The Bangkok Recorder.

A Weekly journal will be issued from the printing office of the American Missionary Association, at the mouth of the Canal, "Klawng Bangkok Yai" It will contain such Political, Literary, Scientific, Commercial, and local intelligence, as shall render it worthy of the general patronage.

The Recorder will be open to Correspon- dents subject to the usual restrictions.

The proprietor will not be responsible for the sentiments of his correspondents.

No communication will be admitted un- less accompanied by the name of the Cor- respondent.

No rejected manuscript will be returned unless as a special favor.

Half Yearly9.00

Quarterly4.50

Extra Copies to Subscribers0.50

""Non. do$0.45

First, insertion-ten lines or half a square, and under, ONE DOLLAR and each additional line, FIVE CENTS.

Subsequent insertion, SEVENTY FIVE Cent, for ten lines, and each additional line, FIVE CENTS.

Advertisers must be particular to specify the number of insertions.

Standing advertisements as per Con- TRACTS.

Communications and remittances can be sent to the subscriber, or left at the store of Messrs. Virgin & Co.

The Gospel Railroad.

Was rough and stony and uneven,

But now, we live to see the day,

That the old line is done away.

Another line by CHRIST is made,

With Heavenly truth the RAILS are laid ;

From earth to Heaven the line extends,

To life eternal—where it ends.

Repentance is the STATION then,

Where PASSENGERS are taken in ;

No fee from them is taken there,

For Jesus Christ has paid the FARE.

In the first, second and third CLASS,

Faith and repentance for sins pass ;

You must this way to Glory gain,

Or you with Christ can never reign.

God’s grace, the GUARD and ENGINEER,

It points the way to Heaven so clear,

That be a man e’er so unwise,

’Twill guide him far above the skies.

God’s love the FIRE, His joy the STEAM,

Which drives the engine and the TRAIN,

And all that would to glory ride,

Must in the train with Christ abide.

Thro’ TUNNELS long, and dark as night,

’Twill take him to the realms of light,

And there he’ll meet with all the train,

And never more to part again.

Come then, poor sinner, now’s the time,

At ANY STATION on the line ;

If you repent, and turn from sin,

The train will stop and take you in.

Miss Precocia's Principles.

In the most precise of country villages, in the primmest mansion ever built, dwelt the most precise maiden ever born—Miss Prococia Lockwood. Even in that serious town, where laughter was reckoned one of the smaller sins, and the family in whose dwelling the lights were seen burning af- ter ten o'clock were considered dissipated, there was a current joke regarding Lock- wood Cottage, which giddy girls dubbed "the Nunnery," and some went so far as to call Miss Precocia the "Lady Superior." Certainly never convent walls closed themselves more grimly against mankind, gentle and simple, old and young. What in many an excellent spinster has been an affectation, was genuine with Precocia.

Long ago, a pretty little cousin, who had been her confident and companion, had become acquainted with a rascal with a handsome face and a serpent's soul, and had eloped with him. They heard of her wearing velvet and diamonds, but no wed- ding ring, and driving about New Orleans in a handsome carriage, wondered at and admired for her beauty, and shunned for her sin. And at last, after a long silence about her doings, a faded thing in rags came creeping at night to Miss Precocia's cottage, begging for God's sake that she would let her in to die. Miss Precocia did the reverse of what most women do. She gave a sister's hand to the poor victim.

nursed her until she died, and buried her decently, and thenceforth shut her spinster home to man. She was barely twenty-se- ven, and far from plain, and she argued thus—something in a stovepipe hat and boots has wrought this ill—-all who wear those habiliments must be tabooed.

She kept her resolution. From the poor- house she selected a small servant-maid, not yet old enough to think of "fellows." As cook she kept a hideous old female, too far advanced in years to think of them. The milk was brought by a German woman. The butcher's wife, by request, brought the joints. Even a woman cut the grass in the yard when it was too long, and if a man approached the gates, ancient Deborah, the cook, was sent forth to parley with the enemy and obstruct his approached.

Having thus made things safe, Miss Precocia went to New York and brought home a dead sister's daughter, who had hitherto been immured in a boarding school, and the arrangements were com- plete.

Miss Lockwood took her neice to church, also to weekly meeting. They spent after- noons out with widow ladies with no grown up sons, or with spinsters who re- sided in solitary state.

The elder lady kept an Argus eye upon her blooming niece, and bold indeed would have been the man who dared address her.

For her part Miss Bella Bloom was an arch hypocrite. She had learned that at boarding school, where ingenuity is ex- hausted in deceiving the authorities, and doing always exactly what is most forbid- den. Bella Bloom came to Lockwood Cot- tage perfectly competent to hoodwink her aunt.

She did it. Precocia blessed her stars that her niece was well-principled. She hated men. She wondered how any young lady could walk, talk, and be sociable with, and marry them. And when she thought she lived in a home where they could not intrude, how thankful she was Aunt Pre- cocia could never guess.

And all the while Bella was chafing in- wardly at her restraint, envying girls who had pleasant little flirtations at will, and keeping up a private correspondence with one "Dear George," who sent his letters under cover to the butcher's wife, who brought them in with the beef and mutton, and said—- "Bless ye, natur will be natur, for all old maids: and I was a gal once before Cleaver courted me."

"Dear George" was desperate. He could not live without seeing his Bella. He wrote bitter things about spinster aunts. He alluded feelingly to those meetings in the garden of the seminary, with Miss Clo- ver standing sentry at the gate, on the lookout for a teacher and enemy. The first opportunity he was coming to Plain- acres, and intended to see his Bella or die. Was he not twenty-three and she seven- teen? Were they to waste their lives at a spinster's bidding? No.

Miss Precocia, with her Argus-eyed watchfulness, sat calmly, hour by hour, two inches from the locked door of a cabi- net which contained the gentlemen's let- ters, and dined from meats which had been the means of carrying them across the threshold, inculcating her principles into the minds of her niece and her hand- maiden, the latter of whom grinned be- hind her lady's chair without reserve. Charity Pratt, having grown to be sixteen, also had her secret. It was the apothe- cary's boy, who, in his own peculiar fa- shion, had expressed admiration at church by staring.

A few days after, Dr. Green, the bache- lor minister, called at the cottage. Debo- rah went out to huff and snap, and was suddenly by big eyes. She came in.

"Miss," said she, "the clergyman is out there."

"Where?" gasped Precocia.

"In the garden, Miss, wantin' you."

"Me? You said, of course, I was out!"

"No, Miss. Everybody receives their pastor."

So the pastor was ushered in. He con- versed of church affairs. Miss Precocia answered by polite monosyllables. Bella smiled and tit-hed. Deborah sat on a ball chair on guard. Finally the best spe- cimen of that bad creature, man, was got out of the house safely, and the ladies look- ed at each other as those might who had been closeted with a polar bear and escap- ed unharmed.

"He's gone, aunty," said the hypocrite.

"Thank goodness!" said the sincere Pre- cocia. "I thought I should have fainted. Never let it happen again, Deborah. Re- member, I am always engaged."

"But he seems a nice, well-spoken, good behaved kind of a gentleman," said De- borah."

"And a clergyman."

"So he does," said Precocia. "But ap- pearances are deceitful. I once know a gentleman—"

"Yes, Miss."

"A Doctor of Divinity, Bell—-"

"Yes, auntie."

"Well?"

"Who kissed a young lady of his con- gregation in her father's garden."

"Oh! auntie."

"He afterwards married her. I never could visit her, or like him."

"Bless you, no!" said Deborah. "Now the best thing you can do is to have a cup of strong green tea, and something nourish- ing to keep your spirits up. Cleaver's wife has just fetched oysters in."

"Has she? Oh! I so love oysters," cried Bella, and ran to get dear George's last. It was a brief one, and in it George vow- ed to appear at the cottage when they least expected him, and demand his betrothed. That evening at dusk Miss Precocia walked in the garden alone. She was thinking of a pair of romantic big eyes, of a soft voice and a softer hand which she had been surprised into allowing to shake hers.

