iftistellantous.

A letter from Ostend states, that about five o'clock on Thursday the 14th, the two Queens, the King, and Prince Albert, went out on foot, without attendants, and walked for a couple of hours on the sea-shore : they were so plainly dressed that many persons passed close to them without suspecting who they were.

The Speaker, after passing some time with Mr. Edward Ellice at a shooting-lodge in the Highlands of Scotland, has been visiting his pre- decessor, Lord Dunfermline, at Edinburgh.

We believe we may state upon good authority, that Lord Abinger is about to lead to the hymeneal altar Mrs. H. J. Ridley, widow of the late Reverend H. J. Ridley, nephew to the late Lord Chancellor Eldon. We understand the ceremony will not take place before the end of the present month.—Morning Post.

General Espartero, accompanied by the Dutchess de Victoria, Donna Elidia Espartero, and a number of Spanish officers, visited Woolwich garrison and arsenal on Monday. The principal authorities were intro- duced to the General by Lieutenant-Colonel Wylde. Several English officers who had served in Spain were present. The party remained from eleven o'clock till nearly five, witnessing a variety of evolutions and seeing every thing. General Espartero was evidently gratified with the attention paid to him during the day. On seeing Sergeant Ormrod, of the Royal Artillery, who has the charge of the Marshes, he recognized him as an old soldier who had served under him in Spain, and shook hands with him, inquiring at the same time how he and his old comrades fared. Sergeant Ormrod was decorated with the medals of the cross of Isabella and Bilboa, sent to him by the Queen of Spain.

On Tuesday, the Regent, the ladies, and the Regent's Secretary, visited the Guildhall, the Mansionhonse, the Bank, and the Mint ; every attention being paid to the party by the several authorities.

The Manchester Guardian remarks, that all the English journals have overlooked a paragraph in the True American (a Philadelphia paper) of the 26th August, announcing the death of General Jackson, on the 22d, of haemorrhage from the lungs. The Guardian naturally considers the statement very doubtful.

Private accounts from Bogota state that Mr. Steuart, the British Chargé d'Affaires to the Republic of New Granada (formerly M.P. for Haddington) died in that city on the 15th July.—Morning Post.

Last week appeared a letter from Lord Ranelagh, stating that Ge- neral Nogueras, in the suite of the Duke of Victoria, had ordered the -execution of Cabrera's mother : this week, appears an answer, signed Aguirre Nogueras-

' Had this false assertion been published in Spain, I should have despised it and remained silent ; but in England, where I have received the most gene- rous hospitality, my honour will not permit me to let it run without contra- diction ; assuring you that Cabrera's mother was neither imprisoned nor shot by any order of mine; nor could it have been otherwise, since then, as now, the town of Tortosa, where the execution took place, belonged to the military -district of Catalonia, in which I never held the least command during the civil war sustained against Don Carlos. It was another General who ordered the trial and execution; and neither have I to take on myself the responsibility of his acts nor the denunciation of his name."

In a letter to the Standard, Lord Ranelagh gives his authority, and reiterates the charge— "Lord Melbourne, in March 1836, said in the House of Lords, that No- gueras had been deprived of his command, and an inquiry instituted into his conduct for the murder of Cabrera's mother.' Lord Clarendon, in a despatch, dated Madrid, 23d April 1836, also says, that General Nogueras was deprived of his command until proceedings were instituted against him.' This at once shows that his letter of this morning is a mere subterfuge, or why should he have been punished ? No, Sir, the fact is, Nogueras did not shoot the poor old woman ; he did worse : for it was be who entreated General Mina to do so ; as the following extract from Mina's letter, dated 15th March 1836, will show. It happened at this time that the petition of General Nogueras reached me, supplicating me to put the woman (Cabrera's mother) to death, on account of her son's having atrociously assassinated the authorities of four different towns.' " Others have entered the controversy in the papers, with new points of contest. " Legionite " and "Englishman " attacked Lord Ranelagh, asking whether he, in the service of Carlos, had not attacked his countrymen of the Legion ? In a letter amplifying some of his pre- vious statements, with further authorities, Lord Ranelagh replies- " In point of fact, I never did come into collision with the troops of the Legion; but in point of principle, had an opportunity presented itself I should not have had a moment's hesitation in doing so: and such I conceive to be consistent with the true character of an Englishman—not to profess one thing with the pen and the tongue, and another with the person. I do not scruple to say, that were I a Chartist I should do the same, and not lead on others by de- lusive hopes and then desert them. Neither should I be disposed to belie in act the doctrines of my lips were I one of those who encouraged the Irish clamour for Repeal. In fine, I do not understand this straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel—this geographical morality, which permits Englishmen to be bitterly opposed in England, but forces upon them a one-sided forbearance when out of it."

