"The passing of the acts for Civil Registration, and for Marriages in England, has afforded much satisfaction. The provisions have been framed upon those large principles of religious freedom which, with a due regard to the welfare of the established church in this country, I have always been desirous of maintaining and promoting; and they will also conduce to the greater certainty of titles and to the stability of property.

"It has been to me a source of the most lively gratification to observe the tranquillity which has prevailed, and the diminution of crimes which has lately taken place in Ireland. I trust that perseverance in a just and impartial system of government will encourage this good disposition, and enable that country to develop her great national resources.

"Gentlemen of the House of Commons-I thank you for the liberality with which you have voted not only the ordinary supplies of the year,but the additional sums required to provide for an increase in my naval force. I am also gratified to perceive that you have made provision for the full amount of compensation awarded to the owners of slaves in my colonial possessions, and that the obligations entered into by the legislature have thus been strictly fulfilled.

"The increased productiveness of the public revenue has enabled you to meet those charges, and, at the same time, to repeal or reduce taxes, of which some were injurious in their effects upon my people, and others unequal in their pressure upon various parts of my dominions abroad.

"The present condition of manufactures and commerce affords a subject. of congratulation, provided the activity which prevails be guided by that caution and prudence which experience has proved to be necessary to stable prosperity.

"My Lords and Gentlemen-The advanced period of the year, and the length of time during which you have been employed in public affairs, must render you desirous of returning to your respective counties. You will there resume those duties which are in importance inferior only to your legislative functions; and your influence and example will greatly conduce to the maintenance of tranquillity, the encouragement of industry, and the confirmation of those moral and religious habits and principles which are essential to the well-being of every community."

Some people are disposed to blame the government for the unproductiveness of the present session. We rather blame the lords who have rejected no less than eighteen bills sent up by the commons, among which are, the Municipal Corporation Amendment, Voters' Registration, Imprisonment for Debt, Irish Church, and Roman Catholic Marriage, bills. The whole conduct of the lords as a body calls imperatively for a reform of the house of lords.

VALUE OF DIRT.-To many of our readers who have in common with us a dislike to dirt, dirt moral as well as dirt physical, it may be a matter of curiosity to hear that even this detested article has a value in the market.

"The parish of St. Andrew, London, formerly paid a scavenger 4007. a year for cleaning their streets; which after some time being thought too much, the person engaged to do it for 3007., then for 200l., for 100%., and finally for nothing. The parish afterwards contracted with a person who gave them 2001., then 4007., and now they actually receive 7001. a year for the soil of their streets. Some years ago the vestry of Marylebone parish paid a Mr. Harper the annual sum of 500l. for that service, then 300l. was given, and so on. At this moment, however, instead of paying any thing, the vestry yearly receive from their scavenger 1700l. !"

What may be the value of all the moral and political dirt of the Times newspaper and some of its tory brethren?

DEATH OF MR. ROTHSCHILD THE LOAN-CONTRACTOR.-This extraordinary person, who from very small beginnings attained eventually to the possession of an enormous property, perhaps three, and three only, being more wealthy than him in all Europe, and by reason of that property was enabled to exercise a very powerful influence on international politics, has at length paid his last instalment due to nature. He died at Frankfort on the Maine on the 28th of July, in his 60th year. His remains, after having been sent home to his residence in St. Swithin's, were interred with great ceremony and every show of respect from a very numerous retinue of mourners in the first class of society on Monday the 8th of August. We extract for the information of our readers a brief account of the distribution of his property, we mean his actually amassed property, independently of that which is still employed in the gigantic concerns of the house, whose head he is no longer.

