The Aberystwith Observer

FOREIGN "INTELLIGENCE. .oJ. ,1 1 t'T Jj" .k,¡ L .ls tf 1!i J!J THe proprietor of this paper does 1101 necessarily ideality himself with the opinions here expressed.] SHALL WE have a WAR NEXT APIUL ? This pertinent and important question is asked by the special Tuscan correspondent of the Times, who tarnishes the following answer to the query Shall we have a war next April? The answer is, Not if Napoleon can bend either side to his wishes." Will the Pope yield ? Will he give up the Legations? Will he accept a feudal tribute instead, an ambling palfrey like that one paid once by the King of Naples, and sure, like the chinea of that recusant vassal, to turn out a mere chimera? No; r the Pope-Heaven bless him !-will sooner sink into the catacombs. Will Austria yield? She Will stand up for Venetia, with Germany to back her; but she will do no more than bluster for the rest. Will, then, the other party, will Piedmont and Italy, yield ? Happen what may, the Italians of 1860 are not the men of 1849, and they will not they cannot—go to war with France, however outrageous 1 ltlay be that Power's behaviour towards them. Neither Will France draw her sword against them in open war, nOr will she even easily be led to allow her Austrian ca.t's-paw to take the chestnut out of this Italian fire. The game of France is to bide her time, to wear out friends and foes, to watch opportunities, to avail her- self of pretexts to seize on whatever chance may offer. Hi;" 50,000 men can in a few days march from Milan tu'Bologna and Florence. The Italians, the Papal troops, the Neapolitans, the Austrians may equally Provoke such a step. The march of the French would pe unopposed, their occupation unchallenged, their ^fluence unresisted. The Italians are arming, and they know not against ^bat enemy. All they know is that it is hardly one I Ile,iriy they will have to contend with, for France will M' them against Austria or help Austria against them. b She must meddle with them any how. Openly, how- j ever, all their warlike preparations are against their aacient aggressor. Greneral JMenahrea has laid the Plan of the Bologna fortifications;, lie will, in 50 days, rear up six detached forts, lined with 140 heavy cannon, encompassing the city and a vast intrenched camp near its walls. 4.000 workmen are already busy with this » great undertaking; Farini does not stint his millions of francs. Behind these bulwarks even National Guards will perform prodigies; and the ^Emilia musters, °r will soon muster, 35,000 regular combatants—Tuscany at least 15,000; Piedmont is putting her battalions on the war footing; she will take the field with 20,000 horse and 70,000 foot. Before seven weeks Austria Cannot come forward and before that time Italy will have buckled on her armour. Let it be understood that there is only one Austria in the field; that the contest is really between her and Italy, and even Rome and Naples, with all their Swiss and Bavarian hire- V; lings, will rather be a help than a hindrance to the v national cause.

RUSSIA INSISTS ON A CONGRESS. Russia has sent a reply to the Cabinets of London ftiid Paris respecting the four proposals of England for the settlement of the Italian question. Russia does not absolutely and directly reject those proposals, but discusses them with calmness and moderation. The Russian Government repudiates the principle upon "which the proposals are founded. The Russian dis- Patch concludes by declaring that Russia and Prussia entertain precisely the same views as they have done all along as to the means best suited under the pending il iTic-Lilties to procure the durable peace of Europe. I Russia maintains that a Congress of the representatives jjj of the great Powers assembled without any prelimi- ,4jfHary basis of negotiation is best suited to procure a solution of the question. We also learn from Turin that the Russian Ambassador has, in the name of his Government, represented to Count Cavour the heavy 'I responsibility which would fall on Sardinia if, at the Very moment when the European Powers are endea- vouring to make the state of affairs less threatening, she were to take steps for the annexation of Central Italy to Piedmont. It is said that in consequence of these representations, and following the advice of France, all projects in reference to Central Italy are to be suspended for the present.

THE ATTITUDE OF AUSTRIA. Austria, also, has returned a definitive answer to the English proposals. The reply of Austria explains the Reasons why the Court of Vienna could not accept the English proposals as bases for an arrangement to which the concurrence of Austria would be given by her sig- 4ature. Count Rechberg explains that the proposals do llat only essentially alter the basis of the European ftuilibrium which was founded by the treaties of 1815, but it is in open opposition to the fundamental principle Ipon which the legitimacy of Governments in general, ^d especially the Austrian monarchy, are founded. In %e third instance the said proposals destroy the rights Ðf the Italian Princes, which were placed under the Grantee 0: Europe, and which the Emperor Joseph Vs the sacred duty to protect in his quality of chief of the House of Hapsburg. If, induced by all these Motives, Austria declines the proposed negotiations, she declares, nevertheless, that for the present she will not endeavour to undo by force of arms that which she 1 Cannot prevent, although reserving to herself full and ] entire liberty of action for the future. AN ALLIANCE BETWEEN AUSTRIA AND RUSSIA The Morning Chronicle says that intelligence just received from a sure source at Vienna, is to the follow- lng effect: -No doubt whatever now remains of the fact that Russia has decided on renewing her old alliance with Austria, under the provisions of a treaty i Prepared by M. de Balibine and Count Bechberg. N This treaty is on the eve of being signed, and will be Carried to St. Petersburgh by Prmce Alexander rf Hesse. The news of the Prince having quitted v, Vienna for the Russian capital may whenever it J Arrives, be taken as a signal that the document has [ deceived the necessary signatures. We have excel- W reasons for believing that its provisions will be I found as follows 1. The most ample concessions as to all that regards the Holy Places at Jerusalem will be made by Austria to Russia. 2. With a view to Eventualities that have every probability of being rea- ped, Austria agrees to conform her policy to that of Russia as to the Danubian provinces and Servia. 3. Iti compensation for these concessions in the East and "ft the Danube, Russia will guarantee to Austria the Miole of her territory, including Hungary and Venetia feainst insurrection and foreign foes. [In reference to Sis statement, a London contemporary says that "it "S a canard of the very worst description."]'

