TIG HALIFAX MARCH 11, 1843. FREE PRESS. No. XXVIII. Price One Penny. And now the time in special is, ly privilege, to write and speak what may help to the f urther discussing of matters in agitation. The Temple of Janus, with his two ontrmersal faces, might now not iinsignificantly be set open : and though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously, by licensing and prohibiting, to misdoubt her strength. Let her and falsehood grapple. Who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter. Her confuting is the best and surest suppressing.— MILTON'S AREOPAGITICA. ADVERTISEMENT. HALIFAX MECHANICS' INSTITUTION.— The Members and Friends of the Institution are respectfully informed that a Lecture entitled " The Prosecution of Scientific Pursuits not Incompatible with the Claims of Religion." will be de- livered in the Old Assembly Room, on Wednesday Evening, March 15th, by the Rev. A. Ewing, A. M. The Lecture to commence at Eight o'clock. Members admitted on show- ins their Tickets, and Non- Subscribers on payment of Sixpence. Ladles' Tickets, admitting them to all the Lec- tures for the year, Four Shillings each. THE POOR MAN'S CHDRCH.— On a cottage window near Plymstock is the following:— I , Paiish Clarck Scargeant, Smith, taeheth yong Garls and Bouys to rade and rite daleth in mole candals shugar plums rish- lites comes, mole traps, mouse traps, spring guns, and all other sich maters— teeth dis- tracted, blid drawn, blisters, Pils, mixturs maid, also nails, and bossesshoed, hepsomesalts, and comes cut, and all other things on rasonable Tarmes.— N. B, and also my misses goes out has man whidwife in the clieepest way posable." PRESENT SYSTEM OP FEMALE EDUCATION OB- JECTIONABLE.— It is with what is taught, not with those who teach, that I am daring enough to find fault. It may be that I am taking an unenlightened and prejudiced view of the subject; yet such is the stroug conviction of my own mind, that I cannot rest without attempting to prove that the present educa- tion of the women of England does not fit them for faithfully performing the duties which devolve upon them immediately after their leaving school, and throughout the whole of their after lives,— docs not couvert them from helpless children, into such char- acters as all ivomen must be, in order to be either esteemed or admired. Nor are their teachers account- able for this. It is the fashion of the day— it is the am- bitionof the times, that all people should, as far as pos sible, learn al! things of which the human intellect takes cognizance ; and what would he the consternation of parents whose daughter should return from school unskilled in modern accomplishments,— to whom her governess shonld say, " It is true I have been unable to make your child a proficient either in French or Latin, nor is she very apt at the use of the globes ; but she has been pre- eminent amongst my scholars for her freedom from selfishness, and she possesses a nobility of feeling that will never allow her to be the victim of meanness, or the slave of grovelling desires." In order to ascertain what kind of education is most effective in making woman what she ought to be, the best method is to inquire into the character, station, and peculiar duties of woman throughout the largest portion of her earthly career ; and then ask, for what she is most valued, admired, and beloved.— Ellis's Women of England. In living indolently, and in loving satiety, pains instantly cling to pleasures; but to be studious in virtue, and to regulate one's life temperately, always yields delights pure and more lasting. SAINTS' DAYS.— The Puseyites date their letters as follows :—" The Feast of the Visitation, B. V. M;" " The Feast of the Transfiguration ;" " The Feast of St. Matthew," & c. On the Rev. Sidney Smith recently receiving a letter from one of those formal gentlemen, headed and dated after this fashion, he began his letter in reply as follows: " Baking- dav, eve of Washing- day." A. E. I. O. U.— The famous device of Austria, A. E. I O. U. was first used by Frederick the Third, who adopted it on his plate, books, ai. d buildings. These initials stand for " Austria; est imperare orbi miverso " or, in German. " Alles Erdreich 1st. Oslerreicb Unterthan ;" a bold assumption for a man who m not lafe in nn inch of his dominium. THE " GUARDIAN" AND THE GUARDIANS. There is an old proverb lo the effect ( hat, when knaves quarrel, honest mencotne to know the truth. A pretty little specimen of this des- criplion of amantlum irce occurs in the columns of the Halifax Guardian of Saturday last. The Halifax Board of Poor Law Guardians had, it seems, been so annoyed by the mis- reporting', mis- stating, and other evil doings, of the Ehack- guardian, that they decided upon the exclusion of reporters from their meetings. This decision was, we think, wise and judicious. Had the exclusion been adopted from the first, much mischief might have been avoided. Often has the proper business of the Board been impeded,— often have the applicants for relief been kept waiting for the termination of wearisome debates and factious speeches,— and often has the cause of justice and mercy suffered, because certain parties were fond of seeing themselves in print. As to the light of the public to know what passes at the meetings of the Board, we do not think that there can be any difference of opinion, among men of judgment and re- flection, when it is borne iu mind that the Board of Guardians is not a legislative, but merely an executive, body. Their functions are, strictly speaking, not deliberative, but administrative. To debate upon the principles of the poor law, or to discuss the details of its provisions, falls not within their legitimate province. Their duty is to obey, not to question; and the evils arising from an executive body assuming to itself deliberative functions which do not belong to it, and which it has no power to carry out, must be obvious to every reflecting mind. All public bodies whose functions are of a deliberative and legislative character, ought to have their meetings open to the press, in older that the people may know the reasons and grounds of measures which they adopt or reject: but the case is very different with respect to bodies whose duties are strictly ministerial and executive, and whose deliberations can only relale to petty details and matters of minor importance. Having thus expressed our opinion upon the principle of exclusion, we return to the pretly little quarrel to which we have alluded. The Barkisland bully had, it appears, made some very severe remarks,— and he is capable of saying many an ill- natured thing,— upon the conduct of the Halifax Guardian, as lo certain of his own splendid and eloquent orations having been mtereported, and others wholly omitted, by the faithful and veracious organ of his own political party. Here was an offence too horrible to be forgiven; and the member for Barkisland did verily bark most furiously. " A fiue example of modesty and good breeding certainly !" exclaims the Guardian, setting up its back, like a hunted pussy, spilling at the naughty bow- wow that torments and woiries her. " But of all other persons," it continues, " tocomplain of tiisspeeches being, burked or cur- tailed, surely