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A WEEKLY JOURNAL OF POLITICS, LITERATURE AND NEWS.

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EDWARD WIELAN]

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MOON'S PHASES. — NOVEMBER, 1856. Pirst Quarter 5th day, Ih. 10m. evening. F.S. Pull Moon 12th day, 4h. 43m. morning. Ws. Last Quarter 19th day, 6h. 22m. morning.

New Moon 27th day, 11h. 48m. morning. ~—__——_—o ee

Literature.

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LIVE AND LET LIVE.

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Whence hath come that ancient saying, Simple words and few, All the truth of life displaying In a single view? From the past a voice far reaching— Would we better heed its teaching, if its source we knew?

Nought hath for itself existed Since the world began ;

Nought hath the great law resisted, Save the soul of man.

From the sun its light bestowing,

To the meanest thing ungrowing, Trace the wondrous plan.

Live! remembering that thou livest Not alone by bread !

Give! for in whate’er thou givest, Thy life forth is shed!

When the flower no leaf unfoldeth,

W hen the tree its fruit withhboldeth, We pronounce it dead.

Have no light, no joy, no blossing, Which thou dost not shure!

Bind no burden so oppressing, Phat thou could’st not bear!

Earth gives back ber harvest smiling—

Should the brow that sweats with tuiling Want and sorrow wear?

Have ye given to those who win ye All your wealth and pride,

What their waste of nerve and sinew, For your use supplied ;

For the life spent daily dying,

For the souls within them erying, Owe you nought beside?

Say not, brother, poor and lowly, «¢ This is not for me”’

To live with purpose true and holy, Never loss.can be ;

So this text and teaching humble

Shall not causs thy foot to stumble, Speaking thus to thee :—

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T.i@ hath things of which the sharing OLA Inerease the sturc, Loast hath ho who sows most sparing, When the harvest’s o’er : Give a cup of water®nly, To thy neighbour sick and lonoly, If thou hast no more.

V7-__o-eor oo 7 <D.eoe 2-— --— —---—

(From Putnem’s Monthly.) 7’ ¥ vT . rr rT ~~ THE OCEAN DEPTHS. & DIVER'S TALE.

The life of

Me wee +, : not more perilous than fascinating. The charm of terror bangs around it, und the interminable succession of exciting events renders it dear to its professor. Not the common diver of the East, who can remain but for a fraction of time beneath the wave, aud group fearfully among rugged ocean mounds,

_ but to the adept in the civilized mode of diving, who in his

protective atmour, may remain submerged for hours, apd wander with impunity for miles along those unkvown regious far below the sea. To him are laid open the horrors of the watery ereation, and he may guze upon such seenes as Arabian story telis us were presented to the fearful eyes of Abdallah. To him the most. thrilling occurrences of the upper wor! seem frivolous; for in his memory he retains thoughts that may well chil] the soul with dread.

[ am a diver—a diver from choice—and I am proud of | sounded in my ears; Then my heart throbbed wildly; for | door little by little, placing a block in to kéép what I had Where is such courage required as is necded | it was a,fearful thing to hear far, down ia the silent depths | gained. But the work was sléw and Jaborious, and I had

my proicssion. here? It ig nothiug to be a soldier; a diver, however—but i forbear. concerning it.

An appalling shipwreck occurred not Jong ago, upon the

wildest part of the coast of Newfoundland. The tidings of

this calamity reached the ears of thousands; but amid the evowd of accidents which followed in quick succession, it was soon forgotten. Not by us, however. We found that the

vessel bad suk upon a spot where the water's depth was by |. He stepped forward and clutched my arm. He pressed ventured again so near the cabin,

no meaus great, and thet a daring man might ¢asily reach her.

She was a steamer called the Marmion, and had been seen going suddenly down, without an instant’s warning, by some fishermen near by, She had, undoubtedly, struck a bidden rock, aud thus been, in cae moment, destroyed.

