Atli% tellaneous.

In the event of our foreign relations presenting a sufficiently peaceable aspect, her Majesty, accompanied by Prince Albert, the Prince of Wales, and the leading members of the Court, intend taking a trip up the Medi- terranean next year.—Globe.

Prince Albert is taking occasional instructions in Gaelie from the Re- verend Mr. Anderson, of Crathie with a view to acquiring a knowledge of a language connected with the literature of the country, and which forms the dialect of a class in whom his Royal Highness takes much interest, and among whom a considerable portion of his leisure at this season of the year is likely to be regularly spent. Mr. Anderson is himself a good Gaelic scholar, although a Lowlander.—Perth Courier.

The Duke and Dutehess of Cambridge and the Duke and Datchess of Mecklenburg are expected to remain at Plasgydd, in the Isle of Anglesea, until the first week in the ensuing month.

The Queen has been pleased to direct letters patent to be passed, under the Great Seal, granting the dignity of a Baron of the United Kingdom of. Great Britain and Ireland unto James Earl of Elgin and Kincardine, KT., Captain-General and Govenaor-in-chief of her Majesty's Provinces of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, and of the Island of Prince Ed- ward, and Governor-General of all her Majesty's Provinces on the Conti- nent of North America and of the Island of Prince Edward, and to the heirs male of his body lawfully begotten, by the name, style, and title of Baron Elgin of Elgin, in that part of the said United Kingdom called Sei:tte- land.—Lontion Gazette, September 4.

The death of the Grand Duke Michael was too hastily announced by the German papers. He was not, however, expected on the 31st August to recover from the apoplectic attack under which he suffered.

By letters received from Naples, via Marseilles' we learn that Prince Castelcicala has been recalled from the embassy in London and appointed to that at St. Petersburg. His successor as Minister to this Court is on his way to England.—Globe.

The King of Prussia has presented the Reverend William Cureton, of the British Museum, with the gold medal for literary and scientific merit, as a mark of the high appreciation in which the King holds Mr. Cureton for his recent edition of Ignatius. The medal was accompanied by a letter from the King to the Chevalier Bunsen, desiring him to convey to Mr. Cureton the expression of his high esteem.

The Montreal Courier or the 16th August states, that Sir George Simp- son has returned from his annual tour through the Northern settlements, and that no tidings of Sir John Franklin have been obtained. Sir John Richardson is on his way back, and will he in Montreal early in Septem- ber. The second in command of the Explorer, Sir John Rae, will, how- ever, continue his search throughout the present summer.

It is understood that the Bishop of Victoria will sail for his destined sphere of labour in about five weeks, attended by two or three Missionary Presbyters; one of whom will be associated with the Bishop in the conduct of the College at Hongkong.—Colonial Church Chronicle.

Measures are about to be taken to establish in Birkenhead an institution identical in its objects and similar in its organization to that which has at- tracted so much notice at Devonport as "The Orphan's Home."—Morning Post.

Lord Brougham has improved the leisure of the vacation by publishing, in a pamphlet shape, a letter to Sir James Graham on the subject of "Making and Digesting of the Law." One main feature of the letter is a criticism on the defects of our present lawmaking machinery, as exhibited in the history of the Bankruptcy Digest which Lord Brougham passed through Parliament in the late session; the remaining portion embodies the conclusions to which these criticisms point, insisting on the necessity of -our resort to some new machinery, and suggesting the outline of an im- proved system. The Bankruptcy Digest was first presented to the House -of Lords hi 1848: by the Lords it was referred to a Select Committee, and a great body of evidence was taken, which led to material improvements. Next session it was reintroduced, and referred to the same Committee; then more evidence was received, and further -suggestions acted on; and in its finally improved state it was unanimOusly passed and sent to the Commons. This careful discussion, however, °warred only on such parts lof the bill as made changes in the law; the Digest was not thus treated,

and "for an obvious reason." . .

"No Committee can undertake with advantme the Minute consideration of-the terms in-which provisions agreed upon as to their substance shall be couched. Confidence must of necessity be placed in the learning, skill, and diligence of those who have prepared the digest. So it has uniformly been as often as any branch of the law has been thus digested, by consolidating many statutes into one. Of this the history of our Legislature daring the last sixty years affords many instances. One of the most remarkable is Sir R. Peel's Digest of the Laws respecting Larceny. In all these cases, the bills being carefully prepared by skilled workmen, were adopted by both Mouses of Parliament with scarcely any alteration, and with no discussion. Yet I will venture to assert, that not one of them had been prepared with one-tenth so much care, one-tenth so much preview examination by learned persons, as was the Bankrupt Digest. A most able and experienced officer of the Bankruptcy Court, for above -thirteen years daily conversant with its practice, Mr. Miller, had prepared -the original bill under my direction, and with whatever help I could give by my suggestions and advice, especially where any difficulties arose. This bill was referred to the Select Committee, who examined many witnesses, both professional and mercantile men, upon its merits. An opinion in its favour was -strongly and unanimously expressed. The further proceeding of the bill having been postponed, improvements were made in the Digest during the long vacation ; and it was then submitted to the six London Commissioners of the Court of Bank- euptcy, men whose whole time is occupied with administering the bankrupt law. directed their special attention to it; and stated that whatever alterations should be agreed upon by a majority of their number I would accede to. They met, I .believe daily, for a month; and I made such changes in both the digesting part -and the new eriactments as they recommended. They were unanimous as to the former; they were as five to one upon the latter when they divided. Thus re- vised and corrected, the whole came again before the Lords and their Select Com- mittee. Thus reconsidered and further improved as to the new matter introduced into the system, the bill was passed, and sent down by the Lords to the Commons, litliont any divisioh upon any of its stages. It is this bill, so carefully prepared, and so agreed to by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in Parliament assembled, and to which their Lordships were pleased by their messengers to desire the con- currence of the Commons—it is this bill, which a person filling a high judicial station (one for whose learning and talents I entertain the highest respect, how much soeyer we may differ on law-digesting) has chosen in his evidence to call a 'pamphlet in a hundred pages': the pamphlet of their Lordships has now be- come the law of the land, having received the assent of the Commons and the Crown; and the same excellent judge is now sitting in Bankruptcy to administer it, and to know no other bankrupt law,—unless, indeed, his contempt for codes shall make him resign his high office rather than submit to be governed by them; -an event which I should with the rest of the profession deeply and justly lament."

