abhorrence to the phases it has assumed since Feb-patible with the stability and well-being of society, ruary. The first category embraces all the French they will become its loyal and devoted servants. peasantry. The rustic population has availed itself And it is on them that its fate depends. Louis of universal suffrage to indulge the only romantic Napoleon will almost certainly select his first cabfeeling it is in the habit of experiencing. It has inet from among them. Their administration will used the balloting papers as it would a dead wall -it has scribbled on them the rude record of its sympathies. Who does not remember the beautiful prophecy of Beranger-that exquisite song, in which he foretells, that though Paris may do homage to the Bourbons, on parlera de sa gloire in the cottages-father telling the tale of the imperial victories to son, and grandmother to grandchild! So it is. The glory of Napoleon is the sole theme of the conteur of French village life, not even obscured, at the present time, by the shadow which dims it in Beranger's poetry-the memory of the misery which he spread far and wide. And it is as independent of republics as it was of Bourbon restorations and Orleans substitutions. Who, but the narrow dreamers of Paris, would have supposed that, instead of show how much moral elevation and material prosperity is possible under the new constitution. Should they fail, it will perish utterly. An indignant nation will throw it to the winds, and Louis Napoleon may crown himself, if he pleases, at Notre Dame. - Chronicle. THE PRESIDENT OF FRANCE. To all appearance the time has arrived when it becomes necessary to pay our homage to Louis Napoleon, the first President of the new French Republic. But how to discharge that duty is the question. Were we ever so desirous to worship the rising sun of France, we shall still find it a matter of difficulty. Under what name and quality are we to address him? For what auspices is he to be congratu the glorious substance of these traditions, the peas- lated? What wishes are we to express? Are ants would be content, or able, to grasp the loose generalities and dogmatic crudities of republican theory that a clique of Parisian journalists could change the direction of an enthusiasm like this, and we to ask Heaven for a successful presidency or for a lengthened reign? Is it the maintenance of a policy or the inauguration of an empire which the omens portend? Such questions crowd upon us bring it to bear on the sentiment, whatever it may the moment we turn to the new object of our be, embodied in the starched personality of Cavaig- political regards. The traveller in an unknown nac? The second class of Louis Napoleon's sup- region is suddenly introduced to a personage who porters is composed of adherents of the two Bourbon evidently embodies the genius and religion of dynasties, indiscriminately mingled. The Orlean- the place, but whose rank, position, and attributes ists are greatly in the minority. The larger part are as yet a mystery. What obeisances, what of them, though the least eminent, seems to have offerings, what propitiations are required? The passed over to Cavaignac with M. Dufaure. In- traveller consults in vain the recollections of his deed, the position and antecedents of the lately exiled family almost excluded that pertinacity of retrospective regret which creates and sustains a party like that of the Jacobites and legitimists. Their worthiest supporters were supporters from reflection; and these are, of course, actuated by motives very different from the chivalrous hope, and no less chivalrous despair, which dominate alternately the energies of the Carlists. Sentiments very much mixed-designs half understood, and plans half matured-influenced, in all probability, the voting of these latter. Louis Napoleon can hardly have many attractions for them, and they have too little hypocrisy to disguise their state of mind in relation to Cavaignac and Marrast. No bad exponent of their doubt is, perhaps, their honest-hearted leader, M. de Larochejaquelin, who is said to have inscribed on his balloting-card the name of Abd-el-Kader. The remainder of the majority comprises such Frenchmen as have sincerely accepted the republic, and will continue to support it, should it prove separable from the men of February. There is abundant proof that many of the soundest patriots and clearest thinkers of France are inclined to disregard particular forms in government, provided that varied experience. We are in the same awkward position, and must wait till the idol makes a sign, or his worshippers have given us some clue to the proprieties of the place. We will not commend as a republican in December one whom we may have to adore as an emperor next March. The nation and the man, the electors and the fortunate candidate, contribute to the difficulty in equal proportions. Till last February, Prince Louis Napoleon devoted all his thoughts to an object which, in the ordinary estimation of these things, was natural and even praiseworthy. It was nothing less than