SO eS ee THE’ = XAMINER. = — * 2&6 me — et eer = lav requires the production of one of the witnesses af a marriage, that took place at istance of ten thousand miles from the Australian courts, and may be of twenty or twenty-five years | standing. A case of bigamy has recently brought to hight the iinperfect or the iniquitous state of the law ofmarriage in Ans- ich every married woman fram Great Britain or any other country now in that colony, unless she can tralia, according to Ww produce one who was present at her marriage in Britain, is, in the view of the Aus‘ralian law, no wife. The Sydney Empire says, * There are many such cases. One case is at this moment recurring toms. A most respectable and excellent woman ar- rives, as an emigrant, with her husband. ‘The wretch spreads a rumour that she is not his wife, abandons her to sorrow, want, | and sickness, and marries another woman. He cannot be pro- | secuted. because the sufferer cannot be a witness in her own | cage, and no certificate she can bring will stand herin any stead | ina courtofdaw. So she perishes, and he escapes. The mor- al evidence is here most convincing, but, against it, iniquity. | or rather villany, triumphs. The case presented is no fiction ; it is a tertible reality, and it may be only one ont of many.” The case of bigamy 'o which we adveried 1s that of John Gernie, who deserted hia wife and child at Keith, in Banffshire, in July, | Ja54, and who, on arriving at Sydoey about the beginning of 1855, with a letter of introduction from the Rev. A. MeGiiivray, Free Chuach minister of Keith, to the Rev. A. Salmon, repre- | sented bimself as an unmarried man. He gained the affecnons | of a highly respectable young woman, named Jane Warren, and | the result was a second marriage between fim and Jane Warren, | Ist August, 1855. His subsequent treatment of tis youg per- eon corresponds with his abandonment of bis first wife, Ano Lawrence, and hischild. He is said to have behaved to her so as to compel her to leave him, and to seek a refuge from his violence. Partly from tne newspaper report of the second mar- riage, and partiy from private correspondence, the Rev. A. | MecGilivray was Jed to furnish the information and extracts | which were used in an unsnecessful attempt to avenge the in- | jured second wife, by bringing the villain, Joba Gerrie, to justice. | Application was made to the Attorney-General, who was then | Mr. Plunkett. His reply contains the following passage :—1 | beg to state that, as the first step in a prosecution for bigamy is proof of the first marriage, unless there be some witness In the ¢olony who was present at the ceremony, the charge could | not be substantiated, so as to obtain a conviction and punishinent. ae o > TERRIFIC EXPLOSION AT HALIFAX—POWDER MAGAZINE BLOWN UP. (From the Acadian Recorder, August 15, 1857.) Shortly afier twelve o'clock on Thursday night, our citizens were aroused from their slumbers by a terrific shock, similar to that of an Earthquake, which shook the entire city from ceutre to circumference, and for a time beld our citizens spell-hound, spreading confusion and alarm in all directions. Houses were shaken to their very foundations, windows. broken, doors thrust open and furniture displaced. Females and children were alarmed, as if some fearful catastrophe had visited them. But few indeed were inclined to venture out to ascertain the nature of this unaccountable expl@ion, which must have taken place somewhere in the neighborhood of the city. Many were impressed with the belief that one of the Powder Magazines in the vicinity bad exploded, while others entertained different opinions. It was goon discovered that the City Powder Magazine at Richmond had blown up. and various and conflicting were the reports which spread like lightning. Those who witnessed the explosion, from a distance, describe it as one of the most imposing and brilliant sights they ever witnessed, yet con- veying death and destruction in its train. On hastening to the spot, (for we were on the ground at an early hour), a vnost desolating scene was presented to our gaze. We first discovered the house at the north-west corner of the Naval Yard battered in — and learned that no injury had resulted | to the inmates. Not a vestige of the City Magazine was to| be seen. Most fortunately the fre did not communicate with the Government niagazines immediately to the south, although the roof and sides were considerably damaged. The sailors from the Indes soon had the Dockyard Kagine at work on the latter. The house, and adjoiming ove, occupied by Patrick Stokes and others, which we believe was a sort of boarding-honse, were both in a heap of ruins. Some of the inmated@caped uvhart, others were carried out in a mangled condition. To the north end of these premises, a large house belonging to Mr. W. A. MeAgy, and oceupied by Mr. 8. Goodwin and family, was a perfect wreck. The immates miraculously escaped with their lives. The fire bells in the city rang for a considerable time, and some of the engines were on the spot, but, of course, they were of no service. The people in the Deckyard and neighborhood were dread- fully alarmed—the injury to property being more or less ac- cording to penn: lt was truly a distressing sight to see women and children making their escape from the ruins, Messrs. Kaye’a and Jordan’s houses suffered considerable damage—the former being a new house. . We could not, however, gather material sufficient at this time for a full report, so we determined on re-visiting the scene of this disaster in the morning. Fripay Morxina.