Coun ly of $2.00 per Annum '<All extremes are error, the opposite of error is nottruth but error; truth lies between the extremes." in advance, VOL. 2, No. 2.] STRATFORD, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 1864. [WHOLE No. 29 Select Poetry. Where is the Summer? JOHN HILLYARD CAMERON. (We make no apology for presenting the fol- lowing to our readers. It Was written in the _beftlay of his youth, some twenty-five years ago, by Hon. John Hillyard Cameron ; and, as far as We are aware, has never beenin print. How- ever much we may disagree with the honorable geatieman's politics, we havé always admired histalents ; though the fact that he has occa- , Sionally courted the Muses, (and to some pur- a B he be new to many of:qur readers.-- Ed. mes,) It has wafted away its fairest things Beyond the far blue sea, Tt has skimmed the wave with its sunny wings, For the clime where its homes should be ; And its voice has breathed forth its saddest tone For the land it has left with its dead alone! oe een tall It has wooed the breeze with its whisper low, From the wild wood's trembling shade ; It has robbed the grove where the streamlets flow, Of the song that their murmurs made: And has stolen away from field and flower, The fragrance it shed in its brightest hour. It has lured the songsters of joyous note From their rest on leaf and spray, It has swept the mead where the bee-birds float And the summers insects play ; And has borne with its joyous train along, The Forest's last breath of feathered song. Tt has colour'd the clouds that softly hung Like flakes on the air on high, Tt has treasured the light that the sunbeams flung On those flakes, as they shot them by ; And has fled away with their golded hue Where the sun's more bright, and the sky more blue! The Great Storm, ITS EFFECTS IN CANADA AND THE STATES, The violent storm and extreme cold which prevailed here on New Year's day and Saturday appear to have had a wide range over the continent of America. In some localities the cold was more severe than ever before experienced, and snow fell in immense quantities. It is somewhat singular that in the neighborhood of Toronto not a particle of snow fell on these days or since, while as far south as Louisville, Ky.. and St. Louis, Miss., it came down so heavily as to block up the railroads. At the latter place the Mississippi river was completely frozen oyer and became passible for heavy trains as well as foot passengers. * THE STORM IN HAMILTON, The Hamilton Spectator says the " cold spell" of Friday and Saturday has not: ben exceeded in intensity for many years. The wind rose almost to a hurricane, and was very cold and piercing. The storm does not appear to have passed away without its victims. The Spectator says :-- "We have heard of quite a number of eases of persons biti bie more or léss frost-bitten, but the most serious is that of the lad who carries the mail between this city and Stoney Creek. He left the latter lace at an early hour on Saturday morning, but after he had driven some distance he was unable to proceed further. When taken from the waggon it was found that his hands and feet were badly frost-bitten, and it will be some time before he can _re- cover from his serious injuries. One mis- erable, dissipated creature, living at the western limits of the city, was found on Sat- urday morning: dead, from the effects of drunkenness and exposure to the extreme cold. Her nameis Blackwell, and she has long be2n known_as an inveterate drunk- ard. Another fatal case occurred on the Mountain . during the night of Saturday. About two o'clock on Sunday morning the body. of a colored man, frozen stiff, was found inside the gate leading to the resi- dence of George Gillespie, Esq., at the top of Strongman's. Road. - It appears that the man was seen in the city late on Saturday night .in a state of intoxication, and it is supposed that, in an attempt to reach his idwelling, he had fallen down where he was found." KINGSTON, There was a violent snow storm in King- ston on New Year,s eve, and on Friday 'a strong gale of wind.arose. That afternoon another. snow storm, visited the city and raged with great fury. for, several hours, No damage was done' sovfar. as we have learned: * BUFFALO, i The Buffalo papers give long accounts of the ravages of the storm in that neighbor- "hood. The Courier says :-- "Friday night fell on as wild a looking scene as we have ever witnessed in this good city. The thermometer had fallen te 9 de- grees below zero, and everybody huddled to his or her fireside as early as possible. Sat- urday morning dawned, and yet the fury of the tempest seemed scarcely abated a particle. Little or no business was done all day, and Main street, with its store windows curtained by frost, looked as if it had re- tigéd from active life. As terrible a night as that which had preceded it followed the day, and yesterday exhibited no visible im- provement upon Saturday. Thus for three days, wind and snow have been absolute masters of the situation. One of the most alarming incidents of the storm was the flood, 'The water rose higher in the creék | on Qhursday night and Friday morning, thanyat any previous time for ten years. It rgse~so suddenly that policemen and others aroused families along the tow-path and the lower part of Erie street, justin time to save them from drowning. On Perry street and the Flats, a large number of hogs were drowned, but we cannot learn that any human lives were lost. A little boy on Perry street was submerged in his bed and nearly strangled ; but was rescued by his father just as he