MISCELLANEOUS.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 316, 30 October 1860, Page 4

MISCELLANEO US.

The clerk of the weather has assuredly held no sinecure office during the present season. It has been his office to record changes the most rapid and unexpected, from storm to sunshine, and from sunshine again to storm, which have succeeded each other with unexampled pertinacity. If this sort of things last much longer the dog-days will become synonymous with a continual \ downpour, grouse will be reckoned among the things of the past, and the annual immigration of Irish harvesters may be postponed in future till the latter end of October. Reports reach us from every quarter of crops damaged by the rain, or attacked by disease. The sister island has been suffering within the last few days from floods as devastating in their1 effects as they are unseasonable in their appearance. Whole tracts of country have been laid under water, hay and catitle have been ruthlessly swept away, while in some instances the unhappy farmers have found safety only upon the top -of the stacks which they had in vain attempted to save. Bridges have given way under the pressure of the current; broad fields of wheat have laid flat as if with a roller, and acres of soil have been covered by a depositjfrom the inundations which it will take months to remove. A single week has changed the whole face of the country, and inflicted an amount of damage in certain districts which they will not recover during the present year. We turn to the reports from the provinces only to meet a repetition, in a minor key, of the same sad taie. Of 141 returns from various localities in England and Scotland, 93 shew a wheat crop decidedly below the average; and, if the principal wheat-growing districts alone be taken into account, the proportion is not less favorable. Hay, abundant as it has boen has been but very partially secured. Potatoes are everywhere failing, and we shall have to tru.st to our light lands even for the short supply which we may eventually succeed in obtaining of this valuable esculent. In mo instances do the figures exhibit more than an average, aud even these are still liable to important deductions unless there bo a decided change for the better in the weathier during the next month. As it is, we hay c to face all the inconveniences of a September harvest, and the partridges will for once disport themselves in the real liixury of an " extra fortnight." Such are the. present results of a summer the rainfall of which has' not been equalled for a century, while we must go back to 1821 for a parallel^ to the unwonted inclemency of

the temperatures of April and June.' We may add that a 'large '■ increase is already apparent in the percentage of deaths with reference to the average rate which prevails during the summer quarter. , ■ ' Sicilian Uniforms.—The Ndzion'e gives us a few particulars respecting the uniform of the Sicilian army, which is novel enough. With the exception of the engineers and the artillery, who are attired as in Piedmont, the other troops offer a singular spectacle. Those of the line wear a red tunic and cap, and trousers of brown holland. The Cacciatori of the Alps have red tunics and Calabrian hats with black • feathers. The Cacciatori of Etna wear deep coffeecolored blouses, red caps, and trousers of unbleached canvas. The " Sons of Liberty " have on white jackets and trousers, and red Suliote caps trimmed with white. The cavalry are in red tunics with blue facings, red and green caps trimmed with silver lace; their trousers are wide and tucked up like the Turkish ones were formerly. All the battalions are supplied with good and full bands.

Numismatics.—The Nouvelliste of Rouen says that a very curious coin was found at Cauville, near Havre, on Tuesday last, being a gold piece struck in 1418, when Henry V., after the battle- of Agincourt, assumed the title of King of France on his marriage with Catherine, daughter of Charles VI.; it bears the following inscription :•—" Henri, par la grace de Dieu, roi d'Angleterre et de France." Gas.—The New York correspondent of the Mobile Register relates the following :— "Recently a gentleman returned from Europe. He had been absent with his family seven months. He paid his gas bill the day he left, and the house had not been opened for seven months, yet when it was the gas man took a return from the meter, and a bill was made out for 52 dollars. Mr. Grinnell went and complained to the secretary, related the circumstances, and threatened exposure of such a barefaced robbery. He refused to pay the bill. 'Very well, air,' said the secretary. Mr. Grinnell went home and told his wife. 'Pay it,' said she. 'Why so?' said he. ' Because,' said she, * the day we left New York I had to go back to the house for some article I had forgot. The windowshutters were fastened; I lit the gas. The other day, when we returned, I found it still burning.' The bill was paid, for a steady gas flame had been burning for seven months."

Puseyism.—We stated in our last that the Rev. Bryan King was about to leave St. George's-in-the-East. His departure took place on July 25; During the evening of that day the delight of the inhabitants was expressed by an immense gathering of people, who formed into a procession, headed by a band of music and several banners, all of which bore inscriptions showing how distasteful to the public mind the mode of celebrating divine worship by Mr. King had been. The foremost banner, which was painted white, had printed in large prominent black letters the inscription " Flight of the King. Fall of Puseyism in St. George's-in-the-East." The band kept playing from street to street " Britons never shall be slaves," and other airs, until a late hour, when the vast crowd quietly dispersed. Since the departure of the High Church rector, the disturbances in the church have subsided.

