The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-06-12 00:00:00

THEATRE-ROYAL, LIVERPOOL. FOR THE BENEFIT OF MR. KEELEY, And the Last Night but Five of the engagement of Mr. YATES, Mr. and Mrs. KEELEY, and Mr. PAUL BEDFORD. JACK SHEPPARD will be repeated eve!) , Evening. The engagement of the above Performers will positively terminate on FRIDAY, June 19th. THIS present FRIDAY, June 12, 1840, will be per formed, for the tenth time at this Theatre, an entir e ly New Romantic and Historical Drama, in Four Parts, with new Music, Scenery, Dresses, and Decorations, called JACK SHEPPARD. The Drama produced under the immediate Direction of Mr. YATES. Abram Mendez Mr. Yates. Jack Sheppard Mrs. Keeley. Joe Blueskin Mr. Paul Bedford. (As originally performed by them in London.) After which will be produced, for the first time here, a new Farce, written by J. R. Planche, Esq., ca lled A PECULIAR POSITION. Champignon Mr. Keeley. To conclude with the Operetta of the LOAN OF A LOVER. Peter Spyk .... (his original character) .... Mr. Keeley. Gertrude Mrs. Keeley. , On MONDAY, June 15, the popular Drama o f JACK O HEPPARD. To conclude with the new Drama of THE DEVIL IN LONDON. *** **** *, Mr. Yates ; Me thistophiles, Mr. Paul Bedford; Mr. John, Mr. Keeley; P eggy Paragon, Mrs. Keeley. ANATOMICAL VENUS. IT has already been announced, that TUESDAY and FRI DAYS are exclusively for LADIES. A wish having been expressed by several Ladies, for a longer explanation of this truly wonderful production of Art, the Proprietor announces, that a competent person will deliver a LECTURE, provided he obtains a sufficient number of names for the purpose, on ItIDAY next, June 12th. The Lecture commences (for Ladie s only) precisely at Half-past Seven. Admittance, as usual, ls. ; for the Lecture, 2s. 6d. 53 , Bold-street. `_._: ebt Zibtrpoot cttanbarti. FRIDAY MORNING, JUNE 12, 1840. We are sorry this day to have to lay before our rea ders the particulars, so far as they have transpired, of an atrocious attempt to assassinate our gracious Queen and her illustrious Consort. A merciful Providence has happily averted the calamity which the success of this meditated crime would have brought down upon our country ; and to that over-ruling power it is the bounden duty of every British subject to offer up the grateful homage of a thankful and adoring spirit. We have at present no clue to the motives which have impelled the assassin to the perpetration of the foul deed which he has unsuccessfully attempted. F rom his age and his station in life, he could have no Personal enmity to the illustrious objects against whom he has raised his hand; and we would fain hope that the inciting motives will be found to spring from no deep er a source than the perverted feelings of a male volent disposition, at war for the moment with all that is great and good in human nature, or from the diseased Promptings of incipient madness, attracting to crime of the deepest die as likely to confer the most lasting notoriety. Whilst this attempt is fresh upon the minds of t he -Royal Pair, we trust that some sincerer friend of t he monarchy, and of her in whom its powers are con centrated, than can be found amongst the greedy sYcophants who surround the Court, will impress upon the mind of the Queen` the danger to which she is daily presenting her Royal person by her too fre quent appearance in the crowded thoroughfares of the metropolis unattended by the usual appendages of her ' 1 regal state.. We admire the feeling which prompts our Sovereign to rely for protection upon the affection °1 her people. But there is n limit beyOnd which such trust should not be extended. Her Majesty pos sesses, we have no doubt, the fearless and chivalrous c haracter of her race, as her undisturbed demeanour ° l l this lamentable occasion sufficiently evinces; but, although in her bosom when amongst her people, fear i 6 a stranger, yet it is the duty of her ministers to pre vent the frequent exposure of the Royal person in Places.of . indiscriminate resort, and to check the too confiding spirit of a young and joyous heart, whose heating,.the weapon-of a traitor or a madman, might i n an unhappy moment be enabled to still for ever ! We have received a file of the St. John's (N. 8.) Meekly' Chronicle to the sth of May, inclusive. We 4 0 not find in any of them a single paragraph contain ing any news of importance. In another column we republish from our second edition of Tuesday the most interesting portions of the news brought from China and the East Indies, by • the overland mail. It will be seen that the Chinese h ad made two attempts to burn the British fleet in l i °ngkoo Bay. Both these attempts were, we are h appy to say, unsuccessful. They would serve, no doubt, as cautions to the officers and crews of the se t'eral vessels stationed in the Bay to be more on their guard. A memorial had hem addressed to the Emperor by i rsan g Wang-yen, recommending the total stoppage of the foreign trade, and suggesting a general massacre of the British. The preamble of this document says— seeing that the disposition of foreigners is fickle and wavering-, 1 beg hereby to propose that the ports be shut .against them—that egress from our shores be Prohibited—and that a plan be laid for the utter ex termination of offenders ; thereby to cut off the greedy I lews of foreigners, and cleanse the impure fountain evil." One of the suggestions contained in this e xtraordinary memorial is, that the Chinese war cruisers should entice the " barbarian" enemies to enter the inner waters, and that, in the mean time s everal hundreds of the people living on the sea coast s hould be got ready—those who are the stoutest and bravest, and the best swimmers and divers—and that these . should be divided into groups to go diving s traight on board the foreign ships, and taking the s aid foreigners unawares, massacre every individual ginouy them. A very cool proposition, truly ! but s omewhat more difficult of performance than this f u►rctionary would seem to imagine. Another of his Propositions is, that several hundreds of fire-ships should be fitted up, and sent among the shipping of the foreigners. Another document from the same officer suggests the propriety of placing additional restrictions on the tr ade with the Portuguese at Macao, compelling them to bec ome security for all the other foreigners. It Will be seen that a spirit of discontent and re bellion had become very prevalent among the inhabi tants of Pekin and Moukden. An imperial edict had , l een issued in consequence, advising increased vigi lance on the part of the magistrates, From India we learn that the preparations for the e xpedition to China had been carried on with great activity. Most of the vessels destined for this service bad sailed, and the remainder would follow in a few day s . From letters which had been received from Sir Alex ander Burnes it would appear that a Russian army of 24,000 men, infantry and cavalry, with 70 pieces of artillery had reached Khiva. Another account states that the Russian forces were only on their march thither, with the intention of further advancing on ilokhara . , and that the cholera had broken out in the Russian camp. At the time when the various government registra tion bills were introduced, we denounced them as formi ng part of the tricky manteuvres by which Lord Melbourne's shabby administration were attempting to defeat the measure framed by Lord Stanley to purify registries of Ireland. For taking this view of the ease we had the very best authority—viz., that of the greatest scoundrel of the Whig party, who, in one of his truculent harangues, delivered at the Corn Ex change in Dublin on the 14th of April last, aud—mark t his, reader—pre.viouslg to any public intimation as to 14 e nature of the bills in question—congratulated the People of Ireland, the John Alalonys and Tom Cas idys, that they " had the government them on the subject of the registry," and that Lord John Rus -sell, the most contemptible lickspittle that ever bowed his venal person before the menace of a briny, had in troduced a sham bill for England, which we uld " g i ve the house the legitimate excuse of postponing the Irish Lrll until the English one was settled." Such a post- Ponetnent, the mendicant well knew, was one likely to extend to a sufficiently distant period. O'Connell him doubtless, sat at the council board at which the Rovernment measures were framed—not in his own ob scene person, perhaps, but in the form of the serpent tvhich of old" squatted like a toad" at the ear of our first mother; arid the impostor was perfectly aware that the poison which he had infused into them was tinite sufficient to ensure their rejection by the people 411 d the parliament of England. We have since been confirmed in our opinion by the further proceedings of the ministry with respect to these SHAM BILLS--these "obstructing" measures. A few days only before the adjournment of the house for the Whitsuntide vacation Mr. Pigot obtained leave to bring in his two bills on the subject of Irish regis tration, with the view, avowed by Lord John Russell, of taking the sense of the house upon the comparative merits of Lord Stanley's and his own measures. We will for a moment suppose, in the teeth of all proba bility, that such was the sincere object of ministers ; that they had at the time a bill framed to meet the oh , jects contemplated by Lord Stanley's bill ; that, in short, they were, for once in their lives, bent upon ho nestly consulting the true interests of their country, and not merely seekin g by a subterfuge to postpone altogether the consideration of the question, and to leave untouched the perjuries and measureless frauds upon which their existence as a ministry is solely de pendent. In such a case what would have been their anxious endeavour ? Already the principle of Lord Stanley's bill had been twice affirmed, and, on the last occasion, by a house unprecedentedly numerous, and after one of the most strenuously fought