From Oregon there is no news of interest, though our intelligence comes down to the 25th of July. Business was prosperous. Gold is said to have been discovered on Rogue's river, and companies had been formed to profit by the discovery. A treaty of peace has been negotiated with the Indians by Gov. Lane.
From Jamaica we hear of the death of Gen. Herard, ex-President of Hayti, who has been residing in Jamaica for several years. The season has been favorable for the crops, and the harvests of fruit were very abundant. There had been several very severe thunderstorms, and several lives had been lost from lightning. Efforts are made to promote the culture of cotton upon the island.
From New Mexico Major R.H. Weightman arrived at St. Louis, Aug. 22d, having been elected U.S. Senator by the state Legislature. He was on his way to Washington where he has since arrived. His colleague was Hon. F.A. Cunningham. In the popular canvass the friends of a state government carried every county except one, over those who desired a territorial organization. A conflict of authority had occurred between the newly elected state officers and the Civil and Military Governor, the latter refusing to transfer the authority to the former until New Mexico should be admitted as a state. A voluminous correspondence upon the subject between the two governors has been published.—The Indians at the latest dates were still committing the grossest outrages in all parts of the country. The crops were fine and promising.
In England the month has been signalized by no event of special interest or importance. The incident which has attracted most attention grew out of the visit to England of General Haynau, the commander of the Austrian armies during the war with Hungary, who acquired for himself a lasting and infamous notoriety by the horrible cruelty which characterized his campaigns and his treatment of prisoners who fell into his hands. His proclamations, threatening butchery and extermination to every village any of whose inhabitants should furnish aid or countenance to the Hungarians, and the inhuman barbarity with which they were put in execution, must be fresh in the public memory, as it certainly was in that of the people of London. It seems that, during his stay in London, General Haynau visited the great brewery establishment of Messrs. Barclay & Co. On presenting himself, accompanied by two friends, at the door, they were required, as was customary, to register their names. On looking at the books, the clerks discovered the name and rank of their visitor, and his presence and identity were soon known throughout the establishment. The workmen began to shout after him, and finally to follow and assail him with denunciations and dirt; and before he had crossed the yard he found himself completely beset by a mob of coal-heavers, draymen, brewers' men, and others, who shouted “Down with the Austrian butcher!” and hustled him about with a good deal of violence and considerable injury to his person. Fully realizing the peril of his position, he ran from the mob, and took refuge in a hotel, concealing himself in a secluded room from his pursuers, who ransacked the whole house, until the arrival of a strong police force put an end to the mob and the General's peril. The leading papers, especially those in the Tory interest, speak of this event in the most emphatic terms of denunciation. The Liberal journals exult in the popular spirit which it evinced, while they regret the disregard of law and order which attended it.
Parliament was prorogued on the 15th of August by the Queen in person, to the 25th of October. The ceremonial was unusually splendid. The Queen tendered her thanks for the assiduity and care which had marked the business of the session, and expressed her satisfaction with the various measures which had been consummated. In approving of the Colonial Government Act, she said it would always be gratifying to her to extend the advantages of republican institutions to colonies inhabited by men who are capable of exercising, with benefit to themselves, the privileges of freedom: she looks for the most beneficial consequences, also, from the act extending the elective franchise in Ireland.—Previous to the prorogation, Parliament transacted very little business of much interest to our readers. Marlborough House was set apart for the residence of the Prince of Wales when he shall need it, and meantime it is to be used for the exhibition of the Vernon pictures. Lord Brougham created something of a sensation in the House of Lords on the 2d, by complaining that all savings in the Civil List should accrue to the nation, and not to the royal privy purse,—as the spirit of the constitution required the Sovereign to have no private means, but to be dependent wholly on the nation. His movement excited a good deal of feeling, and was very warmly censured by all the Lords who spoke upon it, as betraying an eagerness [pg 707] to pry into the petty details of private expenditures unworthy of the House, and indelicate toward the Sovereign. Lord Brougham resented these censures with bitterness, and reproached the Whigs with having changed their sentiments and their conduct since they had tasted the sweets of office. This course, he said, showed most painfully that absolute prostration of the understanding which takes place, even in the minds of the bravest, when the word “prince” is mentioned in England.