WHAT A MAD DOG CAN Do.-Some time ago statement went the round of the papers that ten Arsons had been bitten by a mad dog in France, and French paper now announces the death of the fourth Hetim, a little girl who had appeared quite well three It four days before, when the dreadful malady appeared Vl carried her off in a few hours. The six other per- mits bitten seem to be out of all danger. The same kper then proceeds to say i" Thirty years ago three persons of that village were bitten a mad dog. Two of them applied to a man who was said 1° possess an infallible cure for hydrophobia, handed down ?°tti father to son for several generations. They both got >11, while the third, who had applied to a regular prac- C'ioner, died a few days after. This fact was universally „ °wn in the country round, and when this last sad affair j furred, six of the persons bitten applied to the son of the II i^pirie, who now possesses his father's secret, the other four flpv^lng treated by professional men. The result is, that the Mi Six survivors are those who had recourse to the secret remedy, T Jdiile the four who have died were treated by the faculty. We cannot explain these facts, but we can guarantee their 1 Authenticity." f ELECTORS BOUND IN PASTEBOARD.-The burgo- blaster of a little town in the Duchy of Waldeck, in Germany, has sent in the following report to the mi. lister concerning the list of electors which he had been lustucted to draw up :— The electoral list of the borough has been completed by ke, in accordance with section 24 of the parish law. All the Rectors have been entered in the order of the ABC, and We been bound in pasteboard. THE CHINESE OF EUROPE."—Even in her present misfortune Austria has well-wishers, not for her own sake, but for their own (remarks the Times). Though no human being cares for the permanence of 0, Government which violates every maxim of political jt social science, which makes itself equally hated by the soft and cultivated Italian and by the more primi- tive Hungarian,_ yet there is among thinking men in -England a disinclination to see the chief Power of ^entral Europe entirely dissolved and its provinces I i turned into petty htates at the mercy of more power- 4 ^1 neighbours. This teehng, although to a certain Extent a se^s^ one on e Part of her neighbours, ) Austria would do well to encourage. She has not too lQany friends, and, although she may affect to have her L" Spirit unbroken by her recent trials, she may soon I ^arn the danger of being totally iSoiated in Europe. ii ? large portion of her population may be actually ^ebarred from reading linglisdi comments on Austrian ^ffairs, but still the fact that the Viennese Government 5*ake good their title to the name of "the Chinese of ■; u.r°Pe," and seek at this crisis to shut out all foreign Wluences from their country, will weigh against them S en their long account is to be settled. It seems I ,hat the world is destined to be disappointed in all its 9Pes of Austria, and that we have in her a Power "hich experience cannot teach or calamity tame. THE REMARKABLY HANDSOME GIRL OF PARIS. ~j-A Paris paper announces the following episode, thus f 0ne Trlorc incident to the list of strange affairs 9.t are always occurring in France :■— of a lilwb- lv,8iding at Bourg-la-Reine, near Paris, is father law i 7 handsome girl, whose name is 01ymPe > 7' *ibanriima$eiy> tlle damsel at an early age went astray, and Wacart family- He sought her out, and had her spent of the Dames Saint Michel, where she homp k, Hoping that she was reformed, he took her to discftvit fivLi11 j a8° she again left, and all his efforts ver what had become of her were unavailing. The other day, happening to be in Pans, he fell in with the pro- cession of the Bceuf Gras. His first movement was to turn aside to avoid it, but, after a little hesitation, he remaiued to see it pass In the car he perceived with surprise that tae damsel who was personating Venus strongly resemb ed his runaway daughter; but lie could not get near enough to be sure that it was she. He therefore accompanied the cortege, and penetrated with it into the courtyard of Baron de Roths- child where it stopped- There he saw clearly that the Venus was no other than his Olympe. He went at once to the com- missary of police of the district, and asked him, in virtue of his (the applicant's) paternal authority and also of a warrant of the President of the Civil Tribunal, which he had obtained some time before, to arrest the girl; but the commissary observed that to do so would create trouble and scandal, and: that it would be better to wait at the slaughter-house of Popincourt for the return of the procession, when Venus, becoming a simple mortal, could be taken into custody quietly. The father consented, and when the procession arrived, he pounced on the girl. She was naturally much annoyed, but what appeared to make more impression on her than her father's anger was that she could not go to a masked ball in her line dress. Oh, father she cnea, Only let me go to the ball as Venus, and to-morrow i will return home But the obdurate parent had her carned oft to a house of correction, and there she will have to lemam three months. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?-Some extraordinary statements are going the rounds, relative to Garibaldi and his wife. The Gazette de Lausanne gives the follow- ing, taken from a Lucerne journal: The young wife of Garibaldi has arrived at Lucerne, in company with an adjutant of her husoand. 