CORRESPONDENCE. MR. PROTHEROE'S SPEECH. To the Editors of the Free Press. Messrs. Editors, I think you deserve the thanks of the Borough for having given us, in vour last Free Press, the wonderful speech of our Radical member, Mr. Protheroe. I do not want yon to be " puffed up" with my opinion of what is due to you, for having reprinted and circulated the speech, because, I will tell you plainly X am a poor critic, and rather a strange fellow : and besides, I hear some think it had better not have been spoken, and, as a matter of course, not printed; and then Mr. Protheroe is a very modest retiring man ; I do not think be will like to see it in print, I think it will make him blush. However I thank you for it; and, to mark my grati- tude, I have bought a clean new copy of tbe Free Press, and folded it, and put it snugly by. I have hardly made up my mind yet about tbe matter, but I have thought of buying a quantity, for it would be a safe speculation, Mr. Protberoe's speeches are sure to be rare and scarce I will give up tbe idea of specu- lating on this eortion, if you will promise to publish another in better style ; this is too much crampt; let us have an edition in larger type and more leads between the lines, and paper the town with bills announcing " Protheroe's speech containing a defence of standing armies ; the wonderful revelation of a visit to the neighbourhood of Halifax unseen and unheard ; the complaints of Whigs and Radicals of government not building barracks ; a Radical's defence and praise of a Tory government ; the Reform Act a very good one, giving representation of tbe people in parlia- ment ; and last not least, tbe present government placed in power by the will Oftlie people I" Gentle- men, I call it a wonderful speech ; and if V; r. Protheroe can demonstrate these things, he will be a blessing to tbe country, and a saviour to the nation, for he will stop the humming and slinging of waspish Radicals, the boring meddling of complete suffragists, and the grim crabbed balu'Cinations of Chartists; all parties will be comfortable and satisfied The people may safely open their mouths, and shut their eyes, and see what Peel will send them. If be sends swords instead of steaks, and balls instead of loaves, why, bless you, Mr. Protheroe has the fullest confi- dence in tbe " Wisdom and Temperance of tbe go- vernment." Times change, and men change, but in these days generally for the worse. I bave not time to write more at present but I will just give you one of my thoughts, If the people were justly and fairly represented in parliament, in times of peace, we should bave as much occasion for soldiers as locusts, and no more. I remain, A RADICAL. LOCAL STATISTICS. MORTALITY. No. II. Our last article contained extracts from the Regis- trar General's quarterly table of mortality for the winter quarter ending March 31, 1842; and we now proceed to tbe table for the spring quarter ending June 30, 1842. In the 114 Superintendent Registrar's districts to which these quarterly tables are restricted, the num- ber of deaths in tbe spring quarter referred to, was 38,190, or 6,289 less than in the winter quarter im mediately preceding, when 44,479 deaths were re- gistered. Tbe mortality therefore had fallen 16.4 per cent.— one- sixth part. In former years, the mortality was 5.7 per cent less in tbe spring than in the wintnr quarters. Hence not more than 11 per rent, of tbe decrease can be fairly ascribed to other causes than tbe temper- ature of the seasons. In the spring quarter of 1842, the number of deaths was 2,515 less than the average of tbe four preceding spring quarters,— 1838— 41. Tbe interval between the middle points of the two periods was 2.37 years; and in that time, at. the rate of 1.74 per cent, annually, tbe population must have increased about 4 4 per cent. If tbe rate of mortality had remained the same 42,509 deaths would have been registered; but the number of deaths was only 38,190 ; and tbe result is in accordance with that announced in the preceding paragraph,— that the mortality was 11 per cent, below the average of the season, deduced from the returns of the four preceding years. The returns for tbe whole kingdom show that the rate of mortality was high during the vear 1840, and continued high during the winter quarter ending March 1841. It began to decline in the spring of 1841, and continued to fall until the spring of 1842. As a general rule, two persons are, on an average, constantly sick, for one death in the year. ( See M'CulIoch's Statistics of the British Empire,— Vital Statistics.) According to this proportion, 305,520 were sick during the Spring quarter ending June 30, 1842. If the mortality and sickness had been, the same in the 114 districts, as in the four preceding springs, 340,072 persons would have been constantly suffering from sickness. Tbe reduction in the average number of sick persons was, therefore, probably about 35,552. Ir, the quarter ending; June 30, 1842, the deaths registered in the four districts of our own locality, were Halifax 549 I Bradford 835 Huddersfield 547 I Leeds 1,165. The average numbers of the deaths registered in the four spring quarters of 1838— 39— 40— 41, were Halifax 596 I Bradford 795 Huddersfield .... 638 | Leeds 1,093. In the Bradford and Leeds districts, the deaths in the spring quarter of 1842 were above the average of the four preceding, springs. In the other two dis- tricts, tliey were below that average. The Registrars for Cleckheaton, Manningham, and Drighlington, in the Bradford District, assign the I revalence of the measles as the cause of tbe increase of deaths. The Registrar for Calverley, in the same district, says,—" The deaths registered during the last quarter amount to 9 or 10 above the average ; but there has been no prevailing disease in my district, save consumption, which is often fatal, in the months of May and June." Three of the Registrars in the Leeds district ap- pended notes to their returns, as follows -.— Leeds, North:—" 35 more deaths this quarter than in the corresponding quarter of last ye r. Small pox very prevalent; 27 children having died of that disease, this quarter." Holbeck : — " Still considerably above the average, for which measles and small pox will account. These diseases', I bave reason to believe, bave in some instances proved fatal, in consequence of the absence of proper treatment and a sufficiency of food." Kirkstall;—" 5 died in childbed;—- 14 infants died witbiu a week after birth ; 10 males, 4 females." A SINGING MOUSE.— A mouse is said to have been recently caught that possesses the surprising faculty of imitating the notes of tbe nightingale and various other birds with perfect ease and fluency ! 