Coun I) $2.00 per Annum VQOEw-~-A: "All extremes are error, the opposite of error is not truth but error; STRATFORD, WEDNESDAY, SE truth lies between the extremes." in advance, PTEMBER 16, 1863. 8 Tae 2 Select Poetry, What Puzzling Creatures Women are! What puzzling creatures women are, Slave and her dupe. He condescended him- self to assume disguise and to wander through the streets of Antioch as a spy. He had his room of torture, where every engine which could cause the nerves to thrill with Julian describes graphieally, and with much humor, his sense of awkwardness when his flowing beard was shaved, and his scholastic gown was exchanged for the military habit means of subsistance. habitually live by plunder, having no other The laws are in- effectual for their suppression, and punish- ment fails either to reform or terrify them. In any way we take them-- When once they have made up their minds, Vain are attempts to break them, As well attempt to move the Alps, By human intervention, As change a woman's fixed resolve Or alter her intention, If we should love a beauteous maid With fond and true devotion, And wish to raise within her heart Reciprocal emotion-- Then thoughts of how, must in us rise, And we our cards must shuffle, So as to cause her no regrets, Or her sweet temper ruffle, If she has faults, and we reprove, We raise at once her ire ; And filled with pride she smothers up Love's pure and holy fire. If we are sad, then she is gay, And smiles at all our SOrTOW ; But when we laugh, then she will weep, And griefs from fancy borrow. The only way to wina woman, Is to be to her follies blind-- And tell her that she is the dearest, Sweetest, of woman kind, Swear she is an angel vright, Swear it by the stars above ; Then perhaps yow'll win that treasure, Which they call sweet woman's love. THE ROMAN EMPERORS. BY JOHN §. C. ABBOTT. Constantius, Gallus and Julian. The emperor Constantius was a weak and pusillanimous man. He had neither intel- lectual ability nor physical courage. He was jealous of the reputation of his generals and feared the power of his ministers, Thus influenced, he surtounded himself with eunuchs, the unhappy victims of oriental Jealousy and luxury. Being generally re- garded with aversion and contempt, they developed mainly only those traits of char- acter connected with duplicity and cunning. Gradually they gained the entire ascendency over the feeble and suspicious mind of Con- stantius. One of these men, by the name of Eusebius, governed the monarch and the empire with relentless sway. ; When the Emperor Constantine the Great died he left .a brother, Constantius. This brother had two sons, Gallus and Julian. As Julian, called the apostate, subsequently became one of the most renowned characters in history, the career of these two young men demands especial record, Constantius, jealous of this uncle, caused him to be as- sassinated. The two lads, Gallus. and Julian, then in early childhood, by some chance escaped the assassin's dagger. Gallus, who was twelve years of age, was a puny, sickly child, whose life promised to-be very short. Julian was six years of age. Con- stantius imprisoned these his two cousins in an ancient palace. The buildings. were massive and elegant, the sittiation pictur: esque, and the surrounding grounds highly cultivated. Here, however, in the midst of" much splendor and luxury, they were watch- ed with a vigilant eye. With the exception of the silken chairs which bound them in captivity, they were treated with much con: sideration. The most highly cultivated teachers and the most'skilful gymnasts were employed to train both body and mind. Years rolled on, and at length Constantius ventured to. invest Gallus with the title of Ceesar when twenty-five years old) Gallus fixed his residence at Antioch and superin- tended the government of that portion of the empire, while Constantius was embroiled in war with some of his western provinces. Julian, also released from captivity, accom: panied his brother to Antioch. 'But Gallus, morose, sullen and depraved, had no traits of character which fitted him to reign. He had married a wife, Constantina, who is de scribed "not a8 a woran, but-as one of the infernal furies, tormented with an insatiaté thirst. for haman~blood;" agony was constructed. tering assurances, lured Gallus to undertake a journey to the imperial court. With a glittering retinue, and yet with suspicions somewhat excited, Gallus left Antioch and traversed the wide extent of his domains. He stopped for a short time at Constantino- ple to entertain the people with the games of the circus. But when he arrived at Petovia, in Pannonia, the emperor laid aside all disguise. A select band of soldiers ar- rested him, stripped him of the purple, dragged him, with his hands bound behind him, to a prison, and cut off his head. At the same time emissaries were sent to Antioch to seize Julian. He was conveyed to Milan. Here he was kept in rigorous