The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-03-14 00:00:00

FRIEND S. OH ! all things are changing, And friends of to-day May leave us to-morrow Alone on our way ; When trouble's before us Their numbers are few, For clouds disperse friends, As the sun does the dew l Butterflies flitting from Flower to flower, Are seen not when storms come. They hide from the shower ; They sip only sweets in The sunshiny day, When winter draws nigh they No longer will stay E'en so 'tis with friends, for While life's sky is biue, So long will they prove to Us tender and true; But oh ! should a dark cloud O'erahadow the sky, And our late joyous hearts Be oppress'd with a sigh, In vain may we hope that Our friends will remain, They'll leave us till fortune Is smiling again ! Liverpool, March, 1854. LITTLEQUILL. REVIEWS OF BOOKS. Modern Husbandry ; a Practical and Scientific Treatise on Agriculture, and the general Ma nagement and Economy of the Farm. By G. H. Andrews. London : Nathaniel Cooke. --- In a modest preface, the author of this work informs us that his intention in its publication is to provide intelligible and really useful information to practical farmers, and to amateur agriculturists, who pursue husbandry on a moderate or small scale - and to supply such as those with an amount of well-digested hints and directions which will suit their circumstances, without trenching on the province of those more elaborate treatises by which the theory and practice of agriculture has of late years been so successfully elucidated. In following out this intention Mr. Andrews has been emi mently successful ; but the scope of his labours has not by any means been so limited as would merely, though fully, justify us in stating that his promise had been fulfilled. On the contrary, he enters at very considerable length into all the practical ques tions which bear directly on successful farming. As the nature of the soil, in every situation where they are carried on, exercises an important influ ence on farming operations and their results, Mr. Andrews commences with an elaborate, yet easily comprehended, chapter on what may be called the geology of farming. Starting with a consideration of soils and sub-soils, he leads his readers, by an easy and interesting process, through the study of alluvial soils, bogs, peats, and mosses ; discusses t he underlying strata, and considers their relation to draining, to cereal and other produce ; their effects on stock, as to breeding, rearing, and feed ing ' • and shows their immediate and remote rela tion to the general economy of the farm, and the comfort as well as profit of the farmer. Having briefly, yet clearly, explained these matters, he next devotes his attention to the various tenures under which land is held, and to the burdens which are peculiar to its occupancy and cultivation. On the subject of draining, he is at once comprehen sive and sensible, detailing with perspicuity the different modes of draining pursued in various quarters, under different circumstances, and with a view to opposite results, as these results are to be affected by the nature of the locality, and the intentions of the farmer. The choice of situation for farm buildings occupies much of our author's attention, but not more than its importance de mands ; and, in addition to mere situation, he enters minutely into the details of building accom modation required on farms of various orders, giving ground-plans and elevations of several kinds of farm-steadings, including, of course, under this head stables, cattle-sheds, piggeries, manure tanks, thrashing and other machines, steaming apparatus, &c., in addition to the dwelling of the farmer, and the comfortable lodging of his ser vants. An excellent chapter is devoted to the consideration of manures, and their modes of appli cation and results. All the matters enumerated, it will be observed, are processes or means ante cedent to what, in strict language, may be termed culture, although inseparably connected with it ; on the subject of culture our author is explicit and comprehensive, availing himsely freely of the pro mulgated experience o those who have 'devoted their attention to particular branches of cultiva tion. Crops and their rotation, cattle and sheep feciding, and the rearing of poultry as matters of profit and of mere economy, as might have been expected in such a work, are largely treated of, and the best authorities on the various subjects are either quoted or referred to. The volume, which is a very handsomely got-up one, is pro fusely illustrated by engravings from well-executed drawings of implements, apparatus, buildings, and processes ; of delineations of the various breeds of animals ; and it is, moreover, published at so cheap a rate as to bring it easily within reach of all who take an interest in agricultural studies, whether that interest finds its fruition in a mere under standing of the various operations and results, or in their practical development as an important business of life. To the practical farmer it will be found a valuable text-book • to the amateur a source of pleasing and ration al amusement. Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Edited by an English Churchman. London : Henry G. Bohn. The second volume of this edition of Gibbon's great and greatly censured work has just been issued, and m appearance and concomitants it jus tifies the_ professions made by its spirited publisher. The text is reprinted verbatim from the authentic work of the author, and, instead of being emascu lated and interpolated in the parts generally con sidered objectionable, their evil tendency is coun teracted by explanatory notes. The author is allowed to speak for himself—to state his own case, as it were—while counsel is heard. in opposition to his statements, and the sound deductions of Chris tian authorities are placed in juxtaposition with the , plausibilities of those superficial arguments by which Christian institutions have been assailed. The work now under consideration is to form one of a new series to be denominated " Bohn's British Classics," intended to comprehend the works of Pope, Addison, Dryden, Goldsmith, Robertson, Hume, and others ; in all of which Mr. Bohn pledges himself to the production of an unmuti lated text, carefully collated from the best standard copies of the respective authors. It was but the other day we took occasion to refer to Addison as the great founder of our cheap periodical litera ture ; we now have satisfaction in recalling to memory that Mr. Bohn has been the pioneer in.the cheap reprints of standard works, and that to his enterprise and correct judgment the public is indebted for cheap editions of many, very many works of sterling excellence, which, but for his spirited exertions, would in all probability have' remained exclusively in possession of the opulent, and have been known only to the recluse. Blackwood's Magazine. Edinburgh : Blackwoods. The high reputation of this magazine is well sustained in the number for the present month, several of the articles in which are entitled to serious consideration, as conveying much valuable and interesting information. It opens with a withering exposure of the attack on Mr. Disraeli, in a recently published anonymous biography. Some of our Radical contemporaries are grievously i ra te at the epithets which the reviewer applies to the anonymous assailant, but the real grievance is that they are well deserved, and the champion of truth and honour has expressed himself in intelli 131e Saxon. In the continuing part of " The Quiet Heart," the story is further developed, in th a t peculiar ti q uaint style which lends a charm to suc h descn : P o The most interesting art i cl e is , ns• perhaps, the one entitled " The Russian Church, and the Protectorate of Turkey." The writerenters at some l eng th into the que stion of the pretended orthod ox y of the Greek arch in Rug sia, and thus sums up his argu of s in g , fi rst, that the homo geneity of the Russian and Eastern Churches, on which the Czar lays his strongest clai m to the protectorate he demands, has no foundation in fact, and that the Christian communities on which he would impose his protection deny the orthodoxy of his faith, an d regard him as the ounced by Russians usurper of spiritual power ; second, that the doctrines of the synod of St. Petersburg are den . . y . , ormi. themselves, and the establishment oppose 4 i? a ' dable sectarianism, and that that Church 4- its internal Is itself rather_ in a condition to require protection agains. sn . enemies than to a ff or d it to others; third, that even 1 ) . posing the R uss i an an d Eastern Ch urc hes to be identica l, the - protectorate in question would, in consequence of the temporal privileges preserved by the Patriarch of Con stantinople, as already noticed, be the positive introduc tion of a dangerous foreign influence in the domestic ad ministration of the Ottoman empire, and that the Sultan yiould thereby become the vassal o f the Czar; fourth, that as there are numerous Christian subjects of the Sublime Porte who do not belong to the Greek commu nion, their protector, where protection is needed, cannot be the Czar ; and, fifth, that the semi-independent Mold°. Wallachians also disown the doctrines- of the Russian Church, and reject her protection." " The Two Arnolds" is a well-tempered critique on Poetry, with especial reference to the respective productions of Matthew and Edwin Arnold. " Count Sigismund's Will" is an entertaining description of a French novel recently dramatised. The article entitled "News from the Farm" is more especially interesting to dwellers in Scotland, com menting as it does on the improvement of the dwel lings of the Scotch agricultural peasantry. Tinder the head of" The Epidemics of the Middle Ages" we have a review of a recently published German work, by Dr. Hecker, descriptive of theßlack Death, which raged in the fourteenth century, the Dancing Mania which afterwards broke out in Italy and Germany, and the Sweating Sickness which had its origin in England, but extended