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But at last the rain lightened, gnd this afforded us an oppor- tu ity fir some desultory conversation.

Un ler ordinary circumstances my position would greatly have oubirrassed me, but Alcott Mills possessed the faculty in a remarkable degree of placing others at their ease. could not, however, entirely forget the difference in our social positions, nor at first quite overcome the morbid fear that this had emboldened him to offer his services. [ had yet to repent of my iajustice, to learn the great beart and soul of Alcott Mills.

“ My walk is a long one,” [ said, apolgetically, “I fear I am greatly inconveniencing you to accompany me, sir?”

Notatall. Tama famous pedestrian from habit, proba- bly, for I was brought up in the country, and one of my daily tasks was to drive the cows three miles to pasture.”

“It is the only one of your farmboy habits you have retained, I imagine,” was my thought, as [ glanced up into his fine intellectual face. I fancied he read my opinion by the expression of his eyes, as he added :

“| fear the walk may fatigue you ?”

“Qh, no! I have grown quite used to it during the last two years, and at night it is usually pleasant, because It Is a change from my employment.”

“And this you do not find congenial ? morning I glanced first into your face.”

This may seem to you very bold, but if you had heard the grave, respectful earnestness with which it was said, you would not think so, veo |

“ Not congenial, certainly ; but love and duty sanctify it.” |

I said it almost unconsciously, but I felt, rather than saw, the gaze of those deep eyes that flashed down on me in min gled sympathy, respect, and admiration.

Before he could reply, we reached my home.”

« Will you permit me to call to-morrow, and inquire if your walk in the rain has not injared yeu ?”

And he placed his card in my hand. ’

« Thank you. I will give it to Mrs. Masoa ; if L aw absent,

— ae ee

I knew it that

or too strongly tinetured with the spirit of Border Ruffianism,

— —

| escapes by land and sea — which constitute the principal a. In the

tents of most of our dailies, weeklies and tri-weeklies. | Provinces adjoining us, public men appear to be most engaged lin considering and discussing the progress and prospects of | their Railway operations ; and although we in this Island may have nothing of the kind of our own to speak of for very many years to come, if ever, — still we cannot but ardently desire the if ss to the enterprise of our neighbours,

| fullest measure of suecce inevitably tend to the advancement of

(as their prosperity will \our own.

That model country, the United States — where there is so much freedom, and such beautiful harmony in the working of, its ‘* peculiar institutions’? — furnishes the newsmonger with

| Ten years ago, when our revenue was about sixteen or ‘seventeen thousand pounds, we had a very moderate debt hanging over us of about thirty thousand, without land or anything else to show for it; but as the Tories contracted that ‘debt through official extravagance and corruption, it was deemed a monstrous piece of injustice for any one to make a noise about it. But now when the debt about to be contracted is for the benefit of the general public, and when that debt | will have its representative in valuable real estate, which will be converted into money as speedily as possible, in order to pay off the debt, we find the Tories and their hired adyocate erying out lustily against the scheme.

We are pleased to notice the opposition of the Islander to

| the usual catalogue of interesting incidents, highly illustrative | this measure, for the editor of that paper never yet opposed

of the amiable traits of American life. Colt’s revolvers appear | to be as much in requisition as ever they were, and all over the Union we have innumerable evidences of a sublime contempt | for freedom of speech, and that equally worthless thing, human

life. In Kansas the doings of the Border Ruffians do not seem

anything but what was sure to sueceed ; and in proportion to the violence with which he attacks the new Loan Bill, and the amount of abuse which he flings at its promoters, will the popularity of that great and beneficial measure extend. We feel confident that the editorial we have noticed was written

to have lost any of their fiendish rascality, and the shooting down of a man, or a dozen men, if they are only suspected of | being abolitionists, or not pro-slavery men, is as much of an every-day pastime, as it has been for these many months — while the Federal Government is either too contemptibly weak,

to change the disgraceful and savage state of affairs which pre- vails in the new territory. Verily, the neighbouring Republic, notwithstanding its great wealth and resources, is anything but a desirable country to live in.

—_— . —-

THE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE.