The measure prepared with this elaborateness of care for its authen- ticity as a digest, was treated with fatal disrespect in the House of Com- mons; who in the first place referred it to a Select Committee, consisting of most respectable mercantile men, and of lawyers who had great ability and learning but from accidental circumstances had never practised in -Bankruptcy. The diligent examination of the changes proposed in the law, Lord Brougham does not complain of, for a moment; but the Committee thought it expedient to examine the Digest as a digest. It is upon this Unprecedented and unreasonable proceeding that Lord Brougham expends the chief force of his vigorous and sarcastic criticism. "This Committee thought it expedient to examine the Digest as a digest. Not satisfied with the skill of the able and most learned workmen by whom it had been prepared, the Committee,. wholly unaccustomed to the administration of the Bankrupt-law, conceived that it was their duty to consider and to alter, in mate- rial particulars, the work carefully done by the persons of all others the most Samiliarly acquainted with the practice of that law in suits branches and in all its details. When the House of Lords received, in 1824, from the Commons a bill consolidating the Bankrupt-laws, (6 Geo. IV. c. 16,) Lord Eldon and Lord Commons, never deemed it below their dignity to rely upon the skill and learning of the workmen who had framed it, awl to regardit as an able and accurate consolida- tion. The Lords joined these eminent rpea,i#giiving the aame confidence to the bill so sent up from the COOM101111; and it passed both Houses without any dis- cussion, much less any alteration. That corffilence which it was not unworthy the two most experienced Bankrupt lawyers of the age to repose in those who drew Lord Henley's Act, might, perhaps, not unbecomingly, have been given to the bill prepared by the combined labours of the Bankrupt Commissioners and the officers of their court, as well as sanctioned by a Committee of the Upper House. But nothing of the kind took place. " And first of all, the Commons Committee objected to the form of the Digest. It was in articles, and not in section.s. It alarmed the sensibility of men accus- tomed to hold in abhorrence whatever partakes of Mr. Bentham's plan for amend- ing the law. It looked, in short, like codification. And here I cannot help ex- pressing my regret that the great man whom I have named should have so often forgotten the sage advice of blachiavel, not to change words unnecessarily; above all, I lament that he should have so often preferred new and foreign to known and native words, when inventing a technology. I prefer digest to code, digesting to codifying. And why ?—Because the word is more English, and of more received use among us; and also, because when you only mean to consolidate, arrange, and systematize, without altering, digest,' expressing that operation accurately, is preferable to code,' which embraces a wider range, extending to new enactment. But be this as it may, whether code or digest, the Committee were alarmed, and articles they would have none—it must be distributed into sections. Nay, Arabic numerals they would have none—all must be Roman. Nor can one sufficiently marvel here at the dispute about divisions and figures, when it is borne in mind, as the Committee must well have known, that no numbers whatever, either Roman or Arabic, ever find their way into the venerable record of any statute ; nay, that each act is reckoned one single sentence, without break or pause; nay, that all the chapters of each session's legislative work are, in contemplation of law, one single statute. However, let that pass. The Roman numerals were restored to their pride of place—Article was supplanted by Section. So far—and so far so well, at least as regarded the resolution stare super vies antiques, however out of re- pair these roads might be. But they seem to have been found slippery too; for the Committee stood not very steady upon them: changes were made by the enemies of all change; mere novelties introduced by the foes to all innovation; a dreadful omission was made in each section—no authority was stated fcr t he enactment : 'Belt enacted' was given somewhere about forty times, instead of prefacing each of the 278 sections; and by what authority, was not once stated from the second section to the last. I say nothing of the constant omission of the word further' ; though I fear me, tender consciences, hardly recovered from the dread of Arabic numbers, may be troubled at this known and expressive term being left out. But my eyes are met by no less than thirty-nine novelties, (ominous number, by whatever nu- merals marked!) though happily of one aud the same description ;—the division of the whole act into heads or branches, or I know not what fragments, heretofore unknown, or if known certainly only known within the last few months; each subdivision of sections being prefaced by the words ' And with respect to' so and so. I say not that this is iecorrect—far from it; I say not that it is unauthor- ized by the bulky ' pamphlet' which the Lords sent down. On the contrary, it is a substitution for the divisions in that bill. But I only note this departure from all ancient usage as a proof that the Committee could make such deviations, and therefore might have adopted the somewhat less considerable innovations which the Lords had sanctioned for the se!fsame purpose, for the sake of public convenience.

" Furthermore, in sect. ccviii. I find innovation enough to startle the most har- dened law reformer—innovation alike in substance and in form; an invention of great merit, I admit, for its convenience, but of such novelty that a patent might well be claimed for it, as something 'which others at the time did not use' (ac- cording to the statute of James I.) My Fines and Recoveries Act of 1833 (3 and 4 Will. IV. c. 74) is referred to by the sffitions—I crave pardon, the Committee, so alarmed at articles, and so resolved to have sections, calls them clauses, which is a term belonging to bills, not to acts; and there are imported seventeen of them, not in Arabic (Heaven forbid !) but all in Roman numerals; imported, however, in so slovenly a fashion that I tremble for the reception the conveyancers may give to this section, or clause, or article—really, now, one gets confused by the vacillation of the Committee in their technological principles. My only objec- tion to this invention is its careless application, for no plan of reference can be more convenient if judiciously and accurately executed."

