SCOTLAND.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 389, 16 July 1861, Page 4

SCOTLAND.

Lord Macauley said once, of England and Scotland, in his dangerous epigrammatic way, " The nations are one because the churches are two. 17 There is little doubt thai the ecclesiastical differences between them make them know each other less than they ought. An Englishman finds it difficult to comprehend a country where a Bishop is a Dissenter with the revenue of an English curate, and no social "my Lord";—and where, if he tries to simplify matters by remembering that the mass of people are Presbyterians, he finds the Presbyterians hating each other rather more than either of the two parties into which they fall do Prtlaoy. Such an observer soon discovers that almost everything Scotch turns on something ecclesiastical. Only a short time ago, if a Professor of Sanscrit bad been wanted in Edinburgh, the first question asked would have been, whether he belonged to the " Free Kirk." And, at this moment, the same old capital is electing its town councillors with an eye almost solely to the working of the uew Annuity Tax Bill, —a compromise after some thirty years' agitation on the point how the Edinburgh clergy's six hundred per annum should be paid. Turn to the Education question, and it all revolves there on the point whether the Church of Scotland shall retain its old control over the parochial schools. Lines of ecclesiastical are also lines of political division in that country. Tory answers to Episcopalian—as Conservative virtually does to Established Churchman— Atlienceura.

Ideas of Comfort.—Some people's notions of comfort differ from those of others. Mr. Matthews ( once went over Warwick gaol, and when he came to ' the place of execution,' be observed to the gaoler, that, considering the extent of the country, and the number of executions which might take place, the drop struck him as being very small. • I don't know,' said the man; 'to be zure, six 'ould be crowded but foive 'ould hang very comfortable ?'

Cottage Building and its Cost.—Much has been done in the way of improvement in this respect during the last few years. The Prince Consort showed his sense of its importance by the twenty model cottages which he erected in Windsor Great Park, vrhich, however, are too costly for general adoption; ~and the same may be said of the 87 new cottages which Lord Spencer erected at a cost of ,£15,229, or £190 each; though the repair of 143 others, at a total cost of £3000, was probably a better investment. The principle munificence of the Percy has been displayed in the expenditure of more than in the erection and repair of cottages. Substantial and warm, with living rooms 16ft. by 14ft 6in., all the Duke of Northumberland's cottages are built iv such a way as is most likely to meet the wants of its depen* danta; they are commonly built of stone, well drained, ventilated, and dry. The Duke of Bedford has constructed 556 now cottages for his laborers. Where stone;fwas at hand they cost about £100 ; ia the midland districts for £120 really good laborers' cottages, which greatly tended to the well-being of those who were foitunate enough to livo iv tliom, but— aud here is the uufortunate but—the expenditure was £Q2fi%.—Post.

A Man Saturated with Whisky and Set on Fire.—A horrible affair has come to light in California. Some time since George Wilsou and two of his s friends,' got drunk at Reed'a ranoo, Marion County; his friends uot fio much the worse for liquor, 'amused' themselves with soaking the clothes of Wilson with whisky, and, to'make surer of their project, they poured a -considerable quantity down his neck, in order to thoroughly soak lm shirt with the liquid, after which, they set Ore to the clothes of the wretched inau. He remained there, abandoned, without a charitable hand to offer him a glass of water during his long ogonies. Warrants have been issued for the arrest of the murderers.

A Real Relisher of a Joke. —A man lately received twenty kshe3 well laid on at the whipping post in an English town. The culprit, instead of bellowing when the constable applied the lash, laughed immoderately, which made the angry offictr lay on with greater force. On giving him the twentieth blow tho enraged officer could stand it no longer. f Woil, look hare, Mister/ said the officer, ' I've done my duty, and can lick ye no more, but I'd just like to know what it is that's go funny.' ' Funny!' roared the other; 'why, it's excellent—you've got the wrong Smith ! I ain't the

mm that was to be whipped—it's the other one! Now you'll have to do it all over again. Really it's too good—you must lick the other man I Ha, ha, ha

Three Umbrellas under the Crinoline. —Mary Anno Murphey was charged with stealing three silk umbrellas, value £1 Us. 6d., from the shopofMr.Cummiflg, Fenohurch-street. It appeared that the shopman was serving a customer, who gave him a sovereign, and while he left the shop to get change, the prisoner went in and took three umbrellas from out of a drawer, and on the assistant returning, he saw the handles of two hanging below her crinoline. She was given into custody, and three umbrellas were taken from under the above-mentioned article. There were two former convictions proved against her, she having left the prison only a few days. Committed for trial.

It is currently reported that there are 200 Irish solicitors, be they more or less, in London just now in search of six Crown Solicitorsbips vacant by the death of Sir Matthew Barrington.

