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ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

Emigration. — A memorial of considerable length, embodying a plan for emigration from Ireland, was yesterday presented to the Right Hon Lord John Russell. The memorial w*s accompanied with the following letter: — " 14 Park-street, Grosvenor-square, London, March 31, 1847. " My Lord, — We have the honour to present to your lordship the enclosed memorial, with the list of names which we have been authorised to 'append to it. " The main propositions which it embodies, and to which those who have signed it consider themselves pledged, are :—lst.: — 1st. The necessity of systematic colonisation, on a very large scale, from Ireland to Canada, and of the assistance of the State to promote it. 2nd. The necessity of making religious provision for the emigrants. 3rd. The advantage of enlisting private enterprise, in the form of agency, to carry out the plan ; and — 4th. A willingness to accept an income and property tax, for the purpose of defraying the cost of the emigration. " We hope to procure numerous adhesions to the principle of the memorial, which we will do ourselves the honour o( transmitting to your lordship after the Easter hoi, days, but we have thought it more respectful to your lordship to send it to you at once, without waiting for its circulation in Ireland. " We have the honour to be, my 10-d, your lordship's very obedient servants, " W. H. Gregory, M. P. " M. J. O'Connell, M. P. "J. R. Godley. " The Right Honorable Lord John Russell/ Names authorised to be attached to the accompanying memorial : — The Archbishop of Dublin, the Marquis of Ormonde, the Marquis of Ely, the Eatl of Devon, the Earl of Desart, Lord Farnham, Lord Jocelyn, Sir A. J. Foster, Bart. ; Colonel Wyndham, M. P.; Evelyn J. Shit ley, Esq., M. P. ; LieutenantColouel Taylor, M. P.; Alex. M'Carthy, Esq., M. P. ; Sir Charles Coote, Bart., M. P. ;R. B. Osborne, Esq., M. P. ; Hon. James Maxwell, M. P.; Major Layard, M.P. ; J. H. Hamilton, Esq., M.P.; Hon. S. Spring Rice, M. P ; M. J. O'Connell, E-q, M. P. ; Wm. H. Gregory, Emj m M.P. ; John Robert Godley, Esq.

The New House of Lords. — We have already stated that the Peers were expected to occupy their new House after the Eaoter vacation. A few words desciiptive of the general effect of the House may be interesting to those of our readers who have not been fortunate enough to have an opportunity of inspecting it. The noble proportions of the apartmentsj the elaborate carved panels, and the brilliant colouring which meets the eye on every side, contribute to produce a cvup d'ccil at once striking and beautiful. The ceiling is divided into a series of square compartments, the groundwork being elaborately coloured in blue and red, and the crossbeams forming the squares richly git. The western end of the House is occupied by the throne, which is already nearly complete. It is a most, elaborate and tasteful design of the Gothic order, consisting of a grand centre and two wings, the latter to be re>pective!y appropriated to the Ptince Consort and the Prince of Wales. At the first glance it presents a perfect blaze of gold, but on a more minute inspection the exquisite colouring here and there thrown into the design softens its tone and produces an admirable result. In the canopy over the centre of the throne are niches intended for the reception of statuettes of the pjtron saints of the three kingdoms, and on the wall immediately above appears Mr. Dyce's fresco painting of the Baptism of King Etbelbert. It is well known that Mr. Barry's original design for the House of Peers included six arched compartments, three at either end to be filled up by frescos. This arrangement will ultimately be carried out, but at present Mr. Dyce is the only artist who has completed his subject. Another important and interesting historical feature in the decoration of the House is the introduction of statues, about half the size of life, of all those Barons who were instrumental in exacting Magua Charta from John. Pedestals, each surmounted by an elegant canopy, are placed, at stated intervals on either side the House, immediately above the Peeresses' gallery, the name of each Baron bsing beautifully emblazoned in colours. The strangers' gallery faces the throve, and is immediately above the Peers' entrance. The reporters'