1! The advancement, making, and already made, in tbe United States, through the aid of steam, both in inland navigation and land locomotion, is wonderful. As a proof of this fact, it may be noticed that from the city of New York to the city of Ruffalo in tbe same state, being a distance of 500 miles, the journey is now performed in 34 hours. One of the Martello towers, at Dymchurch, the erection of which cost £ 8,000, has been sold as old materials for £ 170. " In India," says the Bishop of Calcutta, " my firm persuasion is, that, if this [ the Puseyite] system should go on, we are lost as a Protestant church ; that is, lost altogether." The following notice is placed on the door of Huy- ton church :—" Any persons wishing to rent pews in this church, must apply to the clerk, who would be glad to hear of any pews to let." Several thrifty wives, on the occasion of a recent bank failure in Leicestershire, wished to " prove" for notes of the broken bank, which they had hoarder unknown to their husbands ; but the commissioned told them they must send their liege lords. Tbe following advertisement lately appeared in a Montreal paper :— The person who, by a pardonable absence of mind, took a new light- coloured silk velvet- trimmed Macintosh from tlie second flat of the Ottawa Hotel, is informed that by calling at tbe same place he can have a very good cape, which belongs to the coat, and is now of no use to the owner. In the county of Cornwall there are 370,000 in- habitants, 10,000 of whom are miners, aud 70,000 teetotallers ; and of this large body there were but five prisoners for trial at the last assizes! THE MISERIES, MISFORTUNES, MISHAPS, AND MISADVENTURES, OF A SHORT- SIGHTED MAN. COMMUNICATED BY HIMSELF. ( Continued from No. 38.) I now began to comprehend that, in my haste to recover my own purse, I must have been led by my unfortunate blindness into a wrong chamber, from whence I must by mistake have taken another's. I explained the circumstance as well las I was able, considering tbe alarm I had been put into ; asserted my innocence strenuously, and contending that, if I had taken accidentally another man's purse, I had left my own, which was as well furnished, in its place. By thi3 time I bad suffered them to lead me to a public house, and found myself surrounded by my fellow- travellers and many strangers ; all, 1 most say, as is not unusual, giving tbe whole benefit of their doubts to the accusing party. Here I underwent 4 stricter scrutiny; and, to my inexpressible mortifica- tion and discomfort, my own purse was found, out of its usual place, in the pocket of my coat. Reader, surely it has happened to you to search in vain, high and low, for something or other you have thought missing, and at last to find it in your pocket, if not in your hand ; or to waste half a day looking for your spectacles ; with them all the while on your nose. If such, and I doubt it not, has been your own case, you will kindly feel pity for my situation, be- cause you may comprehend and believe my innocence. Every appearance, however, was against me. It was soon recollected that I had left the comp. inj', after a very hasty breakfast; and that, when ( lie coach was ready, I was missing ; that when I did appear, my manner was hurried and disturbed ; that I had completely changed my dress, and had gone to an upper chamber to shave off my whiskers, ( I never had any I) ; and bad sought to conceal myself by pursuing my journey inside the coach, whereas I had come from London on the outside ; and that, upon the appearance of the messenger, I had manifested symptoms of excessive alarm and agitation. Every thing and every body told against me. Every body felt it his duty not to listen to me. My fellow- passengers groped in their pockets after their own purses, or looked after their luggage. They all gave their names and addresses, unasked, to the constable ; shrugged their shoulders ; and pursued their journey : while I was taken back to K , in a post- chaise, by an unmannerly constable and the original thief- catcher. I there underwent an examination before two magistrates, who required little more than the fact of tbe purse having been found upon me, and which was sworn to by the owner, to commit trie to the prison at. K , there to await my trial at the ensuing assize. For more reasons than one, I have been minute in my details. In the fiist place, as I before said, I have sought to beguile a few hours of a very miserable existence, by a lengthened recital of my strange adventures. In the second, I cannot help clinging to a hope, however faint, that so they may reach the knowledge of one or two of those to whose friendship, although too weak to resist the appearances so powerf ul against me, I still look back as a possession once dearly valued, and now deeply regretted. 1 bave dwelt upon many matters trifling in them- selves, for yet another purpose. It has been my endeavour to place myself, in character as well as in person, so distinctly before my reader, as to make him the better able to sympathize with me in those situations of conspicuous degradation which I am now describing, and which must have been so eminently distressing to one of a nature averse from display, and sufficiently proud and sensitive. If I have suc- ceeded in this attempt, my reader may conceive what was the state of my mind, when I bad leisure to ponder the events I have just recounted :— that leisure was the leisure of a prison! Still I was sanguine,— still the consciousness of perfect innocence encouraged me to look for an hon- ourable acquittal ; and, in this fatal security, 1 dis- dained to employ counsel. Tbe charge being one of a capital felony, I was informed that the law, probably from a humane belief that innocence in distress pleads best for itself, denied me counsel to speak in my be- half. I therefore trusted to my own plain statement of facts, borne out by the character for upright honesty which I knew I deserved, and which I felt sure I should obtain from many who had known me from my infancy, and who would, I felt equally sure, And now the time in special is, by privilege, to write and speak what may help to the further discussing of matters in agitation. The Temple of Janus, with his two controversal faces, might now not unsignificantly 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. AUGUST 26, 1843. No. XL. Price One Penny, 157 THE HALIFAX FREE PRESS. flock in crowds to support me at the critical moment that was fast approaching. But, after the perusal of these memoirs, let no man expect to meet with his desert in this world. Let the villain thrive upon his ill- gotten riches ; and let the thief, fearless of the halter, look on in safety; while the honest man loses both fortune and reputation, and narrowly escapes an ignominious death '. Shall I be believed when I declare this wayward and cruel fate to have been my own ? I was tried for my life, as I expected : but, contrary to all ex- pectation, no friends appeared, while crowds flocked in to testify against me. The prosecutor who believed himself to have been robbed intentionally,— the tnes- senger,— the constable,— the people of the inn at K ,— my fellow passengers in the stage coach, & c. & c. all united to weave a strong chain of consist- ent, unanswerable evidence Besides, there were many corroborating facts. I had been detected on my road to the coast; having taken a passage for India, whither I bad sent my wife and effects, and having, with considerable mystery, prepared profes- sedly for a voyage to America. In short, every thing wasagainst me. Every fresh circumstance that was produced, helped to overwhelm me. Every unlucky innocent act of my own, tended one fatal way. At length, I was called upon for my defence. The shock my feelings had received, by the desertion of my friends, had a violent and particu- larly unfortunate effect upon my nerves. I trembled and could hardly support myself. " A chair for the prisoner" was called for. I declined it; and, as well as I was able, I stood to begin my own uncoun- selled case. In a voice almost inaudible from emotion, I gave a plain statement. Blind as I was, I could perceive that it obtained no credence with the jury, and excited but little interest in the audience. My agitation increased ; for what I held dearest in the world, my reputation, was at stake and in the utmost peril. Almost in despair, I looked round me for some friendly face. I saw my father in- law in the crowd. I called him to character, and he obeyed the call; but he did he more harm than good. He, good man, like the rest of my friends, had yielded to the tide of appearances and prejudice which was run- ning so strong against me. He said little, and nothing that in itself could hurt me ; but he could not command his manner, and that was constrained ; and his distress, when, on being questioned as to the relationship in which he stood towards me, he mentioned his daughter, was so acute and so natural, that, while it excited a general feeling of interest for him and for her, it made