the guardian for Bavkisland ought to be the last!" How the guardian for Bark- island could be the last of all other persons, it would puzzle even an Irish schoolmaster lo make out. A man must indeed be somebody beside himself, to be the last of others! But let that pass. " No man,' * proceeds the tell- tale journalist, " has spouted a greater amount of jargon in the same amount of time !" Here again is an unkind cut ; but the unkindest is to come : and the laird of" Lower Hall," must fall lower still. " And no man," continues the angry editor, " has expressed a more fidgetty disposition lo appear well in print, to correct his speeches, and thus gain popularity, than Mr. Baxter." Here, then, the fox shows his tail. The guardian for Barkisland has not only " spouted jargon" at the meetings of the Board, but he has also been ancillary to the perverted, distorted, and dressed- up reports which have appeared, from time to lime, in the columns of the " pet organ" of Ihe Halifax Tories ! Thus, lo gratify his spile against one who has now offended him, Ihis immaculate editor has let out the secret that his reports have been, by his permission, altered, garbled, and trans- mogrified, to suit the views, and answer the purposes, of an individual member of the Board ! Is he not conscious that, in this revelalion, there is more for him, than his former chum, to be ashamed of? He does not seem to be aware of this ; and as for shame, there appears to be no such bump on his skull. The article which has called forth these re- marks, contains some olher assertions that re- quire noiice; but we defer our comment on them to a future number. INSANITY. Although there are many difficulties at- tendant upon the consideration of the subject of insanity, as regards the punishment of criminals alleged to be labouring under that mental malady ; yet we think there is one plain and obvious principle that ought never to be lost sight of, in such cases,— viz. that the criminal's state of mind at ihe time of com- mitling the act, and not at any preceding period of his life, should be the main point on which the decision should turn. Wo recollect once asking a gentleman of the legal profession, whether a lady who had been, on several occasions, confined in a lunatic asylum, was competent to make a will; and the answer was in the affirmative. To set as de a will made by a person so circumstanced, he said it would have to be shown that she was in a state of actual incapacity at the time of mak ing the will. How far this opinion may be correct in law, we do not pretend to judge ; but we look upon the principle as sound and judicious. There is, however, another question, of great importance in this discussion. To draw the line of demarcation between sanity and insanity, is, in many cases, almost impossible; but the line which separates responsible from irrespon- sible insanity seems to us to be easier of dis- tinction. So long as there is any reason to believe that the culprit had, at the time of com- mitting the offence, the power of distinguishing right from wrong, so long ought he to be held responsible to justice for the commission of crime. This may be thought a harsh and severe principle to be laid down ; but we are strongly of opinion that it is the only safe principle of jurisprudence. The practice of judges and juries has been, of late years, to swerve more and more from this clear and well defined principle ; until the slightest hint that a man had been rather eccentric, or melancholy, even 109 THE HALIFAX FREE PRESS. years before the commisson of the crime for which he is indicted, is become sufficient to screen him from the vengeance of the law. This ought not to be. The welfare of the com- munity, the protection of property, and the safety of individuals, alike require a more stringent and more just line of proceeding. It may, perhaps, be urged that it is better to err on the side of mercy, than of severity ; and that, as the verdict of " insanity" saves the culprit from death, it is the wiser and more humane course for a jury to adopt. Be it so; but this is furnishing an argument against capital punishment, rather than against our position. We believe that the severity of our criminal code has often led juries to deliver verdicts not strictly in accordance with facts; and that is an evil that calls loudly for redress. We have, of course, been led to this subject, by the result of the trial of M'Naughten, for the murder of Mr. Drummond ; but we must not be understood to pronounce an opinion upon that particular case. Not having yet perused the evidence, we are not competent to say how far these remarks bear upon it; and we state this, lest we should be supposed to cast blame upon the jury for their verdict. MR. COBDEN. The attempt which the Premier made to crush the hon. member for Stockport, has not only failed of its intended effect, but has elevat- ed to a position of greater eminence and power, that able and upright champion of the people's right to free trade and cheap food. The un- worthy trick to which the slippery Minister had recourse, is seen through by every body, as a paltry evasion of facts which he could not dis- prove,— of arguments which he could not refute,— and of just conclusions which he could not repel or deny. The people of England are not so blind as to be deceived by such pitiful devices as these ; and they are manifesting their contempt of them, and their respect for the intended victim, by the most public proofs of esteem and confidence. From the numerous addresses which have been transmitted to Mr. Cobden, from Anti- Corn- Law Associations and from public meet- ings, we naturally select that from our own town. It emanates from the Halifax Anti- Corn- Law Association ; and is conceived in a style and tone worthy of the occasion. The Address of the Halifax Anti- Corn- Law Association to Richard Cobden, Esq. M. P. SIR,— When a baffled foe seeks to cast unjust obloquy upon his opponent, with a view to lessen the influence he cannot in fair argumentation resist, and when such an effort is seconded by unscrupulous partisans and admirers, the object of malignity would be expected to find his best support in the conscious rectitude of his own heart. You, Sir, have experienced this injury at the hands of the Premier of England. By an artifice unworthy of his high position and talents, he has attempted to fix upon you the suggestion of an atrocious crime. We believe you need not our sympathy upon this occasion ; but we feel your fair fame to be our pro- perty. It is dear to us, and we are jealous of it. We therefore adopt this public mode of repudiating, with honest scorn, the infamous notion that you intended, on a late occasion, to menace the personal safety of Sir Robert Peel. Your private and public character equally render the charge improbable and contemptible. To you the growing success of the mighty move- ment in favour of the total repeal of the Corn Law is in a great measure attributable; and no man can hope to fill a situation so conspicuous, or 10 conduct such a warfare against private interests, without ex- periencing the bitterest hostility, too often accom- panied with malignant vituperation. We, in coramon with yourself, repudiate allvioler. ee, not only of conduct, but of language ; and where we are disposed to judge leniently, we still lament and deprecate its occurrence. We tender you, Sir, our gratitude for your past invaluable services ; and we beg you to persevere in the course of honest zeal you have bitheito pursued ; unmoved by calumny, and undaunted by opposition, however rancorous: pledging ourselves never to desist from '; he use of all constitutional means to co- operate with you in strenuous exertions to overthrow the crumbling system of monopoly, which blights the prosperity of our industrious land, and which, if allowed to continue, will annihilate our commercial prosperity, and ultimately uproot our institutions. We are, Sir, With great respect and esteem, Your very faithful friends, Signed on behalf of the Halifax Anti- Corn- Law Association, JONATHAN AKROYD, President. THE RKV. SYDNEY SMITH ONPUSEYISM.