He quotes a letter by Lord John Hay to the Marquis of Granby, saying of Lord Ranelagh—" It was never reported to me that his Lordship either fired at the British flag or came in contact with it.

The Revising Barristers have been in fall operation this week, amend- ing the lists of Parliamentary electors in town and country ; but no- thing could be more destitute of interest than the details of their pro- ceedings. Those details seem likely to be diminished in future by a check which Parliament has recently imposed—the infliction of costs on persons making frivolous objections ; a penalty which has been suf- fered in many cases this time.

The Oxford Herald, with complimentary expressions towards the Spectator at the expense of other " Liberal " journals, takes some ex- ceptions to our remarks on Mr. Cobden's Oxford meeting ; and assumes that we were misled in our view of it by accounts which the London papers, with the exception of the Times, received from the Anti-Corn- law League reporters. We chiefly followed the account in the Times. Without in the smallest degree denying that there may be many in Oxford who dispute the doctrines of the League,—having in fact men- tioned that they were disputed at the meeting,—without disputing the absence of yeomen, or any other of the special points raised by the Herald—our main position remains unaltered, that at a meeting assem- bled by the Sheriff as "a county meeting of freeholders and farmers on the subject of the Corn-laws," the decision, whether by default of those who would have reversed it or otherwise, was in favour of free trade.

The Leeds Mercury asks, " Does the new Customs Act repeal the Corn-law "; and argues, that " if acted upon strictly, it does "- " There is a clause in that act, reciting the stipulations of the treaty of Washington, to the following effect, namely—' That all produce of the forest, in logs, lumber, timber, timber-boards, staves or shingles, or of agriculture, not being manufactured, grown on any of those parts of the State of Maine watered by the river St. John or by its tributaries, of which fact reasonable evidence shall, if required, be produced, shall have free access into and through the said river and its said tributaries, having their source within the State of Maine, to and from the sea-port at the mouth of the river St. John, and to and round the falls of the said river, either by boats, rafts, or other conveyance ; that when within the province of New Brunswick the said produce shall be dealt with as if it were the produce of the said province.' And then the act proceeds= And whereas it is the intention of the high contracting parties to the said treaty, that the aforesaid produce should be dealt with as if it were the produce of the province of New Brunswick ; be it therefore enacted, that the produce in the said recited treaty, and hereinbefore described, shall, so far as regards all laws relating to duties, navigation, and customs, in force in the United Kingdom or in any of her Majesty's dominions, be deemed and taken to be and be dealt with as the produce of the province of New Brunswick.' " Here, then, is an act of Parliament permitting the agricultural produce of a part of the United States to be imported into England at the same duty as the produce of the British Colonies. Now we have treaties with European nations binding us to admit their produce on as favourable terms as the pro- duce of any other country. For example, our treaty with Holland of the 27th October 1837, contains this stipulation—' No duty of customs or other impost shall be charged upon any goods the produce of oue country, upon importation, by sea or by land, from such country into the other, higher than the duty or impost charged upon goods of the same kind the produce of or imported from any other country.' We do not see, then, how our Government could refuse to admit the corn of Holland on terms as favourable as the corn of Maine,—that is, on payment of the Colonial duty of Is. per quarter. " Important reductions of duty'llave been obtained from this country by the United States, in virtue of the commercial treaty which admits their produce on the footing of the most favoured nations. For example, an act of Parlia- ment was passed reducing the duty on rice in the husk (paddy) to ld. per hundredweight on all that was imported from the coast of Africa. The in- tention of the act was to favour the produce of the British settlements on the African coast. But rice being brought from Morocco, though a foreign country, it was, under the act, admitted at the low duty. Forthwith the United States applied to bare the duty on their rice reduced to the same rate of ld. per hundredweight, on the ground that this favour was granted to Morocco ; and they obtained their demand. In a similar way, we believe, the United States got rid of the export-duty of per cent so long levied in England on our own manufactures sent abroad. An act had been passed ex- empting from this export-duty all woollen cloths sent to the Eastward of the Cape of Good Hope ; the object being to exempt the goods sent to our Indian. dependencies : but as there are foreign countries Eastward of the Cape, to which woollens were sent free of export-duty, the United States pleaded this, and got rid of the per cent. We do not say that Holland, Sweden, and other coun- tries, will be able, in a similar way, to introduce their corn at the Colonial duty but it seems to us that a strict interpretation of the act of Parliament and the treaties would enable them to do so. Lord Monteagle expressed the same opi- nion with regard to the Timber-duties in the debate on the 14th August : he held that Sweden might avail herself of the privilege granted to Maine to demand the admission of her timber at the same duty as Colonial timber ; and no answer was given to him. We recommend the Council of the Anti- Corn-law League to take a good opinion on the subject, and, if so recom- mended, to bring the question to issue before the Judges of the land, by causing an action to be commenced for the repayment of the duties levied on corn from Holland."