as general an impression against me. The judge summed up the evidence, and the jury pronounced a verdict of " guilty 1" The fatal word rang in my ears with the noise of a hundred death- bells :— a giddiness came over me, and I fainted away 1 When I came to myself, I was supported by two men, to receive sentence of death. What a situation for an innocent man ! I will not attempt to describe my sensations. I know of no words that can convey an adequate idea of the mental agony that 1 suffered. A gentleman with a wig had the kindness to ask me, " What I had to say, that sentence should not pass upon me to die according to law." Alas! I had nothing to say ; and, if I had, nothing from me would have been believed. If I was short- sighted, justice was stone- blind ! The judge was adjusting the awful black cap, when an attorney, ( who had disposed of all the business in which he had been engaged, that assize, and had therefore time to be humane and honest on bis own account,) casting his eye carelessly over the indict- ment, as it lay open before the clerk of the arraigns, started, and hastily wrote a few words upon a scrap of paper, which he threw across to me in the dock. With the help of my spectacles, which were fortunately on my nose, I read these words,—" A flaw in the indictment 1 Move the Court. Yours, in haste, to command." Move the court 1 The law and I had never met be- fore. I knew not what it meant, nor what to do. All I knew was, that death and disgrace were staring me in the face. I cast an imploring look at the attorney ; and he immediately whispered to a disengaged counsel, who had just before dealt with his last brief. The young barrister immediately addressed the court:— " My lord, on the part of the prisoner, I move in arrest of judgment." The court was amazed, and so indeed was I. The indictment was handed to the judge, who seemed much surprised and somewhat incredulous. After looking keenly through the parchment, to assure himself that my safety was inevitable, and after a few words of angry parle with the. peccant clerk of the arraigns, he threw off the black cap with a jerk, and informed me that, the humanity of the law often allowing a technical error to save the greatest criminals, it had become his duty to postpone the passing of the sentence, and lay my case before the twelve judges. Alas! twelve; when one had, as I thought, destroyed me. It was likewise, he said, his duty to inform me, that my life might probably be saved. Then, in a tone of great bitterness, he congratulated me on this cir- cumstance ; taking pains to assure me that, had it not been for an accidental error which had thrown around me the undeserved protection of the law, there was more than enough, in the aggravated character of my case, to have determined him to leave me to a fate which so justly belonged to crimes like mine. He said that he was an old man, and had lived to see many very deplorable exhibitions of the depravity of human nature, and that he had met with many profligate and wicked characters, and some hardened sinners ; " but never," continued this unconsciously unjust judge, " never has it been till now my fortune to meet with such an instance of consummate hypo- crisy as is presented in your person. I may say you are a finished actor You are even dressed for the part. Your hair is cut, and your cravat is plaited for it. The canting tone of your voice, too.--— all is in keeping. You will retire, sir, in custody; and should your life be saved, ( which I am bound to say it may,) and should you not be too old in iniquity to profit by good advice, ( which I fear you are,) let me recommend you to consider the event of this day as an useful and awful warning, instead of making it, ( as I doubt not you will do,) the subject of a ribald jest with your loose companions. Jailor, remove your prisoner." ( To be Concluded in our next.) NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE POOR- LAW COMMISSIONERS. The ninth annual report of the poor- law com- missioners has just come out in the form of a parliamentary blue book, of 48 pages folio, and a bulky volume of appendices, pp. 329. We give a few extracts from the report, especially selecting such as relate to the condition of the poor, both in the agricultural and manufacturing districts. " We stated in our last annual report, that, during the parochial year ending at Lady Day, 1842, severe and extensive distress prevailed in the manufacturing districts, and particularly in the cotton district of Lancashire and Cheshire. The distress continued in the latter district during the remainder of the year 1842, but has been somewhat mitigated since the beginning of the winter. The Stockport and other unions, in which great difficulties had been ex- perienced, were able to meet the demand upon their funds without the necessity of any special interference on the part of the commissioners; but, iu con sequence of the accounJs which we received of the unsatisfactory state of the Burnley Union, in Lanca- shire, during last May, we instructed our assistant commissioner Sir John Walsham to visit the union ; and he was able to make, in concert with the guar- dians, such changes in its management as provided more efficient relief than had been previously given to the. numerous weavers and factory workpeople who had been thrown out of employment, and likewise furnished the means of discriminating between the worthy and unworthy applicants for parochial assistance." " But, whilst the state of the cotton manufacturing district has been gradually improving, the distress in the woollen, and particularly the iron districts, has been augmented since the date of our last annual report. Considerable numbers of persons have been thrown out of employment; and a large additional burthen has been imposed UDOH the poor- rates in Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, and other manufacturing towns of the West Riding, as well as in Wolverhamp- ton, Walsall, and other neighbouring places in Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, and Shropshire. The sudden diminution in the demand for nails, combined with other causes, has thrown a large body of nailers out of work, and has created much embarrassment in parts of this district. " We may here mention, that the operations of the guardians in those manufacturing towns which have suffered the severest distress were, since last summer, facilitated by the contributions for the relief of the unemployed poor, furnished by the Manufacturing Distress Committee out of the funds at their disposi- tion. Assistance has been thus afforded to many places in the counties of Chester, Derby, Gloucester, Lancaster, Leicester, Nottingham, Somerset, Stafford, Warwick, Wilts, Worcester, and York. " Owing to a concurrence of several causes ( the principal of which seem to be the general abundance of the last harvest, and the dirnunition of the demand for provisions in the manufacturing districts,) a fall in the prices of agricultural produce has taken place since the date of our last report, With respect to the prices of wheat, we subjoin a statement of the declared weekly averages for the two quarters ending at Lady Day in 1842 and 1843 :— only been increased by the experience of the last winter. An out- door labour test is valuable as a substitute for an efficient workhouse, or as supple- mentary to such an establishment; but, in applying the provisions of the cut door labour order, numerous and important difficulties arise ; the chief of which were stated and examined by us in a minute, dated the 31st of October last, a copy of which we insert in the appendix. In the same minute we have likewise enumerated the means of overcoming or diminishing those difficulties, which appear to us least open to objection. We have added a report by Mr. Mott, late assistant commissioner for Lancashire and Cheshire, upon