The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-06-23 00:00:00

ceivc the degree of bard, according to the custom of the Isle of Briton ?" Upon this every one took his hat off. Mr. Ebenezer Thomas, tile chair bard, who won the chief bardic prize, was now handed into the circle to be ordained. Mr. Ebenezer Thomas is given the naked sword, which he grasps with his right hand, while Tegiti ties a blue ribbon round his right arm, above the elbow, Mr. E. 'l'., at the same time re citing a Welsh Stanza, and, when asked what bardic name he choose said aloud, Ebea Foetid." The sword wits then sheathed. ihe minister again asked Amid, " Does any one lay claim to this throne ?" The saute ceremony was then ;4ime through with the following gentlemen : each applicant was required to repeat, extempore, Englgnion, as a test of his bardie ability. 1. John Williams, (loan Mai.) Carnarvon. 2. John Jones, (loan Dila o Ferirt,) Llangollen. Morris Jones, Oleirig I)olgeliey. 4. Jonathan R.,.'.ynolds, (Nathan Dbled,) 'Merthyr Tydvil. 5. Thwnas Ellis, surgeon, (Ens . i'efieinril,) Caerwys. 6. Stephen Davies, (,S7ephoa,) Dyscrth, Flintshire. ;. Jones, (Ilywel Beatnaris. S. E•.-ati Jones, (leitan op .tonn,) Holywell. P. John Jones, Penynoies, (lnt%) Holywell. 10. William Davies, Grbuld Liverpool. 11. William Hughe,;, (Gwilyin Glyn Difroysd I.langwrn. 12. Richard Jones, (Glair Ogwea,) Bethesda, Carnat von shire. 13, Robert Jones, (13, - o•rd Duo Ion,) Holyhead. H. John Janes, eiroo,l Lleyn,) Liverpool, (ma/v. 15. John 11ughes, , ( loan Sriwit,) Live r p oo l, 000 1 0 . 16. Rev. D. James, (Deer; o Ddi:fei!,) Kiri:dale, bard and 17. William Jones, (thriiiint o Foo,) Anglesey. IS. Joseph Thomas, (Josephus o Eryei,) Carnarvonshire. 19. Robert Lloyd Morris, (Rhueoniawe,) Liverpool, Awenydd, or Bardic Disciple. The. ministerial bard now called upon J. Richards, Esq., to deliver the Gorsedd charge, who ended it with the words, " The truth against the world." The question put to each candidate on being ordained, was to this effect : " Do you promise not to bear naked weapon against any one, and to keep universal peace and goodwill to all men ?" Answer : " I do." All entitled bards, druids, or ovates, according to the " Rights and Institutes of the Bards of the Island of Britain." The whole ceremony was performed in the ancient British language. N.B.—The prize compositions, in honour of the Worship ful the Mayor of Liverpool and the Nuptials of the Queen, are not to be sent in till the 20th of July. THEATRE-ROYAL, LIVERPOOL. Mr. POWER, of the Theatres-Royal, Covent-garden, Drury-lane, and Haymarket, is engaged for Ten Nights, and will make his second appearance this Evening. Second Night of Mr. GILBERT and Miss BALLIN, of the Theatres-Royal, Covent-garden and Drury-lane, who are engaged for a Fortnight, and will be assisted by their Pupils, Master and Miss MARSHALL, and Miss TAY LOR, of the same Theatres. rPHIS present TUESDAY, June 23, 1840, the Perform ances will commence with the Musical Drama of THE BEE-HIVE. Captain Rattan .. Mr. G. Horncastle. Captain Merton.. Mr. Barker. Mingle Mr. Baker. Emily.. Miss Grant. Cicely.. Mrs. Tellet. After which, for the second time here, a new Farce, written expressly for Mr. Power, and performed with distinguished success at the Theatre-Royal, Haymarket, called HIS LAST LEGS, Which was received last night at this Theatre with the most rapturous applause. O'Callaghan (a man of genius on his last legs) Mr. Power, As originally performed by him. Charles Rivers. Mrs. Montague.. Mrs. Clarke. Julia Mrs. Tellet. To which will be added the favourite Farce of THE IRISH TUTOR. Doctor O'Toole. In which character he will introduce his popular Song of " The Groves of Blarney." Mary Mrs. Tellet. To conclude with a Grand Ballet, in two acts, entitled LA SYLPHIDE, OR THE FATAL SCARF. Donald.... Mr. Gilbert. Jetnmie.... Mr. Marshall. Prudence.. Miss Marshall. Effie.. Miss Taylor. The Sylph Miss Bailin. TO-MORROW (Wednesday), the Operetta of 'TWAS I. After which, for the first time here, a new Drama, written expressly for Mr. Power, and performed with the greatest approbation at the Theatre-Royal, Haymarket, called THE IRISH ATTORNEY ; OR, GAIAVAi PRACTICE IN 1770. Pierce O'Hara, (his original character,) Mr. Power.—To which will be added, the favourite Farce of THE OMNI BUS. Pat Rooney, Mr. Power.—To conclude with the Grand Ballet of LA SYLPH IDE. On THURSDAY, a variety of Entertainments, in which Mr. Power, Mr. Gilbert and Miss Bailin and their Pupils, will appear. On FRIDAY will be produced, for the first time here, a new Farce, written by Mr. Power, called HOW TO PAY THE RENT, in which Mr. Power will sustain his original character of Morgan Rattler. SPLENDID COLLECTION OF PICTURES, BY THE OLD MASTERS. rr HE EXHIBITION of this COLLECTION, NOW I OPEN, at the ROOMS, in POSTOFFICE-PLACE, WILL CLOSE in a few days. THOS. WINSTANLEY and SONS. Church-street, 20th June, 1840. EXHIBITION. MECHANICS' INSTITUTION, MOUNT-STREET. THE EXHIBITION is now open every day (Sundays excepted) from Nine A.M. to Ten P.M.—lt consists of a large and valuable Collection of PAINTINGS by Ancient and Modern Artists ; STATUES, among which are many by Canova Gibson, Wolff, Gott; MODELS of. Steamboats, Locomotives, Mills, Buildings of all kinds; Specimens of Manufactured Goods in their various stages ; Lathes ; Print ing, Lithographic, and Copperplate Presses ; Potters' Wheel; Fringe-making Machine ; Canal with Fountains, Railway and Arch ; Specimens of Natural History; Antiquities; part of Dr. Raffles' Collection of Holographs, and General Curiousi ties : in all Fifteen Rooms being occupied by the different departments of the Collection. The processes cf Glass-blowing, Printing, Lithography, Figure Casting, Weaving, Fringe Making, Copperplate Print ing, Paper-staining, and Earthenware Manufactory, are in full operation. The inteiestiug Acoustic Apparatus, called the INVISI BLE GIRL, may also be seen. At ONE and EIGHT P.M. every day the OXY-HYDRO GEN MICROSPOPE, PHANTASMAGORIA, or inter esting Chemical Experiments are exhibited in the Lecture rooms. Magnetic and Electric Apparatus in operation all day. Single Admission ONE SHILLING from NINE to FOUR ; SIXPENCE from FOUR to TEN. Season Ticket (not trans ferable) 2s. Gd. W. B. HODGSON, Sec. WEST INDIA ASSOCIATION. THE ANNUAL MEETING of the WEST INDIA ASSOCIATION at the Port of Liverpool, will be held, in the Committee Room, No. 6, Brunswick-street, on FRIDAY next, the 26th instant, at Eleven o'clock precisely. to elect a Chairman and Deputy-Chairman for the year ensuing, and to transact the Annual Business of the Associa tion. By order, PETER WRIGHT, Secretary. Liverpool, 18th June, 1840. ribt Etintimal 'tanbarb. TUESDAY MORNING, JUNE 23, 1840. We have received a file of the Sydney Commercial Journal and of the Sydney Gazette, to the 14th of February, inclusive. The late hour at which they came to hand precludes us from making any extended extracts. They are chiefly occupied with speculations respecting the neighbouring colony of New Zealand. The general conclusion arrived at by the papers before us is, that "New Zealand must become an absolute possession of England, or remain as it has been." It has hitherto been a sort of "No Man's Land"—a har bour for runaway convicts, dishonest debtors, and bold and lawless adventurers. The Commercial Journal publishes the following ex tract of a letter, dated Tahiti, December 13, respect ing the proceedings of the French buccaniers in the South Sea : "The French frigate which left here for the Sandwich Is lands in June last, has been there, and succeeded in getting 20,000 dollars. The captain threatened to commence hostili ties in three days, in case of non-compliance with his de mands, but offered protection to all foreigners as far as he was able, except the protestant clergymen. The officers of two American ships of war just arrived from Tahiti, drew up a paper, and circulated 1000 copies, proclaiming disappro bation of the French captain's proceedings, and asserting that the missionaries were entitled to equal protection with their fellow citizens. It is probable that a memorial will be pre sented to the American government respecting such cruel and arbitrary proceedings." Wae prepared our readers on Friday for the dishonest obstruction which, in defiance of the distinct pledge of Lord John Russell, would on that evening be offered to the progress of Lord Stanley's bill in committee. The result has fully verified our anticipation; for although the amendment moved by the Liston of the administration, Lord Morpeth, was not literally upon the motion for going into committee, yet it was one by which the principle of the bill, which has already been distinctly affirmed, and the whole of its details were again subjected to discussion. It was an amendment professing to respect only the first clause, yet admitted b y it s mover to be justified only by objections enter tained towards subsequent clauses which have not yet come before the committee ; and we cannot therefore regard it as any other than a contemptible and dis graceful breach of faith on the part of ministers, in which we are sorry, for the credit of the House of Commons, that it has been but too ready to acquiesce. In order to enable our readers to understand the value and the effect of this temporary triumph of the ministerial faction, we shall briefly state the meaning of the first clause in Lord Stanley's bill, and the nature of the amendment moved by Lord Morpeth. The first clause in the Irish Registration Bill pro posed to enact that, after the first day of November, no person should be entitled to vote at any election for a member of parliament in Ireland, unless such per son should have been previously registered according to the provisions of that bill. The whole of the clause was adopted word for mord, with the exception of the date, from the bills introduced by the present govern ment in 1835, and again in 1836, and one precisely similar in effect was contained in another bill introduced by a ministerial partisan in 1838. All these bills, bear ing on their front this same clause, were supported by the Whig party in the House of Commons ; and it is only now when transplanted into the measure of the noble lord that the objectionable nature of the clause is discovered. We are told now for the first time that it is a " disfranchising clause," " an insult to Ireland," and an attack on the liberties and " vested rights" of the people of that country. To what a depth of infamy must a ministry or a party be sunk who can submit