over the Con tinent. The Magazine concludes with an able article on the new Reform Bill, upon which we commented last week. Proceedings of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool, during the forty-first and forty-second sessions. Liverpool : Deighton and Langhton. This, which is number seven of the published proceedings of the Liverpool Literary and Philo sophical Society, is highly creditable to the institu tion from which it emanates. The papers contained in it are varied in their subjects, and embrace discussions on topics of much popular as well as scientific interest. They are devoted in a large degree to speculations on matters connected with literature and the arts, but not to the exclusion of those in which practical utility is combined with those refining influences. Thus, while we have interesting papers on architecture and architectural criticism ; on the nature and tendencies of " fine art ;" on philology and popular literature.; on subjects which may be reckoned antiquarian, and on others which may to some appear merely fanci ful; we have others of an eminently practical character, and happily apposite to the locality, and the pursuits most in unison with the interests of Liverpool, and her eminently adventurous and enterprising population. We find valuable essays on " The Deviation of the Compass on board iron steamers proceeding to the Southern Hemisphere ;" on " The general character of the Storms which pass over the British Isles ;" on " The His tory of Nautical Terms ;" on " The Fauna of Liverpool ;" on " Time-balls and Sympathetic Clocks ;" and on " The Teas and Coffees of Com merce." So wide a variety of subjects is highly creditable to the industry and diversified talent of the society, while their discussion cannot but be productive of public good. In the consideration of so many topics much study is involved, and although that study may not result in the finished graces of polished literature, or be conveyed to the position, a vast amount of information is elicited ; and any society which can bring so varied a range ear in the most measured cadences of melodious cora of intellectual inquiry into a common focus, is one which deserves well of the community, and of which that community has just reason to be proud. Two Papers on Church, Music. By the Rev. Augustus Campbell, A. 31., Rector of Liverpool. Liverpool : Deighton and Laughton. _ These papers, which were read before the Liver pool Ecclesiastical Music Society, on the 29th of November and the 30th of December last, were received with the greatest fervour by attentive and intelligent audiences. They were noticed widely at the time of their delivery, and we are glad to find them reprinted in a tasteful form. The subject is one of deep importance and general interest, and the Reverend Rector has brought to bear on it a great amount of study and no small degree of enthusiasm. His arguments in favour of the cultivation of Church Music are well put and are clearly illustrated. Orr's Circle of the Sciences. Part 11. London and Liverpool : W. S. Orr and Co. - _ The second part of this excellent repertory and popular manual of practical science fully sustains the reputation accorded to the first. In plan it is comprehensive ; in execution, lucid and attractive ; science, strict science is here displayed in a form as winning as its elaboration is clear ; and in the pages of this work the youthful mind is indoctri nated with the mysteries of physical knowledge through familiar illustration, and by easy as well as pleasing steps. The Universal Library. No. 29. London : Nathaniel Cooke. The twenty-ninth number of this handsome and cheap miscellaneous collection is devoted to the " Life and Adventures of Peter Wilkins," a ficti tious narrative, characterised by no less an autho rity than Southey as "a work of great genius." Among youthful readers, at the commencement of the present century, the story of Peter Wilkins contested the palm of popularity with " Robinson Crusoe ;" and although of late years its attractions have been overborne by the pretensions of many inferior productions, it has still maintained a res pectable place in the literature of fiction. It is in the present form handsomely got up, and published at a cheap rate. ••••••••••• Sidd's Own Journal. London : Groom . bridge. A Magazine especially devoted to the beauties of nature must be welcome to many readers whose tastes are not violated by the conventionalities of artificial life, and Mr. Kidd has made his task so evidently a labour of love, that he leaves scarcely anything to be wished for. The number for March contains many interesting articles, and much valuable information on singing -birds, domestic animals, and plants, while it is enlivened by several pieces of poetry, all redolent of the charms of nature and praises of the Great Author of all. The Home Companion, an excellent repertory of fireside reading.—Some Thoughts„ a pleasing mis cellany in which household duties, fireside amuse ments, and tasteful literature, are happily combined. —The People's Magazine, Nos. 1 and 2. This is a deserving candidate for popular favour ; it aims at telling the truth, rather than courting popu larity.—he Ragged School Union ; a useful chronicle of those really benevolent and interesting I institutions, in which the youth of the lower classes are sought to be rescued from the thraldom of ignorance and vice.—The Christian Family Advo cate; a zealous and generally discreet advocate of Christian principles, and an inculcator of Christian charity and duty.—The Band of Hope Review ; a useful, as well as an ably-conducted periodical which seeks to inculcate on the youthful mind the value, and the moral and physical advantages to be derived from temperance. The volume is ap propriately dedicated to the Earl of Shaftesbury, by whom it is much commended. VAI?IE TIE 8. No PEOPLE are so impatient of censure as those who are the greatest slanderers. A HINDOO WO3IAN is never allowed to speak her hus band's name, either during his life or after his death. Nags .k.N Inninrinrex submits to the extraction of his wisdom tooth, does he lose his senses ? A MISER is the most oblivious, and yet the most vin dictive of mortals, because he is always for-getting and never for-giring. KEEP THE FEAR OP GOD constantly in your heart ; remember that he always sees and notices you ; and order your life as in his presence.—Sir M. Hale. A TEETOTALER was requeated by some of his admirers to consent to have his likeness taken. He assented on condition that it should be taken in water-colours only. Ix A TRACT distributed by the Mormon preachers, the following question and answer occur :—" What shall be the reward of those who have forsaken their wives for righteousness' sake ? A hundred-fold of wives here and wives everlasting hereafter." PRONUNCIATION OF BIBLE NAMES.—The clerk of a retired parish, in north-west Devon, who had to read the first lesson, always used to make a hash of Shadrac, Me shac, and Abednega; and as the names are twelve times repeated in the third chapter of Daniel, after getting through them the first time, he called them " the afore said gentlemen" afterwards.—Notes and Queries. ' A POSITIVE CURE.—The following "cure for the gout" is taken from an old work : Ist. The person must pick a handkerchief from the pocket of a maid of fifty years, who has never had a wish to change her condition. 2nd. He must wash it in an honest miller's pond. 3rd. He must dry it on a parson's hedge who was never covetous. 4th. He must send it to a doctor's shop who never killed a patient. sth. He must mark it with a lawyer's ink, who never cheated a client. 6th. Apply it to the part affected, and a cure will speedily follow. SELF DESCRIPTION.—A mayor in one of the communes of France, lately made the following entry upon the regis ter :--" I, mayor of —, found yesterday in the forest of ---, a man by the name of Rollin, committing an act against the laws. I commanded him to surrender, where upon he set upon me, heaped me with insult and con tumely, calling me a raggamuffin, an ass, and a precious dolt and a scarecrow—all of which I certify to be true." NOTHING BUT A CUSTOM.—WhiIe the Louvre was being stripped of borrowed plumes, Wellington fell into great disfavour, and was coldly received by some French Marshals, on an occasion when he passed through their Salle in the Tuileries on a visit to Louis XVIII. When the king subsequently expressed his surprise and vexation had " turned their backs" on him, on hearing that they . • " It is of no consequence, sire, was the reply, It is their way." YOUTH writes hopes upon the sand, and age advances, like the sea, and washes them out. "Gazir HELPS" (Telegraphs) and" Sly ware" (Lawyers) are two of the best anagrams ever discovered. " Fenran, is a parrot that talks a dumb animal ?" "My dear, children should not talk when they are eating." IRISH DESCRIPTION.—A Dublin paper, reporting the Louth election, adds :—" All quiet, except there was a good deal of noise." DONALD MACKAY, the great shipbuilder, of Boston, is 45 years of age, and a Scotchman by birth. He rose from the humble station of a day labourer to his present posi tion, by sheer industry and energy. TALKING of Sir David Baird, his roughness, &c., his mother said, when she heard of his being taken prisoner at Seringapatam, and of the prisoners being chained toge ther, two and two, " God help the man that's tied to my Davie !"—Moore's Diary. How TO GET OPER A DIFFICULTY. — A short time ago, in the fair city of Perth, an Irish female, on visiting one of her friends, was pressed to take a " drap o' barley bree." She hesitated for a little ; but, screwing her courage to the sticking point, and taking a last fond look of the glass containing the liquid fire, prefaced the draught as follows :—" Ah, ye ould villain ! ye killed every ane o' my ancestors, and therefore I'll no lave a drap in ye." A SPECULATION. — I once met an American at Lady Blessington's, a very entertaining fellow. You will know who I mean when I call him the Chevalier Wyckoff He made a fund of amusement. He talked loudly of specula tion. America, he said, was the only country for specu lation ; the English could not speculate at all. Count d'Orsay proposed to join him in any speculation he might choose. " Well, then," replied Wyckoff, " I'll take you to New York and exhibit you. Tickets would be sold at auction. The rush to see you would be tremendous. We should instantly make a fortune."