—We mentioned in our last number the presentation of a petition concerning the Liverpool waterworks, many of the signatures to which were found to be forgeries. The case was investigated by the Lords, and the presenters of the petition, Mr. C. Cream and Mr. M.A. Gage, were declared to have been guilty of a breach of privilege, and sent to Newgate for a fort-night.—Lord Campbell, on the 14th, expressed the opinion, “as one of the judges of the land,” that the new regulations forbidding the delivery or transit of letters on Sunday, had a tendency, so far as the administration of justice was concerned, to obstruct works of necessity and mercy. The regulations have been essentially modified.—The bill concerning parliamentary voters in Ireland, after passing the House of Lords with the rate requisite for franchise at £15, was amended in the Commons by substituting £12;—the amendment was concurred in by the Lords, and in that form the bill became a law. The effect of it will be to add some two hundred thousand to the number of voters in the kingdom.—Lord John Russell, in reply to a question from Mr. Hume, explained the nature of the British claims on Tuscany for injuries sustained by British subjects after the revolt of Leghorn, and the occupation of that city by an Austrian corps acting as auxiliaries to the Grand Duke. After all resistance was over, it seems, that corps plundered a number of houses, and among them houses belonging to British residents, and conspicuously marked as such by the British consul. The amount claimed was £1530.—Complaint was made in the Commons by Mr. Bernal, of the defective state of the regulations for the immigration of Africans into the West Indies. He said that contracts were now limited to one year, which often caused serious loss to the employer. He thought the evil might be remedied by making the contract for three years. He was told in reply that Lord Grey had already sanctioned contracts for three years in British Guiana and Trinidad, and would, of course, be quite prepared to do so in Jamaica. The immigration of free labor from Africa had proved a failure; but this was not the case with the immigration of Coolies. Many requests had been made to renew it, and arrangements had been made to comply with those requests. Arrangements had also been made, in consequence of communications with Dr. Gutzlaff, for introducing free Chinese immigrants into Trinidad. The Tenant-right conference of Ireland held its session on the 6th in Dublin. The attendance of delegates was large. Resolutions were adopted declaring that a fair valuation of rent between landlord and tenant was indispensable, that the tenant should not be disturbed so long as he pays the rent fixed; that no further rent shall be recoverable by process of law; and that an equitable valuation for rent should divide between landlord and tenant the net profits of cultivation. A tenant league is to be formed.—A dinner was given by the Fishmongers' Company of London to the Ministers on the 1st. Lord Brougham was present, and excited attention and mirth by his way of testing the sentiments of the Company on matters of public reform. If they applauded what he was about to say, they were reformers, as of old: if not, it would show that they had been corrupted. He was made a Fishmonger in 1820, and he hoped the Company were not ashamed of what they did in favor of an oppressed queen against an aggressive king and his minions of ministers. The remark was not applauded, whereupon Lord B. drew his fore gone conclusion:—“Ah, I see;—you are far from having the same feeling you had in 1820. Honors corrupt manners—being in power is a dangerous thing to public virtue.”—The report of the Railway Commissioners for 1849 states that in course of the year the Board had sanctioned the opening of 869 miles of new railway—630 in England, 108 in Scotland, and 131 in Ireland—making the total extent of railway communication at the end of the year, 5996 miles, of which 4656 are in England, 846 in Scotland, and 494 in Ireland.—The Queen left on the 22d for a short visit to the King of the Belgians at Ostend. She was received with great enthusiasm, and returned the next day—Prince Albert completed his thirty-first year on the 26th of August. The Queen left town on the 27th for Scotland.—Sir George Anderson has been appointed Governor of Ceylon, in place of Lord Torrington, who has been recalled.—The American steamer Pacific arrived at New York at half-past six P.M., on Saturday, the 21st ult., having left Liverpool at two P.M. on the 11th. She thus made the passage in ten days, four and a half hours: this is by several hours the quickest voyage ever made between the two ports.
