EXTRACTS FROM LATE PAPERS.

Wellington Independent, Volume II, Issue 91, 26 August 1846, Page 4

EXTRACTS FROM LATE PAPERS.

Singular Circumstance.—"We have often - heard of the old adage of sending coale to Newcastle, but no one ever dreamt or thought that the ■ following would'take place—viz. a cargo of rail- * way iron being sent from France to' Newport Monmouthshire. Such, however, is the fact, and the vessel is now discharging at Messrs. -Bailey's wharf. We hear it reported, on authority which ■we believe on, that Government intend, in the course of the approaching session, to propose the abolitiou of the Scottish University Tests —Witness. No War witfi America.—A. Yankee skipper, who arrived at-Liverpool a fey days ago, on -btiinir asked by a Liverpool merchant if there was to be a war between E:>gtand and the United States, replied, •• Can't guess. Wa ant got no navy; we ant got no army ; and we've got credit nowhere. One thing's certain, if there is a war, our whalers w.ll all be picked up; and New York, and Boston and perhaps Washinton, will be smoked out; but never mind I feel my dander getting up, and I'll see if! can't do the Britishers; lee them take care of their-seventy-fours." Messrs. Sanders and Clazton, of Liverpool, cleared i£20,803, by taking grain out of bond, during tha three days which intervened between the repeal of the old Corn Liw Act, and the "bringing into operation Sir Robert Peel's new sliding Bcale. Several merchants took large quantities out of bond, during those three days, upon the plea that no duty could be levied. The Customs authorities, however, exacted the duty. <It was p.iid undir pr itesl to the amount of and the affair was refer-'ed ti the Crown Lawyers, who ultimately gava their decision in favor of the merchants. The "Terrible" War Steamer. — The Terrible war steamer is in commission, and now fitting for sea at Woolwich; she has 20 guns mounted, filso a brass field-piece and 'carria;e t and a waggon for pwder to accompany it. On her upper deck, each side the bow, are fo long 56 pounders, Monk's 11-feet guns; to fire fore and aft in a liae with the kesl; these are mounted on a slide, and wi'-l cross fire with each other, and also sweep rou'id to ths sides; two more of the same guns, right aft in the stern, will also cross and sweep to the broadside on their pivot, so as to fire forward, and acting as chase guns if required. She has two 68 poundere on each broadside, to carry shells on solid shot, which can be trained fore or abaft, according to circumstances. On the deck below, which is also flash fore and aft, are eight guns, viz., two long 56-pounders, Monk's guns, 11 feet long, in the bow ports, to fire in a line with the keel, and also several degrees of training on the broadsides, and two of the same guns in the stern, right aft, which can give such depression as to prevent even a small boat from coming under her stern ; with four guns, 63-pounders, on her broadsides, for shells or solid shot. There are four smiller guns on the upper deck, to be traverted to any place, or carried on shore in her paddle-box boats, if required for use in landing troops t &c. She has four separate boilers, independent of each othar, which may be connected when required ; four funnels, one to each boiler; the two after ones strike down, so as to allow a squire mainsail to be set when sailing, and still using the two foremost boilers, thus working half her power at the same time, saving a considerable consumption of coals. This is an excellent contrivace, as there are four small funnels, instead of one large one, which is a great advantage, as the ship will not be wholly disabled by loosing one, two, or even three funnelsi like the one funnal ship would bs on hers being carried aw iy ; her one funnel lost, she has lost all. The Terrible has two magazines, and two shell-rooms, one of each before the engine-room, and one abaft for the safety of the vessel, to prevent any powder passing the engins-room when firing the guns. Sha can store 400 tons of coals below the iower deck, and is prepared on the midship part of the deck to tike 290 or 300 tons more, packed in bags, as a defence from shot to the engines and boilers, filling up a spaje of 18 feet. In addition to her thick, substantial, solid sides, she has good capicity, an:l, if required for any particular service, can carry more coil in sacks. With regard t<j the conveyance of troops, she can berth one thousand men under cover on the second gun deck, of her ship's company, their berth being below forward, and the officers' cabins, gun-room, &c., abaft; so that each gun-deck is entirely clear aud always ready for action, without removing a bulkhead, and the deck being perfectly free from the Captain's cabin abaft, to the bow of the veesel. She. is constructed in the strongest and most substantial manner, on Mr. Lang's improved method of uniting the frame timbers, making her perfectly water-tight, so that she could swim even if her external ani plank were oft her bottom. This metlnJ is also adopted in the Royal Albert, 120 guns, now in her Irame, and may be seen on the slip in Woolwich dock-yard. The enging-room of the Terrible is most splendid: on deck, the whole length of the engine-room, are gratings open and well ventilated by hatclii.igs, giving light and air to the engineers, stokers, &c. It in an admirable plan, such as no steamer as yet has the advantage of j and each boiler has a separate hatchway, and ra.iy be readily taken out for repair, without interfering with the othar boilers. This method of Mr. Lang's invention prevents t!ie necessity of ripping up the deck, which is the case with other steamers when the boilers are required to bj taken out from thosa vessels, and thsre ton, the di-ck the balers, the engineers and stoWs Inve li .lit admitted by the hatchway over tb.3 engines Oily. The Ternble's engines are in>st irujestic j th-y are 8-;o h.irse-pow..r, the production of MaudsUy, Sous, & Field, and show to advantage ia this lage war steamer. Her decks hive hatchways in va ious parts, scuttles, skylights, &j , for vsntila ing the ship even to the p.rts of her hull; and thiire are many other conveniences too numerous, to mention, contributing to the efficiency ot' the ship and ihe comfirts of fiu officers aad crew, so that she uv.iy hi said to be the largest and most perfect war steamer ever built, ['he Terrible ii coui.nandad by Captain It .unsay, lute of the L)je s eiun-v ss.il and she is to hac; a coniulime.it of; 210 officers, mea aud b»ya.—Weekly Di.-.nitjh.

