He was intensely alarmed. His fear, at thus being, as it were, in the very clutches of his foes, so agitated him, that he could scarce forbear crying out aloud. His sense of hearing was so sharpened by danger, that he seemed in the same room with his pursuers. Minutes, too, appeared hours, hours years, in his present position. He longed for this suspense to cease, yet feared that then would begin the search. At last, he thought there was a movement. Yes! the clanking of arms was heard, as the troopers rose from their feastthen a psalm was sung, which in Charles's ears was worse than wild beasts' howls-then the jingle of spurs and the heavy tread of many armed feet on boarded floors, as the word was given to search the house. [To be continued.] New Zealand, and the way there. THE following is a letter received by a friend of ours from a correspondent who has just arrived in New Zealand, and was handed to us to use at our discretion. Thinking it will interest our readers, we give it almost entire. The letter was posted at Auckland, April 15th, and was received here the 16th of June. "I take the opportunity of sending_you this by a vessel just leaving today. We arrived here on the 21st of February, after a passage of one hundred and twenty days. We called in at the Cape of Good Hope, and stayed three days. Cape Town is clean, though the houses are made of wood and very low. The inhabitants are principally Dutch. The heat was very oppressive; and coupled with the burning sand blowing into one's face, it was not over and above agreeable. The Kaffirs are a most ugly and atrocious looking set of beings, but willing to do anything for the white residents. Cape Town is a very business-like place, and you would be astonished at the amount of money changing hands. There are auctions every day, which add much to the bustle. The drays and waggons are drawn along the streets by twelve or fourteen bullocks, or so nany large mules. Horseflesh is cheap, but the dogs of the place are most disreputable looking creatures, and amuse themselves by howling day and night, to the great disgust of the inhabitants. Governor Wynyard's handsome residence is very prettily situated, in a beautiful avenue of oak trees, a mile long, which commences about half a mile from the pier, and is the public promenade. On the right hand side of the avenue is a Museum with a collection of African beasts and birds, connected with which is a good library, and farther on, extensive public pleasure grounds, where there are quantities of trees and plants strangely different from English ones; two hundred specimens of palm trees for instance. The avenue reaches to the foot of the Table Mountain, which I climbed, and obtained a splendid view of the country. The next day several of us hired a two-horse break and drove thirty miles into the interior. The country is all hill and dale, with vineyards scattered here and there, the wine of which, however, was not to my taste. There are many cleared spots, but for the most part the land is a mass of brushwood and scrub, interspersed with silvery leaved trees, and occasionally whole valleys of wild rhododendrons. Wild cattle are in great abundance, and farther in the interior are the ferocious forest beasts. While we were in harbour, there were twenty other vessels. We left with a good fair wind, but after getting away from land, encountered a terrific gale which frightened most of us, the water washing our cabins down in the saloon, and taking away the ship's bulwarks, the hen coops, and everything on the main hatchway. However, the good vessel dashed on, and we never tacked till reaching Van Diemen's Land, making at the rate of 250, 280, and 300 miles a day. Our best day's run was 312 miles in 24 hours. From Van Diemen's Land to Auckland we had head winds and calms which lengthened our passage. Auckland is a much pleasanter place than Cape Town. Governor Grey's residence is here. The principal street runs direct from the wharf up a long valley, streets branching off on either side up steep hills, from the summit of which can be seen every house in the town. The buildings are mostly wood, but an act was lately passed to force people to build stores and houses of brick or stone, in some parts of the city. Bricks are £3 10s. per thousand. Most of the residents have stores in the town, but live in the suburbs, commencing business at nine, and closing at four o'clock. Workmen's hours are from eight till five o'clock-wages from six shillings to ten shillings per day. Labour is very hard to get; provisions are about home prices, but rents are terrific; a small cottage worth three shillings a week in England, lets here for ten shillings. The climate suits most people, but for the first month I thought the heat very great. People tell me I shall get quite suited to the climate next summer. I have had two summers this year, one in England, one here. Fruit is very abundant: cucumbers, melons, peaches, grapes, are so plentiful that pigs are fed with them sometimes. As in Cape Town, auctions are held daily; goods of all sorts are thus sold. Auctioneers, Land Agents, Surveyors, drive a thriving trade, though the place swarms with them. Public-houses do a tremendous business, there are half-a-dozen every three hund ed yards. Drinking is the great curse of the place. The streets of Auckland are in a most deplorable fettle; but when we consider that the place where the town now stands, was a complete bog ten years back, there is some excuse. As I said before, labour is scarce out here. Good smiths and millwrights can earn one shilling an hour and upward. If you could persuade a good smith or two to come out, we can give them constant employ, and I can safely say, it would be the best thing they ever did, to emigrate to Auckland. Pig iron is sold at £8 per ton, here, in the city. Wrought iron, sometimes thirty and thirty-five shillings per cwt. Coal is fifty shillings, and coke £7 per ton. As far as I have seen, I should advise no one to come out here except those who have money, or labouring men. A workman gets more here than a clerk, and mechanics of all sorts always command good salaries. I did not give you an