From France the only news of general interest relates to the tour of the President through the provinces. The Assembly had previously broken up, there not being a quorum present on the 9th. It was to re-assemble on the 11th of November. A Committee of Surveillance was to sit during the recess. On the 12th, the President started on his tour. He had given several military banquets, which, from their imperial aspect, and the political spirit manifested by the guests, created a great sensation. On one of these occasions, a dinner was given to the officers of a portion of the garrison of Paris; it is told, that after the company [pg 708] left the table, they adjourned into the garden to smoke their cigars; and there Louis Napoleon seeing a musket, took it up, and went through the manual exercise with great dexterity, to the great delight of the sergeants and corporals, who shouted “Vive le petit Corporal!” (the Emperor's pet-name among the soldiers) with great enthusiasm. During his tour, which was unattended by any very noticeable incident, he made very liberal distribution of crosses of honor, sometimes accompanied by gratuities to old officers and soldiers of the imperial army. He had a most brilliant reception at Lyons, where he spent a day, and was entertained at a grand dinner by the Chamber of Commerce. At Besançon he had a less gracious reception: at a ball given to him in the evening a mob broke into the room, shouting “Vive la Republique,” and creating great confusion. The President left the room, which was cleared by General Castellane at the point of the bayonet. At several other places demonstrations were made of a similar character, but much less violent.
Louis Phillipe, late King of France, died on the 26th of August, at Claremont, England, where he has resided since he became an exile. His health had gradually failed since he first left France, but it was not until the 24th, that he became fully sensible of the gravity of his disease. On that day he was carried out into the open air, and was present at dinner with his family, although he ate nothing. During the night he was restless, and was informed by the queen that his medical attendants despaired of his recovery. The next morning, the doctor, on being asked his opinion, hesitated. “I understand,” says the king, “you bring me notice to quit.” To Col. Dumas he dictated a last page of his memoirs, which terminated a recital in which he had been engaged for the last four months. The king then sent for his chaplain, with whom he had a long interview. He repeatedly expressed his readiness for death, which came upon him at eight o'clock on the morning of Monday, the 26th. Louis Phillipe was born in Paris, Oct. 6, 1773, and was the eldest son of Phillipe Joseph, Duke of Orleans, known to the world by the sobriquet of Phillipe Egalité. His education was intrusted to Madame de Genlis, under whose direction he made himself familiar with the English, German, and Italian languages, and with the ordinary branches of scientific knowledge. In 1792, being then Duke de Chartres, he made his first campaign against the Austrians, fighting at Valmy and Jemappes. His father was executed January 21, 1793, and he was summoned with Gen. Dumouriez, before the Committee of Public Safety, seven months after. Both, however, fled, and escaped to Austria. Retiring to private life, and refusing the offer of Austria, he was joined by his sister Adelaide and their former preceptress, and repaired to Zurich, whence, however, he was soon compelled to make his escape. He became greatly straitened for means, and, finally, found protection in the house of M. de Montesquion, at Baumgarten, where he remained until the end of 1794, when he quitted the place, and resolved to go to the United States. He was compelled to abandon this project from lack of funds, and traveled on foot through Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Negotiations were now opened on the part of the Directory, who had in vain attempted to discover the place of his exile, to induce him to go to the United States, promising, in the event of his compliance, that the condition of the Duchess D'Orleans should be ameliorated, and that his younger brothers should be permitted to join him. Through the agency of M. Westford, of Hamburg, this letter was conveyed to the duke, who at once accepted the terms offered, and sailed from the mouth of the Elbe in the American, taking with him his servant Baudoin. He departed on the 24th of September, 1796, and arrived in Philadelphia after a passage of twenty-seven days. In the November following, the young prince was joined by his two brothers, after a stormy passage from Marseilles; and the three brothers remained at Philadelphia during the winter. They afterward visited Mount Vernon, where they became intimate with General Washington; and they soon afterward traveled through the western country, and after a long and fatiguing journey they returned to Philadelphia; proceeding afterward to New Orleans, and, subsequently, by