Monmouthshire Merlin

FRENCH AND ENGLISH BEAUTIES. TRIPPIKG gently, tripping lightly. Little foot that wakes no sound; Glancing keenly, glancing brightly, On each dear-loved object round. Figure slender, jetty tresses, Fillets might be proud to bind; Eye that sparkles, and expresses AU the active, joyous mind Pleased with life, and ever smiling, Cheerful star 'mid sorrow s night, From her bosom cares exiling, Mere existence a delight. With no deep thoughts spirit-laden, Yet most rich in fancy's fire; Such is Gallia's light-souled aiden; Stint not praises-love, admire. Saxon Beauty! on my dreaming, Pensive, radiant vision, rise. Moving proudly, yet still seeming Mild of mein, with love soft eyes. There she leaus- faint-blushing roses, Softest hues from morning caught, Tint her cheek, where calm reposes; Smooth that brow-the throne of thought. Plainly classic, richly shining. Back is drawn the dark-brown hair; As the moon, with silver lining, Makes at eve fair clouds more fair. So the soul doth fling more brightness On the form already bright; Beauty graceful in its lightness, Winning, growing on the sight. With the statue's fine ideal, Carved by matchless Grecian skill, She doth mingle all the real, Warmer, but as perfect still. Blue as azure heaven above her, Looking virtue, shine her eyes, Spirit's home; who would not love her, And that English Beauty prize? Truth, affection, and deep feeling, Nestle, dove-like, in her breast; Guardian angels, round her stealing, Watch her, guide her, make her blest. —NICHOLAS MICHELL, in Bentley's Miscellany.

Difficulty is a severe instructor, set over us by the supreme ordinance of a parental guardian and instructor, who knows us better than we know our- selves as be loves us better too. He that wrestles with us strengthens onr nerves and sharpens our skill; our antagonist is thus our belper.-Barke. A man is, in general, better pleased," says Dr. Johnson, "when he has a good dinner upon his table, than when his wife talks Greek." You may wish to get a wife without a failing; but what if the lady, after you get her, happens to be in want of a husband of the same character ? A Chinese maxim says We require four things of women that virtue dwell in her heart-that modesty play on her brow-that sweetness flow from her lips—that industry occupy her hands. A judicious silence is better than ru P without charity.—Francis de Sales' Pride is th/ MT. pert wrestler, usually gives a man W The b7aTe only know how to forgive; it is the most refined and generous pitch of virtue human naThe world looks for men abroad, God looks for men at home. He passes by the high emblazoned achievement, and notes the quiet beauty of domestic life. A COMMON FAULT.—An Irishman going down Barclay-street, New York, in hot haste, in order to get on board the boat, which he saw from the distance was at the wharf, arrived there just in time to be too late -in other words, just as the boat had unslipped her fastening. and put off from the dock. Ah Jemmy," said a friend of his who had been watching his movements, "you did not run fast enough." Yes, I did," said Je; I ran fast enough, but did not start soon enough. A dignified clergyman going to his hvingo spend the summer, met near his house a comical old chimney-sweeper with whom he used to chat. So John," said the doctor, "whence come you From your house, sir, where this morning I swept all vTr chimneys." How many were they ? ask.d •• Sol less than twenty,' quoth John. "Wel" and how much a chimney have ,on ?" « Onl, an • „ "Why then,' said the doc- a shilling a piece s»; J deal 0f money in a tor, you have earned a grea^ «• thrnwino- little time." "Yes, yes, rejo ned John, throwing his bag over his shoulder, we black coats get our money easy enough." rr t, people PROVERBS WORTH PRESERVISG.-Hasty people drink the wine out of life scaldin o is the only master who takes his servants without a character.— A sour-faced wile fills the a\e. tent's the mother of good digestion. 1 and Poverty marry together, their ai. ,1 and Crime.—Where hard work kiUs ten, idleness kills ten hundred men.—Folly and pride walk si e y side-He that borrows binds himself with his neighbour's rope.—He that's too good for good advice, is too good for his neighbours company.- Friends and photographs never natter-Wisdom is always at home to those who call, the firmest friends ask the fewest favours.. —. BARON HUMBOLDT AND PRINCE ALBERT.-The Athenceum of Saturday contains a review of the extraordinary volume of correspondence of the late Baron Humboldt, noticed in our columns a few days ago in a letter from Berlin. In the volume is a letter from Prince Albert, acknowledging the receipt of Humboldt's Kosmos. Unfortunately, says the jLthenaum, tlm last contains an expression which Humboldt, not being, perhaps, in the best of humours when he wrote about it to Varnhagen, has turned into ridicule. The Prince Consort concludes his letter thus- May Heaven, whose circling seas of light and star terraces you so nobly describe, preserve yOu still for many years to your country, the world, and the kosmos itself, in undisturbed fresh- ness both of body and soul. This is the sincere wish of your entirely devoted, Albert Upon this Hum- bql'dt remarks to Varnha £ en & e rince 'makes me speak of circling seas of light and star ter- races,a Coburg variation on my text, and quite English, from Windsor, where there is nothing but terraces.' He then goes on to state that once in the < Kosmos he used the word star carpet, for which the Prinee has substituted 'star terraces,an offence which, we think, need not have been visited with any severity. The Prince Consort was evidently no favourite with Humboldt, who complains of him in this very letter for his want of politeness towards him some years previously, when at Stolzenfels. On that occasion he says the Prince asked him to present a copy of the Kosmos] which Humboldt, of course, did, and the Prince,' he says, had the politeness not to thank me.' The Prince's letter to him he characterises as 'a wooden, weak epistle;' and he is even vexed at the Prince sending him a copy of Catherwood's Views in Central America-' a book,' he says, that I purchased myself two years ago; a fine edition of Byron would have been far more agreeable.

