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      January 10, 1852. The No&The Rn; Star. .

      January 10 , 1852 . THE NO & THE RN ; STAR . .

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      Lines To Brother Jonathan. Oh, Jonathan!...

      LINES TO BROTHER JONATHAN . Oh , Jonathan ! daar Jonathan ! a wretched world we see There's scarce a freeman in it now , excepting yon and me . In soldier-ridden Christendom the sceptre is the sword ; The statutes of the nation from tbe cannon ' s mouth are rear'd . Ordnance { he subject multitude for ordinance obey ; The bullet and the bayonet debate at once allay : The month is gagg'd , the Press is stopped ; and we remain alone "With power our thoughts to utter , or to call our souls our ovrn .

      They hatens , Brother Jonathan , those tyrants ; they detest The island sons of liberty and freemen of the West ; It angers them that we survive their sarage will to stem ; A sign of hope unto their slaves—a sign of fear to them . Eight gladly would they bind our tongues : with joy arrest our pens ; Immure our best and bravest men , enchained in bestial dens ; Bend our stiff necks to Priestcraft ' s yoke , and bow the heads we rear 'Gainst craven Superstition , to the dust in abject fear .

      Stand with me , * Brotaer Jonathan , if ever need should be : Etui be it ours to show the world that nations can be free ; Not as almost each people in sad Europe now appears , Baled with a despot ' s iron rod—a race of mutineers . Punch .

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      The Home. Part 7. Edited By Richard Oast...

      The Home . Part 7 . Edited by Richard Oastler , "We are sorry to learn from the present part that * the Old King' has been very ill , and feels the infirmities of age thickening upon him ; and , second , that the ' Home' has not yet reached a self-supporting circulation . Of its general contents , and the spirit by which it is pervaded , we have on previous occasions freely expressed our opinions , and we see nothing in the part before us to induce us to modif y or alter them . The' Home' ought to he a welcome guest at the fire-side of every working man who takes an interest in the welfare of his class . Mr . Oastler

      continues the articles on the French . Revolutionswhich we commended in our last notice—always keeping the great question of the employment of the people prominently in the foreground , and does more justice to the Provisional Government of 1848 than people with much greater pretensions to Liberalism . In fact , we have not seen any where a more candid and practical exposition of the difficulties in which that government was placed , and of the causes which led to the establishment and abandonment of the much-talked-of national workshops in France , than that given by Mr . Oastler . "We slightly abridge and throw together his history of these workshops : —

      In accordance with the resolutions of the Provisional Government , the " Government Committee of Workmen " met . Its resolutions are of such a nature as to throw much light on the wants , the f eelings , and desires of the working men . Besolved , on tbe part of the Government Committee of Workmen : Considering" 1 st . That too prolonged manual labour , not only ruins the health of the workman , but farther , by preventing , him from cultivating his intelligence , detracts from tbe dignity of man . " 2 nd . That the trade in workmen by workmen , as subcontractors , called middle-men , is essentially unjust , vexatious , and contrary to the principles of fraternity . " The Provisional Government of the Republic therefore decreed : — " 1 st . The day ' s labour is diminished by one hour . Consequently , in Paris , where it was before eleven hours , it is reduced to ten ; and in the provinces , where it was before twelve hours , it is reduced to eleven .

      " 2 nd . The trading in workman , by sub-contractors , is abolished . " These decrees were endorsed with the names of all the members of the Provisional Government . These resolutions reflect the general tendency of their minds on what they felt to be the wrongs and believed to be tbe rights of labour . The f « ct that tbe Provisional Government desired to strengthen the resolutions of the workmen with the authority of the National Assembly , was to all its members extremely creditable . In the minds of many , the great problem to be solved by the revolution , was , flow to arrage national industry . Unhappily , tbe plan of the future was neither understood nor defined . The opinion , as we have seen , was favourably entertained by several members of the Provisional Government , and by others accepted as a " state necessity , " for the moment , to conciliate the dissatisfied rather than with a view of reducing it permanently to practice .

      The national workshops established by 21 . ilarie , having been founded on false principles , became every day more crowded and less profitable . There has , I regret to know , been in this country a very considerable misunderstanding as to the origin and object of these national workshops . The whole responsibility of their origin and failure has been freely—but falsely—laid at the door of SI . Louis Blanc . M . Lamartine himself , who on this subject cannot be misinformed , writes that the workmen therein employed were not associated under the guidance of M . Louis Blanc , as has-been generally , but unjustly , asserted ; on the contrary , they " were inspired by the spirit of his adversaries . " I am neither the apologist nor the detractor of M . Louis Blanc . Truth demands , however , that he should not be held responsible for follies not bis own , and against which be protested .

      An important section of the Press of this country was not slow to condemn the national workshops , and , further , to aver that the experiment so tried had for ever settled tbe question of the regulation of industry , and established supreme the popular doctrine of "Let * ever jthing alone , and everything will adjust itself . " The error committed by such public instructors was false both in fact andinference The establishment of the national workshops was not even an attempt to solve tbe great question of tbe age , namely , How to give to labour labour ' s worth . What , then , were these workshops ? Let Lamartine answer : " They were merely ais expedient for restoring order : a rough plan of public assistance , contrived on the morrow of a revolution by the necessity of furnishing food for tbe populace , and yet not maintaining them in idleness for fear of the disorders to which that idleness would lead . " That " [ expedient" Las called down upon the head of its alleged * author some volumes of ridicule and abuse .