An Anecdoti for Anglers.-Sjme years ago >in iingler mmcd Jacques, was fishing near Clif'tm Hall, when the late Sir Robert Clifcon, br.jtsier to the baroaet, who now enjoys the estate, came u;> to him aud said—" Who gave you liberty to liih? , ' •'Nobo'iy," replied : Jicque--. "Then; what right have you here, ,. Hiked Sir It ;bert. " Asmuch as you, and n i more," said Jacques. •« What! what do you say? you impudent rascal; do you know who lam ?" " No." said Jacques, " nor I don't care." "I'm—l'm—l'm Sir Robert Clifton," said he, in a , violent passion. Jacques said be looked at him and smiled, then said t " You Sir Robert 1 nonsence ! pooh !J know him well; have taken wine with him. -Yout're not him ; you may be his , butler I" This was enough ; he swore and tore, and away he ran to the hall for assistance, and Jacques immediately fallowed his example by taking uimself away in another direction.—Nottingham Review.

The Town Council of Edinburgh -have elected, by a majority of 21 to 11 Dr. Leonhard Schmitz, a native of Germany, to the office of rector in the High School of Edinburgh. A tunnel, four hundred yards in length, through the Calton hill, Edinburgh, has just been completed.

Remarkable BiRTH.—Mrs. Shee, the wfre of a respectable victualler, at Enniscortby, in the 66th year of her-age, gave birth to a male child on the 27th or 28th of last month, to the surprise of the inhabitants of that locality. Her eldest child is upwards sf forty-seven years of age. Something in a Name.—The second title of the Norfolk family is that of Earl of Suvrey. We understand the present head of the illustrious race intends to change Surrey into Currey ; fot he insists that the latter was the original title, of which the former is merely a corruption.—Punch. Petticoats im Mexico.—Every lady in Mexico, notwithstanding the heat of the climate, wears from seven to eleven petticoats, stiffened with canvass to stand out like a balloon; yet the fair wearers will pass straight through a crowd with the greatest ease, because they are elastic—Times.