—" What is Puseyism, Mr. Smith?" " Puseyism, sir, is a system of posture and imposture— of circumflection and genuflection— of bowing to the east, and courtesy- ing to the west— with a variety of other fooleries." FLOWERS OF NEW HOLLAND.— The native flowers are many of them exceedingly beautiful, and the geranium is almost a wood ; but still very many of the sweetest and most beautiful English flowers will not grow in the climate of New Holland. The native flowers are, with very few exceptions, perfectly inodorous ; and they gladden the eye with their grateful presence but for a short period. The dreary wastes of New Holland are relieved by the varied tints of the native flowers in the spring time only. But few persons would, I apprehend, estimate the beautiful but scentless flowers of New Holland, beyond the more quiet- tinted but sweet- smelling flowers of Great Britain. Even were they on a par in point of beauty and fragrance, the English flowers continue blooming a great part of the year, whilst the dull monotony of the arid scrub of Australia is relieved for only a short time by beautifully- formed and exquisitely tinted, but inodorous flowers. With all the charm of form, the Australian flowers must yield to the delicious fragrance and simple colouring of the flowers of the charminc hedge- rows of " Merry England."— Bartlett's New Zealand. GEORGE THE FOURTH AND HIS MEDICAL MAN.— He usually received me at from ten to eleven o'clock, in his bed. He chatted with me for half an hour, and was generally very agreeable, although now and then irritable. He was not strictly attentive to facts, but embellished all his stories, to render them more amusing, so that it would not answer always to repeat his sayings of others. When ill, the king would never allow that it was caused by his own imprudence. One morning his tongue was white, and he was much heated ; " By—," said he, " it is very extraordinary that I should be thus heated ; for I lived very ab- stemiously, and went to bed in good time. I must have some leaume de vie, sir." When we went out of the room, W said, " You must not profession- ally act upon what his majesty said : he was drinking Maraschino at two o'clock this morning." He was a good judge of the medicine which would best suit him.—[ This is a strong admission for a medical authority.]— Hebore enormous doses of opiates— one hundred drops of laudanum, for instance. In bleed-: ing also, I have known from twenty to thirty five ounces taken from him several times.—[ Probably on that very account.]— The king was irregular in his times for eating and drinking. " Bring me cold chicken," he would say at eleven, before he rose. " Yes, sire."—" Bring it, and give me a goblet of soda water." Soon after, he ate again, and at dinner largely; but he did not generally drink much at dinner, unless tempted by the society of men he liked. He suffered much from rheumatism and gout, but the colchicutn relieved him. One morning, when he had rheumatism in his hip, and there was a doubt about the propriety of giving colchicum, he said, " Gentle - men, I have borne your half measures long enough to please you; now I will please myself, and take colchicum ;" which he did, and was soon relieved.— Diary of Sir A. Cooper, Bart. EDUCATION.— At the end of an important document, dated 1583, and recorded in the sett of the burgh, the following extraordinary clause appears after the names of provost and councillors :—" With our hand at the pen led be the notars underwritten, at our command, because we cannot write ourselves, id est, Mr. Alexander Guthrie, notariuspublicus, Sfc."— Edinburgh paper. ENGLISH LABOUR.— If we ask the British farmer why it is that he requires protection, he will probably reply, on account of the high rate of wages, which, besides his rates, he lias to pay. But if this were so, it would be at least a prooable consequence that he would thrive most in the countries where the rate of wages is lowest, and least where it is highest. So far, however, is this from being true, that we apprehend the proposition would be less wide of the mark if it were inverted. The following, at least, we hope to be a most striking circumstance :— The cheap labour of Ireland is much more sensitive to foreign competition than the dear labour of England. There is Ireland, with fertile soils, with comparatively few taxes, with the highest market in the world open to her, and many of our ports accessible at as small a cost as they are to our own cultivators, and yet the cheap labour of Ireland has never been able to undersell the dear labour of England ; the agriculture of this country maintains its superiority over the agriculture of the sister island; and upon occasion of the recent changes in the corn- law, and with respect to cattle, the loudest cries of apprehension actually came, not from Norfolk or Northamptonshire, but from the oat- growers and the graziers of a country which has the advantage of perhaps the cheapest labour in Christendom. * * * We rejoice, therefore, to believe that there are rational grounds for the hope that the noble pursuit of the tillers of our soil, and the feeders of our flocks and herds, has a charter of an older date and a surer duration than any that can be afforded by queen, lords, or commons.— Foreign and Quarterly Bevieto. From an article attributed to Mr. W. E. Gladstone, OUR CHATTER BOX. " Reflections on viewing the frost on my cottage windows " have been received, and are under con- sideration. The Annual Report of the Halifax Anti- Corn- Law Association is in our hands ; and we shall. probably extract a portion of it, in our next. NONCON will perceive that the ecclesiastical articles from the Patriot are not discontinued. MECHANICS' INSTITUIION.— The alteration of the advertisement of the Rev. A. Ewing's Lecture did not reach us until after our last number had gone to press. IN consequence of the Quarterly Meeting of the West Riding Geological and Polytechnic Society being fixed for the same day, the lecture was postponed until Wednesday next. We do not agree with W. in thinking that any ab- stract of the papers read at the Quarterly Meeting of the West Riding Geological and Polytechnic Society, could have been made interesting to'our readers, un- less we had devoted our whole number to that object; and to have done so would not perhaps have suited the taste of a large portion of our subscribers. S. was too late to be of service. We have received the following answer to the Enigma in our last : — Your last week's Enigma resembles, I think, A certain race of puffers ; If, with less of their aim, there's still less of their stinks Puffing off, and about; and oft times puffing out ;— Such is—" A Pair of Snuffers." Hebden Bridge, March 6,1843. x. M. WHAT is TRUE EDUCATION ?