The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-02-09 00:00:00

?Literature. NOTICES MAGAZINES AND SERIALS Blackwood for the present mouths opens with an admi rable biography of the late John William Smith, Esq., of the Middle Temple, from the pen of his intimate friend, Mr. Sergeant Warren. The life of a lawyer, and one, too, whose career possessed absolutely nothing of incident to interest, would in ordinary hands have been a dull affair indeed. But in Mr. Warr the interest of a noN our ricollection the sensation e assume , n's hands it is made to 1; and recals forcibly to cperienced in the perusal of his biary of a late Ph several other which are " ngst the best of s," and a review French Player nd Flay of Walpole a Tale," z s History of George the " Mildred, on. At all toy of the I is worked some very sound spproach to direct loption of the principles of .e cont views upon the subject of our taxation as free trade. Altogether the number is Fraser's M month contains se laracter, from some veral articles o interesting idy quoted lar of which w Amongst these author of Sam Si Ick the ClOckmaker,' ts," " Scenes in ti House and its Inhabitant Ls of Mexico, parts 2 and 3 of a nd of Forfarshire." A review of Jaunts of the British Poets," in gation' upon one of the most " Howitt's Homes and flicts a well-deserved ca 1 article is, as usual, vc cleverly w n, and contains many sound ob- In many of nervations upon the present state of parties the opinions of the writer, however, we cannot coincide Douglas Jerrold's Magazine for the month contains some racy h pervades this however magazine cor to displease us, whilst the style of many of its writers is filled with conceits, and stu diedly bizarre. " Prospects of British Commerce in Ja pan," is a paper of a character new to Jerrold's Maga zine. It is temperately written, and contains some va luable information. The continuation of the editor's St. Giles and St. James's" is postponed. This tale is something like Pope's lengthened Alexandrine, which " Like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along." dinning before they The Knight of Gwynne _ A number contains some highly interesting chapters, and leaves two of the most prominent persons in the narrative—the knight himself and Forrester—on their voyage to serve lathe army abroad, the latter as a volunteer in the regiment of which Darcy is colonel. The pr Symmond's Colonial Magazine is more than usually full of interesting and valuable matter this month. We shall take an opportunity to notice one or two of the articles in our next. The Pc Choir, or Ch rch Music Book. London 011ivier, Pall Mall t number contains a very excellent Grego rian chaunt of " Te Deum Laudamus," harmonised by Heath, with able directions for the singing of this kind of The pri The North of England Sketch Book and Magazine London : Flintoff. Liverpool.: Philip. No. 1 The title of tl ufuiciently explains its contents. In the present number executed engravings, viz., of Derwent land ; Barnard Castle, Durhai coin ; and Chillingham Casty view is accompanied b lave four well -er, Westmore ln Cathedral, Lin- Northumberland. Each ption, exhibiting no in- . • considerable amount of hist or i ca l an d antiquarian research. Several pieces of well-written poetry, and a few short tales, are also scattered through the pages. It • • tended at, present to publish the n azine only once a The Star of Jacob, edited by the Rev. Moses Margoli outh, incumbent of Glasnevin, Dublin. Nos. 1 and 2. London : B. Wertheim. Dublin : Curry and Co. Li verpool : A. Newlin Mr. Mai liouth, the editor of this well-timed and im portant periodical, has been long known to our readers as an indefatigable and painstaking defender of Christian truth, for the conversion and edification specially of the " Seed of Jacob," his brethren after the flesh. In the numbers before us there are elaborate critical expositions to the order of the bible of prophecy, taken accord and beginning with the very first ; the original Hebrew being given for the full understanding thereof. But per haps the best way to put the public in possession of the editor's design will be to quote the following outline of his plan, which we take from his prospectus : " It will contain critical expositions of prophecy, and at the same time perverted constructions corrected. It is intended to examine all the principal objections against Christianity, and to answer them ; we trust, and earnestly pray, that the Prince of Peace may graciously keep and Tve us from doing any thionzh strife or vain- ; that He may mercifilly renew a right spirit within Id suffer us not to Rive way to a contentious one. It will also contain inquiries as to the time when the sacred text began to be the subject of the commentator, , #ho gra dually debased its meaning by various steps, and at various times, until the Christian era, when our Lord declared that the Scribes and the Pharisees made the word of God of none effect through their traditions. The many changes Scriptural interpretation has undergone in the Jewish Church, since the birth of Christ, will also be noticed. The erroneous constructions, which the Seventy and St. Jerome put upon the Heb: pointed out. The different Jewish litera ture, of which there are some most valuable, will be no ticed. The magazine will also contain articles on the Old Testament institutions, as they are now observed by the Jews throughout their dispersion. Their present state and movements, in all places of their captivity, will also be describPd , &e. &c Such a work as this must form a valuable auxiliary to the Society for promoting Christianity amongst the Jews, and every one who feels a desire for the welfare of that remarkable and interesting people—and who does not— will do all in his power to promote its circulation. The various articles are written with Christian temper and reat ability, and are therefore well calculated to f the House of mie time that they are also adapted to with g raise a spirit of inquiry among Israel, at the " build up the Christian in his most holy faith." 4 When we find that there are at present in this empire upwards of thirty clergymen of the Church of England descendants of the Hebrew race, and about a thousand lay members, it will be admitted that there is at once " a cause," and sufficient encouragement to be up and doing. We are gratified to perceive, from the pages before us, that during the past year, through the instrumentality of the society just mentioned, no less than one hundred and sixty-four Jews were admitted into the Church of Christ by the sa cred ordinance of baptism, viz., at Amsterdam, 12, at Berlin, 5, at Cracos at Frankfort t Copenhagen, 1, trg, 2, at Jerusa- fen:: 1, Kalish, 1, Konigsburg, 3. Liverpool, 8, London, 41, Nottingham, 1, Province of Prussia, 17, Rhine Pro vince, 1, Silesia, 23, Strasburg, 1, and at Warsaw, 34. And these converts are not among the poor and ignorant, as is conassed by the Jews in Russia and Sir J. L. Golds med at a recent meeting, with becoming candour, said, " out of the one handl Berlin universii nd forty-two professors in the fourteen are Jews, certainly converted ones, but still Jews ` The Greatest Plague of Life," or the Adventures of a Lady in Search of a good Servant. London : David &Tile, 80, Fleet-;tree We'ha've been half killed with laughing at the-odd mix. turo of caricature and truth contained in this little publi cation, of which the first part is just published. The subject is an excellent one, and the authoress is evidently well provided with materials ; and hits off in her banter ing way not only the vices and bad habits of servants, but the weaknesses of managing mistresses as well. We anti cipate great amusement from her further adventures. The work is illustrated in his inimitable way by George Cruickshank, who will find in the subject rare scope for his sketching abilities. We are unavoidably compelled to postpone notices of New Quarterly Review, Rowland Bradshaw, the Dublin 1 Magazine, and some others, which --.6.