an English ship, to Havanna. The disrespect of the Spanish authorities at the Havanna, soon compelled them to depart, and they proceeded to the Bahama Islands, where they were treated with much kindness by the Duke of Kent, who, however, did not feel authorized to give them a passage to England in a British frigate. They, accordingly, embarked for New York, and thence sailed to England in a private vessel, arriving at Falmouth in February, 1800. After proceeding to London they took up their residence at Twickenham, where for some time they enjoyed comparative quiet, being treated with distinction by all classes of society. Their time was now principally spent in study, and no event of any importance disturbed their retreat, until the death of the Duke de Montpensier, on the 18th of May, 1807. The Count Beaujolais soon afterward proceeded to Malta, where he died in 1808. The Duke of Orleans now quitted Malta, and went to Messina, in Sicily, accepting an invitation from King Ferdinand. During his residence at Palermo he gained the affections of the Princess Amelia, and was married to her in 1809. No event of any material importance marked the life of the young couple until the year 1814, when it was announced in Palermo that Napoleon had abdicated the throne, and that the restoration of the Bourbon family was about to take place. The duke sailed immediately, and arrived in Paris on the 18th of May, where, in a short time, he was in the enjoyment of the honors to which he was so well entitled. The return of Napoleon in 1815, soon disturbed his tranquillity; and, having sent his [pg 709] family to England, he proceeded, in obedience to the command of Louis XVIII., to take the command of the army of the north. He remained in this situation until the 24th of March, 1815, when he resigned his command to the Duke de Treviso and retired to Twickenham. On the return of Louis, after the hundred days—in obedience to the ordinance issued, requiring all the princes of the blood to take their seats in the Chamber of Peers—the duke returned to France in 1815; and, by his liberal sentiments, rendered himself so little agreeable to the administration, that he returned to England, where he remained until 1817. In that year he returned to France, continuing now in a private capacity, as he was not a second time summoned to sit in the Chamber of Peers. For some years after this period the education of his family deeply engaged his attention; and while the Duke of Orleans was thus pursuing a career apart from the court, a new and unexpected scene was opened in the drama of his singularly eventful and changeful life. In 1830 that revolution occurred in France which eventuated in the elevation of the Duke of Orleans to the throne. The cause of the elder branch of the Bourbons having been pronounced hopeless, the king in effect being discrowned, and the throne rendered vacant, the Provisional Government which had risen out of the struggle, and in which Laffitte, Lafayette, Thiers, and other politicians, had taken the lead, turned toward the Duke of Orleans, whom it was proposed, in the first instance, to invite to Paris, to become Lieutenant-general of the kingdom, and afterward, in a more regular manner, to become King. The Duke of Orleans, during the insurrection, had been residing in seclusion at his country seat, and, if watching the course of events, apparently taking no active part in dethroning his kinsman. M. Thiers and M. Scheffer were appointed to conduct the negotiation with the duke, and visited Neuilly for the purpose. The duke, however, was absent, and the interview took place with the duchess and Princess Adelaide, to whom they represented the danger with which the nation was menaced, and that anarchy could only be averted by the prompt decision of the duke to place himself at the head of the new constitutional monarchy. M. Thiers expressed his conviction “that nothing was left the Duke of Orleans but a choice of dangers; and that, in the existing state of things, to recoil from the possible perils of royalty was to run full upon the republic and its inevitable violences.” The substance of the communication having been made known to the duke, on a day's consideration he acceded to the request, and at noon on the 31st came to Paris to accept the office which had been assigned to him. On the 2d of August the abdication of Charles X. and his son was placed in the hands of the Lieutenant-general, the abdication, however, being in favor of the Duke of Bordeaux. On the 7th the Chamber of Deputies declared the throne vacant; and on the 8th the Chamber went in a body to the Duke of Orleans, and offered him the Crown on the terms of a revised charter. His formal acceptance of the offer took place on the 9th. From the accession of Louis Philippe as King of the French, in 1830, his life is universally known. His reign was marked by sagacity and upright intentions. He committed the unpardonable error, however, of leaving the people entirely out of his account, and endeavored to