FRIGHTFUL TRAGEDY AT EHREN- BREITSTEIN. The small town of Elirenbreitstein, which lies at the foot of the gigantic fortress of that name, has been just frightened out of its proprietory by the commission of a dreadful murder within its quiet precincts. At the Coblenz Carnival on Shrove Tuesday no character was more conspicuous than Herr Meder, a well to-do proprietor of a tavern adjoining the post-office in Ebrenbreitstein. Dis- guised as a buxom matron, supposed to be cele- brating her silber-hochzeit," or 25th anniversary of her wedding-day, he sat in a huge van drawn by eight horses. Seated by the side of his consort, he dispensed nods and smiles to the admiring crowd. A band of musicians, in grotesque dresses, occupied the front of the vehicle, while a. humpbacked cook, in appropriate attire, waited on the wedding feast, and replenished the spacious bowl of Rhine wine, from which both bride and bridegroom indulged in frequent potations. In the evening, at the bal masque at the theatre, he was again the observed of all observers, his jovial countenance darkened by no shadow of the fate impending over him. On the Thursday night following he was brutally murdered while asleep in his bed, with his wife and child, the occupants of another bed in the same apartment. His head was literally smashed to pieces with the repeated blows of an axe found lying at the foot of the bed. Abont three o'clock, some hours after the commission of the deed, a servant, who slept in a room above, was attracted by the cries of his mistress, who was found tied hand and foot behind the door of the room. She declared that about eleven o'clock two men suddenly entered the apartment, and at once proceeded to their bloody business, one striking her sleeping husband a succession of blows, the first must have been instantly fatal, his companion at the same time threatening her with a similar fate if she made the slightest noise or resistance. She was then gagged and bound. The men then proceeded to rob 119 a secertaire in the adjoining apartment of nearly 200 thalers, and then decamped. It is impossible to describe the sensation occasioned by this shocking tragedy in Coblenz and Ehrenbreitstein. The funeral of the murdered man, who was highly esteemed, was attended by an immense multitude, and gossip was rife as to who had perpetrated the deed. At length, after the country had been scoured for many miles, suspicion fell upon those nearer home. At a respectable school in Coblenz was a teacher named Keller, a well-educated man, of pre- possessing manners and person, but of loose morals. It was-whispered he carried on a licentious inter- course with the wife of Meder, a young and attractive woman. On the day preceding the murder, but after the termination of the Carnival, he hired a beard and blouse. The former he returned on the following day, but the blouse has not been forthcom- ing, and the account he gives of It is highly unsatis- factory but suspicion is not confined to him. His paramour, the wife of the murdered man, is deeply implicated. By entries in Keller's memorandum- book it appears he has lately received considerable sums of money from the woman; but the darkest discovery is that of a bloody footmark near the secretaire containing the money of the unfortunate man, in the room adjoining to that in which he slept, and which exactly corresponds with the foot of the woman; but, as she was discovered bound hand and foot and incapable of moving, it is presumed she herself assisted to rifle the secretaire, and then sub- mitted to be bound, in order to give an appearance of her being rather a victim than an accomplice in the deed. However, Keller is in prison and the woman under strict surveillance. At the July assizes at Neuwied, where the trial will take place, the facts, such as have been collected, will be fully disclosed, and the guilt or innocence of the suspected persons pronounced. In the meantime the occurrence excites the greatest interest in the neighbourhood. A CLUE TO THE PERPETRATORS OF A MURDER COMMITTED 3 YEARS AGO. A clue has at length been obtained to the discovery of the murderers of Mr. Luke White and his wife, who were murdered about three years ago in the village of Boltou-on-Dearne, near this town. It will be remembered that on the night of Dec. 4, 1856, Mr. White, an aged person, who was the village post-master, a druggist, and local preacher, while I 0z!1 engaged in preparing his sermon for the following Sunday, heard some one come to his shop door, and on going to see what was wanted was knocked down and murdered. His wife hearing a noise in the shop went to see what was the matter, and was also murdered, both bodies being found in a large pool of blood in the forenoon of the next day. No traces of robbery having been committed were visible, and the affair was shrouded in the most impenetrable mystery. Although every effort was made by the constabulary, and large rewards offered, no clue could be found to the perpetrators of the crime, and the coroner's inquest, after sitting for a considerable time, was obliged to return an open verdict. On the day the murder was committed a hawker was said to have been in the village vending caps and small wares, but no clue could be obtained to him afterwards, nor could he in any way be connected with the com- mission of the deed. The only person to whom suspicion pointed was White, the village constable, but no evidence could be adduced to connect him with the murder; but, on the contrary, it was shown that the murdered man had been one