The letter then enumerates a surprising number of blunders which have resulted from this mode of proceeding. Amidst the crowd, one stands doubly preeminent, alike for its absurdity and its immoral complexion.

"At the moment of their discussion on the Bankrupt Law, a bill was passed through all its stages, without a word of discussion, and without being either referred to a Select Committee, or so mach as mentioned in the House, except by the Clerks at the table when they read its title at each successive stage of its rapid progress. I allude to the Irish Bankruptcy Law Consolidation and Amend- ment Act, which its learned authors placed under my care when it came up to the Lords. It had been prepared under the authority of the Irish Chancellor, the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, and the Irish Bankrupt Commissioners; and entire confidence was reposed in the accuracy of the workmanship. But I was in no little degree astonished to find that its authors had adopted and incorporated from my English bill the very provisions which the House of Commons had re- jected; and accordingly, up came from the same Commons two bills on the same subject, the one entirely different from the other. I was thus placed in a singular position by the Honourable the Commons. I was asked to use whatever little credit or influence I might have with the Lords to make them reject the pm- visions of their own bill, not because the Commons had refused to adopt them, but because the Commons had unanimously approved them. A strange case of collision had arisen—that each of the two Houses had unanimously passed cer- tain provisions in one Bankrupt Law Bill: but then, one of the Houses bad with equal unanimity rejected those very provisions in another Bankrupt Law Bill. So, to reconcile the Commons with themselves, we were fain to give up our own clauses, and make the two bills on the same subject matter alike. "I also took the opportunity of striking out a strange provision, which had, doubtless from inadvertency, crept into the Irish Bill,—namely, a grant for life of a place hitherto held during pleasure, to the near relation of one of the pro- moters of the bill, together with the grant to the same party of another place in. reversion."

Completing his survey of the errors and defects due to the present mode of legislating, Lord Brougham proceeds to illustrate the inferences of the lesson taught, and never more forcibly taught, during the last session.

"Our laws are prepared by individuals, or by Boards in connexion with the Government ; but there is no communication between those parties from whom the different bills proceed. Hence there is no guarantee whatever against the most manifest inconsistencies in their various provisions. But again, each party has one particular object in view, and his bill is framed to obtain that object. Hence an almost entire disregard, not only of general principles, but of former statuary provisions. It is evidently impossible that bills so prepared can be at all safe to pass. But the evil stops not here. After any one is introduced it un- dergoes alterations, titst in one House, alterations made wholly without regard to the portions left unchanged. Then in the other noose new changes are made, without any regard to the proceedings in the former: Of course I speak only of many instances; for such want of precaution to avoid errors cannot prevail in all the alterations made. But, whoever has attended to the manner in which bills are first framed, and then altered daring their pasiagithrough Parliament, must be aware what gross blunders are committed; and that such blunders are inevit- able Ea long as the work is prepared by various unconnected parties, without au superintendence. Thus, it has often been said, that the scissors of the draftsman make many a clause; and so does the pen of the amender. Hence, nothing is more common (as lawyers who answer eases well know) than to find one section of a statute referring to something as aforesaid when nothing of the kind was said before•' but the section had been cut out of a former act, in which there had been an antecedent which was not taken."

A scheme for placing under proper, able, honest, and responsible super- intendence, the preparation of all bills, and the watching of their progress through both Houses, was proposed by Lord Brougham to the Lords in May 1848. The principal provision was the appointment of a Board or Court of five members, irremoveable without address of both Houses, to which either House might refer any bill, whose opinion might be taken upon the draft of any bill before its introduction, and who should try all questions of fact and report on evidence; the Houses retaining their power to require further inquiries, or to inquire themselves. No person nor any department of Government would be bound to follow the advice of the pro- posed Board, or to lay before it any proposed bill. " The privileges of both Houses, and of all the members of each, would remain inviolate. But a helpmate would be provided for all, both Government and in- dividuals, and for both branches of the Legislature ; a helpmate whose aid both in preparing bills before their introduction, and in watching them during their progress through Parliament, would be altogether beyond any estimate we can form of its value. Nor is it only in preventing error and in improving legislation that it would be of invaluable use. The mere saving of time would be incalcu- lable; and this consideration is now become of such importance, that Committees have actually been sitting to inquire how debates may be shortened, so as to ren- der it possible to transact the business of Parliament; it being discovered that the Parliamentary sitting has but narrow limits, and that the desire of Parliamentary debate has no limits at all. I would have the private as well as public bills sub- ject to a like examination: and this from no distrust of my valued friends the Chairman of the Lords and his able and learned secretary; but surely it would be better, seeing that their veto on any clause is now regarded by both Houses as final, if the same supreme power were vested, not in a single individual, how highly qualified soever for the task, but in a responsible and irremoveable board."

It may be mentioned, that in the outset of his letter Lord Brougham gives some information respecting the position of another of his interesting reforms-the Digest of the Criminal Law. The labours of the first Com- mission appointed on the subject were presented to the Lords in 1844. The subject was referred to a new Commission, including additional members; who presented a further report in 1847. A bill founded on these labours was presented by Lord Brougham in 1848, and immediately referred to a Select Committee.

"As Chairman of that Committee," writes Lord Brougham, "I addressed letters to all the Judges of the Three Kingdoms, requesting their observations upon the Digest; submitting it to them, together with copies of all the reports upon which it had been founded. Waiting for the answers of those learned per- sons, I postponed to the next session all further proceedings with the bill. Again I presented it at the very beginning of the session just ended; again it was re- ferred to the same Select Committee ; and again we anxiously expected the an- swers of the Judges. The session has, however, passed away without any answer whatever from any of the English Judges; though valuable suggestions have been communicated from those of the other two kingdoms. I conclude, from this cir- cumstance, that the Judges of England are, generally speaking, satisfied with the Digest, and have no corrections to offer which they deem of sufficient import- ance to call for the consideration of the Lords."