the working of a plan for employing the able- bodied male paupers in cultivating Chat Moss, which has been tried ( and apparently with success) by the guardians of the Chorlton union, which forms part of Manchester." The parochial year ends at Lady- day. With some little adaptation, we present the substance of a table, which exhibits the amounts levied and expended for the relief and maintenance of the poor and for other purposes in England and Wales, during the vears ended March 25th, 1834 to 1842, with the average price of wheat per quarter in each year. The year ended March 1834, was'the last parochial year previous to the passing of the Poor- law Amend- ment Act; and we gtve its amounts, that they may be compared with those of any of the following eight years during which the act has been in operation :— Amount of money levied, by assessment. £ 8,338,079 ; Amount expended in relief, & c. of the poor, £ 6,317,255 ; r ' Ditto in law charges, parochial and union. £ 258,604 ; Ditto for all other purposes ( including- county rate), £ 1,713,489 ; Total amount expended, £ 8,289,348. Average price of wheat per quarter, 51s. lid. In the following table, the capital letters indicate the following particulars :— A, Amount of money levied by assessment; B, Received from all other sources in aid of the poor- rate ; C, Total amount of money received for the relief, & c. of the poor ; D, Amount of money expended in relief, & c. of the poor; E, Amount of money expended in law charges, parochial and union ; F, Amount of fees paid to the vaccinators ; G, Outlay for registrar and certificate books, & c. under Vaccination Act; H, Fees to clergymen and registrars ; I, Outlay for register office, books and forms, and other incidental expenses ; J, Payments under the Parochial Assessments Act ( for surveys, valuations, & c.), and loans repaid under the same ; K, Enumeration and other payments made under the act ror taking an account of tiie census in 1841 j L, Payments for or towards the county rate ; M, Money expended for all other purposes ; N, Total parochial rates, & c. expended ; O, Medical relief; P, Average price of wheat per quarter in each year, ending at Lady Day :— AMOUNT LEVIED. 1842. 8. d. 1843. s. d. 7 Jan. 63 0 per qr. 7 Jan 47 1 per or. 14 62 5 „ 14 „ •••• 47 10 21 „ 61 5 „ 21 49 1 tt 28 „ 60 7 „ 28 ,, 4 Feb 49 3 M 4 Feb. ••• 60 6 „ 48 1 „ 11 „ 59 11 11 „ •••• 47 5 18 „ 60 O „ 18 „ .... 47 11 tt 25 .. 4 Mar. • • • 60 10 „ 25 48 6 II • 60 9 „ 4 Mar 48 3 11 59 It „ 11 „ •••• 47 5 18 „ 59 9 „ 18 „ .... 47 6 25 ,. 58 4 „ 25 „ .... 47 2 » Aver, per qr. 60 74 „ Aver per qr. 47 11J IT ' The consequence of the fall of prices just men- tioned, combined with the early and short harvest, has been, that the employment of agricultural labour- ers was, during the autumn and winter, considerably abridged in some parts of the country. In the rural unions, where this state of things existed, many able- bodied men were temporarily admitted into the work houses ; and in several cases it was necessary for us to modify or suspend the prohibitory order, in order that the guardians, on account of the want of sufficient space in the workhouse, might resort to out door relief. " The existence of causes during the last year which produced the necessity of affording temporary out- door relief toconsiderabienumbers of able- bodied men, both in manufacturing and rural unions, induced us to extend the operation of the out- door labour order, the effect of which we explained in our last annual report. In manufacturing unions, where there was either none or an inadequate workhouse, and in rural unions where the workhouse became full, it was manifestly expedient that the guardians should apply some secondary test to the claims of the applicants ; and that the out door relief should not he given without some condition of labour annexed to it. We accordingly, in cases where these circumstances obtained, issued the order just mentioned, either simply, in the form appended to our eighth annual report, or with adaptations to the prohibitory order. " It is right to add, that our confidence in the workhouse test, as a meanB of affording relief at once least open to abuse and easiest of application, has Years ended Lady Day. 1835 ... 1836 ... 1837 ••• 1838 ... 18: i9 ... 1840 ... 1841 ... 1842 ... A. £ 7373807 6354538 5294566 5186389 5613939 6014605 6351828 6552890 B. £ 273139 227B6K 226984 201514 Yrs. end. D. Lady Day, at' 1835-.-. 5526418 1836.... 4717630 1837-••• 4044741 1838-..- 41236D4 1839... • 4406907 1840*... 4576965 1841..•• 476( 1929 1842..-- 4911498 E. £ AMOUNT EXPENDED, 4c. L. £ 705711 699815 604203 681842 741407 855552 C. £ 5887078 624- 571 6578812 6754404 N. P. £ 8. d, 7370018 44 2 6413120 39 5412938 .52 5468699 55 5814581 69 - 6067426 68 69942 1026035 627717 6493172 6.5 68U51 1230718 318092 6711771 64 The other items in the table are various matters of expenditure, introduced chiefly in the years 1838 and 1841 :— 220527 172432 126951 939814 63412 67 20 M. £ 935362 823213 637043 50/ 929 493703 466698 H. Years ended Lady Day. 1838 •• 16797 1839 •• 46333 1840 •• 47308 1841 .. 49326 1842 48607 O. £ 136775 148652 151781 154054 153481 I. J. * £ 18865 •• 25680 5973 .. 56846 3920 .. 49963 4402 .. 43157 3772 •• 40178 F was £ 10,171 in 1841, and £ 33,104 in 1842. G was £ 1,493 in 1841, and £ 640 in 1842. K was £ 57,111 in 1842. The commissioners observe that " the statement as to the prevalence of distress in the manufacturing districts, and of the consequent pressure on the poor- rates, which we made in our report of last year, will have prepared you for an increase of expenditure for the relief of the poor in the parochial year ending at Lady Day, 1842. This increase is £ 150,569 ; but the total expenditure of the year is still not so large as that ot 1834, the last year under the old law, by fully one fourth, or £ 1,405,757. ( To be continued.) A Goon JUDGE.— The late Chief Baron Thompson, being at an assize dinner, where there was among the company a tippling Dignitary of the Church, ' remarked that the wine was very good.' ' Yes, my Lord, it is so,' said the pastor of the Christian flock, ' and 1 think a certain quantity of such beverage cannot possibly do any harm, after a good dinner.' ' Oh, no, sir, by no means,' replied the Baron, ' it is the uncertain quantity that does all the mischief.' ROMISH FAITH — A person remarking to another, that Rome was the seat of true faith, was answered, " True, but this faith reminds one of certain people, who are never lo be found at horns 158 THE HALIFAX FREE PRESS. spirit of the journals. THE WILL AND THE WAY,— He will be a minis- ter. Whether they would have him or not, he will be one of them. He is to the Government what the goblin page was to Lord Cranstoun, but without muttering the secret of his lot,—" Lost 1 lost! lost!" A German poet tells us of a man who had a talisman by which he could make any tool labour unceasingly for him. He gave his commission to a broomstick to draw water for him, and the broomstick plied its part so actively and everlastingly that it flooded the house, and ended by drowning its master ; for the broomstick once set at work could never be stopped. We hope that the moral will not be lost upon persons who have the power of giving officis to broomsticks. But what is to be done with a broomstick which will sweep for you whether you want it or not ;— which volunteers all your dirty work as a labour of love ;— which does the scavenger's services for you, and deals out tire scavenger's vengeances to your enemies, flinging upon them all the abundant mire he scrapes from you ? He will be had. The wilful man will have his way,— will make his way. No bolts or tars to the Cabinet can keep him out: as the Scotch phrase it, he will win in. The Latin maxim holds, that seeming to have a power makes the power, and it may be, too, that seeming to be in