- VARIETIES A bilious citizen of " famous London town," being sent down to Essex for his health, borrowed a farmer's dog and gun for a day's sport. Ponto, in due time,. made a point. The cockney, alarmed by his attitude, took him in his arms, and carried him home, believing he had been seized with the cramp OLD ( The " Oki Doublets' gh Clo has dege- which teased Coleridg ludicro what you call fic by a Jew. He passed me several times crying out tor oici clothes, in the most nasal and extraordinary tone I ever heard. At last I was so provoked, that I said to him, " Pray ; why can't you say ' old clothes' in a plain way, as Ido ?' The Jew stopped, at me. said in a clear and even fit ` old clothes ten times a minute, for - an hour together, you would sa, Oqh Clo' as Ido now ;" and so he marched off. Coler confounded with the justice of the retort that ye him a shilling—the only one he had. very gravely at " Sir, I can say an : but if you had to say so well as y( idge was so he followed —" Old LondtotCries," Fraser's - Magazine. BRAZILIAN TEA. — The avenue (of the Botanical Gar dens at Rio) which leads up from the entrance, is planted on each side with the pine-like casuarina ; it is on a piece of ground about an acre in extent, on the left-hand side of this avenue, that the tea-plants grow which were imported from China by the grandfather of the present emperor. It was thought that the climate and soil of Brazil would be suitable for its cultivation ; but the success of the ex periment has not equalled the expectations which were formed of it, notwithstanding that the growth of the plants and the preparation of the leaves were managed by natives of China accustomed to such occupations. In the province of San Paulo a few large plantations of tea have been established ; that belonging to the ex-regent Feijo containing upwards of twenty thousand trees. The pro duce is sold in the shops of Rio, and in appearance is scarcely to be distinguished from that of Chinese manu facture ; but the flavour is inferior, being more of a herby taste. It is sold at about the same price ; but it is now ascertained that it cannot be produced so as to give a suf ficient recompense to the grower, the price of labour being much greater in Brazil than in China; to remunerate, it is said that Brazil tea ought to bring five shillings per pound.—Gardner's Travels into the Interior of Brazil. s'PON AT THE PRESENT SEASON wears its dirtiest, dreariLbz., and most disconsolate garb. The streets are slippery with black mud or blacker ice, a yellow halo sur rounds the gas lamps, even the bude lights look quenched and uncomfortable. Cabmen, peevish at the paucity of fares, curse with triple intensity the w9od pavement and the luckless garrons that slide and stumble over it ; the blue and benumbed fingers of Italian grinders can scarcely turn the organ handles ; tattered children and half starved women, pale, shivering, and tearful, pester the pedestrian with offers of knitted wares, and of winter nosegays meagre as miserable as themselves. The popu lar cheerfulness and merry-making of Christmas-time are over, and have not yet been succeeded by the bustle and gaiety of the fashionable world. London is abandoned to its million of nobodies ; the few thousands whose pre sence gives it life, are still on the list of absentees.— Blackiiood's THE MESS Magazine. as. CHAMBERS -These two gentlemen are known to all the world as the able editors and proprietors of the Journal which bears theirname. For that publication Mr. Robert Chambers wrote a number of interesting Essays, which have just been re-published in a separate volume. Those ez , .ays no doubt contributed greatly to the popularity of the former successful work, and they are to be followed by other writings from the pen octhat gentleman. In the preface to the essays, Mr. Chambers says of his early youth,—" My earliest aspirations were towards literature. Books, not playthings, filled my hands in childhood. At twelve, I was deep not only in poetry and fiction, but in histories and encyclopaedias. _ 3y day and night I read, and duties required by parents were grudged if they seplirateci. me from study.. Even my by this passion, fOr I broke from home control at sixteen, preferring the poorest life amongst books to all ordinary courses of industry. • It was but a proper sequel to such a beginning, that I should have scarcely reached man hood, when I had become an author." To THE WORKING CLASSES. — Towns are always more unhealthy than the country. In the country parts of England and Wales one person out of every 55 people dies every year ; and, in the towns, taken one with another, one person dies out of every 38 people every year. If you compare these numbers together, you will see the truth of what we have said. All towns are not equally unhealthy. One out of every 37 people dies every year in London ; but in Liverpool one person out of every 28 people dies every year. London is not a very healthy town, but if Liverpool were as healthy as London , there would be 1800 vn there would be 3600 lives saved 'ery year very burying of these poor people costs £lB,OOO a year to their relatives, besides all the trouble and sorrow and loss caused by their aeatns. It is no wonaer toot mere are so many burial clubs in Liverpool to help the poor to bear the expense. There is also a great deal of sickness more than there ought to be. It is not so bad for the working men who live a good deal in the open air, but their wives and children, who live at home, suffer prodigiously. It has been calculated that there are no fewer than 100,000 cases of illness every year in Liverpool more than there ought to be. You will now be able to nnderstand why there are so many benefit societies and sick clubs ; and you know best how much of your earnings goes to pay the ex penses of illness, and the doctor's bill. Some of you are not even able to pay that. You are obliged to go to the dispensaries, for there are above 50,000 sick relieved by them every year. Do you know that work-people die at a much earlier age in Liverpool than they do elsewhere ? One-half of all the children born in Liverpool die before they reach eight years of age ; but in London, which is a healthier town, one-half the children born live to be 40 years old. Every young person who lives to be 20 years of age, has the chance of dying twelve-and-a-half years before his time, on account of the bad state of this town. Now, nearly all these calamities fall on you, the work ing classes. People that live in the better parts of the town are far more healthy and longer lived than you are. In proportion to the population, nearly twice as many people die every year in Vauxhall Ward, as die in Rodney street'and Abercromby Wards ; and in Vauxhall Ward, people, taking young and old together, have the chance of living eight years less than they have in Rodney-street and Abercromby Wards. Of course all this sickness and death costs a great deal of money.—Addreu of the Liverpool Health Association. FATIGUES AND FORTUNE OF BALLET 'PERFORMERS. —Few of the amateurs, who, armed with double-barrelled telescopes, contemplate from box or stall the agile bounds any conception of the amount of labour and torture gone through, before even an approach to perfection in the Terpsichorean art is accomplished. Alberic Second, the very witty author of a very amusing book (albeit in thorough French taste) " Les Petits Mysteres de l'Opera," to whose pages Mr. Hervey confesses himself largely in debted, gives many curious details on this subject. An immense amount of courage, patience, resignation, and toil, is necessary, to become even a middling dancer. The poor children—for dancing, above all things, must be learnt young—commence with the stocks, heel to heel and knees outwards. Half an hour of this, and another species of martyrdom begins. One foot is placed upon a bar which is grasped by the contrary hand. This is called se casser, to break one's self. After this agreeable process come the thousand and one steps, essential to aff ;ays an imaginary a ranseusf from whom M. Second professes to receive his informa tion, " are the agreeable elements of the art of dancing. and do not suppose that these rude fatigues are of short duration. They are perpetual, and on that condition only does a dancer retain her activity and suppleness. A week's idlciuss must be atoned for by two months' double labour. The opera-dancer realises the fable of Sisyphus and his rock. She resembles the horse, who pays with his repose, his flesh and his liberty, the rapid victories of I have seen Mademoiselle Taglioni, after receiving a two hours' lesson from her father, fall helpless upon the floor, and allow herself to be undressed, spunged, and again attired, without the least conscious- the race-course • C. , • CD . ness a what passed. The agility and wonderful bounds with which she, that evening, delighted the public, were purchased at this price." Besides these terrible fatigues; dancers often run serious personal risks. So, at least, says the author of the " Petits Mysteries" who, as a journalist and frequenter of the coulisses, is excellent au thority. He cannot resist a joke, but it is easy to sift the facts from their admixture of burlesque exaggerations. customs herself to real peril, as a sc comes habituated to murder and pillage. She suspend herself from wires, sits upon pasteboard clouds, disap- dier in war pears through trap doors, comes in by the chimney and goes out by the window. In the first act of the Peri there is so dangerous a leap, that I consider Carlotta Grisi risks her life every time she takes it. Let M. Petipa be once awkward, or even absent, and Carlotta will break her head upon the boards. I know an Englishman who attends every performance of this ballet. He is per suaded that it will be fatal to Carlotta, and would not for the world miss the catastrophe. It is the same man who, for three years, followed Carter and Van Amburgh, always hoping that a day would come when the animals would sup with their masters, and upon their