of his warmest supporters, and had that day been engaged in getting up a memorial to Colonel Cobbe in favour of his being permanently stationed in the village. How- ever, nothing coming to light. White left the village, and has since been living to some extent as a suspected man in his native town of Barnsley. Recently, an Irish hawker, who is undergoing six years' penal servitude at Portsmouth, has made certain statements relative to the affair, completely exonerating White from any participation in the murder, and pointing out the guilty parties, stating that, although he himself did not commit the murder, he was in the house when the murdered couple were lying dead on the floor. In consequence of these disclosures the Secretary of State has issued warrants for the removal of the prisoner from Portsmouth to york, and for the apprehension of the parties criminated. ————— DR. GUTHRIE ON AMERICAN SLAVERY. Dr. Guthrie's speech at the Edinburgh neeting to express sympathy with Dr. Cheever, has been the subject of misrepresentation and attack in the Pres- byterian, Philadelphia paper. The doctor has ad- dressed a letter to the editor, not to apologise," but to deny the misrepresentation, and to renew his protest against American slavery. You say (he says) that I was bloodthirsty.' A horrid charge to br'ino- against any minister of the Gospel. If you mean, by applying this abusive language to me, that I delight in the shedding of human blood, or would have recourse to arms rather than suffer any wrono-, j deny your charge; and appeal for my veracity to those who know me, and know how I abhor the cruelties inseparable from war. Perhaps you mean something else. Perhaps you mean that I would regard the slaves, if they had a fair pros- pect of success, as justified in rising to recover their freedom, and, as a last resource, meeting arms with arms in the battle for liberty. If so, I plead guilty to the charge; guilty, I must add, as were our Wallace and your "Washington." After quoting the testimony of President Edwards and Jefferson against slavery, Dr. Guthrie continues:—"Though a violent termination to slavery is not one that any reflecting and right-thinking man would wish, the system, as one of cruelty, of immorality, of robbery, and of murder, is accursed both of God and man. It is the plague-spot of your State, the plague-spot of your churches and should its end, which God forbid, be one of violence, on the heads of those who are not straining every nerve to bring it to a speedy and bloodless termination will lie the guilt of all the fearful crimes that shall accompany its dying struggles." C, I APPALLING MORTALITY AT SEA. ARRIVAL OF THE TASMANIA." DREADFUL SUFFER- INGS ON BOARD. The clipper-ship Great Tasmania arrived at Liver- pool, from Calcutta, on Thursday morning, with detachments of the 3rd Bengal, 3rd Madras, and 5th Bengal Infantry, some of the men of the Bengal Artillery, and of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Light Cavalry the total number of soldiers being 937, besides 20 officers. Between 60 and 70 had died on the voyage. The scene on board was heartrending. More than 300 men were suffering either from scurvy or dysen- tery, and of these about 140 were in such a state that, had the arrival of the ship been delayed much longer, their death was inevitable. Many of them lay upon the deck, and others, fortunate enough to have been provided with hammocks, were without any other covering than their wearing apparel. Their appearance was pitiful, and in some instances sickening. Men who a few months ago were hale and hearty were literally reduced to skeletons by long-continued dysentery, their bones and sinews being only covered by skin, and their faces pallid and emaciated, more like those of corpses than of living beings. On the evening of the ship's arrival about 100 of the sufferers were taken to the workhouse in spring carts. A message had been previodsly sent to Mr. Carr, the governor of the workhouse, request- ing him to send down something to cover the invalids. Sixty rugs were returned, but they were insufficient, and the consequence was that about 40 men were laid in the carts half nude. One man died on the way. He had on a pair of drawers and a flannel singlet, both saturated with wet. So, it is said, he had lain for weeks exposed to the weather, and so he died. His appearance was horrible, like that of a man who had been starved to death. Three more deaths occurred before the following night. The names of the deceased men are William Coleman, Thomas Beachey, James Pyett, and Phillips. At the dead house, Prince's Dock, are the bodies of three other men removed from the ship. The names of these are Thomas Holt, John Murphy, and William Matthews. If the account given by the men is correct-and by parties evidently averse to affording information, it has been, in some measure, confirmed—there is a serious responsibility resting somewhere. It appears that these soldiers are a portion of those who, refusing to be transferred from the service of the East India Company to that of her Majesty, without receiving the usual bounty given to recruits, were discharged and ordered to be sent home. The men say that under the circumstances but little consideration was given to their comfort. A contract was entered into to bring them home at £7 each, the Government undertaking to provide the stores. A lot of old stores, lying at Fort William, Calcutta, considered unfit for use there, were thought good enough for discharged soldiers, and these were placed on board. There is no doubt that at that time good provisions were dear in Calcutta, and the commander of the ship states the first bread sent on board was so bad that, on his own responsibility, he returned it on shore. Better bread was sent, but this in a short time was as bad as the other. Living upon this stuff, with beef and tea as bad, the men soon became