"The will gives no statement of the amount of the property accumulated, nor of the kind of securities in which it is invested. There are eight executors appointed under the will, namely, the four brothers of the deceased, Mrs. Rothschild, one of his sons, his son-in-law, and Benjamin Cohen, his brother-in-law. The executors are strictly prohibited from interfering with any thing in their official capacity beyond the line of their duties as administrators. The testator had given to each of his sons on their coming of age 25,000l., which the will directs shall be made up to 100,000l. in each case, the eldest son, lately married to his cousin-german, having already received his amount in full. The business is left to the three sons without any distinction or preference, and the youngest son, not yet of age, is in every respect to be placed on the same footing with his brothers on reaching his majority. The three daughters of the testator are also each to have 100,000l., this sum being already paid to the eldest, married to her cousin. The two youngest, yet unmarried are to have the same sum paid, provided they marry with the consent of their mother and brothers, and not otherwise. If they remain unmarried they are to have 50,000l. each on reaching the age of twenty-five, and on arriving at forty they are to have the other 50,0007., and no reversionary claim whatever on the residue of the property. The will throughout expresses the warmest affection for, and places the most unbounded confidence in, Mrs. Rothschild. She is secured an annuity of `20,000l., clear of all incumbrance, during her life, and also the family townhouse in Piccadilly, and the country-house at Barnsbury, with all their appurtenances, without any condition. The possibility of her again marrying is not once glanced at. The will declares that the testator had an interest in all the houses conducted by his brothers on the Continent, and, they having a reciprocal interest in the house conducted by him in London, that the joint business shall in future be carried on as heretofore by his sons, in conjunction with their uncles, for five years certain from his demise,-that the sons shall be guided by the advice of their uncles, and enter into no new undertaking on their own account without previously advising with and obtaining the consent of their mother. The testator has bequeathed nothing to public charities, servants, or dependents. He has entrusted the whole of this arrangement to Mrs. Rothschild, to act upon her discretion, without any control from the other executors; there are very few legacies under the will, and the principal one is 10,000l. to his brother-in-law and executor, Mr. B. Cohen; with about 500l. to each of the testator's sisters, and a few small sums to others, not exceeding in the whole 15,000l. to 16,000l. Tokens of remembrance to other friends and relations he leaves entirely to the discretion of Mrs. Rothschild."

The

DEATH OF QUESADA.-The Queen of Spain having been compelled by the late revolt to dismiss Quesada, captain-general of Madrid, he on the 15th, about 11 o'clock in the forenoon, left Madrid, attended by a single servant, disguised in plain clothes. On his arrival at Horteleza, distant about a league and a half, he was asked for his passport by the alcadi of the place, when, in the act of delivering it, he was recognised by a corporal of the national guard. He and his servant were at once arrested. Intelligence having reached Madrid, one of the soldiers immediately mounted his horse, followed by others of the national guard. They proceeded to Hortaleza. On arriving at the house where Quesada was imprisoned, they entered it. general was perfectly calm; the only observation he made was "that he had fulfilled his duty, and that were he again to find himself similarly circumstanced, he would act in the same manner precisely." The soldier, who had a musket, now fired, and Quesada instantly fell. The unfortunate man, exhibiting signs of life, was beaten on the head by one of the Madrid national guards until the brains protruded from his skull, whilst others hacked his body with their blunt sabres. general's servant endeavoured to escape, but was also murdered. Quesada's body was horribly mutilated, and his head was severed from his body.

The

VARIETIES.

The Ascent of the Ortler in the Alps of Tyrol.-At Mont Gallo, a few miles north east of Mount Bernina, and east of the valley of the Inn, the chain of the Alps bifurcates, the larger ridge running north-east to wards Nauders, the other, a smaller limb, branching eastward, with many subordinate ridges running southward into Upper Italy. The most elevated mountain of this chain lies on the Tyrolese side of the point where the confines of Tyrol, Lombardy, and Switzerland meet; by the Tyrolese themselves it is called the Ortlespitze, Ortler, or Orteler; its longitude is ten degrees thirty-one minutes east, and its latitude forty-six degrees thirty-eight minutes north. Surrounded on all sides by a desolate wilderness, and rising above the valleys of Taufers, Schludorns, Fubra, and Martell, its snow-crowned pyramidal summit is the most elevated spot in the Austrian dominions, and reaches an altitude of 12,814 English feet. The open and lofty summit is well laid down in General Jomini's excellent chart of the Alps. Until 1804 the foot of man had never reached it, but in September of that year a chamois-hunter, named Joseph Pichler, on the side of Tauflers, after repeated failures, succeeded in mounting to its highest peak. In 1805, the Archduke John of Austria caused a hut to be erected on an elevated part of the mountain, and rings

