The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-04-30 00:00:00

titeraturt. P 0 E 'l' R Y. REPLY TO A JESUITICAL, CANTING, WILY AND WHEED. LING LYRIC, ADDRESSED TO IRISH PROTESTANTS , BY THE DUBLIN NATION: (Pro7n the Dublin Evening Mail.) MAIL-BAG MELODIES, " An open enemy's a curse. But a ..;e ended friend is worse."—GAT. " We hate the Faxon and the Dane, And the rude Norman men, — We curs'd their greed for blood and ga'n, And we curse them now again. Yet start not, Irish born.man, If you're to Ireland true, 'We heed not blood, nor cree•l, nor clan, — We have no curse for you." Nation, April 13, 1944. You need not take such wondrous pains . To make your different castes app !ar, 'Twixt Irish born" arid English " Danes," And `• Saxons" there, and " Saxons" here; We see your scorn behind your smile, You deep, deceitful Popish crew I You hate us, one and all ! the v.hile— But, God be praised, we know you do ! Then welcome be your honest curse, You c inging, wheedling Gaelic Bard ! We like your proffered b:essings w But both demand our just regard. We thank you for your hate professed— 'Tis genuine, and we'll prize it well. But for your love, just now expressed, We doubt it—for it smacks of Hal! 111. What ! think you that of all the lot One Ingle " Saxon" can be led, To trust you that you hate him not, Because he', Irish born and bred No!—all your love, at twice its worth, Is hardly value for a laugh ! And the triad game -cocks of the north Are far too old to peck at chaff. For many a sly device you search To rive our empires' triple parts—. But 'tis the .oyal, twin.born church You aim at in your real hearts ! What chances of success you have Let Hillsboro's', cord-book attest— And those who further knowledge crave From Henry ,00ke may learn the rest! Vain ! vain is all your specious cant, Your quibbl.ng about native earth ! 'Tis not the "Dane"—but " Protestant" You ha e !—atnl hate whe e'er his birth, For, find his cradle where you wid— Abroad—at home—on sea or sud— You hat him !—and you've done so still, To please your Po, e—and he's your God ! Oh I Rome, you show your inmost soul lAhene'er we meet you face to face ! We can discern your Jesuit scowl Out through your Pharisaic grace ! Ay, we can read upon your brow, And cu ling lip, and sharpset tooth,* .4,s plain as you do preach them now. The class-book lesson.; of Maynooth ! VII. We know you, Rome ! in t eart and skin We see—we see your fine pretence, To draw the gaping pio.triot in, Ann work upon his passive sense ! • So do:Cat once your artful mask— Your subt est tricks are understood ; And cease your nice distinctive task Of analysing British blood ! From root to branch the Norman tree And every golden fruit it bears . You hate ! because so fair and free To Heaven its outspread arms it rears You hate our Bible -hate our schools— You hate our clergy—hate our creed— Aud oath-bound to your murderous rules Your hate, in word—you prove in deed! The stake—the scaffold--and the wheel Have witnessed it in many a clime And mat.) , an age—and now the steel Is ready—and you " bide your time I" Bide on ! bide on !—you treacherous band, From month to month and year to year— Our eye is fixed upon your band, And rest assured we'll keep it there I Oh ! boast away your " year of work"— Your " shoulder bared" and " girded loin;" -Your "groups" may line the Lee, at Cork, But will they dare to stem "the Boyne ?" No—no—they won't—the bue that lies In Munster shamrocks fresh and fair, In Ulster's climate fades and flies, Too puny for " the lily's" air ! Yes I you may hoist the flag of green ! We have the " Orange and the Blue I" A banner that sh,ll ne'er be seen, Unless to make you dearly rue! And we have hearts, whe e'er you come, At broad noon-day or depth of night, To meet and chase your millions tome ! And God, we know, will guard the right ! * "Dens". might properly enough be considered the ver y " eye-tooth" of Popery, which, as soon as the young priest has cut, he can see his way pretty plainly before him. CHAPTERS ON ADVERTISEMENTS. No. I. Amongst the thousands whose chief or only instructors are the columns of the daily or weekly press, it may with safety be asserted that there is not one in a hundred who knows how to read a newspaper—how to gather, from that luminous record of the every day affairs of this strange world of ours, the lights and shadows of the picture which it holds up to our vision. The busy trader, wrapped up in his dream of avarice, glances over prices of stocks ; skims over the lists of bankrupts and insolvents; wades through the City article, and plunges into the whirl of life, with the conviction that he is fully informed of all its do ings. The politician imbibes the editorial wisdom of leading articles—the mingled " sound and fury", with which ministers are bombarded and oppositions bespat tered—and is happy in the conviction that his knowledge of the whys and wherefores of statesmanship is as exten sive as that of any dozen of the " ins", or " oats", of Downing-street. The votary of fashion runs over the court circular and the puffing " cards" of west-end ven ders of inercery or bijouterie; and has exhausted his or her anxiety to know " how the world wags" ' • whilst vulgar and matter-of-fact people are content to be horrified or amused by " fatal accidents", police reports, or scanda lous on dits, according to their several tastes and stations. It is the foreground only of the varied panorama of life which such observers glance over—its well-marked lines and prominent figures—whilst the objects which lie dimly shadowed in the background—the wretchedness, the ro mance, the wild passion, the mute despair, the fierce hate and the crime, which inhabit the dark places of the world—are to them the writing in a sealed book—the unevoked figures in an enchanter's mirror. It is not a mere glance over the surface of this terres trial ball, which we denominate earth, that can tell us what primeval fires are glowing in its womb—what floods heave in its dark cavities—what ores and gems lie hidden there which the avarice of man shall never drag up to the light. It is not a passing gaze into the night-heaven which can tell us of what order of beings are they, who inhabit the thousand stars bespangling its blue dome— whether passion and sin and death are there, as in our ,own fallen world. And the unenquiring reader of the do ings of his fellow men, as recorded in the columns of a newspaper, can as little expect thus to unravel the myste ries of every day human life as, by such unreflecting and unenquiring observation, to fathom the globe, or to read the secrets of the heavens. The events which newspapers record are but the air bubbles which rise upon the ever working cauldron of human passion. They are but chance developments of the few wrongs and crimes and miseries which see the light, whilst countless thousands are hidden from all save the criminal, the victim, and the eye of Heaven. Do we wish to view, in the mirror which the press pre sents to us, a faithful reflection of the world, or one ap proaching to faithfulness, we must seek it—not in its re cords of events, its police reports, its political disquisi tions, or its narratives of folly and depravity, but—in the glimpses which it affords us of unacted villanies and un developed sufferings : we must seek it in its crowded co lumns of advertisements. There is more of the world in any one of such columns than whole volumes could con vey. What strife to exist, what restless plotting, what ingenuity, what tortuous devices, are in those puffing an nouncements ! What misery and unrequited toil—what wearing of human life, and sacrifice of health add enjoy ment and love—what pictures of gaunt and ghastly po verty —are associated with those parades of unparallelled cheapness! What startling evidences of fallen station— of pride dispelled by the vision of the near and yawning gulf of utter destitution—of hungry eyes watching the partition of the last morsel—of the uncomplaining gaze of attenuated loveliness, or the wolfish glare of selfish age—are in those "appeals to the charitable and humane!" And, scattered through the miscellaneous advertisements, what a strange medley may we observe of human life—its varied ambitions, passions, and pursuits ; and what les sons might the picture which it presents be made to con vey, were the pencil of imagination permitted to fill up its broken shadows, and develope in distinct colours its half revealed figures ! Tell us not that such a picture would not be life—that it would not be our world, but the world of the novelist and the romance writer. It might have more of light and shadow—more of startling incongruities of Colouring—more of hideous contrast of objects—thin what we are led to believe is our every-day world ; but it would, nevertheless, if we gave not an undue amount of licence to thnpainter—imagination—and the filling in was in good keeping, be that world itself! We propose, if the reader will give us leave, to present him with a few of these lessons, sketchily drawn, perhaps , but whh may still serve to teach him t o rea d aright the record which is daily in his hands. We take up at ran dom a file of that greatest purveyor of advertisements-- the Times—and instinctively we turn to column second of its front page, the locus in quo of what may be called masquerade or anonymous announcements, and occasion ally of assignations of a very questionable character. What have we first ? Ma A. E.