“It’s a pity men are so wicked,” said she, and sighed. Although she was near thirty, she looked very pretty as she walk- ed in the moonlight, forgetting to put on prim airs and graces, and to stiffen herself. Her figure was very much like her niece Bella’s so much so that some one, on the other side of the convent-like wall, with eyes on a level with its upper stones, fan- cied it was that young lady. Under this belief he clambered up and stood on the top, and whispered—-

“My dearest, look up, your beloved is here; behold your George!”

And Precocia lifting her eyes, beheld a man on her wall, flung up her hands in the air, and uttered a shriek like that of an enraged pea-cock.

The gentleman discovered his mistake, endeavored to retreat, stumbled and fell headlong among flower-pots and boxes, and lay there quite motionless.

The shriek and clatter aroused the house. Deborah, Bella, and Charity Pratt, rushed to the scene, and found a gentle- man in a sad plight, bloody and senseless, and Miss Precocia half dead with terror.

Bella, recognizing George, fainted in good earnest. Precocia, encouraged by numbers, addressed the prostrate youth—-

“Get up, young man, and go. Your wickedness has been, perhaps, sufficiently punished. Do go.”

“He can’t; he’s dead,” said Deborah.

“Oh! what a sudden judgment. Are you sure he’s dead?”

“Yes, Miss.”

“Then take him into the house and call the doctor.”

They laid him on the bed and medical aid came. The poor fellow had broken a leg.

“He’d get well. Oh! yes, but he could not be moved.”

“Miss Precocia could not murder a fel- low creature, and she acquiesced.

“He can’t run off with the spoons until his leg is better,” said Deborah.

“He isn’t able to run off with anything,” said Miss Precocia: “and we should be gentle with the erring. Who shall we find to nurse him?”

“Old Todds is competent, Miss,” said Deborah.

“Yes. Do send for that old person,” said the lady.

And old Todds came. He, of course, dwelt in the house. The doctor came eve- ry day.

The apothecary’s boy invaded the hall with medicines; and finally when the young man came to his senses, he desired earnestly to see his friend, Dr. Green.

“Our clergyman his friend?” said Pre- cocia. “He must have been misled then; surely his general conduct must have been proper. May be this is the first time that he looked over a wall to make love to a lady. By all means send for Dr. Green.”

Thus the nunnery was a nunnery no more-—two men under the roof; three visit- ing it daily! What was the world com- ing to? Miss Precocia dared not think. Bella was locked in her own room in the most decorous manner, while her aunt was in the house, but when she was absent, Deborah and Charity sympathized and abetted, and talked deliciously to George, lying on his back, with his handsome face so pale, and his spirits so low, poor fellow!

Troubles always come together. That evening Miss Precocia received informa- tion that legal affairs connected with her property, which was considerable, demand- ed her presence in New York, and left that establishment, which never before so much needed its Lady Superior. She re- turned after three days, towards evening, no one expecting her.

“I will give them a pleasant surprise,” she thought, and slipped in the kitchen way. There a candle burned, and on one chair sat two people—Charity Pratt and the druggist’s boy. He had his arm around her waist!

Miss Precocia grasped the door frame, and shook from head to foot.

“I’ll go to Deborah,” she said. “She can speak to that misguided girl better than I.”

She entered. Deborah was in the back area scouring tea-knives. Beside her stood old Todds, the nurse. They were talking.

“Since my old woman died,” said Todds, “I hain’t seen nobody scour like you—and the pies you does make.”

“They ain’t better than other folks,” said Deborah, grimly coquettish.

“They are,” said Todds; and to Miss Precocia’s horror, he followed up the com- pliment by asking for a kiss.

Miss Precocia struggled with hysterics, and fled parlorward. Alas! a murmur of sweet voices. She peeped in. Through the window swept the fragrance of the honey- suckle. Moonlight mingled with that of the shaded lamp. Bella leaned over an easy chair in which reclined George Love- boy. This time Precocia was petrified.

“Dearest Bella,” said George.

“My own,” said Bella.

“How happy are we!”

“Oh! so happy.”

“And when shall we be together again! You know I must go. Your aunt don’t want me here, Bella, I must tell her. Why are you afraid of her?”

“She’s so prim and good, dear soul,” said Bella.

“Ah! you do not love me as I do you. George!”

“You don’t. Would I let an aunt stand between us?”

“Oh! George, you know I have told you that nothing can change me. Why, though you had stayed lame, and had to walk on crutches all your life, it would have made no difference, though I fell in love with you for your walk. I don't deny it.

"Oh! oh! oh!" from the doorway, check- ed the speech. Those last words had well nigh killed Miss Precocia Lockwood. Hys- terics supervened, and in their midst a gentleman was announced. The Rev. Pe- ter Green.

"Show him in," said Precocia, "I need comfort. Perhaps he may give it!" And for the first time in her life she hailed with joy the entrance of a man.

Mr. Loveboy left the room a stealthily and as speedily as possible. Bella follow- ed him. Charity was in the pantry hiding her head, and Deborah returned to the cellar.

Alone the Lady Superior received the Rev. Peter Green. She faltered and blushed.

"You are, I presume, already aware of the fact that I am much disturbed in mind," she said.

"Yes, madam, that is perceptible."

"You are my spiritual adviser, sir. To you, though a man, I turn for advice," and she shed a tear or two. "My own house- hold has turned against me," and she told him all.

"My dear madam, do you not know that old Jonathan Todds and your faithful De- borah intend to unite their fortunes next Sabbath?"

"Oh! the old sinners. Are they in their dotage?"

"And that Charity Pratt, who seems a likely sort of a girl, has promised to give her hand to Zodock Saltz on Thursday!"

"Oh! Dr. Green. What do I hear?"

"The truth, madam. Can you hear more?"

"I hope so."

"Then it is time that you should be in- formed that Miss Bella Broom and Mr. George Loveboy have been engaged a year. They have corresponded regularly. It was to see her he climbed the garden wall and met with his accident. Don't give way, madam—-don't."

"You're very kind," said Miss Precocia, "but it's awful! What would you advise?"

"I should say, allow Todds and Deborah to marry next Sunday. And Charity and Zeddock on the day they have fixed. And I should sanction the betrothal of your niece and Mr. Loveboy, and allow me to unite them at some appointed day."

"My own niece!" said Miss Precocia.

"Oh! my own niece."

"Do you so seriously object to marry- ing?" asked the pastor.

"No—-no," said Precocia. "It's this aw- ful courting, I dislike."

"I agree with you," said the the pastor. "I have resolved when I marry, to come to the point at once. Miss Precocia, the parsonage needs a mistress. I know of no lady I admire and esteem as I do you. Will you make me happy, will you be my wife?

Precocia said nothing. Her cheeks burned; her lips drooped. He came a lit- tle closer. He made bigger eyes at her than ever. At last his lips approached and touched her cheek, and still she said no- thing.

In such a case, "speech is silver, and si- lence is gold."

Deborah was married on Sunday, it be- ing her fortieth birthday. Charity on Thursday. Miss Bloom gave her hand to George Loveboy in a month; and on the same day a brother clergyman united Pre- coccia and the Rev. Peter Green. And the nunnery was broken up forever.-—THE NORTH AMERICAN.

Recent Cruise of the
“Opossum.”