1 lie officer, being challenged to a duel by the general, replied to it by flight. The London correspondent of the Manchester Guar- dian, referring to Garibaldi's marriage, states that on the morning of the wedding the general received in- formation as to the antecedents of his bride, which led to a long and stormy interview with her father, and to his subsequent departure. He has not since rejoined his wife, and an Austrian report says that the General has applied to the Pope for a dispensation from his mar- riage vows. THE BEST DRESSED MAN IN AMERICA — A Washington correspondent thus describes the ap- pearance in Congress of Mr. Sickles, who, it will be remembered, shot his wife's paramour in the street, and has since condoned his wife's infidelity by living with her:— There is a general stir among the fairer portion of the audience as Mr. Sickles saunters quietly in, a slender figure, attired with such Parisian faultlessness of taste that he has acquired the name of the best dressed man in the House. Dark brown hair, brushed smoothly away from his white broad forehead full beard and moustache, and a handsome face, all but the eyes—oh such singular looking eyes As long as his back is turned, he seems an Adonis; but the eyes spoil all. His usual style of dress—one that makes him the envy of every dandy on Pennsylvania Avenue for its dis- tingue perfection—is a black dress coat, with velvet collar, and light gray trousers, tapering down to the small shiny boots. His hands are encased in perfectly fitting kid gloves, of some dark colour, which he constantly wears, even in his seat. This habit has given rise to a superstitious rumour, that they are worn to conceal the deep blood-stains which he fancies are still crimsoning his hands. He lounges in a sort of nonchalant way upon his seat, seldom accosted by his fellow-members, and apparently quite unaware that he is the centre for hundreds of curious eyes. He is boarding with a private family on the 13th street, and Teresa' is with him." THE EGG TRADE.—The following statistics re- lating to the egg trade (says a French paper) are drawn from official sources In 1815 the number of eggs exported from France was 1,700,000 in 1816 it rose to 8,800,000. Six years later-in 1822-the number was 55,000,000, and 99,500,000 in 1824. In 1830 the numbers declined to 55,000,000, then gradually in- creased until 1845, when it was 88,200,000, for which an export duty of 114,000f. was paid. Nearly all these eggs go to England. The yearly consumption of eggs in Paris is estimated at 165 millions, and the total consumption for all France at 9,300 millions, so that, reckoning eggs at a sou, this single article represents 465 millions of francs. SCHAMYL AND HIS FAMILY.—The "KaJouga Gazette'' announces the arrival in that town of Schamyl's family, consisting of fifteen persons, including his two wives, two sons, and five daughters with their husbands and children. Schamyl was reading when the approach of the party was announced, and he appeared at first greatly moved by the intelligence, but soon re- covered his composure, and knelt down to offer up thanks to Heaven. He then sat down to table, and had just begun dinner when his youngest son, who had ridden on first, entered the room. The reception was very ceremonious, through both were evidently much affected. After kissing his father's hand, the young man retired to some distance, and, standing in a re- spectful attitude, answered Schamyl's inquiries. The rest of the family were received in the same manner, the men first and then the women. When all were in the room, Schamyl directed them to join him in return- ing thanks to God for their prosperous journey. THE FALL OF TETUAN.—Letters from Morocco to the 17th of February bring some interesting items of news respecting the fall of Tetuan. After the cap- ture, the keys of the city were delivered up to the Spanish commander on a silver tray. The division of General Rios then took possession of the city and castle, and the Moorish army retired into the interior. The Jewish population remained quietly in the city, and the Moorish inhabitants remaining, received Spanish pro- tection. The Moorish loss in the action of the 4th was estimated at 1,000. The defeat of the Moors was the signal of an onslaught by the Arabs, who broke into the houses and shamefully treated women and children, and great excesses were committed. Mulay Abbas en- deavoured to arrest the pillage, but order and discipline were destroyed, and every effort to arrest the evil was futile, although sixteen of the pillagers were ° death on the spot. MuleV Abbas with Ins defeated force was halfway between Tetuan and Tangiers. The obstruction to business m the coast towns of Morocco entailed great suffering on the Jewish population. A steamer freighted with bayonets for the Moors has been seized and taken to Algesiras. In the last battle fought the Spanish took 800 tents, several cannon and effects. The Moors are described as poor savages, with bad arms, no artillery, and inefficient generals. A YOUNG MOCK DOCTRESS.-Accounts have been given at different times of a young woman named Bressac, of Lyons, having been condemned to fines by the Tribunal of Correctional Police for illegally prac- tising medicine. She has again been brought to trial for the same offence. It was proved that as on previous occasions she had pretended to be a somnambulist, and that when in a sort of trance had prescribed for sick persons who had the simplicity to consult her; but that her remedies were such as to do neither harm nor good, and were almost always the same, whatever the malady. For each prescription she charged 5f. orlOf., or a larger sum and it was stated that, notwithstanding the condemnations pronounced on her, she always had a great number of patients. Her defence, which excited some laughter, was, that she had acted as a somnambulist in obedience to a higher power, and had prescribed remedies from pure love of her fellow-creatures. She was condemned to 15f. fine, and two days' imprisonment. The case presented a singular pecularity: some physicians of the city de- manded that the defendant should be condemned to pay them 1,000f. as damages, on the ground that, by her false pretence of being able to cure maladies, she had done them injury. The claim was warmly opposed by counsel for the defendant, but the Tribunal ordered her to pay the medical men in question 500f.v

