MISCELLANEA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 110, 12 February 1853, Page 10

MISCELLANEA.

The Bean op Durham and the Cubate's Cow. —Solomon Grisdale, curate of Merrington, who was very poor, and had a numerous family, lost his only "cow. Mr. Surtees determined to raise a subscription for another cow ; and waited on the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry (the late Earl Cornwallis) then Dean of .Du.ib.am,. and owner of the Great Tithes of Mevrington,. to ask what he would give. 'Give,'said his Lordship, ' why, a cow, to he sure. Go, Mr. Surtees, to Woodiield, my steward, and tell hinx to give.you as much money as will buy the best cow you can find.' Mr. Surtees, who had not expected above a £5 note at most, exclaimed, ' My Lord, I hope you'll -ride to Heaven upon & the back of that cow!' A while afterwards he * was saluted in the College, by the late Lord Barrington, with—' Surtees, what is the absurd speech that I hear you have been making to the Dean?' 'I see nothing absurd in it,' was the reply: * when the Dean rides to Heaven on the back of that cow, many of you Prebendaries will be glad to lay hold of her tail.'— Taylor's Life of Surtees.

The Rights of WoMEN.T-Tlie New York Herald' publishes reports of the Women's Rights Convention which has lately held a sitting at {•Syracuse, which extended over three days. A number of. resolutions s^lfife passed, asserting the rights of women tQjt" the emancipation of their sex from all the slaveries of law and custom which hitherto have' made and kept them incapable of their heaven-appointed mission." In defining the rights for which they were striving, and which " they intended to obtain," Mrs. J. Elizabeth Jones, of. Ohio, said the chief point of their demand was-" the right to vote; that included all other rights. She was anxious to obtain a seat in the. legislative hall, on the judicial bench, or to fill the chair of the executive. For herself, she was not one.of those \vho: talked much about women's rights. She took them without saying anything about them." Mr. Governor Brigham, the great " light" of the Mormon community, raised a slight storm by expressing his conviction '" that the feminine' element in human nature was, in all respects, a subjective element and the masculine the executive." The ladies would not admit the truth of the proposition. A woman was equal to a man at any time, and had as much right to take a part in the dispensing of physic or in anything else connected with the social state. The effervescence which had been called into action by Mr. Brigham Js expression was increased to a boiling agitation by a rev. gentleman, named Hatch, having the audacity to tell this 11 assemblage of strongminded women " that^he feminine element which gave to the softer Vex all their influence and consideration was a modesty in raiment, and a retiring disposition which prevented them from coming forward in public with the shrill clarion or brazen trumpet j, jind that a true woman was like the modest violet, half concealed, rather than the sunflower, which glares upon everybody and calls upon men to admire it." Some further remarks from the same gentleman raised such a hubbub about his ears that he was glad to make a precipitate retreat, whereupon " the ladies" cheered vehemently. The business was wound up by the singing of a doxology, and the convention was adjourned sine die. ""' ' •"

The English Litubgy.—The book of common prayer is the very kernel of the church of England. The liturgy has probably no rival in the affections of the English nation. The exquisite beauty and majesty of its language, the simplicity and dignity of its ritual, the richness and sweetness of its melody, the-touch-ing harmony of its cadences, the depth, warmth, and elevation of its devotional spirit,.have for ages soothed the feelings, stimulated the pietyyj and earned the reverence of a great and reli-> gious people. We cannot wonder at'the exhibition of such phenomena. The liturgy is? the precious tradition of the religious feeling and most exalted aspirations of many centuries of Christianity. All that the most saintly men, under every circumstance of human life and human emotion, have felt in the depth of their souls' and poured forth to the God of their adoration—all that the bitterness of the keenest penitence, or the resignation of the profoundest suffering, or the fervour of the : Christian hope, or the exultation of triumphant faith, or the submission of the sincerest humility, or the intensity of the most earnest prayer has conceived and uttered, is here treasured up for the sustaining of Christian life and perpetuating of Christian feeling during unnumbered generations. It is a striking testimony to the intrinsic excellence of the liturgy, and to the fidelity and purity with which it expresses the genuine spirit of; Christianity, that though descended from such remote antiquity it has lost none of its original freshness. It is as serviceable for the present generation, as thoroughly adapted to the utterance of our prbfoundest, as also of our most varied and delicate feelings, as if it had been composed in our own day. Nay, it is more so ; for without meaning any disrespect to Archbishops of Canterbury, who, it may be confidently asked, on hearing the occasional prayers put forth from time to time by the authority of the Queen in council, has not been struck by the very perceptible discord between the new and the old, and has not found the additions of modern compositions to fall short in power and 4 beauty of language, as well as in depth and simplicity of feeling ? The musical and rhetorical excellence of the liturgy will, excite greater surprise, when it is remembered that, for the most part, it consists of