to resort to so contemptible a shuffle ! For with what decency can it be argued that this clause, which destroys the existing register of voters only after a new register shall have been com pleted, is a disfranchising clause, peculiarly oppressive to the Irish people? What franchise does it take away? Not any. The disfranchisement which it contemplates is no more than what is yearly effected in England and in Scotland, when the old are succeeded by the new registers. Speaking in general terms, then, the outcry raised against this, as a clause of wee ping disfranchisement, is a gross impostnre by which the designing - knaves of the ministerial party have deluded the few fools re quired to convert their past minorities into a paltry majority of seven. Let us, however, examine the amendment and its intended effect in deterioration of the utility and value of the measure. If we mistake not, we shall be able to show that it is, if possible, a more barefaced connivance at impurity and fraud than even this despicable crew have hitherto dared to mani fest. The amendment carried by Lord Morpeth provides— " That in making the register of any county, city, town, or borough, under the provisions of this act, the name of every person who should be registered for such county, city, town, or borough, should be placed and retained on such re gister as long as his right would continue under the present law, unless he should have lost his qualification, or unless he should have become personally disqualified, or have died, or unless the registry was effected by fraud or personation com mitted under the completion of such register of votes." Now what, we ask, is the plain meaning of this clause, when stripped of its Jesuitical covering ? Sim ply this, reader, that the admitted impurities of the pre sent registers of Ireland are to be continued for eight years, and the operation of the bill restricted to new claims to vote. It is true that ministers have not bad the hardihood to propose that dead men, or men who, since their registration, have forfeited their right are to be protected in their franchise; but by this amendment the whole of the faggot voters who shall have con summated their registration previous to the passing of the bill, by fraud or perjury as to qualification or value, are to be protected in the enjoyment of their usurped rights for a period•of eight years from the time of that registration. On all hands it is admitted that on the first registration under the reform act frauds without number were perpetrated and parties admitted on the register whose right to be there was unquestionably none; yet these parties having renewed their registra tion for eight years by the mere:presenting of the certifi cate originally granted, although, even supposing an original qualification, it may have ceased years ago, are to remain upon the registers without challenge, to record their votes and to swamp for eight years to come the bona fide constituencies to be formed upon this or any other honest system of registration. Reader, can any better evidence be wanted of the true nature of Whig opposition to Lord Stanley's mea sure ? It would, if unimpaired in its efficiency by this nefarious amendment, have destroyed the vast number of fictitious and faggot votes with which the Romish priesthood have for years been busily deluging the constituencies of Ireland, and allowed their places to be filled with the names of bona fide claimants. This, then, we find at length plainly shewn, is the true pinching point. The O'Connell-Melbourne adminis tration dare not appeal to constituencies honestly and bona fide possessed of the qualification required by the Irish reform bill. They know and feel in their de graded souls, that so despicable—so utterly base have they become— a real ten pound constituency, even in wretched priest-ridden Ireland, would turn from them with loathing and unmitigable scorn. They exist only upon the offal of corruption. They breathe only whilst herding with the vile. They can enjoy place and pay and patronage, only so long as they can maintain the franchise in the hands of the brogueless and ruffian tools of ribbon outrage and noonday murder ; and to effect this they are ready to drain the bowl of corrup tion to the very dregs, and to hand down their names and characters to the execration of posterity, dyed in colours of measureless and irredeemable infamy. Deeply as we regret and must ever regret the fatal inroad made upon Lord Stanley's bill by the vote of Friday night, we have still however one consolation. That vote has torn aside for ever the mask of Whig hypocrisy. We see that party now the open abettors of corruption—the apologists and protectors of perjury. We see them and we know them. It will be noticed by our parliamentary summary that Lord Stanley announced, at the close of Friday night's debate, his intention of proceeding further with the bill last night, when an attempt would be made to substi tute for his bill the measure of the Irish Solicitor Gen eral, and that trick failing, the member for Dublin would " move an iustruction to the committee," or in other words throw " an obstruction" in the way of his lordship. Go on, gentlemen, we say, go on. But if for all this goading course of insult England fails, at no distant period, to exact a severe retribution, then are we grievously mistaken in what we have ever thought to be the characteristic of our countrymen. It is once more our duty to enforce upon the minds of our conservative friends the imperative duty of at tending to the approaching registration. Circum stances of an unequivocal character tend to strengthen the conviction that a dissolution of parliament is an event which may be looked for at no distant period. The repeated defeats which the present degraded crew in office have sustained must have proved to them the utter impracticability of carrying on the business of the country much longer with a House of Commons the composition of which renders a majority in favour of any ministerial measure a matter of such great doubt and uncertainty. At the last general election, and for some time after wards, ministers could reckon upon majorities ranging from 30 to 40. These majorities, however, have, in successive sessions, been gradually reduced. During the first session of the present parliament it is true that the index of ministerial popularity stood a few degrees above freezing point. The next session, after sundry fluctuations, brought it somewhat below that point. The present session has shown a tremendous declen sion in the scale. The popularity of Lord Melbourne and his associates is now absolutely below zero. To drop metaphor : instead of being able to command majorities of 30 or 40, they have latterly been left in minorities of two, five, seven, and even eleven, and this in spite of the secession of several hypocrites from the ranks of the conservatives. How has this come to pass ? It has been owing, not to any conversions which have taken place among the radical members of the House of Commons, but to the substitution of staunch conservatives for truck ling ministerialists at the elections which have taken place during the last three years. We may safely say that two out of every three of the vacancies which have taken place since the last general election have been filled by conservatives. It is impossible that these changes should have gone on to any great length with out annihilating the "measuring cast" majority of the O'Connellite ministry. It has been annihilated. A dead lock has been put to the motions of the ministe rial carriage. It can proceed no longer down the hill of revolution, though the great " Irish dragon" be harnessed to it. What then must be done ? It is quite evident, from the experience of the present session, that the venal tools of O'Connell cannot carry any of their measures through the House of Commons, if seriously opposed by the conservative party. It is equally plain that the occurrence of fresh vacancies in the present parliament (and occur they must in the natural course of events) will place ministers in a worse position than they oc cupy at present. It is, therefore, obviously their best policy to have recourse to a dissolution. It is true that a dissolution, in the present state of the public mind, would be a " dread alternative" to the mercenary im beciles now in office ; but it is the least of two evils left to their choice. It would be less degrading to them to be driven out of office by the irresistible mandate of the people of England, whom they have utterly dis gusted by their incapacity, hypocrisy, and venality, than to be in office without being in power. For ourselves, we have very little doubt as to the choice which ministers will make. We believe that they will once more stake their existence on the result of a general election. But, as it is uncertain whether a dissolution will take place under the present registry, we would zealously urge upon our conservative friends the necessity of attending to the registry of their votes. If they display the same zeal in the performance of this duty that they have evinced in past years, we have no doubt that the day will not be far distant when the reins of oftice will be snatched from the unworthy hands of the present pro-popery ministers, and placed in those of men whose loyalty to the throne and whose attachment to the British constitution in church and state, ;are as undoubted as their capacity for public business is universally acknowledged. Conservatives ! remember the significant words of your great leader—" THE BATTLE OF THE CONSTI TUTION 1 TO BE FouGiur IN THE REGISTRATION Co wrs." It would be a waste of time to bestow anything fur ther than a passing notice upon the infamous epistle which the hoary mendicant O'Connell has just ad dressed to his fellow-traitors in Ireland. Like every thing else emanating from the same impure source it is a disgusting compound of concentrated malignity, unparalleled audacity, and unmitigated slander. The practised hypocrite commences his mendacious letter with a few cant phrases, culled from the novels of the Minerva-press school, on the joys of domestic life and the sweets of wedded love. The fulsomeness of the flattery which proceeds from such a source can only produce a feeling of unutterable loathing. We know of no libel so atrocious as the praise of such a man as O'Connell. After the courtly cant to which we have alluded, the old serpent proceeds at once to insinuate that Oxford was " not solitary" in the perpetration of his crime. The