sick, some of scurvy, others of dysentery. When the ship arrived at St. Helena the captain applied to the Governor, and a small quantity of provisions and water were sent on board. Three days afterwards the stores were found scarce, and the men were placed on short allowance. The question was asked why sufficient stores had not been obtained at St. Helena. Some said there was a mistake as to the quantity on board, but the men say the price was too high. The lime-juice was so bad that the doctor condemned it as unfit for use, but even after this it was used. The sick-list soon numbered 300, all requiring attention from the hands of one surgeon and an assistant. Sickness was much increased by the want of proper covering. Four out of every ten men had to lie upon bare boards, and were glad to get even a coat to cover themselves. From the surgeon's report it appears that great exertions were made to prevent the spread of disease, but these efforts were only partially successful. In December the men began to die fast from dysentery, and for two months before the arrival of the ship scarcely a day passed without one poor fellow or more being launched into the sea. Scurvy began to show itself at the end of February, and spread fast, causing many deaths. This dreadful state of things became daily worse, until the vessel arrived at the Mersey, and it was not long before the circumstances were made known, and every attempt was then made to provide for the accommodation of the sufferers. There are now about 130 men at the workhouse. They are supplied with the best food, and receive all possible attention at the hands of Mr. Carr, Dr. Gee, and the other gentleman connected with the establishment. Mr. Cropper, the chairman, and several members of the workhouse committee, are almost constantly upon the premises. It is stated that Surgeon-Major Muir, of the Liverpool staff, has made an inquiry respecting the affair, and that he has forwarded an official report to Government. When the circumstances were first made known considerable blame was attributed to the owners of the vessel, but, as they had not contracted to supply the stores, they are in no way to be cen- sured in the matter.-Liverpool Albion. A "RESPECTABLE" SHOPLIFTER. Mrs. Elizabeth Ledger, the wife of a musician and dancing master at Reading, underwent a final ex- amination last week, before Mr. Andrewes, the late mayor, and Mr. T. Morris, a borough magistrate, on the charge of stealing a large quantity of drapery goods. The robberies perpetrated by the prisoner are without parallel in the borough for extent, and seem to show that she has had an irresistible pen- chant for plundering drapers' shops. Her detection was very remarkable, It appears that she visited the shop of Mr. Steward, a bacon-factor, on Friday evening, and made purchases to a moderate extent. Her conduct while there excited the suspicion of Mr. Steward, and, as she wore a large cloak, her bulky appearance led him to fancy that she had committed some dishonest act. As she was about to quit the shop he intimated to her his suspicions, and ex- pressed a desire to see whether she had anything concealed beneath her huge cloik. She affected to be greatly annoyed and surprised at the intimation but, as Mr. Steward was firm, and expressed his de, termination that she should not quit the place with- out his being satisfied as to whether she had anything, she yielded to an examination, which resulted in the discovery, not only that she had some of Mr Stew- ard's goods which she had not purchased, but that she had in her possession some gown pieces, having on them the private marks of the drapers from whose shops they had been taken. She was thereupon given into the custody of a police officer, and re- moved to the station. Here a more minute search was made, and articles were found conclusively proving that she had not honestly obtained the goods in her possession. She was lodged in the Bridewell for the night, and, by direction of Mr. Superintendent Peck, of the borough police, officers were employed on the following day in making in- quiries at the different drapers' shops. The property found upon her was soon identified, and as several losses had been previously reported at the station, it was deemed advisable that search should be made at her lodgings, she having been separated from her husband. Police-sergeants Cox and Seymour acted in accordance with instructions given to them, and, on examining her bedroom found an immense quan- tity of goods, the produce of robberies for months past. The articles found comprised stair covering, measuring above 20 yards, ladies' boots, table cloths, cotton prints, and other dresses, shawls, merino, linsey woolsey, flannel, patent socks for boots, and perfumery to a considerable extent. In another room were discovered 200 yards of cotton print, and a great variety of other articles there were also fancy stationery, and things of a similar description. The prisoner, it appeared, carried on the business of a dressmakers and milliner; she visited drapers' shops to buy articles in her business, and the rob- beries were committed while the shopmen had left her at the counter to get the articles she required, all of which were carefully concealed under her cloak. Her respectable appearance disarmed the trades- people of suspicion, and, although the articles were soon missed, she was never suspected. The disco- very of her robberies has created quite a sensation in the" town. She has been committed for trial on several charges. A NEW AND UNLIMITED POWER. Mr. S. B. Rogers, of this town, a gentleman whose name is well known in connection with improvements in Iron Metallurgy, has addressed a letter to the Mining Journal, in which he describes, to a certain extent, an invention, which he says, will, in its application, be found to produce results of the most extraordinary and astounding