      Those public writers , who Lave been foremost in stigmatising the national workshop scheme of France , have , with an inconsistency worthy of them , lent the full weight of their much over-rated authority , to the scheme of government . wks , in the case of Ireland , adopted by Her Majesty ' s present advisers , and applied by them to that illfated country , reckless of result : ? , and in utter ignorance of tbe fundamental doctrines of their own much-vaunted system of modern political economy . The provisional government of Prance have their defence , ia the revolntion which they controlled . The Whig ministry have their excuse , in their own imbecility . The provision ; : ! government adopted the idea of an hour , as it manifested itself in the necessity of the timo . The Whig ministers deliberated and rejected , after long debates , one of the most gigantic and fir-seeing plans ever introduced

      to the notice of parliament , —I mean tho famous railway scheme of the late L-ird George Bentinck , which plan , although open to one fundamental objection , was as much in advance of the one adopted , and as much superior to it , as was the mind of its chivalrie author above those of his ministerial opponents . Posterity will accept of M . Marie ' s mtional workshops , as a bold conception , suddenly and rudely reduced to practice . The Whig ministers will also have their reward ; their scheme of Irish works will be remembered , for the heavy debt it has incurred , the peculation and fraud it has encouraged , the strife it has engendered , and the industry it has wasted . What an obliquity of vision those " philosophic" critics must have , who condemn a principle , when the scene of its application is Prance , and praise an application of the same principle , when the Whigs—their patrons—apply it to Ireland .

      The French national workshops grew in importance , as industry , throughout France , became more and more paralysed . The numbers so employed , ultimately increased from 20 , 000 to 200 , 000 . The wealthy inhabitants of Paris looked at their rapid increase with fear , wonder , and dismay . Nay , the provisional government itself began to discover , that that which was originally intended as a safety-valve for the revolution , was becoming its greatest source of danger . In estimating tbe difficulties of the provisional government , it would be impolitic , unwise , and unfair , not to elate , that for many years , in France , there bad been a strong tendency towards unsettlement among the population generally . Many thousands of the working men had

      acquired the habit of tramping from town to town , resting for a few months where a turn of work cast up for them , but ever ready to pack up and be off , on a very short notice . These migratory hordes of working men , had been increased by the unregulated introduction and use of machinery , and other circumstances , to which 1 have adverted . Their habit is , to conclude their career by at ast settling down in some large city . The numbers of Ibis unsettled class of workmen bad , by the revolution , been greatly augmented . The hope of immediate employment in " the national workshops , drew many thousands of such persons to Paris , thus tending to increase the very evils which the provisional government had most to fear , and to allay which the national workshops had been established .

      These working men were congregrated together under the notion , that , if agreeable to themselves , their migrations were ended , and that the revolution had provided for them a constancy of employment in the national workshops . The government entertained a very different idea . They had , in the hurry of the moment , yielded to what they felt to be a " state necessity . " Finding the streets

      The Home. Part 7. Edited By Richard Oast...

      of Paris crowded with idle workmen , demanding bread , they knew , that in the presence of such a mass of hungry discontent , it would be impossible that they could consolidate their power . The national workshops were therefore established by them as an " expedient , " to avert a greater national evil : they did not forsee the immense accumulation of numbers in the canital which would be occasioned thereby ; neither were they prepared to expect , that their well-meant , but mistaken efforts , would be misrepresented by the press , which now charged them with a desire , in the maintenance of the national workshops , of surrounding themselves with an army of malcontents , inimical to public order .

      Under these circumstances , it became necessary to make arrangements for the dissolution of the national workshops . No sooner was this determination made known to the working men employed therein , than tbey imagined that they had been betrayed , their suspicions being strengthened by the agents of the enemies of the . government , who , for seditious purposes , mixed among them . It was thus that the working men employed in the national workshops became restless and dissatisfied politicians , impatient under control , and desirous of being masters ; They ceased to labour , and again resolved to fight for what they called liberty On the twenty-third of Jane , the working men rushed out of the national workshops into the streets , erected barricades , gave themselves up to desperation , —were resisted by the national guards , the garde mobile , and the

      troops [ of the line . The streets of Paris were crimsoned with their blood ; they were vanquished ; and what in France is called " order , " having been restored , tho members of the Legislative Assembly betook themselves to intriguing and quarrelling , the great question of industry being left to take its chance , while the working men pursued their occupations under the surveillance of the police and the army . Such were the benefits purchased by the people of France , at the cost of so much wealth , at the sacrifice of so many lives . -: ; The election of Louis Napoleon to the presidency , by the suffrages of more than six millions of Frenchmen , has not served to dissipate the dark clouds which hang over the republic , or to solve the great question for which the idea of the republic was entertained , How to obtain for labour ,

      labour s worth ? Fetes , balls ,. progresses , reviews , intrigues , conspiracies , arrests , imprisonments , banishments , and military executions , have marked bis epoch . ' But , during all this while , - labour has been ill requitted ; hunger has been the tenant of her cottages , and the heart of her national greatness has been subdued by despair . 'Louis Napoleon himself , in his message to the Legislative Assembly , dated the 4 th of November , 1831 . ominously informs them , " A state of general uneasiness tends to increase daily . Everywhere labour grows slack , poverty augments , interests are alarmed , and anti-social expectations swell high in proportion , as the enfeebled powers of the state approach their term . " In the report of , the committee on the electoral law , made to the Legislative Assembly a few days afterwards , tbe following most striking and . portentous words are to be found : — " In the midst of the ruins which surround us . "

      On the second of December , 1851 , every institution which had been established by the sovereign will of the people of Francfl , was swept away by the stroke of his pen into whose hands that people had committed their guardianship , and who had solemnly sworn to them , that he would be their faithful trustee . His will is now their law , death being the penalty of resistance ; that penalty having already been paid by many hundreds of the sons of France , in the streets of her capital . Still , tbe great question , of—How to give to labour labour ' s worth , has not been solved ; nor can it be , amidst the thunder of cannon , the crash ef tumbling houses , the cries of the hungry , the rattling of musketry , the shouts of revolt , tho clashing of sabres , the shrieks of the wounded , the moans of the dying , and tbe anguish of the bereaved . At present , France must wait , —wait until these distracting scenes give place to tbe voice of justice , when reason may for once be heard .

      Narrative Of The Voyage Of H.M.S Rattles...

