him to allow them to submit. The messengers, not daring to front him, with a large sum bribed his aged mother to use her great influence with him for their purpose. In a private interview with Schamyl she made the fatal proposition. None knew what passed; but, pale and trembling, she could only answer that the Prophet had shut himself in the mosque to inquire of God his duty. Let the people fast and pray till he appeared. Three days and nights passed. On the fourth morning Schamyl stood upon the mosque's flat roof, surrounded by his Murids, his usually impassive countenance distorted and changed by the traces of past inward agony. His mother was brought before him, and he spoke―The will of the Prophet of Allah be done! People of Dargo! the Tchetchenes have dared to think of yielding to the Giaour, and have even ventured to send messengers, hoping for my consent. The messengers, conscious of their sin, dared not appear before my face, but have tempted the weakness of my unhappy mother to be their mediator. For her sake I have ventured to ask the will of Mohammed the Prophet of Allah; and that will is, that the first who spoke to me of this matter shall be punished with a hundred blows of the heavy whip. It was my mother!' With these words, Schamyl signed to his Murids, who seized the venerable old Khaness, and bound her to one of the pillars of the mosque. At the fifth blow, she sank dead. Schamyl, with a wild burst of grief, threw himself at her feet, but, suddenly rising again, cried solemnly- God is great, and Mohammed is his Prophet! He hath heard my prayer, and I may take upon myself the remainder of my mother's expiation!' With that, stripping off his upper garments, he commanded the Murids to inflict the remaining ninety-five blows upon his own back. The punishment fulfilled, Schamyl gave orders that the envoys of the Tchetchenes, terror-stricken witnesses of the preceding scene, should be brought into his presence. The ready Murids half-drew their schaskas, but Schamyl, raising the men from the ground on which they had cast themselves in their fear, said only, in his impassive way-' Go back to your people, and for my answer tell them what you have seen.' Schamyl is of the middle stature, fair and delicate, with light hair, grey eyes overshadowed by thick, well-marked brows, a regular and well-formed nose, and a small mouth. The apparent immovability of his arms when walking indicates the determination of his character. His manner is noble and dignified, and, perfectly master of himself, he exercises a silent influence on all who come in contact with him. His habits are simple and abstemious; sleeps little, and spends night after night in prayer and watching. He regards himself as simply an instrument in the hands of a higher power, and holds that all his thoughts and decisions are the immediate inspiration of God. His old teacher, Dschelal-Eddin, still living, at a great age, receives from the SultanProphet the same reverence as he had from the boy. he Give us also, God! a prophet with the faith of Schamyl, and some few men with the trust and daring of his Strivers. THE ROYAL OAK-APPLE. Ir is generally supposed, by the ignorant beyond common folk in dull parts of England, that the oak-apple is worn, every twenty-ninth of May, in memory of Charles second hiding in an oak after his first hiding at Worcester. But this is an invention. The real origin might have been symbolical. The oak-apple, you know, is a good-for-nothing excrescence produced by disease and vermin on the otherwise healthy English oak. So it was an apt symbol of the restoration of monarchy in the person of Charles 2: saving his kingly presence however, for he was a sight uglier than any oak-apple. And when Charles was happily gathered to his fathers, the less unsightly oak-apple continued to flourish perennially as the type of monarchy itself— the institution instead of the man. Is it not an excrescence, produced by disease and vermin, and of no advantage to the tree? In fullness of time, when monarchy became constitutional, courtiers took to wearing oak galls instead of oak apples: one sham symbolizing the other. It is a pretty piece of Pagan mummery And this is why oak-apples were formerly hung in our churches, and why the galls yet stick in the button-holes of fools. ROYALTY IN SPAIN. WERE there, in the whole family of the Spanish Bourbons, a single eligible or even respectable prince, he would have an excellent chance of elevation to the throne, vice Isabella, cashiered.' But we look in vain for one respectable either in character or abilities. Times' Correspondent, April 17. A FEW HOURS IN PRESTON. WHEN I stept out of the train there were policemen waiting on the platform-evidently to direct all immigrants. When I got into the street, there was a number of weavers watching anxiously the new comers, and then following them to see what their business in Preston amounted to. To test the feeling, I stopped a policeman, and asked him if there was a coffee-house handy. While doing this more than a dozen men passed by listening to our conversation. Directly they heard the word coffee-house, two of them hastened to get me away to a place where I could get what I wanted. Then I saw mysterious noddings by the police, as they walked two together; and after my conductor had satisfied himself, as I supposed, that I was neither work-seeker nor ‘nob stick,' I was taken to a coffee-house, and then left. Where I stopped complaints were immediately communicated to me about the condition of the people during this long strike. They will not get drunk-they will not drink beer-and the publicans are dreadfully afraid that they will be ruined. 2d. Next morning I went exploring. I examined first the 'literary' products on the walls. 1st. Two large bills stating the number of paupers relieved during the last month, amounting to 1,000 exclusive of children, and stating the condition of the applicants asking relief: the words 'loss of work' are, I think, the most numerous. A large bill commencing Labour is the source of all wealth,' announcing that William Newton will lecture to-night, in the Theatre, on the present condition of the Preston operatives; another large bill headed ‘Poland,' informing the public that William Newton will also lecture with an intention to memorialize her Majesty to restore Poland to her place among the nations. 3d. Several proclamations about the war: one stating that all ships, ammunition, or other warlike missiles intended for foreigners will be immediately seized by her Majesty's commissioners,' and the builders and purveyors will be severely punished'; another that the militia are to be drilled; and a third that militia volunteers may join the regular forces without paying the usual 10s. formerly required. 