The Ordre, a Paris journal, publishes a long and interesting account of a visit paid by "M. L-," a French gentleman, to Louis Philippe, at Claremont, in November last. The ex-King led his visiter into a long retrospective conversation; listened with readiness to friendly but explicit statements as to the state of feeling in France, and made copious explana- tions of his own conduct. His motives in permitting the revolution of February 1848 to gain head without effective resistance do not differ from those already ascribed to him: he was misled as to the sufficiency of his concession at each stage-told that disturbance would cease on the ap- pointment of a Reformist Ministry; then, on his abdication. He was asked to appoint the Dutchess of Orleans as Regent, but refused, because that would have been illegal. He refused to authorize the military sup- pression of the revolt, because he would not purchase the con- tinued tenure of his throne with French blood. He acquitted the French people of blame, on the score that they had been deluded into a hatred of all authority; but he severely blamed his Minis- ters and others who had professed to be his political supporters, for not speaking out when he was assailed by calumny. It was a popular fallacy, to suppose that he had accepted any " programme " offered to him by General Lafayette at the Hotel de 'Ville-he only assented to Lafayette's proposition that he should personify "a Monarchy surrounded by Repub- lican institutions." He had continually urged his Ministers to refute that statement, and once he wrote a contradiction, which he signed "Un Bour- geois de Paris," to be published in the papers; but Casimir Perier said that the contradiction should be incorporated in some important Ministerial speech, and put the manuscript in his pocket. The King acquiesced; but the contradiction was never made, although he repeatedly urged it on his Council. Indeed, notwithstanding the stories of his personal dictation, he had always governed constitutionally; and, though he urged his views as "a King and a Frenchman," they were freely canvassed by his Ministers, and he always yielded when he was in the minority. The ex-King dis- claimed the wealth ascribed to him, and the imputed efforts to augment it; and he avowed "poverty." "Not that in this noble England," he said, "offers of assistance have been wanting to me. Grand Dieu! they have been heaped on me; they have been disguised under the most kind and most ingenious forms: but I refused them all." The same writer after- wards repeated his call, at the King's invitation; but found him so worn out with attending the Prince de Joinville's sick bed, that he abstained from intruding.

At the late Peace Congress in Paris, a letter from Mr. Samuel Gurney to Mr. Joseph Stnrge was referred to: it has been published, and its facts are seen to have been the foundation of effective parts of one of Mr. Cob- den's speeches. The position of Mr. Gurney, as head of one of the greatest banking-houses in Europe, gives weight to his opinions on subjects of fi- nance. He thus discloses them to his friend-

" Permit me to call thy attention to the standing armies and navies of the nations of Europe. I trust the Congress will come to some strong resolution on the subject. The argument that one nation must pursue the praciice because an- other does, is fallacious: mutual agreement to the contrary destrcys the argument, if there be any force in it. I venture to throw before thee, however, some con- siderations on the subject, on grounds undoubtedly political, but certainly con- sistent with Christian propriety. In round numbers, I presume that not far short of 2,000,000- of the inhabitants of Europe, in the prime and strength of their livce, have been abstracted from useful and productivelabour, and are made consumers only of the good gifts of the Almighty and of national wealth. The cost of the maintenance of these armies and navies cannot be very much less than two hundred millions of pounds sterling per annum, taking into consideration the subject in all its collateral bearings; at least, it must amount to an enormous sum. Does not this view of the subject in a large degree expose the cause of such masses of poverty, distress, and sin, which at present pervade many of the districts of Europe? Is not such the legitimate result of so vast a waste of la- bour, food, and wealth ? Moreover, I venture to give it 118 my decided judgment -judgment formed upon some knowledge of monetary matters-that unless the nations of Europe adopt an opposite system in this respect, many of them will inevitably become bankrupt, and will have to bear the disgrace and evils of such a catastrophe. I could particularize the financial state of many of these nations, but will confine myself to those of France and England. Of the former I speak with great delicacy, seeing the generous reception she has given to the Con- gress; but, deeply interested as I am in her welfare, I should rejoice to see her take possession of the benefits and prosperities that must arise to her in a financial point of view, as well as in other respects, by adopts jog an opposite coarse to that which she has hitherto done in respect of military establishments. I acknowledge I tremble for her if elm persists in the plan hitherto pursued. In respect of my own country, I more boldly assert, that it is my judgment that, unless she wholly alters her course in these respects, bankruptcy will ultimately be the result. We have spent from fifteen to twenty millions sterling per annum for warlike purposes since the peace of 1815. Had that money been applied to the discharge of the National Debt, by this time it would have been nearly annihilated: but if our military expenditure be persisted in, and no reduction of our National Debt take place, at a period of our history cer- tainly characterized by very fair prosperity and general political calm, how is it to be expected that the amount of revenue will be maintained in a time of adversity, which we must from time to time anticipate in our future history ? Should such adversity come upon us, I venture to predict that our revenue will not be main- tained, nor the dividends paid, unless more efficient steps be taken to prevent such a catastrophe in these days of prosperity and peace."

La Presse of Saturday contained, under the head of" The net product of twenty years of war," the following striking statements in support of its arguments for a reduction of the army.

Men. Men.