— It is that which in- structs the mind and strengthens the intellect, and it is also that which forms the character and quickens virtue. It begins at the centre, and goes outward. While it enriches the understanding, it enlightens the willfc and, in connection with other things, strength- ens the ideas of right and wrong. It always re- cognises in the child a being whose destiny reaches through future aires, and in whose infant spirit are wraptup germs of inconceivable powers.— Waterston. A law has recently been passed in Sweden, pro- hibiting the distillation of brandy schnapps, a favour- ite drink with all classes. The names of all persons who are seen intoxicated are to be posted on the doors of the parish church, and the clergyman is to put up prayers for their reformation. Agasias, a Platonic philosopher, who taught the immortality of the soul, was forbidden by one of the Ptolemies to continue his lectures, because his doc- trine was so prevalent that many of his auditors committed suicide. Conversation should be pleasant without scurrility, witty without affectation, free without indecency, learned without conceitedness, novel without false- hood. ALE.— If any ale- house- keeper should sell less than a full quart of ale for a penny, or of the small ale two quarts for one penny, he shall forfeit for every such offence the sum of twenty shillings.— lsf James I. chap. 9. A PRIMITIVE CLERGYMAN.— Between the visits of Martin and Macaulay, St. Kilda enjoyed the spiritual consolations of the Rev. Alexander Bucban, who first officiated there as catechist, was afterwards iicensed, and was the first resident minister; the first, too, " who introduced the alphabet into the island," and who published a few notes and experi- ences of his own, from the extreme simplicity of which may be gathered some idea of the state of knowledge among the flock over which be presided. He once paid a visit to Glasgow, and expresses his astonishment " at the length of the voyage, and the many great kingdoms," that is, islands, " which he sailed along." He never imagined that such big houses of stone were made with hands ; and, for the pavements of the streets, he thought it must needs be altogether natural, for he could not believe that men would be at pains to beat stones into the ground to walk upon. He stood dumb at the door of his lodg- ing with the greatest admiration ; and when he saw a coach and two horses, he thought it to be a little bouse that they were drawing at their tail, with men in it; but he condemned the coachman for a fool, to sit so uneasy, for he thought it safer on the back of one of the horses. When he went through the streets, he desired to have one to lead him by the hand. Thomas Ross, a merchant, and others, that took the diversion to carry him through the town, asked his opinion of the High Church, fleanswered that it was a large rock, that there were some in Sti Kilda much higher, but that these were the best coves he ever saw ; for that was the idea he con- ccived of the pillars and arches upon which the church stands. When they carried him into the church, he was yet more surprised, and held up his hands with admiration, wondering how it was pos » sible for men to build such a prodigious fabric, which he supposed to he the largest in the universe. He did not think there had been so many people in the world, as in the city of Glasgow; and it was a great mystery to him to think what they could all design by living so many in one place. He wondered bow they could all be furnished with provisions ; and when he saw big loaves, he could not tell whether they were bread, stone, or wood. He was amazed to think how they could be provided with ale, for he never saw any there that drank water ( they have no alo, beer, nor other liquors in St. Kilda). When he observed horses with shoes on their feet, and fastened with iron nails, he could not forbear laughing, and thought it the most ridiculous thing that fell under his observation. He longed to see his native country again, and passionately wished it were blessed with ale, brandy and tobacco ( of which last they are great lovers), andiron, as Glasgow . was.— Wilson's Voyages round Scotland. 110 THE HALIFAX FREE PRESS. SIR ROBERT I'EEL'S VALUE TO LIBERALS. At a meeting of the Anti- Corn- Law League Mr. Villiers, having alluded to Sir Robert Peel's charge against Mr. Cobden, remarked— " If there was a party in the State rather than another who looked to the continuance of the present Minister— of Sir Robert Peel— in power, with hope or expectation, it was the party who advocate free trade. ( Hear, hear.) Tbey considered that he bad announced his agreement with them in principle, and they believed he had the power, if he had the will, to influence tbe Legislature in giving etfect to this opinion. ( Hear, hear.) They were constant in re- nouncing all connexion with party in this cause ( hear, bear) ; and he must say, that if there was one man above another who, with almost injustice to his political friends, expressed his readiness to accept a measure of justice from this Minister's hands, it was his bon. friend the member for Stockport. ( Cheers.) He had been reproached, indeed, by his own party, for the desire he seemed to have that they should not return to power ( hear, hear) ; and, so far from not reprobating a hideous act as it deserved, that m ight have terminated tbe life of the Minister, he was with those who would not, if he could, have removed him, even from his post. ( Cheers.)" We do not concur' in these views, and perhaps they are not very accurately stated by Mr. Villiers; but th s much is undeniably true, that no enemy of the Tory party can desire the death of Sir Robert Peel. As Juvenal says that man is to the gods— " Carior est illis hotr o quam sibi," so Sir Robert Peel may he said, in one sense, to be dearer to the Liberals than to himself, and certainly dearer than to his own followers. If> indeed, he should ever want a body- guard, it will be formed by volunteer Ultra- Radicals, Republicans, Socialist?, and Chartists. No man has done so much to break up Toryism as Sir Robert Peel. He has been all bis life at work in the quarry blasting the rocks. How many mines has he fired, how many organic masses has he sprung into the air ; explosion after explosion has been heard, now Catholic disabilities, now a fragment of Corn Laws, now a bit of this, now a bit of that, in every direction splitting and riving, disjoining and rending. He allows, to be sure, of no interference with his vocation. He resists the attempt of any other to mine in bis quarries. He insists on having all the blasting of Toryism to himself, and if be pfoceeds a little slowly in blowing up the foundations of his party, it is to economise the business so as to make it last his life. Now, what Liberal would interrupt him in this work, or desire to shorten