4th. A bill calling upon the 'trades' to continue their subscriptions, and the battle of 'right against wrong' will be yet justly ended The following in large letters figures most prominently all over Preston :- The masters will have war! ah, war to the knife! Well then "Let there be War! since Peace is but a grave, Since brutal Force hath set its foot on Right; Since man must be a Hero or a Slave, Arm us with courage, God! for virtuous fight."' You may perhaps guess my surprise when I saw the above. He has been I saw His face is worn with anxiety and continual work. ill for some time, and was confined to his bed. The magistrates, he says, are doing everything to get hold of the most active of the men; police are in disguise trying to excite the men to rebellion. If a man or woman is arrested, the witness, if a ten per center,' is not allowed to attest the innocence of the accused. He has great faith in the strike ending honourably. The funds of the masters' association have fallen 2 per cent. while their own steadily increase. Two delegates are gone through Wales to get money, and two or three are to be dispatched to America. The hands the masters have brought in, being unskilled, have seriously damaged the machinery, and many are leaving aud being sent away without any extraneous advice whatever. This morning ten persons went down to the Immigrants' Home,' and demanded to be sent back. At about eleven o'clock I heard a hand-bell ring at the corner of a street. There were two men, one ringing the bell, the other announcing that a meeting would be held this afternoon, at half-past two, on Ribbleton Moor-a moor about two miles distant from Preston and just out of the precincts of the borough. After the announcement, the concluding phrases amused me: 'God save the Queen and-save the peace of the borough. Amen.' I attended the meeting. Grimshaw and delegates from Stockport and Blackburn addressed the people, who numbered more than two thousand. The delegates said they came to tell the people not to be down-hearted. Blackburn and other places, though sending rather less contributions for the last two weeks, have been wise. Hearing that the masters were about to work short time, instead of sending all the money collected, they have made a reserve-to be prepared for the worst. Grimshaw stated that, after closely examining the lists of relieved, above one thousand were impostors. This they are determined to stop, and give the extra money to the true men and women of Preston. I conversed freely with the men after the meeting, and even before. They were very reserved at first- for they knew not who they might be talking to-there were so many spies about.' They seemed to be full of heart and hope, many wishing that the strike was over and that the masters would come to honourable terms. Rather than yield unconditionally, they would die first.' 'Now the fight is begun, they must carry it on.' 'We have hoisted our banner for the right: we will not flinch.' These phrases brought out their enthusiasm; and the various faces seemed to me to indicate intense earnestness. The middle class and little shopkeepers are now taking active steps to endeavour to end this duel. As yet their overtures have been spurned. They, however, still persevere; and the general public opinion here seems to be rather in favour of the men than the masters. How it will end I know not. There are about sixty mills here. Twenty, I believe, are the number at work. Some of these twenty are only partly manned' with 'unskilled hands.' HISTORY OF THE MONTH. THE PRESTON STRIKE. THE most important event of the month is the termination of the Preston Strike. After a gallant struggle of thirty-seven weeks the men have succumbed. Failing funds hastened this result, not lack of firmness on the part of the people.' In truth when some £3,000 a week had to be contributed for their support, the wonder is that they held out so long. The contest has been most memorable. The working class put its whole heart into it. Throughout its course the people have shown great will in act, endurance under terrible privation, forbearance under much provocation. Their conduct has been heroic, and their defeat can bring no shame. But let them reflect. Let them think-if the same number of men with the same energy and determination had for thirty-seven weeks laboured for the franchise, would they not have won their freedom? Why will they insist on battling on their weakest ground, pitting poor men's scanty wages against the united power of capital, the masters free, and they handcuffed by the masters' law ? Although the contest is over many thousands are still out of work, the places of many of the less skilled having been supplied by new hands; and poverty and sorrow will long keep plain the tracks where the fight has been. PROTECTION OF WOMEN. We had not room for this last month. Is it the worse for standing over ? Mary Elizabeth Ratcliffe, spinster, aged 37, lived with her uncle at Wisbeach. Her uncle's partner, Robert Reid, a married man, made foul overtures to her, and for her refusal endeavoured to get her person into his power. Foiled in that he called on the Baptist minister of the place, Isaac Haycroft, a young man of 24, acquainted with Miss Ratcliffe, and by mere overbearing will made him sign a paper confessing 'criminal intercourse with M. E. Ratcliffe,' and promising to marry her. This paper he used to compel her consent to his own proposals. The affair got into the local journal, and he brought an action against the editor for libel. Reid swore he had only endeavoured to bring about the marriage when he discovered the connection subsisting between Miss Ratcliffe and Haycroft. Two medical men testified to Miss Ratcliffe's 'purity'; and Haycroft himself confessed that his extorted confession was a falsehood. Does it not all miserably illustrate the position of women? At last Nenagh Assizes, George Percy, a journeyman shoemaker, was convicted of a series of felonious assaults upon a child eight years old; and Johanna Guerin, a girl of sixteen, was also convicted of aiding him in the outrage, on six or seven occasions. The child's mother is schoolmistress in Roscrea workhouse, and the rules do not allow officials to have their children within the walls; the child had therefore been under the care of Guerin. The mother took the child to a Dr Wood. He told her first that he saw nothing the matter with the child,' and afterward that it would be better to hush the matter up.' The motive for the outrage was said to be a desire to get the mother out of the house' (to protect her child) in order that a friend of the prisoner's might obtain the situation. What do our clergy and friends of 'order' say to this? THE WAR. : The War' lags shamefully. 'Do as little as you can,' is the order. First Aberdeen, then the ice, now fog, keeps even Napier idle for picking up now and then a stray craft is not work. And in the Black Sea the proceeding is equally slow, and pusillanimous, for all the self-laudations of bewhiged John Bull. What are these great exploits of Odessa and Sebastopol? At Odessa, to punish Russia for firing on a flag of truce, the allies on the 22d of April destroyed in a few hours the military stores and the Russian ships. Five |