office may make being in office. And certainly he is a minister in all but the appoint- ment. The other day he brought in a bill which none but a member of the government should have intro- duced, clearly intimating thereby, not that he should not have brought in the bill, but that he should have been a member of the government. The next night lie dropped his little coercive measure, showing that lie had the same knack as ministers, of dropping bills, and could do what they do in not doing at all after much ado about nothing, in less time. Sir Robert Peel and Sir James Graham have occupied months in proposing and dropping bills, but the great Factotum performs the feat in twenty- four hours. When the government is attacked, he is for it precisely as if he were of it; follows the Duke of Wellington in its defence, associates himself in the task with the great man, makes himself the Duke's bottle- holder in the fight, squats him on his knee, claps him on the back, and holds the orange to liis lips. " Well done our side," is his cry at every clumsy parry of the Tory champion. He who was once the man of the people in one sense, is now in another the man of the ministry, out of livery. He is the ministers' man without being in the ministers' service. He is like the Brownie the Scotch superstition, who does the work of the house, without being of the household. But all these illustrations for so whimsical a case are imperfect; and perhaps the nearest resemblance is to a courtship. He is paying his addresses to the ministry, which it is the fond wish of his heart to join himself to for better, for worse,— that is, for better to himself and for worse to the country ; and he aims at winning its favour by seizing every opportunity of obsequi- ously manifesting bis zeal in its behalf; it is his Dulcinea del Toboso, invested by him with every ex- cellence, while in the eyes of all the rest of the world it is a coarse, clumsy, two handed, awkward, ill- adorned body. But these attentions, with the adula- tion, flattery and all, sedulously persisted in, must surely succeed. There is no preceding example of such a siege of a ministry ; and if carried 011 with the same pertinacity, it seems hardly possible that the place can hold out. The government does not want him, it has enough apostates in it already, and the party is jealous of the preference to renegades, which is so much bread out of its members' mouths; but he is resolved that it shall have him whether it wants him or not, and by incessantly putting himself for- ward as its champion, and acting as if bis wish were accomplished, we verily believe that he may at last compass his object. Taking him in is, to be sure, like buying Punch ; but who is there that might liot be importuned into buying Punch, if he fastened himself at their doors as part and parcel of the estab- lishment, espoused the quarrels of the house, and flattered the doings of its heads? To make a thing habitual is to make it necessary ; and this is the secret of a thousand follies in the world, from the lady who gives her hand to some worthless old rake for no better reason than that he has dangled after her so long, to a ministry's giving a place to a broken- down statesman who can bring nothing to it but disgrace, because they have got accustomed to seeing him acting as if he were one of them, and devoting bis enormous unscrupulousness and enormous shamelessness to the pretences requisite to bolster up their cause. * * * Hope deferred may make some hearts sick, but it only makes others more eager; and never did the ministers' man evince a keener desire to earn their favour, by hook or by crook, than at this moment. He has indeed broken out in a little sally of spleen, thoroughly provoked and thoroughly justifiable, against Sir James Graham, but this does not hurt him in a higher quarter; it shows that he can bite as well as fawn, and they all of them inordinately delight in seeing the Home Secretary worried. L > rd Monteagle's motion on the financial mis- carriage!, of the ministry was a fine occasion for the parts of the ministers' man. How he made himself oue of the colleagues of the Duke in the complaint, " Though bis noble friend who spoke last was master of those details, and had answered his noble friend head by head in bis various statements, yet both his noble friend opposite and himself were left to sink on the budxet and estimates for this year, because they had no notice that those subjects were to be brought on." " Kent and I" The Duke and he had no notice, and were left to sink, & c ! What a burr is !— how the prickly thing fastens ! Having thus made himself one ol the government, second to the D ike, he then for the nonce played the part of Chancellor of the Exchequer, and juggled with figures about as fairly as Mr. Goulburn himself, and certainly I not a uhit more successfully for purposes of deceit. And of all sorry sights that of a bungling juggler is the most wretched. * * * What the minister's man cannot see is, that there is a high interest of public morality concerned in the conduct of ministers ; and that by their deception, their fraud, their political swindling, obtaining power under false pretences, they have done a mischief in shaking confidence and faith in the honour of public men, which could not be compensated by a hundred- fold the benefit derivable from their peddling im- provements in the tariff. We have to look not only at what has been done, little and wretched as it is, but also to how it has been done, unprecedently enormous in deceit as it has been. We are not to be the receivers of these small stolen goods, without asking any question as to the disproportioned magni- tude of the fraud by which they were obtained. If a sharper possesses himself of what he covets by a successful trick upon great numbers of foolish credulous people who had faith in him, he is not forgiven for his knavery because he has applied some of the produce of it to small instalments towards the payment of certain large just debts. The rogue is not praised and encouraged for having paid his barber and washerwoman sixpence in the pound. We have to look still to how he got the means which he so in- adequately applies. The example of the great fraud committed by the government, will impair public morality for an incalculable time; in shaking con- fidence it has also shaken the stays to honourable conduct, and Sir Robert Peel's example will be the precedent to excuse every false pretence,— every perfidious turn. But of this the man in whom no one has faith, naturally thinks nothing; and he who has not the confidence of any human being, looks with marvellous indifference or absolute complacency at what shakes confidence in all others; just as women who have ! ost all pretensions to chastity, delight in whatever diminishes faith in the yirtues of their sex. — Examiner. THE NEW SCHEME FOR ESTABLISHING POPERY.