EDINBURGH. (FORM OUR OWN CORRDSPONDENT.) March 25.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XX, Issue 2139, 28 May 1864, Page 5

EDINBURGH. (FORM OUR OWN CORRDSPONDENT.) Mar ch 25.

Ac. Un we ha\ c aniveil at Hie date of another mail, and again a\ c must lansack our mcmoi j r for matter ot lnteiest to those who aie fai .iwa'. Having myself ab one time been a considerable tune away fioni the old countiy, I lcmcmber the .vuchty with which 1 seized eveiy sciap of new & about the old pliee. I well lemembei how I jealously lead -whole columns of othciwisc umuteiestmg matter, wholly because the woids thcie lecoided had been s,'okcn m a familiar place, and weioaddiessedto f.unihai heaiei^ The object oi! my letter is to save yoni leadeisand mine, A\hose time 111 a busy and turning colony is necessaiily piecious, the tiouble of lacking whole liks of papcis to obtain the ue-\\», 01 part oi it, that 1 set injself to supply. Iho Abenlonun asks of his acquaintance, " Foo'& aw wi'ye '" and this i-> liatulally the fii^t thought of people icgaiding then fuend«, whether at home cv abio.ul. (supposing the question addicted to myself, 1 will ausu er, "(!e % \ w eel " And that all is well v ith us eveiytliing testwes Of couiso 1 don't mean to say tli.it cveiy lmliMdual in Scotland is uthei well oi happy, noi that c\eiy bianch of business is uncommonly piospeious But, speaking of the whole community, 1 can v lth jileasuie teatit) that the w oikmg classes aie getting moi c food, mi le wages, and mote clothing th in evei they got bcfoie ; and fmther, tliab cmployor* aie in a moie pi ospeious condition tb.in they l^e been since inanufactuiinq on.ilai»e scale commenced. Single blanches of bu-jiiics* have no doubt at odd times been as active and pi oiitible as they are now; but if embrace in one view all the gieat tiades of the countiy, -we can with one or two exceptions, say that they aie piospcious to an unpaialleled e\tent. The cotton ti.ule, is the most de|iies«ed, l^, lcviving, and I belies'e che cotton lutuls who cannot find employment at their ow n tiadc have little difficulty, piovuled they aie willing, hi finding employment m cthei tiades In lehgious matt'is we continue to oscillate between advancement and iatiogie»»ion A motion oi oveituie in the licsbyteiy of Glasgow, asking the Geneial Assembly to lcpcal the law which piolubits numsteis of othei commuuions fioni cntcung the pulpits of the Estvbhs'ied Chinch, was lost, .otter a most effective speech by Di Noiman Macleod in its favour. In this speech he unhappily ti oil on the coins of Dr Candlish, and an amusing coiioponrlencc ensued, and was wound up by a soit of benediction by Dr. Maclcod. The committees of the Fiee and United Piev bytenan Chuiches have come to an un>'cistanduig on each otheis standaids, and a compai.son may now easily be made, [t appeals ami in fact has been seen from the first, that the civil m.igistiate difliculty is the only one that piesent-J any obstacle to union, supposing alw.iys that all parties aie agieed that union is desirable Of this, howevei, all are not agieed ; but it is difficult to say at picsent how many will cany thci' opposition so fai as to .secede fiom the chui ch. Should union be effected, theie is a jparty represented by the Key. Geoige Gillillan, of Dundee, who will no doubt do their utmost to make the present attempt aboitive, and I think I may safely say that many who ouginally looked favouiably, or at all events with no disf.u our, on the movement, have come to legard it ■with some jealousy on account of the preponderance it would give the unite Jl clinrchts in the country, both in political and social affairs So long as the dilfeient parties aie pietty evenly balanced there is a better guarantee for both political and lehgious liberty than when any sector paity obtains uii'hie influence in the land. "Well-meaning but misguided people aie veiy apt when their own party is in the ascendant to thiusb their opinions down other people's throats, and like George Ilf. will condemn any one who opposes their particular way of cany ing out their ideas, aiguing that because their object is good it fs wicked to ofler any opposition to their plau of effecting it. What will be the result of the piesent mo\ cmetit it is hard to say, but it is to be hoped that the accession of liberality Avhich will bo necessary to effect the union will continue with the chuiches when united. I am sorry to have to recoid the continued indisposition 'of the genial "Dr. Guthiie. His medical men give little hopes of his soon being able to resume his duties at St. John's, and his congregation, with a view to lelieving Dr Ifanua, have applied to the Free Presbyteiy of Edinbuigh to sanction the call of an assistant and successoi. the congiegatiou uudcitaking not to seek any assistance towaids his maintenance fioin the sustentation fund. The petition has been granted, ai.d we shall soon shoi tly see a third minister appointed 1 to St. John's, a lather unusual number for a dissenting place of worship. The botanic giiden cpicstion has again been laised fiom a woiking man's point of view, and the advocates of opening the gaulens have again been disappointed. A meeting of Masons was convened by parties favourable to opening the gai dens on Sunday, but their opponents were so well whipped up that the question was negatived at a meeting ostensibly called to affiim it. The matter is not, however, to rest heic, as other measures aie in contemplation for again bringing the question befoie the countiy. The "openeis" labour under a great disadvantage in being opposed by people who reside hundreds of miles away fiom Edinbuigh, while on the other hand they leccive no encouragement fiom people of their way of thinking residing out of the sphere affected by the question. In other word", their opponents are disciplined, virile their friends aie the very leveiso. The advent of a heavy fall of snow has again affoided the mischievous and thoughtless an opportunity for creating a petty liot m the vicinity of Edinburgh College. The snow balling wciic fast and furious between the Collegians and outsideis, descending occasionally into personal oonflicts of a pugilistic character. The shopkeepers in the neighbourhood were obliged to suspend business for a time, and when at length a sti ong body of pollco ai lived on the battfe ground they were stoutly assailed, and mae little progress until they had done coiisuU'Vftble execution w itu. ttyeir staves, The work