and iron staves to be attached to the perpendicular surfaces; with these helps Dr. Gebbard, the celebrated naturalist, thrice succeeded in ascending it. The best place from which to start upon this interesting excursion is Mals. Proceeding to Taufers, and advancing about two miles from thence, the traveller comes to the isolated Pilgrim's Church, called the Three Springs, on the stream of the Taufers; he then ascends a desert Alp over a mass of snow to the Riffelu, a rocky ridge, from the foot of which the route ascends, over a surface of loose shifting soil, for nearly four miles, along the edge of an abyss of 2080 feet deep. He now steps upon the Ferner mountain, and crosses it in a southern direction straight towards Mount Cristallo; after proceeding for seven miles and a half, he turns towards the Schneerinne (snow-edge), an almost perpendicu lar wall, to mount which requires at least four hours, and so dangerous is it that not even the chamois flies thither save when in fear of his life. The soil is loose and shifting; the slightest breath of wind is sufficient to set it in motion, and if a stone is disturbed, it is immediately precipitated downwards. In this manner the traveller must go round the whole Ortler, and at last reaches the snow-ridge, which conducts from the Zwedul to the summit. The view may be easily conceived to be

boundless. The first night is passed about the region of wood, and the second night is spent at the same place; on the third Mals is regained. This was the route pursued by the party who ascended in 1826. Previously a less arduous way through the vale of the Schuld has been sought out. From this stream, as well as that of Taufers, the chapel of St. Gertrude had been gained, and two nights passed under the Black Head, an overhanging rock about the region of wood. The mountain is of the mica formation, or gneiss. Professor Thurmwieser, who ascended it in 1834, beheld the peak of Mont Blane from its summit. The direct distance of Mont Blanc is at least 170 miles. To those who have travelled in the south west of France, or in other mountainous countries, and who can make proper allowance for refraction and other physical aids and appliances, this will not appear to be improbable, considering the heights of the two points of observation.

Newspapers in British America.-The first English newspaper in Canada was the Quebec Gazette, established in 1765. The Montreal Gazette was set on foot in 1775. In 1810 there were ten papers in Lower, one in Upper Canada, and three in Nova Scotia. There are now (1835) thirtyfour papers in Canada; and in the whole of British America there are no less than fifty-seven newspapers.

cotton called "cotton jaumet," in the prcportion of 15,000 bales from Egypt, and 10,000 bales from America. In the district above designated there are but five or six establishments which have large power-loom mills, but a great number of single hand-looms are dispersed throughout it. The result of some experience has shown that a hand-loom cannot furnish much more than 210lbs. of cotton, or about twenty-five pieces per annum, and, as the looms are laid aside by the workmen during harvest-time for the labours of the field, the number that are in action may be roughly stated at about (60,000, inculuding 3,000 impelled by machinery. The number of persons employed in this part of Alsace, on every branch of cotton manufacture, is probably about 105,000 or 110,000 of both sexes and all ages, of whom about 18,500 are spinners, 72,000 are weavers, 14,000 printers, and about 1100 are bleachers. This amount of labour produces annually from 1,800,000 to 2,000,000 of pieces of coarse and fine calico, muslins, and tissues of various colours.

English Silks as estimated by the French.-The English are, we own, our rivals as to plain silks, and sell their Gros de Naples and Levantines at a lower price than ourselves in the American markets. It will, however, appear, upon examinaFrench Cotton Manufactures.-Our tion, that in the first and chief place own greatness, as cotton manufacturers, is they are inferior both in dye and finish, apt to blind us to the increasing success particularly the black kinds; in the seof our neighbours. A few well-authen- cond, that they are less uniform in their ticated facts respecting the French cotton texture, and readily fray and unravel; and works will, perhaps, not be unacceptable in the third, that the slightest drop of rain to our readers. French cotton-spinning is chiefly carried on in the departments of the Upper and Lower Rhine, and in the adjacent parts of the Vosges, Upper Saone, and Doubs, in which much calico is made from the spun cotton of Mulhausen, a town of rising population, and manufacturing importance. These departments, the inhabitants of which are employed in the manufacture of one article only, form together a compact district, containing fifty-six factories; forty of them are in the department of the Upper Rhine, but four in that of the Lower Rhine, and twelve in the adjoining departments. These factories have 700,000 spindles at work and, at the present moment, not less than 120,000 more are in course of construction. When they are all constructed and at work, the quantity of cotton spun may be stated at about 148,000 cwt., obtained from about 180,360 cwt. of the raw material. The latter consists of American cotton, and the sort of Egyptian