nature-a new appli- cation of gas, or gases, by which the power of one man may be augmented to that of more than 26 6-10ths horses, or 133 times the initial force ori- ginally put in action. The cost of machines for originating the new power will be considerably less, in both weight and value, than an equal power derived from steam. There will be no boilers required in this case, and con- sequently explosions could never take place, neither would engine-houses and stacks be necessary. The power will be originated from the atmosphere, and to the extent of ten pounds pressure on a square inch of surface (the usual available power of Bolton and Watt's condensing steam-engine), and limited only by the capacity of the machine employed, and the motive element made use of, the cost of which element" will be, in a manner, nothing, or at most one pellny per horse-power per day of 24 hours After referring at some length to two or three points only indirectly connected with the principal subject, Mr. Rogers, referring to an engine contrived by Mr. Samuel Brown, in 1823-4, thus proceeds :— Mr. Brown's engine was worked by the creation of a vacuum in a cylinder by the combustion of hydrogen or coal gas: the subject will perhaps be better com prehended, and the process by which the power i question may be obtained be more fully understood, from Mr. Brown's own words, descriptive of his in- vention, which were as follows :—' Inflammable gas is introduced along a pipe into an open cylinder, or vessel, whilst a flame placed on the outside of, but near to, the cylinder is constantly kept burning, and at times comes in contact with and ignites the gas therein the cylinder is then closed air-tight, and the outside flame is prevented from communicating with the gas in the cylinder. The gas continues to flow into the cylinder for a short space of time, then it is stopped off; during that time it acts by its combustion upon the air within the cylinder, and at the same time a part of the rarified air escapes through one or more valves, and thus a vacuum is effected. The vessel, or cylinder, is kept cool by water. Several mechanical means may be contrived to bring the above combinations into use in effecting the vacuum with inflammable gas, and on the same principle it may be done in one, two, or more cylinders, or vessels. Having a vacuum effected by the above combinations, and some mechanical contrivance, powers are pro- duced by its application to machinery in several ways -1. Water may be raised. 2. Water-wheels may be turned. 3. Pistons may be worked.' "Now, Mr. Brown's engine was worked by means of coal gas, the cost of which, at It. 6d. per 1000 cubic feet, would be 3s. per horse-power per day of 24 hours (i.e., 2000 ft. of gas); this, in London, would be considered an economical power, but the gases to which I invite attention are those flowing from the top of blastfurnaces, the cost of which may be said to be nil. A furnace taking 5,000 cubical feet of blast per minute will yield at least 7,200,000 of gases per day, which gases may be applied to work a gas or vacuum-engine with similar effect to the gas from coal. Brown estimated that 1 foot of coal gas per minute, applied in his machine, was equivalent to a horse-power, so that it would, by his mode of working, raise I ton of water 22 feet high but, in my estimate, I put 3 cubical feet of the blast- furnace gases to effect the same power on this cal- culation the 7,200,000 feet of furnace gases just re- ferred to, would originate a power equal to 1,666! 6-10ths horses working the entire 24 hours of the day Here, then, may be generated a truly gigantic power, from a comparatively waste material at iron smelting establishments; it is termed a I waste,' because the present arrangement of blast-engines, their boilers, &c., may be superseded by water-power machines, that would never be in want of a regular and full supply ef water and not only may steam-power be dispensed with for generating blast, but also for rol- ling, hammering, pumping, winding, lifting, stamp- ing, grinding, sawing, crushing, twisting, and pres- sing operations of all kinds and degrees the substi- tuted power being waterfalls of 15, 30, 45, 60, or more feet, ad lib., with never-ending supplies of water, both in the summer and winter seasons of the year! In conclusion, I would observe that there are about 120 blast-furnaces in constans operation in Monmouthshire, Breconshire, and the eastern parts of Glamorganshire and the quantity of blast driven into these furnaces may be fairly estimated to average 5,000 cubical feet per minute, or an aggregate quan- tity of 864,000,000 feet per day; then, by esti- mating 3 cubical feet of these gases per minute, or 4,320 feet per day, to be the equivalent of a horse- power (Mr. Brown reckoned one foot of coal-gas per minute equal to lifting, with his machine, 250 gal- lons of water 15 ft. high), we have from the 864,000,000 ft. of gases the tremendous power of 200,000 horses working constantly for the 24 hours of the day; and that in the district of country alone above referred to. "A blast-engine of 100 horse-power will compress 10,000 cubic feet of air per minute to 2 Ibs. pressure on a square inch of surface; therefore, 100 ft. of such blast per minute would be the equivalent of a horse-power (i.e., 250 lbs. moving 3 ft. per second). Now, as a horse-power is equal to that of five men, therefore a man's power would be equal to 20 cubical feet of blast per minute, at a density of 2; lbs. to the square inch—or 40 ft. at 1:1 lbs. (20 ozs.), or 80 ft. at 10 ozs. pressure per minute, or 115,200 ft. per day this (taking 4320 ft. for the equivalent of a horse- power) would be equal to 26 6-lOths horses, or 113 men's power-or, as before stated, 133 times the initial force originally put in action!! Thus may Mr. Brown's invention of the gas or vacuum-engine be extended to more than 20 times the power which he had obtained for suitable gases for working this engine may be generated in small furnaces or cupo- las, about 2 ft. square and 8 or 10 ft. high, with a blast of 5 ozs. to the inch density, by one man's power, to the extent of 80 cubical feet per minute— or 115,200 ft. per day, by means of which gases a power equal to that of 26 6-iOths horses would be originated, as above stated, and may be applied to nearly all the practical purposes of life hence it may be truly said that an almost infinite power is now placed under the complete control of the wonderful energies and science of man N.B.