The Aberystwith Observer

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE AMERICA. By the arrival of the Asia we have New York papers to the 5th inst., and telegraphic news one day later. The papers contain few details of interest. We append some of the more important telegrams: NEW YORK, Jan. 6 (Evening). The Herald's despatch says that stirring news may soon bsfeJtpectedftpm General Meade's army. ften&ral Early's movement in the Shenandoah Hfily a Hise to protect that section and the railroad south of ♦Hat jffdint from the Federal cavalry raid. President Lincoln recommends higher ^un emits nntil February, and encourages the re e^iatmentfor three years of those whose time is a:Ireadyioxpired fhe reduction or cessation of bounUes hM ^mwt psralysed en istment. The War Secretary and the Provost-Marshal ^ZKSttSmA to increase the bounty for Veteransto ^00 and fresh volunteera to 300 dols. Hit thp ATIH nf >vbroary, &Ed 100 uois. to negroes. The New Hampshire State Convention has unanimously nominated Mr. Lincoln for re-election. Per the North American We have further news as u dr:- Jan. 7. A resolution, introduced in the Senate, to call out a million of volunteers for 90 days, to be commanded. ny General Grant, has been referred to the military committee. The New York Herald and Tribune urge Congress resolution. The House of Representatives has PasJ!? sSutton, hy 83 against 21 votes, that any negotiation with the rebels ought to be rejected without hesitation or delay. „„n.„rp,i onn A large Confederate force, under Jones, has raptured 300 Federals at Jonesville, Western Virginia, who the country on which the Federals depend for supplies of forage Signal stations, occupied by a nt u« established along the Mississippi for the protection of its navigation, in accordance with a recommendation from President Lincoln and the Secretary of war.. Congress has ordered the payment of bounties to veteran volunteers to be continued until March. 1 he OfjP°sl'io? members favoured the measure as a step towards the repeal °*The N^Yorkl^itune denies that it will be necessary to issue more greenbacks. The draft is expected to be postponed. General Butler has returned from Fort Monroe. It is stated that he is entrusted with full powers from the Govern- ment to carry out his plans for exchanging prisoners. General Joe Johnson has formed his lines 35 miles from Chattanooga, and is actively collecting deserters and r re- organising the army. The correspondent of the New York Herald asserts that there will shortly be active movements n the Shenandoah Valley. A severe snow storm with intense cold prevailed through- out the country, and numbers of soldiers and negroes have been frozen to death along the Mississippi. The Mlssissipi is closed by ice. Jan. 8. In the House of Representatives Mr. Arnold, of Illinois, has urged Mr. Lincoln for the next Presidency on the ground that his re-appointment would ensure emancipation through- out the Union. The Governor of Maryland, in his message to the Legisla- ture, favours immediate steps for gradual emancipation, and says, "The natural resources of Maryland are such as cannot be developed by slave labour." Jan. 9. The Confederates are moving on Winchester, Western Virginia. The Federals are prepared for the attack. Great excitement prevails among the inhabitants of London, Virginia, in consequence of extensive depredations being committed by lawless gangs, supposed to be deserters from both armies. Washington telegrams report that the Confederates are retreating from the neighbourhood of Petersburg and Win- chester.

Iltktllimtmrs JWdligntw, HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL. A SHORT RECKONING.—1The New England So- ciety (of New York) celebrated by a dinner last month the 243rd anniversarv of the landing of the Pil- grims in Plymouth. The Rev. Henry Ward Beecher being called upon to speak to the toast of the Friends of America abroad," said that the advocates of the Northern cause abroad might be numbered without getting into the teens. He proceeded to reckon them, and is reported as not having had occasion to count beyond the dozen. WHITE DEER.-The St. Paul" (Minnesota) Free Press states that a pure milk-white fawn lately made its appearance near Bice Lake. Efforts were made to Fecure it, and a boy by good management shot it dead. It weighed 751b. and was perhaps a year old. There is not upon its hide a spot of any other colour than white. Pure white deer are very rarely to be met with. One, however, was caught alive near the Gatineau River in Ithe spring of 1862, and is in the grounds of Mr. Hamilton, of Hawkesbury, Canada West. It is a very beautiful creature, somewhat larger than the rest of the herd of deer among which it has been placed. A VALUABLE PICTURE !—A notary has for- warded to the Bank of France a brick, with a l,000f. note glued on it, which has been paid, and will be kept in the bank museum of curiosities. It appears that it had been for fifteen years glued on the wall of a peasant's house, and considered as a pictorial curiosity bv the man who found it, and did not know its value. Neither did hundreds of his fellow-labourers, who had Been it in its place, between a picture of Beranger and Napoleon, where it was remarked by the notary on his taking an inventory of the man's goods. THE COOKERY OF THE WORKING CLASSES.—A writer in the Lady's Newspaper says :— When we criticise the cookery of the poor man's wife, one item of consideration should be the many things she lacks. Sbe has no baturic de cuisine from which to take, at the moment, the utensil most convenient for the thing in hand. Decent ccoking apparatus for the very simplest dinner we can sit down to could not be bought for a working man's whole week's wages. She has no store-room or handy cupboard stocked with spices, flavourings, and condi- ments. Whatever her dish requires, must come out of her not over-filled pocket at the moment, and tax It at once with the full cost of the dinner, to the detriment of the fund required for many other things to the end of the week. I have olten thought that at a poultry or flower show, a plain, good, well-made useful set of kitchen utensils would Jonn a capital first prize in the cottager's class. It should begin with a large strong, serviceable meat-kettle, followed by saucepans, or stewpans of various sizes, and include an American oven. A prize like this and others of nice home con- veniences would be appreciated, and become very useful in aiding the good wife wjttt.her cookery. The want of cooking apparatus often stands in the way of the housewife's wil- lingness to make soups and stews, and many concoctions which would very wholesomely and very pleasantly vary the monotony ol fry and bake; and there is nothing better in the whole range of kitchen furniture than stewpans of lzetVor anything better fitted to the often not very convenient fire-places of humble homes. T AAAct of Briery.—The other day, while -Lord.Broke was strolling on the beach of the Sussex coast, near Worthing, at ebb-tide, an infant in charge of a nurse wandered away to a place where it was surrounded by the water coming in, and was carried along with the tide into the deeps which alternate with the shallows along this coast. Lord Broke, although unable to swim, dashed in without a moment's hesita- tion and succeeded in saving the child after being once or twice overwhelmed by the waves. Lord Broke, the eldest son of the Earl of Warwick, is a boy eleven years of age. A CURIOSITY-HUNTER.—We had the curiosity, the other day, to make a note of the articles attached to a lady's dress (says an inquisitive editor in New York), the fringe of which was admirably adapted for a "snapper up of trifles." It was before the late fall of snow, and the walking was dry. We mention a few:— A cooper's shaving; a dead mouse; a half-consumed cigar; a wisp of straw with a conglomerate of street filth; a bunch of hone-hair; an old soger." not a veteran of the Potomac Army, but a second-hand quid; a quantity of street drop- pings the heel of an old boot. How long would a man stand such nonsense as this ? He would stop at the first door-sill, out knife, and rip off the skirt up to his knees. A SAD AFFAIR AT MUNICH.—Letters from Munich mention the very painful sensation caused there by a fatal duel between Counts Sternbach and Hohnstein, which recently took place near Freising, in Bavaria. Sternbach, it is said, was jealous of his young wife, and suspected her of being too partial to his half-brother Hohnstein, a natural son of the old ex-King of Bavaria, now in Rome. Hohnstein took offence at the other's suspicions, and, instead of ex- postulating with him and convincing him that they were unfounded, challenged him. The affair was re- ferred, according to one accornt, to a so-called court of honour," which, notwithstanding the consanguinity of the adversaries, decided that the duel must take place. They fought at ten paces. The alleged adulturer had the first shot, and sent his bullet straight to the heart of his half-brother. The victim, who was a lieutenant-colonel of Cuirassiers, and who had the reputation of an excellent officer, leaves one child a year old. The Munich clergy refused to attend the bunal of the slain man, and a comrade from the regi. ment officiated at the grave. CRIME IN SOUTHAMPTON.—A week or two since a shocking outrage on a respectable young woman perpetrated in the neighbourhood of Southampton was recorded. Last Week an attempt was made to commit a j-imilar outrage on another .respectable young woman in the same neighbourhood. She was attacked from behind, and dragged to a ditch, but her cries brought assistance. The miscreant did not succeed in hia design, but unfortunately escaped capture. The Southampton papers also *ec°rd » daring garotting case in the same neighbourhood. Serious complaints we made of the inefficiency ot tne police. AN OLD ONE REVIVED — -A-1* ENGLISH tourist visited Arran, and, being a keen discipi0 0f jzaa^ Walton, was arranging to have a day s good Bport. Being told that the cleg, or horse-fly, woulù. 8uit his Purpose admirably for tackle, he addressed himself to Christy, the Highland servant-girl"Isay> my giri cfn you get me some horse-flies ?" Christy looked V^1?! and he repeated his question. Finding^ that • 1 comprehend him, he exclaimed, Whj^ Tbl Bhm.u.°n-^ever see ahorse-fly Naa, sir, # Baid a vvus wanse saw a coo jump ower a preehiplce-» A QUESTION REQUIRING AN ANSWER !