"Levy of Jane 24, 1791 150,000 Conscription of January 21, 1808 80,000

- September, 1792 109,000 - September 10, 1808 • 30,000 888000:,000000000 - February 24, 1793 - April 16, 1793 300,000 September 12, 1808

January I. 1809

Requisition of August 16, 1793 . • 1,050,000 - April 25, 1809 40,000 Conscription of Vend. 3, an VII. 190,000 - October 5, 1809

3 - Germin. 28, an VII 150,000 - December 13, 1809 .... 14200%000:

- MessIdor 24, an 110,000 - Same day

- Floreal 28, an X. 120,000 - - Floreal 5, an XL 120,000 September I, 1812 120,000 350,000 - - an XII

60,000 January 11, 1813

se 00°000 - N 60,000 - ivose 8, an XIII April 3, 1813 180,000 August 24, 1813 (10 :

- Nivo 27, an XIII. • • • . 60,000 - October 9, 1813 - Vend. 2, an. XIV. 80,000 - November 15, 1813 300,000 - December 15, 1806 80,000 - April 7, 1807 80,000 Total 4,556,000

"Napoleon, for his part, obtained by the conscription 2,476,000 men. Those who set out were never freed from service. M. Darn, in his report to the Legislative body on the conscription avows it. (Moniteur, 80 Floreal, an X.) Spain was the tomb of most of our old soldiers; what remained perished almost entirely in the snows of Russia. The army of 1813 was composed of recruits of from eighteen to twentyyears of age. Illness, fatigue, and misery decimated them. Of the 1,260,000 men raised in 1813, there remained in 1814, to defend the soil of France, but 100,000 men above the Guard. In 1792, France had, as now eighty-six departments. The conquests of the Republic gave her, in two years, the Rhine and the Alps for frontiers. From 1794 to 1800, the number of our de- partments was increased by nineteen, and made one hundred-and-five. Na- poleon, in 1815, joined to France, Holland, maritime Germany, and half of Italy, and created twenty-seven new departments; France then having one hundred and thirty.two. In 1814, France was reduced to her old limits of 1790, and from her were taken Marienburg, Philippeville, and Landau. Such, then, was the net produce of twenty years' gigantic wars, heroic efforts, immeasurable sacrifices, and bloodshed on every battle-field of Europe. A single battle lost, that of Waterloo, sufficed to take from France the fruit of twenty im- mortal victories, and to render her smaller in 1815 than in 1790. But that is not all-to 4,500,000 of men (how many nations have not 4,500,000 souls!) cut down by balls and bullets, must be added 7,000,000 of indemnity of war paid by France to the Allied Powers, and which was payable in equal portions in five years by means of bons to bearer on the Royal Treasury, plus 490,000,000 for the support of the foreign garrison, plus a multitude of various indemnities, the whole amount- ing to nearly two milliards."

Mr. John Wartou, a peaceful Quaker from London, while at Paris attending the late Congress, met with an unpleasant adventure. Mr. Hermann, Sub- Director of the New York Police, is in Paris searching for two forgers of bank- notes. One day he met Mr. Warton in the street; the officer took a lithographic portrait from his rocket, compared it with the Englishman, and immediately had him arrested as one of the forgers. Mr. Warton, however, soon convinced Mr. Hermann that he was not the culprit; though it appears that the portrait of the forger exactly resembled Mr. Warton.

To prevent the breaking up of the valuable hares of Versailles, St. Cloud, and Meudon, established by King Louis Philippe for the breeding of thoroughbred Arabian and English horses, the President of the Republic took upon himself the expense of maintaining them until it should be decided whether or not they should be purchased by the country. The Government having resolved, on ac- count of the financial difficulties of the nation, not to present a bill to the As- sembly authorizing the purchase by the State, M. Vavin, liquidateur of the Civil List, has addressed a letter to the journals, suggesting that, from the void im- portance of the hams, a number of amateurs should subscribe to purchase them. In so doing, he says, they would render a national service, without imposing on themselves the necessity of advancing a large sum, whilst the profits of the hams would cover the expense. If no body of gentlemen should do this, the tiaras will be advertised for sale by auction in the beginning of October.-Gatignanis Mes- senger.

A work of great interest to the scientific world, especially to all who attach value to Egyptian lore, has recently been published at Berlin, by Richard Lepsinse the well-known traveller and naturalist. It is entitled "Chronology of' the Egyptians." The first volume has only appeared. It contains the introduction and first portion of the criticism of sources or authorities, in some measure re- stricted to Herodotus, Dioderus, Manethos, and Eratosthenes. The work when completed will consist of three volumes quarto. Lepsius may be regarded as- having largely contributed to the formation of the more massive portion of the interesting Egyptian collection now assembled in the new museum; the founda- tion of which collection is, however, due to the activity and zealous researches of M. Passe l'Acqua, director of the interesting Egyptian museum hitherto pre- served at the Mon Bijou Palace. The whole collection is now in the act of being united and classed in the spacious apartments of the new museum, of which Dr Waagen, so well known to our artistic world and patrons of the arts, is direcWr under the general superintendence of the learned Olfers.—Berlin Correspondence of the Morning Chronicle.

On Wednesday, Lord John Russell, accompanied by Horatio Ross, Esq., went i

oat deer-stalking n Mar Forest; and, after a successful stalk, in which he showed as much interest as in the hottest Parliamentary debate, his Lordship shot a fine stag, dead, at 120 yards, and wounded another, which, however, got away. It is the belief of the Court, that this is the only instance on record, at least in modern times, of a Prime Minister in office stalking and killing a stag !—Edinburgh Cou-

rant. . .