NOTHING FINISHED! A writer in a popular periodical makes the following excellent observations on habits of procrastination, which may well be remembered as a hint to those who begin everything, but finish nothing :— I once had the curiosity to look into a little girl's work- box. And what do you suppose I found ? Well, in the first place, I found a I bead purse,' about half done there was, however, no prospect of it ever being finished, for the needles were all out, and the silk upon the spools all tangled and drawn into a complete wisp. Laying this aside, I took up a nice piece of perforated paper, upon which was wrought one lid of a Bible, and b eneath it the words I I love,' but what she loved was leftme to conjecture. Beneath the Bible lid I found a sock, evidently commenced for some baby-foot; but it had come to a stand just above the little heel, and there it seemed doomed to remain. Near to the sock was a needle-book, one cover of which was neatly made, and upon the other, partly finished, was marked, I to my dear.' I need not, however, tell you all I found there but this much I can say, that during my travels through that workbox, I found not a single article complete; and, mute as they were, those half-finished forsaken things told me a sad tale about that little girl. They told me that with a heart full of gener- ous affection, with a head full of useful and pretty projects, all of which she had both the means and skill to carry into effect, she was still a useless child-always doing, but never accomplishing her work. It was not a want of industry, but a want of perseverance. Remember, my dear little friends, that it matters but little what great thing we under- take. Our glory is not in that, but in what we accomplish. Nobody in the world cares for what we mean to do but everybody will open their eyes by-and-by to see what men and women and little children have done."

STATISTICS OF RAILWAY ACCIDENTS. The Board of Trade have just issued a return of the number of the number of railway accidents and of persons killed or injured thereby during the half year ended the 31st of De- cember, 1859, of which the following is an abstract The returns, which comprise all accidents in the United Kingdom, state that the total number of acci- dents was 36, the total number of killed 9, and of in- jured 236. Out of these 36 accidents three were from collisions between passenger trains 13 from collisions between passenger trains and other trains or engines; two from passenger trains running off their proper line through points being wrong; seven from passenger trains getting off the rails; one from the bursting of the boiler of an engine of a passenger train two from the break- ing of the axles or wheels of passenger trains one from the axles or wheels or machinery of engines breaking or getting out of order; two from trains running into stations at too great speed; three from collisions be- tween goods trains and two from the bursting of the boilers of engines of goods trains. Out of the nine per- sons killed by these accidents, five were servants of the company. The total number, however, who have met their deaths on railroads during the last half-year, including the on railroads during the last half-year, including the above 9„,isllZ, which numbers are thus distributed :— 16 passengers by their own want of caution, 52 servants of companies or of contractors from their own miscon- duct or want of caution, 13 killed while crossing at level crossings, and 24 trespassers, of whom three were cases of suicide. It must be borne in mind that these accidents are spread over an area, of 10,001 miles of railway-viz., 7,309 miles in England and Wales, 1,265 miles in Scot- land, and 1,427 miles in Ireland. The number of persons killed for the corresponding period of 1858 over 9,534 miles of rail was 133, showing a decrease in the half-year just passed of 16 over an in- creased space of 467 miles.

As a companion to the above, and a proof of the results attained by superior management, we give the following summary of RAILWAY CASUALTIES ON THE CONTINENT. Calculations, based upon the most authentic returns have established that, since.the introduction of railways into France, there has been one traveller only killed outright in every two million of passengers, and there has been only one traveller wounded in every five hun- dred thousand passengers. When the diligences were in use, there was on an average of ten years one killed of every 356,000 travellers by these vehicles, and one wounded in every 30,000. In Belgium, one Only has been killed in nine millions of travellers, and one wounded in two millions. In Prussia and the Duchy of Baden there has been but one killed in every seven- teen and a half million of travellers, and only one wounded in 1,200,000.