fortify himself by allying his children to the reigning families of Europe. He married his eldest son Ferdinand, Duke of Orleans (born 1810) to the Princess Helen of Mecklenburg-Schwerin; his daughter Louisa (born 1812) to Leopold, King of the Belgians; his son Louis, Duke of Nemours (born 1814) to the Princess Victoria of Saxe Coburg Gotha; his daughter Clementina (born 1817) to Prince Augustus of Saxe Coburg Gotha; his son Francis, Prince of Joinville (born 1818) to the Princess Frances Caroline, of Brazil; his son the Duke of Aumale (born 1822) to the Princess Caroline, of Salerno, and his son Antony, Duke of Montpensier (born 1824) to Louisa, sister and heir presumptive of the reigning Queen of Spain. But these royal alliances served him not in the day of his distress. The fatal 24th of February came, and swept away the throne he had taken so much pains to consolidate, and he signed his act of abdication, accepting the regency of the Duchess of Orleans. His subsequent fate is familiar to all. His flight from Paris to the sea-shore; his escape in disguise to England; his kind reception in that country, are well known. Claremont was given him as an abode, and there, with the exception of occasional visits to Richmond and St. Leonard's, Louis Philippe continued to reside. There, too, he breathed his last on Monday morning, the 26th of August, in the 77th year of his age. His death excited general comment, but was universally regarded as an event of no political importance.—A very imposing review of the French fleet at the harbor of Cherbourg, took place on the 7th inst. A great number of the English nobility and gentlemen were present by special invitation, and a magnificent display was made of British yachts. An immense concourse of people was in attendance, and the President, Prince Louis Napoleon, was received with distinguished honors. The parting salute at sunset, when over two thousand pieces of ordnance crashed forth with a simultaneous roar, was highly effective.—The trade of Paris is said to be unusually brisk this season. Wheat is abundant and all the harvests yield good returns, though fears are entertained that the quality of the vintage may be inferior.—The proceedings of the General Councils of sixty-four of the eighty-five departments of France are now known.—Forty-seven have pronounced in favor of the revision of the actual constitution. Seven have rejected resolutions recommending the revision, and ten have declined the expression of an opinion upon the subject. Only three have declared themselves in favor of an extension and continuance of the power now confided to Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. [pg 710] Nearly all have expressly desired that the revision should be effected in the mode and time prescribed by the constitution itself.
The Literary Intelligence from abroad lacks special interest. The Magazines for September contain nothing worthy of mention, which will not be found in the foregoing pages of this number. Bulwer commences a new novel in Blackwood, the opening chapters of which are here reprinted. It is in continuation of “The Caxtons,” and promises to be exceedingly interesting. It will, of course, be given to our readers as rapidly as it appears. Our opening paper this month is a spirited and eloquent notice of Wordsworth, evidently from the popular and effective pen of Gilfillan, who is a constant contributor to the London Eclectic Review from which it is taken. “David Copperfield” by Dickens, and “Pendennis” by Thackeray, draw toward their end, and our readers may therefore anticipate new productions from their pens ere long.—The question whether an American can hold a copyright in England comes up before the English Courts in a suit brought by Murray for interference with his rights by a publisher who has issued an edition of Washington Irving. It is stated that Irving has received from the Murrays the sum of £9767 for the English copyrights of his various works.—The Gallery of Paintings of the King of Holland has been sold at auction and the returns are stated at $450,000. The Emperor of Russia, and the Marquis of Hertford in England, were extensive purchasers. Two portraits of Vandyke were bought by the latter at 63,000 florins.—Lamartine writes to the Debats from Marseilles, denying, so far as he is concerned, the truth of statements contained in Mr. Croker's article in the London Quarterly upon the flight of Louis Phillipe. He has commenced the publication of a new volume of “Confidences” in the feuilleton of the Presse.