—We repaired this morning to Rich- moud, for the purpose of collecting all the particulars, so as to present our readers with something like a detailed account of this fearful casualty, and enable them to form some idea of the extent of the injury. At an early hour there seemed to be the most intense excitement, and hundreds of persons might be seen wending their way to Richmond. All along Water-street the effects of the ¢xplosion was visible, as also in other parts of the city. Window sashes were thrown out, aod windows brcken, and even locks were sprung, and several stores and ware-houses were thrown wide open. We will not pretend to particularise the different residences where the windows were broken ; we may mention, however, that even the stores in Granville-street did not escape. The effect of the shock was visibly felt at Fort Massey. We give the sulyjoined list to show the amount of property injured in the viemmity i— R. Davis's row of houses, Harris's hot-house, A. S. De-' Wolfe's residence, and properties to the north—in all of these the windows are broken. One of the hinges from the door of the magazine, together with stones of the building, entered the Gate Porter’s Lodge, doing a great deal of damage. THe force with which stones were driven against the stores, near the water’s edge, actually started the bungs from the hogsheads. The Naval Hospital is also considerably injured. The damage to Mr. Briton’s| house is more than was at first anticipated. Strange to say that one of the large stones, which reached the house, was | driven with such force that it entered through the trunk of one of the large trees north of the premises. _A fine new building erected, near the Magazine Wharf, and intended by Mr. McAgy for asteam-mil!, was completely swept away; as also a wharf in connection. ‘The other pro- perty, already referred to, is almost a total wreck. The Stokes’ property and one adjoining —scarcely a stick standing. A small house to the north of Goodwin's, damaged. | Mr. Kaye’s property—windows broken, house terribly | shaken, and interior greatly damaged. Mr. Jordon’s is not so much injured, although quite enough to require a thorough overbauling. _ Messrs. Williams's & Starr’s mills and wharf property | injured, extent unknown, machinery disarranged, &e. The | houses wp the hill to Alderman Jennings’s. and all in the neighborhood, more or less shaken. The New barracks, or rather, Officers’ Quarters, sustained oe eae ree ~ is not a whole sash | J. Wide a X i ing. rough the politeness of » OMItFas, Ksq., Chief Engineer and Architect, we were permitted to inspect the building. The principal damage done is te the plastering. Perhapsit may never sustain such a broad “side again, and we are safe in saying that notwith- sivnding the concussion, which would have sent any ordinar auildiug toppling ws ; y {to share w over, it stood as firm as adamant, aud its | orpoan children. brick and morter seemed to defy a whole magazine of artillery. In the whole building there is not as much as one oie started ; it is perhaps the best certificate the contractors coul have of the substantial character of the building. We had nearly omitted mentioning that a stone weighing hundred weight, was driven through the roof an he wood Wwol k inside, 1 carried a- way sevéral feet of t suppose that so large a stone pt distance. Immense stones were embedded in the earth just back of Mr. Vieth’s property. His house sustained consider- able damage. - The Admiralty The old pile rocked like a eradle. ral Houses in Brunswick and Gottingen streets had fell in for a considerable share of damage. We learn also that seve- a good shaking. similar fate. Oue of the ceilings in the House of W. Murdoch, Esq,., Spring Gardens, was turown down by the concussion. [ev Majesty’s Ships Indus and Pyramus. and the ship- ping in Port, were very sensibly moved by the shock. It is quite possible the Cunard Steamer, which left a short time before, will bear t the shock of an Earthquake off Novascotia. We think wo have now pretty nearly. enumerated the We do not pretend to estimate r greater part of the damage. the value of the loss. Perhaps a wore desolating catastrophe has never occurred | in Halifax. It is infiuitely more serious than fire ; for, with- out a moment’s warning or the least time for preparation ‘lives were lost, and thousands of pounds worth of propety destroyed. The sentinel on duty at the Government magazine had the presence of mind to prostrate himself on the ground until after the explosion had subsided, and with great difficulty succeeded in reaching the guard-room in safety. A