ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Gazette and Wellington Spectator, Volume III, Issue 219, 11 February 1843, Page 2

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

Observations upon the op the Elective Franchise. — If representation is a necessary thing in tbe Constitution ; if Deputies from the gread body of the people are to be sent up into Parliament, for the purposes of legislation and government, if the elections are matters of high interest, then the selection of fit men of unimpeached character, is of the last importance to the whole community. A mistake or a wilful act of any overt-kind, is pregnant with mischief, not to the solitary, or isolated place which may so disgrace itself, but unfortunately it affects the whole body, contaminates the fountain of legislative purity, and brings a discredit as well as danger to the concerns of a nation. It is the bounden duty of every elector to see this ; he should surrender to no other person the choice of a candidate ; his mind should be made up on the basis of public integrity, and he should be prepared to undergo

any sacrifice rather than that-of a base abandonment of hi ?. citizen preyilqgg.' No relaxation in the morality of the .hustings should be admitted, that man should forthwith and for ever become infamous in any station, who should be discovered tampering with this privilege.' It is a sacred deposit! .It is not a thing which can b,e called our own. It belongs to us, our children, and their prosterity. <It is the charm for gold, or the seed for evil, as the" possessor may dispose it. Let that person be accounted vile who by traffic with , the tight given him in trust, strikes like a traitor at the best institutions of his native land.- () Lighthouses.-— A return has been made to the House of Commons, by the Corporation of tlie Trinity House, of the receipt and application of all monies received as tolls for lighthouses; in the year ending 31st December, 1840, pursuant to 'Act of Parliament. The net revenue during that period was £184,717, the charges £102,655, and the surplus £32,062. "From" this susplus have been deducted payments for repairs, insurance, 'wages, salaries to superintendents, &c, leaving a clear surplus of £22,465. which has ' been applied to the '"charitable" and other uses, purposes, and intents, for which the Corporation of the Trinity House has been established and maintained.— Oore'i Liverpool Advertiser. Effect of Transplanting. — The late Edward Bellamy, Esq., who had a most excellent garden' at Starcross, in Devonshire, productive of every kind of fruit in abundance, and a most highly-favoured situation and soil, could never succeed in green gages. . Mr. Bellamy, in a freak, we suppose, took three of his trees and conveyed them to his estate in Dorsetshire, a cold, bleak, chalky, and mountanious district, exposed to north, north-west, and easterly winds. It is remarkable that these trees the ' second year, under this cold transportation, + bore abundantly the finest fruit imaginable for three years, when they ceased bearing again, and grew like willows. Mr. Bellamy, had them removed again, and again they bore abundantly; ever < after he planted out ten every year, keeping up a stock of forty, but always moving ten of them yearly in twins, and never after wanted for an abundant crop of green gages in a spot where scarcely any other fruit would • grow. It is evidently the case that the check of the root produced fruit instead of wood.— Gardner*" Chronicle. Large Steam Vessel. — Orders were received at Woolwich during the past week, to build a war steam-vessel of very large dimen- • sions, to be named the Dragon. The order has been countermanded, a* to her being built at Woolwich ; but she will be immediately commenced at Sheerness or Chatham, most probably at the latter port. Some idea may be formed- of the stupendous magnitude of this vessel, when it is stated her engines are to be of the immense power of 800 horses. The Devastation, and other first-class steamers at present in the service, have only engines of • "400 hors&pbwer. ■ A Compromise. — At Sligo assizes a widow compromised an action for breach of promise of marriage, by paying the gentleman, a medical student, £250 to abandon his suit. Extraordinary Trotting Match. —On Tuesday afternoon a number of sporting noblemen and gentlemen assembled at the extensive enclosure attached to the Rosemary Branch vTavern, Peckham, for the purpose of witnessing the performance of an extraordinary mateh — a grey pony, of twelve hands and a half high, the property of Mr. Burke, being backed for £50 to trot fourteen miles within an hour, with a monkey for its rider. The novelty of the affair attracted, in addition to the betting men and cognoscenti in horse flesh, an immense assemblage of spectators, including several ladies resident in the neighbourhood," in their equipages. The monkey of course was the " lion "of the day, and, according to the conditions of the match, he was to be booted, spurred, and other- - wise attired after the fashion of the jockeys at Epsom or Newmarket, and was to ride the pony in the usual style with saddle and bridle. The monkey originally selected for the undertaking is the property of a foreigner, but in consequence of his making an attack on his owner, and wounding him severely in the arm, it was deemed prudent ly Mr. Burke to obtain a substitute, and with that view Mr. Batty, the celebrated equestrian manager, was applied to for the loan of one' of his trained monkeys, and that gentlemen having selected ' ' Signor Jocko, " who had already earned considerable reputation by his performances in the circle, at the Surrey, and other metropolitan and provincial theatres. At the appointed time the signor made his appearance,' attended by one of the rough-riders belonging to Mr. Batty's establishment. He was dressed a la Chifney or Scott, his jacket and buckskins being built by a first-rate West-end Schneider, and his top-boots "would have done honour even to the renowned Hoby. The colours he sported were red and white, and in his right- paw he carried- a handsome riding whip, and also wore a small pair of spurs, buckled round -his boots. - The pony he was' mounted on is a very fast trotter, but, notwithstanding bis performances, time was in this instance backed - at odd's; ' After the arrangement of- the usual preliminaries, the start took place, Mr. Burke and a gentleman, the friend of the party who had taken the bet, cantering on each side of the pony, with two or three others galloping in the rear. . He performed- the distance in fifty-six minutes. ana fifty-three seconds of the given time, consequently three minutes and seven •econds to spare, and was not at all distressed. The ; 6ignor rode in first-rate.style, came in with his whip in his moutb, and appeared quite conscious of his own merits as an equestrian.— Sunday Tinted Fondness op Farm Stock for Salt. — In. this country a small portion only of the agricultural community have tried the efficacy of fait upon farm stock. The avidity with which it ig devoured by cattle and sheep, and even corses, is. astonishing, while' the influence gained over them through their 1 eagerness to obtain it is equally surprising." Aflock of sheep* or drove of cattle may, instantly be brought