masters." — Blackwood. nit new cover my white satin snoes, wmcn nut got Ireadfully soiled with the mud in going to and from the carriage on our wedding day. And besides, I had to clean my white kid gloves, and to let them hang up all night so before the morning. It was long past midnight before I had finished the better part of what I wanted to do ; and as I could hear Mary (who had been waiting up to clean the room overnight so that she might have nothing to do in the morning to prevent her being ready dressed long before the visitors came) knocking the things about below in a dreadful ill-humour at being kept up so late ; and as it wasn't worth while having a fresh candle put up just to do the few little odd jobs that remained, I rang the bell for Mary ; and lighting mamma's darling little pet of a camphine lamp, (drat the thing ! I wish it had never come into the house,) went up stairs, taking my things with me. When I got to my room, I hung my beautiful bridal robes on the b - ack of a chair, and put - oui Edward's nice clean white trousers ready for him in the morning. I could scarcely keep my eyes open while Mary was undoing me, and was so glad to get into bed, that I quite forgot, be fore doing so, to turn down the camphine law. But just as I was dozing off, I remembered it, and tad Wry, who was hanging up my things, to be sure and turn it down before she left the room.; instead of which, the minx, (who I'm sure was half fuddled at the time,) went and turned the thing the wrong way, like a stupid; so a state of bl the world like the funnel of a steam-boat, and sendinf out soot enough to have smothered a whole regiment As I had got all the next day upon my mind, luckily I awoke as soon as it was light in the morning ; and when I turned round and saw my dear Edward's face an inch thick of black, I really thought at first that I was in bed with a filthy negro, So I gave him a good shaking, and woke him directly ; and no sooner had he-rubbed his eyes open and looked at me, than the brute burst out laughing, and declared that I looked just like a chimney sweep. I lm and jumped out of the bed just like light be allowed so gave a s an expression— the beautiful clean dimity curtains, that had not been up a week—find the white counterpane—and the toilet covers and the window blinds—and the towels—and my face — and my night-cap—looking just as if they had been all washed in Indian ink ; and, what nearly drove me right out of my senses—my beautiful white satin bridal robes were actually the same as if some evil-minded person had been dragging them just for the pleasure of the thing- 7 up and down the chimney, and positively would have in duced one, at first sight, to believe that a body had been led to the altar in bombazeen. I declare the beastly sooty stuff was everywhere,—there was a shovelful, at least, in my white satin shoes—and my white gloves were like black kid both inside and out—and it-had even got right up my _ —and I do verily believe that a quantity had gone down my throat, for I generally sleep with my mouth open. But what annoyed me so that I could hardly bear myself, was that Edward kept chuckling at all my distress, (just like a man—for of course he knew he wouldn't have the cleaning of it.) But when I showed him the grubby state that his ducks were in, I was glad to see how angry it made him. And then of course it was all his mother in-law's fault bringing him her bothering twopenny-half penny lamps ; and I really thought I should have bee' that the next time he caught my dear, respected =mina in his house, he'd pack her off with a flea in her ear ! And a pretty situation I was in, to be sure. I daren't for the life of me open my mouth, for fear that the hussy should leave me at a moment's notice, at such a time when,- bad as she was, it was impossible to do without her ; and there were my bridal robes spoilt before my very eyes, and I didn't know how on earth I was ever to receive my friends, as I really hadn't a single thing to put on.—From " The Greatest Plague in _We." THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. THE SERVANT THAT WAS " SUCH A TREA- SURE," AND THE CHERRY BRANDY (From " ' The Greatest Plague of Life,' or, the Adven _ tures of a Lady in Search of a Good Servant.") I don't suppose I. could have finished a quarter of an hour before the first double-knock came at the door, and that slut Mary not down stairs to answer it. So I rushed up tco her room and bundled her down as quick as I could; though she had been at her old tricks again, I could see, and wasn't really in a fit state to be trusted to go to the door; but what could Ido ? They had knocked again, and I had only just time to sit myself down, and take up one of the books off the drawing-room table, when -the street door was opened. And then, to my great horror, I heard Mary talking, at the top of her voice, to the visisors in the passage ; and demanding to shake hands with them, and calling them a set of stuck-up things, because they wouldn't. So I ran down as fast as my legs would carry me, and looking at her as if I could have eaten her, told her to go down st a i rs di rec tly, and remember who she was, and what she was, and where she came from. I found it was poor Mrs. B—yl—s and her lovely girls that Mary had been insulting in this dreadful manner, and who were quite flurried at her strange goings-on. Luckily, Edward was up-stairs dressing, or there's no knowing what he wouldn't have done. And I declare, there was not a single person that came into the house that day that she didn't insult, in some way or other ; and twice I had to go down to her; for she would go, singing and dancing about, like a downright maniac, and it was only by pro mising her some warm spirits and water in the evening, that I could in any way get her to keep her tongue to herself. I was so upset, that instead of my friends congratulat ing me on my improved appearance, they did nothing but tell rne that they could perceive Mary was worrying me dreadfully, and that they had never seen me look so bad And they kindly advised me to get the jade out as soon as possible, saying, that if she were a hmild p,,,prt to be burned alive in before. of the hot their beds, for that drunken people were always so care less with their candles. While dear mamma (who is na turally, a long-headed woman,) said, that every morning she co'hfidently expected to find the place destroyed by fire, ,find that her dear children had perished in the flames. All which took such a hold on my mind, that I couldn't get a wink of sleep for a week afterwards, and was always \ _ _ fancying I could hear the boards crackling, and kept get ting up and going over the house, shivering, in my night dress, to satisfy myself that all was safe. _ _ We were, at j one time, as many as fourteen in the draw- m mamma . . who is so proud of her cherry brand} friends to take some — take it !) I —it it was •ould persuade our , my a glassful. So (bother tnd trot downstairs for her ;tnpid c brandy— want of, for there was plenty of red and white wine on the table •, and that was good enough for any one any day I should think. Besides, .I had set my mind upon keeping the cherry brandy quietly to myself, as there were only two bottles of it, and Edward had just laid in several dozen of port and sherry. However, I returned with one of the bottles and an agreeable smile on my countenance to the drawing-room, little thinking that I was about to present some of my best friends with a glass of that horrible wash that that tipsy, thieving Mary had filled up the bottle with. Then giving it to mamma, I told her pleasantly that she should fill the glasses, and have all the credit of it to herself. So, the good, dear old lady did as I said, and handing them round, observed to Mrs. L--ck---y, (who is the wife of Edward's best client, and of highly genteel connexions,) that she should like her to try that ; for she flattered herself that she would find it very fine, and not to be got everywhere, as she had made it herself, after her own peculiar way • and that she felt convinced that any pastry cook would give her twenty guin eas for the receipt any morning ; and that she always made a point of using none but the very best cognac that could be got for money, together with the finest Morella cherries that were to be picked up in Covent-garden mar ket. When they had all got their glasses, dear, uncon scious mamma sat down with a self-contented smile, wait ing for the approbation and eulogiums which she confi dently expected they would overwhelm her with. As soon as Mrs. L—ckl--y had taken one cherry and a spoonful of the wash, all the rest followed her example. Dear mamma observing that Mrs. L—ckl—y made a wry face after it as well the poor thing might,) said, " I'm afraid the brandy is too strong for you, Mrs. L—ckl---y ; but you needn't be afraid of it my dear hurt you, I can a - ssur lank you c Mrs. 1,- THE TORY PARTY AND SIR ROBERT PEEL.