Loch Muick, where her Majesty has a favourite lodge, is about equidistant from Balmoral and Ballater. It lies close at the base of "dark Lochnagar," and gives its name to the rivulet that conveys its waters to the Dee, and also to the valley through which they pass. The Water of Muiek is an angry, impetuous stream, which chafes and foams along through its whole progress. The glen, though not so populous as it might be, contains a larger number of inhabitants than one would expect to find in it. There is but a narrow margin of cultivated land on either side of the stream, and this is divided into a number of mode- rately-sized buildings; the tenants of which seem a frugal, thriving, and comfort- able class. Still, there are the remains of demolished tenements to be seen in Glenmnick, as elsewhere. Some three miles from the Dee, the character of the glen changes. It becomes wilder and more desolate. After passing a wooded ravine, one travels on about the distance specified, and the most anxious search will discover bat three houses besides the lodge her Majesty is to occupy. The loch occupies the hollow betwixt hills that rise sheer up from it, having a sort of table-land on the top; while, towering far above them, -Lochnagar raises its rugged cones. The scene is one of surpassing beauty, and more especially in the evening, when the last rays of the setting sunlight produce an impression which can never be forgot. The outline of Lochnagar is seen to perfection against the gleaming sky, whilst its elongated shadow stretches far across the hollow. The rays of light passing its top, fall middy athwart the dark surface of the lake, which is undis- turbed by a single ripple, giving at the same time a deep purple tinge to the heath-clad hills around. There are indentures, too, in these steep precipices, that do not come out to and fill up the edge; and they frown dark and cold in the shade, adding, by the contrast they afford, another feature of magnificence. The lodge—in appearance a most unmeet place for a monarch's habitation—is about half a mile down the glen from the loch, and is situated amid a small clump of firs on the corner of one of the hills that border it, commanding at .once a view of the glen and a portion of Lochnagar. There can be no doubt her Majesty will make herself familiar with the Eastern and the meet remarkable of the mountains. She has been once at the summit there already; having visited it on Friday last, when she had a better day, obtained a wider view, and made a better descent, than it was her fortune to do last year.—Glasgow Daily MaiL The Liverpool Courier states that Mr. Christopher Leyland, of the old bank- ing-house of Leyland and Bullin in Liverpool, whose death appears in the obituary, has left property worth between four and five millions sterling; the bulk of which will descend to his nephews, the Messrs. Naylor, who carry on the bank.

We have great pleasure in recording an instance of liberality on the part of the Government to blaster-Gunner Robert Purcell, of Scarborough Castle, who has been discharged from the Ordnance Department, after serving upwards of sixty- four years, and has been awarded a pension of 3s. 7id. per day. His character had been exemplary, and his name did not appear in any defaulter's book. So high a pension to a person in his rank has rarely, if ever, been awarded.— United Ser- vice Gazette.

The General Post-office has now the advantage of direct telegraphic commnni- catkin throughout the country; the Electric Telegraph Company having esta- blished a branch in St. Martin's-le-Grand.

it is said that more than 90,0001. has recently passed through the office of Messrs. Sale and Worthington for the purchase of freeholds in Yorkshire and Cheshire for the Freehold Building and Land Association.

At the quarterly meeting of the Geological and Polytechnic Society of the West Riding of Yorkshire, held in the Guildhall in Doncaster, on Wednesday last, Mr. Dalton of Sheffield read a paper on "Ivory as an Article of Manufacture." The value of the annual consumption in Sheffield is about 30,0001., and about five hun- dred persons are employed in working it up for trade. The number of tusks to make up the weight consumed in Sheffield, about 180 tons, is 45,000. According to this, the number of elephants killed every year is 22,500; but supposing that some tasks were cast and some animals died, it might be fairly estimated that 18,000 are killed for the purpose.—Yorkshire Gazette.

The Porvenir, a Seville journal, relates a truly Spanish tale from the annals of the criminal court. In 1827, Jose Martin, an inhabitant of Almodovar del Campo, was killed by Diego Ilimajo. The murderer was sent to a convict station for ten years. Joaquin, one of the eons of Martin, was drawn as a conscript: he served his time with credit, and then returned home. His father's murderer also re- turned to Almodovar. This wretch took every occasion to provoke the soldier by recalling his father's fate and threatening him with a like deelh. Martin was very forbearing, and avoided the man as much as possible. On the 1st of May 1811, Himojo went to his victim's house, now a tavern, and called for a glass of brandy, "for this day fourteen years I killed the master of this house." A few moments after, Joaquin heard of this; he was much agitated; in his hand he had a knife with which he was cutting tobacco. As he went along the street, he came upon Himojo, who was talking with two or three persons. Joaquin either heard or imagined he heard his father's murderer exulting over the deed: in an instant the excited son was upon the ruffian, and with the knife he chanced to have in his hand he stabbed him to death. Joaquin resigned himself to justice. He was condemned to ten years' imprisonment in a convict station. Oa an appeal, this punishment was commuted to six years. But Martin escaped from prison, and billeted in the gendarmerie. After serving faithfully for two years, he was de- nounced. He petitioned the Queen, and she directed that he should be admitted into the presidio of Seville as a "returned deserter." He has again appealed to the Royal clemency, and it is expected that he will receive a pardon.

