£0 23.

without money. My character suffers. Mr. B. is vexed; and it would not be strange if! should receive a harsh letter, or writ! The lax manner by which sundry persons transact business has a very bad tendency, and is of- ten followed by serious consequences,

The little regard they have for their word causes grievous disappointments, destroys conﬁdence and corrupts society. As asmall leak in the ship may sink the whole cargo, so one man who is not punctual, may serious- 1, injure the reputation, or even cause the entire failure of others. The most dis- tinguisbed farmers, mechanics, merchants, ci. vilians,divines, and statesmen, have generally been systematic, punctual men. My bre. thorn, if we would be successful in busi- ness, and respectable in our calling, let punc- tuality, or be punctual, be written in capitals upon our doors, and upon our hearts.

MARK SUFFBRER.

Level of the Sear-There is, perhaps, nothing which illustrates in a more striking manner the exact accordance of nature’s phenomena with the few general expressions or laws which des- cribe them all, than the perfect level of the ocean as a liquid surface. The sea never rises or falls in any place, even one inch, but in obedience to fixed laws, and therefore, chan- ges may be generally foreseen and allowed for. For instance, the eastern trade winds, and other causes force the water of the ocean towards the African coast, so as to keep the Red Sea about twenty feet above the general ocean level;and the Mediterranean Sea is a little below the level; because the evaporation from it it is greater than the supply of its rivers; causing it to receive an additional supply by the Strait ofGibraTter ; but in all such cases the effect is as constant as the disturbing cause, and, therefore, can be calculated upon with conﬁdence. Were it'not for this perfect ex. actness, in what a precarious state would the inhabitants exist on the sea shore, and on the banks of low rivers !

Few of the inhabitants of London, perhaps, reflect, when standing close by the side of their noble river, and gazing on the rapid ﬂood tide pouring inland through the bridges, that. although sixty miles from the sea, they are placed as low as persons sailing upon its face, where, perhaps, there may be tossing waves covered with wrecks and the drowning. In Holland, which isa low ﬂat, formed chieﬂy by the mud and sand brought down by the Rhine and neighbouring rivers, much of the country is really below the level of the common spring tides, and is only protected from daily inun- dation by artiﬁcial dykes or ramparts, of great strength.

What awful uncertainty would hang over the Dutch, if the level of the sea were subject tochsnges; for while we know the water of the ocean to be 17 miles higher at the equa. tor than at the poles, owing to the centrifugal

THE BRITISH AMERICAN.

force of the earth‘s rotation, ware the level already established, from any cause to be sud- denly changed but ten feet, millions of human beings would be the victims.—Scolsman.

.Mighly Eject: of Steam—It was mentioned by Professor Renwick, in one of his lectures, that, during the great European struggle, Eng- land employed about 400,000 persons in and about steam engines, and that these engines turned out ﬁnished work, equal in quantity to what the labor of two hundred million: of human beings could have effected; that is, equal to the sum of the industry of all the active po- pulation of the whole globe.

It was through the mighty agency and mi- raculous effects of the steam engine that Eng- gland was enabled to sustain herself triumph- antly in that long and terrible struggle against the the power of Napolean—and that she found the means of stirring up and subsidizing other nations. until, in the language of the lecturer, “ the greatest captain the world ever saw, discomﬁtted and overthrown, was obliged to bow before the genius of Watt.”

Captain Roan—ﬂrctic Land Expedition.— It will be gratifying to the public to learn that

an expedition to the shores of the Polar Seas,-

for the purpose, if possible, of ascertaining the fate of Capt. John Ross, and CommanderJames Clark Ross, R. N., who, with a crew ofnineteen men, sailed about three yearr ago, on a voyage of discovery to the Arctic Region, is at last 1']- nally determined upon, to proceed, without de- lay, under the command of Captain Back, by way of Canada, so as early in the spring to move towards the territories of the Hudson‘s Bay Company, who take a warm interest in the success of the enterprise. It is intended that Capt. Back, without deviating from the main object of his mission, shall avail himself ofevery opportunity that may occur, so enrich the scientiﬁc world, and that before his return he will have explored these unknown regions between Point annagain, where Captain Franklin ﬁnished hisjourney, and the further- most point to the west reached by Captain Parry,and thus wind up the main objects of these two expeditions.

Government have agreed to contribute 12000 towards the expense, upon three conditions two of which, (that Captain Back should command the expedition, and that the Hudson’s Bay Com- pany should furnish the supplies and canoes free of charge.) are already complied with; and the third (that of raising (3000 amongst the friends of Capt. Ross.) there is little doubt will be speedily accomplished.

Instructions were forwarded by the Hudson Bay company's ships, which sailed from Eng- land in June last, to the respective factors in their territory, to prepare and forward the ne. ccssary stores and provisions to the different stations thr ugh which the intended eXpedi- tion might be expected to pass, and also to provide canoes and other conveniences for its use.

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It is stated to be the opinion cfthe projectors of the undertaking (from a detailed report of whose proceedings we have abridged this no- ceunt,) that a conﬁdent hope may still reasona- blybe entertained ofthe Captains Ross and their adventurous Companions; and that, although very probably exposed to great hardships and dangers, still, that the beneﬁcial effect of this expedition may in all likelihood afford the means ofgranting them timely relief. This expecta- tion appears to be strongly encouraged from the circumstance that they did not calculate an be- ing able to return to England sooner than three years from the time they sailed which is now but little more than expired. They were amply supplied with provisions and stores for three years, and if they reached the wreck of the Fury, which was the ﬁrst object they had in view, there they would ﬁnd supplies which would last for a considerably longer period, in- dependent of what they might expect to derive from reindeer, musk oxen, and various other sorts of fresh provisionsusupposed to be found in those regions; it beinga well known fact that the crews oftwo vessels (the Albiny and Dis- covery) existed for nearly three years on Mar. ble Island, solely on whale blubber, seal ﬁsh, and train oil, occasionally supplied by the Ita- tive Esquimaux.—Boston paper. ‘

Marshal Soult, the present Premier of France was born in 1769, and is now sixty-four years old. 0n Bonaparte's return from Elba, SonIt was made a peer, and fought forhim at Fleurus and Waterloo. 0n the second restoration, he was among the proscribed, and retired to the Duchy of Berg, where he is said to have em- ployed hiinselfin writing his memoirs. He re- ceived permission to return to France in 1919. and was made a marshal again. In 1830, he joined with Louis Phillippe, and his subsequent course to his appointment to the post of Prime minister, are familiarly known.

Paris at this moment abounds with profession- al men. There are 1,523 painters, draftsmen, and lithographers; 151 sculptors; 810 engravers, (copper-plate, aqua-tinta, wood, &c.; 80 archi- tects;3l5 distinguished composers and profes- sors of music, 1525 instrumental musicians; [500 ditto, ofinferior rank. Total, 5,084.

It is‘said that the libraries in Germany exceed in number and value these in every other coun- try, for instance, that ofVienna contains 300,000 volumes , Dresden, 200,000; Munich, 100,000; (chieﬂy supplied from the libraries of the sup- pressed monasteries;) Brealaw, 100,000; and. Gottingen, 300,000. According to one calcula- tion it is stated, that 150 public libraries contain 3,182,000 printed books, independently of ma. nuscripts, phamphelts, prints, &c.

The Ear-King of France—HolerOd is no longer the scene cfanimation which it has been for the last two years. The royal family and the irsuite took their departure in the course of the week. Their absence will be deeply felt by the tradesmen, and especially by the poor of

Edinburgh. We know it to be a positive fact,