Miscellaneous.

Colonist, Issue 37, 26 February 1858, Page 4

Miscellaneous.

1 Circumstantial Evidence. — DoctorFletcher, minister bfFinsbury Chapel, London, narrates the following in regard to the case of' Eliza Fenniiig,referred to by the Dean of Faculty in his defence of Miss Madeline Smith :—"A considerable number of years 1 ago I was sent to visit on a Sabbath-day Eliza Fenning in prison, who was sentenced to be executed on the following Monday in the -front of Newgate, and who was found afterwards, alas! though too late, — innocent of the crime. She was executed for a deed she never committed. In company , with the Ordinary of Newgate I conversed and prayed with her. She was dressed in white, an" emblem of her innocence^ In the same garments" she /.suffered death as a criminal on the following day. '■ I had no opportunity of judging as to her innocence.- The expression of-her countenance will never be erased from my remembrance. It is literally stereotyped upon my heart. From what was communicated to me some yeajs after the fatal and melancholy event I can now explain the expression; of her countenance. It was the demonstration of injured innocence! When the event of her execution was almost forgotten, a baker, dying in a workhouse in the vicinity of London, said to the matron of the ward, or some other individual, to the following effect:—' My mind is heavily burdened. I cannot die until I make the following communication :■ —Eliza Fenning died innocent of the crime for which she suffered. lam the murderer of her mistress. I put the poison into the morsel which effected her death;' On the trial the jury concluded it must hay© 1 Been the cook who had administered the poison^ as they had not the slightest clue to suspect the baker. Yesterday, in- the vestry of my own chapel, one of my elders stated to--me that the baker was a relative of the deceased. There is no doubt that he accomplished his murderous purpose to gratify some long-cherished passion of revenge for an offence given him, real or imaginary, by the fated victim of his malevolence. Better that a hundred murderers should escape than that one innocent person should perish by circumstantial evidence."

The Wonders of Light.—Prick a hole in a card with a pin, and then look through it. Through that hole a complete landscape may be viewed. At one extremity of the landscape there may be a forest of trees; in the distance there may be hills bathed in golden light, and overhung with glittering clouds ; in the mid-distance there may be a river winding its course along as though it loved the earth through which: it ran, and wished, by wandering to and fro, to refresh the thirsty soil; in the fourground may be a church, covered by a million ivy leaves; and groping towards the sacred edifice may be hundreds of intending worshippers; old and youn^i rich and poor; flowers may adorn the pathways, and butterflies spangle the air with their beauties; yet every one of those objects—the forest; the hills, the clouds, the river, the church, the1 people, the flowers, the butterflies—must n"ave. been seni rays of light which found their way through the little hole in the card, and entered to paint the picture upon the curtain of the eye. This is one of the most striking instances that can be afforded of the wonderful properties of light;, ofi the infinitude of those luminous rays that attend the majestic rising of the sun. Not only does light fly from the grand ' ruler of tlie day' with a velocity which is a million and a-half times greater than the speed of a cannon - ball, but it darts from every reflecting surface with a like velocity, and reaches the tender structure.of the eye so gently"that, as it falls upon the little curtain^of nerves which is there spread to receive itj imparts the most pleasing sensation, ■ and tells its story of the outer world with aminuteness of detail, and a holiness of truth.: : ■

Sunday Formalism and Monday Actuality.—A sermon may be as proper a thing as Sunday work, and may help to bridge the way to heaven when a bridge shall be required; but on Monday a man must attend to his business and act according to the maxims of his trade, oi his party, of his corporation, of his vestry. Then the respectable turf-hunter will stake his thousand on the leg of a race-horse, and think it quite like a Christian gentleman to allow his tailor's bill.to lie unpaid for another year; then the respectable Highland proprietor s will refuse to renew the lease to the industrious poor cottar on his estate, that the people for whom, he cares nothing may make way for the red deer, whom it is his only passion, to stalk ; then