the occupation of his uncle's imperial throne. The modern Octavius, who, like the Roman original, had good advisers, and was wise enough to seek counsel, might fairly consider that the reign and the dynasty of Cæsar had suffered a premature check. All this was intelligible, and honest. It was simply the case of a pretender in quest of his estate. In the spring of this year some remarkable events had a twofold effect on the prince. They improved his prospects, and at the same time lowered his pretensions. They gave him opportunity and subdued his aims. It is commonly ascribed to adversity certain all-important ends can be attained. These to chasten the desires. Prince Louis Napoleon have no prepossessions against a democratic, and in favor of a monarchical régime, except in so far as the machinery of the former is primâ facie clumsy and cumbrous. If the republic be com showed a more than ordinary-we had almost said a more than human-virtue, inasmuch as in his case it is prosperity that has purified his ambition. When he was an exile he wished to be an emperor; when France was at his feet he forthwith | not do them the injury of supposing them really asked for nothing more than to contribute a little unfaithful to their new master, but the actual antemporary aid to an infant republic. Doubtless tecedents of their history are strongly at variance his aspirations, which had previously taken a more vulgar and selfish direction, were now fulfilled by the magnificent spectacle of a liberated nation. The dreams of an empire fled before the dawn of a republic. This is a very noble solution of our difficulties as far as relates to the object of this wonderful election, and for the honor of human nature we would gladly believe it. Truth, however, compels us to admit that a life spent in desultory exile, among strange companions, in prison, and in lodgings, does not furnish materials for so heroic an estimate of the prince's character. When we turn from the prince to his fol with their present position. Till the republic was an historical fact, neither Thiers nor Odilon Barrot had ever approached nearer than to be the ministers of Louis Philippe, with the pledge of reform. In the morning of February the 24th France was a monarchy; in the evening it was a republic. Short-sighted spectators were ready to condole with the men who had fallen into the rear of that furious advance, and who, after laying the foundation of the victory, saw others pluck the prize. That is a mistake. It was no misfortune to drop out of the tideway in that memorable race. It is the law of revolutions that the foremost ranks fall. lowers-that is, to the majority of the French, Governments are taken like citadels. The leaders our perplexities are by no means diminished. of the assault fill the ditch for their followers to They have rejected the authors and edifiers of the walk over. The ardent spirits of the Hôtel de republic, and chosen one who has contributed Ville were the forlorn hope that stormed the nothing but promises-promises at variance with breach. They have fallen. Time has devoured his life and position. To support popular equality its offspring. The Juggernaut has crushed all who drew it. Their place is supplied by the servants of a constitutional king, who appear on the stage surrounding a pretender to the empire. In all this we find nothing that will enable us to form positive conclusions or even probable conjec only gather that there is no loyalty, because no appreciation of loyalty, in France; and that the faithful servant of a republic fares even worse than the faithful servant of a king. - Times. and an elective chair, they have summoned to their assistance the legal representative of an emperor. A crowd of honorable names has been cast into the shade. The whole constellation of heroes that illuminates this era of French regeneration pales its ineffectual fires. A host of patriots tures as to the fate of new France. We can only is cashiered. Yet they were all "honorable read the ingratitude or the jealousy of republicans, men;" and not only honorable but successful. if not the condemnation of the republic. We can Marrast was successful, for he openly battered down monarchy, and from the moment of its downfall has maintained a leading place in the republican government and legislature. Lamartine was successful, for with his voice he did the work of an army, and tided over those fearful three months, till he had delivered France to the care of a National Assembly, an invincible army, and an energetic republican general. Cavaignac was preeminently successful, for he crushed the intestine foes of the republic, he quelled a most frightful insurrection, he has kept the insurgent DR. HENRY WILLIAM FULLER, of St. George's Hospital, has sent to the Lancet a communication of curious interest. "For some months past, in certain parts of Hampshire, partridges have been found dead in the fields, presenting a very remarkable appearance. Instead of lying prostrate on their sides, as is usually the case with dead birds, they have been