The Morning Chronicle seconds the Leeds Mercury; and that Metro- politan aid draws forth an antagonist of no mean legal knowledge and acumen, the Standard; who, in ridiculing the position and limiting its force, does admit it to have some force- " Ah ! this will never do. The parts of the State of Maine watered by the river St. John and its tributaries do not constitute a nation, or even a state; they are a very small part of a state : they, therefore, cannot be regarded as a nation more or less favoured: so there the analogy, upon which the claims of Sweden, &c. must be founded, breaks down at the outset. But, proceeds our contemporary, [the Chronicle,] though the parts watered, &c.' do not consti- tute a nation, the United States claim a national character, and they are favoured. in the privilege conferred. Not all the States—not all the States surely—as:the farmers of New York, Massachusetts, &c. know to their sorrow. The favour to the United States is limited to a little uncultivated fragment of one of them ; which little uncultivated fragment is so favoured merely because it is conterminous with a British province. This is the eitent of the favour to the United States ; and beyond this, the claim of Sweden, the Nether• lands, or the Brazils cannot go, either in the letter of their treaties or in equity —for it is a rule recognized by all jurists, and laid down distinctly by our own Blackstone, that a statute (a treaty) which treats of things or persona of inferior rank, cannot by any general words be extended to things of a higher rank.' Let Sweden, then, the Netherlands, the Brazils, find some fragments of territory equal to the portion of Maine described—watered by a British river, and conterminous with British provinces; let them claim for these fragiiients: when they can find them, privileges similar to those which the favoured nation, thellnirel :31.21:es: enjoys ;and the claim must unques- tionably be allowed : but until such fragments are niscoveia—and it will puzzle the sagacity of the writer in the Leeds Mercury to discover then—that pro- found person's project of enforcing a Repeal of the Corn-laws by the Cusit'ems Act must go for—dare we write the word ?—mere twaddle, and rather shallow twaddle into the bargain. However, it may serve to amuse the dull time, and therefore it is to be forgiven."

The Edinburgh and Leith Humane Society make progress in devising appliances to be used in case of shipwreck, for rendering the ship- wrecked persons buoyant. They have issued a circular to shipping- companies and shipowners, recommending the use of the safety-cape, described in a former number of the Spectator; and also a new con- trivance which they describe- " As all cannot be expected to be provided with the safety-cape, as it is called, it would be well if the ship were to provide a float for every person on board. This may be simply and naturally done by using Macintosh air-pillows in the berths, instead of down or flock, as now used. It is represented to be the cleanest, softest, most wholesome, cheapest, and most durable pillow that can be used ; and, covered with a pillow-case, is like any other pillow. In danger it is ever at hand, night and day; and, when uncased, will exhibit straps or strings to pass the arms through, and tie on the front round the body from the throat downwards. It will float the person with head and shoulders above water, and could sustain more than one. So protected, the passengers will have confidence, and may be regulated by a captain possessing presence of mind, so as not to overload the boats, to give way to women and children, and to be content to float in the water and be towed at the boat's stern. For this purpose, every boat might have a number of cords in the stern, floated with corks, and visible in the night by white rags, to throw out to persons floating. A boat that will not hold ten would tow a hundred.