—And now one word in reference to the position of the gentlemen who occupy what is called the opposition side of the house, and who, in point of numbers, as far exceed the strength of the ministerial party as, through their own misfortune or the faults of their leaders, they come short of it in moral power. Is the breach which has severed Lord George Bentinck from Sir Robert Peel quite irreconcilable ? We verily believe that it is. We do not think that any con tingency can occur, that any pressure from without, any movement from within, can arise which shall be of suffi cient force to bring these gentlemen cordially together. The Protectionists will never forgive the man who has twice betrayed them. Sir Robert Peel can neither forgive nor forget the many personal attacks to which he has, by the ProteCtionists, been subjected. Benjamin Disraeli is a thorn in his side. It would be very ridiculous to affect ignorance of these truths, and worse than absurd to un derrate their importance. They -have broken the Tory party to pieces,—at least for the present. They have cru elly, wantonly, and most wickedly dissolved a political alliance, more influential than any which has existed in this country since the era of the Revolution. Moreover, look at the thing as we may, we can discover no adequate reason for it. The country was at peace, the revenue was flourishing, trade was brisk, public feeling was quiescent, when all at once, without any previous warning given, Sir Robert Peel thought fit to declare himself friendly to the abolition of the corn-laws. He pleaded, as an excuse for so complete a change of opinion, his fear of a coming fa mine. His predictions were ridiculed, his statements dis puted and denied ; yet let us not forget, that the very men who thus scouted the minister's reasoning went far before him in the measure which they proposed as the best wherewith to combat an impending calamity. It was the Protectionists who first suggested the propriety of suspending the operation of the corn-laws ; it was Sir Robert Peel, the newly converted enemy to their existence, who rejected the proposal, and for the time actually ren dered them more stringent. Neither party can forget this. The Protectionists have some right to affirm that other motives than those which he avowed must have swayed their then leader in his decisions. Sir Robert must feel that by resisting their proposal he has made himself, in some. sort, the cause of the distress which is desolating Ireland at this moment. And what is the con sequence ? As regards. Peel, beyond all question that he has lost his status in the political world. He may affect, for a while, to play the part of Mentor, and advise both sides as calmly as if he took no personal interest in their discussions. But the leader of a great political party he can never again be, it would distrust, were he openly to join them. Neither is it of the smallest use to speculate on the healing effect of time in such a case. There are wounds which time can- not heal, and this is one of them. Had Peel acted with a little more of courtesy and candour ; had he reasoned with the members of the Conservative party in private ; had he given to their chiefs his confidence, and made out something like a case, we venture to say that there is hcrdly any measure towards the accomplishment of which he would have failed to command their cooperation ; none, at least, short of that which drove him out of office ; and which, seeing the results to which it would surely lead, he ought, at all hazards, to have abandoned. For it is a grievous error to suppose that the accomplishment of any particular purpose, however important in itself, can make amends for the dislocation of a loyal and high minded party. Such a party cannot fall without opening the doors of office and influence to men of a far laxer code of political morals( And we shall be exceedingly glad to find that the Whigs of 1847 do not make use of the op portunity, which seems to have been created to their hands, for the purpose of inserting the small end of the wedge, during the driving home of which, changes more important than have yet been witnessed shall, in some sort, be rendered inevitable. In such circumstances, and amid such an acerbation of feeling, it must be apparent to himself, and to the most devoted of his followers, that Sir Robert Peel's continued presence in the House of Commons can accomplish little good to any one. He can scarcely expect to be received by his late party as their chief any more. It is impossible that he should be con tent to play a secondary part under the new leaders, who ever they may be, to whom the Tories (for we have no fancy for the word Conservative) shall give in theii adhe sion. Neither is it in the nature of things that he should pass over to the ranks of the Whigs ; or that, passing over, he should be by them received in a manner worthy sis acknowledged talents and undoubted.ha The Whigs are not in want of leaders. They have Lord John himself a host ; and, failing him, many more aspiring youths than can be boasted of by the op posite party. And happy as they will always be to take advantage of Peel's assistance, and to profit by his speeches and his votes, when he shall be pleased to speak and vote in their favour, they will never push aside one of their own set to make way for him, or admit him, to the end of his days, into their confidence. What, then, can he do in the House of Commons ? Sit apart, and watch for his country's welfare, like some oracle, created to advise, but having no power to compel the adoption of his recom mendations ? Surely such a position will prove very irk some to himself—undoubtedly it will be the source of flinch inconvenience to others. For influence he will have none, except with some dozen or two of ancient colleagues ; who, being moved by memories of a happier sort, may shrink from deserting him in his downfall. The rest of the hour 1-ct aey called by what name they may, will neglect him, and yet not altogether so ; his powers of speech must tell in any popular assembly, his intimate acquaintance with parliamentary law and usage will give him a thousand opportunities of damaging, if he cannot throw down, his rivals in the leaders' places. it is a pity that he should expose himself to the almo,st irresistible temptation of causing this damage. Let him retire into private life, or accept the peerage which his sovereign is ready to confer upon him. It will be t which he has ever performed since he first cros threshold of the House of Commons ; for between the younger members of the late cabinet and the heads of the Protectionist party there is no feud which a little explan ation on both sides could not speedily end.—Fraser. he noblest act Orntral Al tsrtilany. The King of Prussia has forwarded the Prussian Order of Merit to Sir David Brewster, K.H.K.B. Mr. James Toole, the celebrated toast-master s died on Monday, much regretted. Easton Lodge, F -x, the se ,sc._, _ _at of Viscount Maynard was almost wholly destroyed by fire on Sunday week. On Tuesday, the price of the 41b loaf was lowered id A wren's nest with eleven eggs was discovered a few days since, in a cow-house, at Blencow, Cumberland. The Fire King steamer _ has been purchased by a Spa- nish compan Leaving the Clyde - for - the Mediterranean The quantity of barley made into malt for brewing purposes last year, in Great. Britain and Ireland, was 5,247,375 quarters. Bread made with four parts of parsnip to five of wheat flour, the parsnips being boiled and mashed before mixing, is said to be very light, pleasant, and nutritious. A donkey, belonging to Mr. Gaudey, 68, Upper Bed ford-street, Brighton, died on Monday week, at the ad- The COlonelcy of the 47th Foot, vacant by the demise of the late Sir William Anson, has been conferred on Major General Sir Harry Smith, Bart., the hero of Aliwal. Lord Shrewsbury (the premier Earl of England) is writing to Popish Prieits in Ireland, assuring them that the English Government are doing nothing for that country ! hum SUPPLIES.