found sitting with their heads erect masses under his iron arm, he has enabled the and their eyes open, presenting all the semblance Assembly to proceed on its deliberations and finish of life. This peculiarity, which for some time had its appointed task without coercion or fear. He attracted considerable attention among sportsmen has established order on the wreck of conspiracies, about ten days ago, when a covey of ten birds hav and maintained peace amid the passions and the actual neighborhood of war. He has made the republic rational, grave, and respectable. Yet such is the mutability of fortune and of France that all these are cast aside, like obsolete fashions or broken tools. There is no record of services or note of experience. Everything that is known is foregone. Nothing is approved but what is absolutely untried and new. The patricide republic disavows and destroys the authors of its being and the nurses of its infancy. Like ambition, it kicks away the ladder by which it has ascendedlike tyranny, it loathes the instruments of what we must not call its crimes. But in the pretender we had well high forgotten his future advisers. It must be confessed they are neither exiles nor unknown. They were all, this time last year, the loyal subjects of Louis Philippe. We will in the neighborhood, led to no practical result until ing been found nestled together in this condition, two of the birds, together with the seeds taken from the crops of the remaining eight, were sent up to London for examination." By analysis, Dr. Fuller discovered considerable quantities of arsenic in the viscera of the birds; this was traced to the seedcorn in their crops. Inquiry established that " in Hampshire, Lincolnshire, and many other parts of the country, the farmers are now in the habit of steeping their wheat in a strong solution of arsenic previous to sowing it, with the view of preventing the ravages of the wire-worm on the seed, and of the smut on the plant when grown; that this process is found to be eminently successful, and is therefore daily becoming more and more generally adopted; that, even now, many hundredweight of arsenic are yearly sold to agriculturists for this express purpose; that although the seed is poisonous when sown, its fruit is in no degree affected by the poison; that wherever this plan has been extensively carried out, pheasants and partridges have she was horror-struck to find her child burnt almost been poisoned by eating the seed, and the par- to a cinder. - Devonshire Chronicle. tridges have been almost universally found sitting in the position I have already described; and lastly, that the men employed in sowing the poisonous seed not unfrequently present the earlier symptoms which occur in the milder cases of poisoning by arsenic." The question was then suggested, "Might not the flesh of birds so poisoned prove injurious when eaten?" Dr. Fuller cut off the breast of a bird, and gave it to a fine healthy cat. "She ate it with avidity; but in about half an hour she began to vomit, and vomited almost incessantly for nearly twelve hours, during the whole of which time she evidently suffered excessive pain. After this, nothing would induce her to eat any more partridge. I kept her without food for twenty-four hours, but in vain; she resolutely refused to touch an atom more of the bird. This being the case, I gave her some beef and some milk, which she eagerly swallowed; proving, beyond doubt, that her instinct, and not her want of appetite, induced her to forego the dainty meal which had just been offered her." Dr. Fuller also found in every part the bird could not have been eaten by a man with out very serious consequences. "It is notorious," Dr. Fuller says, "that many of the dealers in game are supplied through the agency of poachers and others who have a direct pecuniary interest in supplying them with the largest possible number of birds. It is certain, moreover, that if men of this sort were to find a covey of partridges in a field, dead, but fresh and in good condition, they would not hesitate to send them with the remainder of their booty to the poulterer; who would as certainly, without suspicion, sell them to his customers." The conclusions are, that "suspicious cases of belly-ache" at this season are not always to be taken for cholera; and that the practice of steeping seed in arsenical solution may become matter for restrictive legislative interference, both on sanatory and medico-legal grounds. of the flesh of the other bird strong traces of arsenic; DESTRUCTION OF LARKS BY THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH WIRE. One frosty morning last week the plate-layers upon the Whitehaven junction railway found no less than seventy larks lying dead beneath the telegraph wires between Workington and Maryport. The same day Mr. Forster, the inspec tor of the line, found seventeen larks between Har rington and Workington. The heads of many of the birds were cut off, and their bodies otherwise mangled.