contests since the passing of the reform bill. Already the principle and the details of Lord Stanley's bill had been fully discussed in parliament and throughout the country. Ought it not then to have been the anxious study of ministers to allow parliament and the public the fullest time and opportunity, previous to the renewed discus sion and division, threatened to prevent the measure of Lord Stanley from proceeding in committee, of exa mining carefully the principles and provisions of those measures which were then to be placed in competition with that of his lordship;—with that measure which had twice received the sanction of the House of Com mons ? An honest ministry, seeking an honest object, would undoubtedly have courted the full light of day upon their proceedings and their measures ; but the ministry of Lord Melbourne is not permitted by the demagogue whose tools .and slaves they are to pursue so honest and so manly a course. The weapons of a British states man—truth and fair discussion—are not those in favour with the perjured assassin of his country's weal. The stab in the dark or the bullet fired from behind a pro jecting hedge are the modes of warfare by which the traitorous projects of that licensed ruffian are worked out. The supporters of Lord Stanley's bill, will, there fore, have to grope blindfold for their antagonist ; to seek in the vague generalities, with which whig crafti ness and fraud contrive to fling into their diatribes, the features, the form, and the power of the enemy with which they will have to grapple during the next furious onset which perjury and fraud are preparing to make upon constitutional liberty and truth ! Yes, such is, in effect, the position in which this contemptible faction have, studiously and dishonestly, placed Lord Stanley and his supporters. The compet ing measure of the Solicitor-General for Ireland is divided into two bills ; the one restricted to the mode of registration, and the other defining the franchise. Yet, although the motion for going into committee upon Lord Stanley's bill is fixed for this evening, (we write on Thursday,) the first has only been printed a few days, and can be but imperfectly known to a great portion of the House of Commons, whilst the second— that which defines the franchise, and which, judging from past experience, is the most important of the two —was only printed on Tuesday last, during a recess, and delivered to members so as not to allow above a few hours for perusal, previous to the house being called upon to discuss and decide upon its princi ples ! The bill declaring the mode of registry, which, after all the cavilling of the whig faction, is not very essentially different in its provisions from Lord Stanley's bill, has been allowed to be a few days before the members of the House of Commons and the public ; but the vital part of the measure, the declaratory bill by which the franchise is to be virtually lowered, the decision of the judges of the land to be fraudulently reversed, and the suffrage in Ireland to be approached, as near as an accommodating conscience can bring it, to a household suffrage, is craftily kept in the back ground until the last possible moment, although deemed such an indispensable portion of any change, that no measure will be allowed to pass which is not accompa nied by such an enactment ! We have all along maintained that the true whig ob jection to Lord Stanley's measure was, its honesty. It was framed to effect the object which it professis to have in view. The measure of the Irish government, on the contrary, only throws a veil over the external evil, whilst it opens fresh ground for corruption to work upon. The measure of Lord Stanley cauterizes and eradicates the malady. That of ministers only skims over the outward and revolting sore, and allows the malady to fester more deeply into the vitals, and to gather added strength in its more hidden workings. The acknowledged evil of personation of voters, and its consequent perjury, arising from the eight years' registry and the certificate system, is alike attempted to be remedied by both parties ; but the government pro poses to substitute for this another and a greater evil, because not so capable of detection ; and to open a new source of perjury and fraud, by allowing the claimant to put his own estimate of value upon the qualification which is to entitle him to a vote ! We have no fear that this contemptible trick will succeed, or that the House of Commons will so far defy and outrage public opinion, as to allow themselves to be dragooned into a blind submission to so groSs a fraud. The short period which has elapsed since the last division upon this vital question, has added two staunch supporters to its noble . champion, from the filling up of vacancies in Ludlow and Cambridge. Before another division Radnorshire will have re turned a Conservative in the place of a ministerialist, and the glorious majority of three be thus converted into a still more decisive majority of seven. To a man we trust to see the Conservative party at their posts ; and, although it is evident that the whip, and that alone, is the weapon with which ministers hope to convert past defeats into victory, we cannot think that their supporters—hitherto servile enough it is true— are very well satisfied that on this question their con stituents are prepared to sanction their degraded sub mission to the detestable ruffian in whose behalf it is to be put in requisition. Readers, Electors of Liverpool, Conservatives, PREPARE FOR A DISSOLUTION ! The whig party never resign anything, and least of all their places. They will not Go OUT; be prepared to KICK THEM OUT ! YOUR SONS AND YOUR SONS' SONS WILL lAVE CAUSE TO THANK YOU FOR THE DEED. We mentioned, a few days ago, that the labourers on the plantations Anandale arid Lusignan, in Deme rara, had purchased the estate of New Orange Nassau, in the same colony. Respecting this purchase the Guiana Times remarks :—" By this transfer of posses sion we may safely compute that four hundred effective persons will be withdrawn from the cultivation of the staples. We find no fault with the people for trying to better their station in life ; but if these purchases go on, as go on they will, and we get no immigrants, what is the colony to come to ? When plantations lately flourishing under the staples are rank only with weeds or kitchen vegetables, proclaim through the co lony, if you can, without a blush for your rapacity, that the colonists ought to double your civil list." We have been informed, through a private source, upon which we can implicitly rely, that, subsequently to the date of the foregoing remarks, the bargain for the above purchase has been completed, and the money paid. But a curious coincidence has arisen. 'The negroes belonging to New Orange Nassau estate, and who have been for years residing on it, under " White" Massa, have positively refused to come to any terms to labour for their new sable governors. In consequence of this " strike," the purchasers of this property are sending home a petition to her Majesty, humbly praying that the restriction may be withdrawn prohibiting the importation of Hill Coolies, and that every encouragement may be granted to favour a sys tem of immigration ! What will Lord John Russell say to this ? It will be seen, by our report of the proceedings of the Dock Committee yesterday, that an attempt was made by Mr. Robertson Gladstone to ascertain the ex penses already incurred in the endeavour to procure the sanction of the committee of the House of Com mons to their absurd and dishonest dock warehousing bill. We have already shown how readily the pro moters of that precious scheme were prepared to bar ter for it those rights and privileges by the enjoyment of which Liverpool has been enabled to attain her proud pre-eminence amongst the maritime communities of the empire; and Mr. Gladstone's object was, doubt less, to afford additional evidence to his fellow-towns men of the lavish manner in which the funds en trusted to the keeping of their liberal and reforming representatives could be thrown away, when the object was to obtain an increase of party influence and to per- petrate a corrupt job. That gentleman, however, our readers will not be surprised to learn, "took nothing by his motion." The chairman, Mr. Alderman Benn, knew nothing of the matter—" had no idea at all !" We wonder, by the bye, at what remote period Mr. Alderman Benn ever possessed such an article as an idea. When public money is to be spent for Whig party purposes, your ge nuine reformer seldom takes the trouble of ascertaining more than the amount which passes into his own pocket, and that amount he could tell pretty accurately, but—what a world of meaning is in that little mono syllable !