days devoted to exploding Toryism ? But it may be said, he has greatly, wonderfully recruited the party ;— true, he has, and what has he done with them when recruited ? To what has he turned his rallied forces ? To what has he applied their improved and overwhelming strength ? Why, to pulling down their own principles. His crew are like the crew for dismantling a ship, called lum- pers, and the more there are of them the sooner the business of unrigging, unfitting, displacing, and pulling to pieces is accomplished. How begets them to do this work it is not for us to explain, but while he gets them to do it, certainly all enemies of the principles of his party must join in the wish, long life to him, for he most effectually " confounds their politics." Some of our Liberal friends, measuring the ser- vice to Reform by the detriment to Toryism, which is not always quite a correct calculation, have imagined that Sir Robert Peel is destined to take their occupation as well as their principles and places from tbe Liberals, and have had the apprehension of Bums in the contest between Death and Doctor Hornbook^ another great physician who never pres- cribed till he was feed :— " Waes me for Johnny Ged's hole* now,' Quo' I; " If that the news be true 1 His braw calf- ward whare gowans grew Sae white and bonnie ; Nae doubt they'll rive it with the plew, They'll ruin Johnnie I But Death dissipates these fears— Whare I killed ane a fair strae death, By loss of blood or want of breath, This night I'm free to take my aith That Bob Peel's skill Has elad a score in their last elaith By drap an' pill. But there is another obligation which we owe to Sir Robert Peel which has not yet been adverted to. His services are not confined to breaking up the principles of Toryism ; he has done even more in breaking down his party— not breaking them down in numbers, indeed, for he has greatly increased them in numbers, but he has broken them down indi- vidually in importance, pulverised them, reduced them to atoms. Sir Robert Peel's party is the road to his ambition, and he has macadamised the road so that not one particle of its structure stands out from the rest; all is a smooth, equal, dead level, over which * The grave- digger. the Premier smoothly trundles his wheel of fortune. We see Sir Robert Peel with the hammer in his hands breaking the heads about him down to the size of a walnut. He is far from being a great man himself, but yet he has the art, somehow or other, of making all the men about him little. They shrink and dwindle away to nothing under his leadership. Tbey are reduced to mere cyphers, or head clerks of departments. See how he has hocussed Lcrd Stanley, pitch- plastered and all but burked him. Like the canistered genii under the seal of Solomon, in the Arabian Nights, this fiery spirit is bottled up under the seal of office, by Sir Robert Peel. The premier, when he wants a dram for debate, draws Lord Stanley's cork, and puts in the stopper again, and sets him by on tbe shelf, just as suits is convenience. When Catalani's husband was consulted about the formation of an opera company, he answered, " My wife and four or five puppets ; that is all that is necessary." Sir Robert Peel thinks himself and four or five puppets all that is necessary, He thus constitutes himself tbe sole dependence of the Tory party, and were it to lose him it would find itself without a man whose capacity for leading could be recognised— one as good or as bad as another— all competing, and none seen to have the superiority marking out the possessor for the chiefship. Toryism is the kingdom of Lilliput, extremely populous but with everything in little, and Sir Robert bestrides it as its Gulliver. And what enemy of Toryism, we repeat, would wish to shorten the days of tbe man under whose all- depressing band Tory principles are broken down, and Tory men of mark and likelihood dwindle away so as to lose all place of importance in the public eye? " The cold shade of the aristocracy" is a farourite figure, but the cold shade of Sir Robert Peel within its range has an intenser effect of the same kind, seeing which, we may, without any doubt of our sincerity, address to Sir Robert Peel the Eastern wish, " May your shadow never be less." Bearing in mind the quarter in which there is the greatest interest in the safety of Sir R. Peel, looked to as the betrayer of his party and the destroyer of its principles, we regard his late scene as a desperate attempt to recover himself with his followers, by making them believe that their opponents considered his life so hostile to them that they could desire to shorten it. As well might the enemy beleaguering Rome have desired the death of Tarpeia before she had completed for them the service of opening the gates for them. There is, however, another solution for Sir Robert's coup dc the& tre, wh ich is, that he desired to carry to his own account some of the deep sympathy vAich tbe Queen has felt for the victim of assassinHTon. If this was the purpose^ it was rather hard on Mr. Cobden that his character was to be sacrificed to pro- cure for Sir Robert Peel, on false pretences, the Queen's commiseration. A bold stroke for pity is no uncommon expedient of aspirants for favour who despair of liking ; but this bold stroke had so little boldness in its spirit, and was so ungenerous in its attempted advantage) that it was likely to have only tbe contempt of one who knows from her own heart what true couraae and high conduct are.— Examiner. THE GLORIES OF MOTHER CHURCH— A BALLAD FOR THE PEOPLE. The Rev. John M. Neale, B. A., of Trinity College, Cambridge, has just immortalized himself by the publication of a work entitled " Songs and Ballads of the People," in which he sings the praises of Church- rates and other such poetic subjects. We suspect he is descended from the Historian of the Puritans, for be displays all the zeal and ardour of a proselyte. It is quite clear that, let him but make the ballads of his countrymen, and who will may make their laws_ The tenor of his lay may be judged of by the follow- ing specimen. " The brave old Church of England! She hatil conquered many a foe; She had martyrs to her children, A thousand years ago ; She hath Princes more than I can tell, Who by her side have stood: Like King Charles the blessed martyr, And old King Ceorgo the good." A MS., however, has reached us, accompanied with a shrewd suggestion that it must have dropped out of Mr. Neale's portfolio on the way to the printer's; and as it were a pity that so valuable a composition should be wholly lost, we readily comply with a request that we would lay it before our readers :— Attend, all ye who love to hear the Church of England's praise 1 I sing her noble deeds of yore, and those of modern days; How through a thousand changing years she hath altered but in name, And, Catholic or Protestant, her spirit is the same; How she still hath crushed the lowly, and obeyed the tyrant's will; How, though her Clergy changed their faith, they kept their livings stili; And how oft, when truths unseemly to break her peace arose, She made martyrs of their children, and bishops of their foes. Twelve centuries and well nigh half, as history tells, are spent, Since first Augustine landed on