—The Household Narrative in its summary of English Literary Intelligence, notices the appearance of an elaborate work on Tubular Bridges by Mr. Edwin Clark, with a striking folio of illustrative drawings and lithographs. Also of an Essay in two goodly octavos on Ancient Egypt under the Pharaohs, by Mr. Kenrick, full of learning, yet full of interest, because grafting on the ascertained old history all the modern elucidations of travelers and artists, critics and interpreters. It appears to be but a portion of a contemplated work comprehending a complete history of those countries of the East whose civilization preceded and influenced that of Greece; and to our proper understanding of which, the discovery of the hieroglyphic character, and such researches as those of Mr. Layard, have lately contributed an entire new world of information. Another book remarkable for the precision and completeness of its knowledge, is Doctor Latham's Natural History of the Varieties of Man, a very important contribution to the literature of ethnology; and with this is connected in subject, though not in any other kind of merit, an eccentric fragment on the Races of Man, by Dr. Robert Knox.—Mrs. Jameson has published a second series of her Poetry of Sacred and Legendary Art, in a volume of Legends of the Monastic Orders, similarly illustrated; and nothing can be more graceful than this lady's treatment of a subject which has not much that is graceful in itself.—To biography, a new volume of the Life of Chalmers has been the most interesting addition. A Life of Ebenezer Elliott, by his son-in-law, possesses also some interest; and, with a little less of the biographer and more of the biography, would have been yet more successful. In English fiction, a semi-chartist novel called Alton Locke, full of error and earnestness, and evidently by a University man of the so-called Christian Socialist school, is the most noticeable work of the kind that has lately appeared. The other romances of the month have been translations from the German and French. The Two Brothers is somewhat in the school of Miss Bremer; and Stella and Vanessa is a novel by a graceful French writer, very agreeably translated by Lady Duff Gordon, of which the drift is to excuse Swift for his conduct to Mrs. Johnson and Miss Vanhomrigh. The subject is curious, and the treatment (for a Frenchman) not less so. Nothing painful or revolting is dwelt upon, and if it does not satisfy it fails to offend.—The London Morning Chronicle has an extended and elaborate review of Mr. Ticknor's great “History of Spanish Literature,” in which it pays the highest possible compliments to the accomplished author. “The masterly sweep of his general grasp,” it says, “and the elaborated finish of his constituent sketches, silence the caviller at the very outset, and enforce him to respectful study, while the unaffected ease of the style, lively but not flippant, charms the attention, and not seldom disguises the amount of research and indigation which has been bestowed upon each stage of the history.” It closes its review with this emphatic praise: “this History will at once take its position as the standard book of reference upon Spanish literature, but it will not take the cold honors of the shelf usually accorded to such volumes, for it will not only be consulted but read. We cordially congratulate our American friends upon possessing a compatriot who is able to make such a contribution to English literature—we are not aware that we are equally fortunate.”—The third series of Southey's Common-Place Book has just appeared. Unlike the former series, which consisted of selections of rare and striking passages, and so possessed a general and independent value, the present volume consists mainly of brief notes or references to important passages in a great variety of works, bearing upon the subjects of Civil and Ecclesiastical History, Biography, and Literature in general. The references are so brief, and the works referred to so rare, that the book will prove of little service except to [pg 711] those who have access to large public libraries. Probably not one book in ten of those referred to is to be found in any library in this country. The volume, however, furnishes evidence still stronger than the others, of the wonderful extent, variety, and accuracy of Southey's reading; it shows that he was a sort of living library, a walking study; he read almost every thing that appeared, and methodized, and laid up in his mind all that was worth preserving, of what he read, and thus gained a super-eminence of information which has rarely been surpassed. The third volume of his Common-Place Book is not altogether destitute of those quaint and singular selections which gave so rare a charm to those that preceded.—The North British Review for the current quarter, from which we gave some extracts in our September number, has an article upon the disputed claims of Messrs. Stephenson & Fairbairn to the credit of having invented the Tubular bridge. If the facts upon which the reasonings of the reviewer are based, are correctly stated, there can be no doubt that a large, perhaps the larger share of the credit due to this greatest triumph of modern engineering, belongs to William Fairbairn, of Manchester, by whom all the experiments were undertaken that demonstrated the practicability of the undertaking, and proved that a square form was much stronger than the elliptical one, which was originally proposed. Mr. Fairbairn, it is stated, showed conclusively by actual experiment, in opposition to the opinion of Mr. Stephenson, that suspension chains, as an additional means of support, were not needed, thus avoiding an outlay of some £200,000. Successful as the experiment has been in a scientific point of view, the railroad of which this bridge forms a link, has been most unfortunate in a pecuniary aspect. The stock consists of two kinds, the original, and preferential. In July, 1850, the former was selling at a loss of £72 10s., and the latter at a loss of £33 6s. 8d. on every £100, involving a total loss to the stockholders of £1,764,000.