—it is not always convenient to be so very communicative. But although the Dock Committee and their alder manic chairman refused to inform the public how their funds are appropriated, there is no reason why we our selves should be delicate about the matter. We happen to know that that bill, the joint production of knavery and tomfoolery, has cost already several thousand pounds, and will cost nothing less, if it is persevered in, than three times the present amount. This is in dependent, too, of the money that will be necessarily spent by the parties opposing it. We may conclude, then, in plain English, that the abortive attempt to get this dishonest bill will cost the community, fully, twenty thousand pounds. We call it an abortive attempt, for the promoters themselves say that their hopes are not sanguine, whilst others, who are in the secret, say that they have no chance whatever of succeeding. None but madmen, with the host of persons arrayed against them, would have begun it, and none but knaves would now think of going on with it. That this is the case is sufficiently indic . ated by the fact that the chairman himself, ►-hose meagre capacity would permit him to enter into any folly, would now gladly retrace his steps if he could, and abandon the bill. Another gentleman, we perceive—an alderman, too—one of the rejected of the people, who distinguished himself as a witness before the Committee of the House of Commons, knowing everything of every trade but his own, has ratted ; and seems to prefer the area of the Liverpool Exchange, where he is somebody, to the Commons' Committee-room, where he is only a cotton broker. In time, as the plot thickens, we shall no doubt have a few more secessions, perhaps not unac companied with confessions, which will be vastly edify ing and which shall be duly chronicled. One or two gentlemen, at least, who are not in their proper position upon this question, we should be glad to see retreat before any general blow up takes place. In the few remarks which we offered last Friday in reply to an assumption of the Liverpool Times that, provided a regular quantity of foreign corn was intro duced for home consumption, a corresponding amount of manufactured goods would be taken in exchange for it, and no drain for bullion would ensue, we maintained that, even could so favourable an arrangement be made, still a portion of those manufactured goods consisting of the raw material, which is a foreign product, would have ultimately to' be paid for in gold. This position our contemporary does not venture seriously to attack, although by a little bye play he contrives to throw a doubt upon it. " There is not the slightest reason," he says, " for-believing that the raw cotton, wool, and silk used for manufacturing these goods would have to be paid for in bullion." Indeed. In what shape then, we ask, would these raw materials have to he paid for ? In manufactured goods again, argues our contempo rary, for " the only effect. of an increased demand for" raw materials, " judging from the experience of the past, would be to increase still more the demand for goods." In this description of vague and unsupported asser- tion your true political economist is always ready to take refuge. On the present occasion, however, our contemporary only postpones the specie payment for which we have contended. The manufactured goods in which payment for this additional quantity of raw material is to be made will themselves require a further supply of raw material; and if the operation is,pursued, ad infinitum, the same result will follow. We shall still have to disburse a certain quantity of specie to the foreign grower in exchange for his cheap corn. Our contemporary, by the way, is a little out, in supposing that five-sixths of our exports to the corn-growing States of Europe consist of labour and British materials. In a great portion of our exports to the pOrts of the Baltic, from which, we presume, our chief supplies of corn would he derived, and to which the chief remittance would be cotton yarns, one sixth would he nearer the mark, and that consisting of labour performed by ma chinery. Our contemporary cannot comprehend how the amount which we pay to the foreign grower, in exchange for his corn, is so much abstracted from the pocket of the British agriculturist. This plain position is " too profound for his comprehension." We are sorry for this, but we cannot undertake to supply comprehension to our contemporary. Any tradesman would convince him of the fact, that a transfer of custom from one shop to another, is, in substance, a transfer of money from the pocket of one tradesman to that of another. On this subject we beg respectfully to refer him to his own milkman. The remainder of our contemporary's article is a mere rehash of the stock dogmas of the political theo rists, in which the fact that, no matter how great a por tion of our fellow beings we throw out of employment in our mad race of avarice, we have still that portion in some way or other to maintain, is studiously left out of consideration. Unfortunately we cannot, after we have no further use for those human beings who till our land, break them up like old machinery, or convert them by a summary process into stocking frames or spinning jennies, which eat no bread and drink neither beer nor buttermilk. We might, it is true, hand them over to the tender mercies of the Poor Law Commis sioners, but even that is a process of some expense. These very ingenious gentlemen find it difficult to starve a man, in England, for much less, on the average than ls 40 per week ; and that small pittance —the lowest scale upon which a human being can be converted into an anatomy, in order that a smaller quantity of timber may be required for his coffin — would sum up to no trifling figure when multiplied by the number of living machines required to raise corn to the amount of three millions per annum ! Possibly a considerable portion of them might be advantageously converted into a rural gendarmerie, in order that the remainder might be induced to starve quietly—a pro tle e lo s uu s s nd toont lov v id e t n ry oeusb e s ohg t sob re truly v hi e al very y philosophical E h delightfullo s n o g p lish h ict oa stomachsiaafform r ; n mdisciple of society m d it a- as would be presented during this thinning operation. It is astounding to notice the shifts to which the anti-corn-law gentry have recourse in order to blind he public to the base and nefarious objects which they have in view. " We cannot," says the manufacturer, " compete with the cheap labour of the foreigner," yet in the next breath the knavish quack holds up the palms of his hands and professes that " he has no wish to reduce wages !" He wants—heaven mend his hypo critical soul—to give the workman "a large loaf;" but he has no wish for low wages. How cheap labour is to he attained by any other means than reduction of wages is past comprehension. Fasten him, however, to this point. Compel him to admit that cheap labour and low wages are inseparable, and mark his next shuffle. He didn't mean "money wages" at all. Hi s meaning was, that the workman would have greater comforts and more food for less money; and he him self would quietly put his hand into the pockets of the British agriculturists and transfer the difference into his own. The gross hypocrisy displayed throughout the discussion of this question is sickening. The ar guments of file advocates of repeal, if carefully arranged, would form the most beautiful jumble of contradiction that ever was swallowed by a greedy public. We beg pardon of the Times for making his feeble notice of our remarks the peg upon which we have ventured to rest our rather rambling observations. The subject is threadbare, and, although our contemporary is amongst the more moderate advocates of foreign in terests, he may depend upon it that the people of Eng land will not entrust so important a matter as the alteration of our present system of protective laws to that party which certainly abets, if they do not go all lengths with, the bitter and rancorous enemies of the agriculturists of Great Britain. Depend upon it, the anti-corn-law humbug has gone to sleep, and we trust it will not wake suddenly. THE VALET COURVOISIER IN NEWGATE. • The utter incompetency of the new police, for the detection of crime in the metropolis, has been signally evidenced, not only on the recent occasion of Lord William Russell's murder, but on several other occasions. As a preventive force, we admit that they may occasianally be of service, and in some large towns even necessary ; but when required for the pur pose of detection, to unravel the intricacies of crime, and to follow up to their clue the tangled threads of circumstantial evidence, we submit that a more incapable and useless body of men can scarcely be imagined. A single police officer, of the old school, would effect more towards the detection of an offender in a few hours, or even minutes, than the whole body of the metropolitan force, with its array of inspectors and subinspectors, could accomplish in as many weeks or months. To make up, however, for the bungling inefficiency of these raw recruits, the metropolitan authorities appear, in the case of Courvoisier the valet, to have adopted a mode of de tecting crime which strikes us as being very un-English, to say the least of it. This unfortunate person who is, as our readers are aware, confined in Newgate, has, according to the Observer, " one of the turnkeys, in the apartment in which he is confined, with him night and day." Our -readers will naturally suppose that this somewhat extraordinary step is caused by a fear on the part of the authorities, that the ac cused meditates self-destruction. Such is not, however, the object for which this proceeding is adopted, and the real ob ject only creeps out when we are told that, " although a most strict watch has been kept over him, no appearance of dis turbed dreams has been discovered, his sleep being perfectly calm and sound !" This, we must confess, is the first time we ever knew an attempt made to extract evidence from a man's dreams ; and far too nine& resembles inquisition prac tice to be to our taste. We really think that, whether guilty or not, 'the poor fellow might be allowed to spend the few hours which are allotted to him before his rapidly approaching trial, without being condemned to encounter, during every moment of his waking hours, the hard features, and the inquisitorial surveillance of his gaoler. In either case the position of the accused is one of awful danger. If innocent, however strong may be the evidence against him, his feelings will occasionally wander be yond the stone walls of his prison; and it is cruel to be ever recalling them to the stern reality of his condition. If guilty, he has to make his peace with. his Creator, and the time which will be allotted to him for that purpose, after condemnation is not likely to be too long. QUICK DESPATCH.—The Isabel, from Antigua, consigned to Messrs. Shands, discharged her inward cargo, consisting of 520 hhds. sugar and 120 pns. of molasses, and took on board 520 tons of outward cargo in the short time of 35 hours. THE PROTESTANT BENEVOLENT SOCIETY.