—It, perhaps, may be said that the gases above referred to are at present used under the blast- engine boilers: this is true to a certain extent, but the gases flowing from a furnace receiving 5000 cubical feet of blast per minute (not reckoning any- thing for the expansion of the blast, or the carbonic oxide and hydrogen proceeding from the decomposi- tion of the moisture in the atmospheric air, or in the other materials used) will amount to full 7,000,000 ft per day! which gases, as now applied' to 'steam- boilers, will scarcely raise steam enough to work two engines of 100 horse-power each, but if the same amount of gas were used in a vacuum-engine they would generate a power equal to 1666 horses, accord- ing to the calculations here referred to, or more than eight times tli^effect now obtained from them hence the proposed new application of such gases would be a saving of 1400 horse-power—a power more than sufficient to accomplish all the mechanical processes of an iron-works (the blasting, rolling, pumping, hammering, &c.) capable of turning ojut 1000 tons of iron per week!! THE BANKRUPTCY LAW. The provisions of Sir Richard Bethell's Bill for the reformation of the Bankrupt Law are so nuine- rous, and involve so many and such important changes in the existing state of the law, that the only chance of giving them a fair review will occur when the Bill goes into committee. Each change will require separate and minute discussion. More we can scarcely attempt to do at the present than to mention the principal alterations in the law suggested by the Attorney-General on Thursday night. We have been a long time tinkering at our Bankrupt Law, and the result is that we still have probably the worst Bankruptcy Code in Europe. Our own com- mercial classes, for whose benefit mainly the Bank- rupt Law is intended, have so little confidence in its practical working, that in the year 1858 the number of acljudications was 660, while the number of trust deeds and deeds of composition and arrangement is computed to have been more than 8,000. This re- sult has been brought about partly by the enormous expense of administering an estate in bankruptcy, partly by the confusion and uncertainty of the law. The expense of administration is 33 per cent., and the decisions are as various in spirit and effect as the number of commissioners. Upon the miserable state of the law applicable to insolvents, as contra- distinguished from bankrupts, it would be idle to dilate, as the distinction between the insolvent and the bankrupt is now about to be abolished for ever. Suffice it to say that the law regarding insolvents in its existing condition appears to have been care- fully calculated for the benefit of the dishonest, and for the oppression of the honest but unfortunate debtor. More than this in consequence of the liability which attached to all future earnings of the insolvent, the exertions of an unfortunately some- what numerous class in the country were paralysed to all time, with scarcely any benefit to the creditors. As the law now stands, an insolvent cannot even insure his life or make any provision for his wife or family. Every atom of property he may acquire is tainted with future liability, and this because he happened to fall outside the technical division of persons entitled the benefit of the Bankrupt Law. More than this, again in order to make confusion worse confounded, especial care seems to have been taken to drive the insolvent into the Court of Bank- ruptcy and the bankrupt into the Insolvent Court. The insolvent's aim would be to make himself a bankrupt, that he may purge himself from future liability; and, on the other hand, persons who would have applied for an adjudication of bankruptcy have been driven to seek their discharge by means of the Insolvent Debtors' Court, because, unless they could show that their estates would yield X150, they could not entitle themselves to the benefit of the Bankrupt Law. Even Lord Eldon complained of the defects of this portion of our jurisprudence and and in the years 1831, 1842, and 1849, fresh changes, in some cases amounting to a perfect change of sys- tem, were introduced. The grand result is that almost the whole of our existing Bankrupt Law must be swept from the books, in order to clear the way for a fresh system, whicn will be so far good as it departs from all likeness to its predecessors. As we have already said, the distinction between bankrupt and insolvent is to be entirely abolished, and every insolvent willing to make a full disclosure and surrender of his property may, upon his own application, henceforth be adjudicated a bankrupt without reference to the value of the property he may be able to produce. The Attorney-General is even desirous to abolish impprisonmentfor debt altogether where there has been no fraud. The technical tests of bankruptcy with which the law now abounds are to be abolished altogher, and a few simple criteria of insolvency, applicable alike to traders and non- traders, are substituted in their stead. The existing Court of Bankruptcy in London, with its five com- missioners, is swept away, and a single judge will sit in their plaee to transact the judicial business of bankruptcy in open court. The appeal from country commissioners will henceforth be