-Carlisle Journal. A BOY named Edward Hayball, of Chard parish, one day last week fell into a mill-pond, and was supposed to be drowned; he was, however, taken out of the water and the body carried home. Everybody believed the child dead except his mother, whose affliction was very great. She took him in her arms and held him before the fire. After nearly half an hour the child showed symptoms of returning consciousness, upon which some change in the position of the body took place, when it was discovered that the child's foot had been in the fire, and was dreadfully burnt. A surgeon having been called in, did what was necessary, and the child was getting on very well. About three days after the mother placed him before the fire for a moment whilst she went into the garden, and on her return SINGULAR FATALITY.-Dr. J. Stewart died at Cumnock on the 20th ult., after a week's illness, in consequence of a very trifling accident. He had burnt his wrist some short time previously by letting fall upon it a drop of melted wax, but the injury was so slight that he paid little attention to it at the time. In a few days, however, it became inflamed and painful, and notwithstanding all that medical skill could devise, the inflammation increased, inducing a high degree of fever, till, after a week of severe distress, exhausted nature gave way.-Ayr Advertiser. THE ELECTRIC LIGHT. This light was exhib ited to the public on Tuesday night, between eight and nine o'clock, from the portico of the National Gallery. A better site for such an experiment could not have been selected, and the novelty of the exhibition soon attracted to the spot a large assem blage of spectators, who filled the street and terrace opposite the gallery, as well as a great portion of the square below. The moment the experiment commenced, the large open space in front was filled with a flood of light, which paled the lamps, not only in the square, but also some distance down Whitehall. So intense was it, that, when thrown upon the people, one could scan the countenances of those who were most distant from the gallery, and discern the cut of a man's coat or the pattern of a lady's dress at the outskirts of the crowd. Every now and then a strong pencil of light would be thrown upon the Nelson column, bringing it out from the surrounding obscurity, from its base to its summit. The light was as steady as it was intense, and the shadows which it cast were as deep and positive as those which accompany the strongest sunlight. The experiment was repeated with the same success on Thursday evening. THE Spanish correspondent of the Morning Post describes his recent arrival at the head-quarters of Cabrera, and the distinction with which he was treated "as connected with the English press." Cabrera gave him liberty to visit every part of his force and of his positions; "said that his headquarters would always be open to me, and that, when either tired of Catalonia or dissatisfied with my mission, I should have passports and an escort to the frontier. All he desired was publicity for his acts, and that the facts of the war should be honestly and truly stated." At a supper in Cabrera's camp, the writer had some singular documents put into his hands by Cabrera-" Christino correspondence intercepted by the Carlists;" and he promises to send for publication in the Post some curious particulars "illustrative of palace peccadilloes."-Spectator. THE LANDER MONUMENT AT TRURO. -Mr. Bernard, a Devonshire artist, has been authorized to execute a statue of Mr. Richard Lander, the enterprising traveller in Africa, who was a native of Truro. The figure will be placed on the Lunder column, at the top of Lemon street, Truro; its height will be about eight feet, and the material will be stone either Portland or magnesian limestone, of which the new houses of parliament are built, and the design will be as simple and effective as possible.West Briton. 5. Cousin Tom, 6. EUROPE. - Germany; the Pope and Papal Power; France and its President; W. S. Landor on European Politics; Change Perplexing Kings; Louis Napo leon Imperator, &c. &c., 272 to 287 SHORT ARTICLES. - Sagacity of a Pyrenean Dog, 253. - Causes of Disease; The Crafts in Germany; Raft of Monkeys, 271. - Poisoned Partridges, 286. - Electric Light; Landor Monument, 287. ROSPECTUS.-This work is conducted in the spirit of Littell's Museum of Foreign Literature, (which was favorably received by the public for twenty years,) but as it is twice as large, and appears so often, we not only give spirit and freshness to it by many things which were excluded by a month's delay, but while thus extending our scope and gathering a greater and more attractive variety, are able so to increase the solid and substantial part of our literary, historical, and political harvest, as fully to satisfy the wants of the American reader. The elaborate and stately Essays of the Edinburgh, Quarterly, and other Reviews; and Blackwood's noble criticisms on Poetry, his keen political Commentaries, highly wrought Tales, and vivid descriptions of rural and mountain Scenery; and the contributions to Literature, History, and