Mr. President Pierce has sent his last message to Congress,

she wil! inform you.” He lifted bis hat, and bade me good morning. * * * * * * * * *

(To be concluded.) Th

_ -_-—-- -~-—— ~

EE

¢ Exaniuiner. |

CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.1., DECEMBER 15, 1856.

MUNICIPAL INSTITUTIONS.

Ir we recollect aright, it was Lord Brougham who, come | years ago, when the social pre-eminence of Scotland was in Parliament attributed to her school system—argued that the true cause of her advancement was not to be found in the educational machinery which obtained within her borders, but was referable to a principle from which the school system itself derived its origin —the principle of local self-government. That principle was carried into practice in Scotland at an early day ,—and arising from it, and congenial with its spirit, insti- tutions arose which have made the natives of the least genial portion of the British Isles conspicuous for their industry and intelligence in the various quarters of the globe in which their respective lots may have been cast. is Lordship shewed that, before the establishment of the system of free schools, the inhabitants of each district were bound to keep the roads in repair; sil, Tn fact, that the whole system of local and parochial business was so entirely in the hands of the people, that the school system naturally suggested itself to their mi and was almost forced upon their thoughts by the n daily experienced of qualifying themselves for the various offices to which the confidence of their friends and neighbours might call the most respected of them. From this necessity, and as the natural offspring of the principle of the management of their own local affairs by those most immediately interested in the proper and judicious conduct of them, sprung the desire of qualification for their representative duties; and the feeling, that a man whom the suffrages of his fellows had placed in a position of superior authority, should shew himself worthy of the elevation thas accorded, saggested the system of free edu- | cation, which has made Scotland and Scotchmen what they are.

In this Island the process above described has been reversed, or to speak more justly, the same or similar circumstances do not exist, to induce the establishment of local municipalities. We have already a school system which we believe to be fraught with the greatest blessings to the future population of the

‘and judging of the quantity, if not of the quality of the article, ‘we think it will bear favourable comparison with the general

run of its predecessors. There is nothing unusual or extraor- dinary in the message — it is filled with those details which always characterise such a document, respecting the foreign and domestic relations of the Union, and its financial condition. Its tone throughout is dignified without bluster, but it breathes the most self-satisfied air, as if the President regarded his term of office as the most brilliant and triumphant proof of states- manship on record. The document is too lengthy to transfer to our columns, and extracts from it would be unsatisfactory to our readers.

+2.<o »

We observe with much satisfaction that M. H. Perley, Esq., who spent some time in Charlottetown last summer, attending to the duties of the Fishery Commission — will shortly proceed to England on behalf of the Government of New Brunswick, with a view to enlist the attention of the Imperial Government to an extended scheme of emigration to the Province whose in- terests he has so long and strenuously advocated, and which he is so well qualified to represent.

We notize in the last No. of the Islander a very clumsy and vindictive attack upon Mr. Perley, because that gentleman had the hardihood to entertain a Jarge audience at the Mechanics’ Institute in St. John, on a recent occasion, with a truthful and encouraging description of the resources, capabilities and pros- perity of this Colony. It is really a pity the Fishery Commis- sioner did not ask Maclean’s permission to speak a good word ° this country to hisown people; but the fretful and imbecile old hack, so accustomed to slandering our people and misre- presenting the country generally, cannot bear that there shoald Had

Mr. Perley described the Colony as running rapidly to *‘ ruin

be a favorable opinion of the Island entertained abroad.

and deecay’’— (the favorite cant of our Obstructives) — the Islander would praise him to the clouds, and exclaim: ‘* Be- hold! how soon an intelligent Provincial perceived the effects of Responsible Government !’? As Maclean has not tried his hand for some time at the memorialising plan, which he found so very effective in former years, would it not be advisable for | him to send one of his extremely influential despatches to the Seeretary of State for the Colonies, showing how very unfit Mr. Perley is for his mission, because he had presumed to speak the truth of this Island ?