I spoke to my associates of the plan, and they approved it. No time was lost in making the necessary preparations, and a short time beheld us ewbarked in our smal! schooner for the sunken ship, ‘There were six of us, and we anticipated extraordinary success.

_ I was the leader, and generally ventured upon any exploit in which there was uncommon danger. Not that the others Were cowards; on the contrary, they were all brave men, but I was gifted with a coolness und a presence of mind of waich

a wanda ve

| ‘Ah! and he uttered a low exclamation, which sounded | }

downward towards the south, and rising slightly toward the

Chis is true Liberty, when Free-born Men, having to advise the Public, may speak free.-—eveiPrves.

[EDITOR axv PUBLISHER.

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RATS er Renna ae on ae eM eee mm -

hollow from his cavernous helmet. ‘ All ready,’ I cried.in a loud yoice, which they, however,

(could not easily distinguish, Then making a proper sign, I}

was swung over the side,

Down we went, I first, and Rimmer close behind me. It) did not take a Jong time for us to reach the bottom. We found ourselves upon what seemed a broad plain, sloping |

north, Looking forward then, a dim, black object ‘arose, which our experienced eyes knew to be a lofty rock.

I motioned to Rimmer that we should proceed there.

1 cannot tell the strangeness of the sensation felt by one who first walks the bottom of the sea,

There are a thousand objects, fitted to excite astonishment, even ia the mind of him who has dared the deed a bundred times. All aroand us lay the plain, covered by water; but here the eye could not pierce far away, as in the upper air, for the water in the distance grew opaque, and seemed to fade away into misty darkness. ‘There was no sound, except the | incessant gurgle which was produced by the escape of air! from the breast valve, and the splash caused by our passage through the waters. We walk on ata good pace; for this armour, which seems so clumsy up above, is excellent below, | and offers little inconvenience to the practised wearer.

1

one who explores the mysteries of the sca is

i will tell my story, and leave others to judge |

and size met our eyes, no matter where we turned. They! iswam swiftly by us; they sported in the water above us; | they raced and ehaecd one another, in every direction. Here

& grampus migit be seen risiuy slowly to the surfaeg, here

huge ones, with ponderous forms floated in the water lazily. Sometimes three or four placed themselves directly tik solemuly working their gills. There they would rené | till we came. close up to them, and then, with a start, {would dart away. a All this time we were walking onward, along. the tom of the sea, while above us, like a black cloud in the sky, we ‘could see soar boat moving slowly onward upon the surface lof the ‘dcr. And new, not more thau a hundted yards

| before us, we could see the towering form of that ebony rock |

|which h#d ati first greeted our eyes from afar. « As yetfwe ,could not be certain that:this was the place where,thg Mar- inion had struck, But soon a round, black object Pecame | discernible, a8 we glanced at the rocky base.

{ Rimmer struck my art, and pointed. L. jand we meved onward more quickly. — | A few moments elapsed;. ye bad come n | The blaek object now looked J

‘hull lay there. ,

| Suddenly, Ringer struck o Following the direction of hi

;

assent,

he rock. 1 whose

, nd pointed upward, , [looked up, and saw the upper surface of the water all foamy and in motion. There Was a momentary thrill through the heart, but it passed over. | We were in adangerous condition. A storm was coming on! | But should we turn back now, when we were so near the jobject of our search? Already it lay before us. We were i close beside it. No, 1 would not. [ signalized to Rimmer |10 yo forward, and we still kept our course.

| Now the rock rese up before us, black, rugged, dismal. | Its rough sides were worn by the action of the water, and,

jin some places, were covered with marive plants and name-|

| less ocean vegetation. We passed onward, we clambered over }a spur, which jatted from the cliff, and there lay the steamer. | The Marmion—there she lay upright, with everything still jstarding. She had gone right down and settled in such a | position, among the rocks, that she stood upright here, just though she lay at her wharf. We rushed eagerly along and clambered up her side. There was a low moan in the water,

which sounded warningly iu oar ears, and told us of a swift. |

!

approachiug danger. What was to be done must be done speedily. We hurried forward. ‘Rimmer rushed ‘to the cabin. I went forward to descend into the hold. I descended the ladder. I waiked into the engineer’s room. All was ewpty here, all was water. The waves of the ocean had entered, and were sporting with the works of man. I went ‘into the freight room. Suddenly [ was startled by an appall- |ing noise upon the deck. The heavy footsteps of some one 'rauning, as though in mortal fear, or most dreadful haste,

‘of the ocean.