A clergyman having preached in a small town, in which he had not been once invited to dinner, said in seriously exhorting his parishioners against being seduced by the prevalent vices of tha age—'• I have preached againet every vice but luxurious lmng, having had no opportunity of observing to what extent it is cirried on in this town.

New Oxford Test. —The vicar of a country town having occasion lately to remonstrate with an Oxford tradesman on the extravagance of his charge, was informed by him in answer, that '• in Ais opinion no one can be a gentleman who objects to pay £[ 10s. for his son's hat." Blundering Leapers.—A. farmer in Essex, well known some years since in Lord Petre's hunt, had an entire horse, a remarkable clever ljumper. I often tried to coax him out of the horse at a strong price. •' No," he would say, "itis as much as my neck is worth to part with him." The fact was, the farmer was a determined g-oer in the field, but a much harder one in a public house, and frequently, when it was so dark the horse could hardly see, and the master not at all, he u<ed to start off across the field 3 home;* somehow he stuck on, and the horse went home as straight as a gun-shot. I once saw him take a gate witli his master on the saddle and his arms most lovingly round the horse's neck. I told him that he would be found some nigbt, horse and all, in soma of the Essex ditches. '• Nay, (says he,) there is not a ditch in the country we were not in the first year I had him j he knows them too well now to get in again."—Sporting Magazine.

Aα invention has been discovered, and is in operation at Manchester, for making casks by machinery. Thirty-one pounds of Shropshire iron have been made into wire upwards of one hundrtd and eleven miles in length ; and so fine wag the fabric, that a part of it was converted, in lieu of the usual horse hair, into a barrister's wig I

A newspaper in the Armenian language, the first of the kind, is said to have been commenced in Calcutta.

Honesty not Rewarded.—On Friday evening a lady, walking up Lemon-street, Turo, dropped a gold watch. A lad picked it up, and running after the lady, restored it to her. She received it with no other remark than, " Thank you ; it will cost me a shilling to have a neiv glass put in.—Falmouth Packet.

New Abplication of Locomotive Power.— It is stated that the committee of the Caledonian Canal and Great North-west of Scotland Railway Company intend with the consent of the governmant, to lay down a line of rails on the banks of the caaal, for the purpose of applying locomotive power to the traction of vessels through the canal. This new and novel application of steam power must be attended with immense benefit to the trackage of shipping through that great thoroughfare from the eastern to the western coast of Scotland, inasmuch as it will not only effect a great saving of time, but in all probability lead to the adoption of locomotives on other canals where borse-trackage is now employed.

JosTrcE.—A certain poor woman, having lost a little dog, and understanding k to be in the possession of the lady of Sir Thomas More, to whom it had been made a present, she went to Sir Thomas, as he was silting in the hall, and tald him " that his lady withheld hsr dog from her." Sir Thomas i.nmediately ordered his lady to be sent for, and the to be brought with her, which Sir Thomas taking in his hauJs, caused bis lady to stind at one end of the hull, aud the poor woman at the other, and said," That he sat there to do every one justice." He bade each of them call the dog; which, when they did, the doj; forsook the lady, and went to the pour woman. When Sir Thomas saw this, he desired his lady to be contented, for it was not hers. But she repining at the sentence, the dog , was purchased of the poor woman for a piece of gold, and so all parties were satisfied, every one smiling at the manner of his inquiring out the truth. The Perth Courier states, as a caution, that the arms of three parties, who happened to get their fingers scratched whilst working amongst diseased puiatoea, had inflamed and swollen to such an extent, tint amputation of She limbs, it was feared, would be necessary. ;

Mr. Yiti's, of Liverpool, has given £50,000 for the e».ul)lißuiii3nt of pujlic parks in thit town. i " .See hare, friend, your drunk !" " Draiik ? To' be sire I am, and have been these three years. You: see, my brohir ami I are on a temperance mission.: Us lectures, while I serve as a frightful example !,'■'