--We have been favoured with a copy of the third annual report of this excellent and loyal institution, held at the George and Vul ture Hotel, Houghton-street, and are happy to find that there has been a considerable increase in the number of members, and a large addition to the society's funds. We trust this loyal band of true-hcarted Englishmen will have a consider able augmentation to their numbers during the succeeding year, and that our more wealthy Protestants will follow the excellent example set them by our two honourable represen tatives, and enrol their names amongst the list of honorary members. We see by the advertisement that the annual dinner will take place on the anniversary of the battle of Wa terloo, when, no doubt, they will be joined by many who would wish to commemorate the recollection of that glorious day for Old England. We understand several influential gentlemen have signified their intention of being present on the. occasion. TIIE BELL Buoy.—We a few days ago heard an opinion expressed, by an officer in her Majesty's service, in command of one of the government mail-boats, relative to this buoy, which we record in the hope that the suggestion it involves may attract the attention of the Dock Committee. That gentlzman, after noticing the great value to mariners of the light ship in the Formby Channel, stated, that he lamented that the bell buoy, or perch beyond it, was not, on some occasions, efficient. The bell is heard when there is a breeze or a storm ; but in light airs or calms, which are often ac companied by fogs, it remains silent, and the buoy is often not seen until a vessel is close upon it. Our informant sug gests, that the simple appliance of a tide wheel would effec tually remedy this defect, and the cost would be trifling compared to the advantage that would be derived by mariners in that difficult portion of our channel. ESSAY ON WRITING.—We have received a copy of an excellent essay " On the Utility, Origin, and Progress of. Writing," by Mr. F. Bolingbroke Ribbans, in which this interesting subject is handled with great ability. The his torical details into which Mr. Ribbans enters are extremely curious, and are well-deserving of a careful investigation. Mr. Ribbans is the author of a series of " Instructive Copies," selected from the criticisms of Dr. Johnson on Shakspeare's Plays, which, from repeated transcription, must familiarise the mind of the pupil with the leading characteristics of each play, and thus tend to improve his taste and excite his curiosity. The style of penmanship is bold and gentleman like. THEATRE-ROYAL.—The performances this evening (Fri day) are for the benefit of that inimitable performer Mr. Keeley ; and a cursory glance at the "bill of fare" will convince any but an extraordinary sceptic that there will be an immense fund of entertainment: • With the exception of last evening, which was exceedingly wet, the houses have been crowded. The present engagement has been the most popular of any during the present season, and the manage ment are entitled .to great praise for the spirit which they have shown in the preparation of the pieces. MODERN YEOMANRY " YALOUR"--=" A TRUE BILL."— We have all heard of " fresh-water sailors ;" and modern times occasionally furnish us with specimens of butter-milk soldiers. A party of five or six individuals belonging to a corps of yeomanry now located for a short period not a hun dred miles from Liverpool, after visiting the " lions" of the town, felt their courage screwed to the sticking place, and resolved to view the veritable living "lions" encaged in the Zoological Gardens. They entered the grounds, and viewed, with unshaken nerves, the lions, the tigers, and the bears. The view of Algiers next attracted them, and they gazed with open mouth,-in dumb admiration. At length the bom bardment began; guns were fired, and bomb-shells and rockets streaked the air. Our heroes had not gazed long when they began to move backward, and one of them ex claimed, in a tremulous and energetic tone, to his compa nions, " Come, lads ! let's be gooan. if we doant run, we'll be gettin' hurt!" Whereupon the whole party turned to the right about in a shorter time than they had ever accom plished the same feat on the drilling field, and taking to their heels, made a direct steeple-chace, over shrub, hill, hedge, and railing, out of the gardens, the company making way for them, thinking they were running for a heavy wager. THE SYLPHIDE. — This steam vessel, which, it will be re membered, was a short time ago sunk about four miles north ward from the Bell Buoy, Victoria Channel, and with which an outward bound ship came in contact,—has been weighed up, and brought into the river. She now lies opposite the Magazines, water-logged. - - THE Glo EEN.—CALIGRAPHY.—We hear, that among the presents lately made to her majesty, is one of the most mag nificent specimens of penmanship ever executed. It is by Mr. John Craik, the writing master of the celebrated acade my of the royal burgh of Dumfries ; which has produced in other respects so many eminent men. At the head of the specimen, is a representation of her Majesty and Prince Al bert, done with a pen. Her Majesty received this tribute from Mr. Craik, through the Marquis of Normanby, Secre tary of State for the Home Department, in the most gracious manner, it having been given by the right hon. Sir A. John stone to the Marquis of Lansdowne for presentation.—Lite rary Gazette. NEW CART FOR WATERING THE STREETS,—(4I Mon day last, and yesterday, a street-watering cart, on an im proved system, the suggestion of Robertson Gladstone, Esq., was tried in several of the streets with gratifying success. It is of a large size ' of the tank form, firmly built, and em pannelled, and well secured with iron bolts, is mounted on four wheels, with grasshopper springs, and is drawn by two horses abreast. It will contain two tons and a half of water, and its principal peculiarity is that the distributing perfo rated pipe is continued from behind to a short distance on each side of the cart, so as to produce a lateral dis tribution of the water. From this addition, and the large size of the cart, a much greater breadth of street is dredged than by the carts formerly employed. Another advantage is, that the cart has two main pipes for the conveyance of the water to the distributing pipe, which last is divided in the middle. Each of those main or feeding-pipes has its separate valve, so that the flow of water may be readily stopped from half of the distributing pipe on either side as occasion may require. The advantage of this is, that if a street requires one-and-a-half or two-and-a,half watering breadths of the cart, one breadth of which will wet a breadth of twenty-one feet. The ordinary carts, hitherto in use, wet a breadth at once of only thirteen or fourteen feet, and the whole breath must be let on at once, there being but one valve, so that by partial double wetting, there is a waste of water. The new cart was built by Mr. Richard Holmes, Wood-street. On the first day of its trial, it wet the whole of Bold-street, and about half of Fleet-street, with one load of water, drawn once through them. The following is a list of some of the principal streets, and the breadths and halfs ( as may be) of the distributing pipe required to dredge them : BREADTH. TIM ES . Bold-street ............ 20 feet .. .. once. Seel-street ............ 201 " D u k e - s treet .......... 30 " Great George's-street .. 29 " Church-street ........ 25 " Lord-street .......... 42 " ........ t w i ce. North John-street .... 32 " ........ once and a h a lf. Castle-street .......... 40 " ........ twice. Paradise-street ........ 22 " ........ o nce . Hanover-street ........ 18 ' ........ d o. Leece-street slight And so forth in proport ion. The cart is on the whole very neat and effective, and with a few sliimprovements, already obvious, will be still more useful. QUICK VOYAGE BY STEAM. —By the following statement of the last voyage of the steam-packet Pernambucana, it will be seen that she was only 33 days and 10 hours steaming on her passage out and home, and her stoppages at the different ports 21 days and 16 hours. We know this vessel to be a very fast-going boat, but we are also persuaded that her hav ing made such an extraordinarily expeditious voyage is very much owing to the abilities of her excellent commander, Capt. F. R. Cobb,—to the knowledge he has of the Brazilian coast,—and to his experience in regard to steam-vessels pre vious to his being engaged in the Company's service : Har - Sailed from. Arrived at. At Sea. boor. d. h. d. h. Rio Janeiro, Oct. 12.. Bahia, Oct. 18.. 5 14.. 2 1 Bahia, ~ 20.. Maceio, ~ 23.. 2 18.. 1 16 Maceio, I, 25.. Pernambuco, ~ 26.. 1 4.. 2 5 Pernambuco, „ 28.. Ceara, ~ 31.. 2 21.. 1 2 Ceara, Nov. 1.. Maranbani , Nov. 3.. 2 1.. 219 Maranham, „ 6.. Para, ~ 8. • 2 10.. 2 5 Out l6 20.. 12 0 Para, Nov. 10.. Maranh am, No v. 13 .. 2 23 .. 2 0 Maranham, „ 15.. Ceara , „ 20 .. 4 2.. 112 Ceara„ 21.. Pernambuco , „ 24.. 2 18.. 2 3 ' Pernambuco ',, 26.. Mac Flo, ~ 27.. 0 19.. 118 Maceio, „ 29.. Bahia,„ 30.. 1 10.. 2 7 Bahia, Dec. 3.. Rio Janeiro, Dec. 7.. 4 20.. 0 0 Return. ...... 16 20.. 916 Total Voyage. ....33 10. . 