the pagan shores of Kent. His Bible he had left at Rome, as quite a needless things But the Pope's bull and the pallium he took good care to bring. Beside a eross of silver huge did holy Austin stand, And preached before King Ethelbert, who ruled this happy land. The King received the strangers' creed, and gave them presents ample; And his people quickly followed his excellent example. For well our wise forefathers knew, what infidels gainsay— • Tis the ruler's part to judge of truth, the people's to obey. Thus first our Saxon fathers learned from the pious King of Kent, The blessings and the glories of a Church Establishment. The time would fail to tell how rich, how mighty, and how grand, She quickly waxed, and spread through all the borders of the land; And prelates swarmed from Italy, and spires did thickly grow, While men laid treasure up above by paying well below. Then Bangor's rebel monks, who the pope would not revere, Nor St. Austin, nor keep Easter at the proper time of year. Soon fell, two hundred in a day, beneath the weighty knocks Dealt by the battle- axes of the valiant orthodox ; And learned, like other heretics in many a later day, Those who will not be converted, the Church is bound to slay. Four hundred years from Austin, the Norman conquest came; And while all things changed around her, the Church abode tbe same. While Norman hands were riveting on Saxon limbs their chains, The abbeys changed their masters, but kept their rich domains. For though Norman kings and barons committed sad abuses, It must be owned the gold they won was put to pious uses. Churches they built, and minsters tall, and monasteries fair; And though the peasant might lack bread, the Church had sumptuous fare. Plantagenet's proud lineage her altar bent before; Her bishops were like princes in those good days of yore! Dissenters, Chartists, infidels, and all that sort of thing. Were unknown in those golden days, those days of Church and King; Or if some rebellious Lollard refused to pay his rate, Or preached the Guspel to the poor, unlicensed by theState, The faithful sons of Mother Church would pounce upon him straight, And in Smithfield he recanted or the faggot was his fate. Truly, now that horrid chapels are rising all around, Where they bury sinful wretches in uneonseerated ground, • Twere well if such good laws . as these, and faithful men were found 1 Some think, when blufif King Harry deposed the Church's head, The uoly Roman Bishop, and set up himself instead, He changed our ancient Mother Church: but learned men know better; She kept her ancient spirit, and changed but in the letter. In proof whereof,— though Edward was a sturdy Protestant, When Mary brought back Popery, and bade the Church recant, Right glad her sons returned to Rome, led by the Royal wishes, But quickly trotted back, when Bess obtained the loaves and fisi. es. And none the less, ( with joy I sing,) whichever way she turned. Whoever would not turn with her, for heretics were burned. Or, when this grew out of fashion, their nose and ears were cropped; So errors, or unwholesome truths, were in their progress stopped. I spare to tell how impious hands east throne and altar down, Till Charles, the blessed Martyr's son, regained his father's crown. Then from the holy shrines, repaired and beautified anew, He drove two thousand rebels out on Saint Bartholomew. Thus changeless from Augustine's days our brave old Church hath stood. To those of Charles the Martyr, and old King George the Good. Then glory to our Mother Church, the glory of the nation ! The only one that's authorised to sell to men s Ivation. Though now her hands be fettered, to our disgrace and lilame, May she live to show Dissenters all another sort of game! Down with Chartists, Baptists, Infidels, the whole pernicious erew 1 And for all false friends, Heaven send another Saint Bar tholomew ! Victorious and prosperous for ever may she be I— And when next she burns a heretic, may I be there to see I Patriot. Professor Brande stated, at a recent meeting of the Roval Institution, that there is a manufactory in London where the conversion of potato- starch into sugar is carried on in a large way ; tbe article thus produced being afterwards used to adulterate the moist sugars. A CLEVER PUN.— Weston is said to h:> ve been a prototype of Listnn, occasioning roars of laughter by a single look. This seems confirmed by the portrait of him by Zoffani, in Dr. Last. On one occasion, when the audience were dissatisfied at some assump- tion of Weston's, and called out " Shuter ! Shuter I" Weston, looking towards the lady who was on the stage with him, exclaimed, with an appearance of simplicity, " Why should you shoot her ? I am sure she plays her part very, well'." 4 THE HALIFAX FREE PRESS. POETRY. SELECTED. SHAKSPERE AND STRATFORD- UPON AVON. BY MBS. SIGOURNBY. What nurtured Shakspere ' mid these village shades, Mak ne: a poor deer- stalking lad a king In the broad realms of mind ? I questioned much Whatever met my view, the holly- edge, The cottage- rose, the roof where he was born. And the pleached avenue of limes, that led To the old church. And pausing there, I marked The mossy efflorescence on the stones, Which, kindling in the sun- beam, taught me how Its little seeds were fed by mouldering life, And how another race of tiny roots, The fathers of the future, should compel From hardest- hearted rocks a nutriment, Until the fern- plant and the ivy sere Made ancient buttress and gri. n battlement Their nursing mothers. But again I asked, " What nurtured Sbakspere ?" The rejoicing birds Wove a wild song, whose burden seemed to be, He was their pupil when he chose, and knew Their secret maze of melody to wind, Snatching its sweetness for his winged strain With careless hand. The timid flowrets said, " He came among us like a sleepless bee, And all those pure and rarest essences, Concocted by our union with the skies, Which in our cups or zones we fain would hide, He rifled for himself and bore away." The winds careering in their might replied, " Upon our wings he rode, and visited The utmost stars. We could not shake him off. Even on the fleecy clouds he laid his hand, As on a courser's mane, and made them work With all their countless hues his wondrous will." And then meek Avon raised a murmuring voice, What time the Saboath- chimes came pealing sweet Through the umbrageous trees, and told how oft Along those banks he wandered, pacing slow, As if to read the depths. Ere I had closed My questioning, the ready rain came down, And tvery- pearl drop, as it kissed the turf, Said, " We have been his teachers. When we fell Pattering among the vine leaves, he would list Our lessons as a student, nor despise Our simplest lore." And then the bow burst forth, That strong love- token of the Deity Unto a drowning world. Each prismed ray Had held bright dalliance with the bard, and helped To tint the woof in which his thought was wrapped For its first cradle- sleep. Then twilight came In her grey robe, and told a tender tale Of his low musings, while she noiseless drew Her quiet curtain. And the queenly moon, Riding in state upon her silver car, Confessed she saw him oft, through chequering shades. Hour after hour, with Fancy by his side, Linking their young imaginings, like chains Of pearl and diamond. Last, the lowly grave— Shakespere's own grave— sent forth a hollow tone " The heart within my casket read itself, And from that inward study learned to scan. The hearts of other men. It pondered kong In those lone cells, where nameless thought is born, Explored the roots of passion, and the founts Of sympathy, and at each sealed recess Knocked, until mystery fled. Hence her loved bard Nature doth crown with flowers of every hue, And every season ; and the human soul, Owning his power, shall at his magic touch Shudder, or thrill, while age on age expires." OUR SCRAP BOOK. " A lliing of Shreds and Patches." MEANS AND ENDS.