—Mr- Henry Bessemer that two ships are being built in foreign waters entirely of Bessemer steel, and that the plates for a merchant vessel to be built in England have been ordered. lie thinks it would not be pre- mature in our ^ove^mentto investigate the subject more fully, for if a ship can be enabled, as lie contends, to carry 9-inch armour-plates, we may rest assured that other nations will not be long without them. Thousands of Bessemer steel projectiles are now being Jnade for Russia, and other orders for steel shot have been given to the extent of 120,000?. in value. "Have We," he says, "a single ship afloat that can keep out these simple round steel shot fired from a common smooth-bored gun, if ever directed against us ?" THE "CAT" GOING OUT OF USE !—The sen- on. William James Wightman, a private in the Koyal Marine Light Infantry, who was convicted at Woolwich by a garrison court-martial on the 14th for Demg absent and making away with his necessaries, was promulgated 9n Monday. The prisoner is sen- i ,confinfcd in the gaol at Fort Clarence j ??,b°Vr' 1° have his pay stopped, and to be i 'er "D." Notwithstanding the tliMo80- emP\°yment of the lash in punishment of the they are proved to be considerably on withon?reaue* The War Department authorities, from ^Bohitely banishing corporal punishment «cisi°na of courts-martial, have, it is stated, that various terms of imprisonment and hard labour may be substituted until further orders. The decision of the War Department has been received at Woolwich with much satisfaction, more especially as petitions have been presented by the inhabitants and corporate meetings have been held to urge the neces- sity of the abolition of the cat" from the army. THE DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT. AND^ I learn that Lord Palmerston has no intention to dissolve Parliament this year, unless his opponents should force him to do so (says the "Lounger at the Clubs, in the Illustrated Times). This I have, I think I may say, on unquestionable authority. Palmerston will dissolve this year, I suppose?" said I to a staunch sup- porter of the noble lord, and somethingmore. 1*1 ol why should he?" was the reply. "The session is old. It is time that it returned to the founder, like old type, to be recast in a new and better mould. Wfefl, it won't yet," said he, laughing at my figure (which,' by-the-bye, was borrowed from the tombstone of old Geage, the printer, in Abbey Church, Bury St. Edmund's). I know Palmerston has no intention to dissolve Parliament until 1865. Then, I suppose, he will dissolve at aU events." WIDOWS AND ORPHANS OF THE TYNE.—The following letter is from the widow of one of the men who went out in the Lady Mary, of Shields, which, it will doubtless be remembered, was lost in the storm a short time ago, when not one of the crew was left to tell how or where she went down. It is published in the hope of further stimulating the charity of the public towards the widows and orphans:— Tynemouth, Jan. 14. My dear Sister,—I hope these few lines will find you all well. I got your letter, and ——. I was happy to receive them. I have not been down our lane until to-day, and I have been at Shields. I walked there, though very unfit for it, but I was obliged to go to the guardians' meeting, and I have got settled. I will get 4s. 6d. per week from the parish; and if I am spared to be confined, the child will be provided for as well. You would know this. but one trouble does not come without another follows it. I cannot tell you my feelings. The Lord has dealt hard with me, though 1 pray earnestly that He will look to me and my fatherless children, and I can feel Him give me strength to bear with it all, though it is hard for me to look at my three dear children and to think that their dear father's body lies in the ocean. I can scarcely see through my tears to tell you a little of my feelings. I have not seen one of our girls since Tom was given up. Mother was down shortly after, but the girls said they could not bear to see me fret; but the Lord will bring me through. Write soon.—Your affectionate sister, THE STEAM BUTCHER!—On Friday, in last week, a large flock of sheep strayed on to the London and South-Western Railway, between the Sherborne and Milborne Port stations, and the five o'clock up train from Yeovil dashed into them before the engine could be pulled up. The evening was dark, and there- fore the driver could not see that there was any ob- struction upon the line until he came upon them. Forty-five sheep were killed and a great number maimed. The engine and carriages were covered with blood and flesh, and it is a wonder the train did not leave the metals. The shock was felt by the passen- gers, who were, as may be supposed, much frightened, but no one was injured. The train was brought to a stand-still, but finding that no further damage had been done, it proceeded on its course. LORD PALMERSTON. — The Observer denies that Lord Palmerston was prevented attending the Cabinet Council on Tuesday. Lord Palmerston joined his colleagues in Council upon that occasion, having come up from Broadlands for the express pur- pose, and, as far as personal appearance went, the noble Premier certainly exhibited no other symptoms of suffering from any kind of illness than such as might be inferred from his carrying one hand in a sling, a necessity imposed by his recent attack of gout having settled in that extremity. A" SERVE 'EM RIGHT" VERDICT.—Aman named Masonand his twosons, were foundguiltyattheMiddle- sex Sessions in London, on Monday, on a charge of the father and one son receiving goods which the other son stole from his employ en, the Messrs. Ullathorne. The peculiarity in the case was that the father was a yeoman, owning land he farmedin Nottinghamshire, and carrying on the shoemaking business as welL It ap- pears that the peculation had gone on for years' and was first discovered by the Messrs. Ullathorne finding that they were undersold in the market by goods which, on examination, turned out to be of their own manufacture. The assistant-judge, in passing sen- tence upon them, said :— It was not to be wondered at that persons often found themselves reduced to insolvency and ruin without knowing how it was, for here they found a person had been three years in employment, receiving good wages, and from the time that he entered the service had been robbing his employers. He had from time to time sent goods into the country to be disposed of, and it would be impossible for the trade and commerce of this country to be carried on if BifCh ° £ 3ncea as these were not punished with great seve- rity. He saw no mitigating circumstances in the case, for it appeared that the elder prisoner was living in the coun- try with a house and land of his own, and, therefore, had not been driven to the commission of this offence by either want or distress. He saw no distinction between the three prisoners, and the sentence upon them was that they each be kept in penal servitude for four years. THE DUKE OF BRUNSWICK'S DIAMONDS.—The Duke of Brunswick's collection of diamonds consists of one weighing G3 carats with a whitish tint; another, an opaque, black diamond, weighing 342 carats; a third was taken from a Turkish sabre; a fourth from a royal necklace; a fifth was the eye of an Indian idol; a rose brilliant, 41 carats, was taken by the Emperor Baber at Agra; two others were buttons of the Emperor Don Pedro's vest; a ninth was from a finger-ring worn by Mary Queen of Scots, and a tenth and eleventh were from ear pendents worn by Marie Antoinette. The duke has stones worth 100,000, 150,000, 175,000, 300,000, 348,000, and 400,000 francs. DEATH OF A HERMIT.—The "Carlisle Journal" records the death, at the age of 87, of a man named Weales, who, for the last twelve or fourteen years, has lived the life of a hermit in the neighbourhood of Maryport. Some twelve or fourteen years ago he built a small open-roofed one-roomed cottage in the corner of one of the two fields he possessed, and there he has lived up to his death, refusing the assistance of a servant to minister to his wants, though this would have been gladly provided for by his son. A dog, a cat, and himself were the sole occupants of this miserable hovel, which had not been scoured or even swept out since its erection. Weales never undressed and never washed himself. During the last two years he has been lame, and obliged to use crutches, but even with their aid he never ventured beyond the threshold of his dwelling. Lately he was barely able to sit up in his bed, which was close to the fire, and was in- debted to the kindness of stray passers by to make hia fire, keep it alive, and bring him provisions from Maryport. The dog and the cat ate from the same dish as himself, and he continued to cook his meat in a frying-pan which was after every meal carefully cleaned out by his canine and feline companions. Weales was the owner of two fields, producing to- gether about 201, a year, and upon this he lived. He has left an only son, who immediately after his father's death ordered every article of furniture to be burnt. A TRUE SCANDINAVIAN !—I have seen and had a short interview with the great man of this place, the Prince Frederick of Augustenburg (says a corres- pondent). He is a personage likely enough to win favour with most of those who approach him. He is one of nature's own princes. Tall and stately, above six feet one inch in height, well-built, somewhat colos- sal, not corpulent, with fine aquiline features, a good complexion, a rich German head of dark hazel hair, a true Scandinavian face, with light-coloured, slightly- pencilled eyebrows, and light, transparent, sky blue, serene eyes, reminding one of purest Northern ice, an expression of sedateness amounting almost to slowness and heaviness, an expression well-matched by delibe- rate 'gravity of speech, he speaks *e"xcelleht'English, but has a very slight, yet very perceptible, difficulty of utterance, apparently caused by some peculiar de- fect in the front teeth. He is, I am told, less than 34 years old. Owing, perhaps, to the striking solemnity of his address, I should have deemed him to be more than 40. He is very gracious and affable—kingly, in short. From the brief conversation that passed be- tween us I should feel inclined to think him endowed with a sound understanding and more than common capacity. MATAMOROS.