draws up the material in a most extraordiuary manner. The Spitalfields goods are better manufactured than the Lancashire, but a better price is paid for them. With respect to ribands, it must be allowed that Coventry has made rapid strides of late years; and St. Etienne must redouble its exertions, unless its manufacturers be inclined to suffer their rivals to get the start of them. The latter are still incontestably superior to them in point of design; but their rivals are taking the best course, by instituting schools for the education of better artists, to place themselves on equal footing with them. What might we not hope for, if all the injudicious taxes on the English silk-weavers were repealed, and we could compete with the foreigner on equal terms?

Expenses of Military Establishments.-The nations of Europe, in the calm of reflection that has necessarily followed the bustle of war, have begun to understand the folly of involving the whole continent

In turmoil and misery, and themselves and their governments in irretrievable debt and ruin. The additional labour and consequently national wealth that might be made effective, if standing armies were not deemed necessary for the dignity of empires, may be understood from the following statement :-" Throughout Europe there are rather more than 2,300,000 men under arms, which is in the proportion of upwards of 1 in every 100 souls, supposing its whole number of inhabitants to be 225,000,000. Now, if we allow each soldier to have been capable of earning but

eighteen pence per day, had he remained at home, we have here a dead loss of labour amounting to 172,500l. per day, or, taking the number of working days at 313 in the year, of 53,992,500l. per annum; but, in addition to this enormous sacrifice, what amount shall we add for the value of wasteful equipments, for wasting and wasted clothing, provisions, ammunition, &c., and for the thousands on thousands of horses withdrawn from agriculture and other useful purposes, and consigned to the unproductive homestead of the barrack ?”

LITERARY NOTICES.
Works in the Press.

Introduction to Medical Botany, third edition. By T. Castle, M.D. F.L.S. Linnæan System of Botany, illustrated and explained. By T. Castle, M.D. F.L.S.

British Flora Medica, Part VI. By B. H. Barton, F.L.S., and T. Castle, M.D. F.L.S.

Scientific Memoirs; selected and translated from Foreign Journals, and from the Transactions of Foreign Academies and Learned Societies. Edited by Richard Taylor, F.L.S., G.S., and Astr. S.

Shortly will be Published,

An English Grammar. By Matthias Green, Birmingham.

Select Plays from Shakspeare, chiefly adapted for the Use of Schools and Young Persons, with Notes, selected from the best commentators. By E Slater. This selection comprises the following admired Plays, viz.-Hamlet, Macbeth, Richard III., King John, Coriolanus, and Julius Cæsar.

Mr. Jacob Jones announces for publication, during the month, a third edition of "The Anglo-Polish Harp,' ""Scenes from Longinus," and "Poems," with émendations and considerable additions.

This day is published, 12mo.

First Progressive Latin Exercises, adapted to the Orthography and Etymology of Hiley's Latin Grammar: to which are added, Exercises on the most general Rules of Syntax. By Richard Hiley.

BRISTOL MEETING OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION.

This great assemblage of British and Foreign savans commenced on Monday 22d, the géneral committee having previously assembled on Saturday for the arrangement of business and the Marquis of Northampton was appointed to fill the place of the Marquis of Lansdowne, whose absence was owing to the lamented death of the Earl of Kerry, his eldest son. The whole number of visitors according to our latest information was very nearly 1300. The following was the arrangement of the different sections during the meeting:

A. MATHEMATICS AND PHYSICS.-(At the Merchant's Hall) President, Rev. W. Whewell; Secretaries, Prof. Forbes, W. S. Harris, Esq., and F. W. Jerrard, Esq.

B. CHEMISTRY AND MINERALOGY.-(At the Grammar School) President, Rev. Prof. Cumming; Secretaries, Drs. Apjohn and C. Henry, W. Herapath, Esq.

C. GEOLOGY ANd Geography.-(At the Institution) President, Rev. Dr.