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Wellington Independent, Volume I, Issue 49, 4 February 1846, Page 4

Canal Confederation. —The canal intere.-ts of the country are at length arousing from their apathy to convert their waterways into railways. A comprehensive union of tin various canals, under the auspices of Mr. Cubitt, engimer to the large lines of canal lying be.ween Liverpool, Chester, Birmingham, and Wolverhampton, for the formation of a continuous group of railway-canals, tbe latter finding it impossible to succeed as rivals ofthe railways. They propose to let out the water, fill up their channels, and convert the routes-into railways. New capital is to be raised for these purposes, and it is believed that the new system will extend itself into the other canal districts of the kingdom. Singular Match at Cricket.—Arms versus Legs.—A match, which, fioua its novel character, attracted an immense number of spectators, was played in the cricket-ground of the Railway Tavern, at Reading. The players on one side consisted Gf eleven, with only one arm each ; whih on the other side each had but one leg—saving a wooden one. Ons ofthe umpires had lost both his arms, and he other had "not-a leg to stand upon." A retiree was also selected who had neither arms nor legs; At the commsneemt nt of the play the ' edds ' were in favour of the one-arms, notwithstanding the sigle legs had many backers. During the fir.-t innings, in consequence of the soft nature of the ground, from the late rains, to-less than three legs were broken, but these were soon ' set,' without the aid of a medical man, a neighbouring ca penter skilfully performing the 'operation.' At the terminatioa of the game the score stood thus: —Tbe single-legs, first innings, 25: s.ond innings, 40— total, 71. The one-arms, first innings, GO ; second innings, 50— tjtat,-110. The players dined between the innings at the Railway Tavern. A letter from Madrid states, that as 200 convicts were being conducted from Carthagena to the Canal of Castile, they rose upon the troops escoitiug them, massacred them all, hanged the commanding officer on a tree and escaped in different directions. Mr. John Hickey, of Athlone, died on the Ist instant) at the advanced age of 105 years and tix months, having been born in January, 1740. Tnis venerable man outlived his wife, who had lived to near 90. Capt. Drummond, Lieut. Pitcairn, and Mr. J. Wheatly, of her Majesty's 42nd Regiment, and Lieut. Norton, of her Majesty's 88th Regiment lately resolved on visiting Catana, with a view to ascending Mount Etna. They actually accomplished the distance from Palermo to Catana, over a heavy mountain country, in 29 hours! On ascending thi mountain they found the cold almost insupportable, the thermometer being two degrees below zero. On placing a ban ikerchief before their mouths, it was actually frozen to their lips. Advices from Constantinople of July 23 state thfit on the 12th a dreadful conflagration took place which reduced nearly the whole of the flourishing town of Temova, in Bulgatia, to a heap of ruinsFrancis.—The National, of Satuiday, July 2Gth, contains some terrific exposures relative to French military oppression in Algiers. " We arc now able." says that journal, " to name some of the soldiers to whom that torture has been applied; and we could even go farther by stating who were the officers that inflicted those abominable penal ie 3." it appears that in IS4I, a prisoner, named Pel.egonon was fastened hand and foot to an irou bar and exposed for two days in the midst of the plain of Sig. When he was taken bac-c to Oran, it was found that his wrhts were so lacerated with the cords which had confined tkm, that mortification had commenced, and the poor fellow* hands weie ace .rdingjy amputated. He died within twe-itv f-»nr hours. Another soldier, named Drouillet '10-t an arm inconsequence of the same pit Jsbment A poor creature may be seen in O/an who drags' himself along upon two wooden legs, h= endured this double amputation after havinj been fastened for forty-u.ht hours to the wheel of a field-piece I a October 1840, an officer whose horse returned home rather lame from an airing, ordered his K room to receive a hundred blows on the Diked back with a bull s tail, and then to suffer six weeks' imprison ment Eaily in 1840, a soldier who had sold some cartridges to buy tobacco, was condemned to be ex po=ed during eight ni -hts in the midst of the plain of mr. One day, when he objeced to repair to the place o punishment, for fear of being devoured by he w.l I bests, he was fastened to a tree, and rub bed over with honey, so that the venomous fl es ne' cuhar to that cl mate settled upon hi,,, ,„ U.aole to endure this horrible to.tu c, he implored his comrades to provide Ivm with the means of hi w ing his brains out. <■ He is a cowardly fellow - »a,d the a jutant, ordering at the same time a mv'sKet to be given to him. The poo? devil badedX piece, placed the end of the bane! in his mou I a ,1 pressed th, lock with his foot. Bat, by an o«l lMr y chance, the charge fl a !,ed in the , -he adjutant ordered th« man to bet