—A correspondent of the New York Times" complains that the Mexican town on the Rio Grande, opposite Brownsville, is invariably (out- side of Mexico) written Matamoras, which, he says, is a calumny on the chivalry of Spain. The place is named after the Mexican hero General Matamoros, who was, doubtless, descended from some valiant slayer of infidels in the old country, for the name signifies" Kill Moors but when the termination is changed, Matamoras implies a slayer of Moorish women. ABSENTEE SOLDIERS.—In the report of General Halleckon the Federal military operations of 1863 he states that it was estimated, from official returns in January last, that there were then absent from duty 8,987 officers, and 280,073 non-commissioned officers and privates. Only a part of these were really disabled or sick. The remainder were mainly deserters, stragglers, malingerers and shirks, or men who absented themselves in order to avoid duty. General Halleck says that straggling and desertion have now greatly diminished, but cannot be prevented unless the punishment were made more prompt and certain. The machinery of the court-martial he pronounces too cumbrous for the trial of military offences in time of actual war. INTERESTING RELICS.—Among the curiosities on exhibition at the Sanitary Fair in Boston are numerous relics of Washington—his sash, saddle, epaulettes, cane, with numerous autographs andletters; bronze jar from Shanghae, two thousand years old sword of Miles Standish lock of the gun which killed King Philip, of Mount Hope, in 1070, and a wooden bowl taken from Philip's wigwam a Bible printed in Venice in 1478, before printing was introduced into England, and numerous rare and genuine autographs and letters. There are also exhibited the shoes worn by the Royal Family of England, and a pair of shoes purchased in Georgia by a young lady who arrived in -Boston last Sunday. The shoes are coarser than any *ady would wear here, and are laced with white com; vet the lady paid forty dollars for them, and refused to sell them for fifty. THE WAY PRESIDENT LINCOLN HAS.—One who know3 President Lincoln says he is not a polished speaker, neither does he wield a polished pen; but he has a way saying the fitting thing—expressing tbe right thought or feeling in homely phrases, that give to the thought or feeling its due place, above all regard to mere style. Thus is gained a remarkable power in the way ol an emphatic and direct simplicity, which reaches and holds every hearer or reader. In the presence of theJine, sincere, and appropriate senti- ment, the absence of the classical finish is not felt. SHOWERS OF FIRE But by far the grandest exhibition of the kind on record was observed in America (says a writer in All the Year Round). Showers of fiery meteors had been observed to fall on a certain day in November, in £ wo succeeding years, and in the following year, on the same day of the month, there was a repetition of the phenomenon on a scale which has never been witnessed before or since. I was, says a South Carolina planter, suddenly awakened by the most distressing cries that ever fell on my ears. Shrieks of horror and cries for mercy I could hear from most of the negroes on three plan- tations, amounting in all to about 600 or 800. While earnestly listening for the cause, I heard a faint voice near the door calling my name. I arose, and taking my sword, stood at the door. At this moment I heard the same voice still beseeching me to rise, aDd saying, 'O, my God, the world is on fire I then opened the door, and it is difficult to say which excited me most—the awfulness of the scene or the distressed cries of the negroes. Upwards of 100 lay prostate on the ground — some speechless, and some with the bitterest cries, but with their hands raised, imploring God to save the world and them. The scene was truly awful; for never did rain fall much thicker than the meteors fell towards the earth east, west, north, and south, it was the same. All these meteors seemed to emerge from a particular part of the heavens, near a brilliant globe of fire, which remained visible dm ing the entire display; similar globes, many of them of immense magnitude, but travelling with great velocity, were likewise seen, one in particular, which is de- scribed as having an apparent diameter exceeding that of the moon at the full. A CLOUDY ATMOSPHERE !—The whole of our Continental intelligence for the last few months has been absorbed either by actual narrative of wars, tumults, and insurrections, or by those preliminary convulsions which usually precede such calamities (remarks the Times). We may hear any day that a war has begun on the banks of the Eider, which must involve all Europe in its folds. We may hear that Austria is involved in a quarrel with Italy, seconded by the efforts of several of her own provinces; and such is the position of France, that no one would have much reason to be astonished if he heard that she was at war or in strict alliance with any Continental govern- ment. A FEAT OF PENMANSHIP.—The late Mr. Thacke- ray was an accomplished penman, and used to pride himself on the neatness and dexterity with which he could cram the greatest possible number of words into the smallest possible space. A few weeks before his death he was present at the usual Saturday dinner at which the contributors to Punch are accustomed to meet and arrange the programme for the next week's number. The conversation turning upon Mr. Thackeray's skill in this way, he was challenged to give an illustration, whereupon he produced a four- penny-piece, and having marked the circle of the coin with a pen on a piece of paper, he drew in the centre a crown, and filled up the remaining space With the Lord's Prayer, which he transcribed without a single contraction, except in 'the case of the word "which," spelling it "wh." Singular to relate, too, the pen used was an ordinary goosequill, which hap- pened to be in the room. RECRUITING IN AMERICA. —The following is an extract from a letter from a young gentleman who has been resident in the State of Michigan for some years, to his father in Perthshire, dated December 21,1863:— The fighting element in the North appears to be nearly exhausted; for, though the bounty paid to volunteers now reaches 500 dols., the greater part of which is paid at the time of enlistment, the conscription has nevertheless to be resorted to in order to reinforce the ranks of the army. The drafted men are rendezvoused in this place, and the office of the examining-surgeon is daily besieged by crowds of ap- plicants anxious to discover that they are unfit for military duty. Instances of wilful self-mutilation are common. Men are known to have themselves shot away a finger or hewn off a toe with an axe, rather than be torn away from their families to the hardships of camp life and the battle-field. We see bands of unarmed conscripts marched off every week under escort, and frequently hear of men being shot in unsuccessful attempts to make their escape. EXECUTION AT MELBOURNE. —A Melbourne letter of Nov. 25 says:— We have had of late an unusual number of murders. Western Australia, of course, has contributed her contingent of offenders;. Tasmania hers. Among several other very horrible cases, we have witnessed within the last fortnight the first female execution ever known in Victoria. A woman, young and very good-looking, was hanged a few- days back for inciting and taking part with her paramour and with a third murderer, her servant, in the deliberate shooting through the head of her own husband, as he lay-steeping off a drunken debauch in his tent at one of the distant" diggings." In company with the two men she walked from her cell to the gallows with the indifference — for all that appeared outwardly — of one taking an ordinary morning walk. It has been ascertained that all of these criminals are but late arrivals in this colony; that all received their education- such as it was—in England, and, therefore, even our mode- rate people grow somewhati ntemperate in speech when they read of fresh intended arrivals from the same country via Western Australia. -| FROM LONDON TO PEKIN IN A WEEK.—The electric telegraph now extends, by way of Russia, to within 200 miles of Kiatchka, a frontier emporium close to the Chinese empire, between which and Pekin, about 1,000 miles distant, there is a regular post esta- blished, so that now it would be quite possible to com- municate with Pekin from London in a week. A WITTY SOLDIER.—" Grandfather Smith was twelve years in the East Indies, and father was eight years and nine months a soldier. I have seen more carnage and bloodshed than both my father and grand- father. I have been in eighteen engagements there are eighteen general engagements marked on my dis- charge. I have written these lines on the loss of my leg :— Good leg, thou wast a faithful friend, And truly hast thy duty done; I thank thee most that to the end Thou didst not let my body run. Strange paradox, that in the flight, When I of thee was thus bereft, I lost my left leg for the right, And yet the right's the one that's left. But while the sturdy stump remains, I may be able yet to patch it; For even now I have taken pains To get another leg to match it."—W. SMITH. [The above is an extract from the letter of a Stock- port weaver who lost a leg at Gettysburg.] TUNNEL UNDER LAKE MICHIGAN!—A contract for the construction of a tunnel, extending some two miles under Lake Michigan, at Chicago, for the pur. pose of supplying the city with pure water, has been awarded; the lowest bid for completing the same being 315,130 dols. The contract is for a tunnel of five feet internal diameter, lined with brick. The tunnel is to be excavated thirty-five feet below the bed of the lake, and to have four feet of dip landward. Strainers will be fixed over the outlet to keep out the fish. The total area of the tunnel will be nearly twenty square feet, an area amply large enough to furnish water con- tinuously to a city five or six times the size of Chicago in the present day. How THEY MANAGE IT IN ITALY !—A young Englishman, while at Naples, was introduced at an as- sembly of one of the first ladies by a Neapolitan gentle- man. While he was there, his snuff-box was stolen from him. The next day, being at another house, he saw a person taking snuff out of his box. He ran to his friend. "There," said he, "that man in blue, with gold embroidery, is taking snuff out of the box stolen from me yesterday. Do you know him ? Is he not a sharper?"—"Take care," said the other, "that man is of the first quality." —" I do not care for his quality," said the Englishman; "I must have my snuff-box again; I'll go and ask him for it."