seemed to bo congenial to some of the force, who plied their bludgeons with more skill than nietcy. TLe poor fellows who were worst used by the police were generally those apprehended, and consequently nifide to suffer— once, 1 suppose, for Uieir own misdeeds, and once for those imcaught. The notes appended tj the Bogisfcrav-Goneral's quarterly return lecentbj issued disclose some singular cases of longevity. In the Dunbar district three persons have died dining the quarter who had attained the respective ages oi eighty-nine, ninetyfour, and ninety-seven. Ihe iiibfc of these had been in the navy, and fought under Nelson at the battles of the Nilo and Trafalgar. The second was an apprentice of the famous Andrew Meikeo, the iuventor of the ilist winnowing machine in Scotland. The a|>pi entice pisb dead assisted in its construction. The third was a female, who had bucn a domestic servant She was a descendant of a long-lived family, her father and giandfather having lived to be noaily of the same ago as heiself. iler grandfather, whom sho romombeis, had witnesed the entry of William and Mary into London in 16S8. This appeats a gieat distance of time for tin co geneiations to span, but it is just possible, allowing that tho giandfathcr was a moic child when ho witnessed the event, and that his gianddaughter was vciy young when he died. Pier lather was pic cut at the entiy of the Pretender into Edinburgh, in 1745. She heiself lomembois the ci ection of the first house in the New Town of Edinbuigh, and was in soi vice with a family theie with whom Bum s was a frequent visitor. Jn the same ictuins the registiar of Oeckpen chionicles tho death of a schoolmaster and playfellow of Mungo Piuk. She was 92 years of age, having been born in Selkuk, the same parish as Paik ■was born in, and in the same 3'ear, namely 17V 1. She went to school along wjjth him, and had a lively lecollectiou of the unfoitiuulo traveller. 'While speaking o£ deaths and family lnstoiics, I may mention the death of Mr. Hugh Paton, of Edinbuigh, a lineal descendant of the celebiated covenanter Captain Paton, of Meadowsadc, in Ayishnc, who took a leading pait in the celebiated battles. Lentland and JBothwell Bug. fci which he was executed in the glass maiket, Edinbuigh. The life of Captain Paton fninishcs Sn Waltei Scott with a poition of his nialcuil for " Old Moitahty.' 1 Mr. Hugh Patou has foi about thirty yeais can led on the business of carvci and gildci, to which he addod those of publishing, printing, and punt-selling. Fiom his house issued Kays Edinburgh pni ti aits, GeiKie's famous etching*, Wilson's Memorials of Edinbuigh, and other famous woiks. Mi. Patons per-eveung leseniches m collecting and anangmg matenal to lllustiate the quaint diawings above lufcued to, have always been waimly acknowledged. Mr. Paton occupied a pionnncnt position in the city, having taken a leading paifc in many plnlantiO2>lnc movements, such as the Society for the Pievenlion of Ciuclty of Animals, of which ho was one of the oiigimil pioniotei« TTc also held the the honoiary olheo of Secictaiy for her Majesty's household for Scotland. It is lather a imguUr coincidence that the death of Admiral Hugh Patlou should be jiut announced while [am occupied in lecoiding tho death of his n imesake It is two that the gallant adnm.il has two t'j rihis na'i c, but tins diHoicnce m sidling may peilnps, boaecountcd foi a-! Fielding accounted for the difioienec in spelling between Ins name and that of Ihe family name of a noble i elation, by saying that the difleicnce wa> due lo his own family being the fiistto know Low to spell eoncctly. Our lailway com^anie^ have suftcied lathci heavily lately fiom an e\tonsi\o syst m of I'llfemig that hah aii-cu among then 1 own savants. On the Edinbuigh and Glasgow li.ie, no lets than si\ employees have been appichcnded at I'olmoutall at once. To detect the thieves, tlnce inspectois placed themselves in a convenient position, and on the ti mi .uiiunit at Polmont theie was soon a sound as of some llmd being di awn into a tin The police divided, one paity gring up one "-ldc of the ti \in,|.ind another up the othet. When the guaul of the tmiu saw thi^ accession to then company ho called out as a signal, "Cleai out theie. ' and "-nnilaily the engine stoker, who was watching the other end, sounded his whistle to nl.uiu h's accomplices. Tlncc poiteis and a duver w r eic found diawing beet out ot a ban el they had tipped, mid weio shoitly appiehcnded. The Edinbuigh, Path, and Dundee Comp my have aKo hul occasion to complain of their numeious losses fioin tlioft. They, howovei, a week oi two ago got such a clue to die oflendeis as lo appiehcnd one of t'lcculpiifc, and to cause otheiJi to abscond. Numeious aiUcleswcie found in the possession of these people, and leinanis of otlieih that had been destroyed to pievcnt identification. In cases of bicaeh of tiust of thi^, chataetar, I think the legislfttute would do well t<> inflicb licaviei punishment than in cases of oidinaiy theft, on the punciplc acted on with ic<»md to post letteio, the punishment for stealing winch, b} lcttci cauieis, i^ out of all piopoitmn lo then value, and lsmllictcd moie to dclei the w ould-be gniltj' than to avenge the loss of the letter. (To be continued.)