confinement for seven months, daily expect- ing ignominious death. Julian, by one of those unaccountable freaks of which human nature is susceptible, had espoused the cause of the old rejected pagan Gods. Renouncing Christianity, which under Constantine had become the religion of the empire, he advocated that system of senseless, idolatory which was al- ready passing away to the moles and the bats. He probably would have perished with Gallus but for the Empress Eusebia, a woman whose pure, noble character has extorted the praises of the most envenomed historians. Julian ever gratefully attributed his preservation to Eusebia and the idol gods of ancient Rome. By the intercession of this good woman Julian was admitted to the imperial presence, where, with eloquence, he plead his own cause. After much hesi- taney, fearing that he might prove an avenger of the murder of Gallus, the emperor yielded to the entreaties of Eusebia, and consented to send Julian to honorable exile, in the city of Athens.» Passionately fond of study, Julian with delight received this order for banishment to a retreat so agreeable. Far from the hateful din of camps and the still more hateful intrigues of courts, he reveled, for six months,in the groves of the Academy, in daily intercourse with the most accom- plished philosophers of the age. It was even then probable that Julian would succeed to the empire of the world. The Grecian teachers appreciated the genius of their pupil, and did all they could to en- courage his yanity, and to inspire him with the desire to restore the ancient religion, a system enshrined in poetry and eloquence, and which gave free scope to all those pas- sions which Christianity would check. Their labor was not in vain. Julian devel- oped, externally, a very attractive character --gentle, affable, and winning. He' was very anxious to prove that the old religion of idolitary could make as estimable men, in. everything that is lovely and of good re- port, as Christianity could make. Thus curiously inspired by the spirit of infidelity and defiance, he endeavored to live the life ofa virtuousman. By the death of Gallus, Constantius was left with sole command, and invested with all the weight of the most majestic empire of earth. The burden was to heavy for him to bear. Eusebia advised him.,to call Julian to his aid, She knew him to be a man of pure morals, and proba- bly was not aware of the pestilential prinei- ples which were seething in his mind! With reluctance Constantius yielded' to' her ad- dress. After endeavoring to bind Julian to him by giving him his sister Helena as a bride, he entrusted Julian with the ad- ministration of all the western empire, be- yond the Alps, with the title of Czesar, Julian affected atleast great sorrow in being drawn: away from 'his retirement and. his congenial studies: at Athens.! »Devoutly»he declared that his sole confidence was derived from the conviction that 'Minerva 'would guide all his actions, and that the gods would place around:him an invisible guard of angels, detached from the sun and moon. Eusebia, rejoicing inher success, em- Galhis: waé her braced him tenderly-as he approached Milan, At length Constantius, by the most flat- ratified the choice of the emperor, as Con- stantius, leading Julisn by the hand, pres- ented him before them as Oxsar and suc- cessor to the Augustan throne. Constantius was fond of speech-making. He uttered one of his most elaborate addresses upon this occasion, This ceremony of presenta- tion to the senate took place on the day Julian entered his twenty-fifth year. From this august ceremonial the two princes returned to the palace in the same chariot. Still Julian found that he was but a royal captive. Every word and every ac- tion were watched. A magnificent house- hold were conferred upon him; but they all were jailors and spies. The unhappy Ceesar did not enjoy an hour of peace. He knew that at any moment, he was liable to feel the thrust of the assassin's dagger, or to drink of the poinsoned cup. Rome, long abandoned, was now falling into decay. -Constantius yisited the ancient capital, approaching it, from Milan, by the Emilian and Flaminian ways. He entered the imperial city with the pride and pomp of'@ conqueror, Banners of silk, embroi- dered with gold, filled the air. The em- peror sat in a car glittering with gold and gems. An innumerable throng filled 'the streets. Thirty-two years had passtii,since the city had been honored with the presence of its sovereign. The throng was so great that Constantius pleasantly expressed surprise that the whole population of the globe so suddenly should haye been collected on that spot. Thirty days Constantius spent in visiting that city, which is still one of the wonders of the world. In commemmoration of his visit he transported to Rome an im- mense obelisk, which had formerly stood be- fore the temple of the sun in Heliopolis. This massive shaft of granite, one hundred and