—4 Tray," said his friend, "be quiet, and leave it to me to get back your box." Upon this assurance the Englishman went away, after inviting his friend to dine with him the next day. He accordingly came, and as he entered, There," said he, I have brought you your snuff-box."—"Well, how did you obtain it?" — "Why," said tbe Neapolitan nobleman, "I did not wish to make a noise about it, therefore I picked his pocket of it!" [The same way of saving trouble, we have heard, was long since adopted in Spain.—ED.] A PLEASANT COMPANION IN AN OMNIBUS !—A gentleman writing from Oxford says :— This morning, at 8 o'clock, I left the Mitre Hotel, Oxford, accompanied by my wife, in the hotel omnibus for the rail- way station. To our great surprise, we were driven to the city gaol. On demanding the cause, I was told by the con- ductor that he had to take a convict. A gentleman, whose card, together with my address, I enclose, protested as well as myself against such conduct, but in vain. After waiting a short time, the convict, accompanied by his keeper, entered the omnibus. If hotel proprietors subject their visitors to such companionship, I think they will soon nnd that there is more lost then gained by such conduct. TEMPERANCE IN ITALY.—The inaugural meet- ing, of a temperance society, which has for its object strictly temperance, as its name denotes, and not total abstinence, as with you, took place with great solemnity last Sunday in Turin (writes a correspon- dent). It is the intention of Dr. Chierici, the principal promoter of the movement, to render it subvervient to the moral and intellectual improvement of the working classes, by providing them with other and better kinds of instruction and recreation than are attainable in the wine-shop and in worse places. RAILWAY LONDON.—A railway, with branches, for the Isle of Dogs, thirteen new bridges over the Thames, one new Thames Tunnel, two railroads to go throueh the existing Thames Tunnel, a railway in the middle of the river itself, with stations at each of the bridges, new docks in the Isle of Dogs, nearly as large as the East and West India Docks put together, a Dock in South Lambeth, new courts of justice, the crossing of Holborn Valley by a viaduct, pneumatic dispatch-tubes, a new arcade from Regent-street to Bond-street, a railway diagonally across Hyde Park, another transversely through Kensington Gardens, two lines down Constitution Hill, going on through St. James's Park and under, or over, the Admiralty, the classic land of Alsatia, or Whitefriars, scored for nine branches or junctions, the single street called Houndsditch contended for by four competing lines, that Paradise of Mr. Alfred Smee's imagination, Finsbury circus, the Promised Land of engineers, demanded by three companies, and before our breath is gone let us condemn the last we can contrive to name—a bridge to connect the thickly P0PU,?. and highly salubrious district of Battersea with Chelsea— a thing fatal to the beauty of Cheyne-walk, the most picturesque street near these are afewof the subjects upon which the House of Commons will have to decide in the approachirg session. These are a few of the blessings that are promised us in default of some in- telligent and systematic arrangement, made under authority, for the accommodation of the metropolis.— Athenmim. DYING ON THE BATTLEFIELD !—The Southern Cross contains an account of an action at the Mauku, New Zealand, in which a descendant of Bellingham s victim fell by the hand of a New Zealander. The cir- cumstances of his death are thus described:— When Lieutenant Perceval fell, several of his men at- tempted to remove him from the field. The gallant feuow would not permit this, however, recalling them to their sterner duty by the words, Leave me alone, revenge my death." This young officer's loss will be greatly felt by the volunteers, by whom he was greatly esteemed. He was the son of Spencer Perceval, Esq., for many years a leading member of the House of Commons, and grandson of the un- fortunate Prime Minister of that name who was shot in the lobby of the House by Bellingham. THE BLACKS' FIRST ANNIVERSARY. — New Year's-day is a sore trial to the patience of public functionaries in America, and most of all to the Pre- sident (writes the correspondent of the Times). Mr. Lincoln, who is reported to have caught the smallpox on a visit of philanthropy to the wretched negro barrack, or settlement, in the neighbourhood of Wash- ington, having completely recovered from the attack, held the usual hand-shaking levee at the White House, and went through the ordeal with unflinching bravery. To such of the crowd as he was personally acquainted with he gave a cordial greeting, and to some favoured few fired off his Western wit or humour with all his ancient hilarity. It was remarked as a novelty that there were no less than four negroes in the crowd, and that the President received them with special good humour, It is the first time in the existence of the Republic that a black man has dared to mingle in the throng on such an occasion, or to presume to think that his felicitations on the New Year were as accept- able as those of his white brother. As such the inci- dent deserves to be recorded. Generally throughout the North, and especially in the New England StateB and in New Ywk, the negroes celebrated on Friday evening, not alone the opening of another year, but the first anniversary of the President's Proclamation of Emancipation. On these occasions, though the white friends of the negro race were advertised to make speeches in support of emancipation, very few were present. A sprinkling of white women were to be seen, together with a few prominent clergymen of all denominations, except the Episcopalian and tbe Roman Catholic; but, with these exceptions, the negroes and mulattoes had it all to themselves. The only really prominent white man who lent his name, his presence, and his voice to the celebration was tbe Rev. D. Bellows, a noted Unitarian clergyman of this city. How NEW ENGLISH TOWNS HAVE GROWN.— A single generation since, and the present town of Middlesborough-on-the-Tees consisted of but one house. A railway making it a port for the coal ship- ping trade, had raised its population to 7,893 at the census of 1851; then came the discovery of the value of the ironstone in the neighbourhood, and the result is that the population now exceeds 23,000. The new town of West Hartlepool has sprung up as in a night; there was no such name in the census returns of 1851, but in 1861 it had 12,603 inhabitants. Aldershott also is a new creation; in 1851 there were not 1,000 people in the parish, in 1861 there were 7,755, without reckoning the soldiers themselves. The parochial chapelry of Birkenhead mustered 200 parishioners in 1821; in 1861 it had 36,212, and the whole borough 51,649. Redhill is the child of the railroad; the "foreign" of Reigate had 3,287 inhabitants in 1851, and 7,967 in 1861. There were many remarkable in- stances of growth in the 10 years between the census of 1851 and that of 1861. Plumstead tripled its numbers, increasing from 8,373 to 24,502, owing mainly to the demand for labour at Woolwich. Old- bury, near West Bromwich, made a like stride from 5,114 to 15,615. The parish of Aberdare, in the same ten years, saw its population increase from 14,999 to 32,299. Watering-places increase and multiply fast, but cannot keep up with this pace; Torquay, however, doubled its population in the 10 years. FASHIONABLE TRADE REPORT—Materials for ladies' dresses, of all colours, are in brisk demand, and fetch good prices per acre.—Punch. PRISON POETRY !—A notorious thief and prison- breaker, named Nugent, recently banded the gaoler at Greenlaw Prison the following stanza, written in blood, which he had obtained by cutting his finger with a piece of tin taken from his lantern :— So then my trial is over, And my sentence it is past; Farewell to thee, old Scotland, You've cooked my goose at last. A VALUABLE TREE.—In the south of Western Australia there are forests of great extent abounding with the Jarrah tree, which possesses the valuable pro- perty of resisting the attacks both of the seaworm and the white ant, which are so destructive to every other kind of timber in these latitudes. This quality gives it a ready market both in India and Australia, and makes it especially useful for ship timber and railway sleepers, and as it may be obtained in almost unlimited quantities, and shipped at a moderate cost, there is every reason to sup rose that it might become a most important branch of commerce. HANGED BY ACCIDENT.—A very singular case of accidental hanging occurred in Cumberland, last week, by which a boy named Dodd, 14 years of age, lost his life. The deceased was employed in a coal pit near Brampton, and on Monday morning went to- wards the mine to his work in his customary good health. Shortly afterwards his father, missing him from his post, went into an adjoining stable to search for him. To his horror he found his son hanging by his neck suspended by a rope, quite dead. It ap- peared from the evidence taken at the inquest, that before commencing work, last week, the deceased and some other lads had been amusing themselves with telling stories. Among others two were told of people being handed by accident. One of these tales related to a lad who had tried to ascertain how long he could hang without a fatal result, and who had died before his comrades could rescue him. The other was of an acrobat, who had met with his death under similar circumstances. The deceased, on hearing these stories, laughed at the idea of the boy not being able to re- lease himself from the rope, and he no doubt then mentally resolved that he would, try the experiment himself. He did so, and was hanged. The jury took this view of the case, and returned a verdict accord- ingly. NEW COMPANIES IN 1863.—During the last year no less than 263 new companies were started (says the Law Times). Their capital amounted to one hundred millions sterling! They are thus classified 27 banks, 31,900,000!. 15 money (discount, &c.), 19,000,000/ 65 manufactures and trades, 14,455,0001.; 14 insurance, 10,300,000/. 17 railways, 9,496,0001. 47 hotels, 4,320,0001.; 6 shipping, 4,168,000/. 49 mining, 3,019,000/ 17 miscellaneous, 2,6;);),0001. 