      Narrative of the voyage of H . M . S Rattlesnake , commanded by { he late Captain Oioen Stanley , R . N ., F . R . S ., 4 'C , during the Years 1846—50 , including Discoveries and Surveys in New Guinea , fyc , to wliichis added the Account of M . E . B . Kennedy ' s Expedition for the Exploration of the Cape York Peninsula . By John Macgillivray , F . R . G . S ., Naturalist to the Expedition . 2 Vols . London T . and W . Boone . This is one of the most interesting booka of its kind that we have seen . It tells of perils in strange seas , friendly meetings , and quarrels with savages , and

      the damage wrought by death among the small hand of explorers , of which the author was one . Of course we cannot pretend to give even an outline of the contents ; hat , as it abounds with extractable matter , we give a few passages , as samples of its contents , merely premising that the object of the Expedition was the geographical survey of the ocean routes from Australia , —that the Rattlesnake was accompanied by the Bramble and the Oastlreagh , and the three set sail from Plymouth , in the month of December , 1846 .

      Hohart Town was reached on the 24 th of Jane , 1847 : at which date the serious business of the Expedition may be said to have commenced . Such business seems in these latitudes to be all the more serious by the unpromising quality of the aboriginal inhabitants . Taken as a mass , they appear to stand lower in the scaleof morals than most other wild groups . Missionary labour is said to make little or no impression on them ; while from time to time they are exposed to the more congenial teaching of runaway convicts , calculated to brutalise them with most dangerous insidionsness , —that , . namely , which associates in their minds the idea of superlative craft and wickedness as connected with the white man . Here is a tale of the rescue of a white woman from these savages at Cape York : —

      A startling incident occurred to break the monotony of our stay . In the afternoon some of our people on shore were surprised to see a young white woman come up to claim their protection from a party of natives from whom she had recently made her escape , and whom , she thought , would otherwise bring her hack . Of course she received every attention , and was taken on board the ship by the first boat , when she told her story , which is briefly as follows . Her name ia Barbara Thompson : she was born at Aberdeen , in Scotland , and along with her parents , emigrated to Sew South Wales . About four years and a half ago she left Morcton Bay with her husband in a small cutter ( called the America ;) of which he was owner , for the purpose of picking up some of the oil from the wreck

      of a whaler , lost on the Bampton Shoal , to which place one of her late crew undertook to guide them : their ultimate intention was to go on to Port Essington . The man who acted as pilot was unable to find tho wreck , and after much quarrelling on board in consequence , and the loss of two men by drowning , and of another who was left upon a small uninhabited island , they made their way up to Torres Strait , where , during a gale of wind , their vessel struck upon a reef on the Eastern Prince of Wales Island . The two remaining men were lost in attempting to swim on shoro through the surf , but the woman was afterwards rescued by a parly of natives , on a turtling excursion , who , when the gale subsided , swam on hoard , and supported heron shore between two of their number . One

      of these blacks , Boroto by name , took possession of the woman as his share of the plunder ; she was compelled to live with him , but was well treated by all the men , although many of the women , jealous of the attention shown her , for a long time evinced anything but kindness . A curious circumstance secured for her the protection of ono of the principal men of the tribe a party from which had been the fortunate means of rescuing her , and which she afterwards found to be the Kowrarega , chiefly inhabiting Muralug . on the Western Prince of ' Wales Island . This person , named Piaquai , acting upon the belief ( universal throughout Australia and on tho Islands of Tories Strait so far as hitherto known ) that white people are the ghosts of the Aborigines , fancied that in the stranger he

      recognised a long-lost daughter of the name of Gi ( a ) om , and at once admitted her to the relationship which he thought had formerly subsisted between them ; she was immediately acknowledged by the whole tribe as one of themselves , thus ensuring an extensive connexion in relatives of all denominations . From the head-quarters of the tribe with which Gi ' om thus became associated being upon an island which all vessels passing through Torres Strait from the eastward must approach within two or three miles , she had the mortification of seeing from twenty to thirty or more ships go through every summer without anchoring in the neighbourhood , so as to afford the slightestopportunity of making her escape . Last year she heard of our two vessels ( described as two war oanoes , a big and a little one )

      being at Cape York—only twenty miles distant—from some of the tribe who had communicated with us and been well treated , but they would not take her over , and even watched her more narrowly than before . On our second and present visit , however , which the Cape York people immediately announced by smoke signals to their < friends in Muralug , she was successful in persuading some of her more immediate friends to bring her across to the main land within a short distance of where the vessels lay . The Macks were credulous enough to believe that •« as she had been so long with them , and tad been so well treated , she did not intend to leave them , —only she felt a strong desire to see the . white people once more and shake bands wi th them ; " adding , that she would be certain to procure some axes , knives , tobacco , and other much-prized articles . This appeal to their

      cupidity decided the question at once . After landing at the sandy bay on the western side of Cape York , she hurried across the Evans' Bay , as quickly as . her lameness would allow , fearful that the blacks might change their mind ; and well it was that she did so , as a small party of men followed to detain her , but arrived too late . Three of these people were brought on board at her own request , and as they had been instrumtrrUl in saving her from the wreck , they were presented with an axe a-piece , and other presents . Upon being asked b y Captain Stanley whether she really preferred remaining with us to accompanying the natives back to their island , as * he would be allowed her free choice in the matter , she was so much agitated as to find difficulty in expressing her thankfulness , making use of scraps of English alternately with the Kowrarega language and then suddenly awaking to the recollection that

      Narrative Of The Voyage Of H.M.S Rattles...

      she was not understood , the poor creature blushed all over , and , with downcast eyes , beat her forehead with her hand , as if to assist in collecting her scattered thoughts , At length , after a pause , she found words to say , — . «< sir , Iam a Christian , and would rather go back to my own friends . " At the same time , it was remarked by every one that she had not lost the feelings of womanly modesty—even after having lived so long among native blacks ; she seemed acutely to feel tbe singularity of her position—dressed only in a couple of shirts , in the midst of a crowd of her own countrymen . When first seen on shore our new shipmate presented so dirty and wretched au appearance that some people who were out shooting at first mistook her for a

      gin , and were passing by without taking further notice , when she called outto them in English , "Iam a white woman , why do you leave mo ? " With tho exception of a narrow fringe of leaves in front , she wore no clothing , and her skin was tanned and blistered with the sun , and showed the marks of several large burns which had been received from sleeping too near the fire on cold nights ; besides , she was suffering from ophthalmia , which had previously deprived her of the sight of one eye . But good living , and every comfort ( for Captain Stanley kindly provided her with a cabin and a seat at his table ) , combined with medical attention , very soon restored her health , and she was eventually handed over to her parents in Sydney in excellent condition .