fifteen feet in length, was floated from the Nile to the Tiber, and there raised in the great circus. War was raging everywhere ; civil war and war with the barbarians. The death of Constantius, and the accession of Julian to the imperial power, with those events which have'given him the name, through history, of Julian the Apostate, must be re- served for another number. >< Crimes and Criminals. THERE were no lesy than fifty-three thou- sand two hundred and twenty-five indictable offences committed, so far as known to the police, in the past (official) year ; of which number 2,536 were offences against persons ; 5,746 against property accompanied with violence ; 41,191 against property. without violence ; 563 were malicions offences against property ; 1,915 were forgery and offences against the currency; and 1,274 miscella- neous, and not classed with any of the above. This is a picture of the criminal state of the population which may startle some persons having strong faith in the preventive and reformatory processes which philanthropists and statesmen have brought into vigorous, if| not effective action; and their minds will not. be relieved when they hear that 4,853 men and 1,147 women included in the above number: are returned as 'known. thieves 34 prostitutes, vagrants, tramps, and " sus- picious characters"' constituting the remain- der. But the aboye represent but a small proportion of the year's offenders ; there having been upwards of four hundred thous- and persons, nearly half-a-nillion, males and females proceeded against before the mhagis- trates, their offences comprising assaults, cruelty, drunkenness, &e. ; 10,823 were sen- tenced to various terms of imprisonnient ; 1,170 were sentto reformatory' schools; 166,013 were fined; and 350 were whipped. Of the offenders so disposed of, there-are no less than 15,415 described as "known thieves," 3,264 of them being females; so that upwards of twenty-one thousand of the criminals and) offenders. brought before the of a Roman prince. The senate cordially a disreputable manner ; are 20,474 males and 5,112 females. 0: many as 15,268 had been in prison before were women and only 1,085 were men very serious attention. women are the leading: actors. evil into terrible growth and extension. now attends their labors. those which we have laid before our readers, such a serious amount. of profligacy, vice, and crime, as must create an uniyersal an- xiety to know if some more effectual meang of reformation cannot be tried than any that have as yet been resorted to. It is not only that criminality inereases, but the crimes become darker and more atrocious. The Glasgow case has recently cropped up, again with increased horrors, and in London we. haye particulars. of a double crime committed on a female child of tender years, followed by an attempt to destroy the body by a chemical process, which, fortunately, only partially succeeded. " Murder, though it haye no tongue, will speak with most miraculous organ." and in this particular case a peculiar kind of nail driven into the child's boot by its repairer, is. raised up to secure the identification of the body. - Another new crime, of:so foul and revolting a nature that heart and mind sicken at the thought of it, and would reject the allegation as incredible were it not test- ified by several young women sufferers, is before the tribunals of justice. If it.should be established that such barbarities,as these women depose to have really been perpet- trated,the police and the Government should feel it tobe their bounden duty to hunt out the male miscreants concerned in the outrage, and bring them to justice. It would not be too bad to revive the: pillory for their sakes. We should'like to know the kind of'men that find pleasure in' the torturing of women in the way described, their names, their rank, and Habits. They must) be men of) nieans, orthey could. not throw about sovereigns for the purpose of tribunals. in the past.year are persons: who their revolting pastimes, ; and the height, of In the large list of minor offenders there are upwards of 20,000 women who live in of characters marked only "suspicious," there are 35,697 males and 6,485 females; of habitual drunkards (not otherwise described) there the 33,364 females who passed through the county and borough prisons in the year, as a much larger proportion than among the men, and of those persons who had been in prison more than ten times before, 2,968 Of the women committed for trial in the course of the year for indictable offences 30 were charged with murder, 14 with attempts to murder, 14 with wounding with intent to main, 36 with manslaughter, 40 with burglary, 77 with house-breaking, 11 with breaking into shops, 35. with robbery and assults to rob by persons armed in company, 17 with bigamy, 4 with child-stealing. The year was marked by the execution of one woman--Catherine Wilson, the poisoner. The increasing criminality among women