21 16 --- • -- The horse which the Prince of Orange mounted at the battle of Waterloo, and which died not long since at the extreme age of 38 years and 7 months, has been stuffed at Brussels, by order of his royal highness, and the public have been admitted to see it. THE " ARCHIMEDES" STEAM VESSEL. In our last publication we gave a hasty and necessarily im perfect account of the first experimental cruize of the " screw ship" ArchimOes on the waters of the Mersey. Before noticing her strcond trip, we feel anxious to submit a few fur ther particulars, for the insertion of which, being then almost on the eve of publication, we had not adequate time or dis posable space. We may premise that, in making what we must certainly admit to be "favourable" notice of Mr. Smith's new plan for the propulsion of steam ships, we by no means wish to derogate from the merits of the highly scientific men, and en terprising proprietors of steam vessels, who have, for years past, devoted their talents, their individual exertions, and their means to the improvement of steam navigation, whether as regards the machinery for propulsion, or the splendid fittings and equipments of vessels, both for home and foreign traffic. On the contrary, we deem them worthy of the highest commendation; we believe that they have rendered an es sential service to their country, and that whatever degree of perfection steam navigation may yet attain by subsequent appliances, its success is mainly attributable to their en deavours, and the public encouragement which it has so meritedly elicited. At the same time it must be admitted (as we have before stated) that the " paddle wheel" mode of propulsion has many disadvantages in the opinion of mechanical and nautical men who have studied its operation. It is, however, to a certain extent, a sure mode, and, though clumsy, is found— abundance of steam power being supplied—to work well, particularly in smooth water. It evidently, however, in volves a great waste of steam, much of the power required to maintain a given speed being expended, not in propelling the vessel, but in thrashing down and afterwards in lifting up the water, in, to an inexperienced eye, a very triumphant,— but certainly, (we think,) a very unprofitable manner. We shall not attempt to define precisely the average loss of steam thus occasioned ; but we will venture to say that it amounts to nearly one-half of that indi cated in horses' power. It cannot reasonably be supposed, that any mode of propulsion or traction of a vessel on so subtle an element as water, even in a quiescent state, can give the same velocity that may be acquired by steam agency on shore, where the fulcrum, or hold of the propelling medium is on terra firma. The most that can be accomplished is to find the best principle of action in water which mechanical agency can supply, and which combines, with speedy propul sion, strength, safety, and continuous application in all wea thers. No one will suppose that it would require a traction anything like 460 horse power to drag the Liverpool steam ship, for instance, at a rate of ten or eleven miles an hour, provided it could be, and were, properly applied. We will venture to say that one-third that power, exerted upon a cable to pull her along, by a locomotive engine upon a bank, would bring her to the highest possible navigable speed, if, indeed, it did not (as a sailor would say) " tear the bows out of her." From this proposition, and knowing, too, that water presents a strong fulcrum (though not equal to land) for the propulsion of bodies insinuatingly • formed to pass through what may be called its superstratum, and that the finny inhabitants of the deep swim through it at great depths, where the resistance must be stronger, by a mere twirl of the tail or a twitter of the fin ; knowing this, we cannot shut out from our conviction the impression that vast improvement in steam, and indeed in general naviga tion, may yet be achieved, and that another century may produce novelties as wonderful as those which have even at this early period of the science astonished the mechanical philosophers of the day. It were futile to place limits on the inventive advancement of the human mind, and the sim ple fact that the application of steam to ships is scarcely of twenty years' standing, is almost enough to warrant us in assuming that it is yet in its infancy. With these opinions we hail every new mode of employing so mighty an agent which is attended with practical success, though but to a certain extent, as furnishing a new datum, at least, by which we may proceed nearer to the point of per fection, if that cannot be attained ; and of therefore advanc ing the general welfare of mankind. We have no fear, more over, that the general adoption of the present plan will be so stubbornly adhered to as to prevent the introduction of others that promise obvious advantages. Truth, in science as well as in morals, must ultimately prevail ; and we feel as sured that the practical demonstration of the applicability of the water-screw to steam-vessels supplied by the Archimedes, will soon lead to a fair and unprejudiced trial of its efficacy on a more extended scale, with such improvements as expe rience and new modification may suggest. There are several advantages of the screw principle over the paddle-wheel 'which we have not before noticed, and which we shall now briefly enumerate. The water through which a vessel passes propelled by the screw is not torn up and undulated by its action, to the en dangerment of open boats, as in the co mmot i on f requently caused by paddle-wheels. One great feature in the screw is, that it renders steam navigation available in merchant ships on long voyages in times of need, at a small expenditure of ' fuer. Making steam the resort in such cases, sails being the general mode of propulsion, an engine that would on this principle propel a vessel even at the rate of from three to five miles an hour, against a head wind, or in a dead calm, would accomplish a great desideratum. Many a fine and valuably laden vessel from distant countries is delayed in our channels by contrary winds, after a fine voyage, for many days, to the great loss of the merchant; for there is no denying that despatch is the soul of business." We have an instance on record within the last six months of a fine ship, after a run of fourteen or fifteen days from New York to the south of Ireland, having been battered about in the channel for nearly as long a period, before she could reach this her port of destination. The detention of vessels in calms, and particularly in what are termed " the horse latitudes," is also well known, and exceedingly costly and vexatious. In both cases the screw engine, even on a small scale, would be highly beneficial. For a West India voyage we cannot con ceive anything more applicable than that combination of " sail and screw" which this application admits. If adverse winds prevail on starting amongst what are called " the va riables," the use of the screw in addition to the sails, or per se if requisite, and a speedy run south to the latitude in which the trade winds prevail, would inevitably ensure a short passage to any of the Antilles, without the further aid of steam. When the trade wind was met with, studding sails might be set below and aloft, and the steam dispensed with. One of the most striking features of Mr. Smith's applica tion of the Archimedean screw is its undeniable simplicity. When a principle is simple, and to a great extent effective, we may entertain greater hopes of final perfectability (ad mitting that to be attainable,) than if it were hedged round with complication. From simplicity we can proceed to ad ditional mechanical gains; from complicacy-, unless by a re version to simplicity, every addition gives but increased friction and decreased power. The screw, whether applied as a medium of moderate pro pulsion to a heavy vessel on emergencies, or in equal com bination with sails, requires no unwieldy erection on the top sides of the ship, and may be applied in all weathers. The vessel may be thrown by the lee by a press of sail, and the propelling principle, being under water, is unaffected. In the construction of the Archimedes, it was some time before the projectors could make up their minds whether she should he modelled and built more as a steam or a sailing vessel, or a combination, as nearly as possible, of both. They decided upon the last distinction. She is a yacht as well as a steamer. Had she been built with a lighter draft of water, for steam only, or principally, as are our ordinary steam-boats, she would, no doubt, have " steamed" with greater speed. As it is she has, as an experimental vessel, done wonders. We have seen some extracts from the log-book of the Archimedes, while on six successive trips between Dover, Calais, and Ostend, in April last. On most of these occa sions she beat H. M. packets Ariel and Beaver, by some minutes. On the Gth day, Captain Chappell, R.1•1'., (now with the vessel) and Mr. Lloyd, engineer, from her Ma jesty's Dock-yard, Woolwich, commenced the superintend ence of the trials, by direction of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. In the voyage across, the Widgeon beat the Archimedes in the first trip, by 51 minutes. In returning, by ten minutes, no sail being set. The Widgeon is the fastest of the Dover packets, is ten tons less than the Archimedes, has ten-horse power more, is not so broad by five feet, and draws 41 feet less water. In a subsequent trial, in a dead calm, the Widgeon beat the Archimedes by only 31 minutes in going, and 4in returning—the time occupied being respec tively 2 hours 9 minutes, and 2 hours 11 minutes. The Widgeon was, however, subsequently beaten by the Archi medes, as appears from the following extract from the log : " On the Ist of May, the Widgeon and Archimedes started together for Calais, with a fresh breeze, both carrying sail and steaming. Archimedes performed the distance to Calais Roads in 2h. lm., beating Widgeon by 9 minutes. In re turning to Dover, she beat the Widgeon by 5 minutes, mak ing the distance in lh. 53m.