— We are glad to observe that, at the Meeting of the Evangelical Voluntary Church Association, held on Wednesday evening, in Craven Chapel, a resolution was carried condemnatory of any mode of paying the Roman Catholic Priests of Ireland out of the revenues of the state. Scarcely any Member of Par- liament, of any party, in either House, but has advocated some such measure, as the best means of pacifying the sister country. Whigs, Tories, and Radicals have all concurred in pronouncing it to be the grand panacea. Now, politically speaking, we doubt its efficacy. Bribe the subserviency of the Priests, quoth that immaculate patriot, the learned Member for Bath. But what if the Priests will not be bribed ? Or, supposing that obstacle overcome, what if the people will not let their chosen spiritual guides accept a bribe ? Or, supposing all objectors silenced, does any man dream that the mere payment by the State, of the Priests would restore peace and prosperity to the country ? We all know that the converse of a proposition true in itself, may be as far as possible from beinir true. It is so in the present case. The inequality between the Clergy of the Established Church and the Priests of the Church of Rome in Ireland causes constant irritation; but the removal of that inequality will not be productive of tranquillity. Justice ought at all times to be done, without reference to consequences ; but no mere ex- pedient ought ever to be adopted, unless it be in accordance with justice, and unless there be very good reason for believing that it will fully answer the end proposed. It is unjust that anyone body of pro- fessed religious teachers should be preferred by the Government to other bodies of such teachers ; and, therefore, justice requires that all should be put upon a level. But the way to accomplish this is not by endowing, or pretending to endow, those who have been hitherto disregarded, with the same rewards and distinctions as have been granted to the favoured sect. In the first place, this could be done, with any reasonable show of fairness, only by equal payments to the spiritual guides of all denominations, in eluding Catholic and Protestant, Episcopalian and Presbyterian, Trinitarian and Unitarian, Methodist and Independent, Baptist and Paedobaptist. But there is no probability of this being done. Purlia ment will not at present consent to such an arrange- ment ; and, if it should, several denominations would decline the offer. What prospect is there that even to the Catholics it would be made in an acceptable and satisfactory form ? We know that the Tories will not consent to divide the ecclesiastical revenues between them and the present possessors ; and is it likely that the Whigs would venture, in existing circumstances, to charge the Priests upon the Con- solidated Fund, at such a rate as would place them on a level with their fellow- priests of the Established Church ? Not in the least. The measure would, therefore, be practically useless, even if it were good in principle. The selection by Government of any oingle form of religion, for exclusive patronage and support, has never issued in any real 01' permanent advantage to the interests of true religion, while it has been in- variably attended with consequences higblv prejudicial to personal piety and to national prosperity. Bi't the worst kind of State- interference iu religious matters, is that by which the ministers of various, and even opposite, creeds are made dependent upon Governments. Such schemes are in the very spirit of Pope's " Universal Prayer." They constitute the most aggravated insult that can be offered to the Divine Being. They confound all ideas of truth and error. They proclaim that, in the opinion of the ruling power, religion is a matter of pure indifference ; arid if they do not originate in infidelity, of which there is little room to doubt, infidelity by wholesale is the unavoidable result. In France, the most infidel country on the globe, this atheistic system subsists in the greatest perfection. Even Eugland has advanced a considerable way towards its adoption. Our Government and Legislature give equal sanction, though not equal support, to Romanism and Pro- testantism, Episcopalianisin and Presbyterianism, Trinitarianism and Unitarianism. In Belfast, for instance, there are Presbyterian Ministers equally paid by the State, some of whom teach that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, while others deride the notion, and proclaim him to be a mere man. And this state of things subsists by the consent of all political parties. It is, therefore, not at all surprising, that from making a grant to Maynooth College, and supporting wholly, or in part, the emissaries of Rome in Canada and Australia, ( and, we may add, succumbing to them in the South Seas,) our Government and Legislature should entertain with favour the proposal to go one step farther, and provide for the whole body of Roman Catholic priests in Ireland. There can, indeed, be little doubt that a Bi[ l for effectuating this design will be oue of the very first measures brought forward in the next Session of Parliament. Will the genuine Protestants of the empire be ready to offer that re- sistance which so direful a proposal will merit ? They have ample warning. The Factories Bill took its op- ponents by surprise. This cannot be said of a Bill for the Establishment of Popery in Ireland. Of this we have all had full, early, distinct notice. Both Whigs and Tories are prepared to bring such a mea- sure forward, and the Radicals, with perhaps half a dozen exceptions, are equally prepared to give it their cordial and unhesitating sunport. Nothing, there- fore, can save the country from the fulfilment of tiiis tremendous menace, but the most strenuous exertion and the closest union on the part of all genuine Pro- testants. With this, as we have seen in the case of the Factories Bill, we can defeat a measure presented by a strong Government, and received with favour approaching to unanimity in a full House of Com- mons ; but, without it, we are lost. Blessed be God ! the present is a question on which all the friends of scriptural Christianity, of every name and denomina- tion, will be quite as much of one heart and mind as they were on the defunct Education project. It is there- fore with hope, as well as with joy, tiiat we recur to the timely Resolution of the Evangelical Voluntary Church Association. We rcjoice that the excellent President of that society has placed himself in the van for the next conflict which the advocates of re- vealed truth will be called upon to engage in with the motley troops of political religionists. Itisan omen for good. Sir Culling Eardley Smith is a gentleman whose rank is the least of his recommendations. The frankness with which he avows his convictions, the tranquil fortitude with which he submits to all the social consequences of such avowals to a person in his position, the devotion with which he adheres to the cause he has espoused, and the sagacity and penetration he has displayed as a watch- ful observer of the signs of the times— these are qualities which eminently fit the amiable and pious Baronet for taking a leading part in the defence and furtherance of Scriptural Truth and Religious Liberty. Gladly, therefore, do we enlist ourselves under the banner he has unfurled, earnestly hoping that it will be followed by every evangelical Protestant Body in the empire, and especially by the Free Church in Scotland, for whose integrity and stedfastness Sir Culling hesitated not most cordially to pledge himself, when almost every one else expressed a feur that they would fail under the crisis through which they have- so nobly passed. Protestants, to the rescue !