— Of what avail are riches, ex cept as a means of happiness ? Yet men can never stop to enjoy themselves, they are so busy trying to grow rich. A quaint old lady in Massachusetts being advised not to stop to gather certain berries, because there was greater abundance farther in the woods and moreover, they would certainly come bark that way, she replied, " I always make it a rule to take my comfort as I go along in the world ; for may be it won't be here when I come back." The use o money is the only way to enjoy it; and a reproduc tion of itself is not use. The moment this valuable means is made an end, the curse of God rests upo it. The man who lives to accumulate, may talk of large dividends ; but the real products of his capital are dyspepsia, ennui, suspicion, anxiety; and some cases voluntary death from fear of being robbed Well might angels laugh, if they were not angelie. to see men toiling thus laboriously to raise apples of Sodom.— Mrs. Child. THE OUTBREAK OP LAST SUMMER.— During the last two years, the pressure upon the manufacturing population has been most intense. The loss of capital has been unexampled. Failure of masters has produced the discharge of workmen, and the fall of wages. These misfortunes have been aggravated by a great advance in the price of food. The income of the workman has been reduced at the very time when his necessary expenditure lias increased. A formidable outbreak has occuried, requiring the exertion of the whole force of the country, military and civil, for its suppression. The arrest of hun- dreds has been followed by prosecutions, convictions, punishments. But all this, as we believe, so far from shaking our principles, goes to confirm them. That for which we contend is not trade, subject to the shackles of unjust and impolitic laws ; but trade, free and left to its own oatural and vigorous resources. Even if trade were free, and if the legislature had ione its duty to the utmost, much of evil must continue, and dangers will still exist. The accumu- lation of numbers employed in branches of industry still necessarily subject to vicissitudes and distress, is serious matter of contemplation. This state of things requires that individuals, as well as the public, should strenuously and kindly perform their respec- tive duties. " The period of moral danger, and con- sequently of all danger, in the history of nations, is not so much while they are labouring to become ureal, as when that object has been accomplished." " o meet many of these moral dangers it is on moral • emedies we must rely, and these will also have the most important effect on physical evils also. Thus, the cases of vicissitude of price require forethought and providence on the part of the employer, and the employed. But it is our firm belief, also, that some of the causes which create our danger give us the means of security; that the circumstances which generate, will enable us to repress and counteract crime; and that the agencies of evil may converted into active agencies for good.— Edinburgh Review. NEW MOTIVE POWER.— In a recent lecture, at Cheltenham, Dr. Boisragon of that town, dwelt, at the outset, on the heavy expense of steam power— the .- ingle article of coke costing the Great Western Railway Company £ 1,000 per week. Railway and steam- navigation companies, he said, were paralyzed by the burden of the " motive power" which they employed. He had therefore great pleasure in " in- troducing before a Cheltenham audience, as one of the patentees of the invention of Isham Baggs, Esq. the carbonic acid gas power— one of the grandest in- ventions ever brought before the public " Dr. B. added :—" It is not only a power produced from fuel like coal which can be consumed ; but it is a fuel that, when set in motion, will return, and will be used over and over again, so long as the lawof chemical affinity remains. It will be free from smoke— not liable to the discbarge of coals which caused the accident on the Versailles Railway— and devoid of that offensive smell given out at the stations. If there is any escape in this, it won't work. Short trips by steam are now very unpleasant; but, ere long, we shall see on the rivers a vessel that neither roasts by its fire, boils by its steam, nor suffocates by its smoke— a grand vessel worked on the principle of the Archimedean screw, ' walking the waters like a thing of life,' without any visible power to set it in motion. The new power may call back into use a great amount of property now rendered useless, viz. ( urnpike roads. Many attempts have been made to propel carriageson common turnpike roads ; but, though doing work to some extent, the projects have failed ; nor is this to be wondered at, when we consider the expense. This invention will give cheap and rapid travelling on com- mon roads, and over countries which no railway can cross. There is another consideration, and that is relative to the consumption of coal. Those conver- sant with geology declare that the coal- fields of Eng- land are still available to supply coals for 1,200 5' ears This may be very true ; but, in many places, the sta- tionary engines consume thousands of tons of coal The price of production must increase in pioportion to the depth. The mere circumstance of saving the consumption of coal, and of preventing the price Of co 1 being raised, must be a considerable subject of calculation." USE OF THE FEELING OF RESPONSIBILITY.— It is often a happiness and a safeguard to feel that our circ Astances call on us for vigilance ; that our office or our profession has made our character conspicuous; and that we have need, therefore, of the greater diligence and care, that we disgrace it not. It is one of the manifestations of the wisdom of providence, that, when we feel the greater burden of responsibility, then also are we naturally roused to greater exertions, and, almost without reflection, rise to loftier aims, and a more rigid uniformity of conduct. But, on the other hand, I scarcely know a more fatal mistake, or one more common, than from undervaluing the effect of our example, to suppose ourselves at liberty to relax our watchfulness; and, because we are com- paratively unknown and unimporfant, to lav aside all concern for our consistency. Let us always recollect that everv Christian, even in the meanest circum- stances, is called to the maintenance of a peculiar and an elevated character; that the light of a holy and consistent example will often shine out the more effulgently for the very obscurity and darkness with which it is surrounded ; that the piety of the house hold servant, or the conscientious conduct even of child, has not unfrequently put to shame the bias pheming master, or the unbelieving parent.