-DISSATISFIED. Terse and mysterioua! And yet, withou t great y strain ing our ingenuity, we might, perhaps, arrive very near its meaning and the characters of the parties, between whom it is meant to communicate. We can imagine ties which may bind together two human beings, not in love, but ra ther in hate and fear ; an outward and horrible friendship, cemented by the dread of some nameless discovery of crime or folly, which is wielded by the one, the more hardened and shameless, to wring from his shrinking fellow the price of silence. With a blanched cheek and an agitated frame, in the bosom of an unsuspecting family, or in his place of business, in the presence of a partner who confides in his integrity, or of dependents who reverence his virtues, the victim receives the notice of the fresh exactions of his tormentor: we see the struggle of his spirit, as he hesi tates between submission to what may be ultimate ruin, and a resolve to dare all the world's censure in an effort to shake off the incubus which presses him to the earth : end—oh, weak and cowardly human nature !—too often do we see the keeping of the guilty secret bought at the price of present suffering and ultimate ruin. Not a seldom-re curring chapter in the blotted hidtnry of human life is this! Not singular in his fate is he who has thus to " Se tisCy" the witness or the partner of his frailty or his un suspected guilt. Another announcement, in the same column of the same publication, is more explicit than the above : " THE FOLLY of an HOUR" will not only be your -11- ruin, but the ruin and the death of many other people, if you persevere in your present conduct. If you are a man face your difficulties, and you shall be helped through them. If you have the feelings of a man at any event write.—Address to your brother, Gray's-inn. The too common history of a ruined man is before us here in all its details. We see worldly embarrassment met by cowardly yielding to the dictates of pride, or perhaps to the more venial prompting of affection for those whom his ruin will bow to the earth. Step by step the spirit has been broken—perchance the habits and the moral rec. titude deteriorated as well—until at length, in " the folly of an hour, " the unfortunate has fled to escape from the pressure f his adversities and to hide his shame from the world—has added domestic misery, of the deepest and severest description, to the other and lighter evils of the position of him and his. We will not intrude our gaze into the household, where a father's or a brother's folly has stricken the hearts of sor rowing and trembling relatives—where dark pictures of possible calamity, or, darker still, of infamy and crime, haunt each weary hour of absence and anxious expectation. But let us turn, in imagination, to the se cond or third rate tavern, to which the voluntary outcast has crept from his obscure lodging, to examine if, in the daily records of passing events in this wilderness of acted folly, his name is noted down and his flight commented upon. Mark the furtive glance and the pallid and down cast features of the man, who so lately stood erect and happy amongst his fellow men, on 'Change, or in the so cial circle! Watch the tremulous hand which raises the paper, to read the doom " He longs, yet dreads, to gaze upon !" He has read the mystic words, which sink into his heart. He has heard the warning, which will never cease to ring in his ears, until its behests are obeyed,—that " the folly of an hour" has been already pregnant with ruin, and threatens " the lives of many" ;—and the strong man is a child in his agony. Dare we speculate upon the after course of such a wretched being ? We dare not. We can only hope that the false step has, ere this, been re trieved ; that he has " faced his difficulties manfully," and received that sympathy, of which he was here kindly assured. Another and still darker history is conveyed in the fol [owing:— MO the PARTY who POSTS hi s LETTERS i n PRINCES-STREET, Leicester-square.--Your Family is now in a state of excitement unbearable. Your attention is called to an advertisement in Wednesday's Morning Advertiser, headed " A body found drowned at Deptford ;" after your avowal to your friend as to what you might do, he has been to see the decomposed remains, accompanied by others; the features are gone, but there are marks on the arm, so that unless they hear from you to-day it will satisfy them that the remains are those of their misguided relative, and steps will be taken to place them in the family vault, as they cannot bear the idea of a pauper funeral. This, too, is a record of ruin; but, apparently, of ruin brought about by worse than mere folly or cowardly yield ing to misfortune. Here may be some noble intellect wrecked by dissipation; the hope of some distinguished circle, voluntarily embracing an outcast's lot, and looking forward, at the end of the long vista of crime which he has entered, to a suicide's grave. Are they, indeed, his decomposed remains over which affection has vainly bent, in some river-side hovel, or parish charnel-house, in the effort totrace, so long after " Decay's effacing fingers Have swept the lines where beauty lingers," the resemblance of the on ce l ove d b rot h er or cherished son ? Is it over his corpse that the sable plumes have waved—that the church's prayers have been said, amidst the pomp of mourning, and the family vault has closed ; or does some nameless child of misery mingle his ashes there with those of the wealthy, the proud, or the far descended? We know not. The world, which is not comprised within that now mourning family circle, will perhaps never know whether the erring one sleeps there, or has returned, a penitent, to his father's mansion. A privately-acted tragedy, this, upon which no public au dience shall sit in judgment. Enough, however, upon this class of advertisements. Turn we next to one of a more business-like character, which contains, nevertheless, its own peculiar teachings. SELECTIONS. LORD WELLINGTON IN A BASKET.—Lord Wellington had entered Salamanca with Sir Rowland Hill and our division, but when he found the right of the army well on, and everything satisfactory, he started for the left, to superintend its operations and hasten its movements. In this rapid journey be crossed the Douro under far more dangerouweircumataneoe than thuac of the rope Driage at Alcantara, where I had the honour to meet him; for at Miranda he ventured into a small basket, bung upon a rope, stretched from one high rock to another, across on the boiling stream, and thus, in this giddy seat, 300 feet above the water, did this fearless man traverse a r i ver , which has derived the main part of its modern celebrity from his great deeds upon its banks.—Events of a Mili tary Life. VARIETY OF MEN'S FACES.—The great variety exist ing throughout the world of men's faces and voices is an admirable proof of the wisdom of the Creator of all things. Had men's faces been cast in the same, or not a very different mould, their organs of speech would have sounded nearly the same, and the same exact structure of muscles and nerves would have given the hand the same direction in writing. In this case, what confuson, what disturbance, what mischiefs, would the world have eter nally laid under! No security could have been given to our persons; no certainty, no enjoyment of our posses sions ; no distinction between good and bad, between friends and foes; but all would have been exposed to ma lice, fraud, and violence. But now, as it is ordered, every man's face can distinguish him in the light, and his voice in the dark ' • his hand-writing can speak for hi m th oug h absent, and be his witness, and secure his contracts in future generations; a manifest as well as admirable indi cation of the divine superintendence and management.