is a sign of the times which should engage In workhouses some of the worst inmates are women. Young girls are frequently brought before the magistrates charged with riotous con- duct, accompanied by circumstances of ex- cecding grossness ; at the gin-shop doors the foulest and most violent companions are women ; the crime of infanticide, increasing at arate which is the subject of indignant commentary at coroners' inquests, is per- petrated by women; and. there are other atrocities of frequent occurrence in which We do not think that the female nature is undergoing a "change for the worse, more of the tiger being developed than was before possessed ; for there is an inherent vice in human nature, and it is the circumstances under which the individuals live and move that force the Tt might be an interesting subject for inquiry if the clergy could not exercise the influence which they unquestionably possess with more advantage to the moral character than We are at pre- sent, however, only dealing with facts, and as compiled by the Home Secretary, display their station should be an additional incen- tive to Government and police to find them out and drag them into light. We have poured out execrations upon Haynau, the Austrian woman-flogger, and upon | the Russian, Mouravieff; but worse than Haynau, and dirtier rascals than the Russian are among us; and a stigma will rest upon our national character until they are found out, exposed and punished. The "known thieves," of whom so many are entered in the Home Secretary's list, find thieving a pleasent trade, and punish- ment not particularly objectionable. They make up their minds to an occasional retire- ment from public life, and allow no anxiety 'upon that score to embarrass their profess- ional practice. It does appear strange that punishments should have come to be cone sidered as nothing more than a little or- dinary misfortune in the way of business, like a dull day to a shopkeeper in a fancy trade, ora bad debt. It is probable that. the honorable shopkeeper in either of these cases suffers more than the hardened rogue who takes his three months as a matter of course, and jumps into the prison yan with as much unconcern as a philanthropic noble- man goes into his carriage for an afternoon's drive, It is a pity that some means cannot be devised for breaking up gangs of " known thieves." Greater activity in disturbing and scattering them, together with a sharp and real punishment when they are under sentence, might be attended with consider- able advantage--English Paper. f ? The Queen on Demoralising Amusements. In aid of' our lapsing civilization, and in horror of the sacrifice of one of her own sex, her Majesty has most graciously, opportune- ly, and, we trust, decisively interfered. The following are copies of a letter received by Mr. Charles Sturgo, Mayor of Birmingham, written by command of the Queen in refer- ence to the late catastrophe at Aston Park, and of that gentleman's reply thereto :-- Osborne, July 25th, 1863. Sir,--The Queen has commanded me to express to you the pain with -vhich her Ma- jesty has read the account of a fatal accident which has occurred during a fete at Aston Park, at Birmingham. Her Majesty cannot refrain from making known through you her personal feelings of horror that one of her subjects--a Semale-- should have been sacrificed to the gratifica- tion of the domoralising taste, unfortunately prevalent, for exhibitions attended with the greatest danger to the performers. Were any proof. wanting that such exhi- bitions are demoralising, I am commanded to remark that it would be at once found in the decision arrived at to continue the festi- vities, the hiliarity, and the sports of the occasion after an event so melancholy. The Queen trusts that you, in common with the rest of the townspeople of Birming- ham, will use your influence to prevent in future the degradation to such exhibitions of the Park which was gladly opened by her Majesty and the beloved Prince Consort, in the hope that it would be 'made serviceable for the healthy exercise and rational recrea- tion of the people. T haye the honor to be, Sir, Your most obdt humble sery't, The Mayor of Birmingham. ©. B. Putpps, The Five. H's,--Five of the sweetest words in the English language begin with H :--Heart, Hope, Home, Happiness, and Heaven, Heart is a hope-place, and home is a heart-place; and that man sadly mistake- th, who would exchange the happiness of home, for anything less than heaven. A Braying Donkey, however stupid he may look, is unquestionably an ass-toot ani. mil, "(The perpetrator 6f the foregoing has since tried to blow his' brains out, but did not succeed, for obvious reasons, ) At a whist-table, a spectator noticing-that a lady, who was one of the players. seemed serious, remarked that, judging hy her looks, she must be playing fora losing game "What!" said a witty gentleman present, "must a lady always smile to be winning ?" TL a a