purport of this insinuation may be learnt from the exclamation by which it is immediately followed. The truculent demagogue says, " If the first sovereign of the House of Brunswick that ever showed impartial justice to the people of Ireland—if she had fallen be neath the hired assassin's blow—if the Grand Master of the Orange Lodges were now, sacred heaven ! the legitimate monarch of these realms, as it was clearly intended that he should, what would be the state of Ireland ?" Any thing more diabolically atrocious than the charge brought forwards in the paragraph which we have just quoted, it has never been our fate to meet. Unlike, however, the cowardly insinuations in which the Whig-Radical press has been indulging during the past week, it has the merit of candour and straight forwardness. O'Connell distinctly and unequivocally charges the Queen's uncle, now probably tottering on the brink of the grave, with having instigated the attack which has spread such consternation through the land. On what authority does he venture to make this charge ? Has he a tittle of evidence to support it ? Does he not set all the laws of probabi- ity at defiance in his bold assumption ? Is he such a Fool as to suppose that the people of England can be imposed upon by such a vile and palpable slander? The villanous insinuations in which the Whig-Radi cal press has indulged, and which have assumed a more tangible shape in O'Connell's letter, will cause the people of England to suspect that there really was some plot in connection with the recent attempt upon the life of the Queen, and that of her Royal Consort; but the suspicion will not attach to the King of Han over and the loyal Orangemen. Far from it. If there be a plot, her Majesty's ministers or Daniel O'Connell will be instinctively thought of as the parties implicated in its origin and execution. When we reflect that there was an object to be gained by these parties in cre ating a sensation such as that we have witnessed— when we consider that the circumstances under which the apparent attempt upon the life of the Queen was perpetrated, justify the strongest feelings of suspicion, it will not be wondered at that reflecting people should be led to think that the whole thing was a precon certed affair, for which all the actors were duly pre pared. As O'Connell has tempted us to it, let us see if we cannot justify a far different conclusion from that which he would wish us to draw. The absence of the police from the immediate vicinity chosen by the assassin— the absence also of those of her Majesty's retinue whose duty it is to guard her personal safety—the cool deli beration of Oxford on the occasion—the calm indiffer ence betrayed by the Queen and Prince Albert, who did not even halt for a moment to inquire what was the matter, nor despatch a servant to assist in securing Oxford, but proceeded on to Belgrave-square to make a call—the unguarded manner in which the royal caval cade returned to the palace, as if nothing had occurred —the unhesitating manner in which the prisoner gave his name and address, and the facility with which the police discovered the mysterious papers and emblems at his lodgings—the cool intrepidity displayed by Ox ford during his examination—the circumstance of a bullet having been discovered, (not by the police, but by some urchins sent to play on the spot,) which would not fit either of the pistols fired by Oxford—the fact that the alleged bullet marks on the wall were no bullet marks at all, but, simply, indentations caused by a stick, or some such blunt instrument—the handle made of the attack by the Whig-radical press and Daniel O'Connell, to subserve a political object—all these things, with many other circumstances which we might enumerate, would admirably serve to fix upon the ministerial fac tion the guilt of concocting this diabolical affair. We might even go so far as to say that the discovery of the crape veil, with its distinctive ribbon ties, indicated some mysterious connection with O'Connell and his ribbonite confederates. We do not wish our readers to suppose for a moment that we deliberately accuse the ministers of " getting up" the affair for the purpose of frustrating Lord Stanley's motion; but we maintain that we have adduced a number of particulars which make far more strongly against O'Connell and his tools than they do against the King of Hanover. But to speak seriously. The attempt to fix the charge of high treason upon the Orangemen is a device too cunning to succeed; and the attempt to implicate the whole conservative party in Great Britain in the infamous attempt upon the Queen's life, is still less likely to deceive a single individual out of the precincts of a ribbon lodge. An appeal to the millions of Pro testants who on the past Sabbath joined in fervent thanksgivings for the safety of their beloved monarch, would be a sufficient answer to the enormous calumnies of such a heartless and abandoned wretch as O'Connell, backed as those insinuations are by the diabolical in sinuations of the rabid popish miscreants attached to the Whig-radical press. The loyal Protestants of England, who compose the great bulk of the population, can well afford to laugh to scorn the miserable slanders of O'Connell. Theirs is not a lip-loyal, contingent attachment to the throne of these realms. Their loy alty is not measured the fluctuating standard of court favour. Their zeal for the monarchy is not based on the flimsy foundation of official patronage or party ascendency. It has a-far nobler basis. It is grounded upon the immovable rock of Christian duty. Unlike the evanescent and accommodating professions of the papist and the liberal, the loyalty of Protestants is an abiding and ineradicable principle. If ever a day of trial should arrive, and arrive it will at no distant day, we shall find that O'Connell is capable of loading with his filthy abuse that "amiable young Queen," whom he now seeks to defile with the slaver of his flattery and encomium. We cannot undertake to reply in detail to the arguments and assertions advanced by our contemporary of the Liver pool Times, in answer to a few observations which we offered upon a former article. The subject of the Corn-Laws has now lost most of its interest, and our readers will not thank us for reviving a question which has already been discussed ad nauseam. Our object was to shew, in opposition to the dictum of our contemporary, that, however regular might be the demand from this country for foreign corn, still a drain for specie to a certain extent would be the result. Our contemporary instances in reply, that cotton wool to the value of 12 millions sterling was imported in a single year from the United States without any exportation of bullion in return. This may be the fact, but it is not decisive of the point in dispute. Let our contemporary add three millions sterling for corn to our importation from the United States, and if we can pay off that amount in cotton goods without increasing our import of cotton to provide the staple of those goods, we may then possibly admit that he is correct in his illustration. We pass by our contemporary's misrepresentation of our remarks as to the proportion of labour to raw material in our exports to corn growing countries on the shores of the Baltic. To those countries we must look in the event of a general opening of the British market for most of our supplies of corn ; and our contemporary is well aware that remittances to them are made in goods upon which the minimum proportion of labour is bestowed. With respect to the special bargains to be made with particulkr countries as a condition of allowing to them the privilege of supplyinci us with corn, we have seen too much of these " reciprocity" affairs to be much in love with such a mode of proceeding. Our contemporary in correcting a verbal error of ours, has recorded the admission—no insignificant one by the bye— that " the whole amount which we pay to the foreign corn grower, whether in goods or bullion, in exchange for corn, may be considered as so much abstracted from the pockets of the British farmer." Good. And as a necessary con sequence, the British farmer will have so much the less to expend with the manufacturer. Our contemporary, we presume, will not dispute this position. The change, how ever, is to benefit the farmer, and by this abstracting process " the agriculture of the country is to improve to such an extent as to become superior to that of any other country in the world !" After this, we should not wonder to hear of the tenants of Lord Fitzwilliam throwing their next half year's rents into the Swale or Don, in order the sooner to arrive at this promised agricultural superiority. Our con- temporary must really excuse us for telling him that the British farmer of the present day is a tolerable judge of his own in terest, and, that he is decidedly of opinion, that competition with the untaxed foreigner; and, abstracting three or four millions a year out of the pockets of British agriculturists, to place in those of the nobility of Russia and Prussia, is not precisely the way to " improve the permanent interest of the farmer, landowner, and, consequently, of the labourer" of the United Kingdom. With due deference to our contem porary, this kind of interference with the concerns of their opponents is one of the impudences of which we complain on the part of the anti-corn-law advocates. What right has a man, who scarcely knows a plough from a harrow—a hawk from a handsaw,—to preach to a practical British farmer upon a subject of which he is so entirely uninformed. Let him " stick to his buttons." Our contemporary accuses us of abuse and scurrility in our mode of discussing this question ; and how does he prove his charge ? By misrepresentiug and falsifying our ex pressions. "It seems," says our contemporary, "accord ing to his dictum, that to ask for cheap bread is base and nefarious,' and that the manufacturer is a ' knavish quack' and hypocrite, whose object is to reduce the wages of the people." " Such," adds the Times, " are the slanders by which the advocates of monopoly, and their worthy allies, the chartists, attempt to exasperate the populace against their employers." We beg our contemporary's pardon, but the slander is on his own lips, and is alike worthy of the cause and its advocates. We never said that "to ask for cheap bread" is base and nefarious ; and our contemporary knows it. We never said that " the manufacturer is a knavish quack and hypocrite, whose object is to reduce the wages of the