—the fastest passage ever made between France and England by 14 minutes." The Archimedes has since been beaten in our river by the Duchess of Lancaster, but so triflingly, and under such com parative circumstances, that the fact is noticed merely Aa candid admission, but is of little or no weight as affecting the " on pr Mr.Sinciple" of the crew, may doubt which is yl ess et youngrender in application mith's plans, and berendered much more efficient. It was at first apprehended, that the necessity for the very rapid revolution of the screw would produce a detrimental, and, perhaps, irremediable amountof friction, and consequent tear and wear of the shaft, bearers, &c. These apprehensions have been by no means realized. The screw being under water, and consequently in a constantly cold medium, which, itself, serves to lubricate the sockets like oil, the wear by friction is astonishingly small—not, indeed, worthy of notice. We have seen one of the bearers, which has been in use for many months, and it appears, for every practical purpose, as perfect as when it was first put in. The engine (none of the best, we think,) works at the rate of about twenty-five strokes per minute, and as each turn of the shaft is multiplied upon the screw by about 51, it follows that the revolutions the revolving scull wheel (for such it is) are about 133 per minute —the periphry being 5 feet 9 inches. The vessel has steamed 3,000 miles within the last six weeks. It might be supposed that the propelling gear, being so near to the stern-post, the vessel would be difficult to steer. The contrary is, however, the fact. She takes her helm most readily, and will turn within an unusually small space. The propulsion being right on end, and under water, gives her a decided advantage over vessels worked by paddle wheels, one of which may pull more or less at her side ac cording to its immersion or abstraction from the water, par ticularly in a sea-way. So little tendency has the screw to give an unsteady direction to the vessel, that when she was put head to wind she stemmed on in straight course without a hand at the helm for some minutes together. On a lee shore a small screw engine would doubtless be effectual when other means had failed in preserving life and property in merchant ships. The Archimedes is provided with ast eapi 'thistle, lik e t h ose o f ra il way l ocomo ti ves , a usef u l cont m ance to warn vessels of her being near during fogs, &c. In noticing thus favourably Mr. Smith's screw propeller, we have no object to serve but to bring it fairly before the public, who must be the final arbiters as rektrd_s_ its merits. We may possibly over-rate its present practicable efficiency, its and introductionits probable will at o improve ments; odistant periodbut ) - 1 we 1e general, c lio to and think t a thatt it may give rise to a new era in steam navigation. For our selves, if the feeling of envy belonged to our nature we should envy Mr. Smith. We had rather be the author of this sim ple but wonderful " Essay on Ocean," than of Pope's " Essay on Man,"—for this admirable application of the screw of the great mechanical philosopher of Syracuse may do more good for humanity than all the fine perceptions of the poet, however adorned by the graces of language. But we must proceed to a short notice of THE TRIP ON WEDNESDAY. At twelve o'clock about seventy or eighty gentlemen of the first respectability embarked in the Archimedes, on her second experimental trip. The day was, as before, remark ably propitious, and the attention of Captain Chappell and the worthy inventor in offering every explanation with respect to the vessel and its mechanism was unremitting. As we have already given so minute a description of the steamer and detailed fully the principle of its propelling power, we consider it only necessary to add one or two additional par ticulars, more especially as the route taken was precisely similar to that adopted on the previous day. We may pre mise, however, in passing, that her second trip has only tended to confirm our former favourably expressed opinion of this novel application. Shortly before reaching the Crosby Light-ship, the Duchess of Lancaster steam-ship was perceived making directly for the port, and as she was known to be a remarkably fast sailer, and Mr. Smith being desirous of proving the capabilities of the Archimedes, imme diately " put about," and awaited the arrival of the former vessel. O n coming up, the screw in motion, and the two vessels went h was admirablymm immediately together ate ly)q t for the Duchess had a very slight advantage' some distance, though we are bound in fa .i i i ri r i e e s s p s e t c o t s o t f at s e pe t ed at , e better adapted proportions as to power, draught, &c., being owing, as will be seen from the subjoined comparison, to her of f r t q h u e i c t k id s e ail t i o ng. A w rc it h h im , edes had also the full strength whilst her competitor ran the whole distance in the eddy. This is the first time the contend T he Archimedes has been beaten, noticed. •ith the slight exceptions above ARCHIMEDES. DUCHESS OF LANCASTER. Diameter of cylinder . 37 in. Diameter of cylinder . 40 in. Stroke 3 ft. Stroke... 3 ft. Tonnage 237 Tonnage 238 Draught Estimated steam-power, • Estimated steam-power, 80-horse 90-horse Length between per- Length between per pendiculars Beam ...... 22 ft. 6 in. Beam Area of midship section Area of midship section at 10 feet draught.. 143 ft. at 6 feet draught We may also add that the Archimedes had that morning taken in a four days' supply of coals, whilst the Duchess may fairly be presumed, on the termination of her voyage, to have had a very small quantity on board. It was the decided con viction of the whole company that had the vessels been on equal terms the result would have been the reverse. The company were landed about half after four, all equally delighted with their gratifying excursion. As there was a feeling on board relative to the slip or loss of power from the screw, the following explanation will doubt less be satisfactory :—The screw, being 8 feet pitch, would, if working in a solid, advance 8 feet for each revolution ; but, working in a fluid, the relative difference between the speed of the screw and the vessel appears, at first sight, to be con siderable, from the supposed oblique action of the propeller. The following mode of calculating the speed of both will shew that the difference is barely one-sixth, which is consi derably less than that of ordinary paddle-wheels. The number of revolutions of the engine per minute is 26, which, multiplied by the spur wheels 5i times, gives that number of turns to the screw for one of the engine. 26 revolutions of the engine per minute. 51- 138 revolutions of the screw per minute. 8 feet pitch of screw. 1104 feet travelled per minute. 20 being lof 60, to bring it into 22,080 yards per hour, which, divided by 1760 (the number of yards in a statute mile), gives us 12 miles 160 yards per hour as the speed of the screw. Speed of the vessel for 26 strokes per minute, 10 10-25 miles per hour by the log. As we remarked at the commencement, we must leave our readers to judge from the facts we have stated as to the gene ral adoption of this mode of propulsion ; but there seems to be only one opinion as to its superiority to that now in use amongst all the scientific and practical gentlemen with whom we have conversed. We feel assured that all who have wit nessed the qualifications of the Archimedes will testify that none of our statements are exaggerated. We can only add, in closing our remarks, an earnest hope that Mr. Smith's success may be commensurate with his talents, perseverance, and outlay of capital, and in the words of a gallant old ad miral, "May his screw be long, and long ,nay he screw." MOVEMENTS IN THE ARMY. A greater number of soldiers are now in this town, and a greater number have recently passed through it, than we remember for some years. The following is a list, with the dates of arrival, departure, &c. : May 25 .—Head-quarters and three troops of the 6th Car bineers, from Manchester, en route to Dublin.—Colonel Jackson. May 29.—Head-quarters and four troops of the Scotch Greys, from Dublin, for Birmingham.—Col. Wyndham. June 3.—Head-quarters and eight companies of the 86th Regiment, from Bolton, Haydock Lodge, &c., and two com panies from the Barracks, Liverpool, for Dublin.—Colonel M'Crea. The nth Highlanders relieved the two companies which had been stationed here. June 4.—Head-quarters and two companies of the 20th Foot, from Stockport ; remained till the Bth, and embarked on board her Majesty's steamer Vesuvius, for Dublin.— Colonel Thomas. . June 6.—Cheshire Yeomanry, for field exercise.—Colonel Egerton. One troop of the 6th Carbineers, from Burnley, and Jdne 7.—Remaining two troops ditto, from Manchester. Embarked on the Bth, for Dublin. June 11.—Remaining eight companies of the 20th, per railway, from detachments near Manchester, for Dublin ; marched direct to dock, and embarked. Arrived (yesterday) four troops of the 12th, or Queen's Own Lancers, from South Wales, for Dublin. Would em bark at five this morning. —Head-quarters at Brighton ; ex pected to march from thence on the 18th instant. Prince George of Cambridge is doing duty with the head-quarters. A depot of the 23d Welsh Fusileers was expected last night from Dublin. In consequence of the stabling usually available for billets having been pre-occupied by the Cheshire Yeomanry, there was considerable difficulty in providing quarters for the 6th Carbineers dit Sunday, and in one or two instances the doors of the stables were forced in by the troopers, the proprietors having refused to accommodate them. Similar inconveni ence was experienced in quartering the Lancers yesterday. There has been a general complaint amongst the publicans and livery-stable-kepers, of the unusual numbers quartered upon them. Mr. Bretherton, livery-stable-keeper in Wood street, appealed to Mr. Rushton yesterday against a billet. He stated that he had eight horses belonging to the Cheshire Yeomanry already billeted upon him, and a billet had been presented to him for eleven horses of the 12th Lancers. He thought it was more than his share. The billet-master said that the number of cavalry in town was unusually large, whilst the quantity of stabling available for billeting had de creased. He had used every means to billet them fairly. Mr. Bretherton's was not a singular case ; Mr. Lucas had had thirty-seven horses, and in some instances every stall belonging to public-houses had been taken. When he heard that the 6th Carbineers were coining on Saturday last, he foresaw the difficulty there would be in providing them with quarters whilst the Cheshire Yeomanry were in town ; and he wrote to Colonel Falconer to request hint to halt them at Prescot, which he (Col. F.) immediately ordered by express; but the commanding officer, being of opinion that it would be injurious to the horses to embark them when heated by a march, marched them in on Sunday, the day previous to their embarkation. Mr. Rushton said he was quite satisfied: every thing appeared to be done with the greatest fairness on the part of the Billet-master, and if Mr. Bretherton could prove the reverse, he would be glad to hear him on any fu ture occasion. SPLENDID COLLECTION OF PAINTINGS, &c. There is now on view at the Exhibition-rooms, Post-office place, a very beautiful and highly valuable collection of paint ings, by the most celebrated masters of the several continental schools. They are the property of a gentleman of fortune, and are placed in the hands of Messrs. Winstanley and Sons, for exhibition for a short time previous to their final depar ture. They occupy the two exhibition-rooms and part of the ante-rooms, and comprise paintings by Spanish, Italian, Flemish, Dutch, German, and British artists. We have derived much gratification from an inspection of these pro ductions, many of which are of a first-rate character. We may instance amongst those that struck us as superior, the following .