MISCELLANEOUS.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVIII, Issue 1860, 25 April 1863, Page 5

MISCELLANEOUS.

American AFFAiKS.-^Further American details have been received via Sydney,, by the., Mary Nicholson, From San Francisco. The following are the only items of interest of which no mention was made in. the intelligence-: from' later files, which we recently published:-^ "General Butler is said to hav«> resumed the command of New Orleans. (We are dispose^ to doubt the correctness of this, as there was nothing in the later advices to indicate" that General Banks had been superseded). A proposition is said to have been made in the Confederate Congress, on the 19lh January, Un send Commissioners to Washington fur : the purpose ol setting forth terms on which tbdSoiuheru Slates, would consent to a peace; find ; it was also further recommended that art* order be issued, making President Lincoln; responsible for any further carnage which, might occur during the negotiations.' The Bill which was introduced iuto }he t 'l Legislature at Washington, legalising ifteijn-;/ rolment of negro soldiers was negatived. - A-n.Oji £ ther formidable privateer, the '* Florida," , has 'i been launched by the Confederates; and the Federal gunboat Hatteras, has been sunk by the Alabama. The United States mail steamer from Havannah, bad been fired intobyaSpatiisli frigate. Advices received at New York on tb« f ; ' 30ih January, from Mexico, confirm /the rejported defeat of 4000 French under General Bertbier, by 800 Mexicans, The affair occurred,,", iv a fog. On the morning of December 18, the " Mexican General Piesoda captured a convoy, . from Jalapa for Perote. Negrele,,.wilb/'«,:.[ thousand men, made a sortie from Peubla, and;, attacked a French division, 4000, at Acagott,,; eight miles distant, and completely rputid them. The French retreated to Orisaba. ! <

Haymabket Theatre.— Mr BiickstOne is said to have cleared nearly five-and-twenty thousaud poundi in 1662 alone by Lord Dundrcury. Mr Sotbern's services, it is believed, are re secured at the rate of £120 a- week, or »; Jittle over £6,000 a year ! Mr Buckstqne has. re-engaged Mr Sothern .for no one knows bowlong. At present, all that can be predicted is that the end seems as far off as erer, . ... ■' -■

Murder of a Naval Engineer at Mas* IEILIXB. — Information has reached Partstnouth that a murder lias been perpetrated at Marseilles; on a naval officer, named Mr Thomas Bullions, engineer on board ber Majesty's' despatch -ves-. sel Psyche. At thesame time an attempt was also made to murder another engineer belonging to the same ship, The circumstances first be< came known at the Engineers' club, Portsmouth, > where a private letter was read to the members,which stated that Mr Bullions and Mr&rajr^ were engineers belonging to her Majesty's sl}ip; : Psyche which despatch vessel left England a short,, time since for Marseilles to convey Lady filgin/ wife of the Governor-general of India, to Alexandria enroute toCalcutta. When the Psyche was .'• moored at Marseilles, the two engineers above*; . named went on shore and visited several of the cafes, and were returning to their ship at night,, when they were accosted by six men, by whom it Is alleged they werejinsuhed. A melee ensued, during which the ruffians murdered Mi Bullions by beating bis brains out against the pavingstones. They also stabbed Mr Gray in the - thigh, and severely wounded him., , The body • of Mr Bullions was conveyed pu board the | Psyche, as was also the body of Mr. Gray, who • is not expected to survive. A Canadian Ice-boat.— A special class of craft are these ice-boate, peculiar to Upper Canada, and their navigation requires an. .. amount of skill and courage not every day to be found combined. They are barges or pinnaces, cutter-rigged for (he most part, and built of the toughest limber the colony produces. Below the keel is a raised runner of polished iron, sharp as a skute at the edges, and designed not to plough the waters, but to skim across tie ice of ; the great lakes. These craft are propelled by sails and steered by helm, exactly like sea-going vessels ; it is hardly necessary to add that with a favouring breeze they can attain a speed never equalled b) ashipthrt has to cleave through, water, and not much inferior to that of an ex* press train. But they have the drawback of danger, so many accidents have occurred from the break iiiing of the ice, from sudden squalls, collisions, <md so forth, that these winter yachts have never uttained the popularity of the safe and convenient sleigh.— All the Year Round, ,

Mi.iRiMONY in Madbas.— Our readers ara aware that i» two most excellent institutions orphan gills of European and mixed decent are tended and trained up to become helpmates for ; our hrave soldieis. Besides the indispensable'^ •'three R's," tne y are taught to sew, and to wash, and to halts, and to cook, und that most rare of feminine accomplishments, bow to nurse. There is always, we believe, a select stock of girls on hand qualified and willing to take on - them vows of matriraosy at the shortest notice. Suddenly the hour of proposal comes, and ajso the rann. John Smith,- a stalwart Runner, or Corporal Brown of the Dragoons, obtains permission from his commanding officer to marry and, with testimonials of good conduct in his ! . hantl, he presents himself before thie superihtendent of the asylum, and intimates his con- . nubial purpose. The arrangements now adopted to pair off the gunner or dragoon are ;\. not quite the same as in days of yore. The marriageable, maidens are no longer trotted - • round the compound, or drawn up in line before the perplexed eyes of the husband elect. The process of inspection and selection is conducted \;; with a little more of the privacy conventionally :t due to ante-nuptial negotiations. Smith or I Brown is seated in a room with the superinten- f dent, who sends a summons for Martha. With , , a wise commercial reserve the superintendent ; keeps back the most tempting articles until an endeavour has first been made to get off the oldest ' and less saleable part of her stock. " Martha," very likely, is a lank damsel, something Hkf Kelly's monument in consumption, and unless the customer be " not at all particular," ?aa -;|_ objection is made—the reverse of the objection - urged by Mantaliui to the two countesses, M who \ had no outlines at all:" " Martha " has .too „ much outline, is all outline, in fact. The dragoon would like the outline better filled in, so " Jane" obeys the .next call, who is plump, I but squab. The military sense of correct dressI ing is cffended by the.ideaofa wife who reaches *^v only to ibe hips ol ber husband, so a desire i« faintly murmured to see another. A third appeals who hits the juste milieu of proportion and Smith smiles a gratified assent, cqmmu? £ nicatiug bis approval tp the superinten^enHn^ v the unromantio phrase, " That one will do. •'That one" is next consulted, who seldom if ever, has any objection to offer. The approved - > maiden whispers consent, and the bargain is ratified on the spot, not in the customary pleasant manner— for amorous blandishment* " the superintendent could on no account permit, Vi but possibly by Smith offering his extemporary fiancee a rupee "to get summit to please her- »/, self." The only othei form necessary is to ' obtain the sanction of the directors and to pubr.^? lisb the banns.— Madras limes, We -'under***; ;'.* stand that tbe^amesysiera prevailed inKidder-pC pore lower asyium, with this difference, that ihe^rj candidate for matrimony being seated by the p . side of the mutronV the young ladies cam 6 in to _••■■* 5* the room singly at the door, and uuless,then,{.and there ohoseii by the wife-bunter, they# JsS 'f mediately retired by the opposite door^. aji^r^j once out of the room, it was coiitrary to Vnlftto;: ; call an, lady back on J^e plea Ja^j^i preferred to those'wbo followed / Tbe:old story. : £ f ~ of pickiug-up * .prd^ed-Btibkv4n-tie\fbr«it%iH^ occur to the intenigept reader as ooarevia| ■.■Qg:.4^ same mot^^LahotiChrmiicU, 'y£>M 4^W^