Pshaw! its only Rimmer.

| I harriediy ascended the deck by the first outlet that ‘appeared, When I speak of hurry, 1 speak of the quickest movement possible, when cumbered with so much armour. But this movement of mine was quick; I rushed upwards; ‘I sprang out upon the deck.

It was Rimmer!

)#t with a convulsive grasp, and poiuied to the cabin.

I attempted to go there,

He stamped his foot, and tried to hold me hack. He pointed to the boat, and implored me, with frantic gestures, to go up. | Ibis appalling to witness the horror-struck soul trying to express itself by signs. It is aw/ul to see these signs when 'the face is’ plainly visible, and no voice is heard. I could ‘not see his face plainly, but his eyes, through his heavy mask, | glowed like coals of fire.

‘Iwill go!’ Lexclaimed. Isprangfromhim. He clasped ; bis hands together, but dared not follow. ; | Good heavens! I thought, what fearful thing is here ? ‘What scene can be so dreadful as to paralyze the soul of a | ractised diver. TI will see for myself.

Fishes in erowds were around us. Fishes of every shape | faces — faces twisted into spasmodie contortions, while the | touched the steamer, had ‘slightly’ rolled. a shoal of porpoises tumbled alongyin clumsy gambols, Casi) ee depths the swell would not be very strong, unless it

ap limeuse bumber of smaller fish flashed past us, thes me | increasing, though I had not noticed it, and the motion of the a

PFI

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TTETOWN, PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1856.

the beams, others the sides of the cabin—tbere they all stood.

Near the door was a erowd of people, heaped upon one another

—some on the floor, others rushing over them—al! seeking

madly to gain the outlet. There was one who sought to

clamber over the table, and still was there, holding on to an) iron post. So strong was each convulsive grasp, so fierce! the struggle of each with death, that their hold had not yet | been relaxed; but each one stood and looked frautically to the door.

To the door—good God! 'To me, to me they were looking! They were glancing at me, all those dreadful, those terrible eyes! Eyes ia which the fire of life had been displaced by the chilling gleam of death, Eyes whieh still glared, like tue eyes of the maniac, with no expression, They froze me with their cold and icy stare. They had no meaning; for the soul had gone. And this made it still more horrible than it could bave been in life; for the appalling contortion of their fuees, expressing fear, horrer, despair, and whatever else the human soul may. feel, contrasting with the cold and glassy eyes, made their vacancy yet more fearful. He upon the table seemed more fieudish than the others; for his long, black hair was dishevelled, and floated horribly down——and his beard and moustache, all loosened by the water, give him the grimness of a demon. Oh, what woe and ‘torture! what unutterable agonies ay peared in the despairing glance of those

souls that lighted them were writhing and struggling for life. 1 heeded not the davgerous. sea which, even when we Down in those

should increase with tenfold fury above. But it had’ been | water began to be felt in these abysses. Suddeiily the steamer ' was shaken and rocked by the swell.

| At this the hideous forms were sbaken and fell, ‘The heaps of people rolled asunder. The demon on the table seemed to make a spring directly towards me. I fled, sbricking—all were after me 1 thought. I rushed out, with no purpose but to escape. I sought to throw off my weights and rise,

My weights could not be loosened—TI pulled at them with frantic exertions, but could not loosen them. The tron fastenings bud grown stiff. One of them 1 weested off in my convulsive efforts, but the other still kept. me down. The tube also was lying down still in my passage way throug’ the }machine rooms. I did not know this unti! I had exhausted 'my strength, and almost my hope, in vain efforts to loosen ithe weights, and still the horror of that seene in the cabiu | rester upon me. |. Where was Rimmer? The thoug'it flashed across, me.