6 gas, 670/JO01, Fortunately, these figures are not so formidable as they appear. The hundred millions sterling thus seeming to be absorbed must be subjected to vast deductions. At least one-third of the list will never proceed further than registration. Another third will be wound up within two years. The re- maining third will go on and prosper, but will pro- bably never call up one-half of their capitals, and the actual calls will be spread over 12 or 18 months, so these are not likely to cause any serious embarrass- ment. DRAWN FROM NATURE !—It having been stated in an Exeter paper that Mr. Thackeray, when a boy, went to school at Ottery St. Mary, the Rev. Dr. Cor- nish, the vicar of that place, has written to contradict it. It appears that the stepfather of the great novelist rented an estate near Ottery St. Mary, and that the latter, while stopping there, used to visit at the vicarage and borrow books of Dr. Cornish. The doctor says that the scenery of Clavering St. Mary and Chatteris, in "Pendennis," corresponds in minute particulars with that of Ottery St. Mary and Exeter. One of the little marginal vignettes in that famous novel is a picture of the clock tower of Ottery Church. Thackeray describes the youthful Pendenni& as gal- loping through the I Iliad'and Odyssey,' the tragic play writers, and the charming wicked Aristophanes, whom he vowed to be the greatest poet of alL" When the author was about the age of hiB young hero, he borrowed of Dr. Cornish Carey's translation of "The Birds" of Aristophanes, which he read, says the doctor, with intense delight, and returned with three humorous illustrative drawings. Thackeray says in Pendennis" :— It was at this period of his existence that Pen broke out in the poet's corner of the county Chronklewith some verses with which he was perfectly well satisfied. Dr. Cornish says that when the great Catholic eman- cipation meeting took place on Penenden-heath, Thackeray brought him some verses, which were after- wards forwarded to an Exeter paper for insertion, and duly appeared. these verses, the doctor thinks, were the first composition of the great humorist that were ever published. A QUESTION TO BE ANSWERED.—We observe an advertisement beginning, "Home's without Handtl." Well, we know that the Pope lias forbidden Mr. Horn B to do his juggling with the hands, but why is it ad- vertised?— Pwnch. LATEST NEWS FROM GETTYSBURG.—Here lies before you a field of battle six or seven miles in length, and from two to three in breadth, over which 140,000 men had for three days been engaged in deadly con- flict, surgIng backward and forward as victory perched upon this or that banner (writes a wounded man from thence). he ground is furrowed with balls having ploughed the ground and strewed it with tons of metal, thrown hundreds of cannons. The trees are de- nuded of their limbs, and their trunks starred over with bullet marks. The surface of the battle-field is covered with slain horses, in many places more thickly than sheafs of wheat in the newly-reaped harvest field*. Graves of men, isolated or in groups, meet the eye, at every few roods, for miles upon miles. In the three days battle 69,000, from both sides, were killed and wounded, and for weeks after bodies were found unbuned and fast decaying. Broken gun-carriages, muskets by the thousand, blankets, havresacks, caps, and everything belonging to an army are strewed over the whole area traversed by the contending hosts; and this is but an outside view. NOT SATISFIED YET!—An important and numerously attended meeting of the visiting justices and magistrates of Derbyshire was held at the county gaol, Derby, on Friday last, when the correspondence recently received from Sir George Grey was taken into consideration. After mature deliberation, a reply t° the Home Secretary, asking for a public inquiry ^to Townley's state of mind, was unanimously adopted, and forwarded to Sir George Grey on Satur- day evening. In it they agree that the Home secretary could not refuse the request of the Judge for an inquiry, but they urge that even the Com- missioners' report shows the convict to be criminally responsible. They (the Commissioners) are of opinion "that the prisoner continues to be now in the same mental state as when be committed the murder," and the magistrates, taking up this argument, say that the prisoner having been legally convicted, according to the dictum of Mr. Baron Martin, it is impossible to escape the conclusion that he is now criminally res- ponsible." They strongly condemn the manner in which the local certificate of lunacy was got up. The certificate, they say, was invalid, because it was made and dated on a Sunday, and because the borough magistrates had no authority to act in the county gaol, and yet he was respited on this certificate. Moreover, they say, it was completed under a false pretence, and whilst clearing the Home Secretary from the im- putation of being moved by Townley's social position, they repeat that the respite was obtained by the ex- penditure of money. They, therefore, call for a full and public inquiry into the whole circumstances of the case, appealing, if necessary, to Parliament. FREE EMIGRATION !—The following appears in the Galway correspondence of the Irish Times ;— A person from New York arrived here a few days since for the purpose of engaging able-bodied men to go over to America to construct a railroad in the State of New York such is the pretext under which they are to leave their homes. They are, it is stated, to get large wages, a portion of which is to be stopped weekly until their passage money 13 Paid. The party, whoever he may be, left town the day after he arrived, but gave instructions to the clerk of Messrs. Sable and Searle to enter the names of aU labourers who would offer themselves. It is said that up to this day '-00 names have already beeu entered. It is intended to take them out in the Adriatic next Tuesday fortnight. Numbers were crowded around the office for the last t wo days, anxious to get their names entered. THE EFFECT OF GAROTTING. A verdict of Wilful murder," under very singular circumstances, was returned by a coroner's jury in London on Tues- day. Some time last spring a man went into a small shop in Bethnal-green, kept by a Mrs. Moore, and picked her pocket. She discovered her loss, and grappled with the thief, on which he seized her by the throat, and nearly choked her. By leaving his great- coat and muffler in her hands, he finally made his escape. Tbe woman lingered for nine or ten months, and died on Monday week. It was clearly proved that her death was caused by the garotting, on which the jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against some person unknown, and recommended that a re- ward should be offered for his apprehension. THE FIRST CULTIVATOR OF THE DAHLIA IN EUROF:?, -The venerable Herr Fintelmann, the King of Prussia's head gardener at Charlottenburg. died on Christmas-day, at the of 90 (says the Header). Those who have visited Berlin will recollect how he used to tell, with evident pride, that in his boyhood, when he was employed in the gardens of Sans Souci, Frede- rick the Great was wont to search out the largest and finest figs with his eyes, and pointing to them with his cane, make him mount the trees and gather them for him. But, if he spoke with pride of this oc- cupation of his boyhood connecting his memories with the great king, he would tell with enthusiasm of the culture of the first dahlias, which Humboldt had brought over from America, and first introduced into Prussia. To old Herr Fintelmann the beautiful gardens on Peacocks'Island, near Potsdam, the favourite resort of King Frederick William Ill., owe their chief at- tractions. THE ROYAL BABY.—Mr. Punch thinks that the most appropriate title for the little Prince would be "Duke of Cornwal). "seeing that he must necessarily remain so long a minor (miner).—Punch. THE DIE IS CAST !-It seems now almost cer- tain that Denmark has rejected the ultimatum pre- sented by the Prussian and Austrian Envoys for the recal of the Common Constitution of November 18th (remarks the Times). The demand was explicit, the alternative plainly stated by the motion in the Diet. Unless the Danisn Government would at once undo an act which proclaimed Schleswig an inseparable part of the monarchy, the forces of the two Powers would occupy the Duchy, and obtain satisfaction for the al- leged breach of the agreements of 1851. It therefore now only remains to them to fulfil their threat. As soon as the troops of the two great German States can make their way across the territory of Holstein, we may expect to hear that the Eider has been passed and the incensed adversaries brought face to face. We may consider it a questionable policy on the part of Denmark to reject a demand which so many circum- stances show to have been probably well meant. But the die is cast; the Danes have chosen war in pre- ference to what they consider a craven yielding to spoliation; and if peace be preserved, it must be by some strange turn in events. GOOD NEWS FOR IRELAND — At the annual meeting of the Chamber of Commerce in Belfast, on Friday last, a very interesting report was read upon the linen trade and the growth of flax. It states that the past year was one of general pro3perity. All the ma- chinery used in its different branches was in active operation, and the production of linen yarns and goods has exceeded that of any former time. Operatives were in constant employment at good wages, and the general trade of the town was consequently very favourably affected. The crop of flax in 1863 was unprecedented in extent, no less than 214,000 acres having been sown. The yield per acre was also above the average, and the crop was estimated at 60,000 tons, producing to the cultivators upwards of 42000,0001. This is an immense amount to receive for a single crop in one district of the country; but, un- precedentedly flarge as the produce was, it found a ready sale at highly remunerative prices. THE PAPER-MAKING TRADE. — A conference of paper-makers has been held at Manchester to consider the difficulties under which they say they labour in consequence of the continuance of foreign export duties on rags, whilst the free importation of foreign paper has been established. The conference passed Beveral reso- lutions, and adopted a petition to tne House of Com- mons for immediate redress, failing which they desire that a select committee be appointed to inquire into the effect on the paper trade of the United Kingdom, Ereduced by the free import of paper while the rags ave still been taxed. A committee was also appointed to carry into effect the resolutions. A POOR DEFENCE !