The Pembrokeshire Herald and General Advertiser

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE. THE FRENCH REPUBLIC. M. Quinet, the popular professor and writer, has published, for the information of the National Assembly, an account of the proceedings which take place in the department of the Ain (of which he is a representative) under the state of siege. It appears that newspapers and books are interdicted --that soldiers are to be found in almost every village-that two men can scarcely converse together without being arrested as conspirators—that many of the villages have become almost depopulated from the numerous arrests that have been male—that it is no rare thing to see mayors, schoolmasters, and respect- able farmers marched through the villages handcuffedj like malefactors, for no other reason Jthan that thei political opinions are distasteful to the powers that be—in short, that the most horrible and most revolt- ing tyranny is exercised—tyranny which could not be equalled in Turkey itself. And lo France is under the Republican regime, which some idiots think is protective of liberty. The political question ••"■citing most interest for the moment is a demand made by the great Northern Courts for the expulsion irom Switzerland of the Republican refugees who have taken up their residence in that country. To gain over the President of the Republic is the mission, it is said, of the Russian Ambassador. The Northern powers will not send in their ultimatum until this question in considered in the french Cabinet. In the Legislative Assembly the proceedings have been of no moment. On Wednesday the bill authorizing the Government to purchase the racing stud at St. Cloud was carried by a majority of 500 to 96. La Mode, the Legitimist journal under prosecution for stating that a coup d'état had beed determined upon by the Cabinet presided over by the President of the Republic, is resolved, it is said, to justify its accusation by an abundance of proofs. The trial, therefore, is looked forward to with much interest. The authorities still jealously watch the move- ments of the Socialists. M. Mouillard, responsible editor of the Democratic Socialist journal La Libertt has been tried before the Assize Court of the Seine for a seditious article, entitled "Auarcny," and sentenced to three monts' imprisonment and 4,000f. fine. Last week M. Victor Hugo delivered a long and violent speech upon public instruction. That speech has since been reprinted, and offered for sale at Lyons, but it has been seized by the Government officials. The police have rooted up the tree of liberty planted immediately after the FebruaJy revolii.ion in the Marche aux Veaux. A number of the ultra-Repub- licans assembled together and manifested some opdosition to the Government authorities, but without effect. GENERAL CHANGARNIER AND THE ARMY. Some officers and soldiers of the 31st regiment of the line, now stationed in Paris, have been sent as a punishment to Algeria. It appears that the review was for the purpose of making an example of this regiment. General Changarnier, having learnt that Republican And Socialist ideas had made considerable progress in the regiment in question, and that the soldiers were in the habit of singing the "Marsellaise," the Girondins," and other revolutionary songs, determined upon making an example of them. After the review he ordered the regiment to form a square round him, and having called the officers together he lectured them severely on the disaffection which had manifested itself in the regiment. In the course of his speech he made use of the rather extraordinary expression that soldiers ought not. to be more Republican than their chiefs and hf? added, that they ought not to permit manifestations of political opinion of any kind." He then announced that, as a punishment, the parties most blameable—namely, two captains, four lieutenantg, and fifty soldiers, whom he named—were to be sent off immediately to Africa. While this ceremony was going on four other regiments weie c'idwu up round the 31st. reg. with loaded rausk'its, ready to Orevent tl-e least resistance. — Morning Chronica (Paris, Sunday). FAILURE OE UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE IN FRANCE, I mentioned some time since that the Moderate party in the Assemhly and the Government had come to an Understanding that a change should be made with the least delay possible in the electoral law, as at present in force in France. The recent failure of the Conservative candidate in the depart- ment of the Gard, and the unfavourable reports received from the prefects, as to the state of feeling in the other departments, where elections are about to take place, has revived the idea of a change. Neither the Goverement nor the Conservatives yet ventuae to go so far as to propose the abolition of universal suffrage, but they are endeavouring to limit it as much as possible by indirect means. The registration for the department of the Seine had just closfed, and the impediments thrown in the way of those claiming to be placed on the lists were so numerous and so vexatious, that many of the working classes, and even of tbe^bourgeoisie, gave up the affair in despair. The consequence has been, that upwards of 60,000 names have been struck off the lists in Paris alone. A change is also proposed in the system ot taking the votes. At present the representatives for the departments are all elected for the whole department, in place of one being elected for each district. The result of this change will be, to give effect to local and personal interests, and cdnsequently to improve the class of persons elected as representatives.—Morning Chronicle. THE PAPAL STATES. Nothing further is known respecting the return of the Pope. A letter of the 19th ult. announces the return of General Baraguay d'Hilliers in a stdte of ill health. The Concordia of Turin states, from Rome, that Austria having demanded that her arms should be replaced at Rome with the usual pomp, the Pdpe had asked General Baraguay d'Hilliers whether on such an occasion he could answer for the tranquility of the capital; to which the general had replied that he could answer for nothing, and that his troops would be consigned to their barracks and remain perfectly neutral. The idea of restoring the Austrian irms had consequently been abandoned. PRUSSIA. The accodnts from Berlin are to the 29th lilt. The Second Chamber, after a long debate, has accepted thirteen out of the fifteen clauses of the King's message. The principle of the peerage, to which most importance was attached, was carried by a majority of twelve. The article sanctioned entails is the only one of any importance rejected, and to that one the Ministry does not stand pledged. The First Chamber is now occupied with the articles of the message, and appears well inclined to agree to the decisions of the Lower Chamber. Great anxiety was felt to know what the decision of the King would be, and whether he would swear to the constitution.