people." We know that the respectable and really esti mable portion of the manufacturers of England abhor and despise the anti-corn-law agitators and their principles. What we did say our contemporary has quoted, and how he could have the hardihood to put such an interpretation upon it, we really are at a loss to know. We called that man a quack and a hypocrite who, whilst asking to be enabled to compete with the " cheap labour of the foreigner," professes that " he has no wish to reduce wages." We still call him a knavish quack and a lying hypo crite, for he knows that cheap labour means low wages. Our contemporary knows this, for in the usual round about way of people who have an unpalatable truth to utter, he all but admits it ; and we ask him by what name he would designate the man who, asking to " be placed on an equal footing with those with whom he must compete in the sale of his goods in every market of the world," should have the consummate impudence to deny, that, in connexion with "a large loaf," he contemplates a reduction of the workman's wages. We would recommend our contemporary and his party to leave this question alone, and look in another direction for the causes of our present mercantile and manufacturing embarras ments. Depend upon it those causes are not so very far un derground that the ingenuity of our contemporary will be at a loss in finding them out. We should readily aid him or any other of our contemporaries in the attempt, and if honestly undertaken we are firmly convinced that the result would be beneficial to the whole mercantile community. Are we for ever to persevere in the folly of converting com mercial into political questions ? The Editor of the Albion complains of our " malignant attack upon the Mayor, with respect to his conduct in the chair" at the meeting of Wednesday last. We are some times at a loss to discover the passages referred to by our various contemporaries as " malignant," " slanderous," &c., but on this occasion we arc at no such loss. We com plained on Friday that his Worship showed partiality in allowing party attacks to be levelled by his own friends against Mr. M`Neile and others, whilst he refused to hear— not a retort, for retort was never attempted—but even in terrupted one gentleman whilst speaking to order. As a par ticular case we instance the speech of Mr. Taylor, which was very directly levelled at the Rev. Hugh M‘Neile, and which, although conveying all the venom of a slander which that Rev. Gentleman had but a few minutes before satisfactorily rebutted, was allowed to be heard, and vehemently cheered by the radical and popish section of the meeting. We have no doubt that the Mayor thought he was impar tial, but we can assure him other people were not of the same opinion. One of our Saturday contemporaries in par ticular, was so delighted with the fancied hit made by Mr. Taylor's speech, that he had in conspicuous letters in his handbill—" The Rev. Hugh M`Neile's Jezebel Speech re buked"—a much more " malignant" practical imputation upon the Mayor's boasted impartiality than we have ever ventured to make. EXTRAORDINARY. EPISTLE, WRITTEN IN THE GENUINE UNKNOWN TONGUE. The extraordinary document at foot has been handed to us for translation, under the impression that it was Welsh, at which language we are an adept. We can make nothing of it, however, and present it in its present shape to our readers. We certainly have an impression that it is not altogether an original composition of the learned pundit whose atiir it bears, having somewhere in the course of our multifarious reading met with a similar composition. Per haps some of our Argus-eyed readers may introduce us to its original author : " EDITOR MERCURII LIVERPUDLIENSIS, DOCTORI QUEM VOCANT PAszomsit, _ C RETANS. . . " Doctore !—Hominum perfidissime ! in illo papyro see leratissimo, quod vocatur The Standard, articulos quosdam deridentes meum Billum Stanleyii Registrationis Hibernici, maxima indignatione legi. Melon billum id appello, quia in versione mea non pater ipse vestigia ulla infantis cognoscere potent. Recorderisne versiculos, de quodam, nomine Jack ? In Anglia vernacula, sic': " Jack stole his discourse from the famed Doctor Brown, But, reading it damnably, made it his own— Distichon quod ita pro meo casu paraphrazabo, ut sequitur in hexametris lege solutis. " En ! transcribit clausos, ex Stanleyio Billo, Sic damnabiliter crederes Mercurius ipse Mendax composuit ; Stanleyius non fuit auctor. Dico etenim hoc—quod si, quod ego scripsi non est quod Stanleyius vult facere legem, est quod alii homine_,s amantes pa t r im, voluerant,—quod est, multo melius. Et nullam aliam tibi dabo responsionem. • " Appellas teipsum doctorem,—non reverendum, non me dici, sed legum, abbreviate LL.D., non curo demi-damnum pro doctoribus etiusmodi generis. Recordarisne quomodo alius doctor, ejusdem stampi, philosophus pius et inflatus seipso—(Anglice eleganter,priggish)—sanguinem et wiggum ejus nuper perdidit ? Si ego irascere me incipiam ego et wiggum tuum et maskam demolishabo et to nudum trahebo per iras et cachinnationes mundi. Anne, me provocas ? " Ah ! doctore, rerfidissime , sceleratissiine,—quando fui councillarius, et tabs councillarius ut nemo unquam viderat, ut ne vetustissimus inhabitans recordari potuit, lavasti mecum in bagneo Coglanno, quod ego appello in Anglice The Float ing Bath, sed quod alii homilies scelerati vulgo appellant The Tub; meum corpus in omnibus contortionibus libenter vidisti ; corki jacketum, mei inventionis, teipso imposuisti et, in gurgite vasto recubantes, nos duo fratres, sive palli (Anglice, pals), enigmas, charados, et riddlos fecimus. Tunc aleam, dimidium cum dimidio hausisti, aquae vitam nitidam, rummi punchium cum sugare, ore aperto et fauci bus aridis, swallowavisti; et cum in meum domum venisti, sausageos et renes, pro suppero prebui ; stoutum Eblanense, Guinnessio auctore, super tabulam posui ; fromagium Stil tonense, Cestriense, Glocestriense, in usu tibi fuit ; leaderos pro newspapero meo scribere to permisi, de omnibus rebus et quibusdam aliis, dum to doctore sciebas nihil plus de news papero quam, ut aiunt inter Hibernos. vacca vetula de ca misao ruffieato, (vernacule, no more than a cow knows of a ',died shirt.) Hoc vocasti nihil? Sed me vocasti Mercurii plumbi imaginem (a leaden image of Mercury)--quod si unquam vidisti plumbum nantem ut me nantem vidisti—et nunc contra meum newspaperum et meos leaderos blateras ? Ridebo mox, doctor pastore, et tunc—sed nunquam animus. Ad interim, vive et bibe in terrore ! « Oar THEATRE ROYAL. A most desired and desirable change in performer and performances has taken place at this establishment. The low and debauching piece of clever gallery blackguardism. " y'clept" Jack Sheppard has departed with that prince of itinerants (Yates) by sea, and to be seen at Dublin ! Power is with us now, and families may go to see him in his glory without awaking on the morrow to a consciousness of shame for time misspent and money misapplied. "Jack Sheppard" proved the taste of the radical, vulgar portion of the public. None but those who expose their propensities for Socialism and Vulgarism saw or sat it out twice. It is a piece put on the stage in a time degrading to this boasting country, a country whose history of greatness cannot be known—or its littlenesses now, by its cutth roa t s in the assumed name of p atr iots and friends would not and She pard" not be suffered. Yet they have be en ! " J ac k Sh pard" had its exposi n g g alle ry audiences of smil ers , and ac tive approvers in pit and boxes ! and by people, too, who passively cry out that the legitimate drama suffers ; and yet they paid for the keeping up of a vulgar, paltry, and petty larceny "booth-show, ' like the Jack Sheppard as "got up" at the Adelphi Theatre, and now provincialized by an itine rating remnant of the paid off company at the Strand. Who is to blame for such pieces being produced ? The management ! Not at all. Every one's thanks is due to them : all thanks are due to them ! It is the paying, pa tronising PUBLIC who are at fault, and the public only. The public keep such trash of members of the " Dramatic Tailors' Society" on the stage. How ? hy, by paying for its sup port—its maintenance there ; otherwise no parish would stand the remains of bones or soup fora day in the immoral support of such exhibitions. This plain way of setting forth a true bill may surprise the unthinking. But look at it. Does the public of 1840 support Shakspeare and the good old English comedy ? N ot they ; not with a bill whose caste can show three or four " capital" London performers. Yet they pay money in crowds to see Jack and his harlots in a den of thieves and prostitutes. The conduct of the Liverpool press, Sheppard, in not noticing Jack is worthy of all praise. The opposition of the press, strange to say, would have done no good, but harm. The press by its opposition ma d e O'Connell, as its tardy silence is unmaking his own unmasking now. It is so in all " popular" fallacies. It is otherwise, however, with Power's pieces. People after going to see them can laugh —he makes them ; and next day the recollection justifies their laughing o'er again. His reception last night showed what such a man on his last legs may look for. It is a clever piece, but no novelty. It is purloined from the old farce of " Animal Magnetism," and the hero is made an Irishman of, to Mr. Power's mea sure. That is the trut h, and it detracts not at all from the fun and mirth of the successful piece. Success to Power and no " small blame" to the public if it does not aid him and his legitimate innocent comedy, OBSERVATION OF THE LORD'S DAY. The annual meeting of the Liverpool b ranc h o f th e Lan cashire Lord's Day Society was held on Friday, at noon, in the Music-hall. Bold-street. Among the clergy and gentry present, we noticed the Rev. Chancellor Raikes. Rev. Hugh M`Neile, Rev. Dr. Berth, Rev. F. Barker, Rev. J. E. Bates, Rev. W. Maynard, Rev. T. Magill, Rev. W. Falloon, Rev. J. N. Peill, Rev. M. Allen, Rev. B. Chalmers, Rev. J. E. White, Rev. J. Jones, Rev. A. M'Conkey, Rev. J. R. Con nor, Rev. F. Golber, Rev. W. D. Lowe, Messrs. Parker, Edwards, Howard, Boutflower, Maples, Inman, Jones, J. Edwards, &c. &c. The Rev. Chancellor RAIKEs was called to the chair. and, after a supplication of the divine blessing, by the Rev. J. E. BATAS, The CRAIRMAN, after a few appropriate introductory re marks, observed, that if there was anything which more than another tested the spirituality of religion, it was the sense of the value of the Sabbath. This unquestionably was the rea son why Sabbath observance had always been the most con clusive test of the spirituality of the character of the person observing it. The fact was, that upon it depended the vita lity of religion throughout all classes of society. If the Sab bath were not observed, religion would soon come to be no better than a name—a name that might be assumed from old associations, or from some idea of the importance of religious observances, but which was nothing more than a name. With regard to the poor, it was obvious that if they had no Sabbath they had no opportunity for cultivating religious feeliturs. 