the respectable brewer, instead of prepanhg wholesome drink from wholesome, grain, will infect his brewst with deleterious drugs, in order to excite a factitious thirst in the ■ stomach of his customers, and increase the ' amount of drinking; then a respectable corporation, to maintain their own c vested rights,' will move heaven and earth to prevent the national Parliament from acting on the plainest rules of justice and common sense, in a matter seriously affecting the public well-being; and the respectable members of society shall flutter round the guilded waxlights of aristocracy,' 1 and perform worship at Hudson's statue,-:; and have respect to men witn gold rings and goodly apparel, and do everything that ; is'expressly forbidden in the second chapter '" of the Epistle of James, which they profess to receive as a divine rule of conduct. These are only one or two of the more '' glaring points in which our commonly received maxims and practices of respectable British life run directly in the face of that honest morality which the most religious and church-going Englishman,,' professes to acknowledge as his rule of conduct. Exactly such an issue Plato had ' with the respectabilities of Athens in'his \ day.—Professsor Blackie. An Address to the Ocean.—Hail! • thou inexhaustible source of wonder and contemplation: Hail! Thou multitudinous v ocean whoso waves chase one another down , like the generations of men ; and" after a momentary space are immersed forever- in oblivion. The fluctuating waters wash the \ varied shores of the world; and while they { disjoin nations,- whom a nearer connection ' would involve in eternal war,' they'circulate : their arts, and their labours',I.'and .",flive"'j health and plenty to mankind/ How .; glorious! how awful are the scenes thou displayest! whether we view thee " when every wind is hushed, when the mqrn^ [ ing sun silvers the" level line x)f the horizon; ' or when the evening track is marked with .flaming gold, and thy unruffled bosom reflects the radiance of the over-arching heavens ! Or whether, we behold thee jn thy horrors; when the black tempest sweeps thy swelling billows,' when death c rides 'the storm, and humanity drops a' ,' fruitless tear for the toiling mariner whose heart is sinking with dismay; And yet, -' mighty deep! 'tis thy surface 'alone"we ' view; who can penetrate the' secrets of thy ', wide domain; what eye can visit thy iin- * mense rocks and caverns, that teem with life and vegetation, or search out the myriads ' • of objects, whose beauties lie scattered over ,' thy dread abyss. The mind staggers with the immensity of her own conceptions: and when she contemplates the flux and reflux of thy tides, which from the beginning of.* the world, were never known to err, how . does she shrink at the idea of that Divine Power, which originally laid the foundation so sure, and whose Omnipotent voice hath fixed the limits, where thy proud waves shall be stayed. Dying HappsT.—-The Calcutta Englishman has received a letter from Raneegunge. The writer affirms, that seventeen, years ago he heard an old Moulvie, who.had been in the service of Government- for twentytwo years, declare to "Nat. Smith* the judge of Rungpore," that he could not die happy. The Moulvie was asked the reason, and replied, " Every good Mussulman hates Europeans, and if I could see the throat of every European in India cut, I should die happy." British Kaffraria.—An important proclamation has been issued for Kaffirland by Sir George Grey, as High Commissiqner. The object of the proclamation is "to constitute a court in British Kaffraria for the ' trial of persons accused of murder, culpable homicide, or other grave crimes committed ' in the said territory.*' The following are' , the first paragraphs:—"l. A court is ; hereby constituted, consisting of the Hon. Henry Barrington, Barrister at Law; Richard Taylor/ Esq., Major John Cox Gawler; John Esq.; and Herbert Vigne, Esq.; of which court the Hon. Henry Barrington shall be the President. 2. The court hereby constituted shall have jurisdiction and authority to try all persons whomsoever, accused of having committed crime within the limits of British Kaffraria, Nothing however herein contained is meant, or shall be taken, to prevent any British subject, liable to be- tried in the - courts of the Cape colony, under Act 6 and 7, Wm. IV. cap. 57, from being tried there, - in case it shall be deemed expedient that' ; he should be there tried." Among the other provisions of the proclamation is the following:—"Upon the occasion of every' 1 case which shall be brought before the' court aforesaid for trial, the President shall

take, in open court, the following oath :— ■ "I, Henry Barrington, do solemnly swear, in the presence of Almighty God, that I' will, without fear,.iaYOur,-or.prejudice, try. the charge against the prisoner now before the court, ancl 'that I will the truth say # thereon, to the best of my judgment and,1' understanding; so help me God! •■ And after the President shall have taken the '

said oath, he shall administer a like'oath fo\ the other members of the court."-rrZwid! Afrikaan, November 19. ' ■