together as if by magic, from every corner of an extensive pasture, provided they can hear, the voice or see the person of him who comes prepared with a small quantity of .salt; for, oh getting a hint that salt is about to Ye distributed they come bonnding along as fast, as their legs can carry them. Though the common practice is to^ deposit the salt in small rude troughs, or upon planks of wood or flat stones, yet so anxious are these creatures to get at the salt, that scarcely the shyest of them will refuse it from the hand of the person who supplies it. It is an interesting sight to witness two or three hundred sheep coming to the farmer's call, bleating and frolicking, and somewhat inconveniently hemming him in by their pressure on all sides. With regard to cattle, it is hardly safe to venture into an open pasture with salt in your possession, for so eager are they to obtain it, that they do not allow time for your depositing it upon the places intended for it, or even upon the ground if nothing else be at hand. Huge oxen, with large formidable horns, are rough companions < when they press closely around you; and it sometimes happens that you experience much difficulty in getting your formidable friend satisfied. Horses are under a similar influence, although they seldom exhibit their partiality in so striking a manner. During some years I owned a fine and noble animal ; but when I first purchased him he was somewhat shy and intractable. In the summer season he, along with two or three others was turned out to grass, and notwithstanting the tameness and gentleness of his companions, it was with the greatest difficulty that he was haltered when thus running at large. Oats, Indian corn, and other tempting things, were offered to him in vain ; but, when he had tasted salt, he forthwith became the" slave of his passions ; its talismanic power was wonderful, for from that day any individual about the farm could easily take him captive, provided half an ounce of salt was offered him as a bribe. Indeed it was not necessary to coax him to suffer himself to be taken ; on the contrary, he would come voluntarily to his enslaver, and endeavour to coax him out of his salt. — Mark Lane Eccrets.