gallery is immediately beneath the strangers gallery. Both these galleries are exceedingly capacious, and admirably adapted for their respective purposes. There are three row 3 of seats up each side of the House, one raised above another. On the pane Hugs round the House are painted the armorial bearings of all the noblemen wi o have held the office of Lord Chance lor from the earliest date of that office, in the reign of Edward 111., up to the present time — the list closing with the arms of the present Lord Chancellor, Lord Cottenham. The floor of the House will be covered with a carpet of very chaste design, the colour being dark blue, with gold spots. The House is entered by a pair of iolid brass gates of the most exquisite design- and manufacture. The House is nearly twice as Urge as the present House of Peers, and considerably larger than the new House of Commons will be when completed. — lllus. hccs. The Post-office Arrangements. — In the course of a speech delivered by Mr. Row--' land Hill at a dinner to which that gentleman was invited at Liverpool, the following novel facts were staled: — "In reference to the magnitude of the institution, were he merely to say that so many millions of letters passed through the post-office in a year, no one could form any accurate conception of the reality. The best mode probably to convey any idea of the whole would be for him to describe some part. For instance, the ni.-ht when he left London, he was at Euston-square-when the mail was brought in to go by the train, this being only one of many which are despatched by railways. It was considered an exceedingly light mail ; but small as it was, it literally filled six large omnibuses ; and the heavy ma Is forwarded on a Saturday night filled nine carriages of a similar description. Again, the number of dead letters since the adoption of prepayment had become a very small fraction — less than the two-hundredth part of the whole ; nevertheless, the average amount of money found in such letters, in coin, bank notes, and bills of exchange, was £40,000 per aunum. (Hear, hear.) Many thousands of pounds were actually found in letters with no address whatever. (Laughter.) * * * Immediately before the introduction of the reduced rate of postage, the numbers of chargeable letters — not including franks — delivered, amounted to seventy-five millions annually. Last year it had amounted to two hundred and ninety- nine millions and a half, or to fourfold the o iginal number. It would require 'something more than that to bring the Post-office revenue up to the former gross amount ; but less than fivefold would effect that object. At the present moment the number of letters delivered in the London district, comprising a circle of a radius of twelve miles round -the Pest-office in St. Martin's-le-grand, was twice as great as that which, under the old system, was delivered in the whole United Kingdom. The increase was rapidly goino on, and amounteJ to twentyeight millions last year compared with the previous year."

Ireland. — The cost of Ireland up to the next harvest now stands upon official authority, at ten millions of pounds sterling. What it may prove besides remains very much dependent on that harvest, and there is no plausible reason for supposing that any conceivable crop will relieve the poverty of that country from the necessity of further support. Independently of this, Ireland sends over her population by the thousand to England, to be fed out of English poor rates, and a magnificent subscription is going on in this country, Ireland's wretchedness being England's opportunity; But Ireland's wretchedness would also seem to be Ireland's gentry's opportunity ; for, according to the Sligo Champion, they have contrived to billet their sons on the Relief Fund to a very considerable extent. The wages of the poor labourer is, it appears, 8(i. per day ; the salary of the gentleman's son, who is put by his -father to see that poet Pat does nothing, for what is done amounts to little more — is 10s. per day; and the Sligo Champion complains, that while the Irish gentleman takes care that his son is promptly paid his £3 per week, the poorer labourer remains very oken unpaid, and has, in some instances, died for want, the creditor of the State ! The Sligo Champion has seen two of these Irish gentlemen's sons watching seven labourers ; seven times eight is fiftysix, in pence, and twice ten is twenty, in shillings : here then, we have one pound spent in the inspection of four shillings and eightpence ! We turn to Conciliation Hall, and still the terrible farce goes on — talking as it must, sucking what it can from the necessity of the land, like a great horse-leech on a living skeleton. Mr. Ray announces lbs receipt of £14 from Wexford, remitted by the " benevolent parish priest," who gave a melancholy picture of the dreadful distress which prevailed there ; and Father Scaley hands in £1, with the assurance that if he had offered it in sixpences to forty of hit starving parishioners, they, would har« returned it to tbt