DISRAELI LAYS HIMSELF OPEN. A writer in the Illustrated Times thus describes Mr. Disraeli as an orator:— Mr. Disraeli commenced, to use one of his own pet phrases, with that gravity which is due to great occa- sions." But, how is this? Scarcely has the great leader of the Opposition spoken a quarter of an hour, and yet you see members sliding out, and the division lobby is filling with loungers. Well, if the truth must be told, Mr. Disraeli does not hold the House as he used to do. Even his own friends, or party we should say—for has Disraeli any friends ?—get weary of him. He ranges so widely, they say, and labours so heavily, more like a Dutch lugger working against wind and tide than the dashing, raking schooner-yacht, with every sail set, scudding before the gale, which he used to re- semble. On Monday night he was specially heavy, and at times even wearisome. He elaborated his periods, occasionally halted for a word, was embarrassed in his action, now and then putting his hand up to his head-- a sure sign that he was not at ease-and altogether failed to hold the ear of the House. Of course the House was decorously quiet, for Mr. Disraeli is still the leader of a great party; but it clearly was-not very eager nor very attentive. As for oilrselves,, we have long made up our minds about Mr. Disraeli. For a slashing onset, when an opportunity arises for such a charge- say when some party manoeuvre is to be exposed, some grand coup to be achieved, in short, a mere party battle -our great Caucasian is admirably fitted for his work; but a debater, in the real meaning of the word, he is not, and never was. He lacks logical power, cannot calmly reason for the life of him, and whenever he attempts to do so always miserably fails. And then, again, he always gives you the notion that he is not honest—that he himself is not confident of the correct- ness of his position, or rather that he is conscious of its incorrectness, and is labouring hard with glossing sophistry to make that which he does not himself believe in to look like truth—in short, "to prove the worse the better reason." Well, what are you at in the House ?" said a noble lord to a Conservative country gentleman of the clear hard-headed school, of which sort of men we have a considerable number in the House--men who, though they cannot talk, ca.n see dearly, nevertheless. "Well," was the reply, "Dizzy is just laying himself open for Gladstone to double him up."

OUR RAILWAY PASSPORT SYSTEM. Some of our readers, like ourselves, must be old enough to remember how, in the early days of the railway system, they were compelled to shift for them- selves "and their luggage, from time to time, as best they might; to buy new tickets, to wait while they were filled up, to hang on, in cold and discomfort, almost every joint of the journey, and to have to (io with divers companies which had nothing to do witji eacli other but to had fault and be jealous, if con- trast this unorganised condition of affairswith what the Railway Clearing House is, and what it does, the system, or rather entire want of system, which pre- vailed some twenty years ago, with that by which we can take our ticket fron any place to any other, and get into a carriage" on almost any of our great lines, to be conveyed, without further care, to the opposite end of the kingdom, we shall have a tolerably clear con- ception of what we owe to the man in whose fertile brain originated the thought, complete in its whole scope and all its details, which we now see embodied in the mighty institution we have named, and in the grand organisation by which the railways of the United Kingdom Act, in regard to the convenience of in- dividuals, as though they were one. This man was Thomas Edmondson, a member of the Society of Friends, who had not been vpy successful in life, and who, at the time of his, invention, was main- taining himself as a railway clerk at a small sta- tion on the Newcastle and Carlisle line. In the course of his duties in this situation, he found it irksome to have to fill up, with minute details, every railway ticket that he delivered. He saw the clumsiness of tearing the bit of paper off the printed sheet, as it was wanted, and supplementing its meagre information with pen and ink. He perceived how much time, trouble, and error might be saved by the process being done in a mechanical way; and, as he himself was wont to tell the story, it was when he set his foot down on a particular spot in a field in which he was walking, that the idea struck him, how all that he wished might be done by a machine how tickets might be printed with the names of stations, the class of carriage, and the day of the month, from end to end of the kingdom, on one uniform system. THE GRAND CENTRALISATION SCHEME. It was thought a fine thing, and justly, when one railway was complete for a short distance and when it was arranged that two or three should meet at cer- tain points, the affair was pronounced triumphant. But there was something grander to come—this very plan of Thomas Edmondson's—by which a dozen companies should unite to carry a passenger and his bag as far as he wanted to go, and save him the trouble of dividing the fare among them by doing it themselves. In the central spot, at the Euston Square Station, where the Clearing House stands, the railway companies have their mutual charges computed, and the balance struck and cleared, day by day, from the twelfth part of a school-boy and his box, to the charges on horses, car- riages, and corpses," which the orders declare, "are not to be included in the parcels," transmitted during the day. What the business is that is accomplished by that courageous band, the two hundred clerks of the Clearing House, we may detail hereafter it is enough at present to say, that they examine and record the business of at least a thousand stations, with all their complications. Now, if we consider what these com- plications are; that, for instance, for passengers alone, without regarding the transmission of goods, the changes on a single line of thirty stations may amount to 6960! we may well think twice before looking more closely into the bewildering business of the Clearing House. The letters received and sent off amount to many thou- sands per day, and there is a staff of lads whose busi- ness it is to open and sort them. RAILWAY "PASSPORTS." Some of us who have travelled on very short, or very insignificant, out-of-the-way