translations from Latin. What other work can be placed by.its side, in which a literal version from a foreign tongue is felt to surpass native and original compositions hi harmohyj richness, dignity, and variety of expression ? What English prose will venture to challenge a comparison with the majesty and melody of the collects ? Shakspere and Milton may have equalled them by the happiest efforts of their genius: we know of no prose writing that could bear such a trial. The cause of the superiority is plain. The liturgy is the choicest selection of what has been proved to be best during a long lapse of time. Its litanies and its collects are the fruit of the most sublime piety and the noblest gifts of language tested by long sustained trial. Had they not sprung from the most inmost depths of human nature, thoroughly penetrated and Christianized by religion, they never would have retained their preeminence in public worship, much less have continued to be a living fountain of devotion for the 19th as truly as for the 6th century. No single generation could have created or could replace the liturgy. It is the accumulation of the treasures with which the most diversified experience, the most fervent devotion, and the most exalted genius, have enriched the worship of prayer and praise during 1,500 years. Who, then, can over-estimate its influence in perpetuating the sacred fire of Christian love and Christian faith amongst a whole people, or exaggerate its power in conserving the pure and apostolical type of Christian worship.— North British Review.

To the Electors of tie Canterbury Province.

Gentlemen,

Although it was intimated to me that certain inhabitants of the Province, and in particular, almost the whole of the land and householders of the Akaroa Electoral District, and Banks Peninsula in general—also the occupants of sheep and cattle runs in the extensive districts under my charge—as likewise some Canterbury Colonists who had not allowed themselves to be misled or influenced by misrepresentations of what I had done or said, either here or formerly in England,—were desirous that I should offer myself as a cadidate for the office of Superintendent.; yet J have hitherto remained passive, being undecided as to the course I ought to pursue, especially as I conceived it would be highly improper to come forward, as I would wish to do, until the Act of Parliament, conferring upon us a Constitution, was proclaimed in New Zealand by his Excellency the Governor, to -whose liberal suggestions we are chiefly, if not entirely, indebted for it.

V-- ■Tha^havJTig been done, I beg to assure you tHat;an^o^tever position I may hereafter stand among.ybia^while maintaining that independence we have all a right to, I shall yield to no one in earnest endeavours to promote what I may feel convinced would be to the advantage of; this important Province; as likewise to acquire for it, in due course of time, and as its resources become developed, a most full and necessary measure of Local Self-Goverment; yet I shall not, like certain candidates for the office ;bf Superintendent, or for the honor of beingyour Representatives intheGeneral Assembly or Provincial Council, pledge myself to any particular or prescribed line of policy, or to take, prematurely, any steps to have parts of pur untried Constitution at once altered to suit my own fancies or views. I shall,, however, readily engage that, on every fitting1 occasion, I shall do all I can to frustrate any attempt to diminish our resources; and therefore, to prevent the New Zealand Company from receiving, in respect of sales or alienations of Waste Lands of the Crown, anything more than it may be satisfactorily proved they are justly entitled to, towards the liquidation of what seems to be their most preposterous claim upon them. I ajso engage that nothing shall be wanting on my part to urge the adoption of a plan based upon liberal and sound principles for the future disposal of the Waste Lands of the Crown.