was sinking through the floor, which was all afloat and broken up. " During Friday morning, the waves ran riot over the New York Central track, be- low the Erie streetdepot. About two hun- dred and fifty feet of the track is washed away, and-heayy stones washed on to the road bed. The trains on this road will leave Black Rock Station, until the damages can be repaired. "The water was so 'high and the wind so severe, that the-steamer International could not cross the river on Thursday night, and about one hundred passengers in the night train on the Lake Huron Railway, were obliged to spend New Year's day at Fort Erie. Slight damage was done to Lake Huron docks on the Canada side, several laborers' shanties were blown down; but no great damage done, The trains on this road will also leave Black Rock until turther notice. "Through the lower part of the city cellursaud basements were universally sub- | merged. Undoubtedly a large amount of property is thus damaged, but as yet it is impossible to ebtain any figures. We are told that the water at one time rose over the first tier of barrels in the flour ware- house of the Western Transportation Com- pany. Danger from this source ceased to be seriously apprehended after Friday morning when the deluge had been conyert- ed into a solid stratum of ice." The Courier reports that a bridge over the Erie canal on Evans street was lifted off its bearings by some canal boats under it which rose so rapidly with the water in the canal that they could not be removed. The bridge fell into the water and with it four men, two of whom it is said were drowned. The high wind blew down a three-story brewery and carried away several roofs in the business partofthe city. The railroads were nearly all blockaded and trains ran irregularly. Various mishaps are degeribed in detail by the industrious reporters, INDIANA. A despatch from Indianopolis; in this State, says :-- "A very severe snow storm commenced here on Thursday and lasted for two days. Railroad travel is almost entirely suspended. The weather is intensely cold. The ther- mometer stands at 20 degrees below zero. Four Confederate prisoners were frozen to death on the cars on Thursday night, while en route from Jeffersonville to Chicago." KENTUCKY, The Louisville Journal of the 2nd says :-- "On Thursday the barometer stood at noon at 29. 62. Soon afterwards commen- cing rapidly talling; it reached 28. 65 at 8 o'clock p.m., resulting in a violent snow storm from theN. W. On Thursday night at 10 o'clock, the barometer rising had reached 29. and on Saturday night at 9 o'clock, 39. 95, The thermometer, on Thursday at noon, was at 47 above zero, falling between that time and 10 p.m. to one degree above zero. Friday morning at 9 o'clock the mercury was at 194 below zero, and' continued below zero 'all day. Saturday at 7}'a. m. it was at 3 aboye, and at the same hour in the evening at 14 above zero. Nothing like this was ever known in Kentucky." OHIO. At Cincinnatti on tke 1st the weather was clear andcold. At six in the morning the thermameter stood at seven degrees be- low zero, and the following night, the mereury sank still lower. ILLINOIS, A despatch from Chicago, dated on the 2nd, says? ; "Tt is intensely cold this morning, The thermomoter at 2 o'clock was 284 below zero No trains for the east or west last night, and none arrived. All roads are completely snow-bound." MISSOURI. .A despatch from St. Louis, of the same date says : "Very little business was transacted here to-day, on ac hE the severity of the weather. Since*the snow storm on Thursday, it has been iptensely cold, the mercury having fallen to4 degrees below zero, a thing unparalled inthis region. All the railroads leading 'ont of this city are blocked up with soll, No trains have arrived or departed for two'days, The river .i@-completely frozen over. Teams and pedestrians commenced crossing on the ice this morning, and have kept it up all the afternoon and evening. A large number of cattle and hogs were frozen to death. On the weather-bound trains north of the Missouri river, quite a number of frost- bitten casesare reported by the newspapers, some of them of a serious character." EASTERN NEW YORK, A despatch from Oswego, dated the 2nd says: " Terrible snew storm raging here for the last 24 hours. Four hundred feet of East Pier washed away, and several vessels broke from their moorings. Shipping badly damaged." A New York Despatch of the 3rd says: "The oldest inhabitant is trying to recollect whether it was ever so cold in this region before, as it is to-night. At this hour, the wind is blowing a northerly gale and the thermometer stands at 10 below zero. It will be remembered that last win- ter the weather was so mild, it was feared that we should have no ice for the hot days of summer. There need be' no fears' however, that there will be a scarcity the coming summer, if the present cold term hangs on a little longer. In the mean time, we present our compliments to old Boreas, and ask him to put down the price of coals and haye pity on the fireless by furnishing them more respectable weather." PENNSYLVANIA, A Philadelphia despatch of the 2nd says :-- "The weather here is bitter cold. Last night four persons were frozen to death. The thermometer this morning stood about 3 degrees below zero." Address of the Grand Orange Lodge, There was a full mezting of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, held in Dublin, on Wednesday and Thursday, the 9th and 10th of December, when the following ad- dress was adopted :-- " Brethren,--Through the goodness of Almighty God, the