—Bourcicault's Lectures in New York. Join; CLERIC OF ELnriv.—One evening Clerk had been dipping rather too deeply in the convivial bowl with a friend in Queen-street, and on emerging into the open air his intellects became in a considerable degree confused, and not being able to distinguish objects with any degree of minuteness or certainty, he thought himself in a fair way of losing the road to his own house in Picardy-place. In this perplexity he espied some one coming towards him, whom he stopped with this query—" D'ye ken whaur John Clerk bides ?" " What's the use o' you speerin' that question ?" said the man, "you're John Clerk himser." " I ken that," answered John, " but it's no himsel that's wanted, it's his house." ENCOUNTER OF WITS,—A dinner was given by one of Governor Morris's friends, when he was about departing from the United States for Europe. Bishop Moore and his wife were of the party. Among other things that passed in conversation, Mr. Morris observed that he had made his will in prospect of going abroad ; and, turning to Bishop Moore, said to him, " My reverend friend, I have bequeathed to you my whole stock of impudence." Bishop Moore replied, " Sir, you are not only very kind, but very generous ; you have left me by far the largest portion of your estate." Mrs. Moore, (the wittiest of the three,) added, " My dear, you have come into the posses sion of your inheritence remarkably soon." DIDN'T MEAN IT.—A recent anecdote reminds ns of a story we have read somewhere of Monk Lewis, the author, who was remarkable for extreme sensibility, so much so, that he was very easily affected to tears. One day he had been to pay a visit to some duchess or other, and he came out of the house, his eyes filled with tears. A friend passing, stoppe d him, and inquired the cause of his emo tion. " Oh,' replied Lewis, in a whining, trembling voice, "the duchess has said so many kind things to me." " Never mind, my dear fellow," responded the friend, in a soothing tone, and patting the sensitive man on the shoulder, "never mind ; bear up under it. She didn't mean it !" GRAY ON THE LAIIREATESHIP. — Though I very well know the bland emollient saponaceous qualities both of sack and silver, yet if any great man would say to me, " I make you ratcatcher to his Majesty, with a salary of £3OO a year and two butts of the best Malaga ; and though it has been usual to catch a mouse or two, for form's sake, in public once a year, yet to you, sir, we shall not stand upon these things," I cannot say I should jump at it ; nay, if they would drop the very name of that office, and call me sinecure to the King's Majesty, I should still feel a little awkward, and think everybody I saw smelt a rat about me ; but I do not pretend to blame any one else that has not the same sensations ; for my part, I would rather be sergeant trumpeter or pinmaker to the palace. Neverthe less I interest myself a little in the history of it, and rather wish somebody may accept it that will retrieve the credit of the thing, if it be retrievable, or ever had any credit. Rowe was, I think, the last man of character that had it. As to Settle, whom you mention, he belonged to my lord mayor, not to the king. Eusden was a person of great hopes in his youth, though he turned out at last a drunken parson. Dryden was as disgraceful to the office, from his , character, as the poorest scribbler could have been from his verses. The office itself has always humbled the pro fessor hitherto (even in an age when kings were somebody), if he were a poor writer, by making him more conspicuous, and if he were a good one, by setting him at war with the little fry of his own profession, for there are poets little enough to envy even a poet laureate.—Correspondence of Thomas Gray and William Mason. A STROLL IN HAMBURG. — A stroll in Hamburg has a confusing effect upon a stranger. The inhabitants are not of the city; they are of all nations, congregated here by the temporary calls of commerce. The only chief element, it appeared to me, was the Jewish. The mixture of races on the Exchange was something curious to contemplate; but here, also, as I suppose on all the exchanges of the world, the Jewish element predominated. The Hamburgers, I should say, are a serious race of people ; phlegmatic, perhaps ascetic. Intensely proud of their city, they think all beyond subservient to its grandeur. Yet they have their sufficient amusements. First,there aretheir luxurious supper-cellars, where the choicest delicacies are nightly served to those gentlemen whose gambling on 'Change affords the bill : where oysters are consumed in vast quan tities, and champagne flows incessantly. Then there are their cafés chantants, where ladies in hat and feathers play the fiddle and guitar, and collect marks from the customers. There is also a casino, at the entrance to which a guard, in a splendid cocked hat and scarlet suit, decked out with gold lace, makes the visitor a profound obeisance. These and other audacious amusements are patronised by the Hamburgers. But the prevailing idea is money making ; to this all else plays a second part. I went to the Exchange on a Sunday, and found groups of hard featured men sternly studying the news in the reading rooms, or sauntering nervously about the basement of their temple. Hereabouts I met a burgomaster in his strange, gloomy dress ; to me he looked like 0. Smith in a translation, playing the villain who has come to his wealth by foul means, and who means to have his fling through three long acts before he disgorges.—A Bray-beaker with the Swedes. SOBRIETY Or PARISIAN Wommaiv.—The comparative sobriety of the Parisians arises, no doubt, from a variety of causes. In the first place, the French belong chiefly to the Celtic race, which by nature is less disposed to in dulge in the pleasures of eating and drinking than the Teutonic race. Secondly, it may be that the French operatives do not in general work so long or so hard as ours, and thus have less need of, as they have less desire for, the exhilaration which spirituous liquors are the ready means of producing. Thirdly, the climate being warmer and more constant than ours, they probably work in better-ventilated workshops, and more frequently in the open air, than our artizans do; thus keeping their blood in a better state for carrying on the functions of the body, and for sustaining cheerfulness by a more healthy stimulus to the brain than ill-oxygenated blood can supply. The climate, moreover, being less irritating to the nervous system than ours, the Frenchman is less subject to those uneasy feelings which depend on meteorological causes, and which tempt to indulgence in stimulants for relief.' Fourthly, the French are naturally a more lively, cheerful, and talkative people than we, and hence more capable of enjoying each other's company without the aid of stimu lants. * * * Lastly, the means of recreation are far more accessible to the French than to us, whose need is so much greater ; and until we supply this want like rational beings, drunkenness, I fear, will continue to prevail, even although every public-house in the kingdom be closed. Sabbatd cousa, tollitur effectus ; this is the principle which must guide us, if our efforts for sobriety are to succeed. As long as a craving for ardent spirits exists, ardent spirits will he manufactured and consumed. Let us then avail ourselves of all the means which science puts within our reach for diminishing the desire of an excess of intoxicating liquors. To act otherwise is to put a plaster on the sore, instead of trying to remove the deep-seated causes of which it is a symptom.—Sabbath Laws and Sabbath Duties, by Robert Cox. THE TULIP :MANlA.—Examples of the fatal effects of an inordinate love of speculation are unfortunately too numerous. The earliest recorded instance of this hurtful speculative spirit occurred in Holland in 1634, and is known ender the name of the tulip mania. In that year the principal cities of the Netherlands were seized with a desire to possess certain descriptions of tulips ; and this engaged them in a traffic which encouraged gambling to a ruinous extent. The avarice of the rich was inflamed by the prospect of boundless wealth, and the poor imagined their troubles at an end, and fortunes within their grasp. The value of a flower rose to more than its weight in gold. And this period, like all others of a similar character, ended in enriching a few by the impoverishment of the many. Tulips were not more highly prized nor sought after more eagerly in 1634 than railway scrip in 1845. A similar principle, or rather the want of all principle, was as noticeable in the one case as in the other. Contracts were entered into for the delivery of certain roots, which were never seen by broker, by buyer, or by seller. At first all appeared to flow smoothly.. C ongratulations and revellings were general. Bargains were confirmed at costly banquets ; and a man one day pinched by poverty, astonished his neighbours the next by a display of bound less magnificence. The desire to trade in flowers took hold of all ranks ; and the drowsy Hollander, with little of the romantic in his character, believed that a veritable golden age was approaching. This feeling was not con fined to one class or profession of the people, it spread to all. To obtain cash, property of every description was sold at ruinous prices. When, too, it became known that London and Paris were seized with this tulipomania, it was thought that the wealth and commerce of both hemis pheres would centre in Holland, and that want and wretchedness would become a tale of the past. Perhaps there are no greater instances of human folly on record than the prices given for these bulbs. Goods to the value of two thousand five hundred florins were given for one root. Another kind ustally sold for two thousand florins ; and a third was valued at a new carriage, two gray horses, and a complete harness ' • and twelve acres of land were given for a fourth. But this unnatural state of things could not last. The panic came, confidence was destroyed, agreements, no matter how solemnly entered into, were broken, and every city in the Netherlands had its bank rupts. The gay visions of wealth which had dazzled thousands dissolved, and left not a rack behind. The possessors of a few tulips, which a few days before were valued at many thousands of pounds, were astounded when the truth appeared that they were worth absolutely nothing. The law would not regard the contracts entered into as legitimate trade, but looked at them as gambling transactions. Actions for breach of contract were, there fore, void. So extensive was the evil, that it occupied the attention of the Deliberative Council of the Hague, who were, however, quite unable to find a remedy. Its effects were seen for many years in a depressed commerce abroad and a wide-spread distress at home.