Dr.'Geor^e Stephen Jones, of Boston, communicates to the Medical Journal the following singular though not unprecedented case:—"I was called upon in great haste to see a patient who was represented to be in a dying condition, and on my arrival at the house I really found him sick, but far from being as bad as was represented. My patient had a severe attack of pleuritis. The symtoms being very urgent, I thought proper to take blood. The peculiar odour emitted by the blood while running from the vein, together with the singular appearance it presented after remaining in the bowl some few minutes, led me to a further examination of it. One half, (that is lateral half) was of the normal apperance when drawn from a patient labouring under art inflammatory affection the other half had the appearance of milk upon the surface, so much so that I questioned my assistants as to the fact, although I was quite positive of the vessel being perfectly clean when handed to me. I gave the bowl a rotary 'motion, yet the fluid would not mingle, remaining just the same as when first observed. What was still more interesting, and to which my attention was attracted, where the fumes of alcohol, which were so strong that one would have supposed that article to have been thrown in among the blood. I did not apply a lighted taper to it, but have not the least doubt that if I had I should have seen it ignite, burning with its lambent flame. Is it at all strange that we find in autopsies of those persons who are in the habitual use of alcoholic liquors such depositions and concretions ? Why should not their tissues be transformed when their blood has been so charged with carbon and hydrogen, which are entirely foreign to its vitality ? Disease, with all its concomitants, must needs make its ravages the stomach suffering, the functions of assimilation destroyed the brain, from continual narcotism, softens, breaks, and the creature dies. My patient I learned drank New England rum in large doses ofte.1 repeated.

RATING SMALL TENEMENTS. The object of all legislation on the subject of the poor-rate has been to make all real property contri- bute its fair proportion towards the maintenance of the poor and other local burthens. Inasmuch however as the poor-rate, from the selection of the occupier as party on whom the rate is imposed, has been found to press heavily on the poorer classes, the 54 Geo. 3, c. 170, s. 11, enables two justices, on application made to them by any person rated to any rate, and proof of his inability to pay such rate, with the consent of the churchwardens and overseers of the parish to order that such person shall be excused from its payment. This statute it will be observed, requires the party seeking an exemption to make a ^personal application to the justice?, and to give proof af his inability to pay the rate. If the justices are Satisfied of the truth of his statemrnt, and the over- seers consent to his exemption, the justices may then discharge him from the payment of the rate. But in any case this can only be lawfully done upon such application made, and proof given, by the party seeking exemption. W,hat, however, is the actual practice in the matter t. Why that instead of An application by the party seeking exemption, and proof of his inability to pay the ra'e, the overseers or collector draw out a list of those he thinks unable to pay, in some instances signed by the party, in others not, and this is submitted to the justices by the overseers or collector himself. The consent of the parish officers is admitted by the justices as proof of the parties' inability to pay, and they escape without even an appearance before the justices, and much less any examination as to their real inability to pay. This is clearly objectionable on two Accounts. In the first place, it is in direct contravention cf the statute in the next it opens a door of favoUntism which ought most jealously to be guarded against, In some instance such parties are altogether omitted from the rate. This, although, aswe con- sider, irregular, has the advantage of economy both in point of time and expense. But in either of these cases who is it that benefits by the exemption ? Is it the teilant ? Certainly not; for he pays an increased rent to his landlord upon the very score that he will not be required to pay the poor-rate. It is the landlord, and the landlord only, in whose favour the exemption is made. So that an exemption which, in many instances, amounts to or even exeeeds a tenth of the value of the rental of the whole parish, is actually made, in order that the landlord may receive a higher rent, and the rest of the parish pay a higher rate. It may however be said, that there is a statute that enables any parish so minded, to charge the landlord with the rate instead of the occupier. The 59 Geo. 3, c. 12, s. 19, enables the inhabitants of any parish in vestry assembled to direct that the owners of houses, apartments, or