Association. The Association takes the money in each case, christens their absent agent " benevolent," and greets the agent present with shouts of " Hear, hear." This, we suppose, is " Ireland for the Irish." Reverting to this side the channel once more, we find England, after a positive outlay of two and a half millions sterling, voluntarily increasing her debt eight millions sterling more, for the suppoit of the Irish, and the nrtive parliamentarians agitating to the full extent of their small power to prevent a poor lav, or to cripple it beyond all measure of utility. But this is a matter for the people of England to insist on ; this is a question which the capital and the industry of this country must take up for itself, and tender altogether independent of party and Government. The Int>h landlords have been too long suffered to escape their proper burthens, and their proper duties ; and England must not only take care that a really efficient Poor Law be instituted now ; but, that when the question comes on in the next parliament, for reinstituting the Income Tax, thai that Income Tax be extended to Irelan.l. — Weekly Chronicle. The inhabitants of St. Petersburgh have transmitted, through -.he hands of William Gladstone, Esq., £1,500 for the relief of Ireland and Scotland. The county of Durham has almost wholly escaped the potato blight, anc 1 according to the Sunderland Herald some of the farmers attribute the exemption to the coal smoke, and the vapours (rum the alkali works. . The cost ot a soldier's ration in Ireland is increased 3d., and in England l^d., from the scarcity of provisions. A Bath paper states that the bakers of that city generally have resolved, in consequence of the scarcity and high price of flour this year, not to make cross-buns on Good Friday, and they calculate by this means upon a saving in Bath alone of nearly thirty sacks of flour. It results from an account of the famines which have afflicted Europe for nearly a century, that bad harvests have returned in a periodical circle of every ten or twelve years, and that also there is one year in addition more disastrous than the others, at the end of a period calculated at the rate of fifty-four years — 1762, 1772, 1773-4 (great famine in the time of the French Revolution), 1804, 1815-16. 1825-6, 1836-7, 1846-7, «c.« years of famine. The great famine of 1793-4 appears to correspond with that of the present year.

An old Joke newly Applied. — Irish Landlord : Please bestow a trifle on a poor landlord. — John Bull : I haven't anything for you, my good man. — Irish landlord : Please do, that's a noble gentleman — our estates are going to rack and ruin. I and my blessed .family haven't tasted turtle for many a day. — John Bull : Poor fellows ! I quite bleed for them. Here my fine fellow, here's a trifle — it's all I have about me {gives him sixteen millions) ; but muni, I don't give it. 1 look upon it as a debt, which, understand, you owe me. — Irish landlord (pocketing the worny) : And may your honour live till I repay you ! — Punch.

The Bonds of the Irish Party. — The " Hereditary Bondsmen," whom O'Connell was so constantly appealing to, must mean the Irish landlords, whose mortgaged estates fully entitle them to the appellation of "Bondsmen." They are at present " striking the blow," in getting England to pay off their bonds, for they know well enough that they never can be " free," or their estates either. — Ib.

Increase of Savings by the Irish. — The limes, in commenting on a par iamentary return relative to the Irish savings banks, says :—": — " We find ourselves forced to confess, what Irish gentlemen are so fond of telling us, that we know nothing about that most unaccountable people. The fact is, the Irish savings banks never were so pr-ispe.ous. Leiuster, excluding the city of Duoliu itielf, exhibits * total increase in the deposits on Jan. 1, 1847, as compared wiih that day the previous year, of not less than £36,000. This would excite no rematk in ordinary years. The total deposits in the province on the latest of these dates are £965,315; and £36,000 is not much more than proportionate to the usual increase of population. The only remark to be made now is that famine has not affected the savings of the people. In Ulster, the increase is greater, the to\al deposits un der the two above-mentioned dates being severally £621,338 and £668,787. Even in Connaught the deposits have risen from £131,156 to £140,781, though counties oi such melancholy notoriety as Mayo, Roscommon, and Sligo are in it. In M mister the deposits have improved from £1,045,584 to £1,107,280, and even at that focus of destitution, Castle Townshend, for the special relief of which every parish in the empire has been privately, as well as publicly solicited, there has been a most unaccountable rise from £1.571 to £2,601. It is worthy of remark,

that the ports exhibit the most striking improvement."

Cobbext on Potatoes. — When Cobbett was in Glasgow, and at dinner, a gentleman said, " Pray, Mr. Cobbett, may I ask what particular objection you have to potatoes ?" " None at all," replied Cobbett, " with such a piece of beef as we are now eating." A letter from Berne, of the 15th March, says : — •» Misery makes frightful progress in our canton, which was long cited as one of the most opu'ent and most prosperous in Switzerland. The number of individuals who exist entirely on public or private charity was calculated, a few days ago, at considerably more than a hundred thousand, that is, nearly one-fourth of the whole population."