—Five vessels arrived in the River Thames on Monday from the Irish ports, laden with provisions, which fact will appear singular at the present time. A new steam-tug boat has been plying on the Birming ham canal during the past week, and the objection to the swell created against the banks, is said to be completely obviated by a very simple contrivance. The total amount contributed in Sunderland to the Irish and Scotch Relief Fund to the present time is nearly £2oo6,being , the largest sum ever raised in that town for a charitable object. On Monday, so many sprats and plaice were landed at Billingsgate, that the former were retailed in London at .111 P . - _ ialfpenny eaCt Messrs. Darby and Sim, of Colebrookdale, who recently launched a vessel which they christened Richard Cobden, have another iron ship on the stocks, which they intend Sir John Rosa has proposed to the Admiralty and to the Royal Astronomical Society a plan by which he ex pects, with sledges drawn by Swedish horses, to be ena- a bottle of such as that would not Now, really, I shall begin to y (who is an extremely 41-bred woman) answered, " Yo'nre very good—it's very nice, I'm sure." And then the poor thing put another spoonful of the filthy stuff to her lips. Whereupon poor, dear mamma (who was determined not to be baulked of the compliments she innocently thought she was entitled to) tried to prevail on some of the other poor things (who really, considering all, had borne it like martyrs) to go on with theirs. But Mrs. B—yl—s politely excused herself by saying she thought it was not quite so rich as some of mother's that she had' had the pleasure of tasting before, and that sweet woman, Mrs. C—rt—r, said that she was afraid the brandy had gone off a little, (and so it had, with a vengeance.) On which Edward (lawyer like), fancying something was wrong, and thinking it a good opportunity for teasing his noor. dear. innocent mother-in-law. took a glass himself, and had no sooner tasted it, than, instead of swallowing it, like a gentleman, he spit the whole into the fireplace, declaring he had never in all his life tasted such beastly trash. Whereupon dear mamma, who believed that he only said as much to annoy her, took a glassfull likewise ; and scarcely had she put her lips to it. than she gave a scream, and the poor, dear soul spluttered it all out of her mouth again, exclaiming—" Oh that shameful minx of a I T 41 , I A... I,lloc.sr 1 Tf eha hasn't been and drunk all the brandy, and filled the bottle up again with what I'd swear was nasty filthy cold tea and unripe cherries." No sooner had she made the discovery, than all the poor dear ladies who had partaken of the. fil thy mixture uttered a Diercine scream, while that unfieel- ing wretch, Edward, rushed out of the'room, and I could actually hear the brute bursting with laughter on the land- ing-place. All the dears agreed with poor mamma—who was boil ing over, (if I might be allowed i the expression,) that it was very shameful c3nduct on the part of the maid, and hoped that mamma would not let it take any effect upon her on their account, as really they didn't mind about it. And then taking a glass of sherry wine a-piece, just to take the taste out of their dear mouths, they all hurried away, and in less than te'h minutes we were left alone in the Then we both agreed to make that cat, Mary, finish before our very eyes the whole of the other bottleful, (which we made up our minds she had, of course, served in the same manner.) and directly after she had eaten it all up, to give her''warning, as . it would be the best way of punitting her for her wicked goings-on. So down stairs we went, and having got the bottle out of the store room cl9set, we made the wretch devour the whole of it on the spot—though from the ready way in which the minx resigned herself to her fate, and from the effect it had upon her shortly afterwards, (for it only made her more tipsy than before,) to our horror we found out that she had never touched that bottle at all—and, indeed, she told us as much when she drunk up every drop, and had So we immediately gave her warning, and told her not to think of sending to us for a character, indeM. But in the evening, the cherry brandy we had forced her to take, made her so dreadfully bad, that we had to carry her up- nothing to us, compared with the good humour it put Edward into ; who kept telling us, with a nasty vulgar giggle, that we ought to be ashamed of ourselves for driv ing the poor girl into another fit ; and he said he hoped that dear mamma would take care that the next servant she engaged for him wasn't subject to epilepsy, (an aggra vating monster !) AN INCONSISTENCY.—" The horror which is especially evinced in the minds of us all by the death of one man by railway accident, more than by other means, I have often thought must result from the idea that at any time it may be our own case ; yet here are thousands upon thousands annually destroyed around us by means as fatal, but, with common care, more easily prevented, which at any moment may seize upon the strongest of us ; and this, until lately, with scarcely a word or a thought upon the subject. eve of a great and Le change Report of Hen —All classes here gain water-mills and mule- and children are lipsy Al the Out- gfoiioits and irresist Justin, Esq., C.E. THRESHING CORN IN SPAIN ?ir bread by making it, and ti from the common mode of threshing on air, which is at once Biblical and Horn side of the villages, in corn-growing districts, a smooth bled to reach the North Pole. open " threshing-floor" is prepared, with a hard surface, A meeting has been held at Calcutta in honour of the like a fives court : it is called the era, and is the precise memory of the late Dwarkanauth Tagore ; an d it has been Roman area. The sheaves of corn are spread out on it, resolved to raise a fund, to be called the " Dwarkanauth and four horses yoked most classically to a low crate or Endowment Fund," for enabling the Hindoo youths to harrow, composed of planks armed with flints, &c., which complete their educationat theUniversityCollege , London. is called a trillo :on this side the driver is seated, who The fifth subscription list for the relief of Ireland and urges the beasts round and round over the crushed heap. Scotland amounts to £115,000. The additional sums ap- Thus the grain is shaken out of the ears and the straw tri- pended to this list make the actual total above .£120,000. turated ; the latter becomes food for horses, as the former does for men. When the heap is sufficiently bruised, it is removed and winnowed by bei ng th row n up in the air ; the light winds carry off the chaff, while the heavy corn falls to the ground. •The whole operation is truly pictu- Independently of this amount; the subscriptions through the National Club are nearly £12,000. An accident of a most lamentable nature, and attended with the loss of six lives, oc curr ed o n Friday week, at one of the Darley Main Coal Company's pits, at Worsbrough Dale, about four miles from the town of Barnsley, and ten from Sheffield. The Rev. Dr. Wolff has addressed a letter to the free masons, which body he has just joined, offering to deliver lectures in the different towns of England, for the benefit of the poor in the United Kingdom. The reverend gen tleman wishes for no return except his expenses for tra velling in third-class carriages. SOLITARY CONFINEMENT.—Sir Peter Laurie states that, during the last ten years, forty lunatics have been sent from the Penitentiary to Bethlehem, while in the preceding ten years only fourteen were sent. Sir Peter attributes the increase to the adoption of the separate system. resque and singular. The scene is a crowded one, as many cultivators contribute to the mass anti share in the labour ; their wives and children cluster around, clad in strange dresses of varied colours. They are sometimes sheltered from the god of fire under boughs, reeds, and awnings, run up as if for the painter, and falling of them selves into pictures, as the lower classes of Spaniards and Italians always do. They are either eating and drinking, singing or dancing, for a guitar is never wanting. _Mean- while the fierce horses 'dash over the prostrate sheaves, and realise the splendid simile of Homer, who likens them to the fiery steeds of Achilles when driven over the Tro jan bodies. These out-of-door threshings take place of course when the weather is dry, and generally under a most terrific heat. The work is often continued at night fall by torch-light. During the day the half-clad dusky reapers defy the sun and his rage, rejoicing rather in the heat like salamanders ; it is true that-their devotions to the porous water-jar are unremitting, nor is a swill at a good passenger's beta ever rejected ; all is life and action ; busy hands and feet, flashing eyes, and eager screams ; the light yellow chaff, which in the sun's rays glitters like • , • In a letter to the Jersey Times, Dr. Robert H. Collyer, of St. Helier's, claims the merit of having first adopted the plan of producing unconsciousness by the inhalation of stimulating and narcotic vapours, and of having per formed many surgical operations without giving pain to patients in that state. VALUE OF THE REFUSE or TOWNS.—" Taking a ge neral view of the subject, we may assume a clear revenue Water of all towns of £1 for each in n a direct money return, or partly to the inhabitants in a reduced price, from the increased abund ance of produce."—Evidence of J. Smith, Esq., of Deanston. :17iningled with the torch glare, is almost supernatural, as the - phantom figures, now dark in shadows, now crimsoned by the fire flash, flit to and fro in the vapourous mist. The scene never fails to rivet and enchant the stranger, who, coming from the pale north and the commonplace in-door flail, seizes at once all the novelty of such doings. Eye and ear, open and awake, become inlets of new sensations of attention and admiration, and convey to heart and mind the poetry, localsoloun movement, grouping, action, and attitude.— IN RE DONALD MACLEAN, M. P.