Grand Lodge of Ireland has again held its half-yearly meeting, and desires to address the mem- bers of the Orange Institution, in fraternal counsel and brotherly love. We do not re- quire to refer, at this day, to the origin of our glorious institution. Its history, for many years, was that of the loyalty, the intelligence, and Protestantism of Ireland. --For seventy years, it has formed in this country the great bulwark of British con- nexion, and the citidal of the constitution in church and state. Assailed it has been, as the foundations of the Christian faith have been assailed, by captious cavillers and malignant foes; but, founded, as it is, on God's Holy Word, and maintaining, as it does, the great principles of civil and religious liberty, for which our fathers died, we fearlessly assert that it stands on an im- pregnable basis, and defies the assaults of the calumnious and evil. To you, brethren, and those who have taken the trouble to examine the history and nature of Orangeism, it must seem very strange that Parliamentary legislation has visited with pains and penalties the external celebration of those events in Ireland, which placed Her Majesty's illustrious house on the throne of these realms; and that the government of Protestant England should pass over Romish processions through the streets of the metropolis, on the Sabbath day, with green emblems, Popish and Rebel music, and banners 'bearing the harp without the crown, while 'prosecuting in Ulster, every Orangeman, who, remembering the days of yore, publicly displays that which Lord Macaulay has declared to be "the emblem, to the Protestant English- man, of civil and religions freedom." - It.1s not the desire of the Orange institution to abridge the freedom of any. While, how- ever, we do not desire to deprive others of their liberty, we ought resolutely to 'unite in maintaining our own. For this purpose Parliamentary 'action is imperatively re- quired in order 'that acts of Parliament, such as the " Party Procession Act," and the Party Emblem Act," which are nugatory as regards Popish organizations, and are made to bear heavily on Orangemen alone, may be repealed. Time after time, at various general elections, the support of Orangemen has been enthustically and effectually given to those candidates who came forward on Protestant principles, and asserted their determination to uphold that religion and those liberties which our great deliverer, in 1688, came over to maintain. Is it too much to ask that those gentlemen, returned to Parliament by the influence of our order, should, be ready to defend it? Is it too much to expect that Orangemen, who, in Dublin, in Ulster, and elsewhere, have often turned the scale at contested elections, should have their cause actively supported by those to whom they have rendered efficient assistance? We think, brethren, that it will be considered reasonable that members of Parliament elected to support the Protestant cause, by the votes of Orangemen, should be present and defend, in the House of Commons, the Orange institution, when its rights and privileges are attacked. A general elec- tion isathand. We only refer to such questions as the Maynooth Grant, and the Prison Ministers' Act, by which Popish Chaplains may be appointed and paid in English and Scotch jails, and which is another step towards the establishment of Popery in England, in order that you may ascertain the course your representatives pursued with regard to those measures, con- cerning which all Orangemen can haye but one opinion, But matters are constantly arising in reference to Protestantism in Parliament, when many of those repre- sentatives who have heen returned to sup- port the Protestant cause, are absent--some of them not unfrequently antagonistic. See to this brethren. Shall there be no parliamentary investigation into the decla- ration of the Duke of Newcastle, in his let- ter to the Lieutenant-Governor of Prince Edward's Island, that the Orange institu- tion is " calculated (if not exactly intended) to embitter religious and __ political differences, and must be detrimental to the best interests of any colony in whieh it ex- ists? When our brethren in Prince Ed- ward Island, seeking to place an effectual barrier in the way of the inroads of Popery in their prosperous colony, were able to pass through beth Houses of Legis- lature, an "act to incorporate the Grand Lodge of Prince Edward's Island, and the subordinate lodges in connexion therewith," is it right that the Colonial Secretary should not only refuse to advise Her Majesty to sanction a bill passed by a colony with full legislative powers, but should attack in terms untrue and slanderous, an institution which has maintained the British flag, in North America, against Popish traitors and foreign invaders? When one member suffers, all other members suffer with it. Deeply as we sympathise with our brethren over the sea, while counselling them to per- severe in the course they have taken, we call upon the representatives whom they have returned to Parliament, to see that justice be done to our brethren and the Orange in- stitution. With you it will soon rest to exercise the sacred trust committed to your care, under God, by the British constitution. Take good care that those who have your support as candidates for Parliament, are men in whom Orangemen can depend. Sound principles, courage, prudence, and ability, are qualities required in those who should receive the sufferages of Orange- men. Take council in your district and county Lodges. Act together wisely and well, for the good of our great cause, Above all, seck the guidance and direction of that God who has protected the Protestants of Ireland, in many disastrous crises, and resolutely and firmly oppose by, all lawful means in your power, the measures and the men that dishonor his Holy Word. '" This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith," 'Therefore, beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not vain in the Lord." 