— New Vol. of Dr. Me All's Sermons. HISTORY OF A PAINTING.— Some seven years ago. a portrait of a female was in the possession of a poor family living in Sandy Lane, Nottingham, when the bead of the family becoming extremely destitute waspledgedat a pawnbroker's for lialf- a crown. The time of the forfeiture of the pledge approaching, the different members of the family clubbed their small sums together to prevent the loss of the painting, as they all felt some degree of attachment for an object which had been in the house of different generations of the same family for seventy years. Unfor unately for them, in this case, as in many others. Sir Job Barleycorn interfering, a quarrel was the result, and the possessor of the pawn- ticket sold it to a stranger for a quart of ale ! The purchaser immediately re deemed the picture ; and, before hanging it up in h house, thinking he could improve the old gilt frame polished it over with black lead. About five years since, a manufacturer went into the poor man's house and, seeing the painting, inquired whether the pos sessor was disposed to part with it, and £ 1 was ulti mately offered and accepted. The purchaser, having taken an inn in Nottingham, had occasion to sell h furniture, in consequence of his new habitation bein; furnished by its preceding occupant ; the painting was included in the sale, and knocked down to picture dealer, for £ 2, amidst the jeers and laughte of the bystanders, some of whom exclaimed, " You have got a bargain— a smoky, dirty painting, for £ 2." The picture dealer replied, " I know I have got a bargain." An hour after the sale of the picture, a connoisseur came and asked the auctioneer privately here the painting was. When informed of its sale and price, be appeared extremelyjvexed, and eventu- lly commissioned the auctioneer to offer a handsome sum to the fortunate purchaser ; and with this view he placed £ 10. 10s. in bis hands, as the amount to liicli be might extend his offer. The auctioneer went full of confidence to the picture dealer, making sure that a sovereign would secure tl. e dirty, smoky bargain ; but in this be was deceived, as the dealer resisted his additional offers until the stipulated amount was exhausted, and the interview terminated n a trifling bet on the part of the auctioneer, that the dealer would never have so much as ten guineas offered again— the dealer affirming by a bet, that be- fore two o'clock the next day, he should sell it for twenty guineas. The dealer immediately cleaned the painting, and took it for the inspection of a merchant, a distinguished virtuoso and patron of the fine arts; and one who not only encourages native talent, but has also a splendid collection of the ancient masters. After examining the picture ( which proved to be a portrait of Henrietta, Queen of Charles the First, by Sir Peter Lely), the gentleman inquired the price : twenty guineas was asked, and immediately given to the fortunate picinre dealer. A few weeks ago, a merchant, from Hamburg, in viewin/ f the extensive collection of the above gentleman, was sostruck with the painting, that, to secure the gem, he offered differ- ent sums, up to £ 50, which were all declined by its possessor. There are few, if any, instances of increase of population so rapid as that of Berlin. On the acces- sion of Frederick William III. in 1797, he found 165,000 inhabitants in Berlin ; and on tbe accession of the present monarch, in 1840, the number was 330,234. FIRES IN LONDON.— In the course of last ten years, no fewer than 5,794 fires have happened within the limits of the metropolis. Tbe number of houses totally burned down has been 269 ; oartially con- sumed, 1,611 ; and slightly damaged,' 3.894. The number of persons that perished, by houses taking fire during the period is as follows : — In 1833, 12 ; 1834, 3 ; 1835, 11 ; 1836, 14 ; 1837, 13; 1838, 24 ; 1830, 25; 1840, 25; 1841, 11 ; 1842, 20. Total, 158. THE CONSUMPTION OF WHEAT.— La Revue des Economistes states, that in France, each inhabitant consumes annually 210 quarts of wheat; in Great Britain, 163 quarts; in Spain, 127 ; in Holland, 57 ; in Prussia, 36 ; in Poland, 25]; and in Sweden, 8. THE DIFFERENCE.— The agriculturist sells in the dearest n arket, and the manufacturer in the cheap- est s and the reason of this is obvious. As we con- sume more food than we produce, we must import, and consequently prices will be higher than abroad, and this would be the case if there were no corn- laws. But, as we consume less clothing than we produce, we have to sell it to other countries at the prices cur- rent there, including all the expense of export The price of importing is laid on the agriculturists'/ ootf; and the price of exporting is taken off the manufac- turers' goods, and yet the party thus favoured wants an additional protecting duty.— The Struggle. One of tbe present tenants of Sir. E. Blount, Bart, of Mawley Hall, Shropshire, and his ancestors, have held land under the family ever since the conquest. Tbe total number of deaths in the metropolis, last year, amounted to 45,272 ( of which 22,842 were males, and 22.430 females). The number of deaths from old age amounted to 3,346 ; from intemperance, 22 ; from starvation, 20 ; and from violence, 1,225 At a late meeting of tbe Paris Academy of Sciences, a paper was read on the respiratory functions of the human species at the different periods of life, and according to sex, in which it was said to have been ascertained from experiments, that the respiration of a healthy man of thirty years of age is equal in strength to that of two weak men, or two sfrong or four weak women, or two hoys of fjlteen, or four boys of seven, or four old men of eighty- five. There is no conduct so fair and disinterested but that it may be misunderstood by ignorance, or mis- represented by malice. Tbe ships entered into the port of St. Petersburgh during the year 1842, amounted to 1,165^ of which 52 were steam- boats. Among the Chinese, February is considered the most fortunate month to be married in ; it is the first moon in tbe year, and the first month in tbe spring. They have seven grounds for divorce— the fourth is talkativeness in women ! By a return published by the French minister of finance, it appears that the landed property of the state is valued at 1,283,441,698f. It is stated, that the highest income returned by any barrister under the recent act is £ 14,000 a year. Many attorneys have returned under £ 150 a year. Tbe twenty- six colleges of Oxford University con- tained, at tbe commencement of tbe presert year, 5,657 members of colleges, and 2,898 members of convocation. The Massachusetts house of representatives is a very gallant body. When the galleries were cleared one day lately, one fair lady would notbe cleared out, but remained behind, and the house resolved unanimously that she might stay. In the United States the consumption of coffee was under 7,000 tons in 1820 ; since then il has gone on anuuallv increasing, and last year reached to no less than 50,000 tons. HALIFAX:— Printed and Sold, for the Proprietors, at the Conetal Printing Office of H. Martin, Upper George Yardh,