lines, may have seen, up to yesterday, paper tickets-yellow, blue, or pink- printed in ordinary printing-presses, but there are cer- tainly very few such now extant. The little cards, blue for the most part, which gentlemen stick in their hats, and ladies carry in their gloves, are Mr. Ed- mondson's tickets; and they are well-nigh universal in the United Kingdom, and familiar in France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, the West Indies, and Peru. It is' rather astounding to the imagination to see the boxes of cards that arrive at the patentee's office to be printed. Before glancing at the process by which the tickets are printed, we have to dispose of our surprise at seeing how cir- cumscribed and quiet is the agency by which so vast a work is accomplished. We would not, for all the benefits of travel, exchange our passport system for that of any country on the continent. Here, there is no-staring in one's face, as if one was a criminal, to note the colour of hair and eyes, and the shape of one's visage; here is no dismal anticipation of future annoy- ance, of bearded inspectors, or dirty fisted 'hirelings, who will turn over one's clothes in one's trunks, and inspect a washing-bill as if it contained treason and in- surrection. We have instead a moderate-sized apart- ment, filled up with little besides the apparatus, and tenanted by two or three young men, who quietly work out the invention of the founder. It is in this I one room, and by that bright handsome apparatus, that millions of railway passports are prepared. There are, we believe, two of these establishments, one at Manchester, and one at Dublin and one pair of hands finds it easy to print two hundred, and possible to print three hundred per minute. THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED. The most noticeable thing about the machine is an upright mahogany shaft about two feet high, large enough in the interior to contain a pile of blank tickets laid flat upon each other. Within the machine itself is a little form of type containing the names of the places and the class of carriage to be printed. The practice of printing the fare is now nearly disused, owing to the great loss and inconvenience caused by the necessity of occasionally altering its amount. A saturated ribbon, travelling over a wheel, and brought in contact with the form, inks the type, which is pressed down upon the blank tickets, as they are incessantly withdrawn by a feeder, one by one from the bottom of the pile, and passed under the form, each presenting itself, face uppermost, to the printer who works the lever, so that he can see that each is right and complete before it falls into its place in the receptacle below. An ingenious apparatus is used to number the tickets, each of which bears a figure or figures ranging from 0 to 10,000. Two brass-banded wheels, so close to each other as to look like one, and each bearing raised numbers, revolve at different rates with the working of the rest of the ma- chinery, the distance of one figure at a time for the hundreds, so that the tickets present a numbered end to the eye of the printer as he works his lever. Another machine, known as the checking-machine, also the in- vention of Mr. Edmondson, finally tests the tickets, lest any mistake should have happened through a moment's lapse of attention on the part of the printer. They are piled in a shaft, and dropped, one by one, by the turning of a handle, which sets in motion a num- bered index, so that the number turned up and the ticket dropped should correspond. The process is so easy, that six hundred tickets per minute can thus be effect- ually tested. THE DATING MACHINE. It would occupy more space than we have already filled to describe the various minor inventions of Mr. Edmondson which find receptacles in this little room. But there is one little machine, more important than any other save the printing-machine, which we must more specially name; we allude to the dating-press, the machine which stands on the booking-office, into which the clerk pushes one end of the ticket he is sell- ing, and from which it comes out dated, with whose bottle-jack sort of click we are all familiar, and which does its work without any further trouble to the clerk than his changing the type, the last thing at night, for the next day, and seeing now and then that the ribbon is duly saturated with the mixture which is to ink the type. THE BOOKING CLERK'S DUTIES. In the general directions issued in the form of a pamphlet to all clerks in charge on railways, the very first order is, that they are to be incessantly careful to keep a sufficient provision of tickets from their own station to every other to which passengers are booked; and next, that the tubes which contain the supply are to be duly replenished, the lowest numbered ticket being at the bottom. There are returns, also, in a puzzling number to be filled up daily, several of which are connected, more or less, with the records involved in the delivery of these wonderful tickets. The trouble occasioned by any passenger omitting to supply him- self with a ticket, or to deliver it up on leaving the platform at any intermediate station, thus becomes extremely vexatious, as is also that incumbent on every issue-clerk, of tying up in one mass the tickets of every arrival train, after the passengers are off and away into a hundred homes, or inns, or new trains for these tickets, transmitted to the check-clerk's office by the first through-train the following morning, are the currency by which the bargain of travel is carried on, and without which the business would be as clumsy as a state of barter in comparison with one of established monetary arrangements. REAPING THE FRUITS OF INDUSTRY. Such is our English passport system-a truly prodi- gious machinery of convenience arising out of one turn of a sagacious man's thought. With what industry and patience it was worked out, with what modesty its honours were enjoyed, and with what honour and generosity its fruits were dispensed, those who have been honoured with the acquaintance -of Thomas Ed- mondson need not be told. He died on the 22nd of June, 1852, a wealthy and distinguished man, after having applied the first-fruits arising from his invalu- able invention to the liquidation of the debts he had in- curred in early life. His best friends need claim for him no more honourable remembrance.—Chambers's Journal.