WE promised some further particulars about Lieut. ST. JOHN’S recent cruise. It seems that when he reached Mina Bay there was no sign of the junk he was in search of. On shore there was a pirate village, but the inhabitants decamped and it seemed at first as if there were no means of obtaining any information. The OPOSSUM came to, however, and her commander went on shore to look about him. Lieut. ST. JOHN’s tendency to look about him, and make discoveries for him- self default of previous information, of- ten leads to useful results and on this oc- casion brought about the success of the cruise. He fell in with an old Chinaman uncommunicative to begin with, but eventually willing to betray his friends to save his pigs and poultry which the OPOSSUM’S people made a FEINT of car- rying off and “confiscating” as Artemus Ward says, for the benefit of Her Majes- ty’s navy. He pointed out a small creek in which the required junk would be found and sure enough within a very short distance of the gunboat, the stolen vessel and one other of smaller dimen- sions were discovered, though hidden so thoroughly by the intricacies of the shore that a day might have been spent in a fruitless search for them if there had been no information to guide the hunters. The “peilongs” (pidgin for pirates) all got away except one who tried to hide himself but was found on board the largest junk, stowed away in its innermost re- cesses, where were also found the prison- ers who had belonged to the junk before she was taken by the pirates. Lieut ST. JOHN burnt the smaller craft, and brought away the other to Hongkong. By a ruse at Sow-ke-wan in returning he captured another rover and eight of her piratical crew. She was hauled up on the beach and when surprised some of the men be- longing to her escaped but one man was luckily taken who though not belonging to the gang of pirates perhaps deserves to be made a more striking example, than they themselves. This was a Chinese, watchman belonging to the colonial police who was caught in the act of extorting hush money from the pirates. The junk was hauled up within a short distance of the police station and this rascal was ac- tually selling himself almost within sight of the sergeant to whom he should have given information of her presence. He was taken prisoner with the rest and will of course he tried in due time.

On an occasion of this sort, however, the folly of adhering to English forms in the administration of justice, is made very apparent. Here are a set of wretches about whose guilt as pirates, doubt would be ridiculous. The same course will be pursued with them, however, which would be adopted in London in the case of a man charged with picking a pocket. They will first be brought up before a police magistrate, and a preliminary in- vestigation will be held, the sole purpose of which is to make the friends and allies of the pirates in Hongkong acquainted with the witnesses, and the nature of the evidence to be brought against the prisoners. They will be committed for trial, and a considerable period will elapse during which the friends of the accused, possibly their partners in business, hav- ing a pecuniary interest in their escape and resumption of operations, will have the opportunity of buying the evidence or suborning false testimony to contro- vert it. Money is of course all powerful in dealing with native evidence, and that is by no means scarce amongst the firms, engaged it, the profitable occupation of piracy, which have their offices and head partners in this colony. The tenacity with which the English mind sometimes clings to English forms of legal procedure even in cases where it is utterly powerless to grapple with peculiar characteristics of Asiatic crime, is some thing wonderful. For years it has been the common re- mark by every one who speaks of this subject at all, “the pirates always slip through the meshes of the law, when they are tried at Hongkong,” and yet we go on with the laborious farce of enveloping them in this net which we know to be full of holes. No reasonable man wishes to see any human creatures, even Chinese pirates hanged without a fair trial. None at any rate, but Evangelical clergymen entertain a wish of the kind, and then only in the case of their own country- men under denunciation at Exeter Hall. What is needed in the case of pirates brought to trial at Hongkong is a special tribunal,-—composed say of the Chief Justice, and assessors with special know- ledge,—before which pirates captured by the gunboats should be brought to trial immediately they arrive. Of course, such a tribunal would have the power of re- manding prisoners if there were any really substantial reasons for so doing, but it would be found in the great major- ity of cases that the evidence taken im- mediately, before it had been corrupted, would be quite clear and conclusive.

THE TYCOON AND CHIOSIU.—-We are g'ad to give our readers an authent'c estate- ment of the present prolitical posilion in the Inland Sea. Two Ambassadors from the Tycoon, Ogasa-wara-iki-no-kami and Nagiu-Mondo-no-kami, are at an island in the sea called Hiro-shima, situate near the Eastern boundary of Chiosiu's do- minions. They are endeavouring to open negotiations with Chefoo Kiosayeh, Hizen and Tosa, neighbouring Daimios, with a view to bring moral pressure to bear on the hostile chief and induce him to listen to propositions made to him by the Tycoon's government. Hitherto their attempts have met with no success. Chefoo and Kiosayeh have declined to attempt the conference, and no answer has been yet received from the two latter. The de- mands of the Yedo cabinet are:—-that the present princes of Chiosiu, Daizen the father and Nagato the son, should re- tire (in favour of two other princes of the house or to be adopted) and that ter- ritory capable of producing annually 100,000 kokus of rice shall be given up to the Tycoon to recoup him for the in- demnity which he is now paying to the Western Powers for the affair at Simonoseki.

These terms Chiosiu, secure in his own strength and his alliances, has absolutely refused. He will fight with reluctance, but will certainly fight rather than yield to the demands of the rival noble.—O.T.R.

Peking.

Private letters inform us that a pe- culiar kind of diphtheria has become very prevalent at the capital, and large num- bers have already fallen victims to it. The new American legation will shortly be completed, and will probably be in readiness for Mr. Burlingame on his arrival.

Wen Seang has gained an important victory in the neighbourhood of Moukden, and is expected to return in a few months to Peking.—OVER. TRADE REPORT.

Bangkok Recorder.

A Translation.

I have seen an article in the Bang- kok Recorder, to the effect that the Government of Siam has already made treaties with the different European powers, and should therefore employ some one to translate into the Siamese language, a work on International Law; so that they might understand something of this matter. There are two ways of taking care of a country. One way is, by laws and treaties. The other way is, by strength and imple- ments of war. Siam is a country which has but little strength, and must there- fore be taken care of by laws and trea- ties. If the government would em- ploy some one to translate a work on International Law at the cost of $ 1000, for one volume, and $ 2500, for another, it would cost less than one or two gun-boats. The gun-boats too would soon decay, and wear out, but the International Law would remain a lasting benefit to the country. There have been many things suggested in the Bangkok Recorder, which the Siamese government already knew. In regard to this last suggestion how- ever, I would beg to answer a few words. He who is thus continually raminding the Siamese government, of these things, has undoubtedly great love for the country. But the gov- ernment had already some time pre- vious, taken into consideration the subject of having a work on Interna- tional Law translated into the Siamese, for the benefit of the country, but the difficulty has been that they have been unable to find any one who, was will- ing to undertake it, or able to accom- plish it. They can translate the easy parts, but the deep portions are too many for them. And any who have been willing to undertake it have al- ready tried their hand, at translating other books, but have introduced Eu- ropean words &c., that the Siamese cannot understand the translation. For these reasons therefore, the govern- ment has remained silent on the mat- ter. But if there is any one who will undertake it in earnest, and will not omit any thing, but will give a literal and idiomatic translation, so that the Siamese can understand every portion, the government will employ such a one to translate a work on Internation- al Law for its own use. But a tran- slation which it could not understand, would be of no benefit. I hear how- ever that — — has already had portions translated in substance, which answers the present purpose.

The above is one of those spicy, and ironical little communications, we frequently get from a certain quarter, and is by no means flattering to those who make some pretensions to the Sia- mese language. In translating a work on International Law into the Siamese language, there are several difficulties in the way. In the first place those interested in the affair, have hitherto been unwilling to pay a sum, sufficient to induce any one to devote his whole time to it. The translating of the large work, would be a work of years, and any one who would undertake it would expect to be well paid. Some one en- gaged in another business, might, by devoting odds and ends of time to it, eventually accomplish it, but it would almost be a work of a lifetime. A smaller work, such as Wheaton's, might be translated in this way. Then again the translation could not be expected to be as good, as if a person devoted his whole time, and attention to it. The Rev. Dr. Martin has prepared a compendium of Wheaton, and tran- slated it into Chinese for the Pekin government. Another difficulty in the way, is the poverty of the Siamese language. It would be impossible, to find terms, and words, in the language to express every thing, and the trans- lator would have to transfer a num- ber of terms, which would create a necessity for explanatory notes &c. All this would be attended with addi- tional labor. Again it is impossible for any one not born here, or at least brought up here from childhood, to make classic Siamese, which they ap- pear to expect. All that a European could expect to do, would be to make it understood by the Siamese. In this the Siamese look for too much. To translate therefore a work on Interna- tional Law into Siamese in such a way that every portion of it would be un- derstood would be rather an undertak- ing, but we think there are those who can do it if there is sufficient induce- ment forthcoming.