A few days ago, a mother and daughter named Frutzkener were executed at Marienweder in Prussia, for the murder of their husband and father. In Febru- ary 1848, at daybreak, four gendarmes, on their way from Berlin, saw the two women kneeling as if in prayer, at Calvary, near the village of Tullich, with a box between them, covered with a blanket. The officers, conceiving some sus- picions, went to the women and asked what they were about. They seemed too terrified to reply; and accordingly the officers opened the box, and, to their sur- prig' e, found in it the corpse of a man dreadfully mutilated. The two women were arrested; and after an investigation had been commenced, they admitted that the deceased was the husband of one and father of the other of them; and that they had murdered him, the mother to be enabled to marry a farm-labourer with whom she was in love, the daughter to escape from what she called a hateful tyranny. This murder, they said, they effected when the man was drank, by pouring boil- ing water into the ears and on the face, and by afterwards cutting and slashing the body. The sentence on them was, that they should be crushed on the wheel, beginning at the feet; but the Mug commuted this into simple decapitation.— Paris Paper. A Itoecommon letter describes a remarkable instance of escape from the county gaol. "Michael Manually, one of a desperate gang, (some of whom were convicted at last Roscommon Assizes) charged with conspiring to rob and murder Mr. M. C. Browne, J.P., effected his escape out of the above gaol on Friday night last, under circumstances fully displaying what a cool and determined character he is. He was confined in the solitary cell for bad conduct; out of which, at midnight, he made his escape, breaking through two doors by smashing the locks. This brought him into the chapel; to get to the door of which he had to climb over an iron-spiked railing fourteen feet high. Having effected this, the next obstacle was the huge door of the chapel. He wrenched the four massive nuts off the lock, and appears to have failed in his attempt to get the lock off, as he got oat by breaking the heavy hasp into which the bolt of the lock shot. This opened the way into an enclosed passage between two of the day-yards. Here he mounted a fixed ladder, leading up to the cistern, and, by a drop of about sixteen feet on hard paving, landed at the other side. This is an enclosed corridor, into which all the day-yards open, as also the cook-house and bread-store. The latter he broke into, and took thereout one loaf of white bread. Out of this enclosure he got over a wall about twelve feet high, into the Governor's yard, out of which he took a ladder about fifteen feet long, and a one-and-a-half-inch thick board; and, unlocking the gate of the yard, the key being merely turned, he proceeded round the inner grounds of the gaol to where the store-yard ends, and where he would have only one wall to creme Here he tied the ladder and hoard together, and thus got over the boundary-wall, which is about twenty-five feet high. Having got on the wall, he pulled up the ladder, and let himself down at the other bide."

Mr. Allen, who kept a school at Southsea, lately took six of his pupils for a sail in a small yacht. On their return, the party got into a little boat to land; it sud- denly capsized, plunging all into the sea. Many persons hastened to render assist- ance, and eventually all the party were got on shore. The boy were soon metered to animation; but Mr. Allen, who was alive when landed, died soon after.

The accounts of the herring-fishery, in almost every fishing-station are highly favourable, and some of them state that the fishing is such as has seldom been witnessed.—Edinburgh Witness.

On Tuesday sennight, twelve hundred and a half of fresh herrings were bought in Douglas for a shilling.—Mans Liberal.

There was shot on the Muirton farm lately, a bare apparently a cross with a rabbit, the body partaking most of the first animal and the head of the latter. The flesh was also of a composite character. It has been hitherto supposed by naturalists that these races do not intermingle. The specimen is stuffed, and may be seen at Mr. Ancelrs.—Pertlishire Courier.

A hare has been caught on shipboard at the Railway Dock in Hall. Puss ap- pears to have started from a field on to the railway on hearing a train, and, after several adventures, ran into the station in advance of an engine, and thence dashed into the ship. Half of one of the hind-legs had been cut off, apparently by the wheel of a vehicle.

A fisherman of Balladoole, in the Isle of Man, having baited a number of hooks with herrings for the deep-sea fishery, left them su.pended in an out-building for the night. The door was open, and a lot of pigs having scented the fish, they entered to eat theta; and presently every porker was fast hooked by the cheek, the tongue, or the snout. A great uproar ensued, which brought the women of the village to the spot; but in the darkness they could not see the lines, and they thought the swine bewitched; so they added to the din by their terrified clamour. When seine fishermen arrived with lights, the poor pigs were liberated, at the ex- pense of sundry gashes to extract the hooks.

One of those singular and interesting perpetual burners a colliery gas-jet has recently been lit at a pit between Harrington and Workington, in order to con- sume a "large blower" in the pit, which ‘vould have otherwise put a stop to the working of it. Ventilation and other efforts had failed to obviate the incon- venience; and the jet was therefore conducted from below, through a train of boxes and pipes, to the surface, where it now blazes on without ceasing; thus effectually curing the dreaded evil.—The Builder.

A strange hurdle-race has taken place at Liverpool. Seward, the American runner and English champion in pedestrianism, was matched against Mr. liar- wood's mare Black Bess. There were two trials, and in each the man was beaten —by a length and half a length respectively. The last hurdle was on a rising ground, and it was here that Seward was beaten in both races.

There is now living in St. Saviour's Workhouse a widow named Foster, who attained her hundred-and-seventh year in January last. She has been thrice married, and has outlived all her family. Her hearing is but slightly impaired, and she regularly atteods St. John's Church in the Waterloo Road.

A man who had attained the great age of a hundred and seven died suddenly in the Roman Catholic Chapel of St. John's, Salford, on Sunday sennight.

A Mrs. Elizabeth Dodd, of St. Stephen's, New Brunswick, died there on the 21st July, in her hundred and eleventh year.

A girl has been discovered on board an American ship in the guise of a sailor. She shipped at Nantucket, as a "green hand"; and until her sex was discovered she did her duty well. She is the daughter of a shoemaker at New York. On her disguise being penetrated she was landed at Paita.

The Bedford Times reports an Amazonian battle. On the borders of Roxtoa and Wilden parishes are some fields the gleaning of which is disputed by the neighbouring parishioners. The other day, the women fought for the prize. The Wilden women were gleaning, when the Bostonians resolved to expel them. A fierce battle ensued: caps and bonnets flow about, hair MIS torn from the head, and there was a terrible clamour. The invaders were successful, on account of superior numbers; the Boston women counting nearly sixty, the Wilden hardly thirty.

A blacksmith was lately summoned to the County Court as a witness in a dis- pute between two of his workmen. The J u dge, after hearing the testimony, asked him why he did not advise them to settle the matter, as the costs had already amounted to three times the disputed earn. He replied, "1 t-o-ld the foo-o-le to s-e-e-ttle; for I said the clerk would tak their co-a-ts, the lawyers their sh-i-rts, and if they got into your honour's clutches you'd ski-i-n 'emr—Nottingham Mercury.

