be remarked that there was no account of the

death ovae. ‘ Nor of Adam either,’ said one'of

the compan . ‘ I beg your pardon, replied a

religious lady , ‘ Ifyou read your bible careful- , lv, you will ti,in it stated that Adam was gather-

s}! to hisforefatherr ."

About the year 1500, a Chinese merchant opened amine of precious stones. As soon as it was known the Emperor caused it to be shut with this observation: ‘Useless labour causes sterility; a mine of precious stones does not produce corn.’

To the Editor ofthe British American.

MR. EDITOR,

The Road Commissioners require more caustic than my friend Aliter seems dis- posed to allow them, I shall now and then endeavour to give them a broad hint; in the ﬁrst place I should strongly recommend the measure of keeping all place-men out of the House of Assembly, such as your preventive land otﬁcers,oﬂicers of impost as it is fashionably called, we will call them excise oﬂicers, all commissioners of the roads and small debt magistrates, and most certainly all contractors. We are too poor to hold out great comparative temptations, read the names and characters of the ma- jority of the present House of Assembly, and look at their situations under Govern- ment—the danger is not with the Govern- ment but with the Assembly ; ifI being a member of that House happen to make :1 am: pas as a public ofﬁcer, it is not impos- sible that I should seek the protection and countenance of a brother similarly situated. We are all reformists, now let us look to the House of Commons of England, at pre- sent containing six hundred and ﬁfty-eight members, most ofthemrich, compare it with our House of Assembly of eighteen mem- bers, most of them poor, and then let us draw our conclusions as to the danger of temptation. Any remark would be an in- sult to common sense,-—my strictures shall regard minute subjects rather than general observations. I have already said and shall continue to say, that the workmanship of several of the contracts lately made, re- quires very close inspection, and no small degree of investigation, that is to say, as to the relative situation of the commissioner and contractor, “ kissing goes by favour,” but that is not always virtuous kissing I have heard of some of this kind of kissing not 100 miles from St. Peter’s Bay, and some at no great distance from the west side of Richmond Bay, and some more kis- sing on the road leading from Hilsboro Ferry towards George-Town There are certain occurrences on that last mentioned line of road rather paradoxical, and not en- tirely legitimate ; the job at M’Kenzies’ Creek must be enquired after, and the tip- ping up Bridge at Acorn’s Creek should e thought of before any horse or foot passenger pops through it, which will very shortly be the case unless some means shall

THE BRITTISH AMERICAN

be used to prevent it. I should like to ask Mr. Jones, not only as a commissioner but as a mechanic, whether he passed that Bridge? and whether he received any can-- tion about it? and Ishall proceed on that road no farther at present,—but prcnez pa- tience, we shall have more of it soon. I take it for granted that when a commissi- oner is required to proceed upon a contract he should give fair and reasonable public notice of it, that it should be open to public competition, and the lowest bidder should be deemed the contractor, providing he ﬁnds proper security. I think the com- missioner should inspect the work as it pro- gresses, I hope the commissioners are bound to send to their correspondent faith- ful and particular accounts of all offers made for each contract, but I have

heard very awkard stories in that respect. I have heard it said they should be sworn to do their duty,

but I am not very fond of oaths of ofﬁce. I observe that by the 13th clause of the Road Act, 5 Geo. 4, the Governor is empowered to grant to each commissioner, “ a sum of money yearly, not exceeding £10,” and I further see that by the statute of last session c.27, 1401. is allowed for the commissioners salaries; now 12 times 101. according to Cocker is only 1201. [should like to learn the name of the lady or gentleman, who drew the plan and specification of Crone- bane Bridge; which I believe is, or is to be when it is ﬁnished, on Lot 35, and what was the artists mode of measuring it, by which we have sucha deuce of a jump to take at or near its centre ? Who is to be paid for this ascertainment P We must economize Mr. Editor, and that promptly—our Civil List here must soon be paid and paid in solid stuﬁ‘, and then smash bubbles, and a union with Nova Scotia stares us in the face. The light, the power of truth and honesty will break in upon us. Away with jobs andjobbers, and sycophants, we must be industrious and punctual, or we must starve. In my next I shall paint some more man-traps in the shape of Bridges on the Tryon Road. I’our’s kc. RUB. September 19, 1832. mom BELL’s wnnKLv messnnonn, July, 2’2.

.MolherumlL—A Tory Lord, anxious for the honour ofbecoming M. P in the Reform Housc, waited on an elector, to beg and request the favour ofhis support at the ensuing election ; the reply was, “ Odd. my Lord, I’m no very sure ifI hae avote yat ;” to which his Lordship, with the utmost suavity of manner and impres- siveness ofspeech, replied, “ Oh. Sir, I can as- sure you that under the new bill you will have a vote.” “ Then the de’il thank you for‘t, my Lord, forif ye could hae hinder'd it ye would hae done it. Reformers ken wha hae been their friends, my Lord, and will support them,” wa: the indignant but honest reply of the 101. v0 er.

no. a. OFFlCE.

“ So long as allowances are made for ofﬁcial men, so long as the drafts on credit in consi- deration ofditﬁculties unknown are answered. there will be dishonesty in the Government for the dishonesty is favored by the indulgence extended to those who excuse their lapses by alleging the necessity of yielding to hidden in- ﬂuences. Let the strict law of opinion be put on ofﬁcial men, and they must either act up to the hi h line of duty, or by their resignations make nown that there is something passing behind the scenes which renders it impossible for an honest man to hold ofﬁce together with the world’s respect. The remedy of the evil will follow soon upon its exposure. Were the public a more rigorous interpreter of the con- duct of statesmen [as it is its policy and duty to be] Compromises behind the curtain would not be made; nay, they would not be asked. The indulgence granted to those who yield to solicitations to abandon good urposes is an ar— gument for the corrupter, and) takes from the assailed a reply which would deliver him from importunity—‘ The people will think me a knave ifl abandon the objects! have propo- sed.’ Indulgence to any degree of apostacy is unkindness to honest men, who are thence sub.

‘jected to importunate and vexatious attempts

on their principles, and it comforts and assists the rogues.” MR. HUME. ~

“Mr. Hume has again been singing the praises of the King, and giving reasons for it. True, he dissolved the Parliament, and recalled Lord Grey, but he also refu- sed to create Peers, and compelled the re- signation of the Minister, whom he recalled when he could not help it. Since the great discovery it has appeared that the King was also adverse to the dissolution of Parli- ament, for which Mr. Hume now praises him, and brought to consent to it with ex- treme difﬁculty. For the sake of morality we wish esteemed public men would e- vince a stricter regard to truth, which should not be sacriﬁced even to charity.

A FEW narrow“. QUESTIONS. To the Editor of The Bell’s New Weekly Messenger.

Sin—If any one of your numerous read- ers will have the goodness to answer the following questions, he will confer a great favor on the public.

Have the Kings of England any personal and distinct interests, separate and apart from those of the great bulk and entire mass of the people ?

Why do not the Kings of England associ— ate with any other than their own creatures —the higher classes, as they are called, of his subjects.

Is it at all necessary to the personal com- forts and conveniences of the King, to be constantly beset by a number of toad-eat- ing attendants ? and if the King reigns in the hearts of his people, why is anumerous host of armed troopers required for his pro- tection ?

Why are all the places of trust and pro- ﬁt in the Government, in Church and

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