Common Life, by the sagacious Spectator, the sparkling Examiner, the judicious Athenœum, the busy and industrious Literary Gazette, the sensible and comprehensive Britannia, the sober and respectable Christian Observer; these are intermixed with the Military and Naval reminiscences of the United Service, and with the best articles of the Dublin University, New Monthly, Fraser's, Tait's, Ainsworth's, Hood's, and Sporting Magazines, and of Chambers' admirable Journal. We do not consider it beneath our dignity to borrow wit and wisdom from Punch; and, when we think it good enough, make use of the thunder of The Times. We shall increase our variety by importations from the continent of Europe, and from the new growth of the British colonies. The steamship has brought Europe, Asia, and Africa, into our neighborhood; and will greatly multiply our connections, as Merchants, Travellers, and Politicians, with all parts of the world; so that much more than ever it now becomes every intelligent American to be informea of the condition and changes of foreign countries. And this not only because of their nearer connection with ourselves, but because the nations seem to be hastening, through a rapid process of change, to some new state of things, which the merely political prophet cannot compute or foresee. Geographical Discoveries, the progress of Colonization, (which is extending over the whole world,) and Voyages and Travels, will be favorite matter for our selections; and, in general, we shall systematically and very uliv acquaint our readers with the great department of Foreign affairs, without entirely neglecting our own. While we aspire to make the Living Age desirable to all who wish to keep themselves informed of the rapid progress of the movement-to Statesmen, Divines, Lawyers, and Physicians-to men of business and men of leisure-it is still a stronger object to make it attractive and useful to their Wives and Children. We believe that we can thus do some good in our day and generation; and hope to make the work indispensable in every well-informed family. We say indispensable, because in this day of cheap literature it is not possible to guard against the influx of what is bad in taste and vicious in morals, in any other way than by furnishing a sufficient supply of a healthy character. The mental and moral appetite must be gratified. We hope that, by "winnowing the wheat from the chaff;" by providing abundantly for the imagination, and by a large collection of Biography, Voyages and Travels, History, and more solid matter, we may produce a work which shall be popular, while at the same time it will aspire to raise the standard of public taste. Agencies. We are desirous of making arrangements in all parts of North America, for increasing the circula tion of this work-and for doing this a liberal commission will be allowed to gentlemen who will interest themselves in the business. And we will gladly correspond on this subject with any agent who will send us undoubted refer ences. Postage. When sent with the cover on, the Living Age consists of three sheets, and is rated as a pamphlet, at 4 cents. But when sent without the cover, it comes within the definition of a newspaper given in the law, and cannot legally be charged with more than newspaper postage, (1) cts.) We add the definition alluded to : A newspaper is "any printed publication, issued in numbers, consisting of not more than two sheets, and published at short, stated intervals of not more than one month, conveying intelligence of passing events." Monthly parts. For such as prefer it in that form, the Living Age is put up in monthly parts, containing four or five weekly numbers. In this shape it shows to great advantage in comparison with other works, containing in each part double the matter of any of the quarterlies. But we recommend the weekly numbers, as fresher and fuller of life. Postage on the monthly parts is about 14 cents. The volumes are published quarterly, each volume containing as much matter as a quarterly review gives in eighteen months. WASHINGTON, 27 DEC., 1845. Or all the Periodical Journals devoted to literature and science which abound in Europe and in this country, this has appeared to me to be the most useful. It contains indeed the exposition only of the current literature of the English language, but this by its immense extent and comprehension includes a portraiture of the human mind in the utmost expansion of the present age. J. Q. ADAMS. LITTELL'S LIVING AGE. -No. 248.