Extracts.

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 172, 22 January 1848, Page 3

Extracts.

Narrow Escapi of thk Bishop of Exeter.— The dioceie has escaped the sensation of a shock more calamitous than has fallen on the Church within the memory of the oldest inhabitant. The Bishop— the Lord Bishop, coming down by the train on Saturday last, the 22J July, narrowly escaped being burnt alive. An axle broke beneath his carriage. The rude fragment of iron, irritating by violent and incessant attrifion the excitable wood which composed the floor of the carriage, chafed it into a violent heat, which speedily increased till fire bunt forth from the wood under the Bishop's feet without, and the smoke and burning odour aicending within the cr riage. From the first moment of the alarm till tht lull diicovery of the impending horror was made, but few seconds had elapsed. The train was flying through the air at the rate of a rapid bird's piogiess. The faster it flew the more greedily the destructive fire fed upon the freshening breeze— mad was its insatiable and forky tongue licking up the vital air as the breeze ran by. The glass was dashed down, and the doors thrown open. The bishop raised his voice, and cried aloud for help. The flames were beneath his feet, the thick smoke was curling up and dimming his sight, and stifling his voice. God's will be done. Five minutes of that fire, fostered and fed ai it is by the mad breeze, and the whole carriage will be in a blaze! The BUhop calls aloud for the "guard >" Alas ! he calls in vain. The roar of the train drowns the halksDifled voice. The guard cannot smell the fire, for the treacherous wind thut lashes it into madness carries far into the rear the evidence of the terrible calamity which impends over them. The train outstrips the wind, which, passing on and falling to the rear, bears with it smoke and odour which would otherwise tell the fearful tale, and rouse the unconscious engineer to lescue them. Onvards they fly ! Already the heated floor is too hot for their feet. The flames will soon be actually wi hin the carriage, and a terrible death inevitably awaits them. This is the express train— they are at Maidenhead — they have twenty miles yet to run before the engine will stop to disclose the a*ful wreck. There are moments in which the experience of the soul seems to cover ages of duration. Those who were in this terrible peril before us will never forget the impreisions of the intolerable suspense. By a miracle they were preserved, and yet no one can tell how the interposition first arose. One guard was aroused ; he screwed down his break, and pasted on to his fellow, at the imminent risk of his life; Had he fallen, the fire would still have burnt on. The train, though slightly checked, wasnotyetitopped. His mate screwed down the second break, and they both roared at the engineman. But he held on his iron course, unconscious of the horror and apprehensions which followed in his train. At length, feeling the check of the two breaks, he turned to look to see the reason, when he discovered the wurning guards pale with the worst, the direst apprehensions. The horrified engineer shut off his steam, and reversed his engine. In an instant, the huge train is stopped, and the terrified passengers spring out. The fire being now unfanned by the boisterous bieeze, languished for lack of oxygen. Many hands mustering from the train speedily overmastered it— the carriage was cast aside — the train proceeds on its course — and Bishop Philpotts arrived in due time at Exeter — " a brand snatched from the burning." Sidney Smith's prophecy that it would require a bishop to be burnt before proper means of safety were adopted to secure the rescue of passengers in case of extreme peril, had wtll Digh been fulfilled in tins instance. Let us all rejoice that life was saved, aud that the terrible calamity of a torturing and protracted death was averted from one of the most notable personages of his day. These companies must be compelled to adopt ways by which paisengers may communicate with the guards, and guards with the engiiierr, in case of emergency. The bishop of thu diocese was within a few minutes of death. This eminent escape w^l not be forgotten by the prelaie. It is a remarkable passage in his life— and we have the 86surance that it will wean him more and more from the world and its blandishments. What is power to a maa imprisoned in a railway carriage, withavait feeding fire raging beneath and eating its way rapidly into the interior ? What are riches to one with the perils of death surrounding and closing in upon him.— Lati mer's Western Tones. New Zealand Wheat. — There was exhibited at the Exchange New Rooms, Lirerpool, on Tuesday, a cereal production that has astonished some of our ag riculturists, consisting of a sample of two stalks of New Zealand Wheat in full ear. They were grown on the Fanworth Estate, near Runcorn, by Wm. Jcffry Lockett, Esq., of Liverpool, and are nearly four feet ten inches in the sta k, and seven Inches in the ear. They are the first we believe, raised in this country. The seed was impoited into Liverpool in Oct., 1846, and in proof of its productiveness we may mention that theie will be, on a fair average, twenty-five steins to each seed. The field whence they were taken has a beautiful appearance.— Wtrceiter Journal, June 24. France. — The discovery of corruption and perilous conduct in the trusted classes of this country, has been followed by the yet more appalling discovery of a horrible murder committed, as it is feared, by the Duke de Choiseul-Pratltn, upon his Duchess, a most amiable woman, tbe daughter of Marshal Sebastiani. She and the Duke returned to Paris from the country last Tuesday night, and the servants were allowed leave of absence, and encouraged to leave the h mse ; the Duke and Duchess retired early to their several apartments, between which there was a communication. The servants heard a bell in the Dutcheas's room rung violently at about three o'clock in the morning, but, when they approached, the door was locked ; help was obtained, and it was broken open. The Dutchess lay on the floor bathed in blood, with .many wounds, and quite dead. There were proofs of a violent struggle, and there are the most condemnatory evidences of the Duke's complicity, if he be not the real actor in this fearful tragedy. He is under arreit, and the Court of Peers is convened by special ordinance of the King to try him. An Italian gover» ness, with whom the Duke is said to have been more than intimate, is also under arrest. Marshal Grouchy who accompanied the French corps d } armee, which was destined to employ the Prussian army while Napoleon attacked the Duke of We/plington at Waterloo, died lately, at St Etienne, on the Loire, in his 83d year. Mrs. Elizabeth Armitage.— This ponderous lady who wrighs upwards of 30 stone, aud is of vast measurement round the body, has returned to her former settlement in the Cosmorama Rooms, Regent-street, where she may be seen daily. To the lovers of exces sive developements of nature, we may reasonably suggest a visit to this curious specimen ot personal expansion. Mrs. Armitage rejoices in the growth and puie substantial flesh, and her appearance it far from 'wearing those ditagreahle attributes of oleaginous accumulation which have hitherto belonged to exhibitory ludies of this class. She is, in short, a handsome-look-ing woman, while her manners and address are ex» treinely pleaiing. It seems she has been honoured with visits from the Duke of Cambridge »nd levcral of the most distinguished nobility.