediterranean thought, with Lord Gran. , vi]le, that prudence would best avoid collision. Had Lord Palmerston been high admiral, he would, no doubt have bombarded Trieste, or have peppered Prince Schwarzenberg with hot missiles. It is but tbe old adage of " when one cannot bite one ought not to show one's teeth." Lord Palraerston would have tbe pride of always snarling, and the credit of never biting. This may do well for oratory and for playing a popular part, but the device is seen through by all who are thinking people. Lord Palmerston is not only defiant in language, but in intention. He says he bad always thought that Austria would be stronget by losing her Italian dominions, and by letting Piedmont take Lombardy and Venice, as well as by greatly extending the Tuscan States. But are such things, however dreamed of in the private cabinet, to be proclaimed by men who have been ministers yesterday, and who look to be ministers to-morrow 1 M. de Persigny, by M. Bonaparte's order, may infotm the legislative body that Germany would be much stronger by giving up to France the left bank of tbe Rhine. But what should we say to tbe prudence of such a declaration unless an army were already in tbe field to back it ? The position of a minister in such a country as England, and especially of Foreign Minister, is one in which a man may show much just pride, much national susceptibility, much patriotism, and much fine ambition. But there are two characters which British ministers should carefully avoid assuming, the bully or the Quixote. — Examiner.