He was not here. He had returned. Two weights lay near, which seemed thrown off in terrible haste. Yes, Rimmer had gone. I looked up; there fay the boat, tossing atid roll- | ing.among the waves. f rushed down iuto the machine room, te go back, to loosen ;my tuba, 1 had passed through passages carelessly, and this lay here, for it was unrolled from above as DT wenton. I went | back in haste to extricate wiyself; J could stay bere no longer ; for if all the gold of Golconda was in the vessel, I would not i stay in company with the dread/ul dead! | Back—fear lent wings to my feet. I hurried down the stairs j into ihe lower hold once more, and retraced iny steps through the passage below. I walked back into the place into which | 1 at first descended. It was dark; a new feeling of horror ‘shot through me; I looked up. The apertute was closed ? | Heavens! was it closed py mortal hand? Had Rimmer, jin bis panie flight, bliadly thrown down ‘the trap door, which | I now remembered to have seen open whea I descended; or jhad some fearful being from the cabin—that demon who ‘sprang towards me ? | [started back in horror.

But I could not wait here; I must go, T must escape from this den of horrors. I sprang up the ladder, and tried to raise the door. It resisted my efforts; 1 put my helmeted head against it, and tried to raise it; the ruag of the ladder |broke beneath me, but the door was not raised; my tube ‘came down through it and kept it partly open, for it was a | strong tube and kept strongly expanded by close-wound wire.

1 seized a bar of iron, and tried to pry it up; I raised it slightly, but there was no way to get it up further.. I looked | around, and found some blocks; with these I raised the heavy

| worked a long while before I had it raised four inches.

) The sea roiled more and more. The submerged vessel felt ,its power, aud rocked. Suddenly it wheeled over and lay | upon its side.

| Tran around to get on the deck above, to try and lift up | the door. But when I came to the other outlet, [ knew it | was impossible, for the tube would-not permit me to go so

far, and then [ would rather die a thousand deaths than have

| I returned to the fallen door ; I sat down in despair and

{waited for death. I saw no hope of escape. This, then, was |

‘to be my end. | But the steamer gave a sudden Jureh, again acted upon by | the power of the waves...She had been balauced upon a rock, \lu such a way that a slight action of the water was sufficient | to tip her over.

She creaked, and groaned, and laboured, and then turned ‘upon her side,

I rose; clung to the ladder; I pressed the trap door open,

| while the steamer lay with ber deck perpendicularly to the’

|ground, I sprang out and touched the bottom of the sea.

and should be approached in a correspond:

No. 19,

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Gleanings from late Papers,

ELECTIVE LEGISLATIVE COUNS Canada having adopted the principle of elepting Councils, the subject will no doubt be fu lower Provinces. It involves matters of ¢

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in favour of progress; not change as 2 theory for the mere sake of chanze, which he”

among us would wish to see carried out; but fur durable aud

effective objects, the attainment of which would add to the

general weal, and preserve intact all the rights and privileges

which we enjoy under the British Constitution, _ ]onovations

way be made without avy regard to ulterior results, but it is

only by calm consideration that we can arrive at a fair and

dispassionate consideration ou great political questions.

The Montreal Pivot gives some hints in au article ou this

subject, which are worthy of consideration, aud we recommend

it to the notice of our readers :~—

Tur Leaistative Evecrive Covncit.-—Somo fifteen. or

twenty years have becu occupied in the agitation, discussion

and corsummation of this measure. It hus sorved as ihe

watchword, the rallying point of: party, and we now have it

embodied, tamgible and perfected. It may be worth some

thought to examine its prospective effect on the legislation of this country, There has been a tendency, perhaps anavoid-