to this single judge —no longer to the Court of Appeal in Chancery. The present registrars will be made to discharge administrative duties similar to those which are now performed by the Masters of the Courts of Common Law. Theu there is to be in London, and in the existing establishment in Portugal-street, an Assis- tant Court of Bankruptcy, for the purpose of adminis- tering the estates of all bankrupts where the assets do not exceed £ 300. So far of the London district; with regard to the country districts, it seems in- tended ultimately that the business shall be parcelled out among the County Courts, but for the present the country commissioners retain their jurisdiction. Power is given to the Crown, upon the occurrence of any vacancy among the country commissioners, to re-arrange the business, and to distribute it among the County Courts. The Bill contains this further and most valuable provision-that a majority of the creditors may at any time, after having resorted to the Court of Bankruptcy, suspend the proceedings, and commit the estate to any method of private ad- ministration which they may deem more advisable. Another vast improvement is, that a debtor will henceforward be allowed to give up all his property by deed of composition or arrangement to his cre- ditors, and this deed will be brought into the Court of Bankruptcy, and registered there. The creditors will then have all the benefit of the Bankrupt Law, and the debtor will avoid the stigma of an actual declaration of bankruptcy. There are many other most important provisions in the Bill which deserve careful discussion, but which we cannot include in the limits of a single article. We cannot however, dismiss the subject without some notice of the pensions and salaries connected with the Court of Bankruptcy. It is a curious fact that but for a particular provision made in the arrangements of 1831, without reference to such a contingency, the Court of Bankruptcy itself might have become bankrupt. In 1858 the per centage levied by the official assignees on the estates administered in bankruptcy amounted to upwards of 41,000 in 1859 the produce of this per centage was not £ 30,000. The stamp duties, in like manner in 1858 produced upwards of £ 21,000; in 1859 they yielded only £ 13,850. Here, then, was a sum of X35,000, more or less, to meet an expenditure of something more than £ 82,000. Even if we deduct X20,200 for compensation on retiring annuities, it wiil be seen that the affairs of the Bankruptcy Court were in a very bad way. The difference has been met by the exertions of the official assignees, who have recovered and got in estates neglected under the former administration in bankruptcy to the ex- tent of many hundred thousands of pounds. Now, the sum actually appropriated for compensation to persons formerly engaged in the administration of the Bankrupt Law amounts to £ 20,000 annually. This charge is henceforward to be thrown on the Con- solidated I und. but now a new system of compensa- tions and retiring annuities is to be created, which will certainly amount to as much more, and pro- which excee This is one of tW penalties whicl we are compelled to pay for our constant meddling with the system of bankruptcy, without introducing any absolute or effective change. The Law Reformers have not been niggards of the public money, and we are bound to say that the system of compensation continued by this Bill ought to be examined by the House of Commans with the greatest jealousy. It is monstrous that gentlemen, many of them in the prime of life should be suffered to draw upon the public purse for an indefinite period without doing some turn of work for their large al- lowances.-Yixesl WRECK OF THE "ROYAL CHARTER." MARVELLOUS ESCAPE. A gentleman belonging to Bradford, who was re- turning home in the Royal Charter, after describ- ing the passage up to the time of the fatal occurrence, says: --I was awoke about three o'clock by the bump- ing of the vessel on a sandbank, when I got up and dressed, and awaited the news; meanwhile the thumps increased, and the lamps were jerked off the hooks, crockery off the shelves, &c. I immediately went down into the after saloon, where the females and children were, one of whom had been a servant of my brother's, and was returning home in the ill- fated ship. Singling her out, which was a difficnlt task amongst the terror and consternation which prevailed, one clinging to another, I carried her on deck, and observed how matters stood. At half-past six o'clock the vessel floated off the sand-bank against the rocks, when I saw that all hope of the safety of the ship was gone. Below there was a scene which no pen can describe, women and children kneeling around each other, praying and screaming in a most heartrending manner I got a long cord, and having pulled off all my extra cloth- ing, I tied the cord round her waist, while she was praying, and carried her to a sheltered place, and waited till I could attract some person's attention on shore, which was not more than thirty to forty feet distant having succeeded, I threw the coil on the rocks, intending, if it was caught, to put her into the water and swim alongside by the aid of the cabin door, which I broke off its hinges with a hearty kick; but the man on the rocks missed the cord, and a drowning man seized it, and being drawn under, I was compelled to loose the rope to prevent her being dragged overboard. I then told her no hope re- mained, as the waves broke over the vessel so deep and strong that with one hand holding the wheel, and the other round her waist, I was nearly torn asunder by each successive wave. She was helpless; I was exhausted; the water stripped everything; clothes were like paper, even the timbers were broken to splinters. One huge wave came rolling on, the biggest of any; it buried us completely, tore her from my grasp, and carried her overboard; the