SUMMARY or THE GAZETTES.—The classified abstract of bankrupts, published in
some of the newspapers lately, affords some curious indi- cations of the state of business during the last twelve months. Physic has been in fair demand, probably from the coldness of the weather—only three apothecaries have yielded to the pressure of the times. The frost has dished one potato-merchant ; the shoemakers, brewers, and bakers, have given way in nearly equal proportions—fifteen of the first, fourteen of the second, mid thirteen of the last ; and, what is really strange, the season has destroyed no fewer than thirty coal-merchants. This seems to ask for in- vestigation. Of merchants, commonly so called, wood-merchants of course included, a hundred have failed; of corn-merchants thirty. We count little of these gentry ; .but the expiration of a distiller surprises us much, when we reflect on the increase of gin-drinkers. No fewer than forty-three builders have fallen ; but they were accompanied by only four brickmakers, so the staple of our mansions is in small danger. Twenty-three cotton manufacturers have become victims to the stagnation in the rag trade, in consequence of the reeal of the one-pound notes. The idleness and gadding of the mantua-makers have put the eye out of one needlemaker ; and the cautions which we gave the public some time ago against extortion and adulteration, have sent fifty wine-rnershante to the right-about. The linen.
drapers have gone off like sheep, to the tune of seventy-five ; but only one linen manufacturer has been foolish enough to follow them. The bar has sustained a heavy loss of two solicitors ; and literature a loss still heavier, of twenty booksellers ; the binding, however, holds firm--only two _binders have given way. The Devil has been among the tailors—there are thirty- three of them in the Gazette; which contains also one scavenger, who has, we suppose, gone there to look after the sweepings. Whether under the head of " Trades not mentioned," the gentlemen of the press are included, we know not, but they do not appear in any other part of the enumeration.
TuRKISH CIVILIZATION.—The Sultan, according to the last accounts from Constantinople, is not marching, but galloping on the highwhy of ire. provement. Tea-parties are now common in the Seraglio, at which his Highness's ladies appear—veiled as yet, it is true—but one great slip has been made, they will cast their veils to the winds by and bye. This is not all. An Italian theatre is to be established for the royal diversion at an early day, and an agreement is said to have been already made with a ma- nager. What next ? Our contemporary, the Standard, who on the recent symptoms of breaking-up among the Ultra Tories has grown a-weary of this vain world, remarks, that " the introduction of the vices and follies of Europe is not the wayto introduce European civilization." It is curious to see how extremes meet. A devout Catholic and strenuous devotee of Loyola told a female friend of ours lately, that every papillot she put into her hair would be converted into a fagot to roast her in Purgatory. Our contemporary is an eloquent declaimer against Popish and Sectarian bigotry ; but what shall we say of him, when he talks of a taste for the music of Mozartand Rossini as a vicious, and of a tea-table party as a foolish indulgence ?
CIvIL ExeEsumune.—Nothing can be truer than that extravagance in one department produces extravagance in all. In 1796, the expense of the Home Department was 14,500/. ; of the Foreign 34,500/. ; the Colo- nial, 9,000/. In 1829, these offices cost respectively 32,0001., 65,5001., 40,0001.; being an increase on the whole of 78,0001., or 150 her cent. In 1796, the receipts were 60,000,0001., and the expenditure the same, for we were then borrowing a little of that debt which now hangs round our neck. The dividends amounted to 2,600,090/. ; so that the real expenditure was 57,400,000/. In 1829, the receipts were 55,000,0001.; and the expendi- ture, deducting the dividends which are managed by the Bank; 25,000,0001. So that in 1796, for managing an estate of fifty-seven-millions per annum, we payed 58.0001.; and in 1829, for managing an estate of twenty-five mil- lions, we paid 140,000/. ! REVENUE OF THE CUSTOMs.—The charge of collection in the customs is about 6-1 per cent. ; which, on 1811 millions, amounts to about twelve hun- dred thousand pounds. The taxable articles in the Customs are nearly 600 in number; and of these, 56 articles produce 18,808,300/. Sir Henry Pkrnell very judiciously recommends the dispensing with the duties on the smaller articles, by which infinite trouble and vexation might be avoided, and a reduction in the expense of collection be made much greater than the deficiency.
*THE EYE OF THE MASTER FATTETH TIIE CATTLE.—Sir Henry amen gives the following edifying contrast of the management of a private and public dock-yard. The.private dock-yard employed 250 men foreman I, measurer 1, clerks 2, total managers 4=254. The public dock-yard em- ployed 248 men ; clerks 18, masters 6, foremen 8, measurers 8, cabin-keepers 11, surgeon 1, boatswain 1, total managers 33=301 !
A Lay's Losroissa.-The Voleur, a Paris paper, contains a carious ac- count of a freak of nature, which throws the Napoleon child into the back- ground. A gentleman was walking with his wife, who was in an advanced state of pregnancy : she observed on the outside of a gate a large printed placard—"Joli appartement garni ii louer ;" the lady had a longing for this placard ; and as her husband refused to steal it for her, a quarrel ensued, which very much affected the lady. On the birth of the child, some strange marks were perceptible on the body, which in the course of time became distinct, and were found to be the very words which were on the placard— viz. " Joli appartemeat yarni a lotter.'—Jonathan has produced nothing equal to this. JUDICIAL QUIBBLES—Messrs. Copeland and Booth, the late Sheriffs of London, were tried last week, at the Middlesex Sessions, for illegally exacting, through their deputies, certain fees. These gentlemen went out of office on the 29th September; the offence was committed on the 31st December ; and yet the Grand Jury found a true bill. What was Justice to do ?—The old lady was quite in a quandary, when Law, in the shape of an attorney, came to her aid. "Bid the witnesses stay out of the way." Accordingly, the Judges being seated, the Jury being sworn, and the par- ties arraigned, the crier proceeded to call "William Grosbecker—James Daly." No answer. The Jury of course acquitted the defendants of an offence which they and the Judge and everybody else knew it was impos- sible they could have committed. VERACITY OF THE PRESS•PROVED.—We are often accused of draw- ing a twig bow when it suits our purposes ; and the charga„very appropri- ately comes for the most part from the lawyers, "who never don't do no such things." We hope the following instance of the zeal with which the • investigation of truth is followed up by the press will not be lost sight of, when so scandalous an accusation is next fulminated against it. The sub- ject, we Might to observe, was a poor fellow, named Butler, that was hanged the other day. The penny-a-line men differed as to the religious habits of this unfortunate_brave ; and as no previous opportunity had presented itself, the morning of his execution was selected in order to elicit from his own lips a solution of these doubts. But listen !—" It having been stated in some of the journals of last week, that Butler had associated with religious persons, and the assertion contradicted in others the question was put to him with a view to have the matter set at rest. *hen he saw the para- graph, he said it was just and true." Is there an attorney or a barrister of the whole band that can boast of pushing his inquiries after truth to the foot of the gallows? CASE OF CONSCIENCE.—A letter from Poole mentions the death of a fowl-stealer, named George Jeanes, who belonged to a village near Dor- chester. de had stolen a turkey, and—" After committing the theft, it appears, from the manner in which lie was discovered the next morning, that conscience convinced him he had done wrong, and when in the act of making a speedy retreat towards his house, he stumbled, and in falling his head came in contact with a stone, which, from the bruise apparent on his temple, must have caused instant death."—It thus appears, that the coun- sel of Jeanes's conscience was, that having got the turkey, he ought to make a speedy retreat home with it ! We have often been told of accommodating consciences, but, of all that ever we heard of, commend us to a Dorchester Cale.
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