EPITOME OF NEWS, BRITISH AND FOREIGN. Besides the ordinary grants for the army and navy this year, an expense of 850,00Ci. will be incurred for the Chinese expedition. By an overwhelming majority of votes the people of Birmingham have adopted a resolution to found a Free Library in that town, to be supported by a local rate. Coventry is proposing to erect a statue to Lady Godiva, of nude renown. At the Queen's levee on Thursday, the honour of knighthood was conferred on Captain M'Clintock, late commander of the Fox, in the Arctic expedition. A family in Vermont, (U.S.) lost four children in one day (Sunday) from scarlet fever, and as the parents returned from the funeral, on Tuesday, they found that the remaining child had died with the same disease. He felt strongly on the subject of the wine dutit s, and so far from thinking it immaterial, he thought that it was a most beneficent plan for improving the taste an id morals of the poor of this country,-lIfr. Osborne in Par- liament. I heard, with some alarm, the statement of the hon. member for Birmingham, that if the treaty should be altered or refused, it would create an estrangement with France. I trust that we are still to be allowed to have liberty of discussion.—Mr. T. Baring in Parliament. The Court of Queen's Bench has decided that milk is, not agricultural produce in a sense to exempt the vehicle carrying it from toll. The Court argued that it might as well be said that meat in a cart was agricultural produce. The Decimal Association are collecting some curious statistical facts respecting the time now spent in teaching arithmetic in schools, with a view to ascertain the probable saving of time that wonld accrue from the introduction of the decimal system. Ernest Jones, says the Critic, mistook his vocation when he gave himself up to politics. He has also been unsuccessful as a printer. He is a poet; and if he had cultivated poetry with half the industry he has devoted to The Charter," he would have held a very high place among the poets of onr time. The Bey of Tunis has given the necessary permission for the establishment of a newspaper.in Tunis. It will appear on the 1st of May, under the title of the Official Gazette of Tunis. The other day a child only one day old was taken to the hospital at Lincoln to have an arm set that was acci- dentally broken at the birth. The Society of Arts have approved of a guarantee deed for raising 550,000Z. on behalf of the International Exhibition of 1862. All the journals of Vienna were lately prohibited by the authorities from mentioning that the Boeufs Gras at Paris had been named Solferino and Palestro. The costs for the defence in the case of Dr. Smethurst. after being taxed, amounted to upwards of 790L The Prussian Commercial Conference, at Berlin, adopted, without discussion, propositions recommending the abolition of the transit duties and usury laws, and another in favour of applying the decimal system in all its completeness. Guido Reni's Madonna," says the Union, has been restored to the church from which it was stolen in 1855. The Pope has promised 12,000 crowns for its recovery. Thepaint- ing was found in London, where it was offered for sale to Messrs. jVierighi and Bassi by a stranger. It was sent back to Bologna, but not until after the Pope had lost that city. The Boston publishers of the "Life of Captain John Brown," the leader of the insurrection at Harper's Ferry, sent to Mrs. Brown, January 27th, a cheque for 1,000 dollars, as her share of the profits of that book thus far. The trustees of the infant son of the Duke of Norfolk, Mr. Hope Scott and others, do not intend any longer to con- test the title of the Earl of Shrewsbury and Talbot to the Alton Towers estates, and his lordship will therefore be put in possession of them in the course of a few days. A young German, in Ohio, endeavoured to supplant his rival on the wedding-day, by leading the young lady to believe that her husband desired the ceremony to be per- formed at a distant town. On reaching the place she was drugged, and the ceremony was proceeded with. Next morn- ing she found that she had not been married to the man of her choice, and immediately commenced a suit for a divorce. M. Babinet, the successor of Arago, says, in the Journal desDebats, that there will be the highest tide on the 8th of March next that there has been kin Europe for a century. At Her Majesty's levee last Thursday, in London, General Beatson attracted universal attention, from the splendour of his uniform, which was of the Indian Irregular Cavalry-beyond description the most martial and mag- nificent dress that ever makes its appearance at our Court. The King of Naples has sent word to all his officers on leave, that on or before the 1st of March instant they must have rejoined their regiments. A correspondent of the Patrie gives it to be under- stood that France means to take possession of Mont Blanc. It says :—" The highest mountain of the Savoy Alps is Mont Blanc, which Switzerland had the audacity to place in her geography; but once Savoy annexed, and France will no longer tolerate this impudent larceny." The Times has been suppressed throughout the Austrian Empire. An aged couple, living at Easton, near Huntingdon, applied to the guardians for out-door relief, but were re- fused, and told to go to the union. This so preyed upon their minds that they sold their furniture, paid their debts, and were afterwards found drowned in a pond, clad only in their night dresses. The Court Journal says that the Prince of Wales is to set out for his long-promised Canadian tour at the latter end of May or beginning of Jane next. According to a recent publication, the land covered by forests in Algeria is Dot less than 4,700 square miles, with- out including a great extent of country overrun with brash- wood, which the Arabs set on fire occasionally, not only to