. t liberty. The Nu'iunal qtntcg othor cn.'cs j but thc'rc-itlers of t,ie l )is l mt,;h ' wiU rc » lli| y pardon me f„r dwelling upon such horrors longer than neces- ' j m ust, however observe that, in addition to the atrocious measure j ist alluded to, the French in Algeria made use of silos, or deep pits, into which culprits are thrown, with njthing ou them buvo their drawers or shirts. One man, whose name was Bcnet was c nlined in a 6'iVo, or bear-pit, in the summer of 1812 ; he was su Idenly taken very ill; hiul the sentry, a humane fellow, suffered him to 1-nvi! the pit on 'his own responsibility. Scarcely had he gained the top, when Benet fell, dead or dying, upon the side ; ai.d the sentinel has-taned to acquaint his Commanding Officer with the circuin. Stance that "one of tho prisoners was in a most de-plo-ab'e condition." The officer replied, "I am outgoing to bother myself about such a scoundrel as him." An inquest the next day proved that Benet, worn out wi'h want, had died of a chronic diarrhoea. The correspondent ofthe National states that culprits are driven to the ( s'los by means of blows inflicted with heavy canes. Such is France in Algera : how different from France at home I In France herself, even the school.master who dares to beat his pupil is punished by due or imprisonment; and a Coloml would as soon thinking of bearding Louis Philippe ns laying a finger upon one of his men. The opposition journals are unanimous in denouncing the atrocious conduct of Colonel Pih'ssieur, at D.ihara, in the most unmeasured terms; they also reproach very bitterly the Duke of Isly<(Governor-Geuc al of Algeiia.)for not ordering the butcher, Pelissieur, to be triev4 by a C.urt martial. One print, more virulent than even the rest, expresses a hope that the said Duke will never hava the-command of the fortification* of Paris, or else Heiven only knows what would become cf he devoted capital! In a word, the entire Liberal pie-ss seems to feel deeply the stigma entailed upon the French nation Ly the massacre cf D.ihara. The Bishop of Chartres bus addressed to the Uniccrs (the French High Church paper) a letter in which the following paragraph occurs : —''No, no; it is neither the ' Mysteries of P.iris," nor the ' Wandering Jew,'nor the-J-suits of the Rue dt-s Postes, which has led to the violation of the promises of the Cbarta nlitive to the rights of education. A man, whose rare talents:l do not dispute, is the absolute master of the future prospects cf this kingdom -, and even the present interests are in a great measure his own." Thhv-wum to whom the Right Reverend Father alludes—and somewhat boldly, too, for a Bishop, is Louis Philippe whom nearly all the clercy detest. Louis Philippe is indetd in a most singular position, he is beted by the priests and laymen—by priests, because he is liberal in matters of religion —by laymen, because he is v despot in matters of politics. Monday was the fifteenth anniversary of the grand stuugle in which Charles X., was huled from tbe throne. The day was one of ma<s and ramming for the patriots who fell (al is how vainly !) in the memorable contest. Tuesday was kept as a general holid iy in-commemorat on of the Revolution. A concert, illuminations, and fireworks crowmd the rejoicing, in the gardens of the Tuiluiies, in the evening. Paris was Ml gaiety and happiness, political consideration being for the moment absoibed in the attractions of lis festivity. Poon Irish U.u hops.— Capt. Bernal Osborne, in the House of Commons, read tbe following edifying table of probates of wills of Irish Bishops:- ---£ Stopford, Bishop of Cork 25,00 C Percy, Bishop of Dromore 40,000 Cleaver, Bis-h >p of Ferns 50.000 Bernard. Bishop of Limerick .... 60 0 0 Knox, Bishop of Kllaloe 10 i,OOO Fowler, Bishop of Dublin 150.000 Beresford, Bishop of Tuam 250,000 Hawkins, Bishop of Raphoe 250, iOO Stuart, Bi.-hop of A-magh 300.000 Porter, Bishop of Clogher 250,000 Agar, Bishop of Cashel 400,000 Making a total of £1,575.G00 in 40 or ,' 0 years. Awful !—The Philadelphia Spirit of the Tiroes states, that a strange scene occurred in one of the courts of that city on Tuesday, September 2G. A good-looking Irishman was in tbe dock. His wife, a pretty English woman, was sitting on a settee near the clerk's desk. He keeps a small grocery and liquor shop in St Mary's street, and she attends to it. Both love to ' drink.' All at once, about two o clock in the afternoon, the court was electrified by what appeared to be the sudden discharge of a pistol, and at the same moment the English woman aliuded to gave a slight shriek, dapped her hands to her breast, and fell back, while a torrent, apparently of blood, was gushing forth trom her bosjm. A cry of horror ran through the c ourt-r?om. The officers gathered around her. Al beieved that an awful suicide ban been committed in the very presence of the law, and a shudder pervaded every frame: the woman was lifted up and examined. To the consle.nation of all, it appeered that she had secreted a bottle cf porter in "er bosom and that the heat had occasioned the cor* to fly out from its implement. She had thrust her finge s into the bottle in vain. The red «ream still poured out. No wonder it had been mistaken, not for a torrent of beer, but for a torrent ot blood. fr„!i c n MBJSBty and R "y al Consort Ila J returned 1Z G ' rman y- w «ere they were feted with the ame enthusiasm that distinguished the progress of VI L' XC K UrS , 10n ' aul (he 'Anniversary of Princj Albert s birth was celebrated "wth all the honors." a new lanff had been issued by the Papil Govemxient, by which reduction in the duty upon effected" 1 W °° llen Cotton Z oods ™ The de A fof BritUh fflamxf h continent was on the increase.