— In the London Court of Bankruptcy of the 27th of January, a further ad journment for the surrender of this bankrupt was granted for three months, on the ground of continued ill health of the bankrupt, who is still in Italy. It was stated in the course of the case that the funds in hand were only £lOO, and that the debts proved were 4:70,()00. Ford's Gatherings froits-Spain Feb. 9, 1847. On Friday night, George Hampson and Susan Morton, who had been betrothed for about three years, tied them selves together with four handkerchiefs, threw themselves into the Barnsley Canal, near Wakefield, and were drowned. No reason is alleged for the wicked act, which has thrown two respectable families into a state of the deepest distress. Dr. Charles Henry Lovell and Mrs. Hope Betts, were tried on the coroner's inquisition, (the grand jury having ignored the bill preferred against them,) at the Central Criminal Court, before Mr. Justice Cresswell, for the manslaughter of Martha Hobbs by the hy dropathic sys tem. The evidence was very weak against the prisoners, and the jury returned a verdict of not guilty. The Duke of Cleveland is making extensive improve ments in the garden; at Raby Castle, Durham, and under the direction of Mr. Roberts, his grace's head gardener, a very spacious range of vineries have been erected, the bor ders of which embrace five thousand feet, and which have been planted with the choicest grape vines, to be culti vated on the system .so successfully practised by Mr. Roberts. On Wednesday, a remarkable accident occurred at the Tunbridge station of the South-eastern Railway. The Maidstone noon up-train had just arrived at the station, and the engine went forward to take in a supply of fuel and water ; while the engine was passing over the turn table, the table split, and a large piece separated, throw ing the engine off the rails, and stopping all traffic for a time, but happily causing no personal injury. ELOPEMENT TO GREiNA iREEN.—On the 23rd ult., Mr. William Hope, son of Lomax Hope, Esq., of Boholme Cannoby, was married, at the above place, to Miss Jane Donaldson, daughter of the Rev. James Donaldson, of Cannoby Manse. The fair lady, it would appear, had been narrowly watched, or rather confined to her room, for some weeks, but " love laughs at locksmiths," and she effected her escape.—Carlisle Patriot. A curious hoax was played on a &mei near Bridgnorth last week, by some neighbours spreading a report that he had given leave to the poor of the town to gather turnips from one of his fields. The consequence was, that a fine field of Swede turnips was densely thronged by parties availing themselves of the opportunity ; and it was not till full two acres had been cleared of the crop, that the owner was apprised of what was going on, and enabled to stop the appropriation of his roots. IMPROVED SIGNS OF THE TIMES.—At the weekly meeting of the board of guardians for the Nottingham Union, on Tuesday last, the returns showed a decrease of 70 inmates of the workhouse within the previous seven days, and the number of applications for relief was very much fewer than on the preceding Tuesday. Corn had dropped 4s. per qr. The people had become more gene rally employed, and signs of improvement were becoming decidedly manifest. THE LATE SEVERE WEATHER.—A correspondent at Harewood, in this county, informs us, that in carelessly looking at an old wall, at Harewood, he saw therein a small hole and drew from thence four tom-tits, one hedge sparrow, one robin, and one wren, which birds he sup posed were driven into companionship by the severity of the weather, and had perished from the cold. The circumstance is the more remarkable, as the pugnacious disposition of the robin towards other birds is well known. —Hereford Times. An qiiquest was held last week in Middlesex, upon a lady named Potts, whose delight was not only to take all the medicines she could obtain, but to compel others to do the same. When she visited a sick friend she would empty the physic bottles and pill boxes. Aloes constituted her favourite physic, and a physician stated that he had pre pared in twelve months as much aloes for her as would have supplied the town' of Uxbridge. Amongst those whom she induced to take medicine was a boy, to whom she paid a shilling to allow her to salivate him. A more novel, but equally successful application of the inhalation of ether is recorded in the Edinburgh Journal. Professor Simpson had administered it in a case of difficult se patient was deformed, and on a former oc casion had suffered dreadfully in labour during three or four days : on the present occasion the patient was deli vered in as many minutes. A remarkable circumstance pointed out in the case by Dr. Simpson was, that, whilst breathing the ether, the labour-throes continued, and yet the mother was unconscious of pain. At an inquest held on Saturday, in St. Giles's, Mr. Wakley told the jury that he had discovered a manufac tory of oranges, at which bad oranges could be made into )u- , I apparently_ good ones. The process pursued was the sub extreme pressure of destitution and actual famine must be considered as now really endured by upwards of sixty thousand souls, in these districts of the Ili&hlands and. Islands. And it cannot fail to be observed, how near the full pressure of destitution, in most of the districts, is apprehended to be." A COACHMAN IN TROUBLE.—The coachman of Lord Hastings, on Wednesday week, was directed to drive a gentleman from his lordship's residence at Melton Con stable to the railway terminus at Norwich, about 20 Milting Of - unripe and inferior oranges to the action of steam, or parboiling them. This made them swell, filled out their rinds, and made them thin, the usual external sign that the fruit was good. To give them the last po lish, and heighten the outward attraction, they were rubbed with a greasy piece of flannel, or with something mnre nhiPetinnsthlp On Tuesday last a most difficult case of aneurism of the femoral artery was performed by Mr. Lightfoot, sur geon, of Newcastle, in the presence of Mr. Frost and Mr. Annandale, whilst the patient was under the influence of ether. The incision was nearly two inches deep and five inches long, and during the whole of the operation the patient did not evince the slightest sensation of • or feeling, and I • "h a Is since declaredth it he was quite unCon. ,cious of any such operation having taken place ; the only thought he had was that he had been attending a lecture. —Newcastle Courant. PROVISIONS (IRELAND).—A return of the aggregate amount of provisions imported from Ireland into England in the last three years, ending January, 1847, shows that the quantity of corn (of Irish growth) so imported, amounted, in 1844, to 2,801,206 quarters ; in 1845, to 3,251,901 quarters ; and in 1846, to 1,825,394 quarters. The quantity of wheat, flour, and oatmeal amounted re spectively, in 1844, to 839,567 cwt., and 1,150,976 cwt. in 1845, to 1,422,379 cwt., and 1,150,976 cwt. ; and in 1846, to 723,562 cwt., an 553,148 cwt. The number of 259,257 sheep and lambs ; 480,827 swine. • SUDDEN ACQUISITION OF .bo,ooo.—An extraordinary and unexpected instance of good fortune has recently oc curred to an elderly female, named M'Cormack, who has for some time resided in Coppice-row, London, a few doors from Clerkenwell Workhouse, where she has con trived to maintain a decent maintenance by vending in her small shop various articles of confectionary. The old lady, who is upwards of sixty, on Saturday received a let ter from a solicitor, announcing to her the death of an aged relative, who had resided near Aberdeen (of which place Mrs. M'Cormack is a native), and also that she had been bequeathed property to the amount of no less a sum than £30,000. The following are -grown wneat which have e 290 towns which furnish and young family living at Lenwade, a village about mid way from Melton to Norwich. Having no one to drive there, putting up his horses at Lenwade-bridge Inn. Un fortunately he did not keep sober in Norwich, and started from Norfok Hotel, in a somewhat questionable state, , 1 a • lA ,1 ie appears to fallen asleep, and the horses turned into a tie-lane, which led into a field. Here they seem to have wandered about with Haylett sleeping on the box, the track of the wheels the next morning showing that the carriage, on one occa sion, passed within a few inches of the edge of a deep marl-pit. However, they found their way out of the field attempted to ford a wide stream, and were carried away by it. At this time Haylett appears to have been asleep upon the box, and when he awoke, about four in the morning, he found himself in the midst of the water, both the horses being drowned, and the carriage severed, the fore from the hind wheels. His screams brought as sistance, and the horses and carriage were got out. Hay lett was in the greatest distress, and would probably have done himself some mischief but for the police, who strictly guarded him. Th e h orses were very valuable, his lord ship having a few days before been offered £l5O for one. FOOD PROSPECTS.