Death of a Royal Son.

The Prince Chrone Rooog-raai" be- ing the 24th son, and 48th offspring of His Majesty the present reigning King of Siam, was born on the 21st of August 1860, by the noble Lady" Sa- neval; who has had three sons and one daughter to His Majesty.

The Prince during the last two years had occasionally been suffering from the disease of rupture, and on the night of the 23rd of May 1866, he become very ill. His urine was stopped during about 30 hours, and about 3 1/2 or 4 A. M. on 27th May (civil time) A. C. 1866, he expired. He was only 5 years and 7 month old.

His eldest full brother is 12 years old, his second eldest brother is 10, and his youngest full sister is 4 years old.

LOCAL.

The following Siamese vessels have changed hands viz., the Eng Bee, for 600 catties, the Comet, for 550 catties, the Flying Fish, for 290 catties.

We are informed the French Cor- vette C. Mange, has arrived on an of- ficial visit, and to acquire passes for the French exploring party who pro- pose traveling up the Mei-cong river, from Saigon through Siamese, British and Chinese territories, as far as Yang- so-can to Hankow.

H. I. M. Consul and the Comman- dant had an audience of H. E. the Kalahome this morning.

The news from Saigon by the Cor- vette is most satisfactory, political and commercial affairs are improving daily under the able Governor Vice-Admiral de la Grandiere.

A Regatta is talked of for Thurs- day next at Paklat, and we hear a number of new yachts are entered to complete with the Kestral, and from what has been ascertained that famous craft is very likely to lose her prestige at the coming trial.

The Siamese Government has re- ceived definite news regarding M. Au- baret's return to Bangkok, there ap- pears to be no doubt about that gen- tleman assuming his official post in Ju- ly or August. We hear he is to be the bearer of an autograph letter from H. I. Master to H. S. M.

The Siamese Consul at Singapore decorated his flag staff on the 16th Anniversary of H. S. M's Coronation. The Penang Consulate was similarly adorned.

We learn another attempt is to be made in bringing down teak rafts from up country. Three of our re- sidents have again left for Rahààng and its neighbourhood, to endeavour to convey to Bangkok the logs that have laid up there these two years, we wish them success.

Can the Theatre be Purified?

In your very interesting "Letter from the Fireside" of December 14th, 1865, you say of the theatre and opera, "I wish I could write them down till they are made decent,"-—thereby in- timating the practicability of purifying the theatre and rendering it a proper place of amusement. Allow me to say that the theatre never can be re- formed; it ever was and is a curse to the world, and a school of vice and corruption. Soon after its establish- ment in Athens, the moral dramas of Æschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, were found too slow for the vitiating tastes of the "fast men" of the time; ranker food was demanded; and, the sluice-gates once opened, the tide of corruption swept on with such over- whelming force as to destroy all order. The theatre, Rollin declares, was the principal cause of the downfall of the Athenian State. It became such a hot-bed of sin that the more virtuous and wise of the heathen,—Plato, Xen- ophon, Seneca, and Tacitus,—were forced to raise their voices against it as the corrupter of youth and the dis- grace of the nation. The Lacedæmon- ians would not tolerate a theatre with- in the republic of Sparta. The celeb-

rated Tertullian wrote thus: "We (Christians) have nothing to do with the frenzies of the race-ground, the lewdness of the play-house, or the barbarities of the bear-garden." Miln- er says: "A Christian, renouncing the pomps and vanity of this wicked world, and yet frequenting the play- house, was, with the Christians of the first three centuries, a solecism. The effusion of the Holy Spirit, during those centuries, never admitted those amusements at all." It is painful to know that the very sin is now so fash- ionable that even men of prominent standing in the Church sometimes are glad to avail themselves of any excuse to enter the place dedicated to irrelig- ion. Archbishop Tillotson designated the theatre as a "mighty reproach to Britain,—the devil's chapel, the school and nursery of vice and lewdness." "An English theatre—the sink of all profaneness and debauchery," said Wesley. Romanists and Protestants have repeated these denunciations, and yet the evil survives in as full strength as original sin.

Its apologists call it the school of morals (?), and say that "it holds the mirror up to nature;"—yes, and what sort of nature? The holy nature possessed by man when fresh from the hands of his Creator? No: but the sullied, perverted nature ruined by the arts of Satan. We need no such mirror.

Thousands have been totally ruined —body and soul—by the theatre; but has a soul ever been reclaimed from crime by its specious wiles? Never; not one. Let its friends refute this assertion, if they can. Let them fur- ther prove the moral tendencies of the play-house by the lives and deaths of its attaches, and by the character of the main portion of its audiences. I solemnly believe that no person in- structed in the Bible, or who has any glimmering of truth, ever enters one of these temples of sin without a pain- ful consciousness (except his conscience be calloused) that he is committing a sin, which, if unrepented of in this life, must everlastingly condemn him before the Judgment Bar of God. Oh, what madness to plant thorns for a dying pillow! A young friend, when on his death-bed, expressed to me his bitter contrition for having at- tended the theatre, although his mo- tive had been improvement in eloca- tion and artistic effects. Mistaken ideas! as if the art of mimicry could be of use in any intellectual or worthy calling! But a still deeper infamy is his who becomes a volunteer,—a DRUMMER,—for Satan, by pertinaci- ously enticing another to the play- house for the first time, and thus, probably, insuring the loss of a soul. Of such a case I have lately been told, and the instrument was very insigni- ficant, too. For the first visit to the theatre is often the initiatory step to every other species of vice, as, proba- bly, nearly every criminal can testify. If they that turn many to righteous- ness shall shine "as the stars for ever and ever," what will be the doom of those who lure the ignorant to ruin?

On coming forth from the heat of the late conflict, it was natural to hope that our brave soldiers would hasten to the house of God to offer up devout acknowledgments for their preserva- tion from death. How many of them have so done? On the contrary, al- lured by the emissaries the Drum- mers—of evil, they have thronged— many of them creeping on crutches and with half-healed wounds—to those plague-houses of the land which were never before so numerous or so flour- ishing: many of them, poor fellows! to renounce the God whom once they adored.

The stage, until a comparatively recent date, was considered so infam- ous that no woman ever appeared upon its boards, the female parts being sus- tained by boys. Nor is it any better now, notwithstanding the pseudo-cen- sorship exercised over it. Look over some of the favorite stock plays (Shakespeare himself will not always bear rendition without judicious prun- ing), and the majority of them will be found to be dissolute, profane, and infidel in tendency. It is virtually impossible for any person who fre- quently witnesses them to help becom- ing vitiated in morals, puerile in mind, and skeptical of virtue. As for piety, it is utterly out of the question for a true Christian to be a habitue of the theatre. One of the most distinguish- ed English tragedians, it is said, re- fused to permit his daughter ever to enter a theatre for fear of contamina- tion. Put a play on the stage destitute of immorality, profanity, impure al- lusions, or vulgar jests, and the mul- titude would scorn it as "flat, stale, unprofitable." The earlier English plays were, mayhap, more openly im- moral—-some of them—-than those of our day; but were they so sugar-coat- ed, so insidiously subversive of morals, so subtly wicked? If religion is ever introduced it is in some such low, dis- gusting buffoonery as the * *, a bur- lesque on decency and common-sense, which a church-goer should blush to own he had ever seen, if the grace to blush remain. When virtue is repre- sented, it is in some mawkish, senti- mental guise, such as might nauseate an astute Fejee Islander, as much as the unspeakable grossness of the modern ballet would shock his delicacy. In the letter alluded to, you also speak of a gentleman who accompanied his lady friends to a late operatic performance, and was so ashamed of himself that he could not look the ladies in the face while the opera was performing. And yet many modest matrons and maidens gazed at it all quite unabashed. Had he but persevered in going, he, too, might in time have become hardened.

