MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 70, 9 November 1864, Page 5 (Supplement)

MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

CHA.RLBSTOS TJSDER FIRE. — It Wa3 HOW, that foiled at all points, and smarting uiivier his many failures, the Federal general was guilty of that barbarity which has disgraced him as a soldier. Unable to capture the forts in his immediate front, he intimated that, unless they were surrendered, he would!. '.turn" the most powerful of his guns against thtTcity. The tlire.it was disregarded — disbelieved hi, no doubt ; but after four hours of unofficial notification, received at eleven o'clock at night, GeneMljCrilmore proceeded to put his threat into executionT. Not a soul in the town at that late hour was aware, Of what impended, excepting Greneral Beauregard and some members o£ his Staff ; and they, : ~ seeing the notification was unsigned, returned it immediately by flag of truce trustiug to the honor and the humanity of the Northern general to give sufficient time for the removal of all non-combatants. On the 21st August, at half-past one, '-.A.M., I was lying on my bed in the Charleston "Hotel, unable to sleep i'ov the excessive heat, and' listening to the monotonous sound of the cannonade- kept up on the enemy's position from the batteries on James Island. Restless and weary of the night,- I. had lighted a I'andlo in defiance of musquitoes, aha sought to .; pass away the time, with a volume of'Les Miserable."' "It happened to bo the one containing the iccouufc of the , battle of Waterloo; and while. ' .leoply interested in the description of the rushing squadrons of cuirassiers, I was startled by a noise ' ihari^frbtrtconheotion with my reading, resembled '. ;he; 'whirr of a phantom brigade of cavalry jalloping in; mid-air. My first feeling was that | )f utter astonishmant; but. a crash, suueeeded by l deafunihg explosion in the very street in which ' ny apartment w^s ajfcuate, brought me with a >dg|ii.jfotp the cieiiira of the ropiu. Looking IVo «i '