—At the Middlesex Ses- sions, a man named Knowles was found guilty of stealing a quantity of knives and forks, fireirons, saucepans, kettles, &c, the property of his master. The counsel who defended the prisoner, said the prisoner had pleaded guilty to the charge of robbing is employer; but he entered his service with an un- usually good character, which he had received while serving in the Transport Corps in the Crimea. He had also served at clubs, from which he also received a good character, and the reason he had fallen from the path of integrity was that he had undertaken to support a married woman with five children who had been brutally treated and deserted by her husband, this woman not knowing that he was a married man. Having two homes to support, in consequence of this connection, that was supposed to be the reason why he had thus appropriated the money belonging to his master. In reply to this, Mr. Inspector West wished to state that the prisoner's wife and children had been almost driven to starvation on account of his connec- tion with this woman. The assistant-judge said it was a singular defence to set up that a man might become dishonest because he deserts his own wife and children and takes up with another woman and chil- dren. He had deserted his wife, lived with his paramour, and robbed his employers, and was de- serving of no mercy. He therefore sentenced him to 12 months' hard labour and this, we think, was, under the circumstances, a very lenient sentence. IIINTERESTING PRoBLEM.-Given-any two ser- vant-girls in a neighbourhood gossiping—to find — the conversation lasting sixty seconds without the occurrence of the following sentence-" So sez she to metsez she."—Punch. DEATHS IN LONDON—According to the return of the Registrar-General, no less than twelve nonage- narians died last week in London. The oldest was a widow, who had attained the age of 97 years. The increase in the mortality during the week was very great. The total number of deaths was 2,427. The average of the last ten years, taking into account the increase of population, has been 1,550, so that the deaths last week were 877 above the average. These persons," says the Registrar-General, "were killed almost suddenly by the cold wave of the atmosphere." HORRIBLE ATTEMPT AT MURDER.—A most horrible attempt to murder a woman was made on Monday night in a field at Ennor, about three miles distant from Leominster. It appears that at about 11 o'clock, as a man in the service of Captain Stephens, of Ennor, was crossing a meadow, be found a woman named Watkins, who resides at Hammich with her three children, lying in a pool of blood. He at once told Captain Stephens, who had her conveyed to Leo- minster Union, where she was at once attended by Mr. E. Goddard, surgeon. As she was carried upstairs portions of the brain fell about her clothes and on the stairs. Mr. Goddard found her insensible, with a severe fracture on the back part of the skull, con- nected by two large wounds, each about six inches long. He is of opinion that they were inflicted with some heavy, sharp instrument from behind, some hours before the woman was found. She was not expected to live one hour, and the police went in search of her husband (from whom she was separated), and upon whom suspicion rests. The horrible affair has created quite a painful sensation throughout the town and neighbourhood. A RUINED PARISH.—Before the present civil war the population of St. Mary's, in Louisiana, con- tained 12,019 slaves, assessed as worth 6,433,250 dols. averaging 535 dols. for man, woman, and child. The plantations were assessed at the value of 5,948,100 dols., the slave property being, as usual, worth more than the real estate. Each slave was reckoned to net his master 175 dols. per annum—one-third of his as- sessed value. The whole taxable property of the parish was assessed at 14,000,000 dels., giving to each of the 4,021 white inhabitants the handsome sum of 3,500 dols. The war has destroyed this property, and obliterated these values. The slave prosperity has gone, and the white population are beggared. First came a derangement of all ordinary pursuits, and then it degenerated into anarchy. MARRIAGES OF CONSANGUINITY.—M. de Oricq- Cassaux, with a view to refute the arguments lately brought forward to prove the danger of marriages amongst relations, quoted at the last sitting of the a Academy of Sciences the example of the ancient Kings of Persia, who, since the time of C ambyses, had been in the habit of marrying their sisters, and even their daughters, and yet produced a very fine race. SIGNIFICANT WORDS FROM FRANCE — M. Taillefer in the French Chamber concluded a recent speech in these significant words We are in presence of a generation which has not passed through 1848 as we have done. and which is taking possession of France and will possess it soon. This generation aspires towards the liberty of the press. We who have witnessed the Restoration, the Government of Louis Philippe, and the Republic, treat the liberty of the press as a young man treats the woman who has deceived him. Confidence is leaving us; but the young generation have not yet been deceived, they have faith; and sooner or later you will have to reckon with them. On the other hand, many of those who have passed throsgh 1848 saw, as anecesfiity and without repugnance, the President of the Republic put the whole of our public liberties in his pocket. I compare them to those who the morning after a debauch accept cold water as a regimen. The regimen has now lasted 12 years. But their appetite has come back. It is no personal impatience I exhibit; it is a situation which I see, judge, and signalise and I end with the words uttered by the Emperor, and which, in my judgment, express not a !hope, but a truth-namely, that the victory at last always belongs to public opinion." A COLOURED ACTOR !—When in 1852 Moise'' was produced at the Grand Opera, Paris, the singer who played Amenophis, an Egyptian prince, entered into his character nearly as much as the Othello men. tioned by Mr. Dickens, who blacked himself all over. He stained his face, neck, and arms of a good Egyptian brownish black but there his painting arrangements ended, and he depended for his dusky legs on the maillot" maker of the theatre. At the very last moment, however, the prince's legs had not arrived! Quoi faire ? There was nothing to do but don a pair of those flesh-coloured tight garments usually worn by pages on the stage. The want of local colour," how. ever, was soon discovered, and not approved of, and, after his first exit, Amenophis was forced to scrub himself to a lighter hue, more in harmony with his legs. This carried him pretty well through the second act, in which he sang well, was applauded, and got excited. As he rushed off at the end of act ii. he saw the tardy tailor with his black breeches, and, for- getful of the change he had made above, at once put them on, and appeared changing to the eye like a dusky chameleon—in the third act a Georgian to the hips, and a nigger below. It was too much for the audience, and seriously endangered the success of Moise." A FEROcious Wouf:—Numerous wolves have shown themselvesin Galicia during the present winter, having apparently come from Russian Poland, and have inflicted damage on flocks and herds in parts where they were hitherto but little known. On the evening of the 4th ult. and during the next day a peculiarly ferocious animal created great terror in three villages, named Pieczygory, Horodlowice, and Ulhuwck. It showed itself at the first place about six o'clock in the evening, and fell upon three persons, who were seriously injured. One countryman was thrown down by the wolf, which tore off the man s ear, and seriously injured him in the face. A second came to the rescue with a stick, which was soon broken; the wolf then turned on his new opponent, lacerating his hand but the mantned, nevertheless, to hold the marauder tightly. lhe wolf soon freed himself from the grasp of the man, and again attacked its previous victim till driven oil by several neighbours, after having wounded ten persons altogether. On the same night the wolf showed itself at Horodlowice, where it wounded three countrymen, and then pro- ceeded to Ulhuwck, where eight more persons received ugly marks of its ferocious nature. At this place, however, it was destined that its career should cease. Here one I wan Wasylaszko was attacked, and although he was without weapons, he seized the brute, and, with the assistance of his son Simon, held it firmly by J the neck, though he WM bitten in both bands and on the body. He then called to his daughter Thekla to bring him an axe, which she did, but in obeying her brother's request to point out where the head of the wolf was, the beast seized her by the hand. Young Simon, nevertheless, although also bitten in the hand, hacked away boldly at the savage animal, and stretched the marauder on the ground apparently dead, but it afterwards raised itself and crept away, till further progress was stayed by renewied blows of the axe. It proved to be a fine old wolf oi unusual size, and, as a proof of its prowess, 21 persons pre- sented themselves for treatment at an hospital at Lemberg. ATROCIOUS OUTRAGE ON MASZINI.—The French police have been guilty of a diabolic attempt. They have sought to throw into the house of M. Mazzini paper shells filled with poisonous charges. Luckily these missiles struck against the column of an English printing-house, and exploded without harm to the intended victim, but with damaging effect upon the conspirators. We believe that their extradition has been demanded by the British Governmenl-Punch. HONOUR TO THE BRAVE — The "London Gazette of Tuesday notifies the conferring of the Victoria Cross upon two soldiers in connection with the New Zealand war. One was Sergeant M'Kenna, of the 65th Regiment, who, when all the commisioned officers of his small detachment were killed or wounded by the fire of the enemy, assumed the command, broke through a greatly superior force of the enemy, and bright off the survivors with little further loss. Mr. M Kenna has also been promoted to the rank of an ensign for the same gallant action.—The other decora- tion is conferred on Lance-corporal Ryan, of the same regiment, who with two privates watched over and ultimately brought in the body of the late Captain Swift, who was mortally wounded in the affair. The two privates have also been recommended for the de- coration.