— ire*- leyan Chronicle. SPECIMEN OF A SENATOR — I shall add nothing at present to my journal but the summary of a conver- sation I have had with Colonel Manners, who, at our last excursion, was here without any other gentleman. Knowing that he likes to be considered as a senator, I thought the best subject for our discussion would be the house of commons ; 1 therefoie made sundry political inquiries so foreign to my usual mode, that you would not a little have smiled to have heard them. I had been informed be had once made an attempt to speak during the regency business, last winter ; I begged to know how the matter stood, and he made a most frank display of its whole circum- stances. " Why, they were speaking away," he cried, " upon the regency, and so,— and they were saying the king could not reign, and recover; and Burke was making some of his eloquence, and talking; and, says he, ' hurled from his throne,'— and so I put out my finger in this manner, as if I was in a great passion, for I felt myself very red, and I was in a monstrous passion 1 suppose, but I was only going to say ' Hear! bear !' but I happened to lean one hand down upon my knee, in this way, just as Mr. Pitt does when he wants to speak ; and I stooped forward, just as if I was going to rise up and begin ; but just then I caught Mr. Pitt's eye, lookiug at me so pitifully; he thought I was going to speak, and he was frightened to death, for he thought— for the thing was he got up himself, and he said over all I wanted to say ; and the thing is he almost always does ; for just as I have something particular to say, Mr. Pitt begins, and goes through it all, so that he don't leave any thing more to be said about it; and so I suppose, as he looked at me so pitifully, he thought I should say it first, or else that I should tret into seme scrape, because I was so warm and looking so red." Any comment would disgrace this ; I will therefore only teli you his own opinion, in his own words, of one of our late taxes. " There's only one tax, ma'am, that ever I voted for against my conscience, for I've always been very particular about that; but that is the bacheidor's tax, and that I hold to be very unconstitutional, and I'm very sorry I voted for it, because it's very unfair ; for how can a man help being a bacheldor if nobody will have hiin ?• and besides,, it's not any fault to be taxed for, because we did not make ourselves bacheldors, for we were made so by God,, for no oily was bom married, and so I think it's a very unconstituti'oBai tax."— Madam t D'Arblay's Dkry,. 4 THE HALIFAX FREE PRESS. THE Fit " EE PRESS. ~ MRTPROTHEROE'S TORY VOTE. The speech of Mr. Protheroe, which we pub- lished in our last number, astonished us and grieved us exceedingly. Jf the honourable member for Halifax had been a tolerably fre- quent speaker in his place in parliament; an occasional slip,— a stray turn to the wrong side of the road, might not have been so very much noticed, or at least not so severely animadverted upon, as there would have been so many other speeches on the opposite side,— so many other moves in the right direction, to operate as set- offs, and leave a vastly preponderating balance in his favour. The honourable gentleman has, however, been almost tongue- tied since he entered the House of Commons as member for this borough ; although he often took part, we believe, in the debates, when he sat for Evesham, aud afterwards when he represented his native city, Bristol. His late speech in support of the government bill for arming and training the Chelsea pen- sioners, was not, however, as we intimated in our last, the very first speech that he has delivered during the six years that he has been member for Halifax. When one of the many beer- bills tha, t have, from time to time, occupied the attention of the . House of Commons, was under discussion, he made a short speech, and confessed himself guilty of two enormous delinquencies,— one, that he had unfashionably demeaned himself by attiring his nether man in corduroys; and the other, that he had, when so unbecomingly ar- rayed, descended to the degradation of visiting a beershop ! Another occasion upon which he said a few words, was, if we recollect rightly, when there came before the house some proposition for augmenting the wealth and resources of the church establishment, by the erection and en- dowment of new churches in some part of Glou- cestershire ;— a proposition to which, we be- lieve, he gave his support. As a voter, though not as a speaker, Mr. Protheroe has generally,— we might perhaps say uniformly, for we cannot just now call to mind any exception worth noticing,— as a voter, we say, Mr. Protheroe has been a constant and unflinching supporter of Radical principles and Radical measures. It was, therefore, with the greater surprise, as well as the more intense vexation, that we found him not merely giviijg his vote, but also volunteering a speech, in favour of the government proposition with re- ference to the Chelsea pensioners. If that bill could be fairly regarded as a mere matter of police, we might willingly coincide with Mr. Protheroe's views, and approve of his vote ; but we cannot look on the bill in any other light than as part and parcel of the Tory system of ruling by physical force. " It is evident," says the Wesleyan Chronicle, " from the character of this measure, notwith- standing the specious pretences under which its real design is cloaked, that violent attempts to silence the remonstrsuces of public opinion are contemplated by our Tory and aristocratic rulers." Mr. Bright, who seems never to let slip an opportunity of pressing forward the claims of Ill's suffering fellow countrymen, said, in one of the debates on the bill,—" the question is, shall we grant to the government greater poweis of repression, whilst that government refuses all redress of the heavy grievances of the people ?" Mr. Cobden also spoke of the measure as one " asking for increased powers to coerce the people." We might cite the sentiments of other mem- bers, and of other journals; but it is needless to do so. Those who act upon the hollow but specious maxim of supporting " measures, not men," may take this bill as an independent measure, and judge it apart by its own peculiar merits ; but the true patriot and the sound politician will not take so partial and one- sided a view of any measure. He will not merely inform himself of its intrinsic merits, but also of the source whence it emanates, and the objects which its promoters are most likely to have in view. These are fre- quently the most important elements in the in- vestigation ; and they are decidedly so in the case before usj To overawe the people,— to rule by the iron hand of physical force,— to rely on the support of the military, rather than on the sympathy and affections of the people,— these are, and these ever have been, the prominent characteristics of Tory domination ; and the proceedings of the party now in power are not such as to show that any portion of that characteristic feature is wanting on their part. The formation of regi- ments of yeomanry cavalry, the proposed arming and training of the Chelsea pensioners, and other significant occurrences, give note suffici- ent of the intention, should there be the power. In all its bearings, we look upon the Chelsea pensioners bill as fraught with evil,— as a blow aimed at popular liberty,— as an instrument for the concentration of aristocratic power, and for the preservation of that accursed monopoly, the tax on tbe poor man's loaf; and that such a bill should have received the slightest counten- ance from a member who calls himself a Libera), is deeply to be lamented. POETRY. ORIGINAL. THE WHITE ROSE. The White Rose is drooping, Its leaves fall away, Its pale form is stooping, And yields to decay. How chang'd since yon gave it, ' Twas then fresh and fair, My pains cannot save it, ' Tis past all repair. Yet tho' it has faded, It yields its perfume, As strong, I'm persuaded, As when ' twas in bloom. How dearly I prize it, Thy love to repay, I will not despise it, Tho* beauty decay. And thus shall my love be, When age stamps thy brow, For then I will love thee, As dearly as now. When age overtakes thee. Which may be thy lot, If beauty forsakes thee, Thy virtue will not. Halifax, Aug. 15th, 1843. scraps am pickings. WHY THE TORIES CHANGED THEIR NAME.— " Well, I don't know," said Mr. Slick, " p'raps their old name was so infarnal dry rotted, they wanted to change it for a sound new one. You recollect when that super- superior villain, Expected Thorne, brought an action of defamation agin' me. to Slickville, for takin' away his character, about stealing the watch to Nova Scotia ; well, I jist pleaded. my own case, and I ups and sals, ' Gentlemen of the Jury,' sais I, ' Ex pected's character, every soul knows, is about the wust in all Slickville. If I have taken it away, I have done him a great sarvice, for he has a smart chance of gettin' a better one ; and if he don't find a swap to his mind, why, no character is better nor a bad one. ' Weil, the old judge and the whole court larfed right out like any thin'; and the jury, without stirrin' from the box, returned a vardict for the defendant. P'raps now, that, mought be the case with the Tories."