Origin of the War in Affghanistan.— Amongst other letters from India just received, which throw light more or less upon the state of affairs there, and the occurrences which brought matters in Cabool to such a melancholy pass, one of an extremely singular character may be mentioned, which, from its curious details, is really worthy of attention, more especiallly as the lady writer asserts, that the facts may be relied upon, and are well known in the higher circles of India. It would seem, according to this statement, that woman, the cause of all man's woe/ was the cause (in perfectinnocence, however,) of the late disasters in Afghanistan. The story runs thus : — Sometime after the arrival of Lady Macnaughten in Cabul, to join her husband, Sir William, he received the news of his appointment as Governor of Bombay. When considering the necessary arrangements for proceeding to take possession of his Government, Sir William, of course, could not but look to the safety of his journey and the comforts of his lady and 'the other officers' ladies who proposed to accompany her. At that time the passes through the Ghilzie territory, through which lay the route, were still infested and rendered dangerous by the unruly tribes inhabiting them. Previously, in order to restore tranquillity and insure order among those tribes, Sir William Macnaughten, on concluding a treaty with the chiefs, had taken the precaution of making the condition that some of the influential among them should take up their residence at Cabul, so as to be under the surveillance of the British authorities. The ladies proposing to accompany Sir William to Bombay, well aware of the troubled state of the Ghilzie districts in the mountain passes, expressed naturally great anxiety about the perils of the passage, -and in fact a disinclination to proceed without the best security for safety. In consequence, as the most ready means, Sir William summoned the^ Gilzie chiefs in Cabul to a conference, at which he intimated to them his desire, equivalent to a command, that they should accompany hi 3 party through the unruly* districts, so as by their presence and influence to secure the peaceful behaviour of their tribes. On retiring from the conference, the Ghilzie chiefs held a parley amongst themselves, ana expressed their distrust of the proposition as being a snare for carrying them off prisioners, and confining them in Hindostan, as was the case with the Kakeer chief, Hadji Khan. They formedvthe resolution, in consequence, not to proceln*with Sir William; but, as disobedience would, of course, subject them to punishment, they resolved, also, as the only way to escape the alternative, to raise an insurrection, the plan of which was formed on the spot; and this was to attack the residence of Sir Alexander Burns, as the more formidable party they had to deal with, and to plunder the treasury, which, strange enough, was held in the next house to his, and unguarded. • Sir Alexander Burns murdered, the treasury plundered, the population, already discontented, rose as one man .to support this improvidised insurrection. The result is well known. At the news, every district, valley, and hamlet in Cabul poured forth its man and horse, contributed its sword and musket, to join in the plunder of Cabul and the expulsion of the Feringhees. The moral to be drawn from this lesson (for the facts can hardly be doubted) would seem to point to the impolicy and inexpediency of permitting the accompaniment of the wives or other female relatives of officers in an expeditionary force, not destined for the permanent ocupation of a conquered country.— Englith Paper. The Thames Tunnel is a large bricked tube, which passes under the bed of the stream. The purpose for which it was constructed has never been clearly ascertained, but some highly scientific individuals have conceived that during a severe winter it is intended to be filled with boiling water, and so insure .the uninterrupted navigation of the river by preventing an accumulation of ice. Others have imagined that it is to be converted into a powder magazine, and in case of an invasion, to be used as an American torpedo, and set the Thames on fire, or blow up the enemy's fleet, whilst our own men

of war are safely anchored — in Puddle Dock. — Punch. ■ , ' The emancipated negroes in the West Indies are, it is said, rapidly becoming proprietors. It is not generally known that newspapers are sent and received through the post, free of any charge, to the following kingdoms and towns not under the dominion of Great Britain, viz :— Denmark, Spain, Hamburgh, Lubeck, Cuxhaven, Bremen, Hayti, Peru, Honduras, Brazils, Buenos Ayres, La Guayra, Columbia, and Caraccas. — Globe. St. Rqllox Chimney. — This great undertaking was finished July the 6th, being the day 12 months from the time when the first brick was laid, and the British ensign was, in honour of the event, unfurled from its summit. The chimney naes 450 feet from the ground, and at least 600 feet above the more densely peopled portions of the city and the bed of the river. In relative height, independent of the elevations of its base, it is little inferior to the loftiest \ superstructure in the world; in absolute height it towers into the air incomparably higher. The great Pyramid Cheops rises 498 feet, but this includes a base of 150. Strasburg Cathedral is 474; St. Peter's in Rome, from ground to pinnacle, 450, being exactly the altitude of the monttre chimney : St. Paul's, in London, 870. The base of the chimney underground is 46 feet in diameter; at the ground 40; at the top, 13 feet 6 inches. During all the time this prodigious mass of brick-work has been erecting, not the slightest accident has accurred. [The foreign measures are French.] Chantrey's First Work*— Chantrey, when a boy, was observed by a gentleman in the neighbourhood of Sheffield very intently engaged in cutting a stick with a penknife,.and, excited by curiosity, he asked the lad what he was doing, when, with great simplicity of manner, but with courtesy he replied, "I am cutting old Fox's head." Fox was the schoolmaster of the village. On this the gentleman asked to see what he had done, and pronounced it to he an excellent likeness, presented the youth with sixpence, and this may perhaps be reckoned the first money Chantrey every received for a production of hi 3 art. What effect the incident may have had on his future destiny, let the philosopher or learned in such matters decide. — Gentleman's Magazine.