EPITOME OF NEWS. BRITISH AND FOREIGN. The Parliamentary session will open with 47 rail- way directors in the House of Lords, and 153 in the House of Commons. A celebrated German poet, Count Auersperg (writing Under the name of Anastasius Grun "), has finished a poem in ballads, the subject ot which is no other than our old friend of Sherwood Forest, Robin Hood. General Halleck says there are now some 223 regi- ments of Federal cavalry, and at the same rate as the Army of the Potomac, they will require the issue in the present year of 435,000 cavalry horses. The ice-houses of the Bois de Boulogne were lately ly filled from the surface of the lakes. The consumption in the capital is about 12,000,0001b. annually. The Annamite ambassadors, after being tossed about in the Terceira for three weeks, and daily on the verge of foundering, have turned up in the Straits of Messina (7th January), but point-blank declined going further in any Spanish craft. They telegraphed to the French Government I their reluctance to continue the tale of that tub whereon the steamer Muette was placed at their disposal for convey- ance to Egypt. We have to announce the death of Lord Arthur Lennox, son of the fourth Duke of Richmond, who expired on Friday last at his residence, Ovington-square. Brompton, aged 57. "A lady (22), with 3001. and great expectations, proficient in music, singing, drawing, and French, desires a partner of education and position. Cartes will be promptly returned.—Advertisementia Manchester paper. The total number of Baptist churches in Great Britain and Ireland is 2,373, of which 2,210 are in England and Wales. The aggregate number of members reported to the Baptist Union is 176,232; and estimating the unreporting churches at the same average, the Baptists in the United Kingdom actually in church membership must be very nearly 250,000. Kingdom actually in church membership must be very nearly 250,000. On Sunday last a Te Deum was sung at the Greek Church. Bigher Broughton, for the safe delivery of Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales. A meeting of Great Eastern creditors took place on Saturday, but, beyond deciding to abandon the lottery scheme, nothing definite was determined. Arrangements are being very promptly made to return the money already •j subscribed. John Gilliatt, of Brigg, Lincolnshire, has now ob- tained the great age of 103 years. He still enjoys excellent health, and retains all his faculties better than could be ex- pected. His memory at times is rather clouded in trying to remember episodes in his military career. The loss of one eye was caused by the hot sand in Egypt. On Saturday afternoon an inquest was held on the body of Joseph Brady, a workman in the employ of the National Company for boatbuilding by machinery, who died from the effects of injuries received while putting a strap upon a wheel working a saw. The deceased has left a widow with three children. The father of the deceased died at Lambeth on the Monday previous, and both bodies have been Interred in the same grave. From recent indications it appears probable that the cotton speculation will shortly be as rampant in France as it has been in England. The Danish Dagblad says Tbe news that the Princess Alexandra has just given birth to a Prince has in- troduced a ray of happiness into the Royal Family, who acutely feel the weight of the painful (political* situation. The Danish nation, full of the warmest sympathy with the young and lovely Princess, sincerely shares the joy" pro- duced by this happy message." In the Matrimonial and Divorce Court, it apitears that there are 86 cases set down for hearing this term, of which 25 are to he tried before common juries, and the re- mainder before the Court without jury. There is no special jury case, and there Is one pauper cause. At the adjourned meeting of the manufacturers of earthenware in the Staffordshire Potteries, at Burslem, it was decided to raise the price of earthenware. There has been found, in the Public Record-office, a very curious holograph on paper of the period, which is probably unique, and which contains a sorig or melody by the celebrated Doctor John Bull, the reputed composer of the National Anthem. On Monday the corridors of the House of Commons were relieved from their usual dull quiet which prevails at this season of the year by hosts of Parliamentary agents, clerks, promoters, and others, who are interested in the numerous schemes which it is proposed to submit to Par- liament in the forthcoming session. The plans of no less than 504 railway bills have been deposited. William Morrison, a )ad of 16 years of age, em- ployed as a porter at the Whifflet station on the Caledonian Railway, left his lodgings about 6 p.m. the other evening. Nothing further was seen of him until 20 minutes afterwards, when his body, torn to fragments, some of the pieces lying 30 yards apart, was found on the railway near Calder-bridge. It Is supposed that Morrison's death was caused by his step- ping off the "six-foot" while a mineral train was passing towards Glasgow, and getting run over by the limited mail. One of the officials of the Government dockyard at Sheerness has been committed for trial on a charge of In- fringing the neutrality laws. He occupies the responsible positions of inspector of machinery afloat and principal engineer. He has been liberated on heavy bail. At Birmingham, Charles Edward Eyre, aged twenty-one, a chemist, Is in custody on suspicion of having caused the death of his wife, Anne Eyre, by giving her poison. The Empress Eugenie, whilst skating on the lake in the Bois de Boulogne, fell twice. After her second fall, she said to the lucky individual whose happy fate it was to raise her from the ice, "One should learn everything, even how to fall! How wonderfully prescient would these words have sounded had they issued from the lips of Marie Antoi- nette Mateo Lopez, a Spaniard by birth, but a naturalised subject of the United States, who recently died at Mar- seilles, left a sum of 3,867L, deposited with Ligardi and Co., bankers, of London, to be distributed among such poor fami- lies as had suffered in their fortunes by the bankruptcy of the Spanish Government. Throwing aside all ceremony, the Empress took upon herself, last Monday, the office of naming the dances and, with laughing perseverance, each time a waltz was in request called for Rositft," the waltz she" danced with the Emperor at the very first-ball where they met, and the very first time they had danced together."—Puis correspondence of the Court Journal. The following Orleanist marriages are on the t-Pis The Count de Paris with the Infanta Marie Isabella; Prince Philippe of Wurtemburg with a Bavarian Princess, sister of the Empress of Austria; and Prince Philippe ot Saxe-Coburg, son of Princess Clementine of Orleans, with an Austrian Archduchess. A curious illustration of the seventy of ,the frost occurred at Gran town, the other W AITS. Macintyre, in going out to feed her poultry, A search was instituted, and between the burn ana the house the bird was found frozen to the ground, not water was obtained, and the poor creature released. |ho says the Edinburgh Courant.] A man deserted from the Federal army and married a woman in Canada, lne wile having occasion to go to Detroit on business, requested her husband to come and meet her. When tne man reached there, his wife denounced him as a deserter, and received a reward of thirty dollars. Some men of Pitskelly (N.B.) were returning from • shooting match, when two of them quarrelled, and one of them, struck his companion with the butt-end of his gun, occasioning his death. Her Majesty's new steam-tender Alberta, built to supersede the Fairy, has turned out a most lamentable failure in speed anasea-going qualities. The following advertisement is taken from a Paris paper:—"A young lady, aged twenty-five years, with very strong beard, which will attract the curious, wishes to become demoiselle in a cafe. Address," &c. It is said that Lord Cowley and M. Drouyn de Lhuys are not on good terms. The answer the latter gave to the proposal for ,a congress about Denmark was the short, simple, and cool one, France will see about it." The Channel Fleet has made a most satisfactory trip to Madeira, the iron-clads having rolled very little more than the wooden ones. Probably they had fine weather, otherwise they would have rolled—as they have always done —heavily. •; The famous Black Bess> of Astley's, that rode to York with Dick Turpin on its back, night after night, for many a year, has come to an untimely end, being drowned in the Irwell. The Morning Star informs the public that a rumour was current in London, last week, that there was a difference of opinion, in Ministerial "a split in the Cabinet on the Dwisb question." The Queen of Madagascar is reported to have mar- ried her Prime Minister. The favoured individual had ap propriated all the crown jewels. 1he population, p(1ur souls, were highly dissatisfied: The Queen is about to erect a lodge on the side (II the Lochnagar, for her accommodation when going to thf top of that mountain. It is to contain a parlour, kitchcll, gillies' room and stabling for ponies. Mr. David Malcolmson, a shipwright, of DaAtuii, and a volunteer, was cleaning his loaded rifle, when thr, charge exploded and lodged in his breast. He shouted, unc! assistance arrived, but he died in ten minutes. Rodgers, a carter, at Dufftown, loaded a duubk barrelled gun to shoot a dog. One charge had been fired. The man was holding the gun under his arm, the niuzzk being pointed in the opposite direction to where I)ey, butcher, and another man were standing. By some UP known cause the shot went off; the bullet, having struck on some stones that were lying near, returned, lodging in thv head of Dey, close above the right eye, causing instant death. The Marquis of Bath's preserves have this year about 14,000 head of game. It is said that the insurances on Whittlebury-iodge. the seat of Lord Southampton, burnt down recently, arc all vitiated by his lordship having lately built a gasometer aiut introduced gas into his house without giving any notice, > the fire-oflices. A gentleman in London, having twenty-four yards of freehold land in Fenchurch-street, which is required hy a railway, reckons it to be fairly worth 57,000f. The agitation for the repeal of the lualt tax is warmly carried on by the farmers in different parts of th" country. On Saturday, a meeting of farmers in Nottingham "pronounced" in favour of its unconditional repeal, Rw1 Mr. Barrow, M.P., undertook to support their prayers in the House of Commons. The rumour that the senate of Frankfort had in terdicted the lottery for the Great Eastern in that city is contradicted by a London contemporary. The senate only asked for Information about it. The second man charged with being concerncd in the Yorkshire incendiary fires was again examined at Pock- lington on Saturday, but notning runner was maae um. against him. It is a case of suspicion, founded mostly on his own admissions. He was again remanded. A man, after first dashing his hand through a JJir* mingham