Pardon me if I write with warmth. My heart is grieved at the seeming indifference of those who ought to attack this Python—-of origin far more vile than that of its fabled prototype of the Nile; at the culpability, in act and example, of people who know better, and in the pitiful cowardice displayed everywhere by laymen who ought to rebuke sin fearlessly.

No, Mr. Editor, dream not of re- forming the play-house; that Utopian experiment has been tried, unsuccess- fully, for some thousands of years;—- it is an irremediable evil. The only cure is eradication. These remarks, somewhat modified, apply also to the opera, which, indeed, to persons of more refined tastes and culture, is more alluringly dangerous.

The Government and the
Fenians.

Our Government has pursued a very sensible and discreet policy with regard to the manifestations and alleged purposes of Fenianism in this country. There have been some calls from the other side of the water for it to “put down” Fenianism; but it was evident that those who made those demands were entirely ignorant of the nature and powers of our Government. On the other hand there had been with some of our citizens an idea that the Gov- ernment was winking at what was virtual- ly a violation of international comity, that it intended in this way to pay England back for her violations of neutrality during the war. Societies were formed and funds were raised in England to aid our rebellion: let there now be funds and societies here to aid the Irish rebellion. Privateers were fitted out at English ports to ravage our commerce: let privateers in turn now sail from our ports to destroy English com- merce. As a Confederate Plenipotentiary had a conference with Earl RUSSELL so, in return a Fenian “Centre” had an inter- view with President JOHNSON. As raids for arson and murder upon our soil were got up in Canada, so, in like manner, were raids for similar purposes in Canada, per- mitted to be organised upon our soil.

Such petty and pitiful argumentation as this has been employed by American jour- nals, and our Government has thus been accused of the most contemptible and hypocritical conduct.

Now, it is quite true that there has been a great deal of sensational writing in cer- tain newspapers for some weeks past about a gigantic raid into Canada that had been projected by the Fenians, and the Cana- dians have been wrought up into a high state of excitement by the telegraphic re- ports of these stories. But the day on which, according to all accounts, the grand DENOUMENT was to take place has just passed away, and all was as quiet on the St. Lawrence as it is on the Potomac. The Irishmen in Canada avouched their loyalty to the provincial Government; the popula- tion in general were under arms; but neither an enemy nor his shadow appeared on the frontier.

Now, knowing very well beforehand that such would be the case, what would any one have had our Government do? It could unquestionably have got up a real sensation, and probably have precipitated a heavy quarrel, by making a tremendous show of counteracting Fenian projects. Had it issued proclamations prohibiting Fenian raids—had it called out the militia to en- force our public obligations—had it station- ed a heavy military force along the bor- der, we have no doubt that amid the pre- vailing excitement that would have been aroused, and in the divided sentiment of the people, the Fenians would have been sharp enough to get a few hundred men through the lines somewhere, who would have pitched into the first place they could find in genuine Irish style, and then, when once the rumpus had opened, who can tell what would have been its developments and termination! There is no question that under these circumstances the public excitement would have become general and deep, and Fenianism would quickly have gone forth in practical action, had our Government gone furiously to work to crush its shadow, as some desired. It was far the most sensible thing for the Govern-

ment to act precisely as it did. It saw no signs of any violation of our neutrality, and it certainly could not be expected to believe or act upon the windy nonsense published by newspaper reporters. As for any interference with the organization known as Fenians, so long as it violated no law of the land, and made no practical attempt to disturb our foreign relations, no one who comprehends the rudiments of our political system could suppose it pos- sible. And the same may be said of any attempt to prevent the publication of the exciting falsehoods about Fenian projects and schemes, which have of late been the staple in some of our public journals. The Emperor of the French took the trouble, in his late speech, to draw a comparison between his Government and ours; but we may take this opportunity of pointing forth one of the differences between them, in the fact that while his government extin- guishes public societies, organizations and journals as it sees fit, ours is happily not endowed with such powers.

So of the so-called Fenian privateers. We have heard of some half-a-dozen as having been purchased on the lakes and in the sea-coast cities. We have heard many times, through the sensational sources already alluded to, that they were about to sail for somewhere to execute some portentous Fenian purpose. But we im- agine that the Fenian head-centres are better informed about the matter; and that the apparent unconcern of our au- thorities is simply owing to the fact that there is no cause whatever for concern.

It is not at all likely that there will be any call upon our Government for interference with Fenian movements in the future. The American Government has lately shown its determination to prevent rigidly all infringements of international law un- der all circumstances. CRAWFORD and his men, who lately made a breach of our neutrality for the purpose of aiding the Mexican Republic, with which we sympa- thise, were seized and put in close custody, to await their trial, and the officers of our army who connived with him were also summarily, dealt with. Again, in the re- cent case of Senor M‘KENNA, charged with an attempt to fit out privateers for the Chilian service against Spain—the Government had him promptly arrested, on evidence being furnished, although it is sure the sympathies of the American peo- ple were not with Spain in her quarrel with Chili. In these instances, our Gov- ernment gave decisive evidence of the policy it will pursue in these matters. But there is no likelihood, at present, that it will ever be called upon to carry out its policy against filibustering or privateering on the part of the Fenians.—-NEW YORK SEMI-WEEKLY TIMES.

MR. GORDON D. RAMSAY.—-The pro- vost marshal, against whom charges of murder are pending in Jamaica, was employed as clerk in a merchant's of- fice in Birmingham in the year 1849. Pecuniary embarrassment compelled him to leave the town, and he enlisted in the 17th Lancers, with which regi- ment he served in the Crimea. He was in the Balaklava charge, and was wounded in the leg. He went with his regiment to India, and served in the Indian mutiny. He afterwards got his discharge, and returned to Birmingham, where he remained for a short time, and then went to Jama- ica, where his relations resided. He there got into the police force. In Birmingham he was remarkable for a superabundance of animal spirits, but those who knew him say that there was nothing cruel in his disposition. Lake, the newspaper reporter, was in the same office with Ramsay in Bir- mingham. He is the son of a Jama- ica merchant-—hence his leaving Eng- land for that country. He was for some time at the Wesleyan College in Sheffield. He has some coloured blood in his veins. Judge Kerr, who has al- so been mentioned in connection with the proceedings in Jamaica, is a bro- ther-in-law of Mr. Alfred Tennyson, the poet laureate.—-Home News.

THE SCREW STEAMER SHENANDOAH, which created such terrible havoc a- mongst Federal vessels during the American war, has come under the hammer of Messrs. Kellock and Co., shipbrokers, at Liverpool, and was sold for £ 15,750, the purchaser being Mr. M. I. Wilson, ship-owner, of Li- verpool. When this vessel was bought for the Confederate government, two or three years ago, she was sold for £ 35,000.—-Home News.

Rules for Study.

Somebody has written these rules to be observed by students.

1. Learn one thing at a time.

2. Learn that thing well.

3. Learn its connection, as far as pos- sible, with other things.

4. Believe that to know every thing of something is better than to know some- thing of every thing.

-—Toil is the price of sleep and ap- petite of health and enjoyment.

—-Those who are careful to avoid of- fending others, are not apt to take of- fence themselves.

Piracy in China waters.