— Derham. THE ELEPHANT IN THE REGENT'S PARK.—The daily rations of Jack, the male elephant, kept in the garden of the Zoological Society of London, and now about thirty years old, are a truss and a half of hay, forty-two pounds of Swedish turnips, a mash consisting of three pounds of boiled rice, a bushel of chaff, and half a bushel of bran, ten pounds of sea biscuit, a bundle of straw for his bed, weighing about thirty-six pounds, which he usually eats by the morning, and thirty-six pails of water. Be sides this he collects no small portion of savoury alms from the public. Formerly his allowance was larger, and he had oats and wangold-wurzel ; but at that time Sun day was a day of fasting with him (as it is still to the earnivori), only broken by a slight morning meal. Some four or five years ago he determined to stand this hebdo madal privation no longer, and for two or three succes sive Sabbath nights he made such a disturbance that the keepers had small repose. Finding that this hint was not taken, he went a little further next time, and so be stirred himself that, like other agitators who have known how far to go, he carried his point ; for he made an attack upon his den with such good will and effect, that they were fain to get up in the middle of the night to feed him. Since this demonstration of physical force he has enjoyed his full meals on Sunday.—New Monthly Magazine. THE WORLD OF LONDON.—London overflows with talent. You may compare it for the purpose of illustra tion, to one of George Robin's patent filters, into which pour turbid torrents of Thames water, its sediment, mud, and dirt, weeds, and rottenness ; straining through the various strata, its grosser I articles are arrested in their course, and nothing that is not pure, transparent, and limpid is transmitted. In the great filter of London life, conceit, pretension, small provincial abilities, pseudo talent, soi-disant intellect, are [tried, rejected, flung out again. True genious is tested by judgment, fastedious ness, emulation, difficulty, privation ; and passing through many ordeals, persevering, makes its way through all ; and at length, in the fulness of time flows forth, in ack nowledged purity and refinement upon the town. There is a perpetual onward, upward tendency in the talent, both high and low. mechanical and intellectual, that abounds in London : " Emulation hath a thousand sons," who are ever and always following fast upon your heels. There ;is no time to daudle or linger on the road, no " stop, and go on again :" if you step aside to fasten your shoe-tie, your place is occupied—you are edged off, pushed out of the main current, and are condemned to circle slowly i n the lazy eddy of some complimentary clique. Thousands are to be found able and anxious to take your place ; while hardly one misses you, or turns his bead, to look after you, should you lose your own ; you live while you labour, and are no longer remembered than while you are reluc tant to repose.—Blackwood AGRICULTURE. —England presents at this time a more brilliant example than any age or conntry has before witnessed of the application, I will not say of science, for that would not comprehend the idea which I wish to express, but the application of mind to agriculture. The practice of agriculture, and the philosophy of agri. culture, are matters of universal interest. Men of all t cause, grades and conditions are labouring in and are asking for the how, and the why, and thehis great where fore. .The brightest intellects are directing their talents to agricultural inquiries ; and the humblest in their bumble, but not inefficient way, are seconding their efforts. So many minds concentrating their rays upon the same point, they. must be sure to illuminate with an extraordinary brilliancy. Agriculture is now getting to be recognised as the commanding interest of the state ; so it must ever be-as lying at the foundation of all others. Few persons are apprised of their obligations to agriculture ; and it is difficult to estimate the extent of these oblirtions. E‘ery man's daily bread, his meat, his clothing, his shel ter, his lu xur i es , all come from the earth. The founda tion; or, as th e F renc h wou ld say , t h e materiel of all commerce a n d manu f actures, i s agriculture; an d its moral i nfirlen,es are innumerable and most powerful.—Colsnan's Agricultural Tour. ANGLING.—We have often tbotight that the amuse ment of angling has been too much despised by those who are not anglers themselves If all the pleasure of the pur suit cons sled in dragging a fish to the shore, or in watch ing a float, to see it go under water. we rnignt join in the ridicule which has been bestowed on " the brethren of the rod and line." The pleasure of anglinz, however, takes a much wider ranee; and we are convinced that the niera act of fishing is only a secondary consideration with those who join with it a fondness for the charms of nature. The enjoyment of air and exercise, as the angler pursues his c.:urse through flowery meadows and fields covered with herds and flocks, Hsu:nit - 1.4 to the unseen lark, or watch ing the varied movements of the swallows, as they glide around him in every direction, have charms which add a relish to has walk, and harmonize with every kindly feel ing of his heart. Nor is this all. A reflective angler will devise many useful lessons of instruction from the visible objects of creation which surround him ; all of which serve to prove the infinite perfection and unbounded be nevolence of the great Creator.—Jesse's Scenes and Tales. A COMING STORM.—It was one of those hot, silent nights when people sit at windows, listening for the thun der which they know will shortly break ; when they recal dismal tales of hurricanes and earthquakes, and of lonely travellers on open plans, and lonely ships at sea struck by lightning. * Lightning flashed and quivered on the black horizon even now ; and hollow murmurings were in the wind, as though it had been blowing vvhers, the thunder rolled and still was charged with its exhausted echoes. But the storm, though gathering swiftly, had not yet come up ; and the prevailing stillness was the more solemn from the dull intelligence that seemed to hover in the air of noise and conflict afar off. It was very dark ; but in the murky sky there were masses of cloud which shone with a lurid light, like monstrous heaps of copper that had been heated in a furnace and were growing cold. These had been advancing steadily and slowly. but they were now motionless. or nearly so; and as the carriage clattered round the corners of the streets, it passed, at every one, a knot of persons, who had come there—many from their houses close at hand, without hats—to look up to that quarter of the sky. Andestow a very few large drops of rain began to fall. and thunder rumbled in the distance.-.. Marlin Chuzzlewit. NEWSPAPER WRITING.—It is not so easy to write for a newspaper as people suppose. A man may be a good scholar, a profound thinker, and a vigilant observer of passing events, without being able to write for a news paper. - 110 power of writing a lead'ng arti c l e f or a news paper isailleret which few possess, and which I have known many, with all their learning and diligence, unable to ac quire. It requires a large amount of information on a variety of subjects, and a readiness of application that must never be at fault, or the writer will fail. Few re member the editor is always writing against time, and the inexorable printer must have his copy, so that there is no time to revise and amend ; but as slip after slip is written,. the devil snatches it away, and one half is usually set tip in print before the other half is written. This exacts a decision of thought and a facility of writing which, like poetry, seems rather a gift of nature than an acquired fa culty. And as to brevity, that is the most difficult task of all. Diffuseness in a leading article is like water added to brandy —what it gains in quantity it 1 :quality. It is comparatively easy t o wr it e a l ong ar t tto be Ilk able on the in s tant— w ith ou t prev i ous c ation— without having time to consult books, or dates, or autho; rities—to concentrate the pith and marrow of an argument in a few sentences ; to grasp, as it were intuitively, the real question at issue, mid to present in a striking point of view that particular truth or illustration which the public mind is prepared to receive, and would be disappointed to miss, is, in my opinion, one of the most difficult ope rations of the human mind.