poor man named Harney, of Stewiacke, a boarder in Stokes’ House, who only came to town the previous day, was so injured that he died before morning. Two other men named Buckley and O'Neil, said to be dangerously ill, are likely to recover. Several persons had their limbs broken. The shock was distinctly felt at Dartmouth. A number of windows were broken across the water, doors were thrown off their hinges, and furniture displaced, : There are al! sorts of rumours afloat respecting the origin of this melancholy catastrope. We believe there is little doubt but that it was the work of an incendiary. the vagabonds be discovered the guillotine would be to good for them. Rumour says that men were seen at the wharf, in a boat, about an hour before the explosion. We trust no pains will be spared to ferret out the ruflians. Since writing the above, a proclamation has issued from ‘the Provincial Secretary's office, offering a reward of £500 to any persons, not concerned in the commission of the crime, who will give information that will lead to the apprehension and conviction of the offenders—as there is every reason to believe the explosion was caused by persons unknown. His Worship the Mayor has offered a like reward, A military court are investigating the circumstances. THE LATE STORM. (From the Miramichi Gleaner, Augusi 8, 1857.) Our attentive Correspondent at Shippegan, under date of July 31, furnishes the following detailed account of this ter- rible calamity :— The late gafe of the 21st and 22nd inst., has thrown the shades of night over this once flourishing settlement ; all is cast into gloom and sorrow; the stroke is severe and will be felt fur years to come. Fishermen have been consigned to a watery grave; ten of these are married men, leaving widows and large, helpless families to mourn over their sad bereavement, for all the help they had has gone, their sons.along with tho fathers, Nine- teen are all young men from twenty to twenty-iive years of age, and three boys under twenty. No settlement in this Province could boast of a finer set of young men for high moral qualities, energetic and industrious, good farmers, cap- able of making all their utensils, building their own boats and sailing them. The calamity is not confined to their own homesteads, for such a set of valuable men are a loss to the whole Provinee. They were men of stirling value, and will retard the progress of the place for years to come. “ Peace be to their ashes.” I have held conversation with most of the well informed and experienced of the survivors; they all agree that there was not wind sufficient to raise such an unaccountable sea as raa during the gale, and from all the accounts we have been able to collect, we are persuaded that the cause must be from some great convulsion of nature ; they state that the sea ran to the height of fifty feet, and that the top of each sea formed a cone or sugar loaf shape; all the boats that upset were on the top of these seas, and in ong instance a boat was hurled down like a ball from the top of some high hill, then turned over and turned up upright. At theentrance of Big Tracadie Gully another was turned over stern foremost, and all on board perished. In running belore it the boats felt a tremen- dous motion, as if they would be shaken to pieces, along with sudden jerks, so as to throw or pitch astone off the deck. One boat had her exboose jerked out; another rode out the gale in ten to fifteen fathoms waterg—the crew describes the sea as similar to a pot of boiling barley soup over a sharp fire, bubbling up stones, sand and gravel all around them, and the sea changing its hue and colours until it became ter- rifie to look on. Some boats that took in seas in thirty-five or forty fathoms of water, after bailing out found a large quantity of sand and gravel left. This must show that there was some singular and great commotion‘at the bottom; and boats falling down into the trough of the sea, in these sound- ings, felt a sensation as if the bottom of the boats were about to ground, or using the phrase ‘she smelt the bottom.”—- One boat off Tabusintac was upset as described aboye, and next day was found drifting up Miramichi River, picked up and taken into Neguaec, with one dead body on board : this shows that a dreadful current must have been running to the southward, as she was found, in about twenty four hours afterwards, nearly thirty miles in a straight fine from where the accident happened, her route might double that distance or more. The damage done to the fleet of Boats, about 100 sail, was heavy ; there will not be thirty left for our Fall Fishery, the rest have all come in in a crippled state, their Hulls shaken, some lost masts and sails, others their anchors and cables; those cannot be replaced here, therefore all our trade is par- alyzed. ‘The whole loss, including the fall fishing boats aud material, cannot be estimated at less than £3,000 in Shippe- gan alone. From Caraquet no particulars are known here, but it is feared there are great losses there and on the Canada shores. The following are the names of