Sir,—-In the last China, Siam, and Straits papers I observe that reports of piracies still continue to occupy their columns. There seems to be no abatement of the evil. On the con- trary, it continues, to be as rife, and, if anything, more glaring than hitherto. The British Government has gone to a great deal of trouble and expense in its endeavours to suppress it, but in vain. Piracy must and will continue to exist and flourish so long as the ex- cuse for every junk and boat trading in the eastern seas going heavily arm- ed and doubly manned exists. All ef- forts to suppress piracy must be futile while the difficulty of distinguishing between pirates and legitimate traders lasts. This difficulty will continue un- til the Siamese, Chinese, and petty chieftains in the Eastern Archipelago be prevailed upon to agree to a total disarmament of the trading craft un- der their respective control. This ef- fected, a united marine police—-say men-of-war of every nation trading to the East-—should make a simultan- eous search for armed junks and prahus, and exterminate all found in the pos- session of offensive weapons. The fact of being found armed after the pro- mulgation of sufficient notice of the law being taken as prima facie proof of guilt. This seems to me to be the only safe and certain remedy for an evil the magnitude of which cannot be comprehended by those who do not know what an exorbitant tax on com- merce the arming and manning of ev- ery real trading junk and prahu is. This indirect impost on trade would be removed at once by the remedy which I have suggested, and the hon- est trader of every tribe and nation be benefited. This matter should be press- ed on the attention of the Chinese and Siamese Governments without de- lay. It is absurd in the Peking Gov- ernment to expect British gunboats to continue any longer a thankless and apparently interminable crusade a- gainst every pirate who can afford to bribe the mandarins for traders' papers. It should be told that such assistance as has hitherto been rendered in the suppression of piracy must be with- held, unless it takes measures whereby the trader and the pirate may be dis- tinguished, and the latter brought to justice. And the impossibility of dis- tinguishing between the two (except on chance occasions) renders it imper- ative that a general disarmament should be proclaimed and carried out with the least possible delay. Once take away the excuse for going armed and make the mere possession of weap- ons of offence proof of guilt which would entail instant destruction, and a comparatively small naval force will sweep piracy from the Eastern and China seas. By last accounts from the East we are informed that a scheme has been proposed to form an Eastern Trinity Board to supply bea- cons and lighthouses on the dangerous coasts of China and Japan, the said board to derive its authority from the whole of the treaty powers, and its funds from a tax levied on ships trad- ing to China and Japan, and payable at the port of entry. This scheme, you say is, in your opinion, "practic- able." I am of the same opinion, and with you wish it success. Its benefit to trade will, however, be but small, compared to the results derivable from that which I have suggested.

Every one in the least acquainted with the East knows that the arma- ments of native craft cost as much as the craft themselves; while the ex- pense of manning them under the pre- sent system is in all cases doubled, in many trebled. The recommendation given in your last London and China Telegraph, in the article headed "Straits of Malacca," for trading ves- sels to go more heavily armed if they wish immunity from attack, cannot, I fear, be successfully carried out. Hon- est traders cannot, in point of arma- ment, hope, unless at a ruinous cost, to compete with pirates; whereas the remedy which I suggest, if carried in- to effect, is a clear gain of at least 100 per cent. to the honest native, and leaves to the pirate but little hope of pursuing his guilty calling for any great length of time in the very teeth of native and foreign gunboats, as he now does. The importance of my subject must be my excuse for its pro- lixity.—-Yours sincerely,-—NAUTICUS.

Public Meetings.

On home topics Reform is still the prin- cipal one. Out of Parliament no move-

ment of any great importance has taken place. The debate on the second reading of the Bill was preceded by a meeting of the Liberal party at Earl Russell's official residence, at which the final explanations of the Government policy were made. Of course complete unanimity prevailed, as those members of the party who intend- ed to support Lord Grosvenor's amend- ment stayed away or remained silent. Earl Russell spoke for above an hour in sup- port of the Bill, and stated that after the second reading Government would speed- ily lay their Bill for Redistribution on the table of the House of Commons, and that they pledged themselves to stand or fall by it as absolutely as by the Franchise Bill. He also stated that in his opinion it was just and expedient that the same Parliament which passed the Franchise Bill should also pass the Bill for the Re- distribution of Seats. A meeting of Lord Derby's supporters also took place at the residence of the Marquis of Salisbury, attended by a large body of Conservative members, who were unanimous in their determination to support the amendment. More public meetings have been held, the most noticeable being those at the Man- sion-house, Westminster, Finsbury, and St. Martin's hall. At the latter Lord Elcho gallantly faced the noisy crowd of which it was composed in order to vin- dicate himself from the charges which have been brought against him of having vilified the working classes. At first the meeting refused to hear him, but Mr. Thomas Hughes got up and declared that if Lord Elcho was not listened to he would not speak himself; upon this his lordship was allowed to go on, and eventually his speech was loudly cheered. The press generally condemns the measure; of the respectable daily journals (among which it is needless to say Mr. Bright's organ cannot be classed) all but two—the DAILY NEWS and the GLOBE—-are against it; and the GLOBE, being avowedly a Minis- terial organ, cannot fairly be counted as an exponent of public opinion. No very unusual excitement was observable out of doors on the day of the debate on the second reading, and we need hardly say that the working classes had too much good sense to follow up the mischievous suggestion thrown out as to their assembl- ing in thousands from Charing-cross to Palace-yard. In Palace-yard, however, there was a fair sprinkling of lookers-on, and by 3 o'clock some three or four hund- red were waiting about. Mr. Fawcett, as he was led slowly along Palace-yard by a friend, was the first Liberal member who elicited any expression of opinion from the people. He was very warmly cheered, and in fact his reception was almost equal to that of Mr. Gladstone himself. This applause naturally drew together an increased number of spec- tators, on the old metropolitan principle that people stop to see what other people have assembled for. The term "assembl- ed," however, conveys a rather exag- gerated notion of the number who actually waited. At no time were there more than between 600 or 700, not much more than is usual on a "Budget night." Mr. Goschen, the Duke of Argyll, Mr. Layard, and Mr. T. Hughes were all recognised as they drove up, and were warmly applaud- ed, not by cheers as much as by clapping of hands. Mr. Gladstone also was cheered with great enthusiasm as he drove past to the Speaker's entrance. Beyond these few tokens of passing feeling there is nothing to record of what was expected to be a sort of great outdoor Reform demonstration.-—L. & C. Express.

In the House of Commons the second reading of the Franchise Bill was moved by Mr. Gladstone on the 12th instant; whereupon Lord Grosvenor brought for- ward his Amendment in a comprehensive but somewhat feeble speech. Lord Stan- ley, on the other hand, seconded the motion in an address which will long be remembered as an example of clear and consistent reasoning, vigorous energy and sincere liberality. He ruthlessly exposed the blindness and folly of a piecemeal reform of the representation, and with masterly logic showed that no measure was deserving of support unless it em- braced at once not only the franchise, but a careful redistribution of seats and a rectification of the boundaries. An ani- mated debate ensued, during which the Marquis of Hartington made a weak effort to reply to Lord Stanley, but rather lost ground than otherwise. The second night's debate was dull, with the exception of two speeches—those of Sir Bulwer Lyt- ton and Mr. J. Stuart Mill. The former was more than usually eloquent, and his address was attentively listened to by a crowded house. Mr. Mill is so far the only supporter of the Government who has made anything like a consistent reply to Lord Stanley, but even his speech, although a masterpiece in its way, had little effect on the cogent arguments of his opponent. At the preliminary meet- ing of the Liberal party it was whispered that some Earl Russell only counted on a majority of about thirty; the course of the debate so far connot fail to have a diminishing effect on this small number, and if there be any truth in a rumour lately current, to the effect that Lord Grosvenor's Amendment was drawn up by no less a person than Earl Grey,-—then the chances for and against the second reading of the Bill seem pretty evenly balanced,—-with perhaps a slight prepon- derance AGAINST.-—L. & C. Express.

