MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

Wellington Independent, Volume VII, Issue 585, 21 May 1851, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

We are happy to learn that an interview which the central committee on the London Exhibition had on the 3rd instant with the secretary of the Navy, that officer informed the committee that, if Congress should see fit to make an adequate appropriation for fitting out the Pennsylvania for the purpose, he would cheerfully detach that magnificent ship for the transportation of contributions, &c, to the World's Exhibition, instead of the storeship Freedom, which was some time since designated for the service, but has not returned from the Pacific- We should be proud in deed to see the grandest ship in our navy, and the grandest in the world, we believe, despatched on a mission which will mark the benign spirit of the present century, and we should feel no less pride in having such an emblem

of our national power exhibited in Europe This great ship was built many years nL" at a cost of 600,000 or 800,000 dollars* and has ever since been used at Norfoi"]' merely as a receiving-ship, without ever having rendered a day's service at sea, or boen sent out of her own waters. It would bo a pity, and a reproach too, if such a noble specimen of naval architecture and of national strength should have beeii built merely to be permitted to rot and sink in tho mud, unseen and unknown to the world. We venture to express tho hope that the public-spirited views of tho Secretary of the Navy may be promptly seconded by Congress iv tho way sue., gested.— Philadelphia)}. '

Age o* . Newspaper.—The oldest existing paper in Great Britain is the Edinburgh Gazette, which was established in the year 1600. The oldest paper i n England is the Stamford Mercury established in 1695. The Belfast News Letter'• established in 1737, is the oldest in Ire' land. The Limerick Chronicle, established in 1766, was in existence before any one of the London newspapers, of which tho' Morning Chronicle, 1770, is the oldest ■ Limerick Chronicle.

Departure ok the Cape op Good , Hope Mails from Plymouth.—Monday witnessed the dawning of a new era td this important port, and we have too hioft an opinion of the enterprising spirits°of the inhabitants of Plymouth, Devouport, and Stonehouse (consisting of upwards of 100,000,) to suppose for one moment that they are not alive to the boon which has been conferred upon their district in its selection by the Admiralty authorities, at the particular suggestion of James Laming, Esq., the managing director of the Company which has taken the contract to convey the mails and passengers to Madeira, the Cape de Verd Islands and the Capo of Good Hope, as the point from which a monthly departure will take place to ihe ports, aud in lime we have every reason to believe the communication will be extended to the Mauritius, Ceylon, India, China, New South Wales' and New Zealand. The mails were embarked on board the Bospkorus at noon of Monday, and placed in charge of Commander Wolrige, II.N. A procession of the local authorities of the three towns was formed, an J were present on board the ship at the time of the embarkation, when congratulation speeches were delivered. The ship, however, was detained j from proceeding until Wednesday. During Monday afternoon a deputation from Plymouth Chamber of Commerce, headed by the Right Hon. the Earl of Morley, waited upon the directors, Mr. Laming, and Mr. Fox, M.P. for Longford, to welcome them at the Port, and to assure them of their hearty interest, co operation and support in the service; and in the evening about 1-50 of the principal gentlemen of the three towns assembled at the Royal Hotel, and entertained Mr. Laming and Mr. Fox in the most handsome and gratifying manner.— Atlas for India, December 24.

The Loss of the Turkish Flag-ship. —We have been favoured with the following copy of a letter from Captain Slade, the Commander of the Nicre , Chefket, to his brother, F. Slade, Esq. :— I " Constantinople, October 24, 185 C. My dear Fred, —In case any erroneous reports about my safety should be in the papers, in connexion with the loss of the Neire Chefket, I write a line to say that I was not in her when she exploded ; I was going to her. She was a beautiful 90 gun flag-ship. At half-past 9 yesterday morning, without any kind of warning, or anything having occurred to excite suspicion, the powder in her magazine ignited, no one knows how, and she blew up ; nor were there more than a dozen barrels of powder on board. The explosion was just sufficient to separate her sides, and lift her decks. She opened orwards, broke in the middle, and sink, bodily. It was all over in three minutes. 500 men perished with her, including 16 officers; 163 men have been saved, of whom 43 are badly wounded. Her band was playing when the explosion took place. We are all in deep affliction for the loss of our comrades.—Yours affectionately, Adolphus Slade." The tonnage of the United States now nearly equals that of Great Britain, being 3,586,000 tons.

Remarkable Effect of Training in Cattle.—Spending , a few days in tho Glenkens, a romantic district in the south of Scotland, and travelling in company with a friend, he directed my attention to a cow grazing in a field close by, partly oats and partly meadow. She was eagerly feeding on the grass by the side of the corn, with nothing to prevent her from eating the latter.—Such a thing was quite new to me, and I could not imagine how to account for it. But my friend explained the mystery. " She is," says he, " an Ayrshire cow, and when young has been herded in pastures close by the corn and kept from eating it, till under this restraint the inclination for it has disappeared." "1 have seen," added my friend "in Ayrshire, the cows with their very horns in the corn while feeding, without injuring it." This is certainly a remarkable result of early training.—Correspondent of the Leeds Mercury.