those drowned, very few of the bodies are cast up: Richard Bulger and Son, Abraham LeBreton and brother, Henry Mallet 2nd brother, Vital, Oliver Chaison, (son of David Chaison) Peter Goodin, (stepson of Andrew Storey), Benjamin Mallet and son, Policarp Lautin, Augustine Robichaux and two sons, two sons of Joseph Dugen, two sons of Marcell Savoy, Silvanus Laclau, one son of Sebastian Achi, ove son of Louis Goutiez, (Miscou) three sons of John B. Gurgnard, two sons of Jos. Gurgnard, three sons of Gilbert Dugen, one son of John Louis Dugen, two sons of Simeon Bouche, Andrew Noil, son of Joseph Noil. ‘Thomas Maliet, an old and respectable in- habitant, who is over 70 years of age, and has fished out of this place for over fifty years, was out along with his sons in the gale, and almost in his sight lost one son, ove son-ia-law, and four grand children, who leave four widows and families ith him in their mournful loss, along with their nearly three | We could hardly | would be propelled to such a| The residence of J. H. Anderson, Ezq., met a) Could | Thirty-one of our primest and best | ‘shows that their confidence is not withdrawn. Che Examiner, CHARLOTTETOWN, P. E. I., AUGUST 24, 1857. Oe Mm LOLOL OPPO LLL LALO THE MUNICIPAL COUNCILS BILL. ee Tux Islander, being well aware that the above measure is) i no favorite with the country, is anxious to use it as an instru- ment for casting odium on the Government ; and with this, praiseworthy object in view, proceeds to discuss in its last | issue, ina manner which nobody ean understand, the detaile} of the Bill submitted to the House of Assembly, and printed | at the close of the last Session for the purpose of eliciting | public opinion regarding the main principle of the measure. | Who cares about the details of the Bill?) The House never} passed any opinion on those details. The minority was as) | silent as the majority in reference to them. The object of the | | Government, in bringing forward the Bill, was to ascertain ‘of municipal institutions. The country, blindly apprehensive | | that they would entail burdensome taxation, is not een There, then, is an end of the matter. The_ There is, therefore, no to their adoption. Bill of last Session is a dead letter. occasion for all the excitement and alarm that have been got up about it. The Government wisely and prudently deferred to public opinion in merely allowing the Bill to be printed. Public opinion appears to be against it, and the Government are too cautious to force it. Our own opinion regarding the necessity and advantages of municipal institutions, remains unchanged. But our opinion in reference to the details of the Bill of last Session, is quite another affair. We never admired that particular Bill, and would, indeed, be sorry to see it placed upon our Statute Book. But so long as the coantry ngfuses to receive municipal insti- tutions—no matter how wisely they may be framed—we are not inclined to advocate their establishment. We trust, how- ever, that the day is not far distant when the people will view the subject in a different light from that in which they at present regard it. j ‘The Js/ander alludes to the fact that Messrs. Warburton and Whelan reeently visited their constituents, and states that the object of their visit was to canyass ‘‘ preparatory to a new The parties mentioned ’ The statement is not true. They are not aware that it was election.’ did not canvass for any votes. necessary to do so; nor are they aware—which the statement of the Islander infers—that a new election is close at hand. Mr. Whelan pleads guilty to the offence of having addressed several large bodies of his constituents on the general affairs of the Colony—as has heen his practice almost every summer for the last ten years—for the purpose of diffusing correct infor- mation, and setting aside the misrepresentations and falsehoods of the common enemy ; and in 80 doing he has the satisfaction ‘to believe that he has rendered some service to the Liberal leause. We are confident that Mr. Warburton’s object was the same, and we have no doubt that he hus been equally, if not more, successful. In close connection with the statement regarding the visit cf Messrs. Warburton and Whelan, the Ts’ander asserts that ‘* the immediate object of the Government appears to be to talk the electors into supporting a Municipality Bill,’ &c. For Mr. Whelan we can safely say, that he at- tempted nothing of the kind. His constituents have always permitted him to exercise an independent judgment on every | public question ; and they would not object to his supporting municipal corporations, if he felt so inclined. But not being the leader of a party or a Government, he never attempts to drag other constituencies in the wake of his own. We have had some account of Mr. Warburton’s meetings, and we have heard of no attempt on his part to ‘‘ ta/k’’ his constituents into an expression of opinion on behalf of any measure not generally approved of. He met his constituents not as a member of the Executive, but as a member of the House of Assembly, and the Government are as free