—+ <—2ee@ +

We were not surprised to observe in the last Islander an editorial under the caption of ‘‘ The Contemplated Swindle,”

Island, and which, we think, furnishes the best of preparations for the adoption of the principle of self-government in local

matters; because it is no longer in the power of any one to! purchase of Proprietary Estates — the Home Government | abnegate the duties which are imposed upon him or his children, | having signified its willingness to give a guarantee for the | as citizens, by saying that he or they have not had the oppor-| necessary loan. It seems to be a part of the prescribed duty tunities of qualifying themselves for the proper and efficient | of the editor of the Islander to howl down any and every attempt

discharge of the duties which they owe to that society of which they are members, or to which they may be elected by their peers. We have already conceded to us, as a general public, the right to govern ourselves. That the people of the Colony do not estimate this privilege at its full value, no one would be hardy enough to assert. If, then, such be the case —if the population appreciate the high privilege of freemen, namely, the right of making those laws by which they shall be generally governed, surely it cannot be for one moment asserted that they are unwilling or incompetent to assume, in minor or more local legislatures, the duty of passing on matters of the compara- tively trifling importance, which, however, may be most effectually and advantageously administered by those whose immediate vicinity, and consequently superior local knowledge, best qualify them to judge of the measures to be adopted for

the remedy of av existing, or ihe prevention of an anticipated, | siderable portion of a constituency ; and, what some of them

evil; and who, by the eunsciousness that they and those whom they represent are the parties oa whom the cost of carrying out their ideas must fall, are under every check that can influence reasonable men—that their action will be conducive to the in- terests of the publie at large, and will not be attended with unnecessarry expenses to these whose funds are put into requi- sition to earry out the views of their representatives.

At an early day, before the meeting of the Legislature, we

shall enter more fully than we have done at present into the | sons we have mentioned,—although, of course, they will not

consideration of this subject.

—~— @& Dee o-

THE MAILS

having reference to the measure which the Government have now under consideration, for the purpose of making a further

that may be made by public men to secure freedom and pros- perity to this country. There never yet was any real measure of reform advocated in the Colony but what he has violently, stupidly, and let us add, fruitlessly opposed. We cannot be | surprised, then, to see him preserving his consistency by the use of his customary twaddle in opposition to one of the most important reform measures that ever engaged the attention of the Government or Legislature—namely, a measure to abolish | the leasehold tenure by an honest and equitable purchase. | There is nothing which the Tory party dreads so much as to see the inhabitants of this country placed in independent cir-_ cumstances—to see landlordism abolished or diminished ; for when ‘that ceases to exist, their prestige, influence and profits | ‘have departed. Proprietors and agents could then no longer ‘command and coerce, as they do now, the votes of any con-

value still more, perhaps, is the monopoly they at present | enjoy, and which they would be sure to lose, of buying, for their own aggrandizement, proprietary estates at a yery small price, _ by deluding the absentee proprietors, and then selling the lands at exorbitant charges to the actual settlers. We are quite certain that nearly all the Land Agents in the country—we do

—will oppose the measure in contemplation for the very rea-

not expect to find more than two or three honourable exceptions

at the request, or according to the order of land speculators ; and the silly references to a Court of Escheat were merely put in, to make the thing look plausible, and to lead a few of the very ignorant and unthinking to believe, that Escheat is not that ‘* will o’ the wisp’? which McLean and every sensible man in the community knows right well it is.

SS ND

THE UNHOLIES.

(Tux following speeches, delivered in the Unholy Alliance, were forwarded to us last week, but at too late an hour for publication. Since then we have received some others; but those we must postpone, until we shall have more space at our disposal in our next issue. ]

A gentleman of great weight in the Alliance rose and spoke to the following effect :—

‘+ Gentlemen,—I know not how it is, but although we have thought it our best policy to make the world believe we are turned liberals, yet in spite of all our best resolutions, so slow are our friends in the Legislature in concocting their plans; or, it may be, so undecided, and so divided, that no plan that we can hit on, but we are sure to be anticipated. We had heard that there was an intention on the part of the Govern- ment to give to the country those Municipal Institutions, without which that confounded thing called Self-Government is said to be nearly a dead letter, and you will, Gentlemen, do me the justice to acknowledge that I immediately caught at the idea, with a view of trying the thing on, and of recom- mending our party in the Hoase to try and get some credit in the country for originating this scheme ; for l think it is not unreasonable to believe that the eountry have forgotten that a member of the present Government, several years ago, en- deayoured to humbug the country in the same manner. The thing did not take then, and perhaps it might not now; for, upon the whole, I think the House is composed now of as great a set of fools as it was then. But then it might have answered by way of a show of liberality ; but up starts the Editor of the Examiner and throws down our Babel edifice, by which we were to climb, with one audacious stroke of the pen, by an- nouncing that the Government have the work in hand. It really is too vexatious. We can be the originators of nothing —neither of free schools, (curse them), nor free lands, extend- ed franchise, extended representation, nor self-government by municipalities, parishes, or districts, or eall them what you will. Gentlemen, I sincerely recommend that we pouinen for a dissolution of the House; let us have another chance; we may be better, but we cannot be worse.’’ (Applause.)