The Government — M. Soyer — and Soup Establishments for Ireland. — We learn that the Government have resolved forthwith to despatch M. Soyer, the chef de cusint of the Reform Club, to Ireland, with ample instructions to provide his soups for the starving millions of Irish people. Pursuant to this wise and considerate resolvo, artificers are at present busied night and day constructing the necessary kitchens, apparatus, &c, with which M. Soyer si arts for Dublin, direct to the Lord-Lieutenant. His plans have been examired both by the authorities of the Board of Works and at the Admiralty, and have, after mature consideration, been deemed quite capable of answering the object sought. The soup has been served to several of the best judges of the noble art of gastronomy in the Reform Club, not as soup for the poor, but as a soup furnished for the day in the carte. The members who partook of it declared it excellent. Among these may be mentioned, Lord Tichfield and Mr. O'Connell. M. Soyer can supply the whole poor of Ireland at one meal for each person once a-day. Tlie foodos to be " consumed on the premises." Those who are to partake enter at one avenue, and having been served retire at another, so that there will be neither stoppage nor confusion. To the infant, the sick, and the aged, as well as to the distant districts, the food is to be conveyed in cars furnished with portable apparatus for keeping the soup perfectly hot. With regard to the metropolis, the arrangements are by no means at a stand-still: sites for kitchens are being selected, but here a slight difficulty has arisen — the inhabitants of the localities being naturally averse to witness the assemblages of the poor, the destitute, and the needy, bi ought together to receive soup. Sites in Westminster, it is understood, where little or no annoyance will be occasioned to the respectable inhabitants, have been selected, and Mr. Cotion, of the Bank of England, has offered a large and convenient jlace lor the east end. — Observer.

M. Soyer in Dublin. — Accounts from Dublin inlorm us that " the Regenerator" is getting along swimmingly. His kitchen arrangements are now nearly completed, and by the beginning of next week will be brought into full operation. On St. Patrick's day he produced 100 gallons of a very delicious soup, in which the chief ingredient, as far as flavour is concerned, consisted of a weed found on the »ea-coast, called "dillisk," and which, as we are assured, forms an exceedingly palatable and nourishing food. This soup, from the fact of its having been first made on the Saint's day, the Regenerator lias very appropriately named "St. Patrick's Soup." It has been pat taken of by the Lord-Lieutenant, at the Castle ; and tureens of it were served at the various public dinners held in honour of the Saint, and at the clubs. At Morrisons ho'el too, it was introduced and much approved. It is understood that M. Soye»-'s large kitchen, in the erection of which he has been most actively engaged during the last fortnight, will be opened by the Lord-Lieutenant, in state, on Monday next. — Standard.

A correspondent of the Daily News gives the following account of the Pope's dealings with the owners of the large landed estates in the Roman territory, who, thinking they may do what they like with their own, keep them unproductive to themselves and the State : —

" He has called together at the Quirinal Palace a numerous assembly of the principal landowners of the Roman territory, and, in a vigourous allocution, plainly told them thai he would no longer tolerate individual neglect in allowing so many broac* acres to remain unproductive, and so many of his faithful peasantry to remain unemployed. He gave them notice that a vigilant eye would be kept on the management of the gigantic tertitorinl districts coiifided to his care ; denied that they might do as they liked with their own, while there existed bands unemployed and mouths unfed within the boundary of their estates ; told them that if he found labourers in want of work on their properties, he would Himself find occupation for them at the proprietors' expense ; and finally, dismissed the astonished feudal lords with a new, but firm, impression that

duties as well as rights formed part of th *ir landed inheritance. What he said, he is the man to do." He adds : — "To understand the full value of this bold step on the part of Pius IX., besides exhibiting him as seeking the support of the people alone, without reference to the suffrages of an effete aristocracy, it is necessary to know that five-sevenths of the whole population depend on agriculture, which forms the real resources of the kingdom."