same wave carried away the windows of the saloon. I looked in, saw the clergyman kneeling on the table, and the ladies nearly up to their necks in water, praying most fervently. I hastened forward to the forecastle, as it was nearer to the shore, but on coming to the middle of the ship I found she was broken across from side to side, jumped the gap, and went into the cook-house, put my coat in the oven, and got on the stove to warm myself; as I saw we should have to take to the water sooner or later, so I prepared myself for the struggle. I remained on the stove as long as I durst, took out my coat and wrapped it round my neck and mounted the bul- wark, and noticed everything that might be advan- tageous to me; Dean doing the same, though I had not seen him before during the morning. The vessel broke all to pieces about this time, and Dean and I were on a piece of the side of the ship, that stuck about five feet out of the water, when a large wave threw some of the wreck against it, and knocked it over, burying the last piece of the Royal Charter. I kept myself afloat till I got hold of some wood, each wave overwhelming me, but it was now a little swimming enabled me to dive from under each wave, so that I was not driven so deep, consequently I was not so distressed for air as others. I was thrown against the rock, but again sucked back. I kept my- self up by the wood, and was thrown ashore the second time, but there was so much timber on me that I could not rise, so the retiring wave drew me back again; when in the deeper water there were five to six feet of floating wood above me, so I had to struggle my way through to the surface, and while doing so suffering all the agonies of a drowning man, inhaling water instead of air. I saw you all around the table, everything—the old folks at home, with my past life, all came before my eyes distinctly. I was perfectly conscious that I was suffocating, but I got through, and was thrown up the third time. I got to my knees, and an old man ran to catch me; but he was too late, the return wave took me back, but I clung to a fragment of wood and was cast up once more, when the old man seized me and pulled me out of danger. I was in the water about twenty minutes. I fell over the last hillock, for I was so ex- hausted that I could not lift my feet. Am sorry to say the pledge is broken, for my rescuer offered me some brandy, which I drank. The photographs and everything else are lost. The good old man took me to his home, where his kind wife had a good fire, hot tea, and warm blankets ready. I was sufficiently recovered to write home the same day, my letter ar- riving an hour after the sad news of the wreck bad reached my agonised parents. AFTERNOON HOUSEBREAKING. James Crayford, aged 50, and John Lefevre, 49' two half-starved and wretched-looking creatures, were last week charged with housebreaking and robbery on the premises of Mr. William Foster, assistant relieving officer of the Poplar Union, and residing at No. 1, Burdett-Place, Devon's-lane, Bromley, London. It appeared from the evidenca of the prosecutor and his wife that their dwelling- house was entered in their absence on the afternoon of Monday, the 27th ult., and every portable article of value, consisting of male and female wearing apparel, five gold watches, a diamond ring, two silver pins, three silver thimbles, five or six shawls, and other property, stolen. Every room in the house had been visited by the thieves, who ransacked drawers, cupboards, and shelves, and left the place in a state of great confusion. Mr. Walter Kerressey, an inspector of the K division of police, stated that he heard of the robbery in Mr. Foster's house on the 27th ult., and the investigation of the case had been entrusted to him. The prisoner Lefevre gave him- self up at the Stepney station-house, adjoining the court, as one of the thieves, and he went to him there and said to him, What is your name and where do you live ?" The prisoner said, My name is John Lefevre I have no home, and am a silk- weaver." He asked the prisoner if he recollected being in Devon's-lane, Bromley, on the 27th of last month, to which he replied, Do you mean where the jewellery and wearing apparel were stolen from?' Witness answered in the affirmative, and said, I shall take you into custody, on your own confession, for stealing, with another man, property worth X40 from a dwelling-house." The prisoner said a man named James Crayford, residing at No. 5 Old Nicholl-street, Bethnal-green, near Shoreditch Church, who was a bedstead-maker, and himself w^nt out together on the 27th of Februar'y, for trixpress MrTTnsfpr01"!111^1116 ™bbenes' and> after watching Mrs. Foster out of her house, knocked at the door. No answer was returned, and Crayford said it was all right. Thev got over a wooden fence on to a spare bIt of ground outside the house, and with an iron jemmy (crowbar) forced up the back window and broke the catch. While Crayford was tying up the brooches, jewellery and silver plate, he (Lefevre) was ransacking the drawers to ascertain if he could find some money. All he could discover was 6s. or 7s. After some further details, Lefevre said he accom- panied Crayford to Petticoat-lane, where they met a man, of whom they asked X3 for the shawls and 50s. for the jewellery. All they obtained in the lane" was X2 5s. for the whole lot. Mr. Kerressey then statedithat he subsequently proceeded to the dwelling of the prisoner Crayford, at No. 5, Old Nicholls- street, where, in a small and dirty room, he found Craw- ford in bed with two women and a child. The pri- soner said that one of the women was his wife and the other was his daughter. He then asked if he knew a man named Lefevre, and if he recollected being in his company on the 27th of Febuary. Crayford said he knew a man named Lefevre but denied all knowledge of the robbery. The prisoners, were committed for trial.