Another member then rose and spoke as follows :—

‘*Gentlemen,—The hon. member who has just sat dowa would make a weighty member in the Corporation, and I re- commend every effurt to be employed for his being returned a Councillor at the next Municipal Election, and ifa dissolution takes place, let us set him up for the Town, (hear). Though unfortunately too late in this expedient, he may have better luck next time; and if the Government is really sincere in proposing Municipal or Parochial Institutions, why, my coun- sel is, that they be allowed to have them. Let us instruct our members by all means to forward the scheme, if it were only because it would never go down to oppose them. Already our pretensions to liberality are pretty om seen through, (I speak in confidence) ; not a person from the East Point to the North Cape believes that we have any ; but it is seandalously and in- famously said that we are endeavouring to set up for ourselves. W hat effect this belief may have on our old friends, we cannot say, but it seems to take very badly with our old adversaries —I mean the real liberals; but there is another and better reason why we should forward this seheme——never mind whence we borrowed it—and that is this: The very nature of the thing goes to destroy Government patronage, and the blockheads who are really the originators don’t see how influence will slip out of their fingers when Commissioners of Roads and all such offi- cials are nominated and paid, not by them, but by the people. Give them rope enough and they will hang themselves. I own when the time comes, I shall look on with supreme delight when I witness all the means of corruption hitherto employed taken out of the hands of the Government. How they are to See their majority without Treasury Warrants, without

oad Commissioners, &c., and without the distribution of pub- lic money through the members, I am at a loss to divine. I say, let them alone ; there is no law against suicide ; but this 1 know, that when it is fairly committed, the dead man cannot be resuscitated, any more than they can be when they have, like fools as they are, abandoned the means of corruption. | Gentlemen, my counsel is, that we observe with silent watch- fulness the progress of this proposition ; and if we see, during the Session, that the prospect is good of our succeeding to power, my advice is, that we shall not oppose the main mea- sure, but so cripple it in committee and so on, as our friends well know how, that whilst the promoters shall not know their own child, any more than the mother of Deloraine, nor we lose any patronage, which may be of use when we get office. On the other hand, if no such dawning prospect greet our longing eyes, why then help these donkies to hang themselves, and pro- mote to the utmost a surrender by them of all the influence | which the present state of the law invests them with. In good | truth, when the bygone days of our palmy existence were in fall sunshine, then Road Commissioners and other such officials were the very people who promoted our interests in the coun- try ; and not only this, but when they came to Town they as as well as the Schoolmasters required us to discount their Warrants—a source of profit to us, which these villains have cut off. Gentlemen, I thank you for your attention ; what is passing under our eyes is only a proof how watchful we ought to be, and how necessary it is to make the people believe us before we can be the people’s men.”’

NEWS BY THE LAST ENGLISH MAIL.

ENGLAND.

Colonel Gordon Drummond, of the Coldstream Guards, is dead. He proceeded to the Crimea in May, 1855, to com- mand the first or Crimean battalion. He was in his 48th year.

be the reasons avowed; and when the Agents array themselves

duced to co-operate with them. No, no, it is in vain to expect

Frou the Provinces, the United States, and indeed all parts of _ that any considerable number of the Tories will ever support

the Continent, came in a perfect avalanche upon us on Thurs- day last. From the number and size of the mail bags, one

oe principles of the Land Purchase Bill, so long as the chief men amongst them can buy valuable estates at five shillings

against it, their partizans of lesser influence will be easily in-|

Sir Alexander Cockburn has given up the Attorney- Generalship for the Chief-Justiceship of the Common Pleas, ‘stipulating, according to rumour, for a peerage. Since Brougham’s time, no mere lawyer has made so favourable /an impression as a politician ; and in a mere pecuniary sense, | the translation to the Bench will prove a positive loss to him. |The change will cause other promotions. Sir Richard Bethell, the Solicitor-General, succeeds Sir Alexander Cockburn, and