account of the first part of our journey here. Going down the channel, we all paid the usual tribute to Neptune. On the line we were becalmed several days and caught a large quantity of Albatrosses, measuring from 12 to 18 feet from tip to tip of wings. We shot also many other sorts of birds. Sharks, whales, dolphins, and flying fish we saw in great abundance, some very large. We spoke many vessels, among others, the Great Britain bound for Melbourne, with the All England Eleven' on board, While we were becalmed we visited a whaling vessel, and saw the whole arrangements for catching the fish and getting the oil. Altogether it was quite a pleasure trip. The natives here are a fine, strong race of men, but abominably lazy, making the women do all their work. They have great notions of finery, and if a stranger has anything on they take a fancy to, they will bid for it thrice its worth. In feature they are very ugly, particularly the females, and in disposition avaricious and revengeful. As to the war, I think we shall have nothing serious, although I do not like Sir George Grey's policy, giving them everything they ask, for the more they have the more they want. The soldiers are at present employed making roads to open up the country, which displeases the natives, as they see we shall be better able to deal with them than before; for then they got in the bush, shot our soldiers down and ran away where they could not be seen or followed. But their numbers are gradually decaying, they are dying out year by year, and will soon be quite unable to cope with us, and for the present I think there is little danger of a general war. But I must now close this long epistle, I shall expect an equally long one in return." Loss of the Birkenhead. The 'Birkenhead' transport ship was lost some years ago off the coast of Africa. The noble self-devotion of Col. Seaton and his brave companions in arms, is no-way exaggerated in the following lines :— The good ship furrowed the misty foam, A gallant band of the brave she bore, The outlines dim of dark Afric's land The mariner's glass could discover, And the strange sea-birds of a foreign strand When the vessel struck with a sudden crash, Like the rumble of distant thunder: And they heard the billows, remorseless dash, Then a shriek rang high on the whistling blast, All hopes were vain, she was foundering fast None madly rushed to the crowding boats, Wives, mothers, and babes, were borne away No furious din of conflicting hosts, No visions of fame upbore them; Deem not that the spirit which breathed of old, That our fathers were fashioned of finer mould, The bold three hundred, who nobly died These heroes true of the Birkenhead, W. H. BALDWIN. St. John's College, Newport. The Future of South Staffordshire. BY A MEMBER OF THE IRON TRADE. (Concluded.) In endeavouring to account for this state of things and to argue therefrom our future prospects, we would avoid assuming the character of an advocate or partisan; we would seek to act the part of a disinterested and impartial judge. Our object is not by plausible argument to prepossess our readers in favor of some foregone conclusion, but is simply this-for them and for ourselves to get at the plain truth. So many influences commingle to affect trade and commerce, that it would be presumptuous to profess ability to eliminate those which are merely casual and temporary, from those which are regular and permanent. But may we not say, that certain recent events of an extraordinary and temporary character go far, when viewed in their results, to account for this apparent decline, and may to that extent be considered as its causes. They have been previously adverted to, but deserve fuller notice. The years 1855-6-7 witnessed a rapid increase in the exports of iron in various stages of manufacture. In the last of the three, trade had acquired an unusual degree of expansion. Speculation was rife. Demand seemed to be pressing hard upon the heels of supply. A fictitious prosperity, too flourishing to endure, had taken the place of genuine commercial interchange. The mercantile community was, so to speak, possessed with an unnatural and feverish excitement. Experienced men might then have safely predicted a proportionately severe relapse. It speedily came. From an unexpected quarter a sudden crash was heard, and by one of those mysterious phenomena which are termed panics, one fair edifice after another was laid low. Then was shown the mutual dependence, the necessary solidarity and identity of interest which subsist between nations. One member of the great family cannot suffer, but all are weakened. In proportion to the extent and closeness of relation, so is the suffering. Our trade with America had grown to great dimensions, and probably exceeded in importance that with any other country. Not only were we annual purchasers of some forty million sterling, of cotton, and a larger, though fluctuating quantity of cereal produce, but we exported thither largely, coal, iron, machinery, hardware, leather goods, glass, &c. In that country, at the period in question, an excited tone of trade prevailed, similar to that existing here, but there was superadded, as far as could be learnt, a wild and extravagant mode of living, all classes indulging in a lavish and prodigal expenditure of their means. In such a state of things, it was evident that a whisper might initiate an uncontrollable panic. And so it was. Suspicion once aroused, men knew enough of their own and their immediate neighbours' position to lead them to suspect everyone. Mutual confidence was lost; business engagements were left unfulfilled. New York merchants or the resident agents of English houses, found themselves unable to meet the demands of their correspondents on this side. The most respectable houses here, thus suddenly deprived of the use of a large portion of their funds, were compelled to suspend payment. Iron and other works which had been chiefly dependent upon American orders for employment, were brought to a standstill. Nor did the mischief end here. Trades not directly concerned were, by a kind of reflex action, made to suffer, and then exerted a further |