      Light was thrown on the ways and wishes of these wild human creatures by Mrs . Thompson . Though an illiterate person , according to our narrator , she could tell what she had seen : and having never wholly lost her self-respect , had acquired a certain popularity and influence among the blacks . She had also been courted to become the Queen-Consort of Wini;—one of those white fiends of whom mention has been made . This man had reached Mulgravo Island in a boat after , having , by his own account , killed , his companions , some three or four in number , ' and had established himself as a celebrity among the Badus , —partly by cunning , partly by unceremoniously ' procuring the death of his principal enemies . —

      Wini's character appears from the accounts I have heard —for others corroborated part of Gi'om's statement—to be a compound of villany and cunning , in addition to the ferocity and headstrong passions of a thorough savage , —it strikes me that he must have been a runaway convict , probably from Norfolk Island . It is fortunate that his sphere of mischief is so limited , for a more dangerous ruffian could not easily be found . As matters stand at present , it is probable that not only during his life , but for years afterwards , every European who falls into the hands of the Badu people will meet with certain death . We shall probably return to these interesting volumes .

      Received. Wealth: How To Get, Preserve, ...

      RECEIVED . Wealth : How to Get , Preserve , and Enjoy It . London : Bentley , Paternoster-row . The Girlhood of Shakespeare ' s Heroines . Tale XIY . Viola , the Twin . By Mart . Cowden Clarke . London : "W . H . Smith and Son . A Social Theory ; or , a Brief Exposition of the Primary Law in Nature , Affecting Social Development . By Arthur Bromley . London : Simpkins and Co .

      Literary Extracts. The Eloquence Op Koss...

      LITERARY EXTRACTS . THE ELOQUENCE OP KOSSDTHr The following analysis of the oratorical powers of the great Hungarian is taken from a review of his Life and Speeches , in the " Athenaeum" : — " We have heard of M . Kossuth , and we have carefully read the reports of his speeches . His style is new and personal . Compared with the men whose speeches havo been received as the best specimens of oratory in recent times—such as Brougham , Lacordaire , Bluing Thiers , Gavazzi , and O'Connell—Kossuth is calm and grave . He has no sophisms , no verbal dexterities . * AU is within him clear , sequent , logical . He never mouths his passion—never wrings his hands or stamps his feet—never gesticulates his violence , or resorts to the common tricks of the orator to impress his audience with an idea of his earnestness . As a rhetorical weapon , he uses scorn very rarely , and we have not read a sneering sentence from his lips . He neither mocks his enemy like Gavazzi , nor insults him like O ' Connell . His appeal is made

      directly to the intellect of his hearer . He seems more anxious to convince than to excite . Warmth of fancy and of feeling he undoubtedly possesses—and his passion sometimes breaks into sudden explosion . But in these qualities he has had many equals—Chatham , Mirabeau , Patrick Henry , and others of all nations . What seems more particularly Kossuthans-that is , personal—in his eloquence is , its moral undertone . Master of his subject , he speaks to other nations with the energy , but also with much of the gravity of history . He flatters no prejudice—appeals to no passion—yet , his discourse adapts itself with singular art to its immediate audience . Perhaps next to his excellent English , the thing which is most curious about M . Kossuth in England is , the extraordinary genius which he has for saying the right thing in tho right place . Of the speeches reported , not one could change its locality without manifest disadvantage . The city speech was precisely adapted to the city—the Manchester speech would not have done at Winchester—nor that delivered at Southampton , at Copenhagen-fields .

      LIDERTY , EQUALITY , FRATERNITY , AND MUSKETRY . On Friday , at noon , the embargo on the cabs was removedalthough that on the omnibuses continued ; and circulation for font passengers became tolerably safe in the Quartier St . Honore , and on the Boulevards . 1 went into an English chemist ' s shop in the Rue de la Pais , for a bottle of soda water . The chemist was lying dead up stairs , shot . He was going from his shop to another establishment he had in the Faubourg Poissoniere , to have the shutters shut , apprehending a disturbance . Entangled for a moment on the Boulevard , close to the Rue Lepelletier , among a crowd of well-dressed persons , principally English and American , an order was given to clear the Boulevard . A charge of lancers was made , the men firing their pistols wantonly among the flying crowd : and the chemist was shot dead . Scores of similar

      incidents took place on that dreadful Thursday afternoon . Friends , acquaintances of my own , had friends , neighbours , relations , servants , killed . Yet it was all accident , chancemedley—excusable , of course . How were tho soldiers to distinguish between insurgents att'l sight-seers ? These murders were , after all , bub a few of tho thorns to bo found in the rose-bush of glorious war ! . . With the merits or demerits of the struggle , I have nothing to do . But I saw the horrible ferocity and brutality of this ruthless soldiery . I saw them bursting into shops , to search for arms or fugitives ; dragging tho inmates forth , like sheep from a slaughter-house , smashing tho furniture and windows . I saw thent , when making a passage for a convoj of prisoners , or a wagon full of wounded , strike wantonly at the bystanders , with the butt-end of their muskets , and