—Roweroft's " Man without a Profession." THE EMERALD MINES OF PERIL—The singular fact that a ship is at this moment afloat on salt water at an elevation of 18,000 feet above the level of the sea, and there carrying on a lucrative traffic, is so little known, that we trust the following brief mention of it will be read with some interest. In the year 1826, the firm of .Run dell and Bridge, of London, having entered upon arrange ments for the purchase of the gold mines of Tipuani and the emerald mines on the river Illimani in Upper Peru, sent a gentleman of the name of Page as their agent, for the purpose of effecting the acquisition of this property. The speculation as regarded the gold mines was tolerably successful; but the emeralds found at Illimani proved of inferior quality to those of other parts, excepting in a few rare instartces. These mines are situated on the borders of the great salt-water lake of Chuquita, which is two hundred and forty-eight miles in length, and nearly one hundred and fifty miles in breadth, and elevated eighteen thousand feet above the level of the sea, on the Cordillera of the Andes ; its depth in many parts is such that it cannot be sounded, and the peculiar blue colour of its waters resembles that of the sea. There are ocher mining' establishments in the same vicinity as the Tipuani and Illimani, belonging to two English gentlemen, General O'Brien and John Begg,.Esq., who are also part owners of those above-named. Those of most importance are the copper mines of Corocoro, and the famous silver mines of Salceda at Puno. The only vegetable produc tions found in this part of these high regions, are a small red potatoe, called ehusma, and a few plants, one of which affords a seed, called quinaug, much used by the abori gines as an article of food ; but on the eastern side of the lake, at a place called Copacavana, and in several of the valleys of Bolivia, there is found an abundance of Indian corn, barley, potatoes, and a great variety of fruits. The difficulty of procuring provisions for the considerable number of Indians who were employed in the mines, suggested the idea of building a vessel for the purpose of communicating with the opposite shore of the great lake; and Mr. Page, General O'Brien, and Mr. Begg, deter mined to enter upon the attempt. Mr. Page, who was a man of enterprise and considerable ability, undertook to superintend the construction of a brig of 150 tnn. v.....i......_ tie preceecen, In to e first place, to the port of Arica, where he procured the necessary iron -work, rigging. sails, cables, and anchors, by purchasing a ship lying in that port condemned as unseaworthy. These materials be carried with vast trouble and expense to the mouth of the river Apolobambo, where he found timber of very fine quality, nearly resembling English oak (roble). At the spot where this river falls into . the lake Mr. Page esta blished his dockyard, having engaged a few carpenters and shipwrights at Arica, and at the end of two years of indefatigable labour and perseverance, the brig Julia was launched on the waters of the great lake of Chuquita. The brig has subsequently become the property of a gen tleman of fortune residing at La Paz, and there is perhaps not a vessel of the same size employed in trade in any part of the world that brings an equal amount of profit to her owner. She is chiefly engaged in fulfilling the ori ginal object of her construction, that of bringing the agri cultural products of the valleys of Bolivia to the rich mining districts of Puna and Leaves. General O'Brien, when on his way from Lima to Buenos Ayres, sailed in her all over the lake, and was nearly lost on the island of Titicaca, in one of the heaviest gales he had ever encoun tered. She was then commanded by a Swede, and was in every way well found, except that her anchors were not of sufficient weight, owing to the impracticability of conveying such as her size required over the mountain tracks of the Andes. 'Most of these details have been communicated to us by a gentleman who has resided a long time at Puno, and who was present when General Gamarra, President of Peru, effected his escape from General Salaverri, when only a few hundred yards in ad vance of his pursuers, by embarking hurriedly on board the brig Julia and crossing the lake of Chuquita.—The Monte Video Britannia. THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. VARIETIES. " Shall I have your hand ?" said a New York exquisite to a belle, as the dance was about commencing. " With all my heart," was the soft response. An editor in Michigan 4 wishes himself in the middle of a pumpkin pie as big as Lake Superior, and obliged to eat his way out. The longest canal in the world extends from St. Pe tersburg to the frontiers of China, over a space of 4472 miles. It has been computed that the elecampane produces 3,000 seeds, the sunflower 4,000, and the tobacco plant 40,320. Never trust with a secret a married man who loves his wife, for he wilt tell her—and she will tell her sister, and her sister will tell every body. JONATHAN OUTDONE--A writer in Fraser states that there is a village in Bohemia, the name of which is only pronounceable by sneezing three limes, and adding the syllables ischki/ Religion is exalted reason, refined from the grosser parts of it: it is both the foundation and crown of all vir tues; it is morality improved and raised to its height by being carried nearer to heaven, the only place where per fection resides. LEARNED DICTION.—A contemporary speaks of a lady who astonished a party the other day by asking for the loan of a diminutive argenteous truncated cone, con vex on its summit, and semiperforated with symmetrical indentations, or, in other words, a thimble.—Quebec Gaz. A TENDER ADIE v.—Sydney Smith is a factious fellow. On Bishop Selwin leaving England for his diocese of Can nibals, in New Zealand, Sydney thok leaf of him with tears in his eyes, and in. these terms :—" Good bye, Sel wyn ; I hope you will not disagree with the man that eats you ? " SOLUTION OF BONES IN SULPHURIC ACID FOR THE PURPOSE OF MANURE.—This practice seems likely to be attended with success. The Duke of Richmond tried one acre of a farm of a light sandy soil with the sulphuric acid, and obtained a heavier crop than from an acre ma nured by guano, and another by stable-yard dung. It promises a great saving to farmers. AMERICAN MERCY. —Jonathan's heart of dollars bas somewhat relented. The white man sentenced to be hanged in Louisiana for aiding the Quadroon slave in an attempt to escape from bondage is not, it seems, to be executed. He is only to be publicly whipped. Hence, the American flag may retain its significant stripes.— Punch. THE SWALLOW.—Few birds surpass the swallow in the rapidity of flight. It is calculated that he often skims the air at the rate of a mile a minute, and that in the cou:se of a year be does not fly less than eight the circumference of our globe, which is more than 200,000 miles ; to do this he must travel each day 600 miles, moving at the velocity of 25 m il es per hour, or at an averag e rate of one mile a mi nute for twelve hours each day year. t hrough the TEST OF MESMERISM.--A strong proof of the infallibi bility of this much-disputed science was adduced the other evening at a lecture on the subject. A boy being asked while in th e mesmeric state, whether '• The income tax would be disc ont i nued after the third ear. as Sir R. Peel had promised ?" rep li ed " certainly not ?" This , upon mention e d to the Premier, was declared to b e the strongest instance o f c l a i rvoyance that could be b roug ht forward in favou r o f t h e science,—Punch. y GENERAL MISCELLANY. Her Majesty's accouchment may be expected about the beginning of J uly. •Sunday last was the fiftieth anniversary of the marriage , of the Marquis and Marchioness of Westminster. Swallows have made their appearance, and the cuckoo's notes have been heard in various parts of the country. The Marq 'is and M rghioness of Westminster are not expected to visit London this season. The family will shortly leave Eaton Hall for Halkin. IRON TRADE.—PRICES ON THE CLYDE, APRIL 20. Pig iron, No. 1, £3 10s. ; bar iron, £6; nail rods, L 7: boiler plates and sheets, £9 : 10s. per ton. Mr. Sergeant Merewether, has been elected recorder of Devizes, vice Mr. Ludlow Brays, now one of the membsTs of parliament for that town. The dock company are canvassing the. borough for sig natures to a petition in favour of their bill for making additional docks at this port. —Hull Herald. Carpenters' wages at the Cape of Good Hope, an ligihle colony for emigrants, are 30s a week.