'rake the Sabbath from them, and you cut them off from every means of grace—you exposed them to all the manifold temptations which were connected with a state of society like ours, and you withdrew from them the only principle which could neutralise the effect of those tempta tions, and preserve them unspotted from the world in which their lot was cast. But, much as the labouring classes might seem to depend upon the observance of the Sabbath for the maintenance of religious feeling, he had long felt they were not more deeply indebted to it than were the class that stood above them. Unless the Sabbath sheltered the rich from the encroachments of the world, and protected the poor from the requisitions of the world, he was convinced that, whatever might be the extent of our religious profession, we soon must cease to be a religious people : religion would merely be found here and there, living in particular strata, and accumulated in particular spots ; and we should be with out that blessed and benign influence which it spread through the length and breadth of the land, by entering every house, and moving every state of society. That, indeed, must de pend upon Sabbath observance, and it could not be looked for unless Sabbath observance were maintained. If we looked upon the operations of the society, they made mani fest the hand of God. It began its operations within our own recollection ; and he could well remember the astonish- ment and contempt which was raised against its friends when they proposed its objects, both in the houses of parliament and in the great assemblies of the nation. But it was re markable how the blessing of God could prosper the feeblest efforts if they were made in faith, for, without the protection of any legislative provision—simply by the force of truth, offered to a population in which the Scriptures were circu lated, and open to arguments drawn from the Scriptures —they had advanced far towards the accomplishment of the object in view. True, abuses still abounded on every side, and a large portion of the population still groaned and tra vailed under the weight of Sabbath desecration ; but he ap pealed to every individual present whether the cause of Sab bath observance did not at present stand higher than the most sanguine expectations of the promoters of it ever led them to anticipate. We saw the conviction of truth forcing itself upon the consciences of men ; we saw Sabbath immuni- ties granted to the labouring classes ; we saw the prevailing causes of desecration checked ; and he trusted that, by the blessing of God, we might in the course of a few years anti cipate the realization of all they had ever wished. ile would, however, remark, that now they stood in the front of the battle. The battle of the Lord's Day Society was being fought upon the banks of the Weaver, and he trusted it would be won. More than that ; the House of Commons had heard, in language which it would not easily forget, that it was the bounden duty of every employer to care for the spiritual state of those from whose labour he derived his pecuniary advan • tages—that the connection between master and man, and between employers and the employed was not merely for gain on one side, and a livelihood on the other, but that every individual who derived from the labour of others an increase of gain was bound, as a Christian, to consider the spiritual welfare of those individuals, and to make such provision as should contribute to their future happiness, as well as their present prosperity and comfort. If the society had merely brought this great and important truth prominently before the public, he contended that it had conferred a blessing upon the country with which few others were to be compared. In the meantime, as he had already observed, the, society stood without the aid of legislative enactments. Indeed, consti tuted as the House of Commons was at present, he did not know that they had lost much by losing the protection which it might have condescended to have given them. It was a painful and humiliating fact, recorded in the proceedings of the parliamentary session for 1838, that when a bill was brought into the House of Commons for legalising the amuse ments of the Hippodrome, that the population of London might be allowed to drink, game, and indulge in all the abo minations and the temptations connected with horse-racing, without the trouble of going two miles from the limits of the metropolis—he said, that when that bill was brought in, there was a clause enacting that no persons should be allowed to use the Hippodrome during the Lord's day, as a place of public recreation, from eight o'clock in the morning till eight o'clock in the evening. It was hardly to be believed that this clause was expunged ; thus it would appear that the House of Commons had no objection to these profanities upon the Lord's day, and that if we were to have that day as a day of rest, we must have it joined with the profligacy of the race course ! From the mercies of such a house it might be well that we should be delivered. No satisfactory act on this subject was ever likely to have proceeded from such a source as that ; and he owned it was to him far more gratifying to appeal to the feelings of a Christian community, to work their way on this question by the conviction of truth. These were some of the causes which justified the present appeal to the public, and some of the circumstances which encouraged the society in its proceedings. The Rev. W. MAYNARD then read the report of the com mittee for the past year, from which it appeared that the in come of the society for that period had not exceeded £4O. After having read the report, the reverend gentleman begged to suggest a plan to increase the funds. Subscriptions amounting to £4O only surely could not exhibit the real feel ing with which the subject was regarded in Liverpool. What, then, was the cause ? Could it arise from carelessness on the part of the public? No. Whence, then, did it arise? Why from the fact that the public had not been called upon, and because the subject had not been placed before them. Until that was done, the society would still linger on. He there fore begged to suggest that each clergyman should bring the subject before his congregation once every year, and say to them—" As many as are willing to subscribe one shilling, half-a-crown, or five shillings, for the promotion of this ob ject, let them put it in the box." By this means the subject would be brought before many people, the efficiency of the society would be increased, and the glory of God would be promoted. As the mover of this suggestion, he would take an early opportunity of introducing the subject to his own congregation. The Rev. A. M'CorsxrE moved the first resolution, which was to the effect that the report be printed, and that the usual officers be appointed for the ensuing year. When he heard the reverend chairman detail the progress of the prin ciple of the Lord's Day Society, he felt encouraged ; but when he heard the secretary state that the income of it was only £4O, he felt very reluctant to come forward. He was, however, convinced that this low state of the funds was owing to a want of information upon the subject among the different members of the different congregations. The reverend gen tlemen, at considerable length, then proceeded to urge the objects and interests of the society, on a variety of scriptural grounds, and he concluded by moving the resolution. The Rev. Trios. MAGILL seconded the resolution. It was very pleasing to observe, that whilst the society set itself against acknowledged encroachments upon the sanctity of the Lord's Day, it aimed at something higher. It exhibited to the observation of the public many desecrations of the Sab bath which were too generally overlooked because they were familiar to men's minds. It wisely held up to view the sin fulness of many practices affecting the observation of the Sabbath, but which were too coldly looked upon by many who professed to call themselves Christians. Indeed no one could duly appreciate the importance of the subject who had not given it his anxious inquiry and deep reflection. Eight years ago a report from a committee of the House of Com mons detailed many affecting and painful truths upon this all-important subject; and the records of crime shewed that a vastly greater proportion belonged to the Lord's Day than to any other ; and in the personal history of convicted felons we found that the first step in the downward career of infamy and guilt had been the desecration of the Sabbath. It was mournfulto think that the advance of education, the increase of intelligence, the boasted march of intellect, had failed to bring with them an increased veneration for the Sabbath ; it was sad to think that whilst we were successfully extend ing to every land the blessings of the Sabbath, we were our selves becoming faithless in the observation of it ; and it was still more lamentable to find that whilst every creed, sect, and shade of opinion were represented and had their advo cates in the senate of England, the hardest thing to do was to procure advocates for the observance of the Sabbath, or even for its decent support. How were such evils to be combatted ? Just by such societies like this. The rev. gent. then proceeded to point out some causes of Sabbath dese cration, among which he mentioned railway travelling, the running of the steam ferry-boats, funerals and marriages upon that day, and several others. He concluded by second ing the resolution. A short conversation followed between the Rev. J. Jones, the Rev. F. Barker, and the Chairman, at the termination of which the resolution was unanimously carried. Mr. JOHN HOWARD moved, as a layman, the second re solution, and in the course of his address he remarked that the observation of the Sabbath was the beginning of morality, and that it was the first