THE ESCAPE OF STEPHENS.—-The Head Centre, who is still in Paris has there given the following statement relative to his capture and escape:—-" My arrest took place because I wished it. For many hours I knew that the police were on my traces, and it was my pleasure to be ar- rested in order to prove that I could es- cape with the greatest ease. While in prison I was treated with the utmost re- gard. I wanted for nothing, and in this respect I cannot too highly praise the English Government. But it was absolutely necessary to depart. I had expressed my desire to do so to a person of whom I was sure, with whom an unexpected circum- stance put me in communication, and the prison doors, so to speak, stood open be- fore me. I don't know whether any one meant to stop me, but around me I saw only accomplices. 'But once out of prison,' observed a listener, 'how did you manage to leave Ireland?' 'Once out of prison I fled to the country. Money and a revolver were given me. I then heard that a reward of £40,000 was offered for me, and that any one who discovered me was to bring me to Dublin dead or alive. I remained, up to the time of my getting on board ship, in the country, living during the day in a hut, and going out at night to reach another. In every place where I took refuge I was well known. Indeed, I was expected there. Notwithstanding the large sum offered by the Irish Govern- ment for my apprehension, nobody ven- tured to inform against me; and this single fact proves that Ireland was at my disposal.' 'And now what are your plans?' 'I am going to America for an army of 200,000 men who are expecting me, and I will return with them to deliver Ireland, my country, from the British yoke."

Robert Bloomfield and his
"Farmer's boy."

This true poet of nature was born in 1766, at a small village in Suffolk. His father died in the same year, leaving his widow with five other children besides Ro- bert. To obtain a maintenance, she opened a school, and taught her own children the elements of reading, along with those of her neighbours. Besides this education, Bloomfield was taught to write for two or three months at a school in the town of Ixworth. At the age of eleven, he went to work upon his uncle's farm, re- ceiving only his board for his labour. In his fifteenth year, he was removed to London, to join his two brothers in making shoes in a garret in Bell Alley, Coleman Street. At this time he read about as many hours every week as boys generally spend in play. He next wrote a few verses, which were printed in the LONDON MAGAZINE; and he was observed to read with much avidity a copy of Thomson's SEASONS, which first inspired Bloomfield with the thought of composing a long poem, such as the FARMER'S BOY, the idea being favoured by a visit of two months to his native district, where he had often held the plough, driven a team, and tended sheep. He returned to London and shoe- making; but some years elapsed before he produced his FARMER'S BOY, which he composed while he sat at work in his garret in Bell Alley, with six or seven other workmen; and nearly six hundred lines were completed before Bloomfield committed a line to paper. The poem was published in 1800, was translated in- to French and Italian, and partly into Latin; 26,000 copies were sold in three years; and it was the dearest of the low- ly-born poet's gratifications, when his book was printed, to present a copy of it to his mother, to whom he then had it in his power, for the first time, to pay a vis- it, after twelve years' absence from his native village.

Bloomfield was a little boy for his age. "When I met him and his mother at the inn" (in town), says his brother, "he strutted before us, just as he came from keeping sheep, hogs, &c., his shoes filled full of stumps in the heels. He, looking about him, slipped up; his nails were un- used to a flat pavement. I remember viewing him as he scampered up,—how small he was. I hardly thought that lit- tle fatherless boy would be one day known and esteemed by the most learned, the most respected, the wisest, and the best men of the kingdom."—SCHOOL-DAYS OF EMINENT MEN.

The Beaver.

So much that is wonderful has been re- corded of the beaver, that intelligent writers have not scrupled to express a belief, that it possesses but little of that surprising sagacity and skill ascribed to it. Mr. Joseph Sansum, of New York, gives an account of the Canadian beaver, which confirms the general character given of their habits and economy. He tells us, that in the recesses of Canadian forests, UNDISTURBED BY MAN, the beaver is a practical EXAMPLE of ALMOST EVERY VIR- TUE, he is a pattern of conjugal fidelity and paternal care ; laborious, frugal, hon- est, and ingenious. He submits to Gov- ernment, for the benefits of association; but is never known to make depredations upon his weaker neighbours. Wherever a number of them come together, they combine to perform the common business of constructing their habitation; appar-

estly acting under the most intelligent design, no contention or disagreement be- ing ever observed among them. When a sufficient number are collected to form a town, the public business is first attend- ed to; and as they are amphibious anim- als, provision is made for spending their time, occasionally both in and out of the water, so that they seek a situation which is adapted to both these purposes.

A lake or pond, and sometimes a run- ning stream, is pitched upon. If it be a lake or pond, the water in it is always deep enough to admit of their swimming under the ice. If it be a stream, it is al- ways such a stream as will form a pond, that shall be convenient for their purpose; and they never fix upon a situation that will not answer their views. Their next business is to construct a dam, this is al- ways placed in the most convenient part of the stream; the form of it is either straight, rounding, or angular, as the pe- culiarities of the situation require; and no human ingenuity could improve their labours in this respect. The materials they use are wood and earth; they choose a tree on the river side, which will readily fall across the stream; and some of them apply themselves to cut it through with their teeth: others cut down smaller trees, which they divide into equal and conven- ient lengths, some drag these pieces to the brink of the river, and others swim with them to the spot where the dam is forming: others are engaged in sinking one end of these stakes; and as many more in raising, and securing the other ends of them; some are employed, in car- rying on the plastering part of the work; the earth is brought in their mouths, formed into mortar with their feet and tails, and spread over the intervals be- tween the stakes; saplings, and twigs be- ing interwoven with the mud of the stream.

Where two or three hundred beavers are united, these dams are from six to twelve feet thick at the bottom; at the top, not more than two or three. In that part of the dam which is opposed to the current, the stakes are placed obliquely; but on that side where the water is to fall over, they are placed perpendicularly. These dams are sometimes a hundred feet in length, and always of the exact height which will answer their purpose. The ponds thus formed, sometimes cover five or six hundred acres; and to preserve the dams against inundation, sluices near the middle are left for the redundant water to pass off.

When the public works are completed, the beavers separate into small compan- ies, to build cabins or houses for them- selves. These are build upon piles, on the borders of the pond. They are of an oval construction, resembling a bee- hive; and vary from four to ten feet in diameter, according to the number of families they are to accommodate. These dwellings are never less than two stories high, generally three; and some- times they contain four apartments. The walls are from two to three feet thick, formed of the same materials as the dams. On the inside, they are made smooth; but they are left rough without, and are impenetrable to rain. The low- er story is two feet high, the second is formed by a floor of sticks covered with mud, and the upper terminates with an arched roof. Through each floor there is a passage, and the uppermost is always above the level of the water. Each of these huts has two doors, one on the land side, to admit of their going out that way; another under the water, and be- low where it freezes, to preserve the com- munication of the beavers with the pond.

No association can appear more happy, or be better regulated, than the tribe of beavers. In September, they lay up their winter's stock, which consists of bark and the tender twigs of trees. Then com- mences the season of repose; during the winter they remain within, every one en- joying the fruits of his own labour, with- out pilfering from any other.

Towards spring, the females bring forth their young. Soon after, the male retires to gather firs and vegetables, but the dam remains at home. The male re- turns occasionally, but not to tarry, until the end of the year; should however, any injury happen to the works, the society are soon collected by some unknown means, and join all their forces to repair the damages.

When an enemy approaches their vil- lage, the beaver who perceives the stran- ger, strikes on the water with his tail, to give notice of danger; and the whole tribe instantly plunges into the water.

In a state of nature, undisturbed by barbarous and selfish man, this provident animal lives fifteen or twenty years, and prepares the way for several generations, by adapting his dwellings to the increase of his family.—BRITISH WORKMAN.

A New Island.