Nah-ne-bah-we-quay.—We copy from the Brantford Courier the following letter from Mrs. Sutton, alias Nah-ne-bah-we-quay, who lately left Canada to lay the wrongs of her race before her Majesty:—" London, June 29. My dear Uncle and Grandfather, —I have just returned from the Palace. I saw General Bruce, and had a long talk with him on Indian affairs. 1 have done all that can be done in this country. In the first place, I was at the Aborigines Protection Society, and spoke in their meeting for my people; and from that time men of influence came to offer themselves if they could do anything for me. I was introduced to Mr. John Bright, and he said he would do all he could, and he went to see the Duke of Newcastle, the Queen's Minister, who appointed a time to see me. Mr. John Bright went with me, also a Quaker and his wife. Mr. John Bright is a Quaker too. The duke was very kind, and asked me many questions about the Indiansf which I answered as well as I could. So at the close of our conversation he promised me he would let me know when I could see the Queen, so in a few days this letter came to my friend, at whose house lam stopping. [Then follows a letter from the Duke of Newcastle fixing a day for the interview.] So you see I have seen the Queen. The duke went before us and he made two bows, and then I was left in the presence of the Queen; she came forward to meet me, and held out her hand for me to kiss it, but I forgot to kiss it, and only shook hands with her. The Queen asked me many questions, and was very kind in her manners and very friendly to me. Then my Quaker friend spoke to the duke, and said, ♦ I suppose the Queen knows for what purpose my friend has come?' The duke said, * All your papers have been explained and laid before her Majesty, and I have her Majesty's command to investigate the Indian affairs when I go to Canada with the Prince of Wales.' Then the Queen bowed to me and said-— •I am happy to promise you my aid ancl protection,' and asked me my name. The Queen then looked at her husband, who stood at her side, and smiled. She received me with so much kindness as to astonish me, when I saw her come smiling and so good to a poor Indian. My Quaker friend has been in the habit of visiting the royal family for ten years back. I expect to return home in September if all- be well. May God bless us all. My love to you all.—C. B. Sutton."

. Maiden Speech' by a Veteran.— Lord Clyde's first speech in the House of Lords T was made in the. course of the dis-

ciission the other night on the Indian Army Bill. The London correspondent of the Manchester Examiner says:—" His lord- ! ship occupied on this occasion a seat on one of the cross benches—a neutral popitiori — and was evidently the observed of all,' observers. ! He is, I belie, ye, nearly 70, but certainly does not look that age; his fresh * bronze complexion and the abundant and unthinned crop of hair giving him a much younger appearance. I was somewhat surprised to find him so very small, and slight a man—l should say that he is hardly so tall as even the late Duke of Wellington. The head, however, in its ample and mas- ■ sive development, would belong, if the rules of proportion were consulted, to a much larger man, and contrasted singularly with the smallness of the general's hands and feet. Very little of what his lordship said reached the gallery, for not only did he speak with his back to the reporters, but he spoke with a timidity and nervousness and in a low tone of voice, which shewed clearly enough that the man who had mounted the breach of St. Sebastian quailed before the House of Lords. His voice hardly rose above a whisper, except when he came across Lord Ellenborough's most absurd proposition that the question should be postponed. The old chief's practical instincts{revolted at this, and his 4 my lords, this business must be settled at once,' was given with a force worthy of the idiomatic force and simplicity of the sentence, and in a rough decisiveness of manner that at once recalled ' the duke.' The funniest thing, however, was the little military bow to the House with which he sat down. This veteran campaigner will evidently require some acclimatising to English political and legislative life." [Immediately after his return to England, Lord Clyde was invited to Osborne, where he was the Queen's guest for a couple of days. His lordship has also been entertained at grand banquets by the Company of Fishmongers, and the United Service and Cosmopolitan Clubs.] An Elopement.—On Tuesday afternoon, the 21st August, a lady and gentleman, the former young, and of prepossessing appearance, and the latter somewhat handsome, arrived in Westonsuper-Mare, ! and met at one of the hotels, where they represented themselves as man and wife. Here they spent the evening. On Wednesday morning the pair arose, and went forth together to enjoy the balmy breezes on the esplanades, and after a while repaired to another hostelry in the town, and, after some refreshment, ordered dinner, which, at the request of the gentleman was to be ready at three o'clock. Just as these arrangements were completed, the door of the apartment opened, and another gentleman presented himself, in a somewhat excited state. The parties recognised each other. The lady appeared to possess the firmest nerve; she stood her ground, but her paramour rushed from the house. The unexpected visitor was none other than the husband of the lady, who has taken her back to Bridgewater, where they have resided for some time past. The lady has considerably property in her own right, and with her husband, has only recently returned from Australia. The gentleman with whom she eloped is from the vicinity of Bridgewater.— -Court Journal Mr. Cobden and the French.—The Superior Council of Commerce at Paris is about to close its sittings, having nearly completed its labors. The following letter from Mr. Cobden to affirm in England is of great interest:—"l have still no reason to doubt that matters will be brought to a satisfactory result here. Up to the present moment I have experienced nothing but candour and straightforwardness in my dealings with the French Government, while all the misrepresentation, falsehood, and difficulties which I have had to encounter have come from the English side of the Channel. Nothing disgusts me more than the cowardice and want of honest principles in our politicians. Anything for a momentary cry which may give a triumph over a political opponent, seems to be the motto of our party men. You will see that in less than a couple of years all our politicians will be eager enough to claim the merit of having always been friendly to the French treaty. The paragraph you enclosed, giving a conversation of mine, is one of those rascally acts of eavesdropping for which American newspaper writers are notorious. There ia a good deal of the paragraph which agrees with what I have thought; but whether I expressed it in private conversation is more than I could sweas- to, as no one expects to be responsible for private gossip. There ought to be the punishment of the pilloryor the stocks revived for those who publish in newspapers the unguarded remarks which fall from a man in private conversation, when he frequently speaks merely to provoke a reply and keep people from going to sleep over too serious an interchange of views. No; I did not help the Emperor to prepare his pamphlet about the English and French armies and navies. Take my word for it, however, that there is a vast deal of systematic lying in England about the French armaments. You remember that charming old lady, Madame Wolley's landlady, whom we visited, who remarked-—' Pauvre John Bull quand on vent enlever son argent, on luit fait penr de nous!'. I am quite ashamed of the childlike simplicity with which Englishmen allow themselves to be imposed on respecting anything French. You will see a great and sudden reaction in the public mind soon. Common sense, aided by the publication of the new French tariff, will put an end to the panic."