-17 FEBRUARY, 1849. From Fraser's Magazine. THE ARCTIC EXPEDITIONS. Of the numerous exploring expeditions which have left the British shores, from the days of Cook to the present time, few, if any, have excited so much interest as that now shrouded from our view by the icy curtain which clings for the greater part of the year around the North Pole. Behind that curtain, Sir John Franklin, and the gallant party under his command, disappeared on the 26th July, 1845; since which period no authentic intelligence of them has been received, nor indeed any account at all beyond the rumors of boats, filled with white people, having been seen by Esquimaux in the summer of 1846, to the east of the mouth of the Mackenzie river. Availing ourselves of the official documents relating to the Arctic expeditions, which have recently been published by the admiralty, and of information derived from authente sources, we purpose in this article to notice in the first instance the expedition under Sir John Franklin, and, secondly, those lately despatched to his elief, with the view of bringing succinctly and cearly before our readers the machinery, if we may so express ourselves, now at work in the Polarseas, for the purpose of exploring and making dscoveries. The existence of a Vorth-west Passage has been a favorite dream for enturies. The hope of discovering a shorter pasage to India-the original pursuit of Columbus Imself-may be regarded as the first incitement t the attempts to navigate westward of the north of America; and we find sovereigns and merchats, time after time, bestowing their patronage and money on attempts to pass from the Atlantic to he Pacific. In 1585, the merchants of London being, they say, "satisfied of the likelyhood of te discoverie of the Northwest Passage," sent at an expedition with this object in view; and, though the ships returned unsuccessful, other exeditions followed in rapid succession. It would be impossile to find a stronger example of the undaunted ourage, moral as well as physical, which animas British seamen, than is presented to us by thes Polar expeditions. Here, indeed, is one of their hief glories; for it is evident that the fearful riors of winters spent in the regions of thick-ribbed ce, are unable to quench that intellectual fire whh has animated, from the first, the leaders and paicipators in our Arctic and Antarctic voyages. which should endeavor to pass from Melville Island dred miles, keeping midway between the supposed to Behring's Strait, a distance of about nine hunBanks' Land and the coast of America. Sir John Melville Island something that looked like the loomBarrow conceived that, although Parry saw from ing of land to the southward, which is marked on so, it would not in any way interfere with the direct the Polar chart as Banks' Land, yet, even were it er, (the last land on the south of Barrow's Strait, track between Behring's Strait and Cape Walkwhich he assumed that in this track no land interwhich leads to Melville Island ;) and the ground on venes, is, that the whole north coast of America has been traversed by various persons by land, and in boats by water, that nothing like land could be discovered from the high coast between the meridians of Cape Walker and Behring's Strait; and that little or no ice was observable. Sir John Barrow adds: “ The Utilitarians were at all times ready enough with their enlightened minds, sought for "knowlto ask, Cui bono? but Elizabeth and her ministers, edge," the result of which they needed not to be told was power." Observe what followed; the knowledge gained by the Arctic voyagers was not thrown away. Sir Humphry Gilbert, by his grant thither, in which he nobly perished, but his knowlof the Island of Newfoundland, made his voyage edge did not perish with him; on the contrary, it laid the foundation of the valuable cod-fishery, which bears his name, opened the way to the whale-fishstill exists. Davis, by the discovery of the strait that ery, still carried on; and Frobisher pointed out the strait which conducted Hudson to the bay that bears of a company of merchants under the name of the his name, and which gave rise to the establishment Hudson's Bay Company, whose concerns are of that extensive nature as to be carried on across the whole continent of America, and to the very shores of the Polar Sea. Lastly, the discovery of Baffin, which pointed out, among others, the great opening of Lancaster Sound on the eastern coast of that bay which bears his Polar Sea, through which the North-west Passage name, has in our time been found to lead into the from the Atlantic to the Pacific will one day be accomplished, and for the execution of which we are now contending; and which, if left to be performed by some other power, England, by her neglect of it, be laughed at by all the world for having hesitated after having opened the east and west doors, would to pass the thresholds. Pacific, at this moment, two fleets of the only two It should not be overlooked that there are in the naval powers likely to undertake the enterprise in question; it is extremely probable some of their ships will make trial of this nearest passage home when they leave the Pacific station. In December, 1844, ir John Barrow, then one of the secretaries to te admiralty, submitted a proposition to the councof the Royal Society, for the discovery of the Non-west Passage, in which he strongly urged the elipment of an expedition | for its decision, and the cost not more than one third CCXLVIII. LIVING E. VOL. XX. 19 met by observing that one season only would suffice If the expense be the only objection, it may be |