—Business : As It Is, .and It Might Be. ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. THE MASTER OF THE QUEEN'S DOCK. TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOIceTANDARD. Sin,—lt is said the press is a mighty engine, and so statements issuing from it, which remain uncontradicted, exercise upon the mind of the reading public effects which, though years may intervene between the occurrence re lated, occasion unpleasant thoughts respecting an indivi dual whenever the name comes before them in after life. I use this short preface before I comment upon the lan guage reported to be used by Mr. Evans, in one of your con temporaries of March 3, in the Dock Committee proceed ings, relative to Mr. Purnell. He said—" Years ago he was a very troublesome man, and was removed from one dock to another in consequence of it." Now this is not exactly the truth. He was removed from the Prince's Dock to the George's Dock—for what ? For not doing impossibilities, I reply ! The charges, if such they can be called, which caused his removal, are unproved to this day. He applied to the Dock Committee to remove him to the King's Dock, when that post became vacant, and was promoted by them to that dock. He applied again, when the Queen's Dock became vacant in consequence of Mr. Garniss being made junior harbour-master, for pro motion to that dock, and they promoted him : this answers the last part of the statement. Now for his being a very troublesome man. He has been, no doubt, to drunkards and swearers • for when he was appointed at the first to the Prince's Dock he determined to do his utmost to put down those two vices, and I appeal to any person ac quainted with the docks, as I have been for the last twenty-eight years, whether this state of things has not progressively improved. There are many of the pierhead masters who owe their present promoted position to the suasive influence exercised over them by him when they were under him as dock-gatemen ; and I assert this from my own observation, that more gatemen have been pro moted under him to higher posts than under any dock master of the port. I appeal to the men themselves for the truth of this assertion. I feel assured that hundreds in this town would gladly assent to my denial that he is not a very troublesome man.—Yours respectfully, VBRAX. THE PRICES OF BREAD AND FLOUR. TO THE RDITOII, OP THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. , Sra,—l beg to acknowledge your kind courtesy in giving insertion to my letter last week, and, as I have heard remarks in reference to it, which implied that no authen ticated intelligence of reduced prices in the wholesale mar ket had been made to the retailers as to wheat or flour, I have been induced to look over the market returns for the last two months. From that inspection I find that on the 20th of January the price of United States white wheat was from 12s. Bd. to 13s. per bushel ; the price of Baltimore, Ohio, or Phi ladelphia flour was from 446. to 446 6d. per barrel. On the 27th of the same month, the same quality of wheat was from 13s. to 13s. 3d. per bushel, the price of flour being unchanged. [This latter day, I may remark, was one on which I was charged an advance on the price of flour, at least commensurate with the rise on wheat, al though no rise whatever took place on flour, at least two hours before the market opened.] Since the date last named, the price has fluctuated a little, but the tendency has almost always been down wards, and the price has never exceeded the sum above quoted. On Friday_last, March 10th, I find.the price of the same denomination of wheat is quoted at 11s. 9d. to 12s. per bushel, and the same quality of flour 38s to 385.6 d. per barrel. Here, then, during a period of six weeks we have had a declining market, and in that time wheat has fallen Is. 3d. per bushel, and flour 6s. per barrel; yet, the unfortunate consumer has received no benefit from the reduction, and, to crown the mystery (I had nearly written iniquity), and make it complete, we are requested to believe that men, who had wit sharp enough to perceive a rise two hours before it could possibly occur, have not, throughout the currency of six weeks, become sufficiently acquainted with the market prices to know that they had fallen ! If six shillings a barrel on flour is not apportionable in the retail ing of flour, and cannot be allowed on the sale of bread, let us know the real fact ; but do not ask us to insist on circulating a slander against the calculating " smartness" of our friends the retail flour dealers and bakers.—l am respectfully yours, A HOUSEHOLDER. Liverpool, 13th March, 1851. THE CANTERBURY SETTLEMENT A correspondent of The Guardian gives the following interesting description of Canterbury Settlement, New Zealand :--" Christchurch, September, 1853. —During a half-year's experience in the Canterbury Settlement, so much has come under my observation of a character cal culated to interest my countrymen at home in as great a degree as it has interested and impressed myself, that I propose furnishing them, as opportunity offers, through the medium of your columns, with what has long been a desideratum in England—a simple, exact, and disin terested account of a colony the abundant talk about the state of which has been, hitherto, for the most part, in an inverse ratio to the knowledge possessed by the talkers. It may readily be imagined that an entirely new class of sensations arises in the mind of the voluntary exile, as day after day brings him nearer his former antipodes. In the midst of all the vicissitudes, the turmoil, and the strange incidents of the voyage, concerning which it is my inten tion to speak hereafter, fancy is incessantly at work, and expectation on tiptoe, as if already peering into the pro mised land ; but experience alone can reveal whether the reality exceeds or falls short of what has been thus anti cipated. This consideration leads me, previously to going into more particular details, to give a general idea of the aspect presented by the Canterbury Settlement ; and I am further induced to this, inasmuch, as many of my friends before my departure, and subsequently by letter, have been urgent with me to clear up, as best I may, the mystery which they say hangs over it. I therefore set myself to the task, not, it must be confessed, under very inspiring circumstances, considering the mud walls within which self and party are doomed to be enclosed, till our slowly-progressing new house, at Papanni, is completed. The dreary extent, too, of all but treeless plain stretching far and wide before us, is far from being either animating or suggestive. Despite, however, these discouragements, and countless others akin to them, no one with eyes and ears well open can fail to acquire a tolerably correct no tion of the state of affairs. The sum total of the most careful investigation and reflection is, that this present time is the crisis of the colony. Every new settlement has its crisis, and ours may be regarded with less of anxiety and distrust than usual, though brought about by unprecedented circumstances. The association ori ginally undertook to supply labour commensurate with the wants of the colony. This engagement they for some time carried out with remarkable vigour, and the result fully answered to their exertions. Within an incredibly short period a progress was made that excited universal astonishment. No prospect ever presented more attrac tive features ; but, as if to show the instability of all human hopes, the course of prosperity was suddenly arrested in its full career. In less than two years every work was effected that has been effected at all. A wondrous extent of roads, very wide, and of the best kind, was made. Lyttelton and Christchurch, with many smaller towns and villages, rapidly sprang up; churches were built,—of which more hereafter ; two newspapers (of which only one survives) were established ; various hotels erected, a bank, quays, terraces, bridges, public offices, schools for boys, and indeed all public works appropriate to a flourishing community. The land, too, was exten sively cultivated, crops of all kinds grown abundantly, sheep and cattle innumerable imported ; the settlement, in short, presenting the appearance of twenty years' pro gress rather than of as many months only. The sudden stoppage and ultimate turn of the richly-flowing tide was doubtless due in part to the mal-administration of the funds of the association. This drawback might, however, and probably would, have been counteracted by the in herent energy of the settlers, who had called into existence around them all that constitutes a high state of civilisation. But, when the fame of Australian gold reached this little magical world, all was, as it were, turned to atone. At the point to which everything had advanced, there it stood, immovable and unchanging, excepting that it was not undecaying. Un