able, to copy to some extent the code of our neighbours. We

have been attracted towards the legislation of the United

States; and at one period we seemed willtug to adopt, head+

long, without examination, the example held up to us ase

pattern, which we were only too willing to copy in ail its merits and vices. After the efferveseenve of # foolish pre- cipitancy had subsided, we occupied a midway position, and adopted the present coustitution of the Upper House as a sort of compromise between the extremes of Radicalism and Toryism. .As we have accepted the present constitution of the Legislative Council as a sort of necessity forced on us by the turbulence of agitation, rather than the deliberative result of opinion, it may not be unwise to look the future manfully in the face, and prudently’ calculate those contin- seucies which are almost realities, There is one fact which we cannot ignore or repudiate. We have departed to a great exient irom the Constitution of Britain as a model for the constitution of our Legislature. Perhaps, in the nature of things, this could not be avoided, as we were determined on some change; and the more so, as the social state of our people did not present many points of resemblanee, In England the landed or permanent iuterest is represented by the House of Lords; here we have no such distinct interest. Landed property is not monopolized by any class, and is as much represented in the House of Assembly as in the Legislative Council, and no reason can exist in Canada as in Great Britain for a dissolution and independent position for both branches of our Lagislature. Still we were, and are, unwill- ing to place unlimived confidence in the Lower House, though composed of the popular representatives, —Lbis we know iy an aSpiration of a wholesome Conservatiem, diffident of the integrity of popular legislation. There is a wise distrust of the impulses of an assembly, constituted oa a diversified sentiment, and sustained by various interests. It is to this feeling, this anxiety to be secured against ourselves, that we look to the Upper House as a sort of secondary secucity against hasty and impulsive legislation; but while this senti- ment is the parent and origin of the present constitution of the Legislative Council, it were wise to examine what amount of contidence can be reasonably reposed in this breakwater to crude innvvation which we have erected to stem the impe- tuosity of the House of Assembly.

Assurediy the Upper House, while it retained its former constitution, was more likely to act as a healthy restraint on the decision of the Lower House than now. Its fornier in- dependent character, arising fiom its nomination by the crown, rendered it less subject to popular influences. Hut while it was sought to restrain a power tbat might perhaps slide into despotism, we are not quite sure that we have gained much by the recent remodelling of the Legislative Council. If our aim was to render it more popular by making it subservient to the elective principle, we have succeeded miost effectually iu destroying its ellicacy as a check on the Lower branch ; for it were absurd that two Houses, elected by the very same constituencies. can hold contrary opinions, or that one branch will claim to be the exponent of the publie mind, and the other deny the exposition, while both are elected representa- tives of the same people. ‘Te thing is too silly, too childish to be entertained by even a Visionary. So far, therefore, as the “mutual check” is involved, it is ouly a chimera, an illustration of the folly of regarding popular tendencies as correct staudards of action, But, taking the Legislative Council in its modern constitution, it must be admitted that it is a wide departure from the House of Lords in Great Britain. Hitherto we affected, and still do, but without much reason, to copy its practice. So long as the Conneil were the nominees of the Crown, the similarity might have been conceded without cavil; but now that similarity is more than questionable, and so is the attempt to establish a resem- blance, or draw precedents from it, or make its practice our rule. In Canada we have no written Constitution, aud this is not to be regretted; but, in the absence of such, we trust either supply some rule for parliamentary guidance, or follow the old one. With the Legislative Council this is impossible. All that gave it a similarity of character to the House of Lords in England has been withdrawn; every point of

Lt was in good time; for a moment after, the mass went over | back again. Then. with a last effort, I twisted the iron fastening of the |

resemblance has been effaced; there is a strong contrast, but

/no compurisoa between both bodies, aud the prattice of the

one will not guide the other. The introduction of the

I walked forward. I cxme to the'cabin door. T entered weight which kept me down; [jerked it off. Jt was loosed, | elective principle into the Upper House has completely shorn

the others were destitute. As two persons were needed, in the forward saloon, but saw nothing. A feeling of contempt it broke, it fell. In a moment I began to ascend, and in a, it of avy affinity to tae House of Lords at home, and it must

order to explore the Marmion, I had selected as my companion eame to me. Rimmer shall not come with me again, [| few moments | was floating onthe water—for the air which Mow turn to new rules and laws of its own. Although the