      thrust at them with their bayonets . I might have seen more ; but my exploring inclination was rapidly subdued by a gigantic Lancer at the corner of the Rue Richelieu , who , seeing me stand still for a moment , stooped from his horse , and putting his pistol to my bead ( right between the eyes ) , told me to " traverser . " As 1 believed he would infallibly have blown my brains out in another minute , I turned and fled . So much for what I saw . I know as far as a man can know , from trustworthy persons , from eyewitnesses , from patent and notorious report , that the military , who aro now the solo and supreme masters of that happy city and country , have been perpetrating most frightful barbarities since the riots were over . I know that , from tho Thursday I arrived to tho Thursday I left Paris , they were daily shooting their prisoners in cold blood ! that . 'i man , caught on the Pont Neuf , drunk with

      the gunpowder-brandy of tho cabarets , and shouting some balderdash about the " Republique , democratique , ctsociale , " was dragged into the Prefecture of Police , and , some soldiers' cartridges having been found in his pocket , was led into the court-yard , and , there and then , untried , unshriven , unannealed—shot I I know that in the Champ do Mars ono hundred and fifty-six men were executed j and I heard one horrible story ( so horrible that 1 can scarcely credit it ) that a batch of prisoners were tied together with ropes , like a faggot of wood ; and that tho struggling mass was fired into , until not a limb moved , nor a groan was uttered . I know—and my informsnt was a clerk in the office of the Ministry of War—that the official return of insurgents killed was two thousand and seven , and of soldiers fifteen . Rather long odds 1—Dickens ' s Household Words .

      DESPOTISM IN SOUTHERN ITALY . A correspondent of the " Athena > um " says : — Wherever I travel in Southern Italy , I see one broad declaration on the face of society . The honest in religion and in politics are the universally persecuted by the powers that be . The bad man finds favour before the thrones of princes , —the worldly man intrigues at tho foot of St . Poter ' . —presenting altogether a picture of society somewhat resembling the times of our own James the Second . The state of popular ignorance which it is desired to keep up , and which I have heard soberly maintained to be essential to the happiness of the kingdom , may be inferred from the following anecdote . I was in a country village

      near Naples on the day of tho recent eclipse ; and having burnt some glass to shade my eye , all the peasantry around came to have a peep . Curiosity rather than fear was the prevailing sentiment ; as the general idea was , that there was a " row " ( literally ) between the Sun and Moon , —¦ " « n appiccico fra il sole e la luna . " " Shall we have rain , Signer ? " said one , as the Sun's disc became gradually darker . " There ' s the Moon on the top , " said another : —whilst as the Moon passed over , a third exclaimed exultingly , " Ah , Signer , queste risss for orisse ) vengqno ogni tanto , md la luna mai vince . " In short , the common idea was , that there was a kind of domestic disturbance between the Sun and Moon , —and , as too ofi . cn happens , sympathy was with tho stronger .

      P 00 B RELIEF IS SCOTLAND . We should not overlook in these days of experimental philosophy , that occasions frequently occur when the political and moral sciences are as truly subjected to the test of experiment as was ever any hypothesis in chemistry or in dynamics . At this very moment an extensive series of operations are being brought to a close in the Scotch Highlands and Islands partaking in the most decided manner of the nature of a great experiment—and a perfectly successful one , too—in political economy . It is well known , that the potato famine of 1846 and the subsequent years extended with distressing severity to the remoter districts of Scotland—that great sufferings were endured by the

      Literary Extracts. The Eloquence Op Koss...

      people of the afflicted regions—that a Central Relim * Hnard was established at Edinburgh-and that an organ aiionof sucoour was set on foot . The Central Board la mtV Wished on the 5 th-of February , 1847 , and . Ru " been ? n active operation during the fire years that have sir , ™ elapsed . The administration of the Board was divided be tween two sections-one at Edinburgh and one at Glas g * The . Edinburgh section have just given an account of their proceedings ; and it is drawn up with somuohmodesty clearness , and force thatthe volume in which it appears will meet it is to be hoped , with a fate better than that which usually swallows up similar publications . We have read no composition lately , that has struck us more forcibl y as a happy illustration of the effects produced by knowledge when applied to the ordinary , concerns of life . Tho Committee

      found themselves suddenly called on to provide food and employment for a numerous , rude , and scattered population in a difficult and poor country . To havo given promiscuous alms would have introduced a reign of pauperism , —work was therefore required in return for relief . But the nature of the country admitted of work of certain kindsonly being undertaken . To make roads and harbours on the estates of the landholders without exacting from the landholders aomo corresponding return , would have been taxing the community for the benefit of a few fortunate private persons . Still , roads and harbours were the great wants of tbe district . The Committee removed the difficulties by combination . Treaties of co-operation were entered into with the landholders—the people were employed on public works—and an efficient labour test was provided . By this means something like a revolution has

      been effected in the means oUocomofcion in the remoter highlands . But that was not all . Means were adopted for stimulating the industry of the " crofters , " or small farmers , by giving them leases of their holdings in return for a certain amount of capital expended . Further , successful efforts have been made to introduce a manufacture of hoisery into the highlands for the employment of tbe female part of the peasantry : taking care , however , that the manufacture shall be a natural , not a forced one , —that is to say , that it shall depend on the ability of tbe highland women to compete successfully in the markets of the world as produces of articles of hoisery . It is found that they can do this , arid are willing to do it ; and that is all that can be desired . The Edinburgh section aro now resting from their labours . They have covered themselves with honour , —and deserve the thanks of the Nation for what they have accomplished . —Athenceum .

      The New Censorship Of The Stage.—On The ...