Thb Courier Francois gives the following humorous account of an experiment by Marshal Bugeaud to colonize Algiers : — " Marshal Bugeaud, on determining to create military villages, has of course thought of the means of j roviding his colonists with wives. Before him Romulus had the same task to accomplish, and s.-ttled the question by seizing upon ibe Sabines. The conqueror ot Algeria, being compelled to adopt a more pacific method, would seem to have reckoned on the adventurous nature of the women, who, when the impulse is given, will, to use his own words, ' lead one another away.' We shall not discuss his theory, but confine ourselves to telling how, when the village of Fouka was founded, he contrived to supply sixty of his military colonists with fair companions. One fine day, those sixty bachelors were shipped for Toulon, with orders to many there as promptly as possible sixty virgins, whom the Mayor of that town, assisted by some lady patronesses, had previously recruited. Many a scandalous report has circulated as to the places the sixty women had come from. Be this as it may, they were each provided with a certificate of good character, which must silence <alumny. The delay fixed by Marshal Bugeaud was too brief to admif of the habitual preliminaiies to marriage ; nevertheless, it was decided ihat the aforesaid hundred and twenty persons destined to be wedded should see themselves thrice before they were united. The first time they saw themselves at a distance, without any other libe.ty than that of looking at one another, and consu tirg their hearts. The women on one s>ide, and the men on the other, v ere not even named, thfy were distinguished but by numbers. At the second interview they reciprocally kne* their names, but were not allowed to speak, looks and gestures were the only means whereby the coquettene of the ladies and the first impressions of the warriors could be expressed. On the third l encounter speaking was permitted, but there was no time to be lost ; the fatal delay was expiring. After many a hesitation and quipriiquo, discipline performing the office of sympathy, each soldier found his wife. Let us, en passant, note that the ladies' marriage portions were raised in proportion to the supposed resistance of their lords. There were three classes of the said fortunes — £20, £36, and £48. I'W of the la'iies could dispi.se of their hands but on ibe highest terms. The betrothing was hastened, and fifty- nine marriages were solemnised in double quick time — fifty-nine we say, for it appears that one of the sixty virgins had the glory of making the courage of one of the military colonists shiink. In vain was the fortune of the desertel beauty doubled ; the colonist looked at the cash, looked at his future, and persevered in single life. The ceremony concluded, the happy couples embarked for Algiers. The moment their ship was signalled, Marshal Bugeaud ordered brave Colonel Marengo logo and land them to the sound of the dium. It was with accompaniment of that insuument that the fifty-nine couples crossed the town two and two, wit! out being permitted to walk arm and arm. Thus did they reach, amidst a vast crowd, a street in the vicinity of the Governor's palace. There halte, front, h droite, and alinyement were commanded, and the Marshal reviewed husbands and wives on two lines, the latter being front. It was with mingled gallantry and austere solicitude for the future that the illustrious founder of Fouka successively enumerated the personal accomplishments of the beauties destined to supply the second generation of his village. During this inspection, as the Governor appreciated with indulgence or severity the charms of the new wife, her lord standing behind her looked triumphant, or sadly lowered his brow. Altogether, the Marshal was tolerably pleased, and exclaimed, rubbing his hands together, ' I shall have plenty of children !' Meanwhile, sixty bachelors had go:,e to Toulon, and only fifty-nine husbands bad returned. The sixtieth stood solitary and trembling in the rear of his line of comrades. The poor fellow quaked when the Marshal put to him the awful question — ' Ou est ta iemme V * Monsieur la Mareschal,' replied the soldier, ' les canwades enont!' 'Allons!' returned the Marshal, Itu n'es pas si bete que je le cioyais. 1 He was pardoned for his celibacy. Alas! how fared these military marriages ? A year had scarcely elapsed, wheu most of those ladies fled from Fouka to the seducers of the army of Afiica, shamelessly betraying husband*, homes, and drumi, without ey«n regretting

the ten hectares of land. Marshal Bugeaud had forgotten to 'include conjugal fidelity among his orders of the day."

Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZSCSG18470825.2.4

Bibliographic details

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume III, Issue 216, 25 August 1847, Page 2

Word Count
4,107

ENGLISH EXTRACTS. New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume III, Issue 216, 25 August 1847, Page 2

ENGLISH EXTRACTS. New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume III, Issue 216, 25 August 1847, Page 2

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