A new island began to rise above the level of the sea in the Bay of Thera (Santorin) on the 4th Feb., and in five days it attained the height of from 130ft. to 150ft., with a length of up- wards of 350ft. and a breadth of 100ft. It continues to increase, and consists of a rusty black metallic lava, very heavy, and resembling half smelted scoria which has boiled up from a furnace. It contains many small whitish semi-trans-

parent particles, disseminated through the mass like quartz or felspar. The shape of Santoriu on the map gives an idea of its volcanic formation. It ap- pears to be the eastern half of an im- mense crater, stretching in a semi- circle round a bay in which the sea now covers the seat of volcanic action. The destruction of the south western rim of the crater let in the water. The north-western portion is the island of Therassia. The bay is about six geogra- phical miles long, and upwards of four broad. Near the centre there are three islands which have risen from the sea during eruptions recorded in history —-Palaia, Nea, and Mikro Kaimene, or Old, New, and Little Burnt (Island), naming them in their order from west to east. The present eruption com- menced on the 31st January. A noise like volleys of artillery was heard, but without any earthquake. On the fol- lowing day flames issued from the sea, in a part of the bay called Vulkanos, where the water is always discoloured and impregnated with sulphur from abundant springs at the bottom. The flames rose at intervals to the height of 15ft., and were seen at times to is- sue from the south-western part of Nea Kaimene. That island was soon rent by a deep fissure, and the southern part sank considerably. On Feb. 4th the eruptions become more violent and the sea more disturbed. Gas forced itself up from the depths with terrific noise, resembling the bursting of a steam boiler; flames arose at intervals, and white smoke, rising steadily, formed an immense column, crowned with a curled capital of dark heavy clouds. The new island was visible next morn- ing, increasing sensibly to the eye as it rose out of the sea at no great dis- tance to the south of Nea Kaimene.

—The Queen of England is now so- vereign over, it is said, one continent, 100 peninsulas, 600 promontories, 1,000 lakes, 2,000 rivers and 10,000 islands. Her subjects number more than 150,000,- 000. By a wave of her hand she can summon an army of 500,000 soldiers and a navy of 1,000 ships of war and 100,000 sailors. The Assyrian empire was not so wealthy as that of Great Britian; the Roman empire was not so populous; the Persian empire was not so extensive; the Arabian empire was not so powerful; the Carthaginian empire was not so much dreaded, the Spanish empire not so wide- ly diffused.

—'Jeannie, it's a solemn thing to get married." "I know it, father," re- plied the sensible damsel, "but it's a great deal solemnner not to "

Prices Current.

EXCHANGE—-On SingaPore 1s. 13¾ 10d. Hongkong 2 % cent discount 80 d. a. Lon- don 2s. 9¾d. 6. m. s.

The opening of the Mint.

At the Mint yesterday morning, a small round disc of silver was presented to one of the coining presses by Lady MACDON- NELL, and instantly returned by that in- telligent machine, as the first new dollar at the Hongkong Mint. Other pieces of silver have doubtless been impressed with the approved device before now, but these were unimportant trial dollars. That coin of which we speak is the first legitimate new dollar, the eldest child of the Mint; despite those unorthodox pieces of money, its brothers and sisters, that have seen the light before their time. Truth to tell, it came out oily, but was notwithstanding, the herald of the new currency, was wiped clean with much tenderness and respect, handed round and admired as a remarkably fine child, and carefully pocketed by His Excellen- cy. No public ceremony took place in honor of commencing business. To en- tertain a crowd of visitors in a build- ing intended for work of an important kind, is a troublesome task at the best, but to do this before the routine of work has become familiar to the staff would have been a more embarrassing duty than could fairly have been thrown on the of- ficials of the Mint at the outset of their career. The GOVERNOR therefore, Lady MACDONNELL, and Mr. MERCER, accom- panied by Mr. STEWART, and one or two others, present as a matter of business, composed the whole party which was yes- terday escorted round the building by Captain KINDER.

An establishment like the Mint is one which gives material for descriptive writ- ing in such extraordinary abundance that it is not easy to break from the subject, but we do not now wish to repeat a nar- rative already told or weary the readers with scientific details that may not be in- teresting to all alike. The Mint is now A FAIT ACCOMPLI, no longer a project of uncertain prospects but an active business the initial success of which has proved extraordinarily great. As we have said before, there has been a rush of custom to the Mint. The bankers may keep their opinions in reserve and talk about sending some bullion as an experiment if they like, but it must be admitted, when $2,000,000 are brought to the premises on the first day, that they seem inclined to try the experiment on a large scale. We have often in these columns spoken of the Mint in no very friendly spirit, because it has swallowed up a reserve fund which was not devoted to that pur- pose by the wish of the colony, and people who are economical enough to save money ought,—-not to speak extra- vagantly,—-to have a voice in its disposal. But now we HAVE the Mint and it is clearly wise to make the best of it, clear- ly also the most straight-forward course to acknowledge that according to all ap- pearances, it is possible to make of it, a very good Mint indeed.

Yokohama.

DEATH OF MR. MACDONALD.—-It is with deep regret that we announce the death of Mr. Macdonald, first assistant to Her Majesty's Embassy in Japan. For some time past he has not been well, as was evident to the other members of leg- ation, rather by occasional incoherence and a non-disposition to speak except in monosyllables, which was quite foreign to his ordinary habit. On Wednesday he was at a pic-nic, and nothing at all re- markable was observable—-but on Thurs- day morning, Dr. Willis, who had watched his changed manner for several days told him, that he had been expecting that he would consult him, but as he did not, he thought it his duty to speak to him, and urge that he should seek some change of air and scene. In this Mr. Macdonald seemed to acquiesce, and probably would have either taken a trip home, or paid a visit to his old chief Sir Rutherford Al- cock at Pekin. He intended to go to Yeddo that morning, but felt so tired from the preceding day's pic-nic—-that he postponed his journey. About a quar- ter past five on the same afternoon, he was walking with two friends near the store of Messrs. McKechnie & Co., when he was seized with paralysis—and having been first taken into McKechnie's he was immediately after removed to the Com- mercial Hotel. Dr. Willis and Dr. Jenkins were speedily with him, and did every- thing that could be done for him—-but from the first it was evident there was very little hope of recovery. His right side was completely paralysed—-and to all enquiries, there was but one reply—-that the worst fears might be entertained. Sir Harry Parkes and Mr. Myburgh and sev- eral gentlemen of the legation were with him very quickly, and remained for a considerable time. The Rev. Mr. Bailey also arrived the instant he heard of the seizure, but found Mr. Macdonald quite unconscious. He remained throughout the night that he might be of service either in his vocation or otherwise assist Dr. Willis and other watchers. The suf- ferer rallied slightly about 6 A.M. on Fri- day—-but never fully regained conscious- ness, and soon relapsed into his former hopeless condition. He died at 4.20 P.M. on Friday. He was 28 years of age—- and was a native of Inverness, although principally brought up in London. He entered the diplomatic service in 1859, and was much esteemed, not only for his abilities and business like habits, but for His gentleman like demesnour and thor- ough amiability of character.—-JAPAN HERALD.

Chefoo.

Recent advices confirm the rumours received vis Hankow some weeks ago, to the effect that Mr. M. C. Morrison was murdered while on his way from Peking to Hankow overland. Our correspon- dent considers that the report still re- quires confirmation, although the native officials appear to believe it.—-O. T. R.

The Punjab.

The Punjab is in high spirits at the con- cession of that increase in the pay of gov- ernment officers to the level of the salaries elsewhere, which ought to have been made long ago. Once more the Punjab will be the province most coveted by the best men in India. It used to be so in the Dalhousie period, when the North West was stripped of its most promising civilians. Since that time, owing to delay in the in- crease of pay and the comparative absence of prizes, the Punjab has rather been a nursery for Oudh and Central India. We trust that we may take this increase as the first instalment of justice to the middle and lower ranks of all classes of officials. Is it the dawn of a new and more generous regime, when Government will assume its old position during the reign of the Court of Directors, of a liberal master exacting hard work but paying good wages? Let Mr. Massey reply, for Earl de Grey will doubtless sanction liberal recommenda- tions from the Government of India in spite of his council and secretaries, who consider India salaries enormous when compared with their own and think noth- ing of the rise of prices, the ravages of climate and the bitterness of separation. In the Punjab living is now almost as dear as in Calcutta. Notwithstanding splen- did harvests the price of all agricultural produce is dearer than in the year of the great famine, owing to the export of wheat and all the finer grains in enormous quantities to Bombay. A careful com- pilation of the records of trade and prices at Lahore shews that, but for the impro- tation of coarse pulses from Malwa, the people there would starve. But the peasantry must be enriched by the dif- ference between the dear grain exported and the cheap grain which takes its place. MAULMAIN ADVERTISER.