would suppose they had been aecumulating on the other side per acre, and sell out again to those who cannot better help the Hon. Stuart Wortley, the Recorder of London, will fill of the Strait fora month past. Qur own supply of newspapers, themselves at forty shillings an acre. Of course we shall haye | the appointment vacated by Sir Richard. ’ foreign and colonial, was by no means inconsiderable ; and yet hax amount of eroaking, and every conceivable note of alarm \ after @ long and patient search through their innumerable sounded, as to the awfil risk the Colony will incur by con-

event — =

columns, we failed to discover the record of any memorable | tracting a large debt for the purehase of the Estates of Pro- nothing, in short, heyond the usual chapter of small prietors, just as if the Estates themselves were to sink into the — fires, railway catastrophes, outrages, hair-breadth ' bottom of the sea as soon as purchased.

_ It is said that Cabinet changes of an important nature a ‘impending. Lord Panmure S anxious 7 retire, and the following dash of the romantic has appeared in print respect-

ing him :—« Lord Panmure had never seen his property from

his boyhood until he entered into the enjoyment of it at mature mid-age ;. and he did so with the intention of making

it his chief care. Postponing rather than renouncing this project, he accepted the Ministry of War; and, from that time until the conclusion of the Paris treaty, worked more indefatigably than perhaps any clerk in his office. Since

‘then, the duty of settling the new peace establishment has

involved Jess Jabour, certainly, but scarcely less anxiety; |

_and, as soon as he has accomplished what he considers to be his mission—the conelusion of the war, and all that relates ‘thereto—Lord Panmure will hand over the department to his successor, and will either retire altogether to Scotland, or fill some office—like that of Lord Privy Seal—not involving such hard work as the Secretaryship of State for War,” Amongst those named as likely to sacceed Lord Panmure are Mr. Sidney Herbert, Lord Dalhousie, or the Duke of Somerset.

Redpath, the Railway defaulter, has been apprehended, and has been adjudicated a bankrupt.

There have been large arrivals of gold from Melbourne. The four colonies of Victoria, New South Wales, ‘south Australia, and Tasmania, had resolved upon lighting and buoying the coast at their joint expense.

Her Grace the Duchess of Athol has been received into the Catholic Church by the Very Revd. Dr. Manningy There are now four Scotch Duchesses members of the Catholic faith, namely, the Dachesses of Hamilton, Buc. cleugh, Athol, and the Dowager Duchess of Argyll. '

The Queen has been pleased to appoint Corneilus Kortright, Esq., to be Lieutenant Governor of the Island of Grenada,

Hlorrtp_e Crverty to A Marrrep Woman In Starrorpsutrg.— Unusual excitement has been manifested at Eecleshall and the neighbourhood, in consequence of the report that Mrs. Elizabeth Shelley, a person of weak intellect, the wife of Thomas Shelley, farmer, Shebdon, had been most cruelly and iphumanly treated by her husband and Martha Cotterill, his maid servant. The evidence given before the magistrates by Mr. Shelley and two male servants of her husband, disclosed the following facts :— About four years ago the woman Cotterill was engaged as servant, and since that time she has assumed the position of mistress of the house ; taking the place of the wife, who was driven about and beaten. The assaults more immediately complained of were committed within the last few months. About Christmas last, being enciente, Cotterill was sent to Manchester to be confined ; but in the course of six weeks she returned, and addressing Mrs. Shelly in these words, ‘* Well, devil, I’m come back again,’’ she kicked her, struck her on the head witha knife, and caused the blood to flow. Subsequently she dipped the mop in a quantity of horse-wash, and then put it, covered with manure, in Mrs. Shelley’s face. On another oceasion, whilst the latter wasin the garden-house, the woman Cotterill inflicted severe pain upon the most tender parts of her body with nettles, and then pulled her by the hair of her head into the house, and locked her up. She had been repeatedly locked up in the house, and her hair had been pulled off her head by handfuls. Exerement from chamber utensils had also been thrust into her mouth by Cotterill, who had threatened to repeat the disgusting act. Mrs. Shelley was never allowed to take her meals with her husband, but Cotterill took her place, generally sending her food, which was often in an unfit state to be eaten. She was not allowed to manage her household affairs ; but when washing, or any other hard work was to be done, she was compelled to do it, Cotterill sometimes standing over her with a stick; and on other occasions telling her that, although she was not yet Mrs. Shelley. yet that, as soon asshe could see the end of her (Mrs. Shelley), she would be. Mrs. Shelley's husband was aware of the treatment which she received, but he only laughed at it. The magistrates, after hearing the evidence, dismissed the case against Thomas Shelley, and fined Cotterill £5, including costs, for having been guilty of a common assault. The decision of the magistrates is understood to have given dissatisfaction to the inhabitants of the neighhourhood, many of whom followed the defendants, who had to be eseorted by a strong body of police for a distance of two miles from Eccleshall.