dwellings (being the immediate lessors of the actual occupiers), let to the occupiers at a rent or rate, not exceeding X20 nor less than X6, by the year, for any less term than a year, or on any agreement by which the rent shall be made payable at a shorter period than three months, shall be assessed to the poor in respect of such houses, &c. Upon this, however, it may be observed, that the act has no operation on any houses under zC6 a year rent, which are precisely the class of houses for which such a provision is most needed. Next, in order to bring a case within this statute, the party must hot only be theowner, but he must be the "immediate lessor of the actual occupier," so that if there be a middleman the statute is not applicable. Moreover, it may be applied paitially and as it can only be in operation by a resolution of the vestry, it not unfrequently happens that those against whom it is most stringent- ly enforced, from their activity in parish matters and their consequent influence with the vestry, are precisely the parties who are exempted from its operation. But even this provision, defective and difficult of operation as it may be, is only applicable to rural parishes for the 23rd section of the same statute expressly provides that it shall not extend to any city, borough, or town corporate, in which the right of voting for members of pzarliaru"t depeadf an voter's assessment to tb* poor-rate- In borough parishes, therefore, where these small tenements most abound, and where the power to rate the owner would consequently be most advantageously exercised, there is no possibility of doing so, except through the instrumentality of a local act. The cause of this exception appears to be the fear of interference with the franchise. This, however, is a subject which we are satisfied might be very easily provided for. Bearing in mind then, the very large amount of property which by the operation of the present law, is altogether exempted from local taxation the expense to parishes, and the hardships and annoyan- ces consequent upon its due enforcement; the unfair amount of burthens thus thrown upon the occupiers of property which is respectably tenanted, and the general evils resulting from the present mode of carrying out the law, we entertain a confident hope that the forthcoming session of parliament will not be allowed to pass without a strenuous effort being made for its alteration.—Justice of the Peace. ♦

ANECDOTE OF SHEKIDAN.—The circumstance of Sheridan's well-known duel having been misrepre- sented, he came to town, resolved to set the British public right, and as Perry, the editor of the Morning Chronicle, was his friend, he resolved to do so through the channel of that paper. It was agreed between them that Sheridan, under a fictitious name, should write a history of the affair, as it had been misrepre- sented, and that he should subsequently reply to it in his own name, giving the facts of the case. The first part he accomplished, and there appeared in the Chronicle a bitter article Against him, written in fact, by himself; but he could never find tirrte to write an answer, and it never was written :—" 'the slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting CuRiotfs FACTS ON MAN AND TEMPERATURE.—Owing mainly to the flexibility of his constitution, although obtaining much artificial aid, man can subsist under the greatest extremes. The Esquimaux endure the cold between the parallels of 70 deg. and 80 deg.; the African Negroes subsist under the burning sun of the Equator; while Europeans, accustomed to an intermediate temperatiire, have borne the rigdur of the highest accessible latitude, and the fiercest heat of the Torrid zone. c. The power of the human frame td resist cold, according to Sir John Ross, who experienced four successive Arctic winters, appears to vary remarkably in different coristitutions. His general conclusion is, that the ruddy, elastic, florid or clear-complexioned man, endowed with what physi- cians call the sanguine temperament, has a peculiar power of retaining heat; while those having pale, flabby, and sallow countenances, whose temperament is said to be phlegmatic, ot melancholic, are propor- tionately deficient. The most ample clothing will not compensate for the deficiency, since it can only retain the internal heat; and if this be wanting, one might as well attempt to warm a piece of ice by means of a blanket. He places his chief reliance on abundance of food and it is well known that the Esquimaux take as much as ten and twelve pounds of animal food in twenty-four hours, its effect being heightened by the fat and oleaginous quality of their diet. The oxygen which is inbaled with atmospheric air combines chemically with the carbon of the food, and that chemical action is the cause of heat and vital force; Therefore a much larger supply of animal food, which contains many more times carbon than vegetables, is necessary in a cold climate, whilst amid torrid heat, rice & fruit form an appropriate diet. GIGANIC TREKS.