"The Society further suggest, that long air-cushions, a foot diameter, should be fixed under the seats of the boats, and the keels loaded to right the boats in a rough sea. Every boat would thus be in some measure a life-boat. This may be done for a few pounds. The pillow will be under seven shillings in price."

Both articles have newly been subject to the test of practical trial, at Leith pier-

" One man, fully clothed, put on the cape, and walked about with it as worn iminflated. as a common cape, while another fastened on the air-pillow upon his breast, partially inflated as for a sleeping-berth. Both life-preservers were then inflated fully ; and the wearers entering the Society's boat, were rowed out from the pier about fifty feet, when they both plunged into the water. The wearer of the safety-cape floated steadily with bead and neck above water, his shoulders being visible, and was perfectly at his ease. The wearer of the pillow was evidently not so comfortable; as the float, from being applied only in front, although it securely floated him, threw him too much on his back, his feet being sometimes visible. Both the men swam about for some time, and then, laying hold of cords from the stern of the boat, were towed along with speed ; both being then at perfect ease. As the pillow bad been tried pre- viously in the sea by the Society's Secretary, and found much more manage- able, it was transferred to the man who had worn the cape ; who, being a swimmer, managed it much better. However, as a life-preserver must not depend for right use on skill, but must float the most unskilful, the Society have resolved to change its form so as to bring the person more into equili- brium in a vertical fashion. A plan for this, which cannot fail, has been al- ready suggested, and a pattern ordered."

As a correspondent has asked us where to procure the caouchoue cape, we may as well add the announcement of the Leith Society, that it is to be procured at the Albion Cloth Company's establishment in Edinburgh ; and at Cape's, Old Bond Street, in London.

Dick Curtis, once celebrated among " the fancy" as a boxer, died last Saturday evening, at his residence in Little Surrey Street, Blackfriars Road. He had long been ill from his nightly excesses ; and died in indigent circumstances, at the age of forty.

Some doubt is thrown on the circumstantial stories about the arrest of Mr. Richard Dodd in France ; no official intimation of the fact having reached the Home Office.

An Anti-Temperance Society has been founded at Hamburg, by one Rocker, numbering two thousand members. The Government thinking fit to prohibit such opposition to the principles of Father Mathew, the Society met on the Danish territory, and on returning to Hamburg kicked up a serious riot ; the populace sympathizing with the jovial crew. It was necessary to call out troops to quell the tumult. A letter from Amsterdam, dated September 9th, states that pauperism in Holland has reached a frightful extent- " It appears," says the writer, " that, in 1841, the charitable institutions relieved 595,093 individuals ; which number, compared with the whole popula- tion, estimated at 2,931,143 souls, is at the rate of one to five. The number of charitable institutions is 6,331; and the sum- expended by them in 1841 amounted to 19,026,993 florins (about 1,604,0000" From commercial letters, the Manchester Guardian gathers some par- ticulars of a disastrous land-slip in Bahia on the 9th July- " It appears that a part of the town of Bahia (or, to speak more correctly, of San Salvador) is built between a very steep bill and the shore of the bay from which it derives the name ordinarily but inaccurately bestowed upon it in this country. About the beginning of July, there had been very heavy rains in the neighbourhood; and iu the middle of the night of the 9th, a large quan- tity of earth suddenly slid down from the hill, overwhelming a number of dwel- ling-houses and cotton-stores, together with the Church of the Pillar, and leaving many houses and other buildings in a very precarious state, though still standing. Many persons who were asleep at the time were buried in the ruins of their houses, and among them the priests of the Pillar and Rio Fundo Churches. Of course, the alarm of the inhabitants on account of this sudden and unexpected calamity waatexcessively great ; and it was not diminished by a public announcement from a Polish engineer in the service of the Govern- ment, that the entire Lill, from the Solidade Convent to the Theatre, was in a dangerous state. All the houses within the limits threatened were consequently deserted by their inhabitants; all the shops and the Customhouse were closed, and business of all kinds was completely suspended. By the 14th July, however, (the weather having improved in the mean time,) confidence had been in some degree restored ; the inhabitants had partially returned to their houses; some of the shops had been reopened, and business to some little extent bad been resumed."