fortunately, not to go forward was necessarily to go back, and our once beautiful roads have become so deteriorated by neglect, that many of them are wholly impassable. This is eminently the case with the most important road of all, viz., that constructed over the hill between Port Lyttelton and Christchurch, which is so far gone to decay that passengers find themselves not unfrequently up to their knees in mud, and generally prefer scrambling as best they may through the furze and long grass on either side. The association has ceased to exist, and the immi gration of the labouring class has ceased with it, multi tudes having made their way to the gold-diggings, and the greater number of those who remained behind having es tablished themselves on land of their own, and thus requir ing labour in their turn, which is not forthcoming. Not withstanding these discouragements, the bold colonists are far from despairing, but buckle themselves with renewed energy to the task of supplying the deficiency of ordinary paid labour ; and, aided by the invigorating influence of the climate, acquit themselves bravely, and see their efforts crowned with no small degree of success. They are further inspirited by the bright hopes with which they regard the approaching meeting of the Legislative Assembly—a mo mentous epoch in every colony, and in an especial manner in this ; nor are they likely to be disappointed in their an ticipations of an important and speedy change for the better. Nothing, surely, is more futile or unreasonable than to assume that an adequate knowledge of the peculiar circumstances and requirements of the colony, and the complicated relations affecting it, can be possessed even by the ablest statesmen or political economists at the opposite . side of the world ; neither is it possible they should feel any real, earnest, efficient interest in the matters which most nearly concern its progress, and the treatment of which is all-potent for good or for evil. But the essential qualities in which those at home must necessarily be defi cient, as being altogether out of the scene of action, will be developed in full force among the members of the Legis lature, whose interests are intimately bound up with the colony, and who will bring to bear upon every question a full acquaintance with its merits. The first measure is ex pected to be one for the ' importation of labour upon an organized sy s tem, and I believe Shanghae is mainly looked to as a district in China where ample supplies can be readily obtained of labourers having the reputation of being intelligent, active, industrious, and honest. From this the most satisfactory results are expected, the soil being one of the finest in the world for agricultural pur poses, no less than for pasturage. As a proof of the depth of the soil, it may be remarked that horseradishes three feet long are far from uncommon. Money is also to be raised for repairing the roads, improving the harbour of Lyttelton, and the navigation of the river between the port and Christchurch; enlarging or rebuilding the public offices ; and last, not least, adopting means for securing a more regalr and frequent communication with other noticed the actual parts of the islands, and of the world; a blessing in which cursorily in my next the Canterbury Settlement has hitherto been most lament c*to,mofeevithiinchtliebeet y o e f fe sailin w form g .vessels a n da ly prospective deficient. state of thusee colony, to enlighten you on some of the adventures, not always of which an emigrant i n i n ay this e x P aef• serv i ces the most agreeable character, with s id e ea mp be lo f y o e r d e they start. 'LLIGENCR. EXTRAORDINARY PROCEEDINGS AT BRAMPFORD SPEER. PREFERMENTS AND APPOINTMENTS. Rev. B. W. Adams, M.A., to the Rectory of Cloghran, Swords. Rev. J. Baillie, M.A., late of Crossmaylen, to the Rectory of Faugher, Ireland. Rev. A. H. Barker, M.A., to the Vicarage of Rickmans worth, Herts. Rev. F. Barker, 8.A., to the Incumbency of Baslow, Derby. shire. Rev. F. Boyd, 'M.A., to the Rectory of Wouldham, Kent. Rev. B. Brander, M.A., to be Chaplain to Caine Union Poorhouse. _ _ _ Rev. R. J. Burton, M.A., Fellow of Christ's College, Cam bridge, and Curate of Hurstbourne Priors. to be Private and Domestic Chaplain to the Earl of Portsmouth. Rev. W. Cipel. 8.A., to an Assistant Chaplaincy in the Presidency of Madras, in the East India Company's service. Rev. J. Cargill, to t he Incumbency of Shirebrook, Derby shire. Rev. H. M. S. Champneys, M.A., to the Rectory of Eppel*. stone, Notts. Rev. C. A. A. Craven, 8.A., to the Vicarage of Horsley, Northumberland. Rev. E. H. Daniell, to the Incumbency of Upper Bulling ham, Herefordshire. Rev. T. Dean, Vicar of Warton, near Lancaster, to be a Rural Dean of the Archdeaconry of Lancaster. Rev. J. F. English, LL.D., of Christ's College, Cambridge, to the Incumbency of Brentwood. Rev. W. Fleetwood, LL.B., St. Catherine-hall, Cambridge, to the Vicarage of Swaff ham Bulbeck, near Newmarket. Rev. R. C. Gibson, Curate of Winwick , to be Chaplain to the High Sheriff of Westmoreland ; and not the Rev. T. U. Gibson. Vicar of Barton, as stated. Rev. It. Hodgson, 8.A., to the Stipendiary Curacy of War ton, near Kirkham. Rev. A. C. Irvine, M.A., Perpetual Curate of St. ?dary, Longfleet, Poole, to be a Surrogate for the Diocese of Salis bury. Rev. H. Jones, M.A., to the Incumbency of St. Peter's Church, Croydon. Rev. G. A. M. Little, M.A., to be Chaplain to the Monarch, 84 at Sheerness. Rev. G. Maddison, M.A., Vicar of All Saints', Cambridge, to be a Rural Dean in the Deanery of Cambridge. Rev. H. Roundell, M.A., Curate of Buckingham, to the . Vicarage of that parish. Rev. W. L. Scott, 8.A., to the Vicarage of Abthorpe, near Towcester. Rev. C. Seaver, M.A., to the Perpetual Curacy of St. John the Evangelist, Belfast. Rev. J. Spurgin, 8.D., Head Master of the Maidstone Grammar School, and Chaplain to the Corporation, to be a Surrogate. Rev. W. V. Turner, M.A., to the Vicarage of Spilsby, Lin colnshire. Rev. S. H. Unwin, to the Rectory of Cheddon Fitzpaine, Somerset. Rev. J. Woodhouse, M.A., to the Curacy of Goosnargh, near Preston. Rev. J. P. Wright, to be Chaplain for the English Railway Officers and Labourers at Valence, France. ORDINATION IN THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF CHESTER, On Sunday, the 12th day of March, 1854. DExcows.—Edmund Hinde, 13. A., of Queen's College, Oxford, licensed to Hale ; William Alfred Tattersall, 8.A., of Pembroke College, Oxford, to St. Mary's, Kirkdale ; William Frederick Attenborough, M.A., of St. John's College, Cambridge, to Runcorn ; Edmund John Hitch ings, BA., of St. John's College, Cambridge, to Bicker staffe ; Henry Boardman, 8.A., of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, to Pemberton ; John Gilmore, 8.A., of Gon ville and Collis College, Cambridge, to St. Matthias, Liverpool; Thomas Smith, 8.A., of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, to St. Barnabas, Liverpool ; Fortescue Richard Purvis, S.C.L, of Jesus College, Cambridge, to Ilollinfare ; Robert Green Hibbert Ware, 8.A., of Queen's College, Cambridge. to Holy Trinity, Ulverstone ; George Dobree, 8.A., of Trinity College, Dublin, to St. Barnabas, Liverpool ; William Abraham Mocatta, 8.A., of Trinity College, Dublin, to Christ Church, Southport ; James Gornall, of St. Bees' College, to Newton-in-Mottram ; Alfred Hitchins, of St. Bees' College, to St. George's, Hyde ; James Lyde, of St. Bees' College, to Waberthwaite ; Richard Yorke, of St. Bees' College, to Neston ; James Noble Bennie, of the Universities of Edinburgh and Glas gow, to Acton.—By Letters Dimissory : Boulby Hasle wood, 8.A., of St. John's, College, Cambridge ; Thomas Whitwell Rogers, 8.A., of St, John's College, Cambridge ; William Jones, of St. Bees' College ; James Leighton, of the Church Missionary College, Islington. PRlESTS. — Richard William Riley, M.A., of St. Mary Hall, Oxford; Thomas Barton Hill, 8.A., of Wadham College, Oxford ; Samuel Adams, 8.A., of St. John's Col lege, Cambridge; James Peebles Oman Tomkins, 8.A., of St. John's College, Cambridge ; Richard Garland, S.C.L., of Corpus Christi College. Cambridge; Francis Gell, 8.A., of Jesus College, Cambridge; Richard George Handcock, 8.A., of Christ's College, Cambridge ; Gilbert Procter, 8.A., of Christ's College, Cambridge ; John Lucas Moore, 8.A., of St. Catherine's Hall, Cambridge ; John Michael Brown, 8.A., of Trinity College, Dublin ; Cecil Jervis Clarke, 8.A., of Trinity College, Dublin ; Henry Cooke, 8.A., of Trinity College, Dublin; Arthur Horsley Hughes, 8.A., of Trinity College, Dublin ; Frederic Amadeus Mal leson, 8.A., of Trinity College, Dublin ; Neason William Adams Wallace, 8.A., of Trinity College, Dublin ; Wil liam Barker, of St. Bees' College ; George Augustus John Todd, of St. Bees' College, licensed to St. Peter s, Everton ; Frederic Paget Wilkinson, of St. Bees' College; William Prince, of St. Aidan's College, Birkenhead; Edward Sal ter, Literate.—By Letters Dimissory : Charles Johnson, 8.A., of Trinity College, Dublin ; George Soden, 8.A., of Trinity College, Dublin. ARRIVAL OF BISHOPS GRAY AND COLRNSO. The Bishops of Capetown and Natal landed at Table Bay on January 20, after a prosperous voyage. Bishop Colenso intended to proceed by the next vessel to Natal. THE DEANERY OF WELLS has been conferred on the Rev. G. H. S. Johnson, Fellow and Tutor of Queen's Col lege, Oxford. Mr. Johnson was one of the members of the late Oxford University Commission. RUPERT'S Letin t —On Christmas-day, the bishop held an ordination in St. John's Church, Red River, when the Rev. T. Cochran, B. 4., and the Rev. G. O. Corbett, Colonial Church Society, were ordained priests, and Mr. J. Settee, native catechist, Church Missionary Society, admitted to the order of deacon. _ INCUMBENCY OF BASLOW.—The Duke of Devonshire has presented the Rev. F. Barker, of Liverpool, with the incumbency of Saslow, vacant by the decease of his bro ther, the late Rev. A. A. Barker. The rev. gentleman is a great favourite with the parishioners, and a very nu merously signed memorial has been presented to his grace, praying for the appointment which has now been made. — Derby Reporter. DEATH OF THE BISHOP OF SALISBURY.