from identification with the opinions which he may have expressed at those meet- ings as they are from the opinions enunciated in the columns of the Js’ander. It is fully in the extreme to suppose that Government could have any interest in forcing on the country Municipal Cor- porations. ‘The inevitable tendency of such institutions is to lessen the power of the Executive, and to concentrate and strengthen the democratic element. In offering to the country | the Municipal Bill, the Government have plainly said — we will allow the people to regulate their own local affairs in the manner they may deem best calculated to subserve their in- terests. In refusing the Bill, the people virtually say to the Government—we do not want this increase of power—we dis- trust ourselves, and would rather that you should continue to keep us in leading-string’. Government don’t decline the re- | sponsibility ; and the fact of the people leaving it with them THE LATE CIVIC ELECTIONS. Tue intense glorification of the Tory press at the barren honor which has been achieved by some of the nominees of the Unholy Alliance, can surprise no one who remembers how small has been the measure of success which has fallen to the lot of Toryism generally for several years past. It is a sad) heart, indeed, that never rejoices, and we should be sorry to | complain of Tories giving way to all the mad exuberance of their joy. It really does one good to see them so mightily ‘* pleased with a rattle, tickled by a straw.’’ How they chuckle and snigger, and dig their elbows into each other’s ribs, and fling their beavers in the air, and cry ‘‘ Hurrah for the Holy Alliance !’? It took about two months’ issues of the Islander to give a properly full utterance to the exultation of the over-joyed patrons of that publication, on the election of a young gentleman, who was lately a protege of the Liberal Government—held an office under it—who abandoned his political supporters to vote for Mr. Haviland at the Prince- town election, and who, while canvassing for a seat for him- self, yociferated from the press and from the hustings that he was no-party man—that he would not pledge himself to join the Tories any more than the Liberals. It was, however, such | a glorious thing for even a no-party man to beat a member of the Government, that the Tories—feeling convineed that a man who was ashamed to avow his honest convictions would soon become one of their allies—capered, and frolicked, and of the /slander hard to work for two mortal months to exhaust the gas in the shape of editorials. The flare-up at last came to an end, as all flare-ups must; and then commenced pre- es a far more potent inflaence—now began to cheered, and caroused for weeks together, and had the editor | to their exertions, while white-eye and religious fanaticjeg more steam, determined to ran down and sink the Linas the race for civic honors. A meeting every night regu was a thing of course, and many of the more ardent memberg deeply regretted that the night appeared so long in coming, it was found so hard to keep their enthusiasm corked Up fur the awful space of four-and-twenty hours. The poor was nearly worked to a skeleton, and surveying and ‘ancing had of course to be knocked in the head. Ag {op Hatch, his intimate friends became alarmed about the ttate of his health, which threatened to break down under the exertions of perambulating every street at a terrific pace, ang startling children, and making horses shy at every eofner, when his over-strained lungs gave forth the announcement ;— ‘©O Yes! O Yes! a meeting of the Holy Alliance this evening at the Temperance Hall,” &c. &e. (It is consoling to hig friends to know that the indefatigable crier has quite recovered his voice, and will not bo a burden on the Alliance fora he tidings to Kngland, of having experienced | whether the country was or was not favorable to the adoption | pension, though some of them give out hints that his serviecs should be rewarded by the presentation of a silver bell.) Tho Insurance Offices, it was rumored, had refused to take risks on any property in the immediate neighbourhood of the Tem. perance Hall, owing to the fears that were nightly entertained of a terrible explosion in that direction. But wow it is gratifying to know that the elections are over, and that Hatch and the community ave at rest—that the ginger-pop enthu- siasm of the Alliance has fizzed itself away, not leaving a particle of the froth behind,—and that the Temperance Hall and the surrounding buildings are safe. But newspaper readers cannot hope to escape so easily, and so s00n from the din of exultation in the Tory camp. Ht took two mouths to work off the effects of the Prince County election, when there was only one man to shout for,—we have now six, including some men about whose politics ‘‘ there can be no mistake,” (which was not the case with Mr. J.C. Pepe), and if the Tory press has to accord the same measure of praise to the six which it gafe to the one, and makes six times the fuss and splutter, we shall be fortunate if we see the end of the whole thing