—Limerick Chronic. e. The Poor-law Commissioners have appointed Colonel Thomas Francis Wade to be an assistant commissioner of poor-laws. The property sworn to under Sir Francis Burdett's will is under £160,000. The personal property under Lady Burdett's will is under £lO,OOO. Prince Albert has made a donation of £5OO to the funds of Christ's Hospital, and has become a governor of that noble institution. It is said the Poor Law Commissioners have adopted a resolution that, wherever a union workhouse exists, a paid chaplain shall officiate, whether the guardians approve or not of the appointment. The Marquis of Bute will, we hear, be again requested to represent her MAjesty as Lord High Commissioner at the forthcoming General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, for the third time.—Edinburgh Evening Post. Mr. Charles Kemble had the honour,' on Wednesday evetdng, of reading to her Majesty and the Court, at Buckingham Palace, Shakspeare's play of Cymbeline, slightly compressed. DEAL.—The atmosphere was, on Tuesday, so rarified that Calais was plainly discernible with the naked eye. The vessels could be seen leaving the harbour without the aid of a glass.—Dover Chronicle. It is said that -a lady violinist is about to make her debut in the metropolis, her genius and talents are com pared by connoisseurs with those of a Paganiui and a Sivori. The Board of Trade has intimated that it considers the statements of the Bristol Dock Company, in reference to the Great Britain steamer, perfectly satisfactory, and that the Great Western Company ought to give the guarantee required. • MORTALITY IN THE LINE.—Of nearly 600 young active men, who composed the gallant reg i men t o f th e 22nd Highlanders, when it left this country for foreign service nearly two years ago, only 143 have returned.— Fife Herald. THE POTATO PANIC.—The Greenock Advertiser al- Ludes to the avidity with which potatoes were, some time since, bought up, and announces, that after all the out cry, it is found that potatoes are not scarce, in conse quence of which prices are rapidly falling. As a proof of the early season, and the effects of the beautiful weather during the last four weeks, it may be noticed that several broods of young thrushes were last week discovered to have left their nests in various parts of this neighbourhood.—Newcastle Herald. CROP OF GRASS.—At Heaton Mersey, near this town, there is a field of Italian rye grass, of about an acre, be longing to John Thorniley, so extraordinary in its growth as to be at least two feet high at the present moment.— Stockport Advertiser. Out of the ten millowners at present in the House of Commons it is said ttiat eight of them are in favour of the ten hours bill for regulating factory labour. This fact speaks volumes in favour of Lord Ashley's humane mea sure. The letters and despatches of Nelson are at length about to be collected and published, in a form corresponding with Colonel Gurwood's celebrated work, ". The Welling ton Despatches." The task has been undertaken by Sir Harris Nicolas. The so!dier belonging to the 37th Regiment, who bad deserted his post in the barracks at Sunderland, and when in the guard-house committed a violent assault upon Ser geant M'Alligott, was tried by a general courtmartial in the barracks in this town, a few days ago, and sentenced to transportation for life.—Newcastle Herald. . The Palace of Holyrood, so long tenantless and dreary, has for the last few weeks been in a sense restored to its former grandeur by the presence and occupancy of Her Grace the Duchess of Hamilton, the Marquis of Douglas and his amiable bride the Princess of Baden, the lovely Countess of Lincoln, and their respective attendants. Earl Howe. gives a grand entertainment to-morrow at Curzon House, when the Queen Dowager and their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are expected to honour the noble earl with their company. The Archbishop of York, Duke of Wellington, and other distinguished personages are invited to join the circle. DEATH OF VICE-ADMIRAL SIR JAHLEEL BRENTON, BART., K.C.B.—It is with much regret that we announce the death of one of the most gallant and distinguished flag officers of the British navy, Tice-Admiral Sir Jahleel Brenton, Bart., K.C.8., who died at Leamington Spa, on Sunday afternoon last, in the 74th year of his age. ANT Emma taiga ',mac& dog, belonging to Mr. Richard Dixon, farrier, killed a rat in one of the stables of Mr. Bagot, of the old Sir Simon's Inn, which measured, from the snout to the tip of the tail, twenty-two and a half inches. As Dominie Sampson would have said—" Prodigious "—Lancaster Gazelle. MURDER AND SUICIDE.—On Monday last a man named Yeomans, living at Belper, Derbyshire, doubting his wife's fidelity, struck her several times on the head with a poker, from the effects of which she died on the following day. The murderer cut his own throat after wards, and expired in a few minutes. We understand that at a meeting of the Iron trade, held on Wednesday (17th inst.) it was unanimously re solved, unasked, to advance the wages of the colliers and miners in the Monkland distriet sixpence per day, on con dition of the absurd restriction by the miners to two thirds of their output being given up.—Glasgow Mail. THE WELSH COLLIERS.—The colliers who struck some time ago are now all at work, and exhibit evident signs of their folly, having suffered severely during the strike, and at Mold sessions two of the ringleaders, named Parry and Hopkins, were brought up to take their trial, but on their making a public-apology and acknowledge ment of their error, they were discharged. EXTENSIVE ROBBERY.—On Sunday evening last the dwelling-house of Mr. James Dearlove, Bartholomew terrace, London, was broken open, and property to the amount of £lO,OOO, consisting of bonds, bank notes, leases, plate, &c. stolen. Daniel. Dearlove, nephew of Mr. Dearlove, has been apprehended, examined, and re manded. LORD ASHLEY'S NOTICE.—The last notice of the noble lord the member for Dorsetshire stands upon the order book exactly as follows :—" On the third reading of the Factories Regulation Bill (No. 2), to move the addition of clauses to limit the hours of labour, on and after the Ist day of October of the present year (1844), for ail young persons, to eleven in the day, or fifty-eight in the week." MEETING OF COLLIERS.—A meeting of the colliers of Wigan and its neighbourhood, with a large number' from Chorley, &c., took place on Monday afternoon last on Amberswood Common. Several thousands were pre sent. Mr. Roberts, the attorney to the miners' associa tion, was present, and the principal speakers of the as sociation. They were very orderly, and quietly dispersed at the close of the meeting. CANDIDATES FOR THE BAR.—The Benchers of the Inner Temple having resolved upon a more strict course of examination of its younger members, with a view of securing a greater degree of efficiency for the bar, have appointed, in addition to two of its previous examiners, several others. The present Lord Abinger was one of the examiners at the same time with Mr. Adolphus and Mr. Bullock, but his lordship resigned upon his succes sion to the peerage. EXPORTATION OF COALS SUSPENDED.-M. Dillon, the French Consul at Newcastle, has written to the Corn missalre-General of Havre, to say, that, in consequence of the turn-out of the colliers in the North of England (Northuinberland and Durham), there is every reason to believe that, for the next month or five weeks, all ex portation of coals from Newcastle, Sunderland, Stockton, Hartlepool, Seaham, and Blyth must be of necessity sus pended. M. Dillon prays him to communicate this fact to the manufacturers of his arrondissement. RELEASE OF CHARTIST PRISONERS.—Four Chartists, named William Moorhouse, John Fairhurst, Robt. Wild, and James Wild, were liberated from Knutsford House of Correction on Thursday week, about four months be fore the expiration of the term of their imprisoment. These parties were tried before Lord Abinger, at the Ches ter Assizes, 1842, on charges of sedition, &c., arising out of the part they took at various meetings near Hyde during the great turnout of factory open es. Mons Vanvolsum, from Belgium, has peen staying at Darlington for th e fast few weeks, and has purchased 50 head of short-horned bulls and heifers from the eminent breeders, Messrs. Maynard, Crofton Wood, Sbornton, Lawson and others. Mr. Thornton, of Stapleton, sold him two bulls and five heifers. The famous breeders in the county of Durham annually have a considerable de mand for their young stock, for exportation to Germany, Belgium, and France.