—Corn has evidently seen its tole price. • The opening of the ports produced the first effect. But the reduction was slight. A falling market, hevvev'er, supplied. And the quantities brought for- there has been an universal holding back for some time. Should this be the case, prices will fall yet lower. And if so, the " regraters" will be as severely punished ns even Lord George Bentinck could desire. We have noticed, for two weeks past, the large quantity of wheat held back in Wakefield. Accounts from most of the principal corn markets concur in stating the same fact. On Endo' week a granary in Glasgow fell down with the enormous weight of its contents. Persons whose business has called them to visit or pass through the agricultural districts, also describe the corn stacks as being more abundant than usual at this time of the year. The farmers have been holding back, it is said, even in some cases the wheat of 1845. And it will be seen by our market reports, that in many cases they left large stocks on hand in last Satur day's country markets rather than submit to the slight fall which then occurred. The subsequent fall in Mark lane of ss. on Monday, and another shilling on Wednes day, may be expected to change their tone.. At Colchester wheat has undergone a depression of 7s. a quarter; and in Suffolk, and Essex a fall of Bs. on barley is noticed. The prospect of supplies from abroad is also much brighter. The relaxation of the navigation laws will open to our temporary use the Dutch ships in the ports ofAinsterdani and Rotterdam. Three have been already chartered for America, wher6 they can carry Java coffee free ;—and the Bankers' Circular states, that in the most p r olific corn yielding district of Holland the farmers have sold scarcely any of their last crops. The arrivals of grain in Liverpool are already enormously gr ea t, excee di ng in the two past weeks 580,000 barrels of flour ; 200.000 bushels and 10,000 quarters of wheat ; 390,000 bushels, 43, 000 sacks, and 12,000 quarters of Indian corn ; and 45,000 barrels of Indian corn meal. CARRYING BUSINESS—MEETING IN BIRMINGHAM.' A numerous and influential meeting of the merchants, traders, and manufacturers of Birmingham was held oil Tuesday, at the public office in that town, for the inured of considering whether any, and what, measures should be taken for averting the monopoly in the carriage of goods by railway companies, and for preserving and improving the means of canal communication.—Mr. J. Browne pre-. sided. In stating the objects for which the meeting had been convened, he commenced by observing, that of! with u ir - d a ri b v e ay: i c v Ci e n n v; lo ;;; il e ie : c 7 o 4 n e v Y ey ; ;L i n sir c i e ed of goods by canal nt eper canners, a he b b o e d l y ie believed, d m , e g n r e t a o t injusticewhom, it had nee dless to say, the tradesmen and m erc h ants o f Bir mingham beeno t er done wi . to At th were particularly indebted for th e grea t consi deration they had ever given to th e i r wants, wishes, an d convenience. It was then moved and carri e d unan i mous lY, " That monopoly in the carriage of goods by railwaY, companies ought to b e aver t e d . "— Mr. W. R. Lloy u said he well knew how the interests of the merchants , traders, and manufacturers of Birmingham were involved in the question,—parties of greater influence than himself, —but he might be allowed to say that freightage was very important article in his trade. Having seen the iv - , portance of railways in extendi ng th e t ra d e an d t ra ffic ol Birmingham, he was extremely anxious that they shoal ( ' cont' -- but ' amen , he was at the same time an advocal for competition. He need not remind any gentler; present that many trades were fostered, if not absolti created, in iiirnungbam, by the low price of freightag e ' Already, the cost of carrying some descriptions of heaq, go ods td the coast was great er th an t h e cost of carriage ac ross the Atlantic. Th e s p ea k er proceeded to allude the amicable arrangement likely to take place between tlitt London and North-We s t ern R a i lway companies, 11 which he contended th a t, h av i ng " laid their heads Log e" ther," they would be enabled to divide the plunder be tween them, to the great injury of the carrying, trading_,' and manufacturing interests. When such a monopoly a" this existed, or in all probability would exist,—a mono i poly which over- ro d e Q ueen , L or d s, an d Commons,--1 was then time that the public should interfere. After di lating on the injustice to the public of all railway mono; polies, he proposed the following resolution, which vta carried unanimously, " That th e ser i ous attention of tla ) Government should be directed to the fact of the eller; pther, which are, in th e op i n i on of this meeting, OW; mous amalgamations of ra il way companies with m atter i of grave importance, not only to merchants, traders, o ', manufacturers, but t o t h e public at large, inas m uch ~ such amalgamations t en d t o create an a b so l ute mono p?'? 1, by placing under the absolute control of the few indo v duals composing the direction of a railway company t; 0 1 only existing means o f support , b o th o f passengers a' , goods, and without the possibility of competitioi l ;,. After a few words from Mr. Blewes and Mr. Whilloc; l 7, it was resolved, " That such being the opinion of t!ao meeting, it is expedient that strenuous exertions be 1 0 :0 to maintain the canals of the kingdom, and to pre , ' sf canal companies, amalgamating with railway compaa7 i l in all cases where the canal forms a link in a chain of t'„, 4 , communication." The fourth, fifth, and sixth resolutgr e , all of which were carried nem. dis., condemned the._``,.. quality of tolls carried by canal companies, as being rious to their interests, and recommended that the sP t e .o i. tion of canal proprietors should be directed to the co' o it deration of the best means by which the traffic and trg ki l g on their lines might be improved ; and after depreeal t io the loss and inconvenience incurred by the public, W o o , unsafe and irregular manner in which goods were veyed on railways, pledged themselves to encouraf, e , r every means in their power the employment of wat' preference to railway carriage for such purposes.. ' -M.06Z1rr1NN11....01.110,1 PLANTING POTATOES IN THE AIITUMN.—Mr. Jones, 8 ieedsman, of Shrewsbury, planted some potatoes in the autumn, called " Summer Manly," they have been in the ground, four inches beneath the surface, (luring the late severe frosts, and are perfectly souud. Tho ze planted deeper are in good condition, but those nearer the surface were injured, and those just covered with soil were en tirely destroyed. We are informed that it is best to so f potatoes in November or December, nine inches deep, with a little dry straw placed over them, and then the earth to follow. Before planting, dust the seed with slack lime, finely powdered. . . SUBSTANTIAL SOUP AND PORRIDGE FROM FISH:" A gentleman writing to the Cork Constitution says, that as beef and veal may become scarce, an excellent substi tute, one which would give vast employment and remu nerative wages to thousands, may be found in the article of fish ! Some years since past, he says, being wind bound in my yacht in the Clyde, I became the guest of a Scotch gentleman, who gave me every day for dinner capital soup of different kinds, in which a particle of meat was never used. It was made of all kinds of fish as they Came to hand. The fish being washed, and the entrails removed, was cut into junks and boiled in a digester until the bones were dissolved. The skin and oil being skimmed off, salt, pepper, onions, peas, meal, Scotch Barley, bruised carrots, or whatever pleased were added. And excellent soup of different kin* was the result. Fish boiled into mummy in a digester affords rich gelatine, which added to " beans' meal, bruised peas, rice, and a small portion of commissariat biscuit," accordi ng t o M r . Barry's receipt, would make nutritive soup. A POET IN DISTRESS.—On Saturday, a boot-closer, 70 years of age, preferred a complaint at the Mansion house, London, against a relieving officer. The applicant said his name was Thomas Mills, his age upwards of 70, and his profession, poetry. He had written a great deal of verse upon subjects moral, rural, and lyrical, and he had received the highest praise for his compositions, which were in every respect calculated to se rve as well as to amuse society. In consequence of some particular cir cumstances, which it was unnecessary to detail, but which arose from his attachment to the muse, he had been obliged to leave, temporarily, in the possession of a sta tioner, at Bethnal-green, 1000 copies of verses, which he felt assured would make him independent. He applied to a relieving officer to advance him £2 to release them, but the applicant was met by an exclamation of " such nonsense," and the offer of the Shoreditch Workhouse. Mills expressed to the lord mayor a strong conviction that if his verses were released, and he had a fair chance of writing, he could in future make £l5OO a-year. One of his pieces was on the uses and beauty of the granite stone, and others are on the uses of steam and gas. The lord mayor, after a conversation which only the more ex hibited the disorder of the applicant's mind, intimated that he could not i n t er f ere. HIGHLAND DESTITUTION.