London, says the registrar-general, now covers 121 square miles—a square of 11 miles to the side. It is equal to three Londons of 1800. It increases at the rate of about. 1000 a week, half by births (their excess over deaths), and half by immigration (its success over emigration). It is remarkable that in London one in six of

those who leave the world dies in one of the public institutions—a workhouse, hospital, asylum, or prison. Nearly one in 11 of the deaths is in a workouse. For the improvement of the health of London three things are to be aimed at—pure air to breathe, pure water to drink, and a nealthy soil to live on. The registrar-general observes that there are above 2000 medical men in London and its vicinity; but they are chiefly employed in treating disease—the art of preventing it is not cultivated; it is not taught in our medical schools; it is not formally the subject of our examination in our universities. The father of a family does not go to the doctor and say, " How can I preserve my health, make my children well and vigorous, and develope all their faculties to "the fullest extent?" Imagine the 2000 members of the most enlightened profession in the country employed in instructing the people in the way of a healthy life. How many thousands of lives would be saved every year in London! ;

Agriculture.—The Patrie contains an account of the recent distribution of prizes at the agricultural meeting at Fouilleuse (the emperor's farm). The award was in iavor of the British manufactures. Out of 39 inventions, 20 of which only were of French origin, Messrs. Burgess and Key obtained the first prize, a gold medal and 1000 francs. Mr. Suthfeert, of Bedale, received a siUer medal and 500 francs, as the second prize. Mr. Cranston, of London, a bronze medal and 300 francs. The prize of honor was awarded to Burgess and Key. The emperor himself was present and spent some time in examining the implements.

Hunchbacks.—The Italian journals state that a wealthy person of Florence, just deceased, has left a singular will. It declares that the greater part of his fortune shall go to the man with the largest lump on his back in all Tuscany, and that the persons intrusted with the duty of selecting him shall be themselves 12 hump-backs! To recompense the latter for their trouble, he directs that, in addition to travelling expenses, each shall be presented with gold medal bearing the effigy of iEsop, their prototype.

A Veteran, and how to treat him. — There is now residing at Plumstead, James Cooper, in his 80th year. This aged veteran attended Napoleon during his confinement at St. Helena. He has no pension, and has to struggle hard " to keep the wolf from the door."

Steam.—A Parliamentary return says, that the total number of steam-vessels registered in the United Kingdom on or before the first ot January last was 1863, with a gross tonnage of 566,513, and, exclusive of engine-room, 429,474 tonnage.

The announcement of the accouchement of the Princess Frederick William of Prussia on the 24th of July was telegraphed direct to her Majesty at Osborne, from the palace of Potsdam, without'any break or interruption. The young Princess was born at 10 minutes past 8 a.m., but the fact was known at Osborne at five minutes past 8! This apparent paradox is explained by the differe.nce of longitude of the two places. The health of the Princess Frederick William and the royal infant being quite satisfactory no bulletins have been published during the last week.