Tub Alpaca.—Probably to* who wear and admire tlio beautiful fa'mc called | Alpaca are aware of the sources ot its; prodn-tion. The Alpaca is a mo- animal, indigenous to South America,; and is one of four varieties which bear general pom* of resemblance to eaoh other. The Lauia, one of those varieties, has been long known and often de,cri!>ed; but it is only within a few years that the Alpaca has been considered of sufficient imporianccj to merit particular notice. Nine-tenths of the wool of the Alpaca is black; the remainder being partly white, red, grizzled. It is of very long staple, often reaching 12 inches, and resembles soft glossy hair, which charac.er is not lost in dyi-ing. Tne Indians in the South American mountains manufacture nearly all <heir clothing from this wool, and are enabled to appear in black dress without the aid of a dyer. Both the Lama and Alpaca are, perhaps, even of more value to the natives as beasis of burden than wool-bearing animals. Their obstinacy, when irritated, is well known. The ira portance of this animal has already been considered by the English in their hat, woollen, and stuff trade ; and an essay on the subject has been published by Dr. Hamilton, of London. The wool is so remarkable, being jet black, glossy, silk like hair, that it is fitted for the production of tesible fabrics differing from all others, occupying a medium position be* tween wool and silk.. It is now mingled with other materials, in such a singular manner, that, while a particular dye will affact those, it will leave the Alpaca wool in its original black colour, and thus giving rise to great diversity, — Mark Lane Express.

Life and Labour.—A sempstress in London, it appears, is paid for making sailors' shins. By working very hard, and finding her own needles, she may thus earn a day. The price of the cheapest quartern loaf she can buy i 9 s|d. A loaf of bread is id. dearer than her whole day's work. One of ihese wretched sufferers was caught taking prussic aoid the other day. When the labour of life is so severe, who can wonder that the poor should often be reckless in leaving it ? When we contrast the wages of industry with the rewards of dissipation, is there room for surprise at the prevalence ol viue ? Mozart. —The boy was always extremely animated and intelligent. Before he applied himself to mu«ic he entered into the usual pastimes of childhood with such interest, that over a pleasant game he would forget everything, even his meals; but afterward he lost much of his relish for these recre -lions, or liked them only in proportion as they were mixed with music. Oie of the great favourites of Wolfgang, and his especial playmate, was Andreas Schachtn&r, the principal trumpeter in ihe archbishop's band ; a man of cultivated mind and considerable talent in poetry, the intimate friend of the family. Whenever the playthings were removed from one chamber to another, if this companion were with him, it must be done to music j and who carried nothing must play or sing a march. Such was the ascendancy that the art had gained.—Holmes's Life of Mozart.

A Harem scene.— In his palace of Kizil Ermak, tho red river, Djezar passed ihe greater portion of the day, extended upon cushions at the feet of his beautiful slave, smoking the roses of Taif and Adrianople, mixed wi'h the tobacco of Malatia and Latakia, adding occasionally a leaf of Naschick, a grain of opium, or even of arsenic (?) to exalt his imagination. Sometimes Baila put her lips to the potikah, and as they both reclined there, plunged in a sort of waking dream, educed by the juices of the Indian weed and poppy of Aboutig, the one had visions of the eternal houri, and the other of the auda ciotis stranger j while the lion Haider, drawing in his claws, stretched himself familiarly among them. Baila leant negligently on the neck of the formidable animal, while the Pasha dropt his head upon her knees; and it was a strange picture, that of this graceful young creature, clad in gauze, refusing quietly between two ferocious animals. She had long ceased to fear either the one or the other.—Both the lion and the man had been tamed.— The Pasha's Slave,

Who was the first patron of Newspapers?— Cain : he took A-Bol's Life. Why are poor attorneys like rheumatic o!d ladies ?—Because ih< i y often complain of their poor lee-taking (feet aching.) Why is a doctor out of luck like a woman out of temper '/—Because he has lost hid patients (patience).