NOTES OF THE MONTH. 529 



Wellington's military glory ; which, by the way, the wealthy contractors who 

 composed this meeting understood most about, they having made colossal 

 fortunes by the contracts given them by the Ministers who carried forward 

 the wars in which Wellington was concerned with true Tory recklessness of 

 blood and treasure. So far as regards the part which Wellington played in 

 this great game of sanguinary contest and pillage, he has been most lavishly 

 remunerated by his country. For some years past the military Duke's par- 

 liamentary career has been a continued warfare against the liberties of his 

 countrymen. His hostility to the reformation of every abuse, however glar- 

 ing and monstrous, has never for one instant slept ; and it has been allowed 

 by all parties, that his bigoted attachment to political corruption brought on 

 the passing of the Reform Bill, and opened the door of those beneficial mea- 

 sures that have so pre-eminently distinguished the present Administration 

 we allude principally to the Poor Law Corporation and Commutation of 

 Tithes Bills. 



Should this Wellington Testimonial ever be erected, let the substance of 

 these latter paragraphs be legibly sculptured on its base. Then future ages 

 will be able to appreciate correctly which the [inestimable blessings the Duke 

 of Wellington has been the means of conferring upon his country. 



Oct. 22. " The King of the Belgians is at present at Paris. The ostensible 

 motive for his visit is to talk over the marriage of the Princess Mary with 

 Louis Philippe." 



There is an atmosphere in France that we suppose is particularly favourable 

 to the germinating of political intrigue. It is very probable that the ostensible 

 and real motives that actuated the visit of this pensioner monarch were widely 

 different from each other. It must however be confessed that he is very well 

 matched when pitted against Louis Philippe. The king of the barricades is 

 we suspect au fait at every dirty trick of French diplomacy, and if the king of 

 the Belgians really does out-manoeuvre him, it will be something worth boast- 

 ing of. 



Oct 24. "The students of Glasgow University talk of electing LordLynd- 

 hurst to be their next Lord Rector." 



" Oh what a falling off was there" what a contrast do the memorable 

 names of those great predecessors who so worthily occupied the Lord Rector's 

 chair, afford in comparison with that of the leader of the Tory lords ? Can 

 the Glasgow students have forgotten Lord Brougham and Thomas Campbell, 

 on whom they conferred this honour, and can they for one moment dream of 

 profaning a spot rendered sacred by the solid learning and erudition of the 

 one, and the exalted genius of the other, by the election of such a man as 

 Lord Lyndhurst? Why his very name is synonymous with bigotry and 

 oppression, his diminutive mind still reverences those ancient trammels and 

 obsolete prejudices, which the more enlightened have long since cast aside 

 with contempt and disgust. He does not even possess one redeeming trait in 

 his public character, to warrant such a distinction; and as to his private 

 virtues, the most brazen of our ultra-tory scribes has never had the hardihood 

 to accuse him of possessing any. 



GREAT DEGREE OF COLD BORNE BY THE HUMAN BODY. In the winter of 

 1833 4, Captain Back and his party while residing at Fort Reliance on the 

 Great Slave Lake were exposed to an average temperature of 33 (65 below 

 the freezing point,) during the whole month of January, and on the 17th the 

 thermometer was as low as 70, (102 fr. pt.) On the 25th of January, the 

 thermometer was at 18 e (50 fr. pt.), and on the 26th it had risen to +22 

 (10 fr. pt.), while on the day following it fell again to 49 (81 fr. pt.) : thus 

 in the course of twenty-four hours an inequality of temperature of 71 had 

 been experienced. 



"On the 4th of February, (continues Captain Back,) the temperature was 

 60 Q (92 fr. pt.), and there being at the same time afresh breeze it was nearly 

 insupportable. On one occasion after washing my face within three feet of 

 the fire, my hair was clotted with ice, before I had time to dry it. 