      The New Censorship of the Stage . —On the 2 nd inst . a ukase was issued by her Majesty ' s chamberlain , the examiner of all theatrical entertainments , prohibiting tho representation of a harmless and perfectly loyal scone in ono of the pantomimes at a minor theatre , merely because it gave a picture of " royalty at home . " The public must have been prepared for this new coup d ' etat by the recent circular of the Lord Chamberlain , commanding all managers of theatres not only to transmit the manuscripts of the opening , but also the scenes of the harlequinade in the Christmas pantomimes , for approval . In obedience to the above mandate , Mr . Smith , the lessee and manager of the Marylebone theatre , transmitted before the allotted time of seven clear days before representation the plot and changes of the pantomime to be produced at his theatre ,

      entitled " Sir John Barleycorn ; or Harlequin and the Fairies of the Hop and Vine . " In the comic business he had prepared a scene , which ho meant to be complimentary to her Majesty for her patronage of the drama by encouraging the engagement of theatrical performers by our aristocracy and the revival of a taste for tho legitimate . The scene was made to represent the exterior of Old Drury covered outside with bills announcing " Promenade Concerts , horse-riding , & o . " Presently a crowd of Thespians enter engaged in every trade and occupation but the right one ; and , lastly , "Avon ' s bard , " attended by Hamlet , King Richard the Third , « bo ., tho orchestra playing the air , " "We have no work to do . " After some allusions pertinent to the decline of the drama , and its attempted revival by Mr . Bunn , the Clown proposes his remedy , and to that end fires a piece of ordnance , which causes a change to a transparent circular painting of the interior of the Rubens Room in Windsor Castle during the Christmas representation of

      " Hamlet , " her Majesty and the Prince being very conspicuous in the royal box ; at the same timo the band strike up tho National Anthem , and the audience applaud with vehemence . The lessee not having received from the Lord Chamberlain any reply as to his manuscript , played the pantomime on Boxing-night and every succeeding night up to Friday last , to the infinite satisfaction of crowded houses , who loyall y acknowledged it to be the most telling scene in the entertainment . On Friday night , however , the manager was surprised to receive , by hand , a printed document , dated fully fourteen days previously , and signed " Breadalbane , " which , while it permitted the above entertainment to appear , obliged the manager to leave out the scene in reference to " Windsor Castle , < fcc . " Probably there are but few persons ablo to discover any impropriety in pourtray ing the domestic scenes of a court , whilst the same soenes are engiuved in our illustrated journals , and are otherwise exhibited in every print shop in the kingdom .

      Dost Mahomed and ma Sons . —The •« Bombay Times " says , if Dost Mahomed was not dead , he seems to have been very near it when the following intelligence was transmitted : -The Haider Khan , here mentioned as having been chosen by his father to succeed to his " turban , " wilf bo remembered by many of our readers as the captive we had long residing at Bombay amongst us—he having been governor of Ghuznie at the time of our invasion , and surrendered himself to Lord Keane on the capture of the fortand who was generally considered a well informed and highly intelligent man ; "We have alluded , more than once , to the reports that havo been recently spread abroad , on several occasions , of the death of the Ameer of Kabul , Dost Mahomed Khan ; these have originated In the fact that tho Ameer has been very ill , especially since the beginning of October , when the illness under which our ancient foe has been labouring assumed such a serious shape as very materially to disturb men ' s minds at Kabul—so much so

      , indeed , as to render it necessary for the sovereign to show himself in public as the only means of convincing the people that he was still in the land of the living . It is said that the Ameer is fully aware of his dying condition , and also reported that his son Ghoolam Haider Khan is tho one to whom he has more especially imparted his views regarding the future management of his king , dom . Sirdar Afzul Khan is tho eldest son , and on his head the turban has been formally placed by the Ameer ; but it is asserted that , deeming the confidence of his father to rest with his younger brother , ho has , with much generosity , sacrificed his own interests to those of tho state , and acquiesced in tho wishes of his father by transferring to Sirdar Haider Khan the turban of succession placed on his own head . An opinion prevails , however , in some quarters , that Sirdar Sultan Mahomed , tho lato chief of Peshawur , has secured sufficient interest amongst the powerful section of Kohistanees to ensure his

      succession to tho throne of Kabul when it may become vacant , to the detriment of either of his nephews . The question cannot be one of doubt very long , as Dost Mahomed has not many days to live . Of the other sons of tho Ameer , Shero Alee Khan is collecting revenue a mainarmie in the neighbourhood of Ghuznee , Mahomed Ameen Khan is in Kohistan , Mahomed Akram Khan in Toorkistan , and Mahomed Azeem Khan , with between two and three thousand men , in Khoorum , adjoining tho British territory of Bungush , of which Kohat is the capital . Afzul Khan and the rest of his brothers are at Kabul . "

      Protection to Passengers . —On Saturday a notice was issued from the Custom House that no vessel would be cleared for sea , whether stoam or sailing vessel , unless furnished with boats and signal lights , regulated according to tonnage ; and , for tho greater safety of passengers , any vessel taking more than ten passengers , will , in addition to their boats , be required to carry a life boat , under a penalty of £ 100 to tho owners and £ 50 to the master . Ingenious Application of Gum Percua —A process for causing Gutta peroha to adhere firmly to the metallic structures , necessary for the support of artificial teoth , and for preserving it from the friction of the tonguo , has been

      invented by Mr . Trueman , of 23 , Old Burlington-street , and is a matter of importance to many persons . By the method employed , tho bulk and weight of the apparatus usually made use of are avoided , and the painful effects of tho pressure of hard metal upon tho gums removed , the elastic nature of gutta percha admitting of tho closest contact with them without inconvenience . The substance is also coloured by a contrivance which closely imitates the natural colour of the gums . The invention , though simple , and without any complexity , is perfectly efficacious , and answers the purpose for which it was intended very completely .