—_ No. a—Repose in Egypt, exhibits a fine enamel tone of colouring. By Barocio. 14.—An Italian Landscape, (large), perhaps the finest in the room. The distant objects in repose are beautiful. By Claude de Lorraine. 29.—St. Francis. A good portrait. By Morillo • an artist to whom the collecto r a pp ears t o h ave been attached. 21.—A fine elaborate landscape. By A. Pynaker. 31.—The Triumph of Faith. By Morillo. The face of the Virgin representing Faith, and upborne by Cherubim from earth towards heaven, is loveliness itself. 57.—A fine dark portrait of Michael Swertz, by himself. 81.—Two Poor Boys, eating water melons and grapes. This, too, is by Morillo, and to our taste is one of the best in the collection. It is a droll subject ; but is a masterly production. 87.—The Deserter taking leave of his Family, by Morland, is both admirably drawn and coloured. 103.—A Head of Sobieski, by Rembrandt, has all the cha racteristics of that great master. 107.—Virgin and Child. Good. Morillo. 111.—A full-length Portrait, the size of life, of Gerard Peters, painter and sculptor, the friend of Vandyck, by Van dyck himself, is, we think, the very first portrait in the room. The face and hands are superb. 117.—Angels bearing the mutilated Body of St. Catherine to Heaven, by Carlo Maratti. The ashy paleness of death rests on the countenance of the saint. The other figures are finely executed. 122.—Interior of a Cabinet, by Van Kessels, curious and minute. 129.—Portrait of Stanley, a Poet, one of the Stanley Fa mily, by Kneller, finely painted. 137.—The Deity appearing to Adam and Eve after their transgression, by Domenichino, a fine original. The intro duction of the alarmed lion and the innocent and unaffected lamb is a sublime conception. _ 141.—Seeing and Feeling, a . pair, by Morland, excellent. 144.—A Landscape, with Sarcophagus and reposo, by Poussin le Mer, is very fine. 158.—The Marriage of George Fourth with Caroline of Brunswick, by W. Hamilton, R.A., is a very large picture, of some merit. There are also several good marble busts, a series of unique paintings from the works of Rubens, called the Luxembourg Gallery, &c. ; but we must conclude our notice by recom mending an early visit to the whole collection, which we shall again notice. THE HAND-BOOK OF TRANSFER LITHOGRAPHY. Our talented townsman, Mr. Miller, lithographer, has just published a very neat and useful little work, founded on practical experience, under this title. The titl e - page a l one, executed in a beautiful, we may say a masterly style, need but be referred to in proof of the taste and minute execution of the author, and the perfection in printing which he has attained after many years of devotion to the art. In a manu script ffeface, elegantly lithographed, Mr. Miller says:— " This compendium has been written chiefly to assist those in mercantile and i n pu bli c o ffi ces, w h o use, or i ntend to use, lithographic presses, to multiply copies of manuscripts, plans, &c. ; and may be considered a desideratum, inasmuch as the treatise written by the inventor of lithography, and the various manuals which h ave su b sequen tl y appeare d, treat principally of the art of drawing on stone, and of the printing of chalk drawings. The information contained in magazines and other popular works, though generally accurate, so far as re spects the theory of chemical printing, is seldom correct in practical det a il, an d i s fo un d t o b e o f littl e serv i ce t o begin ners. " In the absence of concise and exact instructions, limited to the transfer manner of lithography, this HAND-BOOK may be found useful, and may save the trouble of gleaning notices and recipes, connected with this branch, from larger publi cations.' The author commences by a brief but interesting history of the principles upon which lithography is founded, and its almost accidental discovery by Alois Senefelder, who found that limestone absorbed and retained grease, which repels water. That artist, however, proceeded on the principle ap plied to etchings on copper, namely, the eating away of the ground-work of the stone on which anything was drawn or written with printing ink, so as to leave the writing in relief or elevation — the impression being then taken as from print ing types or a wood-cut. He did not, however, perfect his invention until the idea of damping the stone occurred to him, which superceded the etching portion of the operation. The original method was to draw or write every thing a priori in reverse on the stone. This method, though good, is not now absolutely necessary, the object being attainable to a great degree of sharpness and fineness of line through the medium of transfer paper. It is to facilitate this opera tion that Mr. Miller puts forth the practical directions in the present little treatise, and, unlike the mass of scientific men, he is no niggard of his information,—but furnishes, in a concise and comprehensive manner, a perfect clue to an art which has frequently been abandoned by persons desirous of prosecuting the art, for want of the assistance of so able a director. He also gives a drawing of an improved litho graphic press, remarks on the best qualities of stones and ink, the manner of printing, &c.,—in fine, every requisite direction for the guidance of the aspirant to perfection. The work is written in a perpicuous and unassuming manner, and does much credit to the author, both in style and exe cution. The price is moderate; and as lithography has be come a valuable and pleasing study, equally applicable, not only for the printing of designs, plans, manuscripts, and other useful purposes, but for elegant recreation in drawing, &c., we trust Mr. Miller's exertions will be duly appreciated, and that his book will find its way into general circulation. DOCK BONDS. TO THE EDITOR OF VIE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. Sia,—lt is not generally known that the dock bondholders' security is to be taken away from them ; that the corporation, to carry a favourite crotchet' of a certain crack-brained alder man—such crotchet giving them immense patronage—are giving up, voluntarily, the right of exclusively making docks on the shores of the Mersey. I advise the bondholders to look to it before it is too late. Let them call a meeting without dela , and remonstrate with the corporation ; and, though I do not think there is present danger to them, yet ,I would advise all the bondholders to get as quietly out as they can. There is not much safety connected with an undertak ing, when, to meet the views of half-crazy projectors, such reckless changes are submitted to.—Yours, &c., 0. P. A HINT TO MR. ALDERMAN EARLE AND OTHERS. TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD, Sir,—l am in the habit Li sending a friend of mine in Londori a paper, containing our town council proceedings— in a letter lately received .he writes me—" Town Council Proceedings always very much amuse and interest me, they have the advantage, I consider, of more personality among the members than ours." So that you perceive the rude and personal language used by some of our " representatives," is noticed by an obscure individual at a distance.—Yours, A CONSTANT READER. Liverpool, June 10, 1840. THE WEST INDIES. TO THE EDITOR OF TILE LIVERPOOL ST.4I'DAIW. SIR,—As very great ignorance prevails respecting our West Indian Colonies, and the anti-colonial factions are so strenuously exerting themselves, it seems necessary that some means should be adopted to counteract the falsehoods so in dustriously circulated by them ; to point out the resources of these colonies ; and the advantages this country may derive from them. Mr. Shomburk being generally considered an impartial writer, in no way connected with any party, I would beg leave to suggest the propriety of his work being published in a cheaper form, and extensively circulated through the country, as it affords the most recent and authen tic information.