& young fellow, whose steadiness and dauntless courage liad | thought. Yet I wasawestruck. Down in the depts of the is pressed down for the diver’s cousuinption constitutes a Legislative Hiective Council Act does not prescribe modern

several times before been fearfully tested. éea there is uo gilence—oh, how ee : es long | Yn ee oie him up on the a sh ae — rz age ae auenly, — - yee

. ; ich had echoed with the shrieks of (he drowning; ‘hanks to heaven! There was t e strong boat, with my | 9e governed by ifs former usaves, it canvot escape bie per-

ih 08 Palais. ap bisenamh Aa, bas eT get 1h there:.ere thoughts which sometunes fill, bold, brave mon, ‘They felt. me rising; they saw me, and | ception . the most vats ihat the elective nee

! > ‘ ; ‘ ; ; ari isc mands new usages, and that

Ww thered there, ill of < i which are only felt by those to whom senses of came and sayed me, . /hecessarily compriscs and demunds np ges, and th iagitar tiaigdog fullows as eons Risener ouaseed | Sa are familiar. Thus thinking, | walked to theafter; Rimmer had fled from the horrid scene wheu I entered the this re ae conform ~ the working of inet arieciole : ’ ’ ’ ‘ Stylo ee bin, b mained in the boat to lend his aid. He never/recently infused into, and directing its attention, is . ae cabin, but remained in the vo eo oe :

oa Nevertheless, We were not to be put off by a little cabin and entered ‘went down again, but became a sea captain. As for me T inciple poiuts with positive significance to the popular will ; cloudiness in the sky, but boldly prepared t t Oh, God of heaven! ——- ; ici ‘i lifficulty, i

So d h f JP en on are 1 yy hand clasped the door with a grasp which | still go down, but only to vessels whose crews have been saved. land here we unticipate will be the difficulty, if not the

©. Heep was the water that no vestige of a ship's masta} Had wot my ha ive, L should have fallen to; It is needless to say that the Marmion was never again | impossibility, of gu'ding the deliberations of the Legislative

remained above the surface, to point out the resting place of, mortal terror had made convulsive, *s ee et sided *" | Council by old priociples. We do not argue that the old

the Marmion, We were compelled, therefore, to select the the floor. . I stood mailed to the aes OF ei ee ae an tare regulations should be retained; but we do believe that their

. . ene . : —mev an eaa-— i i e ‘ : : oe eat . ee = s

ee of a a to the best of our ability, stood a anv’ x! pee prerabelining waters and fastened’ The Chinese seem to think dancing a useless fatigue. | retention woald be inconsistent with, the elective principle

own went the sails of our schooner, and Rimmer and I put last deat struggle OF ‘on!4thich death had found him.’ When Commodore Anson was at Canton, the officers of the now so largely infused inte.the Council, and which never cun

on our diving armour. We fixed on our helmets tightly, and to the spot, each in the position : . the: shock: of the'Centarion had a» ball upon some court holiday. While they | accommodate itself to absolute relstious. Perhaps this is a

screwed on the hose. One by one each clamsy article was Each one had sprung from bis chair otion, ull had, started, were dancing, @ Chinese, who surveyed the operation, said) minor inconyevience, did nove other erise iron: ihe rece

wljusted. The weights were hung apd we were ready. | sinking ship, and, with-one common emo! a aceg ob pen 7 ‘oofily to one of the party, “ Why don't you let your eervants/ construction of the Legislutive Council, Dut, as our cbiet

‘It looks terrible blackish, Berton,’ said Rissmer to me.. for the door. But the waters of the sea hyd been t90, 4 do this for you?” jaim should be to secure concurrence eud uuifornity of action ‘Oh,’ T replied gaily, ‘it’s only a little mist—all right!’ [for them. Lo! then—some wildly grasping the table, others , do this for you *

abe eR ea es