—The Right Rev. Edward Denison, Lord Bishop of Salisbury, expired at the Palace in that city on Monday last week. On the previous Tuesday he visited Portsmouth, to witness the departure of some of the troops for the East. On Wed nesday morning his lordship was suddenly seized with a violent bilious attack. On Saturday morning a favour able change took place, but on Sunday symptoms of a relapse presented themselves, and his lordship continued rapidly to decline. His lordship s u c cee d e d Dr. Burgess, in 1837, and was in the 53rd year of his age. (From the Exeter Gazette.) Considerable excitement has been occasioned in the parish of Brampford Speke, near Exeter, by a circumstance which has given rise to much animadversion in the neigh bourhood. A few days since a respectable farmer, named Batting, residing within the parish of Brampford Speke, waited on the Rev. G. C. Gorham, the Vicar, respecting the burial of his deceased child, an infant of five months old, which ceremony he desired might take place at one o'clock on the next day. Mr. Batting expressed a wish that the child might be buried without going into church, a short service only being read at the grave, curtailed by the omission of the psalms and the lessons, and in support of his application mentioned several instances in which that practice had been followed by clergymen in adjoining parishes. Mr. Gorham, however, declined to perform the service of burial for the dead in any other way than that laid down by the Rubric, and the farmer went away with the remark that he did not see why his wish could not be complied with. On the following day, (Thursday) the minister met the corpse at the gates of the churchyard, and preceded the body in the usual way towards the church. On reaching the church porch, Mr. Gorham, (the officiating clergyman) had proceeded as far as the words, " I am the resurrection and the life," when Batting violently I shouted, " I say it shan't be taken into the church." Mr. Gorham took no notice of this, but went on with the sen tences, and took his place in the reading-desk. Batting and his friends then went with the body to the grave, the minister and his clerk only remaining in the church. Mr. Gorham at length sent a person to ask Mr. Batting to decide whether he would attend the clergyman in the church or not, and Batting then marched into the sacred edifice, went up to the reading-desk, and commenced an argument in support of his view, as to performing the Burial Service. Mr. Gorham did not reply, but after unrobing in the Vestry he went into the church-yard, and there he remonstrated with his contumacious parishioner for his behaviour. Mr. Gorham asked him his reason for insisting on that me thod, which, he assured him, would be an ecclesiastical offence, as the Rubric expressly directs that the Psalms and the Lesson shall be read after they be come into the Church." Batting refused to give any reason, but threatened if his demand were not complied with instantly to read the service himself, but desisted, on the vicar warn ing him of the possible consequences of usurping his sacred office. Mr. Gorham then retired, and the party left the church-yard, where the body remained several hours unin terred. After some time had elapsed, the vicar was in formed that the body was within the church, and that Batting desired its interment. He, therefore, returned, and, finding the nurse present, (though Batting and the relatives had absented themselves,) Mr. Gorham conducted the service in the usual manner. Acting on professional advice, Mr. Gorham intimated his determination to pro ceed against Batting in the Ecclesiastical Court, for brawling in the church-yard and church, and for inter rupting him in the discharge of his lawful duty. Mr. Bremridge, proctor, of Exeter, was instructed to take out a citation in the Archdeaconry Court ; but on Friday last, Mr. Batting made the following public acknowledgment of his msiconduct,' " regretting the scandal thereby occa sioned," and thanking Mr. Gorham for his forbearance, and the proceedings were consequently abandoned : " Whereas I William Batting, of Brampford Speke, in the county of Devon, yeoman, on the ninth of February last, did interrupt the vicar, the Rev. George Cornelius Gorham, in the performance of his duty at the funeral of my child, as follows, namely, by refusing to allow the undertaker and attendants to enter the parish church to hear that portion of the service for the burial of the dead, which is appointed to be read in the church, by ordering one of my servants to leave the church ; by brawling in the churchyard and at the reading pew, after the service had begun and before it was finished; and by threatening to read part of the said burial-service myself when the vicar refused to shorten it, or to read it in anyway repug nant to the directions of the Rubrics, at my demand, which he had previously informed me would be a serious ecclesiastical offence.—Now, I do humbly acknowledge my misconduct, regretting the scandal I may have thereby occasioned ; I do thank the vicar for his forbearance in not proceeding against me in the Archdeaconry Court of Exeter ; and I do freely permit him to make such public use of this acknowledgment as he may deem necessary, for repairing, as far as lies in my power, the injury done to the church andits minister. As witness my hand, this third day of March, one thousand eight hundred and fifth-four. Was. BATTlNG. — Witness to the signature of the said William Batting, Thomas J. Bremridge, proctor, Exeter." For the information of our clerical friends, we append the following observations on this disgraceful exhibition, together with Dr. Bayford's opinion thereon : OBSERVATIONS. It is said to be a very common practice in Devon and Cornwall, for the minister to take only a half fee from paupers, who may desire to compromise the dues ; on the understanding, that the Psalms and Lessons shall be omitted, and that the body shall not be brought into the church. The refusal of Mr. Gorham to abridge the service, is, however, quite irrespective of this question; he has conscientious scruples. So long ago as 1811, when per forming the burial service at Sidmouth, as officiating gratuitously for the rector there, he declined (when urged so to do) to take the corpse of a pauper at once to the grave, and to mutilate the burial formulary. The service book of 1549 directed that the psalms (and by implication the lesson) shall be read "in the church ;" but it allowed a discretion to read them "either before or after the burial of the corpse." The service books of 1662, 1559, and 1604, contain no psalms ; the lesson was to be read "at the grave." The last revision, 1662, re-introduced the psalms, but did not restore the Rubric as to the optional reading of them " before or after the burial ;" on the contrary, it absolutely directed that the psalms (and the -lesson by implication) shall be read "after they are come into the church ;" and, therefore, (presuming that the order of their insertion must be followed) before the interment. _ Your opinion is requested on the following points : lstly.—Whether a minister would commit an ecclesias tical offence, either (1.) by omitting the psalm and lesson, and reading only the sentences, the collects, the suffrages, &c., at the grave ; or (2.) by reading the whole service, including the psalm and lesson, in the churchyard, and no part in the church ? 2ndly,—Whether, on the supposition that neither of the above courses would constitute an offence, the minister can be compelled, on the requirement of a parishioner, A. 8., to follow one or other of those courses ? 3rdly.—Whether, if it be your opinion that either of the above courses would be an offence, a parishioner, A.B. (having priviously been so warned by the minister), may not be punished for brawling, if he has interrupted the minister, during the service, by requiring either of such courses to be followed ? IRELAND. THE GBAND JURY of Mayo have found true bills for manslaughter against the owner, the captain, and the se cond mate of the ship California, which foundered off the coast of Achill, in October last, when seventeen lives were lost. LIFE ASSITRANCE.-At the Waterford assizes, an action brought by Henry Page Barron, son of the late Sir Henry Winston Barron, against the West of England Insurance Company, for the sum of £3,500, the amount of a policy of insurance, effected on the plaintiff's mother, resulted in a verdict for the defendants, as it appeared that the de ceased was affected with a cancer previous to the insurance being made. THE BATESON MlTEDE3l.—Justice has at length over taken three of the persons implicated in the barbarous murder of Mr. Thomas Douglas Bateson, which took place so far back as December, 1851. Three men were put upon their trial at Monaghan, on Monday, the Attorney-Gene ral conducting the prosecution in person ; but it was not until early on Thursday morning that the case finally closed.. The jury, who had been locked up from the pre vious night, banded doWn a verdict of guilty against Neal Quin and Bryan Grant for the murder,and against Patrick Coomey for counselling and inciting them to commit it. The prisoners were then removed. TIIN WAR IN TILE EAST.—The Hon. Captain Maxwell, one of the representatives for Cavan, has issued au address to his constituents, informing them that he has been ordered to join his regiment (the 59th), now under orders for war service in the East. The hon. and gallant mem ber trusts that his necessary absence from his parlia mentary duties may not be of any lengthened duration, but in the meantime he has " paired" for the remainder of the session with an ' officer who is placed in precisely similar circumstances with himself. EXTENSIVE PITECIIA.SE OF Coati.