—l am, &c., AGITATOR. Liverpool, 5111 June, 1840. • THE OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH. TO rHE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. SIR,—I cannot help remarking the conduct of the self styled liberal of the present day. You will recollect that a few of the respectable hair-dressers of this town formed them selves into a body, endeavouring to put an end to the irre ligious and indecent practice of opening their shops on the Sabbath day, in so doing they had to contend. I am sorry to say, against some of the liberal magistrates, for the first case that was brought forward against an offender, Mr. Bolton and a brother liberal were the presiding magistrates, and they expressed great sympathy for the parties who had broken the law, adding that the policemen might be better employed ; and a subscription was got up in court to pay the fine they were compelled by law to inflict. It would occupy too much of your valuable space to give you a history of what the trade had to contend with, against some others of Mr. Bolton's school, but I may add that the Watch Committee issued out a proclamation that the law should be enforced, and they afterwards allowed themselves to be beat by a very few, (not more that 20) of the most humble of the trade, and to say the least, not the most re spectable. Bnt, Mr. Editor, I wish to shew you further, the inconsistency of thes e lib era l gents. Th ey are now w i s hi ng to open the Botanic Gardens for the benefit of the humbler classes on the Sabbath day, yet these persons had not the humanity to relieve the master hair-dresser or his apprentice boy, who is compelled to attend his shop from six in th?, morning till nine or ten at night, and on Saturdays till twelve, one, or two, on the Sunday mornings, and on the latter morn ings from six till one or two in the afternoon, and sometimes the whole of the day ; and 1 beg further to assure you, that the magistrates above alluded to, were made fully acquainted with the evils complained of in this letter and many others not now mentioned. In conclusion, if these persons are so desirous of benefitting the poor man and improving the con dition of the apprentices, why, I would ask, have they -not supported the respectable part of the trade, who wished, for the sake of religion—for the sake of humanity—and for the sake of decency, to close their shops on the Sabbath day, so as to afford them, their families, and apprentices, an op portunity of enjoying that day —as the Lord has commanded ? I beg to observe, as an act of justice to Mr. Blackburne, that he is an exception to those persons I have above alluded to, he being, as well as myself —a reformer. 10th June, 1840. I am, Sir, Your very obedient servant, WILLIAM BRUMFITT. LONDON POLICE.-WEDNESDAY. MARLBOROUGH-STREET. Thomas Reddington, Esq., M.P., and Mr. Morgan John O'Connell, son of Mr. D. O'Connell, M.P, were brought before Mr. Long, charged with having rung the bells at the doors of a number of houses in Jermyn-street. The police stated that they saw the defendants walking through Jermyn-street, at two o'clock that morning, pulling the bells of every house wliich they passed. Bishop C 72, and another constable, set off in pursuit, and after a smart run, overtook the defendants, and lodged them in the station house. Both the defendants denied having rung any of the bells. They admitted having attempted to straighten the wire of one bell, which had been pulled out, and then forcibly bent. The police deposed that they saw the defendants ring seven or eight bells in succession. Mr. Long said he could not doubt the united testimony of :hree policemen. He was sorry to see gentlemen amuse lemselves in a manner so unbecoming their station. The tine of 40s. was inflicted. THE ANATOMICAL VENUS.—We observe, by an adver tisement in another column, that this astonishing work of art will be exhibited for a short time longer. The propri etor announces that, in consequence of a wish expressed by several ladies for a more detailed anotomical explanation, a competent person will deliver a lecture in the room this evening, provided a sufficient number of names are obtained for the purpose. We feel assured that our fair readers will not neglect so favourable an opportunity of becoming ac quainted with the wonderful mechanism of the human frame, especially as the exhibition is conducted with the most scru pulous regard for delicacy. EXAMINATION OF THE SCHOOLS OF THE MECHANICS' INSTITUTION.—Yesterday commenced the public examina tion of the several schools of this excellent and extensive in stitution,—to be continued this day. There was a very nu. merous and highly-respectable attendance of ladies and gen tlemen, who were much gratified by a visit to the several de partments. The pupils acquitted themselves in the various branches of study in a manner highly creditable to their ta lented and pains-taking instructors, and to their own appli cation and anxious desire for improvement. Many of them exhibited rare abilities and attainments in the several branches of learning to which they had devoted themselves, and will doubtless become in after life useful members of society, and ornaments to the age in which they live. Their respectful deportment, the neatness of their attire, and their happy countenances in their ardour of intellectual advancement,. were the general theme of admiration—we may say, of sur prise. Much merit is due to the officers and teachers of the institution for their excellent management in every point. On Saturday the result will be declared in the lecture-room, and we shall recur to the subject in our next publication. THE ARCHIMEDES.—On Wednesday last, while this ves sel was rapidly passing George's pier, without paddle-wheel, sails, or other apparent mode of propulsion, a native of the sister isle .was heard to say to a brother Pat—" Luk there Tim ! There's a smart stainer for yez. I think she belongs to Cork." " Stainer! do ye call ur? The niver a padd!e wheel has she got to sind ur slung, and how can she be a stainer ?" " But, resumed Pat, " Ink at her chimney-pipe smoking, and the two yir ould un close ag i n it s t am i n away —the first white and the t'other black !" "Oh !" was the reply, " you foolish spalpeen, don't ye see the ladies and gintlemin crowdin' her decks, an' isn't thim there only the smoke and stame o' the cook-house, where they're bilin' the beef and the taties, good luck to them !" They were finally puzzled to account for her speed, when another son of the sod who had overheard them, exclaimed—" She's a stainer, sure enough, and it's drawn by a screw under the water." " Drawn by a screw, is it ?" said one one of them, " did'nt I tell ye she was a Cork vessel, else why should she have a screw to draw her ?" One thousand six hundred and sixty-six passengers ar rived in New York between the 16th and 21st of April. The New Orleans Picayune says, that every thing in that city is so dull, it is impossible to find a razor sharp enough to cut off a man's beard. • Among the British claimants on the Portuguese govern ment, it is understood, the Duke of Wellington and Lord Beresford appear for the largest sums. FRIGHTFUL.—A confirmed tobacco chewer, says the St. Louis Gazette, for five years, chews one mile and a quarter in length of tobacco in that time. One of the most ordinary evils of tight whalebone stays is to make the right shoulder of women much larger than the left. The learned judge of the Consistorial Court in Dublin, has pronounced a decree of divorce against Edward Ruthven, late M.P. for Kildare county. The King of Denmark has abolished the use of the whip in his colonies, and published an ordonnance, allowing slaves to purchase their freedom. The late Mr. Morison, "the Hygeist," took fifty of his own pills on the day of his death, and refused to see a phy sician' alleging that if the pills did not cure him n othi ng would. They were enough to kill him at all events. Mr. Brindley, the anti-socialist lecturer, was presented with a purse of forty sovereigns, at Leicester, in acknowledge ment of the services rendered by him to the cause of christianity. Mr. Lawrence Peel, who has been appointed to the lucra tive post of Advocate-General of India, is cousin of Sir Robert Peel and nephew of the late baronet. Mr. Peel is a barrister in Tanfield-court, Temple, and goes the northern circuit. There is at present in ,the grapery of Col. Conolly, at Castletown, a vine, measuring the extraordinary length of 100 feet ; and in order to thin the crop, the gardener, Mr. William Kelly, cut away 2000 bunches of grapes, leaving to ripen the prodigious quantity of 3500 bunches. This is the largest and most productive vine in this country.—Dublin Paper. The Thames Tunnel is driven to within 33 feet of a wharf, about 25 feet long, which the company have permission to make. A circumstance, unparalleled perhaps in the annals of cricketing, occurred on the Manchester ground on Friday last. A whole side was put out by a single player. Vice Admiral Sir Thomas Harvey is ordered to Quebec to preside at a court martial on Commander Drew, pa charges preferred against him by Captain Sandorn.—Hampshire Telegraph. The evening sky is at present highly attractive,—the stupendous rings of Saturn being this year at their widest extent; whilst Jupiter, the largest planetary body of our system, affords an object of peculiar interest, both on account of its belts, and its beautiful train of satellites. Her majesty has recently presented to each of the clergy engaged in the ceremony of the royal nuptials, a copy of the Holy Scriptures, magnificently bound in purple apd gold, as a token of her gracious favour. There is an inscription in each declaratory of the origin of the present in the autograph of the Bishop of London. Communication has been made to the Royal Antiquarian Society of Copenhagen of some curious discoveries made by a Danish antiquarian near Bahia in Brazil, where be has found several Runic remains, the foundations of houses pre cisely similar to those of the ancient Icelanders, and a statue of the Danish god Thor. This gives a final proof that South America, as well as North America, had been visited by Eu ropeans many ages previous to the re -discovery of that con tinent by Columbus. Rubini, the great primp tenore of her Majesty's Theatre, is now in his 46th year, having been born i n 119 a, at Romano, near Bergamo. In 1811 he was a chorister at the theatre in that town, and subsequently belonged to a strolling company. c("‘„,:i- PErn.<l ___ .3 .... tv -,11nk,•-m 2 ..1 .• ~,„,. 7:* .- .. ... .1 ti• ,-• 7.,.: - '1? i ' ‘‘,,, - .., r.:, r. . 1 : ' • r ''74 l ;>! , , , I