—A correspondent of the Botanical Gazette gives the following description and measure- ment of some gigantic trees in Van Dieman's Land Last week I went to see two of the largest trees in the world, if not the very largest that have ever been measured. They Were both on a trtibutary rill to the North West of Bay River, at the back of Mount Wellington, and are what are called swamp gums' but I do not know the specific name. I see that Dr. Hooker, in his descriptions of a new species of eucalyptus, in TIle Journal of Botany, names the stringy bark eucalyptus gigantea. This would have been a more appropriate name for the swamp gum, which is a much larger tree. One was growing, the other prostrate the latter measured to the first branch 220 feet, from thence to where the top was bioken off aDd decayed, 6"4 feet, or 284 feet in all so that with the top it must have been cotsiderably beyond 300 feet. It is 30 feet in diameter at the base, and 12 at 220, or the first branch, and that dis- tance only would from the stem alone turn out more timber than any three oaks in England, with their branches. We estimate it to weigh with their branch- es 440 tons. The standing giant is growing vigor- ously, without any symptoms of decay, and looks like a large church tower among the puny sassafras trees. It measures at 3 feet from the ground 102 feet in cir- ■ cumference, and at the ground 139 feet. Within a mile there are at least 100 growing trees 40 feet in circum- ference."

OVERLAND MAIL.—INDIA. We have receivd by express from Marseilles our usual despatches and papers. The dates of the in- telligence brought by this arrival are Bombav, January 3 j Calcutta, December 22 nnd Alexan- dria, January 21. One Or two events of considerable interest had occurred in India since the departure of the last mail. We rejoice to find that the Rajah ofSikkim had released Drs. Campbell and Hooker from con- finement, and that they were on their way to Dar- jeeling, though they had not reached that station on the 17th of Dec. the date of the last advices. From Peshawiir we receive accounts of the ex- pedition into the Eusofzee country, commanded bv Colonel Lawrence. It has resulted in two rather smart engagements, in which the enemy were de- fected with considerable loss on their side, and com paratively few casualties on our own. The object of the expedition was to chastise the rebellious tribes, and force them to pay their revenue to the government. On Monday, Dec. the 3rd, the troops under Lieutenant-Colunel Bradshaw left Peshawur, accompanied by Colonel Lawrence, and after crossing the Cabul river at Nowshera, arrived on the I othf in the vicinity of a village called Stmrr7- hao, on which the attack was to be made. It is situated in the gorge of a fcioniuiun range, and commanded from several ridges. Colonel Brad- shaw having carefully reconhoitered the village the several points of attack xvere decided on in such a manner as to cut off all observable means of escape; and on the 11 th, at noon, a simultaneous attack commenced, and the enemy, after a desperate struggle of five hours' duration, were at length driven by the vigorous and gallant charge made bv the troops forming the centre point of attack over a narrow path of the heights, which till then had not been observed. They were seen scaling the loftv mountain like a flock of goats, and completely out of the rech of the guns, which could not be Suffici- ently elevated to fire on them. '1 he estimates of the enemy's numerical strength vary considerably ranging from 300 to between 2,000 and 300. The first, however, is probably as far below the truth as the latter is evidently exaggerated. The loss y 11 on our side is as follows :—Her Majesty's 60th Rifles, one officer, Capt. Bingham, wounded se- verely, having received a lacerated wound on the scalp from a stone, one serjeant and six rank and file; of her Majesty's 61st, one sergeant and four rank and file 8rd Regiment of Native Infantry, three rank and file; Capt. Lumsden's Guide Corps, five killed. On the 12th the head man of the village came and sued for pardon, paying the reventle for the past year, and promising submission for the future. The next morning Colonel Bradshaw marched to within two mile", of the other refractory villages, which are described as forming a position of great natural strength, the front being intersected with water-courses and ravines, while on the left stands an isolated hill, 1,500 feet high. The advance was steady and regular, and by 10 o'clock the enemy, after a stout resistance, were completely driven from their position. After razing the villages, the force retired to the level plain. Our loss in killed was not great, but the wounded were numerous, and their wounds dangerous. It was expected that by these examples the Eusofzes would be con- vinced of the folly of opposing the British power. The force was to commence