house in which Trere stored the drugs of the mft.ii-'iil purveyor. A watchman was running frantically down the street, and when lih reached ihs corner just below me, commenced striking with his stall" against, the curb; a signal of alarm practised amongst tho Charleston police. At first I -fcho.il> lit a mjfcjin* ha+?;tallaii : but another awful rush anrl whirr right over the hotel, and , another explosion beyond, settled anjr doubls I might have luxrl : the city was been shelled. People are not generally giving to laughing under such, circumstances, but 1 will defy anj'one who witnessed 'what I witnessed on leaving my room, not to have given way to mirth.; in moderation. The hotel' was crowded with speculators who had been attracted to the city by the sale of some blockade cargoes, and the "corridors were filled by these terrified gentlemen rushing about in the scantiest of costumes and the wildest alarm. One perspiring individual of portly dimensions was trotting to and fro with one -boot- on and the other in his hand, and this was nearly all the dress he could boast of. In his excitement and terror lie had forgotten the number of his room from which he had hastened on the first alarm, and his dress wasludicrous to behold. -Another, in a semi-state of nudity, with a portion of his garments on his arm, barked the shins of everyone in his way in his efforts to drag an enormous, trunk to the staircase. On reaching the hall' l found a motley crowd, some of whom with the biggest of words were cursing tho Federal commanders. Whirr! came another shell over the roof, and down on their faces went every man of (hem into tobacco juico and cigar-end's, and clattering among the spittoons. I need not say that -this is a class of men from whom the Confederacy hopes nothing ; on- the' contrary, by their extortion, practised on a suffering people, they have made themselves execrated. If a shell could have fallen in their, midst and exterminated the whole race of hucksters it would have been a great benefit to tho South.— , Cor nhill Magazine. Rom.vn Catholics ix England. — Atthem'set ing of the Statistical Society, recently, Mr. W. Or. Lumloy communicated a paper on the statistics of Roman Catholicism in England. It was devoted principally to an examination of certain statements made by Cardinal Wiseman, in an address he delivered before the Catholic Congress, at Malincs, last year. On that occasion the Cardinafcasserted, and essayed to prove, that Roman Catholicism was making a sure progress in .England — daily gaining ground on Protestantism — a fact which was allowed even by those not in the Roman communion. The statistics adduced by his Eminence to support this assertion may be summarised as follows : — ln 1830 there were 48 1 priests ; in 1863 there were 121-2 ; in 1830 there were 4.10 churches; in 1863,872. There wero 16 convents in 1830; the number ha I risen in .1863 to 162. In 1830, there were no houses for religious men ; in 1850 there were 11. Jn 1863 the number amounted' to 53. in 1826 there were in London 48 priests ; in 1851, 113; in 1563, 194; now (i.e., in 1861)-, 200. The number of the churches for these three periods respectively he slated at 21, 46, and 102. At the first of these dates there was but 1 convent, At tlie second 9 ; now there are above 25. Lastly, wliilo in 1821 religious houses of men an 1 institutions of Catholic charity ha 1 no place in the statistics of the diocese, the iirst now amount to 15, the second to 31. These calculations related to England and Wales. Mr. Lurnley analysed these assertions, remarking that, in 1806, there wore 48 priests to 21 churches, or 2 each ; but in 1830, in all England and Wales, the proportion had declined, since for 410 churches there were only 431 priests, or hardly more than one forea^h church ; and in 1863, for 872^chu£cl)-ei; r there were 1212 priests which was but aj-S&iilKmcreaso of the proportion of the priesthood' in reference to congregations. Tlie Regis traivGencral ha.l shown that in ISSI there woi;o 3*2.29 plai-es' of Roman Catholic worship ; in'iSvQ, ii,6o& ,- in 1.861, <1,5G4, In 1851. the marriages - solemnised according to .Roman Catholic rites were in the proportion of 43 -in the 1000 of those in all sects and in the Church of England; in 1861 they were 48 in the 1000—showing but a very small advance, considering the time .To follow out the calculation, and estimating the ''-■pjroportion of marriages in relation to the increase population, will show that the increase in j -I ho ; One decennial period was not sustained in that which' followed, but stood in the first as 2£, in the second as 1-. ' The author also deduced the .following remark/ -fKojri_j2;Jiu of_ the__tables with which his paper was illustrated :— " 1 hat, while the Roman Catholic population of -1-ngland an.l Wales does not amount to one twentieth part of the inhabitants, one-h'fth of th ; inmates of the gaols in those countries are set down as of that religion ; and the ratio of such inmates appears, from th.? experience of tho last two .years, to be increasing." ESCAPE OF Two LtON3: — Great excitement prevailed in tlie neighborhood of Above Bar-street, Southampton last Saturday nLjht, in consequence of t-vo lions having escaped from Womb well's menagerie. The exhibition is located in the Westmoreland Park, at the back of the High-street, on a portion of the ground used for the drill of the ride corps. Being Saturday evening, a larger i number of spectators than usual attended the exhibition, and a great crowd of persons had. also assembled outside It appears from tlie statement of those who were present that about nine o'clock, the keeper announced his intention to enter the dens, ior the purpose of putting the animals through their usual performances ; and for tliis purpose he first proceeded to the carriage occupied by two lion*— the visitors, as usual on such un occasion, rushing to that part of the exhibition. The keeper, after addressing his audience, opened the iron- barred door of the carriage, apparently with the usual caution observed at exhibitions of the kinJ, when suddenly one of the lions leaped upon the keeper's back, followed by the other, and boih animals sprang out of thsir don, and amongst those a-seujbleJ round the carriage. One of the beasts continued leaping about amongst the visitors many of whom having been knocked down were 'sprawling on the ground, and those who were more fortunate were (lying about in a- state of terror, and for a short time the greatest excitement prevailed. This animal was soon secured by the keepers, who then wont in search of the other lion, which, instead of amusing itself inside the exhibition, bounded up the steps, and sprang from the platform amongst the people assembled outside, who immediately lied in nil directions. The lion ran across the park towards the savings bank, and ouj of the houses in the terrace having its door opt n walked inio the passage, and thence into the parlor, where some ladies were sitting, who tied through the (biding doors into the adjoining room, and'-thence upstairs. The keepers Arriving, the lion wa»isss( secured and caged. Several persons wore knoupkl down, trampled upon, and their clothes torn, but fortu: ate»y none sustained personal injury. During the commotion, the wildest excitement was manifested by the other animals, amongst which is the identical lion that killed a boy a few years a^o in Rat-dill' Highway, after its escape from Jamraeh's collection. It will be remembered that only a few weeks since, one of the elephants belonging to this menagerie escaped at Devices, and ran about in an inf .riated state, driving the people in ail directions, but was ultimately secured without doing any injury. A Fixe Country; for Dootors. — In. Beloochistan, when the physician gives a dose he is sxpecbid to partake of a similar one for himself, is a guarantee, of his good faith. Should the patient die under his hands, the relatives, though by no means exercising it in all cireumstauces rave the right of putting him to death, unless a special agreement has been >nade freeing him Torn all responsibilities as to consequences ; while le, should they decide on immolating him, has no •easonable ground for compLtiut. but is expected; :,o submit to his fate like a man. ' ' Thackeray used to relate with great glee the following, humorous story : — "An Irish gentleman, veil known in town, and from whom the character )f the Mulligan was partly drawn, wtdking in the jark with a young friend, received a bow from l)e m Stunhopo, who was passing by, and said to its ".friend iv v rich brogue, •' That's a Dane!"— ' Oh, no, " lvplied the other. " you're mistaken ; t's Mr. Sfcuuhopo— an Englishman. " — Upon vhi-.h tha olftmJeJ.- Mulligan' thundered iorth, ; 'Tis not a l)ane of Swadon that X ujano,