evidence a christian could give that the fear of the Lord had been implanted within him. The Rev. Dr. BYRTH seconded the resolution in an argu mentative and eloquent speech. The rev. gent. ably shewed the nature of the institution of the Sabbath, and the advan tages, both individual and national, which resulted from its observation. The legislature, he contended, did not do its duty if it refused to pass a law to secure the due observance of the Lord's day. As a minister and a member of the esta blished church, he had a claim upon the legislature for its interposition, and, by such meetings as these he hoped it would be made to do its duty. It was the practice with many "noast it was familie scalled. to give mo theirr more servants pregnantsou rtcheeotfr immorality o u d t i d , s e h x o is ui t - d , a b n e d gi h ve e n s a u s g a ge s s u te b d asstitu substitute, t e h d a y t t h h i a g t he s r om wa e ge o s th s e h r o d ui a d y be paid. The resolution was then carried. The Rev. Hoar' WNIELE rose amidst loud cheers to pro pose the next resolution. The principle upon which the Sabbath rested had been frequently developed, but at the same time as objections were perpetually reiterated against its obligations, and to the principle upon which those obliga tions rested, the arguments by which that principle was made good should also be perpetually reiterated. The rev, gent., with his usual eloquence and effect, then proceeded to dis play some of those arguments, and they appeared to carry conviction to the meeting ; but we have not space to report them fully. He concluded, amidst loud cheers, by moving the resolution. Mr. C. S. PARKER, in seconding it, begged to mention some circumstances of recent occurrence which would seem to justify them in taking less gloomy views of the prospects of the society than had been done by two of the preceding speakers, on a comparison of the present with some former periods of our history. In the House of Commons, Mr. Hume had not dared to bring forward his motion for the opening of the British Museum and the National Gallery to the public on the Lord's day. In the House of Lords, last week, we found Lord Hatherton presenting petitions from the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Company, pray ing for a law to prohibit entirely the carriage of goods on canals and railways on Sundays ; and the Secretary for the Home Department, on being asked to bring forward a go vernment measure on the subject, fully admitted the demo ralizing effects of Sunday traffic, and stated that the matter was under consideration. He deplored the extent of sabbath desecration to which the railways had given rise, but ex pressed a confident hope that a noble stand would be made against this alarming evil, by the proprietors of the lines about to be opened through the most populous districts of Scotland. He also referred to the employment of clergy. men and missionaries, partly supported by votes from the funds of several of the English railway companies. He then mentioned that the entire closing of the Sheffield Botanic Gardens had been recently carried by a large majority, and concluded by expressing a hope that the proprietors of the Liverpool Gardens would, at their.approaching annual meet ing, follow this excellent example, and thereby deprive the advocates for the free admission of the public on Sundays, of one plausible argument, founded on the fact of the Gardens being open 911 that day to the proprietors. A vote of thanks was then passed to the Chairman, and the meeting adjourned till evening. EVENING MEETING-FORMATION OF A TRADES MAN'S AND MECHANIC'S ASSOCIATION. A most numerous and important meeting was held in the Music Hall, in the evening, for the purpose of forming a Tradesman's and Mechanic's Lord's Day Society,. auxiliary to the above. The Rev. Chancellor Raikes again presided. The first resolution was moved by the Rev. J. E. Bates, and seconded by the Rev. Hugh Stowell, in a speech of extra ordinary power and effect. The rev. gentleman dwelt most forcibly upon the difference between the Protestant and Popish sabbath, and appealed to those who had travelled upon the Continent for the truth of his assertions. He also said that it had been asked, what had our Lord's Day Socie ties done ? which he would answer by stating, that, although they had not been the means of doing much by acts of par liament, although they had done something in this way, they had done much more ; for they had kindled a feeling iu the country on the subject of sa bb a th o b servance th a t had been the means of passing many moral acts of parlia ment, which was much better. He was happy to say that cabinet dinners, and even general dinner parties, were not so frequent as formerly on the Lord's Day. The speech of the reverend gentleman was interspersed with most interesting anecdotes, showing the blessings which had attended the due observance of the sabbath ; be urged that experience bad ever shown that a sabbath-observing servant was the best servant. Toe second resolution was moved by the Rev. F. Barker, who explained generally the nature and objects of the society which they were that evening met to form. It was intended to be a real working society.—The Rev. Hugh M'lsteile se conded the resolution, and was received with the most hearty applause of every person present, which he stated to be a very different reception to one he met with in the sessions house lately. The speech of the rev. gentleman was received with the most rapturous applause in various parts, but by degrees he brought such a hallowed feeling over the meeting, that it had more the appearance of the serenity of a Sabbath evening at one of our churches. Mr. M`Neile, then, in the perfect stillness of the meeting, consisting of some ten or twelve hundred persons, preached a most beautiful gospel sermon, for about twenty minutes. In conclusion, he ear nestly and affectionately requested, that, as they had now entered fully into the spirit of what a Lord's-day meeting ought to be, they would not again disturb the serenity that had come over them, by those bursts of applause which asso ciations connected with the place in which they were meeting naturally lead them to indulge, but that with the permission of their respected chairman, and he knew he would most willingly grant it, they should close by offering up praise to Almighty God. The meeting accordingly concluded in beautiful solemnity. GRAND EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS, WORKS OF ART, MODELS, MANUFACTURES, ANTI QUITIES, SPECIMENS IN NATURAL HISTORY, Cumosiros, &c. We yesterday paid a second visit to the splendid exhibi tion now on view at the Mechanics' Institution, in Mount street, and were even more gratified than on our first passing through the numerous rooms. We must premise, however, such are the countless works of art, curiosity, and utility in every branch of study and science, that though we wandered for a considerable time amongst them with great interest, we cannot say that we have done much more than glance at them as a whole, much less inspect any great number of them with that attention which would warrant us in attempting a length ened and detailed notice,—the more particularly as the greater number of the articles deposited exhibit a high degree of talent or ingenuity. Indeed it would require a whole day's attendance at the rooms to do them justice ; and we must, therefore, content ourselves with another brief sketch of the most prominent features in each room,—reserving ourselves for future details, when we shall have the assistance of the catalogue, which, owing to the constant accession of articles even up to the present time, it has been found impossible yet to publish. On entering the spacious vestibule of the building, the visitor will observe a figure of a knight in armour in each of the corners,—one in chain armour, and three in plate armour, of various colours and fashions. These appear appropriate and classical guardians of the building. They are deposited by R. Edmondson and Son, of Bold-street. Here, too, and in the lobby are some large paintings and some statuary. Ascending the staircase to the left, or east wing of the building, the first room is appropriated to the exhibition of models of buildings and architectural drawings, prints, &c, by way of variety. In the middle of the room stands a large model of the new Custom-house. Round the room, on the tables, are numerous beautiful models of churches and tem ples—ancient and modern, Christian and pagan. We noticed a beautiful model of a pleasure yacht, of 47 tons burthen, in the frame, built of mahogany and satin-wood,—by Mr. E. Melling, Jun. Amongst the models of ancient buildings is one of the Partheon. and several of round Grecian temples. Some of these are in marble, beautifully polished. Here, too, are the drawings and plans for the new court houses, includ ing those of the successful candidate. There is also a per spective view of Dr. Raffles's new chapel, a fine building, with a three-quarter circular Corinthian portico, surmounted by a handsome cupola. The next room to the south is filled with engravings, drawings, &c ; many of these, of great merit, are the produc tions of both British and foreign artists. Beyond the room is the " Sculpture Gallery," a very long and well-lighted room, replete with valuable specimens of statuary, by many of the first masters, a considerable number of them in Parian marble. The walls to a great height are also almost covered with paintings, not a few of which are rare and beautiful. Amongst the statuary we were struck with " Cupid and Psyche," in alto, by Gibson ; " Satan tempting Adam," by John Deare, and several figures in the middle of the room, not labelled, including 331 and 332, an exquisite " pair," and 334 a female playing a flute. Not having the catalogue, we cannot furnish the names of the authors of many of the productions. Several of the casts were recognised as those of townsmen. The painting 297 is a fine head of an old man. 304 is a good picture. 