      Emily Sandpord . —A letter from a respectable resident at Adelaide , in that country , inserted in the " Worcester Herald , " says , " I think you would like to know a little about Emily Sandford . Wc often see her ; we do not live very far from her ; she seems a very interesting woman ; she is married to a German , and has one child four months old ; and tho child , of whom Rush was the father , ia a sweet little creature ; they do well , and seem very happy . She has bought houses with the money that was collected for her . " The Inventor of the Electrotype .-The occasion o f a public dinner given to Mr . Thomas Spencer by his friends in Liverpool on his leaving that place furnishes an opportunity of removing a doubt which has existed as to the discoverer of the electrotype . Charges were brought forward in the Mechanics' Magazine " in 1844 to the effect that Mr .

      Spencer had derived his knowledge of the electrotype from a letter of Mr , Jordan ' s , published in that journal in June , IMS . On this point Mr . Spencer , in his address at the dmnerin question , says :- " Nothing can be more absurd than this last charge . In fact I had never seen the letter until it was thus pointed out ; and , if I had , I could not have obtained anything practical from it . My claims have been usually admitted as dating from May , 1839 , because , at a public meeting of the Polytechnic Society , held on the 9 th of toat month , a letter was read from me to tho society , which is entered on the books of the society , nr ntions some of the results of the discovery , and also that I had been engaged m perfecting tbe process for a considerable period . This latter fact was spoken to by several members then present , some of whom had been made acquainted with my experiments at the first meeting of the society in October previous . Along with this letter a number of voltaic

      specimens were shown to tne meeting , conHsting of medals and copper moulds , and specimens of engraving , all of which had been formed by the electrotype . In a conversation which ensued I , explained the process to the meeting , and further showed some specimens of silver plating and gilding which I had with me . " From the very careful examination ° f ' he question , we have been long convinced that Mr . Thomas Spencer ' s claim to be the discoverer of the important electro-metallurgical process is placed beyond dispute . — Memm

      Vacitftob

      Vacitftob

      Cons.—Why Are Lovers'sighs Like Long Sto...

      Cons . —Why are lovers ' sighs like long stockings ? -Because they are high bo ' s . Why are persons born blind unfit to be carpenters ^—Because they never saw 1—Punch . -, Problem in Navigation . —Do vessels sailing under bare poles thereby become polar bears ? A heading people will become a thinking people , and then they are capable of becoming a rational and a great people . Iron . —The iron manufactured produce of Britain is now about 250 , 000 tons per annum . / . i sc—A mine in Belgium , called the Vieille Montague , produced no less than 11500 tons of this metal in 1850 , gmn ^ eiuploymeot to 2 , 040 men . A Hard Place . — Betsv , in the play of The World's a Bv n l ' * c ^ no more stand all the kissing in the HlS ^ » i ? »» *»« e washing . . . rmrTifft JZ \ ' ° ftea ranl ( le th * wouml which inW glv ? 8 LkVsfwIyt er flgeU ' f 0 rgiV 1 ' S CUre 8 h ' " ****>*

      rn „ t „ a . T a ? A op definitions . . w 2 ?~ Ad Es 6 ay on Grace in one Vol ., with an elegant frontispiece . ? h « n " iM 'Ti Manu al ° J Good M < " > ners , bound in cloth , —the polished diamond of society . Old i & itf .-A Quiver-full of arrows with no beau attached -The pepper-box of humauity .-A peripatetic wig-block . r r , Bachelor . —A . Dandylion run to teei in a garden of beautiful flowers . Flirtation . —The rattle of the female snake before securing its victim . —Tfoung ladies' social champagne . Heart . —The best card in the chance game of " Matrimony ; " sometimes overcome by diamonds and knaves , often won by tricks , treated in a shuffling manner , and cut altogether . Album . —A drawing-room man-trap , set by young ladies . «» The Month .

      A Posrr . — " Isn't tho world older than it used to be ?" said a young hopeful to his senior . — " Yes , my son . "" Then what do folks mean by old times ?" To Season Mixcb Pies . —Put in all the nice things you can afford , then add twice as much more—they will be superexcellentlygood . A Long Ride . —An Irishman , coming to Dublin to spend his Christmas , took the stage in preference to the railway , because , as he said , he could ride four times as long for the same money . The middle-aged lady of respectable connexion , " who never nursed a tree or a Sower , " has gone north to marry the blacksmith by whom " the last link was broken . " Thrashing a Husband . — -A woman , in New Hampshire , who had been ill-used by her husband , on finding him sound asleep , one day , quietly sewed him up in the bed clothes , and then gave him a tremendous thrashing !

      An Irish piper , who now and then indulged in a glass too much , was accosted by a gentleman with— "Pat , what makes your face so red ?"— " Please yer honor , " said Pat , " I always blush when I spakes to a gintleman . ' ' A Bitter Cup . —The friends of Louis Napoleon pretend that he has acted with impartiality towards the soldiers and the people ; for if he gave wine to the military , he did not fail to give the citizens a taste of the grape . —Punch .

      EXTRACTS FROM PUNCH'S ALMANACK . How to degin the New Year . —Open the door with the silver key of Hope , that it may close on the golden hinge of Prosperity . New-tbar ' s day in China ia remarkable for the Feast of Lanthorns , when it is lucky to walk home from the temple with a candle still burning , the great point of the feast being to avoid a blow-out . The storms of Adversity are wholesome ; though , like snow-storms , their drift is not always seen . Moral of the Mistletoe . —If you print a kiss—don't publish it . Sermon of the Holly . —The holly-twig from the Christmas mantel-piece preaches this short sermon to all the household : — " Be your spirits green and ever-green as my leaves ; and your hearts rod and unspotted as my berries . " Real Prize Beef . —The biggest joint given to the poorest and the best-deserving of your neighbours .

      A Good hand of Cards for a Happy Couple . —Lota of hearts , a sprinkling of diamonds , no clubs , and one spade —last card of all—between the partners . Travelling Extraordinary . —On Christmas day an alderman of the city of London having eaten his beef at Clapham , walks , in less than five minutes' time , into Turkey ! Mum . by a Maniac—A one-armed man is always an offhanded kind of fellow . Rouge-et-noir . —Port wine to-day , black draught tomorrow . Found in an Omnibus by a Gentleman , who was seated with his back to the window , a severe cold . Anybody desirous of possessing the same , can have it by going to the same place and paying the usual expenses . —27 ie Month .