Leeds has lost one of her most eminent public men, Thomas Flower Ellis, the able and accomplished lawyer, who held the office of Recorder to the borough for nearly twenty-two years. Tns Newest Pabis Mode.—" The garment of male attire," says a Paris letter in the Journal dv Havre,' to which Longchamp has given its sanction this year, is called a * Knickerboker.? It is a short jacket scarcely reaching below the loins, and provided with, numerous pockets outside. It is not drawn in at the waist, and when eeen from behind looks very muoh like the long loos 9 waiscoats sometimes worn by grooms and stablemen. Add to the Knickebolcer an exceedingly small hat, and you will have a tolerable idea ot a modern lion in full costume."

The Agricultural Society of France has just had the different rivers of the Basses Alpes stocked with 740,000 eggs of the Fera, one of the best kinds of fish in the Swiss lakes, and belonging to the same family as the salmon. At the Jardin Zoologique d' Acclimatation, Paris, two interesting events have occurred ; the first is the birth of a filly, issue of a Shetland mare and a Java horse, tho young one not being bigger than a kid. The second is the birth of a fawn, of the breed of the largest stags known, which [French naturalists call d'Aristote, and which come from India.

Practical Sympathy.—A Scottish gentleman, who recently returned to Glasgow, after an absence of many years in Southern India, writing to a friend in Sydney by the April mail sa yg ;_-•« The deepest commiseration is manifested here, by all classes of the community, on acoouut of the sufferings of the poor people in India, from famine. It would do your heart (pod to see with what alacrity and apparent pleasure contributions for their relief are given. Having little at present to occupy my time, I have busied myself a good deal within these last few days in making known the present pressing wants of India, and am well received every-where—-substantial proof of the depth of the sympathy of the people, for those on whose behalf I plead, being afforded by the liberality of their donations. On the 15th instant, I had sonao conversation with your old friend W. P. P. on this subject, which resulted in a meeting, through his instrumentality, in the Merchants' Hall. The attendance was small, but highly respectable. I made my statement, whioh w«s brief and to the point. There were few speakers, and nothing particular either about the oratory or the matter. At the close of the meeting, which lasted not quite an hour, the subscriptions amounted to thirteen hundred pounds—a pretty good hour's work, you will admit."

A French View of otje Census.—England has commenced her sixth census since the beginning of the century. This morning every family received a printed sheet, divided into columns for tho reception of answers to the Commissioners' questions. Wo don't know how long a similar operation would take in France, but in England, before tho end of the week, the result 3of all the census papers will bo summed up, tabulated, and published throughout the three kingdoms, there is ever reason to believe that England will be proud of this inventory of her strength and her progress, for we are assured that it will prove that her population has been almost doubled in the first half of the century, in spite of incessant emigration to the new world. It is indisputable that such prodigious prosperity and increase aro due to the superiority of her institutions, to the great principle of liberty which is the foundation of the English Government—the most favorable to the development both of individuals and of nations.— French Paper.

Pekin Summer Palace.—lt has been estimated that the amount of property pillaged and destroyed at the Summer Palace, Pekin, exceeds sis million pounds sterliog. Every soldier who was present is replete with loot. The Emperor's washstand, basin, and ewer of gold, studded with stoves, were sold for two thousand pounds by the captor. Lord Amherst's watch was sold by a French soldier for twenty dola.; it was worth two hundred pound. Mauy men hftvo thirty pound or forty pouud of pure gold in their possession, and others have pearls and precious stones of unknown value. Four hundred eunuchs were found in the palace, arc] it is worth noticing that all the ladies of tho court must have had natural-sized feet, all the slippers fouud in their rooms being large ; not a single cramped-footed shoe was seen.

Australian Ladies —An Adelaide correspondent writes as follows :—' I had occasion to visit a distant part of the settled districts, in fact, on the borders or the bush country, and my duty led me to the house of an Episcopal clergyman, which was situated in the midst of a beautiful locality, and near it bo pretty a village church that it would have been ornamental in ouv English parish. The house had its wdl-furnishecl drawing-room, and the usual comforts, and even elegancies of such a place. The young ladies were all commeilfaut, and in the evening when I arrived thero was nothing to strike one as peculiarly colonial. But in the morning, all had their work to do. Must I say it ? some fed the pigs, some looked after and milked the cows, others more intrepid, managed tho horses (nearly a dozen in number); and strange to Bay, the lady of the house (and a true lady, too,) was engaged with one of her daughters with a cross-cut-saw, sawing a log of timber in two, without seeming at all ashamed of it. I believe some of the young ladies could drive the mob of horses from the bush, single out-their own animals, and saddle, bridle, and mount them without any assistance.'