301, a water-colour, we presume ; a female with a dove, is beautifully soft. It appears, indeed, as delicate as a mi niature. Passing from this room to the west, the visiter reaches the Museum. Here there are, we may say, thousands of specimens in glass cases of natural curiosities, including insects, birds, fossils, minerals, &c., admirably preserved. We here also saw a stuffed lama, the Alpaco of Peru, covered with black glossy silky wool, of apparently half a yard in length. The " Gallery of Paintings" is a little farther to the west, and is a large, long, and well-lighted room. Here again we were at a loss for a catalogue, although some of the pictures only were ticketed. At the head of the room we recognised the portrait of our chief magistrate, an excellent likeness. Here are also several of the paintings from the Town-hall, • sent by the corporation. There are - a great number of fine paintings in the room, and not a few admirable drawings in water-colours and chalk. A portrait in crayon, of Mr. Jordan, in 1792, at the far end of the room, is very masterly. It is by J. Russell, R.A. We shall revert to this room in our next. Meantime, in a very cursory view, we thought Nos. 173, 210, 24, 28, 32, and 104, good productions. The room containing anatomical preparations, casts, &c., was on this occasion closed, for the arrangement we presume of additional specimens. We then entered the room containing in glass cases a very large collection of autographs sent by Di. Raffles. These are most curious, from kings, queens, princes, statesmen, philosophers, the great, (not always good,) the worthies, the literati, and scientific men, and the eccentrics of every age and eyery country. Many of the signatures of the potentates, peers and others, are appended to important and curious official documents. We next visited a large room appropriated to curiosities in natural history, stuffed birds, animals and insects, from all quarters of the globe, fossils, minerals, petrefactions, shells, &c. Here there is a fine collection of fossils sent by Messrs. R. and J. Ripley of Whitby, and found in the Lias in the neighbourhood of that town. Amongst these is the head of an Ichthyosaurus in an almost entire state, a very curious and valuable specimen. Many of them are very beautifully polished. The " Drawing Room" of the Institution is not in the splendid suite. Many of the pictures exhibit great progress on the part of the scholar. We next came to a room containing models and curiosities, which is well worthy of a prolonged visit. Here is almost every variety of tropical and Indian curiosity.—Ancient and beautiful manuscripts in the various oriental languages, medals, cameos, Indian apparel, and curious implements of war, ancient and foreign guns, rifles, and pistols, some of them curiously fashioned, and inlaid with silver and other pre cious materials, coats of mail, canoes, war-clubs, Burmese idols, &c., &c. We also observed several beautiful specimens of British porcelain, in vases, china baskets, with exquisite pictures in miniature, tables and boxes veneered in valuable stones, a cast iron map of England, &c., &c. Descending to the ground floor, we next visited what may be called the general printing room. Here excellent apparatus is fitted up, and workmen are busy exhibiting the several practical operations of paper staining, or printing paper for rooms, letter-press, copperplate, and lithographic printing,— appropriate specimens being produced of each. Here also an artist was busy showing the art of glass-blowing, in the production of various chimney ornaments, &c. In a room close by, in the left wing, were employed several workwomen of Mr. G. Wood, of Adelphi House, Bold-street, in the manufacturing of fringe of various descriptions, silk tassels, &c. The walls of the room are beautifully decorated, particularly the south wall, by a splendid disposal of beautiful upholstery articles, in representation of pillars and arches. In the adjoining room Messrs. Woolright and Chidson ex hibit a quantity of elegant upholstery goods, and several looms at work in the making of fringes ' • one of these is very large, and weaves many distinct bands of fringe or tape, simultaneously. There is also here a small working model of a fringe loom, with improved moveable batton, by Mr. W. Chidson, made in 1830, and now generally adopted. We noticed also specimens of the patent cloth, in admirable imi tation of gold and silver tissue, of which the brilliant portion is absolutely of threads of glass, as fine or finer than the hair of the head. Passing southward, the visitor reaches the room contain ing the philosophical apparatus, and a deeply interesting room it is. Here there are numerous beautiful working mo dels of high and low pressure steam engines, of various con struction, with a view to the attainment ofi improvement. Several of these are nearly two feet in height, others are of the size of watches, and one we observed, a high pressure, made of gold, not nearly so large, the fly-wheel of which was scarcely the circumference of the thumb nail. There is here a great variety of fine electrical and galvanic apparatus, the extraordinary effect of whicn are in several parts of the room displayed in a very pleasing and amusing manner. Several fine specimens of photogenic drawing are depo sited by Mr.• Abraham, of Lord-street. We noticed a fine specimen of a West India windmill, for the express ing of the juice of the cane, the whole supported merely by iron pillars. Three beautiful models of vessels in alto or half round, from the Isle of Man, arc, in our opinion, very beautiful and scientific. There is also a large frigate, fully rigged, not by the same hand. We noted, too, a fine model of a steam-boa', and some curious models of Chinese and Malay ships with cane sails. These are genuine origi nals. A little brig in ivory is also beautiful. Here young visiters will be amused by the Acoustic Invisible Girl. In the theatre are exhibited all the wonders of the micro scope, and at two fixed periods every day, the same instru ment lighted by oxy-hydrogen gas. In a room under that containing the philosophical ap paratus, there is another containing scientific models of too large and ponderous a size to find room on the apartments above, but which are practically equally and more inter esting. Here there is a canal filled with water, of about 40 feet long, with a steam-boat upon it, having an engine complete. At one end, and carried over the canal by a bridge, is a cir cular or endless railway, with a locomotive and train. In the centre of the arch, and rising from the canal, there is a handsome fountain, the overflow of which turns a bucket water-wheel. The apparatus is not yet quite completed in this room, so that this and other models, &c., cannot yet be put into operation, but we shall recur to them. We observed amongst others, an anatomical theatre, several vessels, turn ing lathes, pumps, a beautiful prize steam railway carriage, sea-wall landing-steps, a floating coffee-dam, life-buoys, &c. &c. But we must conclude for the present. We shall return to the subject from time to time, while the exhibition conti nues open, and meantime we recommend parties, who have trot seen the exhibition, to lose no time in doing so. The whole is beautiful, perfectly unexceptionable, and equally interesting to both sexes, and to young and old. His Grace the Archbishop of York has been pleased to appoint John Simpson, proctor in the Consistory Court of Chester, to be a proctor in the Ecclesiastical Courts of York, in the room of Joshua Mills, Esq., deceased. CORRESPONDENCE. TO CORRESPONDENTS. An interesting letter on " The Battle of Waterloo," together with several other communications, are unavoidably post poned for want of space. THE SCREW PRINCIPLE.—We understand that an ingenious townsman is at present actively engaged in the attempt to apply the principle of the screw to the propulsion of the human body in swimming. In this instance, however, it is found that the location of the propelling posNer will have to be reversed, the head - being found to be the lighter ex tremity, more buoyant than the stern, and consequently more capable of.sustaining the weight of machinery neces sary. Our townsman has already got several wheels firmly fixed in his-head, and expects in a few days to produce th,, movement required for turning the screw. The friction will be very slight, as the material in which the machinery works is very soft. It is anticipated that the first trial will be made in a few days on board the Floating Bath. " A WEST INDIAN."—We have paid much attention to the proceedings at the meetings of the Anti-Slavery Convention. In our next we shall expose the falsehoods and infambus slanders in which several of the speakers have ventured to indulge in reference to the West India planters. Knibb and O'Connell, par nobile fratrum, shall come in fora share of the castigation which we have in reserve for the.ie murk philanthropists. " John Blunt" is a gander of the first magnitude, but it is not worth our while to " roast him." The verses headed " God saved the Queen" are creditable to the feelings of the author, but are deficient in point. An imitation or paraphrase of our national anthem must be exceedingly good, or it is—good for nothing. The letter signed " L," relating- to the proceedings at the late meeting in the Sessions'-house, has been fully antici pated by our own remarks. THE EISTEDDFOD.—A correspondent informs us that " Edward Jones, of Duke-street. Liverpool, who obtained the silver harp and medal at the Welsh meeting of 1839, the author of Bess Stanley,' Kate, the Lancashire Maid," &c., who is well known as an excellent harp-player, complains of the award made by the judges at the recent Eisteddfod. He feels that an arrangement which would constitute any gentleman a judge in a case where his own son and his own pupils were to contend for the prizes, was not likely to satisfy an impartial public. Jones is again anxious to enter into competition with those to whom the prizes were adjudged, before a fair tribunal, if such an ad vantage can be secured for him." We are afraid our cor respondent is a little hasty. If we are not misinformed , the judges in the case alluded to were English gentlemen of high musical reputation, who are incapable of the par tial conduct attributed to them. While we would make every allowance for feelings of disappointment in such a case, we ought not to blame the innocent. POLITICAL CHARACTERS. (From the Oxford Herald.) TIIE EARL FITZWILLIAM. " Thou wear a lion's hide! doff it, for shame, And hang a calf skin on those recreant limbs." Lord Fitzwilliam is a man with one and only one idea. That solitary crotchet has taken such firm hold of his minute intellect that he can never forget it. When he sleeps he dreams of it ; when he wakes he thinks of it ; when he is alone he muses upon it ; when he can meet with any one who will listen to him he talks of it; and when no one will listen to him he writes about it. Morning, noon, and night, in the bosom