'Srrwart BLacker,D: G. M., « Chairman, In the absence of the Right Worshipful Grand Master, the Earl of Enniskillen." Protestant and Missions. Catholic We publish this week in another column of our paper a table showing the receipts of the religious socicties of Great Britain, It is a noble record for the British Christians. We have often had to complain of their con- duct during 'the past two years, butit is with all the greater satisfaction that we call attention to the great liberality with which they support their 'societies. The Foreign Missionary 'Societies'alone received during the past year more than £400,000. England is far ahead in this respect of every other country of the world, We found a few days ago in one of our Roman Catholic papers an account of the receipts of the Association for the Pro agation of the Faith for 1862, which forms a striking contrast to the missionary statistics of Protestant England. This so- ciety, as may be known to most of our readers, embraces the entire Roman Catholic world, and represents, therefore, a population of about 182,000,000 of people. All these millions, according to the report of the society, contributed during the year 1862 for missionary purposes the sum of 4,721,194 francs, which is not quite £200,000 in English money. What a comment lies in these figures on the interest taken in the propagation of Christianity in Protestant and in Roman Catholio countries! The Protestant pop- ulation of Great Britain, which amounts to about 23,000,000, gives annually more than double the amount for foreign missions con- tributed by the 182,000,000 of Roman Catholics, Nor does England, though she is ahead of other Protestant nations, testify alone to the superior zeal in behalf of the missionary work. Qn comparing the receipts of the Protestant missionary societies of other countries with the statements of the report of the Catholic Societies we find that in. every country of the world, from which missionary contributions are reported, the Protestants are far ahead of the Roman Catholics. We give a few curious facts. In the United States the American Board and the missionary societies of the Methodist, Baptist, Old School Presby- terian, and Protestant Episcopal churches have also made alone larger appropriations for the missionry work during the present year than the annual contributions for foreign missions from the 182,000,000 of Catholies. : France contributes for Catholic 'missions more than double the amount of what all the other countries contribute together (3,175,473 franes out of 4,721,194.) Yet the French Protestants do in proportion considerable more. The Roman Catholic population being about 35,000,000, the average. contribution of a Roman Catholi¢ is less than one eleventh of afranc. The Protestant Mission Society, which represents only one of the Protestant French churches, has an annual income of 173,000 francs, which in proportion to the membership of the church is at least one third or one fourth of a franc for a member, In Germany the Roman Catholic pop- ulation, which counts 23,000,000 souls, con- tributed for foreign missions 278,043 franes, The Protestants ot Germany and Switzer- land, who together represent a population of about twenty millions, sustain together eight missionary societies, one of which, that of Basel, reports alone for the current year an income more than double the contributions of Catholic Germany. The Protestants of Germany sustain a special society (Gus- tavus Adolphus Society) for erecting new Protestant churches in Germany and for the Germans abroad, whose income reached this year the sum of 175,000 thalers. As soon as this society: was founded, the Roman Catholics founded a counter organization Society of St. Boniface) for building atholic churches, and they have never ceased to make the utmost efforts to enlist in it the interest of the Catholic population. Yet its annual receipts haye never exceeded the sum of thirty thousand thalers. Catholic papers in Germany and other countries of Hurope occasionally refer to the princely income of the Protestant societies in order to arouse their co-religionists from their lethargy. But as the result shows, all rt appeals haye remained thus far without eilect. Preparations for Revolution in Ireland. The following: appears in the Cork Hr- amuner :;-- "A rumor is being spread through va- rious parts of the country that Ireland "is on the eva of a revolution or rebellion. The signal for the rising is tobe the land- ing in some of our bays or harbours of an armament from America, provided with an ample supply of arms and all the other munitions of war for the use of all those who yearn to throw off the" yoke of the Saxon." It is also believed that there is at this moment existing in Treland a, secret society, having its head-quarters in Dublin, and its branches in ork, Tralee, and 'all the other principal towns of the' kingdom, This society, itis said, is at this very mom- ent' actively engaged in organizing the people, and preparing them for the: antici- pated inyasion, haying them taught mili drill wherever practicable. Thus they will be fitted to avail themselves of the arms that