—From a report just issued by the committee in Scotland for the relief of the desti tute in that country, we make the following extract : " It will be found, from the above statement of facts, and while some of the most distressed districts are not in cluded, such as both the Uists, Harris and Barra, not to speak of the whole of Orkney and Shetland, that a popu lation of 145,331 are involved in the destitution ; and of all of these, by far the greater number—indeed the Whole, with but few exceptions—must now be suffering under the calamity. The number of cottar families in the same districts fall to be considered as already entirely destitute, being in number about 7000, and representing a popula tion of nearly 35,000 souls. It must also be considered that in many of the returns the number of these is not specifically given, and accordingly not included in the above summation of the cotter class. The number of families reported as actually destitute of food, at the dates of the several returns, was nearly 3000 ; and taking the omissions made in this department also in many of the returns, and where, at the same time, in accompanying communications they are represented as numerous, the PLY OF HOME-GROWN WHEAT been sold in the markets of th returns to government Total. Weekly aver. 1845. January to Jnne 3,141,672.... 120,833 - July to December 3,398,913.... 130,727 1846. January to June 2,694,479.... 103,633 July to December 3,234,482.... 124,403 1847. January, four wee k s 546,690.. 136,672 The town of Yarmouth is bound by ancient charter to send to the sheriffs of Norwich a hundred herrings, which are to be baked in twenty-four pies, or pasties, and then delivered to the lord of the manor of East Carlton, who is to convey them to the Queen. AN ENCYCLOPIEDIAN NEWSPAPER.—A project has been started by Mr. Luke Hansard, (a gentleman who has proposed many very benevolent schemes, but which have never been carried out, we apprehend, to the extent of his wishes,) to bring out a newspaper, which is it h s ver p r operly to be called The Spirit of the Times, f con tents are to embrace no less than sixteen distinct heads of information, to each of which a whole page is to be devoted. The publication, it seems, is first to appear in two sheets equal to the Times, and next in a separate form, in octavo. The price for both forms is extremely moderate ; and if the projector may only be enabled to realise his vast con ceptions of the moral uses to which a newspaper may be made to subserve, there can be no doubt that a new era in journalism will take its date from the appearance of his paper. _ FOOD . RIOTS IN SCOTLAND.—The nor th of S cotland is nearly in a state of insurrection. At Burghend, two vessels laden with meal for export were deprived of their cargoes. At Lossiemo u th an d Fi n dh orn severa l carts were seized, and the captured victuals lodged in storehouses. The other places in the neighbourhood being in a similar state of excitement, forty soldiers from Fort George have been stationed at Elgin ; and a company from Aberdeen has been sent to Port Gordon, into which the inhabitants of Keith, an inland town, are said to be pouring in large numbers. Passing over intermediate districts, the food riot folly has also reached the south. In Stranraer, dis turbance was raised because two meal-dealers would not sell their meal at 2s. 6d. per stone. Carrots and loaves were also stolen, but the promptitude of the authorities prevented them reaching any great height. The Edinburgh Deoptilns . t n at a iopy , u c n oili d l a ln r7 s o sne un ic t i s r t , o , to-day to Highlands o£24,oo 6 appears 6s. 2d. T o The sc think that the Highlanders are by far 'too indolent, and that the distress, although severe, has in some instances DUE OBSERVANCE Or THE SABBATH.—A numerous meeting to promote this important object was held at Bir mingham on Tuesday. The evils resulting from the beer house system from Sunday traffic on canals, railroads, &c. were ably pointed out by th e va rious spe a k ers , an d also , , the injurious consequences to the working classes pro duced by late payments on Saturday evenings. A memo rial was read to the meeting, signed by 1,298 tradesmen of the town of Birmingham, (who had long opened their shops on Sundays,) expressive of their desire that an end should be put to all trading on that sacred day : they asked protection, declaring " that they would gladly leave off trading on the Sabbath, and enjoy its - rest, did they not fear being ruined by loss of custom, if others were al lowed to carry it on." This is, no doubt a very prevalent feeling in all towns ihroughout the kingdom, and calls for attention from the legislature, as well as the public in ge neral. We understand that some tradesmenin a small way of business in this city incur loss rather than wound their consciences by keeping their shops open on tbe Sun day ; such persons claim protection. — Worc est f r Journal. MURDER AT DERBY.-011 Tuesday evening last, a horrid and brutal -murder was committed by a person named James Cross, a gardener, living up in a court in St. Peter's-street, Derby, upon his wife. It appears that Cross and his wife were in the house alone, and that, from some unexplained cause, probably the result of a quarrel, he attacked the woman in a furious manner, al most literally cutting off her head ; that being the condi tion of the unfortunate creature when the premises were entered. We deeply regret to state that the diabolical conduct of the man Cross was not confined to the murder of his wife. It appears that Mrs. Osborne, baker and flour dealer, in Peter ' s -street, who resides very near to Cross, hearing screaming, ran into the house, and that, on seeing her, Cross plunged a knife into her throat, and stabbed her in three different places. Sh e now lies in an exceedingly dangerous state, with, we fear, but a slight chance of her recovery. Mr. Osbo rne , who as at home, immediately followed his wife, and was horror-stricken at the sight. The murderer, on an alarm being given, wiped his bloody knife and endeavoured to escape, but was taken into custody. Peb, ...--- the ;Cho tot agToun, APparent earl of I 15th Jarma Breeze, January. Eliza, Sti Of sails, sut Sir JOhn tons. Cireassia loss of bulii John Kn I nainbooin, m E a re Was fallen l ogged, and Wily the E CovE, j a of foremast • Tow: t otore, for near this pl CAoz, f or this l por during a he clone a wre, tiaVannahl- Y ork—Albe Antwerp—l — Caroline, Isabella 'Eons, from All at St. H( Defence, : Auguste, Industrie Theodosit Anne, Wi bulwa Enmore, Medernsc sails, spars. . . . Marquis c sailed Ist the 11th De 4 Gulf. On t 1 Prince Edw plied her wil LoNnoNn went ashore on the Nth, of Whiteha, Rutland hal struck:on6 lurday even; on Cranstre she became lost, - -The a Dublin for I loss of mai schooner N Put in 1 a Preston 1 Presto n 1 n t Istsn,..:, '2.1,',.. s 'eNv .z ry for plit 13 teeetvin a rale ( ) ; `phii ballast, put i th e wind bltlyO viole" 1,11 g over n th b%III, which on reached It?.on, the 191 Port,'sai r on the fol Whitehaven V 444 1 calP d 111 Was 1" , ea , at the ilieftvY sea. nuPr a 4lA fe an f SA ILED Orle an „ Car ‘---"" Eio Judkins, iia inn and Ja •La?ltinonle -Emily, •Lantinonle— The daitht wire wire up from Bertha, Ha Sa.nhora, 13 f iNm Savar Bohn lad A. b erniorey,"m , FRII ARRIVED. 114 ,1 1 , Cornell +Jarah Col Ind Xeptum larseilles S'Aitv cape Horn October, C To un , C and J( and rin Empre gle as , sr..e throng] ie n y ,: at midi • •) at 2 p.l ,kalrlford, ‘qe, I hill Mary Ilancdon at 1.1( sailt "uth for this nobert Pulsf Herald, Fn Shakspearr Lord Sand llargaret, Be ditto. A 1 2.5010 . m: 1 8 i Princess Vi J an. 10. , M. E. ' F rith loss ofs Blarney (s), Auguste, E janma, Ke anderoom, f Cuba, B e ll' ore- main yr la.1,(1:: re oh d iEts n s a . B Sp° -- ` s rtIVFT, iCISI;7Y, lif31;; V atii aY-.4 )1 Beth 3 3 . 110/0 S i t • oh, Vainpe _on phi 1 1 1 St a ,n11:1 f olletop - r . kl ZtirPn; from "CoACi;er, 131 1 Jan„',,l2..ag 74ry, ktVerpool, SUND. ARRIVED.- S-AILED , Lima qnnston, e?rg e , L Iri o i u 4l4e n i ci rs k 4 on tl b' N' tuber. \mber 41;•1rW qfr (titn' ). for Li M n,pl °v PA) ztt_ klrni 4ti , je te pie u n , A t l , 3 t/;I V I n e al 4 1 ,, me, iv, man "" "h Lawn)l o ; eI, c 'llllll ti ,14va.4,Gral: 00 4411 iii,!: ° ' n 17t , h sail Iri,l,‘4l;rll.t , ru It ar l 4.. • • uz, 4 14• • • 411, ay • ' 1, 4 4 • • (;i (4 . • il' i ber . l ,' • .I, 4 _varla 4 ~~kET 1 -V I MI . `tO N ' 4l n •• . . hl ' • • ( I ; ree ' e t , 6o (;l4 l ;i: •hiii 4 - - dind ; '"Y on. (1 )1, • (ex "Pt • on( .1) trThi,,, 1 ,4 16, I:itdieg Vel 4neita 14f oxk.osz S) h .. N ew de4r ax renad \I .!ti -OUT Fi tue.,_; B , y r a 1 ! 1 • • 4 At, v i ' 11 14)0L it . AT •