—The Cork Exa miner contains the following account of an extensive purchase of corn in that city :—" We understand that on the receipt of information of a private and exclusive cha racter, addressed to the representative of a Greek house in Cork, the gentleman connected with that firm pur chased in this city, on Saturday evening, corn amounting to the value of £30,000. The purchases made by the gentleman referred - to included 1,000 tons of Indian corn at £l2 to £l3 per ton, cash, less one per cent.; and 5,006 barrels of Ghirka and Marianople wheat, at 435. to 465. per barrel, cash. At an auction of wheat held this day, 1,000 barrels of Taganrog Ghirka were sold at 435. 91 to 445. per barrel." THE QUEEN'S COLLEGES IN IRELAND.—It is announced that - through the influence of Lord Clarendon, Her Majesty's Foreign Secretary, who is also the Chancellor of the Queen's University, a communication has been made to the president of the Belfast College, to recom mend some young gentlemen, of proved aptitude for the acquisition of foreign languages, who are or have been students in the college, for appointments to public offices under the government at Hongkong. The salary which will be allotted to those who may be successful is £2OO a-year, to commence on their arrival in China, their passage being provided at the public expense. Their advancement in the public employment in China will depend entirely on the ability and steadiness which they may manifest in conducting the affairs which may be committed to their charge. THE INCOME-TAX CO3IMISSIONERS "ON CIRCUIT." — The Cork Constitution gives the following graphic sketch of the proceedings of a courtheld to hear appeals of parties in that city who had been, as they alleged, surcharged for income-tax :—ln the several cases which came before them the commissioners proved themselves conversant with the profits and expenses of the different trades and occupations, and showed that they were fully instructed as to the amount and sources of income enjoyed by the appellants. As each applicant left the room he was met by his fellow-objector, at the door with inquiries as to how far he had succeeded, hoping thereby to anticipate the re sult in their own cases, but the shrugs and nods given in reply announced that they might all as well have remained at home. In the majority of the cases the appellants de clared ignorance of their financial affairs, never having kept account-books, and as they grounded their objections upon ` guess,' the commissioners took the liberty of 'gues sing' also, and referred the parties for relief to an open court inquiry before the assistant barrister, which they did not seem disposed to avail themselves of. Some of the applicants have been surcharged in eight times the amount they returned; others in six, five, four, and three times. Many of them persons in considerable trade in this city, returned their incomes at £lOO, £l5O, and '£2oo a-year, leaving themselves thereby open to suspicion, which has in no few cases resulted in their being excessively sur charged." OPINION. 1. I am of opinion that a Minister would commit an ecclesiastical offence, if he were to omit the psalm and the lesson occurring in the burial service. lam also of opi nion, that the direction in the Rubric, " after they are come into the church," &c., would not be complied with if the psalms and lessons were read at the grave ; and consequently, that no clergyman is authorised to do so. In this I am fortified by the wording of the Rubric, next but one following, viz., " when they come to the grave," &c. 2. Even if my opinion were doubtful as to the former points, I should be clear that no clergyman can possibly be compelled to act contrary to the directions of the Rubric. 3. I am of opinion that the parishioner, A. B. (sup posing the facts capable of proof,) has laid himself open to be proceeded against for brawling. A. F. BATFORD. Doctors' Commons, 22d February, 1854. COMPARATIVE COST OF WOODEN AND IRON-BUILT SHIES. — In a recently-issued circular by Mr. Jas. Hodgson, consulting engineer, of Liverpool, we find the following comparative annual cost of the working of a wooden and iron ship of 1,000 tons each : Suppose a wooden ship of 1,000 tons to cost £16,500, or £l6 10s. per ton ; then suppose an iron ship to cost £13,500, or £l3 10s. per ton, both fitted for the East, we have the following result : Wood : £16,500, at 3 per cent. for insurance, £495 ; ditto at 5 per cent., for depreciation, £825 ; ditto at 5 per cent. for interest, £825—£2,14 6 ; deduct £1,350 £795. Iron : £13,500 at 3 per cent. for insurance, £405 ; ditto at 2 per cent. for depreciation, £270 ; ditto at 6 cent. for interest, £675—£1,350 ; difference in favour of iron, £795.. A wooden ship of 1,000 tons, trading to the East, will not carry more than 1,500 tons, which, at £5 per ton for the voyage out and home, will give £7,500, while an iron ship of 1,000 tons, built from the same external lines, will carry 1,800 tons, which, at £5 per ton, will give £9,000; deduct £7,600, and the difference will be £1,500, making a total in favour of an iron ship of 1,000 tons of £2,295. In the above statement it will be seen that I have taken the lowest estimated cost for a wooden ship, and also the lowest depreciation of the same ; and as regards the iron ship, I have now under my superintendence three large ships for one gentleman, of nearly 1,500 tons each (exclu sive of others), one of which is 2,700 tons, 0.m., which will cost less than £l3 per ton, so that the above case is under rather than over-rated in favour of iron ships. A NOTE FROM MmaiounNE.—The following is an extract from a letter dated Melbourne, Dec. Ist, 1853 : " Wages are enormously high still, as emigration has fallen off rapidly Masons, good hands, 425. per day (not per week) ; and rubble ditto, 355. ; carpenters, 355. to 40s. ; plasterers, 40s. per day. Timber is a little down just now ; bricks ditto, but after Christmas they will be up again. They are at present £l4 per 1,000; Countess slates, £5O per 1,000. They were, about six weeks ago, down to £35, but arevery scarce again. Very large three and four storied stone stores are being erected in all parts of the city and suburbs,and many fine stone mansions. Many a ten-roomed house have I seen let at £1,200 per annum; . nothing but a plain hammer-dressed stone .front, —nothing partFular about it. Building in stone is frightful, still there is no thing thought of it here; thousands are spent very freely. We have a very fine arcade —something like the Lowther —cost a little over £30,000, and another erecting, which for elegance of design far outstrips the other : it is esti mated to cost £150,000. Tattersall's Grand Horse Bazaar outdoes anything I have yet seen for horses : Tattersall's at home is a mere shed to it. I will send you a plate of it when I can send overland. We have also eight churches and chapels erecting at this time of stone and brick; one college, one Free Church of Scotland, high school, one opera house, two bridges, and two railways making,—the posts also being fixed for the telegraph to Williamstown, Port Philip Heads. J. Knight and Kemp have just got £5OO for the best design for new Government offices, to cost £150,000, and expect the contract to car r y it ou t. We have also a new mansion for the governor, to cost £50,000; baths and Nirshhouses, £30,000; a new custom-house, and many large jobs; but I have enumerated enough to show you what we are doing, and expect to d o , in the building way, in i this golden city. . R---, late of Jay's has many things n hand. Amongst others, the railway bridge over the Yarra Yarra. He is also building a steam-boat for the Gondola Company, which is to run to Cremorne Gardens, very beautifully laid out at Richmond, on the Yarra Yarra. I also expect he will be the contractor for the grand reservoir, to supply this golden city with water ; it will be fifteen miles up the Renty River, from Melbourne, —15,000 acres of land to compose the large and two smaller reservoirs,—and will cost over £150,000 and take two years to complete : so you see we intend improving a little." ECCLESIASTICAL INTE. CHESHIRE AND WALES• THE HON. LADY WILLIAMS WYNN, wife of cellency Sir Henry Williams Wynn, and sister w sra p present Lord Carrington, died very unexpectedly day last week, at Wynnstay. Tier husband visa " years English minister at Copenhagen. oicia BIRKENHEAD FERRY RECEIPTS. The .o il - statement was laid before the committee at their M 7 571,.. on Tuesday :—Receipts for February, 1853 _ . „,an d i .,:f r ost 1853, £1254 4s. 2d. • 1854, £1542 3s. sd. Iseeew - 101.; 24th April to 28th February : 1853, £18,391 2 0 4 ; 8 0, 1854, £21,090 4s. 9d. Expenditure from 24th .APra , to 28th February, 1854; £18,555 7s. 11d. ,„,,essieg• THE BIRKENHEAD DOCK WORKS are pr.,- The contractors believe they have made goo d those g et tions of the wall near Seacombe, which were defe c .o and which made it unsafe to exclude the tidal w "the That being done, they are dosing the entrance 00i Pool, the masonry being considerably advanced ;Ali within the next fortnight the water will be per W a n,;" excluded, and the excavations will be proceeded ivi x tu• fo r CHESTER AND HOLYHEAD RAILWAY.—The trau'c the week eng sth March, 1854, was as follows 4; Passengers, parcels, &c., per railway, £2032 1 8 e• 2" O di steam-boats, £329 lls. 2d. ; total, £2362 10s. 11,„: 6 ' - pet £1517 12s. 5d.: total, including Carnarvon rail, £3550 lls. 4(1. ; steam-boat, £329 11s. 2 1 ; responding week last year, per rail, £2978 lee' steam-boat, £215 14s. 2d. Increase, £685 18s. the GOLD MINING IN WALES.—The gold mines I J y; neighbourhood of Dolgelly are getting on very Pn o indeed, if report speaks correctly, there appears all the re an inexhaustible store of it in the mountains, sit doe; is hardly a person, be his station high or 10w,..vrt,9 not dabble in the mines, and go daily to the " ( 11 :113t A very competent authority told our correspon nine out of every ten persons are walking the stre e ' s t be this town for specimens of the quartz out of which oto gold is extracted. One of Mr. Berdan's erw rip s et machines, for crushing and washing these, has bee 0 3 1 up at Cwmeisian, and was to commence operation Oa 0 1 instant. Similar ones are also to be erected in sever dent', of the other works.