its return march to Peshawiir on the 17th. Considerable agitation has prevailed in and around Calcutta, oecasioned by the proposed legis- lative acts for abolishing the exemption which has hitherto been granted to Europeans from the crimi- nal jurisdiction of the East India Company's Courts, and a requisition has been made to the Sheriff of Calcutta to convene a meeting of its in- habitants to memorialise the government against the proposed acts. Mr. Dickens, an advocate, has published a memorial on the subject, which was to be submitted to the opinion of the meeting. The Governor-General had recentlv visited La- hore, where he was shortly followed by Sir Charles f&tpW, who still continued in the Sikh capital at. the date oi tbe last int^Uigence. it was understood, however, that he would shortly take his departure towards Peshawur. The probability of his return to England for the present is now considered as remote as it was before confidently given out as immediate. The gallant Commander-in-Chief con- tinues to infuse life and vigour in the general orders by his remarks on the courts-martial, of which a great number have recently occurred. A young officer, Lieutenant R. Tottenham, 7th L. C., was arraigned on a charge of having made use of certain exceedingly disrespectful terms to-j wards his commanding officer, Major Phillips, in his defence before a court of inquiry. 'I he pri- soner was sentenced to three months' suspension, and the Commander-in-Chief approved and con- firmed the sentence. During the vice regal visit to the capital of the Punjab, in the presence of Dhuleep Singh, and the Sikh chieftains, Sir Walter Gilbert was invested with the Grand Cross, and Sir Henrv Elliott with the Knighthood of the Bath. The spectacle is re- ported very imposing. The Governor-General left Lahore on the 8th of December for Mooltan, whence he will proceed down the Indus to Kur- rachee, and thence to Bombay, At Hyderabad, in the Nizam's territory, there has been a terrible conflict between two hostile sects of the Mahommedan religion—the Sheahs, followers of Ali, and tne Soonees, who swear bv the Caliph Omar. The affray was reported to the Resident, General Frazer, who refiised, however, to interfere, and it was eventually put down by the Nizam's police. It is predicted that the affairs of the latter personage will, ere long, come to a final "wiridirig up." A twelvemonth has! been granted to him to pay his debts, amounting to 54 lacs, with a warning that he is meanwhile not to fall into arrears in discharging the pay of the con- tingent. Unless his private coffers are as well stocked as public ruiritfur has it, it is probable the Nizam will, in the course of a year, become a po- litical insolvent. General Frazer's refusal to interfere in the above mentioned disturbances is attrihutable; therefore, to a very proper feeling of delicacy, under these cir- cumstances; of taking, any steps for which he might by right be justified. Madras is suffering from extreme drought, and fears are entertained of a famirie. Bombay was visited on the 26th of December by two slight shocks of an earthquake. The cholera was abatin.. although six or seven cases occurred daily, but chiefly among the native population.

THR BLASPHEMER'S DEATH.—There is Something so terribly startling in the following facts, and so fearfully exemplifying the grievous sin and Extreme peril of blaspheming the name of the Eternal, that had we not made minute and careful inquiry, even among the very haunts of those living Where the oc- currence took place, we should have believed the whole to have been an exaggerated rumour of some ordinary and every day casualty, rather than the aw- fully true narrative of a dreadful judgment. On the morning of Sunday last, a married woman, residing in the Friar's Fields, named Sarah Morgan, was ob- served with her infant in her arms, near her own house, disputing with a woman named Elizabeth Volan. A quarrel of a very violent character, so far as words went, shortly afterwards ensued, and in re- ply, to an observation made by the woman Sarah Morgan exclaimed that she hoped that God Almighty would strike her blind, deaf, dumb, and stiff, if she did not revenge herself upon her in a particular man- ner. Almost directly she staggered, let her child fall from her arms to the ground, and would herself appa- rently have fallen but that her neighbours immedi- ately assisted her into the hous'e. Dr. Stack was promptly in attendance, who we need scarcely re- mark, continued to render her every assistance which medical skill and humanity could suggest. From the moment that she was thus mysteriously stricken, to the hour of her death, at half-past one o'clock on Wednesday ritorninihg, the only words she uttered, and just after she was borne in, were, Lord, have mercy on my poor sotil-htve mercy on my children and then her voice failed her, and she became dumb her sense of hearing was destroyed her eyes became glassy and sightless and in about sixty hours from the moment in which she was struck down, death placed his icy hand upon her, and she became a corpse. This fearful event has produced a painful sensation even among the abandoned creatures of the locality in which it occurred .Monmouth Merlin. THE QUEEN'S SUPREMACY.