—Newcastle Herald. PAPER-MARING.—The Glocesler Journal says, " that a most important patent has been taken out for the manu facture of paper on a new principle, and from an entirely new material. If carried out to the full extent of the wishes and expectations of the patentee (one orthe first engineers in the kingdom), there is little doubt that it will shortly supersede the use of rags, as the paper made from the new material will be _quite equal to the finest Indian p a p er , an d not so cost ly." CHEESE.—A return of the quantities of cheese imported into the several ports of Great Britain in each month of the year 1843, distinguishing the European, United States, and Colonial produce, has been printed on the motion of Mr. Colvile, the member for Derbyshire. The aggregate importations from all parts during the year ending Jan. 5, 1844, amounted to 179,389 cwt. From various countries in Europe, there were imported during the year, 136,998 cwt. from the United States of America, (whence very rich, fine flavoured cheeses are now being constantly im ported), 48,312 cwt. ; and from the British possessions abroad only 79 cwt. ANNUAL MOTION OF MR. VILLIERS, M.P., ON THE CORN LAWS.—At the weekly meeting of the League, at Covent Garden Theatre, on Wednesday last, the lion. C. P. Villiers, in the course of his speech, said, that he had nee n prevailed upon to postpone the introduction of his annual motion on the corn-laws up to this time, but would certainly bring it forward on the first convenient day next month. OPPOSITION TO THE ANTI-CORN L LEAGUE.—A requisition calling a public meeting of the county of Ren frew for the protection of agriculture, to be held in the Town-hall of Renfrew, on Thursday next, appears in the Glasgow Herald and Courier. The names of the Earls of Glasgow and Eglinton and of Lord Blantyre head the list. The list is signed by nearly 1,800 names—the names of men of all ranks and classes in the county.—Edinburgh Evening Post. IMPROVEMENT IN SHIPPING.—We some time ago no ticed the sale of the ship Isabella Cooper at Greenock. This vessel has since been refitted, and cleared out from the Broomielaw, with the largest and most valuable cargo that has yet left our port for Calcutta, having on board, we understand nearly 800 tons of goods, amounting in value to about £70,000, and also her fall complement of cabin passengers. We have heard the amount of freight and passage-money by this vessel estimated at £l6OO, which is a sure indication of the rates of freight being considerably above what they have been for several years past.—Glasgow Guardian. MILL BURNED DOWN.—At an early hour on Thurs day morning, a fire broke out in the Scarr End woollen mill, at Earlsheaton, near Dewsbury ; and, despite the efforts of the firemen snd the inhabitants of the sur rounding distr'ct, to arrest the progress of the devouring element, the building was burnt to the ground, and the bare, black looking walls now encompass a heap of smoking ruins. The mill is what is called a company mill, and is insured, but we cannot learn to what amount. The mill was an extensive one, and the loss of property must be great.----Bradford Observer. MARRIAGE IN HIGH LIFE.—At St. George's Church, Hanover-square, on the 22d instant, J. Talbot Clifton, Esq., eldest son of J. Clifton, Esq., of .Lytham Hall, Lancashire, to Miss Lowther, daughter of the Hon. Col. and Lady Lucy Eleanor Lowther. The ceremony was performed in the presence of a numerous assemblage of their noble relatives and friends. The bride was attended by six bridesmaids, and the bridegroom was accompanied by a numerous party of his brother officers of his late re giment, the Ist Life Guards. A splendid dejuner was afterwards given by the Earl of Lonsdale to a select party, at his mansion on Carlton-terrace. WONDERFUL ESCAPE.—Tuesday morning, as Miss Elizabeth Welch was, with her brother, taking a walk oe the cliff of Bournemouth, near Christchurch, she lost her footing and was precipitated down a shelving declivity of thirty-five feet, when she was fortunately stopped in her fall on a little projecting point, beyond which, had she fallen, she must have been killed on the spot ; she had the presence of mind, however, to lay perfectly still o n the spot were she had fallen, till assistance could be pro cured, which was full an hour and a halfafterwards, when, with immense difficulty, by the means of ropes, she was relieved from her perilous situation. A MONSTER BELL.—The York Minster Restoration Committee, at the suggestion of mat!) , individuals in York, are craving subscriptions for the purchase of a bell weighing-not less than 160 cwt. ; 7 cwt. heavier than the weight of " Great Tom," at Oxford, the largest bell in England. This monster is to be used for striking the hours; it is to be put in the north-west tower; and the clock furnished with the second bells is to be removed there also, thus separating the clock and the peal bells. The cost is estimated at £2,000, exclusive of £2,000 to be expended _by the dean and chapter in repairing the tower, and rendering it fit for the reception of its ponder ous occupant. RESULT OF FREE TRADE—ITS JUSTICE.—Some of them (the free-trade party) tell us that corn will be cheaper, others that it will not ; some that rents will fall, others that they will rise ; some that we shall import much more foreign corn, others that there is very little more foreign corn to import, and so on. We care little for, these discordant predictions, and see a mean which reconciles them all. Commercial freedom is a high, a natural, and a sate principle, which does not require the aid of such calculations. Objectors, however, cavil, and so defenders come down to meet them, unnecessarily and dangerously. The ground of humanity and justice is suf ficient.—Times. LAUNCH.—On Friaay, a magnificent iron steamer, named the City of London, of 1100 tons burthen, was launched from the new building-yard of Mr. R. Napier, at Govan, in the presence of a large crowd of spectators, and a select party of ladies and gentlemen, who were ad mitted by tickets into the yard. The launch of this large and truly splendid vessel was completed with the most perfect success. The length of the vessel, from stem to stern, is upwards of 230 feet; breadth of beam, 31 feet; depth of hold, 20 feet; height of poop, 4 feet. She be longs to the Aberdeen Steam Packet Company, and is intended to ply betwixt that city and London. This is the largest iron steamer yet built in the Clyde.—Glasgow paper. The Standard of Tuesday contains the following passage with reference to Monday night's debate :—" The most serious charge is that against Mr. Hogg, in respect to his vote upon the Nottingham election committee. It seemed to us at the time that the vote was wrong, and the more we have considered it, the more thoroughly are we satis fied that it was a vote against law and evidence ; but though, undoubtedly, such a vote is, prima facie, a just ground of suspicion against the integrity of au unknown man, Mr. Hogg's uprightness and honour were too well known to us to allow that we could ascribe his error to anything but an excess of self-distrust, or to one of those crotchets which are very popular in the heads of old law yers.,. STATISTICS OF INSOLVENCY.—During the month of March, there appeared in the Gazette 97 bankrupts, 432 insolvents, who have received vesting orders, by which their persons are protected against their creditors, and 42 assignments to trustees, making a total of 571 cases of in solvency. There is a gradual increase of insolvency. In March, 1843, there were 98 bankrupts, 368 vesting orders granted, and 28 assignments —a total of 494. It may be assumed that not more than one case in ten is gazetted ; this would make the insolvencies for March, 1844, 5,710; and, if there be a deficiency of only £2OO in each, the monthly loss would be £1,142,000. On these assumed data the loss during the year 1843 was £12,000,000, or considerably more than double the poor rates, and three sevenths of the interest of the national debt. EGERTON' WATERWHEEL—Every stranger who visits Bolton, should, if he has time, proceed to Egerton, a place about four miles from Bolton, and see the large waterwheel in Mr. Ashworth's dye-works : it is the largest waterwheel in the kingdom, with the exception of one in Scotland, which is a few feet larger. This immense ma chine is made entirely of iron, it is sixty feet in diameter, and the breadth of the buckets is ten feet : it is of 130 horse power. A visitors' book is kept, in which those who go to see it are requested to put their names, and place of abode. Few people who come to Bolton for the purpose of seeing the bleaching and paper-works, &c., go back without seeing this wheel, which may be accounted one of the greatest works which was ever made.