But I ought publicly to state that, it is known to Messrs. Godley, Alston, and Brittan particularly, as well as to a few others—and I believe I may include Mr. Fitzgerald, who, from what has just occurred at Lyttelton, connected with emigration, seems^to have "come to grief"—in what manner, after Mr. Godley had sailed for New Zealand, I acted in Great Britain and Ireland;in order to meet both his and Mr. HuttV views and wishes as to selling the

Association's Lands, and how they, came to be frustrated by. self-interested individuals ; as likewise what I did to enable the Managing Committee—and this I soon regretted—to carry outa scheme which I before long saw must end, as it has done, in failure and disappointment to many; as also in the disappointed New Zealand Company surrendering their charter. My cause of offence, in the eyes of Mr. Godley and those interested in latterly upholding the Canterbury, or rather the New Zealand Company's scheme, upon which their very existence as a colonizing body depended, was my being too well acquainted with the state of the Association's affairs. But I shall now only ask Canterbury Colonists in general, why did Mr. Godley reject the Governor's liberal and considerate offer of advancing the means of gradually completing the Sumner-road ? and what will now be the consequences of their allowing the powers, hitherto exercised on their behalf by the irresponsible Committee of Management, to be transferred to themselves? and how are their debts, of more than £30,000 to the New Zealand Company,— a great proportion of which was so imprudently contracted by Messrs- Godley and Hutt, and by Lord Lyttelton, to enable Captain Thomas to commence and carry on his operations on the expensive scale he did at Lyttelton, until stopped by Mr. Godley,—to be paid ? and why should Mr. Godley, who afterwards, and as long as he could command nioney, endeavoured to carry out Captain Thomas's then well known to be injudicious plans, have thought of leaving New Zealand now, I may say, that the Association's Land Sales have all but ceased, before arrangements had been made for the liquidation of these and other debts, to which, as a Corporate body, the Land-Purchasers,it is to be feared, are alone liable? But, allow me also to ask, how comes it that Mr. Brittan, who was appointed Mr. Godley's assistant in the Land Department, has not, as was formerly intended, become lijs successor in the Agency? I may, however, surmise that Mr. Brittan, being* a Land-Pur-chaser, knew too well what responsibility would attach to him had he become the Association's Agent, though none whatever was all along incurred by Mr. Godley, who took good cave not to be the owner of an acre of land iv the settlement;

I ought also to state that, it was, in some measure, owing to what was untowardly occasioned by Lord Lyttelton's treacherous memory ; and, chiefly, to my seeing but too clearly that the Edward Gibbon Wakefield scheme of High Priced Land and concentration around Christchurch, and other intended towns, and the Felix Wakefield counteracting scheme of dis' persion over the*Piains of the prudent portion, of the Colonists in pastoral pursuits, would iuevitably put an end to the illusion of the Association being able to sell Land at three or even one pound an acre, either at home or in the Settlement, for any length of time after the arrival of the Colonists, or when the real position of the unwisely hurried out crowds oi' them came to be generally known; and also to my being convinced that the Committee of Management (or rather Lord Lyttelton, in whom the whole power and influence of the Association centred), could not, in any respect, fulfil the engagement to which they had entered into with the Colouists; that, after uselessly arguing as to the ruinous consequences to them of selling Land at so high a price as three pounds an acre, and expostulating, on their behalf, with a view to, at least, their being allowed to pay for their Lands by yearly instalments, with Lord Lyttelton, and some of the Committee ; as also with their chief adviser, Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield, (who seems now much alarmed lest they should be " placed at my tender mercy,') that I gave up all idea of becoming a Cauterbuvv Colonist.

But notwithstandinging what has been purposely said and, in some instances wilfully as well as ignorantly written against me, I fool satisfied that Mr. Godley—Whom I had kept fully acquainted with what had taken place as connected ivith the Association's affairs after he left jEngland—did not for a moment doubt my sincerity-when, a few weeks ago, in presence of Lord Robert Cecil and others, I assured him that, in returning to England, he would not leave behind him any one who would move zealously exert himself to promote, to the Utmost of his power, the interests and welfare of the Canterbury Colonists, situated as they now are, than I would if, divesting their minds of groundless prejudices, they, would ouly have confidence in me.

JSfow, Gentlemen, having, as briefly as I well could, made known to you my motives, acts, and intentions, it is for you to decide, by your votes, which you may consider the Candidate most likely to be a useful and, as far as I may be concerned, until the Provincial revenue can better meet the necessary public expenditure, only honoi-ary Superintendent; to discharge the limited duties of which office, I am inclined to think, would not be found by me so onerous, as to prevent me from properly attending to the administration of the Waste Lands of the Crown. Believe me to remain,

j, Gentlemen, faithfully yours, James Campbell, Commissioner of Crown Lands 3 &c.,&c, Akaroa, February 7, 1853. ,