The month of August, which has just closed, may be chronicled as one con- spicuous for the ungenial air which prevailed on the earth, for the diverging cur_ rents of wind above, and for the daily fluctuations of the thermometer. Septem_ ber has opened to us better appearances, which I trust may disinfect the atmoe sphere, afford us a more genial influence, and eradicate the poisons which hay prevailed in the air. The under-current of wind yesterday morning [Saturday] was from the North-east, with a falling barometer, which is very unusual with that wind, clearly indicating that the currents above were in close contact. At half-past ten o'clock p.m. the horizon was covered with a veil of light cloud, which was brilliantly illuminated with occasional flashes of dazzling lightning from the South-west quarter. These coruscations continued circuitously moving around the South, and ultimately subsided in the North-east at midnight. At eleven o'clock there was thunder in the Eastern direction, and some heavy rain fell in this quarter. This morning opened with a clear and genial air, with a light breeze from the South-west, which has continued to this time (three o'clock p.m.) exhibiting the temperature by the registers of 750 in the shade, and 101° in the sun. The indications in the elements are more healthy ; wind and electric currents may be expected, as well as thunder.—Weather Correspondent of the Times. A correspondent of the iforni_v Post says— is a aingularcircquistance in connexion with the yestilljeMe44,1 hat fait pinglefat4 ct has occurred

amongst the Jews4 an itch, or e clode and badly-vent ted 'vicinity of Petticoat Lane, a neighbourhood not over remarkable for its cleanliness.' [An intelligent Jew has confirmed this statement to its; and explained it by reference to the direct and intended sanatory character of many of the Jewish religious ob- servances.)

-week ending on Saturday last—

Results of the Registrar-General's return of mortality in the Metropolis for the Number of Summer lieethe Storage.

Zyrnol le Diseases sosa .... 302 Dropey, Corer. and other tliscases of uncertain or variable scat 53 44 Tubercular Diseases 165 190 Diseases of the Brain, Spinal Marrow, Nerves, and Senses 135 .. . 119 Diseases of the Heart and Blood-vessels . at at Diseases of the Lungs, and of the other Organs of Respiration 72 76

Diseases of the Stomach. Liver, and other Organs of Digestion 5 11

Disesses of the Kidneys, he 9 7 Cliiidbirth, diseases of the Uterus, Er 6 7 Rheumatism, diseases of the Bones, Joints, he 1 2 Diseases of the Skin, Cellular Tissue, he 2 3 MalfinmaCons 25 21 Premature Birth 31 25 Atrophy . 52 43 Age . 13 8 Sudden 27 36 Tioieme, Privation, Cold, and Intemperance Total (including unspecified causes) 2796 1008

The. temperature of the thermometer ranged from 82.8' in the sun to 44.0° in the shade ; the mean temperature by day being warmer than the average mean temperature by 3 7°. The direction of the wind for the week was variable. "The deaths registered in London, in the week ending September 1, were '2,796; of which 1,663 were by cholera, 234 by diarr]:ces. The mortality exceeds that of any previous week. The greatest number ever registered before in any week since 1840, was 2,451 deaths, in the week ending December 4, 1847, when the last epidemic of influenza prevailed. In the cholera epidemic of 1832, parish clerks, in the old bills of mortality, returned 1,021 burials for the week ending August 28; which, allowiog for the defects in their returns, and for increase of -population, are equivalent to 2,450 deaths at the present time. The burials after that week lo 1832 declined.

"The mortality is nearly three times the average of the season, and is sensibly felt all over the Metropolis; but the inhabitants of the North and West districts, and people in the distance, can yet scarcely form a notion of the suffering on the South side of the Thames, and since the middle of August in the East districts. The 12th, 13th, and 14th of August,' says one of the Registrars of Bethnal Green, will long be 'remembered in this neighbourhood ; the outbreak of this fatal disease being without any adequate preparation: surgeons were wanted in many places at once: the hurried passing and repassing of messengers and the Availing of relatives, filled the streets with confusion and wo, and impressed on all a deep sense of an awful calamity.'

"Cholera has already destroyed, in this epidemic, 9,129 lives in London. " After the perils of this terrible week we seem to see land; but as many thou- sands of lives may be lost in an epidemic by negligence, so many thousands may be saved by skill, vigilance, and energy—by more ample supplies of water—by the rapid removal of nuisances front the houses and streets—by the prompt administration of medical appliances and other comforts—by the active coopera- tion of the medical profession, of the Boards of Guardians, of employers, of every householder, of every individual, with the Board of Health and Health-olficers."

By the daily returns made to the Board of Health, the movement of cholera and diarrhoea for the current week appears to have been as follows. In London, on Sunday and Monday, the deaths were 324 by cholera, 44 by diarrhcea; on Tuesday, 262 and 26; on Wednesday, 232 and 38; on Thursday, 307 and 28; on Friday, 273 and 46. In the Country, on Sunday and Monday, the deaths were, by cholera 417, by diarrhoea 96; on Tuesday, 265 and 53; on Wednesday, 232 and 38; on Thursday, 358 and 84; and on Friday, 485 and 81. The highest mortality in Scotland was on Monday, when there were 33 deaths by cholera: the deaths reported yesterday were 22. No death by diarrhoea is reported from Scot- land this week.

The accounts of the Bank of England for the week ending the 1st September exhibit, when compared with those of the preceding week, the following results- BANKINO DEPARTMENT. Increase. Decrease.

Rest. X284,809 reline Deposits 219,558 Other Deposits £266,716 Seven-day and other Stills 10,303 Government Securities, including Dead-weight 25,679 Other Securities 204,008 Notes unissued 140,840 Actual Circulation 1,920 156175 DEPARTMENT.. Notes issued 128,920 — Bullion 16,347

This week. Last week.

Total Bullion in both Departmentil 14,770,200 14359,853 Actual Circulation 18,448,850 18,450,770