—The Barbarigo Gallery at Venice, celebrated for ages for its rich collection, especially of the works of Titian, has been purchased by the court of Russia for 560,000 francs, or £22,400 sterling. A new singer, Madame Fiorentini, has appeared at Her Majesty's Theatre in London, who attracts considerable attention. She is a native of Seville, and married to Mr. Jennings, an English officer. She received her musical education in London, and made her first public appearance at Berlin only twelve months since.—The telegraphic wires between Dover and Calais, or rather Cape Grinez, have been laid and got into operation. Dispatches have been received in this country which were sent from Paris to London by this means. Thirty miles of wire, incased in a strong coating of gutta percha, have been imbedded, as far as this could possibly be done, in the bottom of the channel, by means of leaden weights. It remains now to be seen whether the precautions taken are sufficient to protect the wire from the ravages of the ocean's denizens, the assaults of ships' anchors, and the shifting sands which are known to underlie the Straits of Dover.—A duel took place at Perigueux between MM. Chavoix and Dupont, in which the latter was killed. The latter was editor of a paper called Echo de Vesone, and had offended M. Chavoix, a wealthy proprietor, by severe strictures on his conduct. Both were members of the Assembly. They fought with pistols at twenty-five paces. M. Chavoix won the throw for the choice of position, and M. Dupont for first fire. Dupont fired and missed. Chavoix, declaring that he could not see clearly, waited till the smoke of his adversary's discharge passed, and fired at an interval of some seconds. His ball struck the forehead of Dupont, who fell stark dead upon the plain without uttering a cry or a groan.—The distinguished French Novelist M. Balzac died at Paris on the 18th of August, aged 51. He was in many important respects, the foremost of French writers. He was originally a journeyman printer at Tours, his native place. His earlier works obtained a fair measure of success, but it was not until after many years' apprenticeship, either anonymously or under assumed cognomens, that he ventured to communicate his name to the public. And no sooner was the name given than it became popular—and in a little while famous—famous not in France alone, but all over Europe. His success was almost as brilliant as that of Walter Scott himself. In addition to his romances, Balzac wrote some theatrical pieces, and for a while edited and contributed a good deal to the Revue Parisienne. Since the revolution Balzac published nothing, but was engaged in visiting the battle-fields of Germany and Russia, and in piling up materials for a series of volumes, to be entitled Scenes de la Vie Militaire. He leaves behind several MS. works, partially or wholly completed. His design was to make all his romances form one great work, under the title of the Comedíe Humaine,—the whole being a minute dissection of the different classes of French society. Only a little while before his death, he stated that, in what he had done, he had but half accomplished his task. Next to his great celebrity, the most remarkable feature in his career is a strong passion which he formed for a Russian countess, and which, after years of patient suffering, he had the satisfaction of having rewarded by the gift of the lady's hand. Shortly after his marriage—which took place some two years ago—he was attacked with a disease of the heart, and that carried him off. He and his wife had only been a few months in Paris when this sad event took place. His funeral was celebrated with a good deal of ceremony, and an eloquent funeral oration was pronounced by M. Victor Hugo.—Sir Martin Archer Shee, President of the Royal Academy, died at Brighton on the 19th, in his 80th year. He was elected to the above office in 1830, on the death of Sir Thomas Lawrence, when he received the honor of knighthood. He [pg 712] retired in 1845 from the active duties of the office, which have been since performed by Mr. Turner.—The late Sir Robert Peel has left directions in his will for the early publication of his political memoirs, and has ordered that the profits arising from the publication shall be given to some public institution for the education of the working classes. He has confided the task of preparing these memoirs to Lord Mahon and Mr. Cardwell.