English Extracts.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume XIII, Issue 1370, 18 September 1858, Page 3

English Extracts.

The Worst or Slaveowners.—l believe the most unhappy of all that oppressed race, the negroes, are those who are the propertv of petty proprietors, or shopkeepers, as thev have not the means of supporting them as they ought, besides requiring more work to be done than they can properly perform. Much, too, depends, upon the individual character of the master or mistress ; and in some cases I suspect a pood deal of euelty was exercised towards these unfortunate dependents, as I occasionally heard their shrieks when thev were being flogged for some trivial offence. When a slave ran away (at Vittoria), in addition to a severe punishment, if caught, he was obliged to wear an iron collar, with a long spike rising straight up from it, which was riveted round the neck. I always thought this a very irksome if not painful punishment, besides distinguishing the wearer from his or her fellows in a manner to hurt their feelings. I saw several women with these collars, and alwavs pitied them very much.— Sketches of Society in Paris, India, S;c. By Major Chambre, late 1 7th Lancers.

Complaints continue to be made of the ease with which defaulters in England escape their creditors by availing themselves of the Scotch bankruptcy law. A respectaole firm, who had previously suffered in a similar manner, have just been defeated in an attempt to counteract a movement of this kind. The debtor was a London attorney, against whom they obtained a judgment. He claimed, however, to be protected by virtue of a sequestration obtained a few months previously in Scotland, and which he bad been able to manage without opposition, since, while his real place of business was Bucklersbury, he was described in the official noticed, as of Stornaway, in the county of Ross, without any mention of his profession or occupation. The English Court was accordingly applied to overrule his plea, on the ground that he had not been fitly and sufficiently described ; but the result was unfavourable. It was decided that be had obtained his final discharge ; and thus new confidence will be given to that numerous class of adventurers who cultivate a knowledge of the law to avail themselves of the endlessTacilities it offers for securing immunity to rogues, and punishing those who for the sake of public morality may endeavour to bring them to their deserts.—Times. City Article.

English Influence in Germany.—The Paris Presse complains of the decline of French influence in Germany. It affirms that a general sentiment of aversion towards France predominates in Germany, and adds that this feeling is unconnected with political motives. The “ disinterested, cosmospolitan, and humanitarian genius ot France’’ has only, it opines, been temporarily eclipsed in Germany by the “genius of England.” “During more than two centuries,” says the Presse, " Austria was distinguished by her regard for France. O.ir language, our customs, our literature ruled unquestioned. This tended to soften the harshness and the excesses of the governmental system. In 1830 this influence commenced to wane ; but, nevertheless, the Frenchman could still hold up his head in the streets of Vienna. To-day it is sought to extinguish it entirely, and English influence is visibly dethroning that of France. Our wares, ourbooks, i.lir customs have ceased to obtain preference in Vienna. The English tutor has replaced in great families the French tutor ; English literature has supplanted that of France. The Austrian capital is now utterly given up to everything English. Doubtless this brutal Anglo-mania does not please all parties, even in Vienna. Sincere Catholics deplore it in particular ; but their complaints are lost in the madia which has seized Upon the Government to which they appeal, for the English alliance can.iot be purchased too dearly.”

A French Opinion of England —The prosperity and influence of England have certainly not diminished during the last thirty years, and whilst hations sought n forms in revolutions, she has succeeded, by a series of pacific transformations, in developing her wealth and power at least to the same extent as other nations. She has, without any violent crisis, amended nearly all her institutions, reformed her Parliament and her municipal organizations, improved her civil and criminal laws, reorganised landed property in Ireland, decreed free trade, instituted free institutions at the Cape of Good Hope, Canada, and in the majority of her colonies, founded real empires in Australia and New Zealano, developed her rule in India, opened China to the commerce of the world, developed religious freedom, given perfection to her police, placed justice within reach of all pockets, opened a competition for Government situations, and all this without undergoing any of those painful trials to which other nations have been subjected, and without having diminished the influence of the Crown, which lias perhaps, never been more popular I ban at the present day. These results are sufficiently important to console the English for their trouble, which is not particularly oppressive, of often changing their Ministers. Moreover those who complain of the pretended instability of English policy forget too frequently that England bears little resemblance to the other States of Europe. There centralization is unknown ; the country governs itself, and a Ministerial crisis does not check the progress of State business.— Journal des Debats.