      Exports . —The Board of Trade returns for the month of November contain the novel entry of" exports of grain and flour . " These stand ( for the month ) .- —Wheat , 15 , 000 quarters ; barley , 2 , 000 ; and oats , 1 , 000 . Wheat flour , 9 , 225 cwts . Too Expensive . —A friend of ours says he should have remained single , but he couldn ' t afford it . What it cost him for " gals and ice-cream , " is more than he now pays to keep a wife and to bring up eight children . Bachelors should think of this . How to get Fat . —One of the worst things to fatten on is Envy . In our opinion , it is as difficult for a grudging man to raise a double-chin , as it ia for a bankrupt to raise a loan . Plumpness comes not from roast beef , but from a good heart and a cheerful disposition .

      A Bull —At a crowded lecture on Bloomcrism the other evening , a young lady , standing at the door , was addressed by an honest Hibernian , who was in attendance on the occasion , with "Indade , miss , I should be glad to give you a sate , but the empty ones aro all full . " The Fashion of thb Month . —The new article of Lady ' s Dress thai will be so very mucft . worn . —Clara— "How do you like my new waistcoat , dear ? ' '—Harrielte— " Well , I declare it ' s sweetly pretty !—tho most—a—a—the most slap- % ip thing I ' ve seen for a long time . "—The Month . Hikts for Young Ladies . —If young women wasto _ in trivial amusements the prime season for improvement , which is between the ages of sixteen and twenty , they regret bitterly the loss when they come to feel themselves inferior in knowledge to almost every one they converse with .

      Mi'sicians . —It is recorded as a musical fact , that every orchestra contains two " musicianers" with moustaches , one with spectacles , two wiih bald heads , and , lastly , a very modest man with a white cravat , and that he , from the force of circumstances , always plays upon a brass instrument . A Parsok ' s Prayer . —In a storm at sea , the chaplain asked one of the crew if he thought there was any danger . " Oh , yes , " replied the sailor ; " if it blows as hard as it does now , we shall all be in Heaven before twelve o ' clock to night . " The chaplain , terrified at the answer , cried out , "Shallwe ? the Lord forbid !" Mother . —Let no young man expect success or prosperity who disregards the kind advice and pious instruction of . his mother . What can be more consoling and heart-cheering in severe affliction than the fond recollection of apiousvaother ' s prayers and . teava , poured totth and shed for her beloved offspring ?

      A Dancing-master , on being cast away on a desoiatcs island , lived six months without any other food than that which he derived from " cutting pigeon wings" and stewing them . Here ' s a hint worth taking to sea . If learning to dance will prevent you from shifting off this mortal coil , it is the duty of every man and woman to grow wise in cotillons . The Fiiexcu Mint . —Wo learn from some returns from the French mint , that while the coinage of gold in France was less than half a million sterling for some years previous to 184 S , it rose in that year to one » nd a half million sterling , —in 1840 to two millions , —in 1850 ti three and 8 half millions , —and in the first ten months of 1851 , to no less than ten and a quarter millions .

      Thb late . Mr . Turner , R . A . —We learn on good authority ( says the '' Manchester Guardian" ) that the late Mr . Turner has left by his will a sum of £ 200 , 000 , for tho purpose of founding an institution for the relief of decayed artists , and has given all his pictures ( with the exception of three of his own works , which are left to the nation ) for the purpose of embellishing the building which is to be erected for that purpose . The President of the United States remarks in his message that the advantages of science in nautical affairs , have rarely been more strikingly illustrated than in the lact that , by means of the wind and current charts , projected and prepared by Lieutenant Maury , the Superintendent of the Naval Observatory , " the passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific ports of our country has been shortened by ahoufi forty days . "

      Potatoes have been raised by J . Gaskell , Esq-i ox St . Nicholas , from seed potatoes received from New Zealand . The seed was obtainedfor the purpose of testing an opinion , that the produce of seed raised in those islands , where the potato disease is unknown , would be free from its attack ia this country . Mr . Gaskell ' s experiments prove the contrary , as , in three experiments , tbe produce was as much infected as was that from English-nvised seed . —Cottage Gardener . Parisian Fashions for December 1851 . —At the beginning of the present month the favourite colour was a shot , which was met with almost everywhere in tho promenades on the Boulevards . Steel has been almost universal m Paris , and a great deal of it has been seen in points by way of trimming to the jacket . The material most in requisition has been Muzzlin ' , which has been muoh worn by members of the Assembly and the writers for the newspapers ..- * Punch .

      Ease for Man .-By the rear two thousand , says an American paper , it is probable that manual labour will haw utterly ceased under the sun , and the occupation of the adjective " hard-fisted" will have gone for ever . They have now , in New Hampshire , a potato-digging machine which , drawn by horses down the rows , digs the potatoes , separates them from the dirt , and loads them up into the cart , while the farmer walks alongside , whistling " Hail Columbia , " with his hands in fan ; PO « etB . A Smart Lad .- " Is Mr . Bluster at home ?"— " No , sir , " said a smart cockney youth 'he is out of town , sir . " — "When can I see him i "I don t know , sir . Have you any special business with Mr . Bluster ?"— " Yes , there is an account I wish to settle . ' — " Well ( remarked the cunning lad ) I can't say when he will get back . "— " But I wish to pay the bill , as I am to leave town immediately . "— "Oh you wish t ° P ay him some money , sir ? ( said young sagacious ) Well , perhaps I may be mistaken—he may be upstairs , sir . Please , walk in , sir ; your hat , if you please , sir ; Mr . Bluster will be herein a moment , dr . "

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), Jan. 10, 1852, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns2_10011852/page/3/