of his family, in the private circle of his personal friends, in the senate, at the rout, at the festive board, in the theatre, at each and all of these places, and even in the church as well, does Lord Fitzwilliam carry with him his one idea. It is ever present, it is part and parcel of himself. It would be as reasonable to expect Joe Hume to talk grammar, or O'Connell to conduct himself like a gentleman, as to expect the Lord of Wentworth to speak on any matter for five mi nutes without dragging it by the neck and shoulders the single subject to which all the powers of his stupendous mind are devoted. What is that subject ? will be asked. Is it one of great public importance ? Is it a project which, if carried out, is calculated to benefit the poorer classes of society ? Is it likely to make England greater and more glorious? Oh no! It is a project certain to be attended with the most pernicious results to the country at large, to destroy the agricultural interest, to inflict great injury on the labourer and the artizan, to make England depen dent on foreign countries for the bread she eats. It is, in short—to repeal the corn-laws. " What then," it will be said, " can Lord Fitzwilliam mean by making such a baneful scheme his hobby, when there are so many others to which he might devote his attention, with honour to himself and with advantage to his country ?" A very proper and very natural question certainly, but the only answer we can return is, that his lordship is a whig, and that it is the end and aim of his political creed to do as little good, and to commit as much injury as possible. " But can Lord Fitzwilliam, who is a real lord, you know, think and talk of nothing else than that horrid scheme of repealing the corn laws, and thereby making papa a beggar ?" Is a question which will be put by one of those black-eyed beauties who live in the large, com fortable, old-fashioned English farm houses with which our own beautiful county abounds. " Even so," we reply.— " But is'nt he a great bore ?" Ah ! you may say that, he is a bore, a most intolerable bore, in proof whereof we will give a short sketch of his conversation on one particular day : " Well, my Lord Fitzwilliam," said the Hon. Mr. Fiddle Faddle, " we've had beautiful weather lately." " Beautiful weather! egad, if we could only get the corn laws repealed we should then have weather which might indeed be called beautiful. " A fine horse, that of yours," observed Lord Stablejacket. " Why he's very well, but nothing to what he would be if we could get rid of those confounded corn laws." "Ah ! moi foine fello, look at my whiskarr, there's a fine curl, quoite natural, no curling iron, one of the beauties of nature, is'nt it ?" insinuatingly enquired the Marquis of Normanby. " Beautiful ! upon my soul, beauti ful ! but don't you see, my Lord, that if the corn laws were repealed curling irons could be got for nothing, whilst Macassar Oil would be one hundred per cent. cheaper ?" " What ?" ejaculated the noble Marquis, giving a tragic start, and clapping his hand on his forehead, as he used to do when he played Hamlet at Florence. "Did my ears deceive me ? Did I hear aright ? Speak those words again, I pray you." Lord Fitzwilliam complied. " Curling irons for nothing, and Macassar one hundred per cent. cheaper," said the noble Secretary of State for the Home Department, folding his arms and stalking solemnly across the apartment. " Then I'll go and vote at the cabinet meet ing to make the corn laws an ' open question.' " " And pway wawt may be your lordship's pwivate opinion of Tal fowd's new play; not quite equal to some of mine, I think, eh ?" gently lisped Sir Lyttel Bulrush, Baronet and M.P. " Why, Talfourd's a clever fellow, and a corn law repealer, but I declare he has not once mentioned those injurious laws in his play. Now, he might have done the cause good ser vice if he had made Halbert Macdonald exclaim, ' There is a fate bangs over me, and it's set on by those accursed corn laws.' It would. have been a poetical and natural idea, and would have impressed the people with a greater detestation of those abominable laws." " What a shocking thing it is that so many murders should have been committed within so short a time, isn't it, my lord ?" observed Mrs. Fitzhorrible. " It is, indeed, my dear madam ; but what can we expect whilst there is a tax on bread ? Talking about the tax on bread, by the by, reminds me that I have my last treatise on the corn laws in my pocket, and I will do myself the pleasure of reading it to you.' Whilst the noble lord, however, was fumbling for his pamphlet against the corn laws, Mrs. Fitz horrible recollected that she had to fetch some article from another apartment. We will leave his lordship waiting for the lady's return. When Lord Fitzwilliam was in the House of Commons, he was generally considered a bore. Canning nicknamed him " Lord Millstone," because he boasted of being able to see as far into a millstone as most folks. The corn law question has always been a favourite theme of his, but it is only since he has been in the upper house that he has made it nearly the sole occupation of his life. Session after ses sion has he endeavoured to induce the House of Lords to grant a committee to inquire into the operation of the corn laws, or to take some other step to upset them; but hitherto all his endeavours have been unsuccessful. He is, however, not to be discouraged, and he has accordingly at this moment a notice of a motion on the order-book of the House of Lords on the same subject. When that motion is brought forward, the house will be entertained with another edition of the speech which he has so often delivered, and which has been so often refuted. The same statement of what he calls facts will be hashed up again; the same string of sentences, which he calls argument, will be repolished ; the same vapid images, which he considers flourishes of rhetoric, will be repeated; and the same absurd antics and ridiculous gesticulations will be gone through. Having amused himself in this manner for about three quarters of an hour, the noble earl will sit down, though not before he has thoroughly exhausted the patience of his hearers. Some discussion will then take place, and eventually the motion will be negatived by a large majority. The next morning a report of the debate will appear in the newspapers. The Morning Chronicle will call attention, in a leading article, to Lord Fitz ivilliam's speech, and Lord Fitzwilliam will there upon order five hundred copies of the Morning Chronicle, which lie will despatch to his agents in the country, with di rections to distribute them to his tenants and friends. A. few weeks afterwards he will print his speech, " with notes, additions, and corrections," and get Ridgway to publish it for him. In due course of time Ridgway will present a bill for a few hundreds of pounds, and inform his lordship that, as nobody would purchase the speech, he has been under the necessity of selling it as waste paper to the buttermen. Lord Fitzwilliam will thereupon hand Ridgway a check, curse the stupidity of the people, and bow Ridgway out. His lordship will then give himself not much further trouble about the corn-laws, except the trouble of chattering about them to every one who comes near him, until the ensuing Session of Parliament, when he will repeat the performances we have just described. Lord Fitzwilliam being a large landed proprietor, the sin gularity of his opinions on the corn laws occasion the more wonder. He is possessed, I believe, of great property, and perhaps does not mind losing a few thousands per annum, by the repeal of the corn laws, to pay for his fancy ; but he should recollect that a loss which is trifling to him would be ruinous to his tenants. He is, I understand, a good land- lord, and a kind-hearted man in private life. He seems, from his doings in the legislature, " a good-natured sort of simpleton. t, He often, indeed always, when he speaks, gets laughed at but instead of turning crusty, he laughs too, 35 though he thought it good fun. He has a frank, open, and pleasing countenance, with light sandy hair, and is about the middle height. He dresses with simplicity. Of statesman ship he knows nothing, and makes no pretensions to it, ex cept on the single question of the corn laws. He understands as much about oratory as the man who feeds his pigs. He seems to have a strange liking to see himself in print, for he has written several pamphlets on his everlasting theme—the corn laws. " 'Tis pleasant, sure, to see one's name inpript,!. A book 's a book, although there's nothing in't• As the pleasure is a harmless one, there can he no objection to Lord Fitzwilliam indulging in it as much as he pleases, though Heaven in its mercy forbid that we or any other per son should be obliged to read his lucubrations! 1. A. T. T. List of passengers per ship South America, from New York.—Mr. Chas. Coffin, Mr. W. B. Higgins, Mr. E. D . Harbon, Mr. G. Alexander, Mr. John Reid Mr. W. B. Wright, Mr. J. L. Perrin, Mr. Jas. C. S. L. Morrison, Mr. J. J. Ryan, Mr. H. Black, Mr. S. Poole, Mr. J. D. Prince and lady, Mr. John Schofield, Mr. J. S. Orr, Mr. John Cheetham, Mr. Josh. Massey, Mr. J. D. Roche, Mr. Rat. Dickens, Mr. Thomas Bryant, and Miss James. HALIFAX AND BOSTON STEAM-SHIPS. —We observe that the sailing of the Britannia has been postponed to the 4th July, in consequence of the Post-office determining to make up the North American mails on the 3d, instead of the Ist of the month, as heretofore. We understand, that the repeated trials of the Britannia have proved in the highest degree satisfactory to all concerned. That every t hi n g may be in a finished state on arriving here, she is, we find, not to leave the Clyde for this port until to. morrow or next day. ANCIENT ORDER OF FORESTERS.—A splendid procession of this order took place yesterday in Birkenhead, the mem bers, with their banners, bands, &c., proceeding from Mr. Mozley's, the Albion. Hotel, to Woodside, and returning through the principal streets to the pla ce of starting, where a good substantial dinner was provi ded by Mr. Mozly, which gave great satisfaction to the company Dr. Mallin, a brother of the order, was the chairman,, and after a number of loyal and patriotic toasts had been gven, y present. interspersed with excellent singing, the members sepFated at a late hour. We understand that a similar processwan Liverpool will take place early in August, and we are gld e o find that the order is rapidly rising in n umbeis and r - spectability. ,~