by Christmas next. The Is/ander has already disfigured’ some quires of paper on the subject, and the Moniéor man has only just commenced his work. The former affects to be astonished at the audacity of the Liberals in presuming on an’ opposition to Mr. Haviland’s election, leaving its readers to infer that this gentleman had an inalienable right to the head civic chair ; and after duly rating the Liberals for their presumption in attempting, as it is said they did attempt, to give a political complexion to the elections, the Islander goes’ on to inform its readers how many more votes were given for the nominees: of the Alliance over those reeorded for the Liberal candidates; and that the result was the endorsement of the opinion recorded in the third district of Prince County. It is perfectly fair and right, according to the legie of the Islander, for Tories to bring their prejudices and predilections into our civic affairs, but it is a monstrous crime for the Liberals to think of doingany such thing. Now, the Liberals, as a party, abstained from any contest in those late elections. There was no opposition to Mr. Haviland. The mere faet of Mr. Hutchinson haying been put in nomination by a few of his personal friends, on the morning of the election, against his clearly expressed wishes, does not show there was any organized opposition. As for the elections of the Couacillors, the Liberals, as a party, did not put forward any man. Two of the candidates indeed — those in the first and second wards —are persons favourable to the Liberal interest, but no stir’ was made on their behalf by their political friends; in the third, fourth and fifth wards, there was no reeognised friend or supporter of the Liberal party in opposition to the nominees” of the Alliance. In fact, the Liberals concluded that it was. best to leave all the elections to the Unholies. The Corpora- tion, as an institution, was not over-popular—the citizens grumbled at being taxed™more than they were under the old state of things, while there was small return for their money in the shape of public improvements, All the machinery of a City Government cannot be put in motion without great ex- pense, and for the first few years this expense is sure to give rise to discontent. As the Unholies were so very anxious to» be put in office where they would have to work for nothing and find themselves, we think it was wise to let them go there, to give themselves a sickening of their thankless employment, ‘and the citizens a sickening of them. The Islander eulogises the successful candidate of the 4th . ward by reminding us that he is aman ‘* about whose polities there is no mistake.’’ We admit all this, for those who can remember his exploit on the night we celebrated the fallef Sebastopol, when his warlike propensities suggested the storming of Government House, and when ‘‘ Harvey’s brig” was made to afford him a berth until the evaporation of the gas he imbibed made him conscious of the absurdity of his intended Quixotic enterprise—those who can remember this occurrence are not likely to be much mistaken in the man. We have only a few words to spare for the benefit of our resuscitated friend the Monitor ; and let us, in the first place, congratulate him on his recovery from the kick he received at the Protector office. We don’t mean that the corpus of the worthy editor received any indignity; but that unlucky . advertisement of Duncan Maclean, and the unhappy delusion — that the use of another man’s press and types should be had for nothing—threatened to prove fatal to the Monitor. The- lovers of polite literature have to be thankful, however, to the Unholies for the substantial aid it ministered to the poor, ; Monitor when it was thrown upon its back ; and though the © attempt made by it, as soon as it was able to limp before the public, to rob the Alliance of its share of glory in the late elections, may be regarded as a proof of ingratitude—we are inclined to view the thing in a different light, and to believe that the Monitor man is only nervously anxious to convince his | readers that he is quite independent of the world in general and of the Alliance in particular. His dependent position and his swagger of independence involve him in such a dense maz. of contradictions that we are really in doubt which of his~ numerous absurdities we shall first parade for the amusement, of those of our readers who may be curious to know the style of writing which passes current for sense with the moral intellectual organization of the Unholies. . We are informed, in the first place, that it was false that . the new Councillors were the nominees of the Alliance, but were nominated by the electors themselves at public meetings. As to the publicity of the meetings, they were summoned by © the bell of Mr. Town-Cricr Hatch—the herald of the nascent 9. glories of the Ailiance—who invited to the gathering only | parations for the civic elections. The Unholies—wild with the success of their cause in Prince County, which they attributed those who were invested with the festal garments of De ~ rd ’ t