—We understand that at a special meeting of the committee of tbe London Church Union held on Monday, for the purpose of considering the case of Gorham v. Bishop of Exeter, a sub-committee was appointed to deliberate and re- pbrt upon the Church, in finally determining ques- tions of doctrine. The sub-committee are in daily deliberation upon the point. -Travtarian Paper. A YANKER AND THE ENRLISH LAW. —Lately A well-dressed man, named Stowfort, was placed at the bar of the police-court, on the complaint of Mr. Timothy Parkinson, publican, of Roft-street, who said that on Siiritlav evening thet-c were'a number of ciptains and mates ef American vessels in his house. In a hack-room there was a hhck man sitting quietly with some of his friends and the prisoner intimated to those around him there was a coloured man in the house. Thereupon the Americans went into the room, and the black man was ejected w.th some little violence. A general fight or squabble then took place, and glasses and jugs were thrown about. One of the glasses was thrown at Mr. Parkinson, and wounded him on the head, so that he came into court with a bandage round it. The black man being called, said his name was Brown, and that he made a living by exhibiting wax-work figures now in the Haymarket. The prisoner on entering the room in which he (witness) sat, cried out to him, Come out of this we will have no negroes here Mr. Rushton said that such conduct could not be tolerated in England, and the prisoner must therefore pay a fine of £ 5, or he imprisoned for 42 days fo; the assault on the black man.—Liverpool Mail. FRARFUL EXPLOSION ON THE MONMOUTHSHIRE RAIL- WAY.—Lately, as David Williams and his hallier, from Newport, were taking a train containing 30 cwt. of gunpowder up the Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company's Line, to Brynmawr works adjoining, they thought they heard an engine coming down the incline by Aberbeeg. Mr. Williams having gone to ascertain what it was, saw two trams coming down full speed. He ran hack, calling out to his hallier to extricate the horse from the train, which he did, when the next minute two trains loaded with iron rails came in violent contact with the train containing the powder, and drove it back about twenty yards, when it exploded with a tremendous noise, scattering the tram in fragments in different directions, and breaking three of the wheels to pieces. Part of the axle was found about two hundred yards off, stuckjin fin upright position in the ground. We are happy to say no one was hurt. Mr. Williams' hallier's cap^was burnt in two places on the crown but he sustained no personal injury. It appears that at a little distance there were a few cottages of which most of the windows were blown in, and one of the roofs lifted out of place. It is curious to observe that there were ten quarter bar- rels of gunpowder left unexploded, but the bags they were wrapt in were all burnt. We are told that the two trams of iron came from Ebbw Vale, and ran down the incl.ne by some accident the connecting- iron by which they were fastened to a train having broken. The value of the powdbr and train in -«p- posed to be nearly £ 45. MAKING ICE.—Sir J. F. W. Herschel, in reference to the system of making ice by the expansion of highly compressed air, (previously reduced to the ordinary temperature), in a letter to the Athencum, says An old steam-boiler, buried some 20 or 30 feet under ground in well rammed earth, and fur- nished with a condensing pump, (worked above ground), and one eduction pipe by a stop-cock through a hose into water, would in all probality supply ice ad libitum for the use of a family In the country- the condensation being performed over the niilit." LORD ROSSES TELEscoPE.- The naked eye can see twelve times farther into space than the distance of the first magnitude. The stars are at a distance so great that the light of them has to travel ten years before reaching the earth, so that we can perceive stars without a glass whose light required 120 years to travel here. Lord Rise's telescope, which is 500 times more powerful, enables us to descry a single star at a distance so tremendous, that, notwithstand- ing the marvellous velocity with which light travels, its light before reaching us would require 60,000 years to cross the intervening gulf I-Gloucester Chronicle. POPULATION or THE WORLD.—It appears from official statistics recently issued that there are hardly more than from 4,000,000 to 5,000,000 .Tews in the whole world; whereas Buddhism number; |400,000,0<K) adepts Brahminism, 200,000,000 Christianity, 230,900,000 to -250,000,000 Mahonietanism, from 130,000,000 to 150.000,000 and Fetishism (or pure idola'ry), from 80.000,000 to 100,000,000. 