drive away wild beasts, but also for the good browsing it affords their cattle when the young shoots make their ap- pearance the following spring. One of the passengers in the late fearful accident on the Eastern Counties Railway, writes with much kind feeling "to inform the regular travellers, and more especially those who were spared from injury in the train which met with an awful accident last Monday at Tottenham, that it is pro- posed to raise among them a small fund, by way of a thank- offering, which shall be applied to the relief of the engine- driver's family (if not otherwise provided for;, or to some charitable purpose to be hereafter determined upon by a committee of the subscribers." The whole of the Spanish press, particularly the Progresista section, are violently attacking England." The censor has prohibited the circulation of the Novedades on that account. The French Ambassador the other day presented to the Queen an autograph letter of the Emperor Napoleon. "In truth, these choice wines are but a very small percentage of the whole consumption in this country. It is only one in many millions who can afford to melt a pearl in a cup of vinegar, and only one in many thousands who can afford to put on his table Cabinet Johannisberg or George IV.'s sherry. "-The:Iim,es on the Wine Duties. The Court Journal says that the rifle corps ball is to be a great event. We have heard on what we consider to be very reliable authority, that her Majesty and the Prince Consort may possibly do the company and the rifle corps gentlemen the honour of being witnesses, for a short time, of their festivity." At Armagh, they have been burying Mr. W. Murray, the oldest inhabitant." His remains were interred by the side of his wife, who has been dead some forty years. Mr. Murray was fully 113 or 114 years of age, and some of his friends say more. He once told a gentleman in Armagh that he remembered the year in which the style was changed, which would leave his age at least 113 years. A German journal states that Prussia has determined to elevate Meyerbeer, the great composer, to the dignity cf a Prussian genileman." An extraordinary event in the history of the German Jews has just taken place. In the free city of Hamburg, where a Jew ten years ago was not even eligible for a night constable, a Jew, by the free suffrages of the citizens, has lately been chosen a chief magistrate, next in station to the highest dignitary in that republic. At Blackburn a clergyman has been engaged, by special desire, to preach a revival sermon to the riflemen.

THE MARKETS. THE PROVINCIAL CORN TRADE. The country markets last week were generally well at- tended, and late rates were maintained in most instances. Beans and peas were not brought forward in any large quan- tities, and the demand fOl those articles is not very active. Barley remained stationary at former prices. Beans are slightly improved in value, but peas are tolerably firm. MARK LANE, MONDAY. The weather since Friday has been unsettled, with in- tervals of rain. The supplies of grain fresh up were moderate, and trade steady at firm prices. English wheat brought full prices. Foreign was firmly held. Flour was in slow sale at late rates. Barley, beans, and peas were unaltered in value. Malt sold in moderate quantity at the previous currency. Oats realised Friday's quotations. Prices:— BRITISH. ?• s. WHEAT Essex, Kent, and Pa fi'olk, white, per qr. 38 to 49 BARMY ..Malting 30 to 36 OATS Essex and Suffolk 20 to 25 BKANB Mazagan 82 to 38 Tick and Harrow 34 to 44 8KED Canary per qr. 52 to 60 Carraway per cwt 86 to R.ape.per qr. 50 to 64 per qr IIempseed ..per qr. 83 to

METROPOLITAN CATTLE MARKET, MONDAY. There was an average number of cattle at market this morning, and most of them in good condition. Prices were the same as on Monday last, and a fair demand was experienced for most descriptions. Sheep were in better supply, and not so saleable. Prime downs were still quoted up to 5s. lOd. per stone, but intermediate qualities were in several instances 2d. per stone cheaper than on Thurs- day. The few calves tit market were nearly all foreign and sold at reduced prices. Pigs brought late rates, and met a steady sale. PrictsBeef, 3s. lQd. to 5s. mutton, 4s. 6d. to 5s. 10d. veal, 5s. toCs.; pork, 4s. to 5s., at per stone of 81bs., sinking tin offal.

PROVISIONS. CORK, BUTTER, FEB. 25.—lsts, 130s; 2nds, 130s; 3rds, 117s; 4ths, 102s; 6ths, 95s; 6ths, 72s. Inspected and weighed, 144 sold, 140. In good demand.

LONDON PRODUCE MARKETS. MINCING LANE, TUESDAY. In the Colonial Produce Markets but few transactions have taken place, but undiminished strength, in current values, is maintained in nearly every department. TEA.—Not much business passing, pending the public sales announced for Friday. Scarcely anything is doing at the moment, and no effect from the China news is per- ceptible. SUGAR.—Refined descriptions meet a more frequent in- quiry, but the market is still inactive. In raw sugar the transactions are equally unimportant. COFFEE is firm in value, with a limited business passing. COCOA.-Colonial descriptions bring full prices for small parcels to fill up immediate orders. SPIRITS.—Brandy remains as last quoted, the modifications in the new scale of duties having had no effect. RICE is firmly held, and offers of former prices are in many cases refused. Arracan sold at 8s 9d, and Ballam, 10s. SALTPETRE.—300 bags 10J per cent. have sold at 38s per cv. t. J tJTE continues to engage attention, and further business is reported \both on the spot and to arrive) at firm prices, but the full particulars have not transpired. OILS.—Linseed remains quoted 27s. 6d. Rape is very firmly held, and for French refined 41s 6d is reported to have been paid. TALLOW.—The market continues firm. On the spot the price is quoted 60s to 60s 3d; April to June, 56s; and last three months, 538 per cwt.