— Sam Slick in England. POLICE OFFICE ANNOUNCEMENTS.— The following has been stopped :— A tooth with some gold about it. Insane person found. He describes himself as about to become the lessee of one of the national theatres. His friends are particularly requested to come forward.— Found a large quantity of lead in sheets. It was inclosed in some paper, with tbe words, Tuft- Hunter by Lord William Lennox, on the first page. If not claimed, it must be thrown away, for it could not be sold to pay the expenses. Absconded from his friends— Lord Brougham. He is supposed to be looking after a place. He has several written characters, one of which lately ap- peared in the Examiner newspaper.— Punch. LEGAL SEVERITY.— By the ancient laws of Hun- gary, a man convicted of bigamy was condemned to live with both wives. A wag having for some petty debt found his way into gaol, was asked by the Governor what was his trade or calling, that he might be provided with the necessary implements to carry it on, every prisoner being allowed to make whatever he liked. " Is it so ?" said the wag ; " then I beg you will provide me in- stantly with the requisite instrument from your girdle, as I wish, without delay, to make my escape." THE CARTOONS IN WESTMINSTER HALL.— The drawings now exhibiting in Westminster Hall show how much the rich and educated have hitherto neg- lected to make the many partakers of their tastes and advantages, and how eager the latter are to learn when allowed. These cartoons, without the ornament of colout and varnish, many of them in outline, are visited by crowds each day, who enter the hall at the rate of forty each minute, and about twenty thousand in the ten hours that it is open. Tbe spacious hall is crowded to inconvenience by persons of all ranks admiring these beautiful designs, gaining knowledge of history from the catalogue, and cultivating a taste which must make men better. Such an exhibition must do much good, much towards the improvement of the public taste and thus to improve the arts of the country, and much good in the higher sense to soften the roughness of our common nature. Westminster Abbey, which since the death of Dr. Ireland has been shown at sixpence a head, had latterly been visited by two hundred and fifty persons each day, but since the Cartoons have been opened to the public, four hundred persons visit Westminster Abbey each day. The National Gallery, which is also in the neighbeur- hood, no doubt receives an equal increase of visitors. Some of the commissioners at first proposed to admit no persons in working jackets ; but the more popular opinion fortunately prevailed, and al! comers were admitted without distinction of rank. The workmen from the new houses of parliament have all been through the hall ; and on some days the numbers were so great, that admittance was closed from time to time, till others had gone out at the other door. Those who go to see the Cartoons in the crowd will certainly feel themselves less at ease in forming an opinion on their merits ; but they will he more than rewarded by witnessing in the admiring thousands, a moral sight more beautiful than the drawings. We are sorry, however, to find that there is one large class in London, who are unable to see the Cartoons, we mean the clerks and shopmen, whose prudence and engagements forbid their keeping Saint Monday as a holiday, and who are confined to the desk or counter from nine till dusk.— Inquirer. IMPORTANT SALE OF REBECCA PROPERTY.— Mr. George Robbins has received instructions from the trustees of the Welsh Tollgates to submit the whole to public competition. Every one is familiar with the unrivalled scenery of Wales; and there is no doubt that any one determined to distinguish himself at the Bar, may now have an opportunity of doing so. The Gates are held on the good old English tenure, unvalued in the glorious principle of self- defence ; and such is tbe confidence of the surrounding popula- tion, that tickets are never demanded. Particulars may be seen in the papers of the day; and it is almost needless to add that there will be no reserve whatever, but the whole of the Gates must be knocked down in the most summary manner.— Punch. About seventeen years ago, two soldiers captured a deserter in a village near Barnard Castle, called Bowes ( now better known by the name of " Dothebovs Hall"), when it happened that they were without hand- shackles. They therefore called at a hardware shop in the place, but could not be supplied. The tradesman, however, told them he had a traveller coming next day, and would order a stock. Accordingly he ordered a gross. One of tbe old soldiers, having to pass through the village about a week ago, called upon his accommodating friend, and found the whole gross of hand- shackles snugly rusting upon a shelf.— Gateshead Observer. By the statistical returns of the Church of England Society, it appears that only 120 children are daily educated by dissenters in Berkshire. It has been ascertained by a closer investigation, that the actual number thus educated is upwards of 2.000. At the annual entertainment given by the Messrs. Chambers, of Edinburgh, to the hands in their large establishment, it was stated, by Mr. William Chambers, that of the " Information for the People," brought to a close during the past year, no fewer than 7,000,000 sheets had been disposed of, and scattered oyer the United Kingdom and colonies. The following notice was affixed to the door of a parish church in the neighbourhood of Potton : — " The serveyor cives Noties that a Rat has been singed by two of her majesties justices of the Peas."— Cambridge Independent. It is stated that, in some parts of Wales, at a distance from the lime- kilns, the farmers have to pay for every ;£ 5' s worth of lime far manure, £ 6 in turnpikes ! A young man, balloted for the militia, declared he would be hanged, rather than serve. " There is no necessity," replied a friend, " that you should be hanged ; it is quite sufficient if you are drawn and quartered." " How well yon pnton your cravat," said a crony . " that tie's something new." " Yes, it's a novel tie.'! A barrister observed to a learned brother in court, that his whiskers were unprofessional. " Right ( re- plied his friend)— a lawyer cannot be too barefaced." Dr. Parr and Lord Erskine are said to have been the vainest men of their time. At dinner, Dr. Parr, in ecstacies with the conversational powers of Lord Erskine, called out to him, ' My Lord, I mean to write your epitaph.'—' Dr. Parr,' replied the noble lawyer, ' it is a temptation to commit suicide.' We should order our thoughts so as if we had a window in our breasts, through which any one might see what passes there. And indeed there is one that does ; for what does it signify that our thoughts are bidden from men ? From God nothing is hidden.— Seneca. Every man is apt to form his notions of things difficult to be apprehended, from their analogy to things which are more familiar. OUR CHATTER BOX. " The Ivy," and " Woman's Tear," by J. T r, have come to hand. Some lines extracted from the Cincinnati Gazette, and transmitted by E. C. are placed amongst our accepted pieces. Our poetical correspondents must not be in haste for the insertion of their communications. We generally have on hand, and sometimes in tvpe, what will serve for several weeks. The subject of the Government Inspection of Schools aided out of the parliamentary grants, will probably be resumed in a week or two. HALIFAX:— Printed and Sold, at the General Printing Office of H. Martin, Upper George Yard