pawnbroker's window, and seizing a case of rings, fractured the skull of a person who advanced to seize him. by means of a stone slung in a handkerchief, and maimed a second who came up. Eventually he was captured. The Porte ha& ordered that M. Ognau, the Captain- General of the Polish naval forces, is to be treated as n pirate if he seizes ships in Turkish waters. I At a shooting match at Forgieside, near Keith, ;< young man of the name of Turner was accidentally shot through the head. He had been resting on a bank, and in drawing the gun towards him while about to fire, the shol went off and passed through his head. Alexandre Dumas the elder is said to be a citizen of eighty-four towns! The belle of the first grand ball of the TuilerieK was an English lady, Mrs. Miles, wife of an English ofllcer of Lancers. The Earl of Seafield has planted on his Strathspey estate, during the past eight years, upwards of 10,OOO,Wo plants, being at an average of two millions annually. As a sort of political demonstration, pigeons ha lately been painted, in many parts of Germany, theforbiddsf colours of black, red, and gold. This awful flight has not. been traced to any agitators, though the police have betu active in the search La France gravely assures us that "M. Stanley. born at Alderley,"is the Duke of Newcastle at the ColoniHl- office. The infant Prince, the son of the Prince of Wale, was, it is said, wrapped in wadding until flannel from Windsor Castle, and baby linen from Marlborough-housr, could be obtained. The mourning drapery which had been left stand ing about her Majesty's seat in Whippingham Church, and the seats of the Royal household, during the last two years-, has beeu removed. A dispute having arisenover a money transaction be- tween a second-hand clothes dealer and a customer at Not- tingham, the tradesman became so fiercely excited upon the subject, that he dropped down dead. La France, adverting to Rouher's speech, in the Corps Legislatif, says its best commentary are a few wort'" penned by the present occupant of the French throuc, apropos of public opinion—" Follow it, you are dragged along; resist it, you are overthrown; go before it, and it will uphold you." "A number of concurrent indications prove only too clearly, that the last desperate struggle of the Polis-h nation is drawing to a conclusion. One by one the insurgent, leaders are captured, their bands dispersed, and themseKtn consigned, after a decent interval of a few days, to the gibbet or to the bullet.Times. Mrs. Phillips, a London lodging-house kceft'? whose husband was a butler in a gentleman s family, poi- soned herself last week because she was jealous of him. If rumour be correct, Sir Robert Peel, at the nox I; election, will offer himself for Londonderry, and not lor Tamworth. A few days ago, Mr. Eardie, storekeeper, II Store, nearBeith, had a cow killed, and in cutting up Ur animal a piece of a reaping hook, twelve inches Ion?, wa-; found in its bladder. The cow was apparently unhurt when killed. A lady persisted in walking through an Irish town, on the 12th of January last, with a large orange lily in h"?< breast. A crowd followed, threatening violence. A police- officer remonstrated with her, but, as she would not rentoi, the flower, he took it from her. The lady has commence-) an action against the officer. She contends that she had » right to wear the flower, and that it was the officer's duty t, drive away the mob and protect her in wearing it. A fire broke out in Lincoln's-inn-fields, London, ia the upper story of a house. A lireman mounted a tabic a room underneath, and proceeded with his a.\c to CUi, away the flooring of the room, which was evidently ou lire. A portion of this flooring was burning, and an opening was soon made, when, to his horror, as he was still using hih axe. the dead body of a woman, frightfully burned and biackenc1, fell through the orifice onto his shoulders. In the Rotunda, at Dublin, is to be seen an i xhibi tion of drawing, engineering, cabinet and carpcuitr t- work. embrolderv and various other nroducts." the work of .the men of the 12th Regiment. At the suggestion of Coluu:' Ponsonby, they have devoted their leisure hours to producing specimens of their skill and industry, instead of ti-astilif, money and time in idleness and dissipation. The cxhibitiini was opened by the Lord Lieutenant in person. One of the witnesses against the mutineers of tbt ship Flowery Land stated that they compelled a boy, nuiurfi Casap, to leave the boat, and go on board the sinking ve .sc', He did so, crying, and exclaiming, in broken Eugli Finish, to cut me quick." After this witness saw the ';0"1. go up in the rigging, and the ship went down, he still cliii_ ing to the rigging, till the waves closed round and ovet him. Mr. Ironsides, a somewhat eccentric member of tlm Sheffield Town Council, told that body, on Thursday 1;> t. something new, but we apprehend It was not true. He ',air¡ it was known all over England that an estrangement had taken place between her Majesty and the Prince of Wales in con- sequence of his marriage. The statement was met with cries of "No, no," from many of Mr. Ironside's colleagues. A superstitious belief exists at Scone that, in tlw event of the body of a tailor being allowed to pass through the churchyard gate, the first bride kirked" thereafter will commit suicide within a very short period after her marriage, and that the first child carried to church to be christencd will eommit suicide before it reaches the age of eight year?. The other day a tailor drowned himself in the Tay, and as his body was being conveyed to the grave, a mob of women attempted to prevent its being admitted. James Gooding, a shoemaker, of Ipswich, and of sickly constitution, loat three children of diphtheria in on* week, last September. He was a remarkably well-informed man for his position in life, and up to that time he had been a very sober man. The loss preyed upon his mind, and lie latterly took to drink. For his surviving child Elizabetl). aged six, an imbecile cripple, he had a great affection, ami frequently said that he only lived for her. Last week he murdered his child and then committed suicide. A groom and a footman in the service of the Hcv, Lloyd Roberts, of Ryton, had been in the habit of warming their room with charcoal, and one night during the past week they retired to rest at the. usual hour, but not rising on the following morning, one of their fellow-servants went to call them. As he received no reply, the door was forced open, when the groom was found lying dead, and the foot- man gave but the very faintest signs of animation. By means of galvanism the footman eventually rallied

THE MARKETS. MARK LANE, MONDAr. The arrivals of wheat from Essex fresh up to this mom ing's market were small; but there was an increased show of produce from Kent on the stands. The general conditioi, of the supply, notwithstanding the dampness of the weather, was tolerably good. Both for red and white qualities th" trade was in a sluggish state, and the prices realised c.\ hibited a decline of from Is to 2s per qr., when compared with Monday last. The market was by no means extensively supplied with foreign wheat. There was, however, no dis- position on the part of millers to effect purchases beyond their immediate requirements, and these were in many in- stances made at a decline in price from Monday last of Is per qr. Floating cargoes of grain were less active, and a fall of I s perqr. took place in the valueof wheat. Spring corn was steady. Thesupply of barley was moderately good, and fine malting parcels moved off steadily at full prices: otherwise the barley trade was flat, but previous quotations were sup- ported. In malt a fair average business was transacted n t full prices. The supply of oats was moderately lar! Heated parcels were a dull inquiry, on rather easier terms but good aud fine corn supported former prices, with « moderate inquiry. The trade for beans was steady, at lat <? rates. The show of samples was moderate. Peas were in fair average request, and prices ruled firm. The flour tradi was dull. The supply of barrels was very moderate but French qualities were offered somewhat freely. I'ricef. ruled in some instances, both for English and foreign pro- duce. slightly in favour of buyers. PricesBRITISH. Q. WHEAT ..Essex, Kent, and Suffolk, white, per qr. 4:) to I BARLEY ..Malting.-•;••••• 25 to m OATS Essex and Suffolk IS to u:: BEANS new GG Tick and Harrow 30 t,, PEAS ^sh, white 36 to Ditto, gray 30 to :H FLOCK English, town (per sack) 86 to 40 Ditto, 2nd town 32 to 3..1 SEED Canary perqr. 56 to 6.1 Carraway perewt — to — Rape perqr 6*2 to 6.• Hempseed ..per qr.— to l-J METROPOLITAN CATTLE MARKET, MONDAT. Our market to-day was but moderately supplied with foreign stock; nevertheless, the demand for all kinds was in a sluggish state, at barely stationary prices. The arrivals of beasts from our own grazing districts were on the decrease compared with Monday last, but from Scotland they wcrtt large; whilst the general quality of the supply was prime. For most breeds the demand was in a sluggish state, at the. late decline in value. The best Scots and crosses sold at £ >* per 81b. Notwithstanding that the show of sheep was very moderate, all breeds met a slow inquiry. The best Downs and half-breds sold at late rates; but heavy breeds were, in some instances, a shade lower than on this day se'imighl The top figure for Downs was 6s per BIb. There were a faw Dorset and Somersetshire laipbs on otter, but they com- manded very little attention; prices ranged from 6s Sdtr. 7s 8d per 81b. The supply of calves was very moderate nevertheless, the demand was inactive, at late rates, 11, from 4s to 58 2d per SIb. Pigs were in fair average supply and sluggish request, on former terms. POTATOES. Fair average supplies of potatoes have been received at these markets since we last wrote. Most aualitias havs moved off steadily, and prices have been will supported Yorkshire Regents, 80s to 90s; ditto Flukes, 95s to 110B ditto Rocks, 60s to 70s; Scotch Regents, 55s to SOf, ditto Hock;, 60a to 60s; Kent and Essex Regents, 60s to 80s per ton. HOPS. The market continues to be very moderately supplied with English hops, the trade tor which rules firm, at extreme currencies. For foreign qualitaes mere is a steady demand, at full quotations. The Import last week amounted to 581 bales from New York, 250 bales from Bremen, 80 pooket3 and 12G bales from Antwerp, 25 bales from Ostend, and 9G bales from Boulogne. Mid and East Kents, 105s to lOOs Weald of Kents, 100s to 135s; Sussex, 105s to 120s; Bavarian, 105s ta ltis; Belgian, 70s to 78s; American, 105s to 120s perewfc*? WOOL. Inconsequence of the lateness of the season in Australia, the first series of public sales of colonial wool for the year will not commence in this market till about the middle of March. The present arrivals consist of 7,500 bales from Sydney, 1,454 Port Philip, 221 Van Diemen's Land, 86/ Adelaide, 995 New Zealand, and 9,763 bales from tbe Cape ot Good Hope. Since we last wrote the trade generally has rated firm, at folly previous quotations.!