'I he 5,000,000 Jews are thus distributed Theie are about 500,000 in Syria and Asiatic Turkey 250,noo in European Turkey 600.000 in Morocco and North Africa 50,000 to 80,000 in Eastern Asia 100,000 in America and about 2,200,000 in Europe —namely, 13,000 in England, 1549 in Belgium, 850 in Sweden and Norway, 6,000 in Denmark, 70,OOU in France, 52,000 in the Low Countries, 1,120,000 in Russia (more than one-fifth of the entire race), 631,000 in Austria and its dependencies, 214.431 iu Prussia, 175,000 in the German States, and 4,000 in Italy. The following are the Foreign Loans already is- Z, sued, or in negociation at the present time Rus- 11 sian 4-4 percent., £ 5,500,000; Tuscany, £ 1,200.000; Sardinia, £ 3,000,000; the United States, £3,000,000, making a total of 1:13,900,000. WHIG ONSLAUGHT ON THE WHIG GOVEBNMKM.— Mr. Horsman, the Whig Member of Parliament for Cockermouth, has issued an address to his constitu- ents, in which he indulges in a damaging exposure of certain frailties of the government. He accuses mii isters of tergiversation, evasive procrastination, and even worse, in their treatment last session of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners' Bill. Amendments had been proposed by Mr. Horsman and liL friends Lord John Russell stated in the house that the amendments had been adopted, that the house would by going into committee pro forma, and that the bill would he put in such a shape as to secure its passing without difficulty and the Ileforfftefs relied on this Ministerial assurance. Ten days afterwards, late at night the house did go into committee pro forma Sir George Gray handed in amendments they were gabbled over in the usual manner on such occasions, and the bill was reprinted it did not contain a sin- gle line of the amendments which had beer' profes- sedly adopted The geneial effect of the i tter ia summed up in a single passage As for 1ny legis- lative remedy for thesfe proved abuses, we tand pre- cisely where we were before the question was ever stirred. Motions have been made, discussed and sup- ported on all sides, with an earnestness of unanimity which did great credit to the Christian feding of the house. The minister, commencing by opposing, ended by acquiescing in our proposals and, com- pelled to bow before the opinion of the house, and to save himself from defeat, he promised everytbing; and his done nothing." SEVERE FRosT,-In 1076 (William !.), a frost com- menced in the beginning of November, and continued until the April following. This was year of the great earthquake in England.—December, 1609, and Jan. 1610, in the reign of James I., a frost happened which lasted four months. The Thames was so fro- zen over, that heavy carriages passed over it.-Io the beginning of December, 1684, (reign of Charles 11.), a hard frost continued to the 5th of February, with- out intermission. The Thames was frozen, and co- vered with booths as at a fair coaches on the ice plied from Westminster to tie Temple, and from 6ther stairs an ox was roasted whole, bulls baited, and the like.—In the middle of June, 1795. the se- verity of the season was Such, that many thousand sheep; newly shorn, perished in different parts of the country. It was Computed that in Wiltshire full one-fourth of the flocks Wis destroyed.—.December 31st, 1797, several persons were frozen to death in different parts of the country. The frost Was so se- vere that the thermometer was 34 degrees below the freezing point. A PROTECTED LOAF." At the Sheffield dinner to Mr. Cobden, a great Free Trade sensation was made by the introduction of a sort of mummy loaf, which had been kept since 1801, and which was set in juxta position with the big loaf of 1850. Of course Mr. Cohden declaimed but a correspondent of the Times has effectually demolished this humbug, and Mr. ColidenV, gross ignorance. He says—" What does Mr. Cobdeft mean by calling the small loaf of 1801 exhibited at Sheffield a protected loat ?' M17 Cobden surely knew that th6 years 1800 and 1801 were years of famine that the harvest of 1800 was one of the very worst ever experienced in England that the average price of wheat on the 1st of January, 1800, was 02s. 7d. a quarter on the 1st of January, 1801, when Ah. Cobden's protected lo;tf w;;s made, 139s. a quarter; and that the price afterwar i advanced to 180s. a quarter. All this information as well as that the quartern lo if was sellint: at Is. ]()Jd. might have been found in Tookes Thoughts end Details on High and Low Prices. Mr Cobden -urely must have known that at the time whpn his "protected loaf was' baked, the importation of corn into England was encouraged by a high bounty. Above all, Mr. Cobdeu sureiv must have known that 'n 1800 and 1801 there was no duiy whatever on imported corn, and that lor quarter of a century uvviously wheat had been regularly unpolled vnrV England at a dutv ol 6d. a quai.u