— Carnarvon Herald. ar THE NEW MANAGER OF WOODSIDN FERRIP- L .-.40 pointment of a new manager, at £3OO per annum, io rvir of Mr. Rudd, was the chief object of discussion a t the erri kenhead Commissioners' meeting, on Tuesday. T be A,test Committee recommended Mr. Clay, but an amen 11r• on this was moved by Mr. Curry, and seconded. 0 „, of Watson, on the ground that Mr. Clay knew now'''. of marine engines, and was not a sailor. Mr. Bair l o d opinion "that there was no more difference betweend he and steam engines than between two kettles , an,i i o thought Mr. Curry knew as much about marine e i L l 'etit as he did—which was nothing at all." The anle,n" - je• was lost by a majority of ten to four, and Mr. o '2 t he dared appointed. The new manager gives security extent of £l,OOO, in the Guarantee Society. ,s„,.‘ {heir tors AND CARDIGAN RAILWA.Y.---1: their tors of this projected line have determined to conv-" e n i v application to parliament for so much of the line 0 03 will extend from Carmarthen to Newcastle EmlYn• fat decision has been arrived at in consequence of the To , difficulties experienced by the board in consequence.„ ° o iie unfavourable state of the money market, and tuif the from the want of adequate support on the par t ° i ts 4 landowners in the neighbourhood. A sufficient o3,Peoe therefore, could not be raised this year to coroPie„` der whole of the line ; and the board have decided to u"or take that portion of the scheme which is at presen t „ r t he ticable. They have pledged themselves to coroPle'lli of original plan next session, if the subscription list It o am low them so to do. The inhabitants of CardiP coo" extremely anxious for the harbour of refuge to b!'''e v o strutted, as fearful shipwricks are constantly occor:j3 their bay, where there is no sheltered spot for re' put in. 1 P le h BIRKENHEAD IMPROVEMENTS.—We have inur - w ilic . ' sure in laying before our readers the following fact' et for may be relied upon. They present a pleasing presr o rle" the future of Birkenhead. The contracts for the c ( i' ec t o 0 tion of the entire of the dock works were coroPl e , he sol e Thursday, and signed by Mr. Brassey, who is "a the contractor. The entire plans are now settled, i' n eci do i works are to commence forthwith, and to be P r°s 0 1 ' 5 ' with energy and despatch. The first portion of the ic when the water is excluded at the entrance of the Yid will be the permanent roadway between this town o. Seacombe, together with excavations for the lower" ) ,i, oe Messrs. Brassey, Peto, Betts, and Jackson paid a v;etif' Thursday to the Canada Works and decided upontai ately commencing the building of a number of I°,. g ui - ea for the convenience of the workmen, and we to ue lio oe ' the party afterwards dined together at the Manor f t he We are also enabled to state that in the course sl: 4 ' next fortnight between 900 and 1,000 mechanics °' - f„ the to be engaged at the Canada Works. The wages,., - ~hell'l men will average from 30s. to 40s. per week.-1 31 " Advertiser. EGREMONT AND NEW BRIGIITOY FERity.. _o o ; 0 te 07 ,1 0 day Captain Tower appeared before the maglgt" . ha ask their advice. He stated that some days sr e rp o66 occasion to go to New Brighton, and for that"Ending' seeing it placarded on one of the steamers at the T e ot stage, in large letters, " To New Brighton," be ` ; A ficiP t i board. The steamer, however, went to Egrem ont, 1 , , A n was there desired to leave it, as it went no far tbe $ ll far c e the fare was demanded from him. Another gentle"- tbe board was in the same position as himself. Now for to know if there was no mode of obtaining redre% inconvenience he had been put to. He added f i3 o t gra ll been to the County Court, but as that court did li t s ue a summons for less than one shilling, he could 11 9„i v ha it for the recovery of the fare, or he should certa-IV,a tP' done so to try the question. Mr. Jackson said, ,nee case happened to him, he should have taken a cone from Egremont to New Brighton, and then have s itia proceedings for the expenses —The Rev. Mr. Fieldl o such a case would be under the old coach law, 0 11 1. tu- Itea penses probably be recovered. The bench, "' ye s old th e no jurisdiction in the matter.—Captain Tow er t to the course adopted by Mr. Colbourn, of holding eu hen , 9 1 public that his boats went to New Brighton, w__sider fact, they only went as far as Egremont, cause d able public inconvenience, and be had been t old Con t e many many as twenty applications had been made to the' o Court on the subject.—After some other observatiu matter dropped. COURT AND _FASHION 0 1 LORD WEMYSS is suffering from an injury he g lstgi se d in one of his legs, some time ago, by the bite of s the injury has now become so serious as to render the tation of the limb necessary, to which procee ill° 4 sufferer has given his consent. LADY BLAYNEY expired on the 4th instant, at Or; , .t town, near Dublin. Her ladyship was wife a ve t ' I°' Lord Blayney, and the daughter of the first Caledon. iklo l ' THE MARQUIS OP LONDONDERRY died on last, at Holderness-house. The death of the 1 0 0' was caused by an attack of inflammation of th e .fi 1 4 4 which, after a few days' suffering, terminated fat'''''ia . .t4 lordship was marquis, earl, viscount, and baron roP e peerage of the United Kingdom. He was also s, tp t of the Garter, a general officer in the army, colonelooo 2nd Life Guards, knight grand cross of the 8atb , ,40. 1 grand cross of Hanover, and knight of the P"'" ger foreign military orders of Europe. tO e el ) LEVEE.—The Queen held a levee (the second - a ti e son) on Wednesday, in St. James's Palace. Th e its i [ e ls wore a train of white Irish poplin, embroidered rose, shamrock, and thistle, in colours, trimn? L e : or. 8; silk fringe to match. The petticoat was of whir e s.4 trimmed with gold blonde. Her Majesty's head - u r low formed of emeralds and diamonds. Meer Jafur Bahadoor of Surat, appeared at the court in sti:,elP" costume of great magnificence, richly adorned wit!' p , diamonds, and emeralds. „; THE PEERAGE.—By the death of the Marcl.--„is donderry, a peerage in the United Kingdom r 7l ",,is each of his two sons. His eldest son, and bY wife (Lady Elizabeth, daughter of the third Earl ° e st, - ley), Viscount Castlereagh, becomes Baron Stesvrtp.Ar the United Kingdom, and Marquis of Londonde V e ,. the Irish peerage. The marquis's younger son, second wife (the heiress of the Vanes), Lord Se s Z has represented North ,Durham since 1847, becoreeevel Vane. The late marquis received from the Earl ° i d O f , i the Garter left vacant by the death of the Duke c ol ) . " # lington. He was Lord-Lieutenant of Durham, allo( 1 . 1. rotulorum of Downshire and Derryshire, in Ir e eor"; general in the army, and colonel of the 2nd Life FAngwaLT., BANQUET TO SIR CHARLES NAPIEP._,,,ow, Admiral Sir C. Napier, K.C.8., appointed to the C 0 At of the Baltic fleet, was on Tuesday entertail l _,' splendid banquet by the members of the Refernos'; The dinner took place in the coffee-room of the eliv",.cel e , in Pall-mall, but, owing to its limited dimension, 5 ' e j er v d i modation could not be provided for more than 2( ",`,, men. Many members of the club, however, w . ", 1 ",,el unable to obtain seats at the dinner table, crovi o ," ante-chambers and the approaches to the coffee-r , ( 1 order to hear the addresses of the noble chairrl so 4. 4 te ° o . e 1 invited guests. The only decorations of the dir„, 15 , 1 1 , consisted of the French, English, ,and Turkish which were arranged alternately around the st ° , 6 : A considerable crowd had assembled in Pall-rasi_,,"" e rt?' of the club, by whom Sir C. Napier, Lord F_r o o t '„pf' and others of the guests were loudly cheerei' A - 004. arrival. Lord Palmerston took the chair; the gentlemen present were Sir J. Graham, 31..r''„,1f1:i 6 11 Molesworth, M.P., Mr. Peto, M.P., Mr. Ferg l3s° ;rar'r Admiral Berkeley, M.P., M. Musurus, the s o li Q A' minister, Namik Pacha, Mr. Keogh, M.P., general for Ireland, Mr. Sadlier, Mr . ALP., &e. Lord Dudley Stuart, M.P., and Sir . 0 0. Evans, M.P., acted as vice-chairmen on the occ, i , - 1 , 0 (10. 1 0 1 DiITH or ALDERMA N T HOM PSON, fl e e' of Alderman Thompson, M.P., took place at o'clock on Friday morning. By the death of 7 65 03 1° 0, man a vacancy occurs in the representation of rolf4). land. The late Alderman was the son of Jas. -"To Esq., of Kendal, Westmoreland. He was bo rrl , " married in 1817 Amelia, second ghter el a Homfray, Esq., formerly, M.P. forstafford, 000 of Sir Charles Morgan, Bart., of Tredegar. us alo te ll Lord Mayor in 1828-29, Director of the Loft pP+ Director of the Cambrain, Gloucester, an d jofl a pi' Railway Company, a Deputy-Lieutenant for , 0 00 0 , Treasurer of King's College, President of Chit t or y q, tel, and Vice-President of the Honourable Art w it pany. He was some time Chairman of the Cel t .`,,g Lloyd's, but resigned on the subscribers expres s der selves dissatisfied with his having joined the,Uo l.4 . i ,e Shipowners' Mutual Assurance Association. Is t o_ . t , : ifi tr eminent ironmaster and shipowner. the '''9 t d ' voted for agricultural protection, 1846, and ' 11 ,85)3. ,0' rity of 63 who censured free trade, November, f ro m 'ol' for Callington from 1820 to 1826 ; for London i ber , 1 to 1832 ; for Sunderland from 1833 till SePte t° B o First returned for Westmoreland, September, 1 13.45 , TICE LAWSON OBSERVATORY.—An ef) concluded between Mr. Lawson and the lA" eme ivb"ql l. castle, as chairman of the Observatory Comraittee' f i/tetiO Mr. Lawson undertakes to transfer his Colle c tionS g olP tilo., ments and to hand over his gift of one thousl,tiog 0 11) 6 to the trustees of the proposed institution, stiPn the whole subscriptions shall be paid in, re 6) ,e, dent to produce an annual income of £ 2OO '°' i 8 6 49 observer, to be invested prior to Midsnuilner otall the building finished and ready to receive the by Midsummer 1855.—Nottingham Journal. THE LivERPOOL STANDARD, AND (ENERAL COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER. TUESDAY, MARCH 14, 1854• 4 ' o il e E