—Corret pondent of the Bolton Chronicle. 11ELIQIOUS INSTRUCTIONS.—The following advertise ment we have cut out of the Watchman of Wednesday : TO SHOEMAKERS. WANTED, immediately as JOURNEYMAN, a good workman in the women's branch of the above business. A Wesleyan Local Preacher will be preferred. Also, an APPRENTICE wanted. .R a o n ch o fo ld rd s , a E yi snsg ex which might, we think, be well applied here. Wanted a Wesleyan loc a l preacher, to attend to the women s branch In the . Ne =tor ultra Appl c y rteopijci W . is shoe making business—to enlighten the minds and mend the understandings of the good people of Essex. But really this is too deplorable to be con sidered a joke ; out o f suc h ignorant men undertaking to impart instruction to their fellows arise too often" Revivalists," "Latter-day Saints," and other spiritual extravaganzas which are unfortunately too rife in our time.—Bristol Times. THE RECENT ELECTIONS.-At the' recent elections which have been concluded during the present week, the agents of the league have cut a more sorry figure than on any preceding electioneering , occasion. At Exeter, the new Attorney-General,- Sir Wm. W. Follett, beat his free-trade opponent, Major-General Briggs, in a canter, the numbers being for Follett, 1293 ; for Briggs, 529 ; shOwing a majority against the league candidate of 764. At Huntingdon, "James Acland, agent of the league, delivered free-trade lectures, and published placards an nouncing that a free-trade candidate would assuredly be proposed ; but after casting about in vain for a candidate, he left the town the day before the election without re deeming his promise, and Mr. Thomas Baring, the late candidate for London, was elected unanimously. At New Woodstock, the league did not venture to show, and the young Marquis of Blandford was elected by show of hands. M`NAUGHTEN, THE ASSASSIN OF MR. DRUMMOND. —lt may be a matter of some interest to your readers to know how M'Naughten, the murderer of the late Mr. Drummond, is getting on in his splehdid quarters, Beth lehem. A recent visit to that abode enables me to state that he has now, as he always had to me, the appearance and manner of a perfectly sane person; features calm; eyes steady and composed, appetite good ; he is, more over, getting fat, so prime is the food, the air, and the exercise he is blessed with. He had one ground of corn.. plaint, however. What was it? 'Why that the books furnished to him were not varied and interesting enough ! No sooner uttered was the complaint than Sir Peter Laurie, good easy knight, ordered a supply for his country.. man 111`Naughten. He now picks his teeth, walks about the garden, talks on all manner of subjects, except one; which will readily suggest itself to your readers. He may live forty years where he is.—London Correspondent of the Edinburgh Weekly Register. - - singingwa w as sgaisetb,ellirbr.:dtt buildingod far ind en from odtati rt t os h u e nb w lees i tnth they e O m w .; ANOTHER SINGING MOUSE.—About a month ago, Daniel Bryant, a shoemaker, and his wife, residing at 10, Hare-lane, in this city , beard for a number of days,,a sal fi o r un e-side, a tiny mouse came out y, however, as b bird, ut as theycon cl uding it, from tsehelentei s weren a ue h d fur t her ol ts e oitt a eain ni ouay i tt n t s tthhh t e a ee ntly began to warble, and as the notes were the same as those they had previously heard, they concluded that a prize of no ordinary value was at large under their humble roof. Like the fortunate tailor in Londo n , ,jrosuufhde lV et ghchnieenOsoglstabfeerfuewsoakleilaral asert bec a me eadh n e aie tst it p usap O tobsosh s ercdni s lee :ay e re :i bis : dy e : t Gb d i ihtotuoleOsuotwfspui towards chr h idewasd e sutvestile fi erngts rr indulgent o w ne r s twfh o a, r f okotaohd t :nn . this nrio e ceegpl r s:i epaesft.tocmeteri to favour they adopted measures to catch the little creature alive, a bmant n uloend a uit c tswh t yeo i e. v sor e eef little thing, and by no means afflicted with mall fraavi o se ur " i t n s te v iswilLerns April 30. 18 It. EARLY CLOSING OF SHOPS.—A respeetahle and in fluential meeting was held on Friday week in Hull, in aid of the Assistant Drapers' Association in that town, in their endeavours to procure an earlier ciosing of shops' namely at 7 p.m. No less than sigty-twe firms and houses in the linen and woollen drapery Inc. have given i 3 their adhesion to the ear li er c l o si ng , w hile only five " 1 " out. Similar meetin gs , w ith near ly th e sa me results, • bays also been held in other large towns. in THE inin d lN th c n o t st p E ra T n A ti X en . Tly h th is e o p f ro so p m t-r e t into existence till 1843, for only £313,841 was receive d in 1842, so that for revenue purposes it witl c 1846, which gives another year for the developement of the national resources from other branches of revenue . A very common notion prevails that this act requir e s if be repealed to get rid of the tax, but its clauses espre-si, limit its duration to three years fr ma the sth of • 41 ' 5 ,1 1 ; 1842, so that the tax will cease on the 6th of April, I as a matter of course, if a new act is not passed to 1 , time it. The silence of Sir Robert Pe:l on Vie will se c c ontinue tn.!, therefore, when he brings forward his budget, wi ll se whole matter at rest. a net ~x im portancedd i d n o t t t o bear r ae CUSTOMS' DUTIES.—An account of the groSS a n receipts of the Customs' duties collected at each c usto m house house of the United Kingdom during the year ea—n-'nts sth of January, 1844, as compared with reo el r,4 during the previous year, has been printed in the shape - a parliamentary paper, on the mo ti on o f th e h o n. re'' tuber for Montrose. We find that the total amount of the receipts collected in the port of Lond on w as. ill ' l le £11,354,702, against £11,422,251, collected in 1842• total amount of the net receipts of the same port tvt i , g , 1843 £10,784,959, and in the preceding year X 10.8 36 ,7,, 6 No grand total is given of the rece i p t s througono kingdom, but only the total am oun t co ll ec ted at e p a. port; and hence it would requir e severa l l on g and "it some additions in order to arrive at a general r esult. is known, however ; that th e gross t ota l rece ipts ar i sl from our customs' duties amou n t t o b e t ween £22,oootwv and £ 23,000,000 annually; of whi c h L on d on alone eon" tributes a proportion of 50 per cent. m AO. IMPORTANT IMPROVEMENT IN WOOLLEN ...-- FACTURE.—There is now in full operation, upon the. Pr emises of Messrs. Kinghorn and Gill, engineers, Gal l i hiels, a new wauk mill or fulling machine, which 91 _ d er , upon eventually pon which supersede m move v those r three w ro i ll n er u s s us e. The thco m p rn rie e :v c , h iitn a h n g is simple and complete, consisting of a revolving cylin der, cylinder, and if felted by being com pr ess ed le vers attached to them. The web passes round rollers and it ; being at the same t ime confined i n a boT with shifting sides, which expands or contracts, a ccording as the piece or web may be heavy or light. The machine has been examined by all the manufacturers of the pla ce ' and they are unanimous in pronouncing it as a first-rats improvement. Its advantages are, that it only requir es about one-third of the power required by the old mills a ' stocks—that it can be placed in any part of the factoll:: that it does not occupy one-half of the room which to' present ones do—that one man can attend t o fi v e or sLOt as the'webs need no redding, and that in felting thCgOan it can be done either from the length or the breadth, an in one-half of the time now required.— Glavow Marl- NEW GOVERNMENT POSTAGE STAMPED N (Y r - PAPER.