IRELAND. Last week a woman, named Alice [iinds, died in the poor house of Clonmel, having reached the extraordinary age or 105 years.

A young man, of gentlemanly appearance, who gave his name as William Read Vaughan, shot an unforunate gird named Kelso, in an oyster shop in Hawkins street, Dublin, on the 17th. She was immediately conveyed to Mercer's Hospital, where it was ascertained that the wounds inflicted were not of a serious character. It was stated, however, that had she received the whole charge in the head she could not have survived. The wall of the room immediately be- hind her is greatly torn by the shot. When the woman was restored to consciousness, and questioned as to the oecurrence, the only statement she made was, that she believed Vaughan did not intend to kill ner. The prisonsr, on being arrested, did not deny having fired the shot, but attributed it to acci- dent. He was lodged in College-street Station house, to await an inquiry before the magistrates.

The Clonmel Chronicle gives the following account of a dreadful railway catastrophe which took place on Wednesday : This evening at about two o'clock, a collision took place on the Waterford and Kilkenny Railway, near Dunkitt, about two miles from the former city, by which the lives of five per- sons have been forfeited. It appears that a ballast train left Waterford to “shunt” at Dunkitt, in order to allow the Dublin train to pass; but the railway policeman, instead of changing the points so as to allow the ballast train to run in the “siding,” permitted it to proceed along the line to a sand pit on its way, to be filled, thinking, probably, that it would reach its destination before the arrival of the passenger train. Unfortunately, before many moments had elapsed, the Dublin train came up and ran into it, completely smashing both itself and the ballast train. The catastrophe is described as being of fearful extent, and our informant has mentioned that on leaving Waterford he ascertained the number killed and wounded was then not exactly known. Up to that time, however, the bodies of five persons had been found quite lifeless. Among the wounded passengers is Dr. White, of Dublin, Inspector of Lunatic Asylums, who lies in a preca- rious state in Waterford.

PERSIA.

Tue Carrure or Herat. — Herat, the re-capture of which is one of the freshest topics of the hour, is a city of Persia, and was formerly the capital of Khorassin. It is a city of no great architectural pretensions, whatever may be its importance of situation. Placed upon a spacious and highly cultivated plain, it covers an area of four square miles, and is surrounded by a lofty wall and ditch. On the western face of the wall there stands upon a mound a smail square castle, flanked with towers at the angles. Nature has added a wall of mountains, which encircle the plain; the river Herirood flowing across the latter, and emptying itself into the Caspian, near Zaweb. The plan of the town is as follows:—On each face of the wall is a gate—two on the northern—and from each gate there runs to the centre of the city a spacious and well supplied bazaar. On each side of the bazaar are public fountains, in addition to those en- joyed by almost every separate house, and the street leading from the southern gate to the cattle market is covered with a vaulted roof, Herat is not remarkable for its. public buildings. The principal are the resideace of the Prince and the chief mosque ; the former, a mean building, with an open square in front, and a gallows in the centre of the square ; the latter, once a magnificent building, covering & space of eight hundred square yards, has for some time been falling into decay. ‘The site of this city is important, and it is the emporium of the commerce carried on between Cabul, Cashmere, Bokhara, Hindostan and Persia, it enjoys avery extensive trade. The articles of commerce which

come to it are shawls, raw sugar, chintz, muslin, leather and

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