—We have had brought to us, by different owl: some of the new postage stamped note-paper just 3 d . i-sue between the which we understand is to be sold at the rate of 2s. ~ for 24 sheets; or 2s. for stamps and 3d. per quire fo r paper. This is the most convenient mode of using t h e stamp we have yet seen, as, on the one hand, there is n „ r need of applying an adhesive stamp, and, on they°,_ o hand, the stamp being impr esse d on t h e s h eet it se lf, tn e • is no need of any envelope ; and the letter, when writtena requires only to be folded, se a l e d, an d superscribed , 012 is then ready for posting. The stamp is the white ein i bossed medallion bust of her majesty, on a p i n k groun iej already in use f or s t am p e d enve l opes . T wo f a i n t P ara. lines (coloured threads) pass through each sheet at a a w tance of about a quar t er o f an i nc h, th e upper one bil l° se and the other red, which serve to identify the pape r Fo i d manufactured for th e p ur p ose . A s t h e s h ee t s are _ unfolded, we may just state that all that is requisite before writing is to fold each sheet in the form of a sheet of paper. When wr itt en , th e note i s to b e f olde d in thr in the usual mann er , an d th e pos t age stamp w ill then e!!. ' found in the top right corner o f th e space f or superscrip tion. • • at tu - THE os distance a E tnr L ieve E s C oo T fr I t o Co many T i a u: L ie : en o st Ili, fromA P 0 f . -- 0 :Teri terminusi s ßa i s i a , u v f o r T an ne i n a ri g rif which communication can be made most instantane ousilt o the_r c i A. sheet or plate of zinc is placed at one terminus , 8 2' a sheet or plate of copper at another ; the connection be tween them is by a copper wire. A voltaic batterY;l:s thus created, the electric currents being produced bath ',., earth and this simple apparatus. The currents, are cc'i stant, the variation during eighteen months being fo und consiststo be f s m a a o l l l o . ok l a 'h t e e m o o e h ch te a r n m ic i a u l u p s , a part with h f s t o h e in a d r t f x ' , r a a ;4 figures marked on a circular plate, from one to nine : these figures point out certain letters or words, or senet:ncr variousc es , in a o vocabulary,rents can be communicatedmeans these to another. The Electric fluid operates upon • ed fintreS l the clocks so as to stop the index at the retina" v clocks themselves being put and kept in motion by weights. There are some other and more details in the construction of inus i which the accuracy is better secured than in formel:l% ventions, and there is a contrivance by means of vilir er the numbers are printed, without loss of time, oo a leen .attached to a cylinder or drum. The telegraph h a • s Countte at work at the terminus of the South-Ea.tern Railway for several days, the plate of zinc being at ripe of e o ni satisfactory, unun ie a. Elms, the plate of copper at Wimbledon—a distance 01 and six miles. established Thethreesrual rapidity i have ty an p d t Moo, and the simplicity of the means i n b a highlyaccuracy of ac complished. Mr. Bain has proved himself a most in e ' g nr•- ous and meritorious inventor of a verynoveland cious instrument.—Times. efaronms ine:ltiegi% engines, s d , m b yo whichr e i delicatet weans is o ..f THE GREAT BRITAIN.—There is an impression abroad that this ship is of such huge dimensions as to be likely to stand the only one of her class for many years. It is but r just the public should be set right upon this point. Her greatest beam is fifty-one feet, and her beam at the water line 0 line not more than forty-three feet, so that she is noa wide as the ordinary paddle-wheel steamers, which fre quent every large port of the empire except Bristol, wh e re o , the width of the locks requires that they should n be t a ta ta e much over forty-three feet, or about the of the Great Britain. The Graaf Western's beflsm fifty-nine feet, and that of all the royal mail vessels ary are informed, even more than that. It is the unnecessary height of wall above the float level which makes the diffi culty in the Great Britain's case, calculated, we believ u e ;. for the high springs. If this were lowered about fo_y feet, and what is called a uarter gate put over the calls, pair of gates which keep the tide out on high sPr in f t o steamers of the largest class could use the port, and it w for this purpose that the Great Western Company offere`; water-line is £lOOO. When the natural river was s opped up, locks 0: forty-five feet were considered ample for any trading v e , s t sels that could be even anticipated, but a new cloy s vessels has sprung into use since that time (nearly century ago), and for these other ports have altered Pill, entrances, and new ports, such as Cardiff and Net n g have made provision, the width of lock of the latter hero_ he sixty feet ! ! At Liverpool the difficulty was met by t he a t crease of the Clarence Dock to near 50 f ee t, an d s ince t e d was done of the Cobourg to 70 feet ; and we are inforto.ll by a party interested, that the gates of the new docks w . i te not be far short of 100 feet; so they a t an y ra t e anticipa te vessels of even larger dimensions than the Great Britslo* —Bristol Mirror. W t ti h o e o n r l c o l e f t s h t t e hi r ne , s labouring a w abn a ot s u, r h t ioenlad ta keal a t s si t ne h st e : a' consideration t n i THE ALLOTMENT SYSTEM.—A meeting of influen f landowners, clergy, and magistrates of the c:iunti es A L, ment of a society, with a view to ameliorate the con;_ and moral improvement, by disseminating information 0' the advantages which they would receive by the 011 1 - 0 ment of small portions of land, to be cultivated by spade husbandry, in their leisure hours. The Right. 11 .3 . Lord Lyttleton, the lord lieutenant of the county, presideer and amongst those present were Sir E B 1 lin t ' dwward Bart Si r Thomas Winnington, Bart., Atp J. S. I - a''' . ington, Esq., M.P., the Hon. and Rv. .Somers Cocks. &c., &c. One of the leading features in the system, a. 5 o de ll a ra ci a t v l i l a t %tVehetrhceeitsrat beirol propounded, is, that the allotments shall not be l arger 01 extent than can be cultivated by the labourers in tbeir leisure hours. Among some of the interesting particulars adduced at this meeting, as exemp lif y i ng the benefits of the system, was a calculation of Captain Scobeß, CO w ' tained in his evidence before a committee of the Hats! of Commons. H e es ti ma t e d t h at t h ere were i n E ng lana 28,000,000 of acres of well cultivated land ; 4,0000 acres capable of improvement; and he was of opinio o that if the allotment sy s t em were carr i e d out, and spit de husbandry extensively adopted on the present unprofitaboll land, there would accrue to the agricultural labourer-A:sot: their families an annual net profit of 5,00000' a t the lutions for the formation of a societ to be call " Worcestershire Labourers' Friend Society;" of thanks to her Majesty the Q ueen D owager, for her grac i o us con descension in consenti ng to b ecome patroness o f_ t he society ; and for the appointment of Lord Lyttleton to the presidency, were unanimously adowed. AN IRON INTERLOPER ON THE WOODEN WALLS ° ? r l OLD ENGLAND.—Th e N emesis was the first iron s t e am' . that ever doubled th e C ape. There was great an d -re asol e able doubts of the the success of the experiment; butt 'anticipated difficult navigation of the numerous rivers of the Chinese coast, justified its trial. Mr)„ a s e nard's account of h er passage out, from the notes o f mander Hall, is curious and striking. From the unloo c a for dangers of th e stormy southern.seas, she seems to 139:5 had the r.arrowest conceivable escape. The tremend°;ot storm, six days after her departure from the Ca addle_ only carried away a l arge port i on of one of her In t he wheels, but l e ft, lit era ll y, an " immense crack' in a .• iron of both her sides. In reality, she bad begun to $5 OO O rate amid-ships, from one side to the other. The to o f temporary expedients adopted for safety, the steadin es e her commander, and the calm courage of every O t hat board, form an admirable picture. But it is dea t „ e at without a quiet sea, and the happier accident of a :Ref anchorage, she must have gone down. Mr. Bernard, A - 11 , mentioning- the repairs she underwent at Delagos P o o and by which " she was made a vast deal stronger oat she ever was before," adds the v e r y sa ti s f ac t o ry ass u: te d by than in other iron vessels more recentlyconstr" v i s ioa the same builder (Mr. Laird of Bi r k en h ea d,) full Pr° cci has been made against the recurrence of any similar ie, he dent. In the case of the Phlegethon, for exara s il re ha takes upon him to assert, that " not only could .twatossi. no apprehension of the accident, but an almost I _Phial bility of its recurrence." The reader will judge fol . „ t h as self after reading Mr. Bernard's details : which' • t sa g. to the causes of the damage and the improverne°' that a fter gested, are ample. It is cert a i n ly u n derstood e ro itd o three years' hard service, incl u di ng a bad Passagotted to the Cape, the last-named stea m er has been rveransinera have called for no alteration of strengthening. --3' , • I,