The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-08-28 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

PRINCE ALBERT has consented to lay the foundation-stone
of the New Midland Institute, at Birmingham, early in
November.
WE hear that by desire, and at the expense of the Queen,
Her Majesty's domestics are to proceed to Paris, to see the
exhibition.
THE MOORS.—The accounts from the moors are not very
encouraging for sportsmen. The severe winter and stormy
spring have been much against the birds, so that on exposed
mountains they are very scarce, but in the more sheltered
districts grouse are abundant, and black cock are likely to be
plentiful.
Two labourers left their work (haymaking) on a farm near
Chelmsford, the other day, to see the review of the Essex
Yeomanry, and on the complaint of their employer were sen-
tenced to 14 days' hard labour. Major Palmer, the com-
mandant, asked the Home Secretary to remit their punish-
ment, but Sir George Grey declined.
AT the Inverness registration court, on Monday last, Sheriff
Young rejected the claim of Bishop Eden, because he claimed
under the name and designation of the " Right Rev. Robert
Eden, D.D., Bishop of Moray and Ross." The bishop refused
to amend the claim by deleting the words " Right Rev." and
the designation " Bishop of Moray and Ross." The claim was
accordingly rejected.—Edinburgh Courant.
'Mlles IN A NAME ?" A singular fatality appears to be
attached to vessels of the Royal Navy bearing the name of
Jasper—three having been lost in little more than half a
century. The first, a hired armed ship, foundered in the
North Sea in 1794, when all hands perished ; the second, a
sloop of war, went to pieces under the Point of Mount Bot-
tew, Plymouth Sound, about 40 years since, and was lost with
all hands, except one ; and the Admiralty has received infor-
mation of the recent loss of the Jasper gunboat at the Sea of
Azoff.

THE PERRY TESTIMONIAL—The fund which was collected
for Lieut. Perry, of the 46th Regiment, who was tried by
court-martial, at Windsor, is to be invested in Australia for
his benefit. The balance amounts to £2,010. 3s. 3d.
THE SLOW POISONING CASE.—The investigation at Dar-
lington into the charge against Mr. J. S. Wooler, of having
poisoned his wife, was brought to a conclusion on Friday,
when, after hearing the evidence of professor Taylor to the
effect that analysis had shown the presence of arsenic in all
portions of the inside, the magistrates committed the ac-
cused to Durham gaol for trial at the next assizes.
VIOLENT THUNDERSTORM.—On Friday morning, between
12 and 1 o'clock, a thunderstorm of unusual violence, accom-
panied by heavy showers of hail and rain, passed over the
metropolis. The lightning was intensely vivid and frequent,
and the peals and reverberation of the thunder incessant,
whilst showers of hailstones, some fully half an inch in
diameter, and rain fell in sheets. The nursery grounds in
the neighbourhoods of Islington, Stoke Newington, and
Stamford-hill suffered considerable damage, the roots of many
young and valuable trees and shrubs having been left bare by
the inundation. The storm was terrific in Lincolnshire, Nor-
folk and Suffolk, where its effects were most severely felt, and
there must have been considerable destruction of property in
those counties.
SIR CHARLES NAPIER ON THE BOMBARDMENT OF SWEA-
BORG.—A letter appeared in the London papers of Friday,
from Sir Charles Napier, upon this subject, in which the
Admiral states that had his plan been followed up to the
letter, Sweaborg would have been destroyed last summer.
This plan is thus described by himself in a report to the
Admiralty, dated June 12th, 1854:—" The only successful
manner of attacking Sweaborg, that I can see, after the most
minute consideration, assisted by Admiral Chads, who is a
practical man, and knows more about gunnery than any man
in the service, is by fitting out a great many gun-boats,"carry-
ing one gun with a long range, and placing them west of
Sweaborg and south of Helsingfors. EVery shell from them
would tell somewhere, and perhaps not five per cent. from the
enemy would take effect. Back them by the fleet to relieve
the men, and in the course of the summer Sweaborg would be
reduced to ashes, and Helsingfors also, if it was thought
proper."
THE INCOME-TAX.--A parliamentary return shows that the
total number of persons charged to the income-tax for the
year ending the sth of April, 1854, under Schedule D, amounted
to 265,796. Of these 20,544 had incomes under £lOO, and
paid '£58,732; 121,983 had incomes under £l5O, and paid
£282,359 ; 44,109 had incomes under £2OO, and paid £201,254;
33,399 had incomes under £3OO, and paid £215,891; 15,534
had incomes under £4OO, and paid £144,064 ; 7,369 had in-
comes under £5OO, and paid £89,920 • 5,644 had incomes
under £6OO, and paid £84,535 ; 3,175 had incomes under £7OO,
and paid £56,983; 2,067 had incomes under £BOO, and paid
£44,178; 1,794 had incomes under £9OO, and paid £42,632;
805 had incomes under £l,OOO, and paid £21,800; 5,350 had
incomes under £2,000, and paid £201,409 ; 1,568 had incomes
under £3,000, and paid £104,854 ; 827 had,incomes under
£4,000, and paid £78,805 ; 418 had incomes under £5,000, and
paid £52,456 ; 736 had incomes under £lO,OOO, and paid
£142,809 ; 435 had incomes under £50,000, and paid £221,720 ;
while 39 persons were so fortunate as to possess incomes of
£50,000 and upwards, and these contributed £93,234.
GENERAL SCREW STEAM-SHIP COMPANY.—The half-yearly
meeting of this company was held on Friday, under the presi-
dency of Mr. Raikes Currie, M. P. It appeared from the re-
port that the earnings for the six months, from January to
July, amounted to £357,399, the expenditure to £233,943,
leaving net profits, £123,456. Of this sum, £22,312 was placed
to the credit of the reserved fund for the half-year, and the
balance, which would pay a dividend of £2 per share ( in addi-
tion to a return of £2 per share out of the money received on
account of insurances), the directors proposed should be dealt
with by the shareholders themselves. The report continued—
" The directors will not oppose a dividend, and there is little
doubt that as the shareholders have been so many years with-
out one, and as the charters of the ships, comprising 19,000
tons, have been renewed with the government for six months
further in advance (to April, 18560 and the income of this year
thus secured, they will gladly avail themselves of the prosper-
q;as position of the company, and divide £1 or £1 10s. more
per share." After a long discussion the report was ordered to
be received, and a dividend at the .rate of five per cent. per
annum out of the profits of the last half-year was declared. It
was announced that the returned £2 per share would be pay-
able on and after the 10th September.
ENGLISH KINGS WHO HAVE GONE TO FRANCE.—Since the
middle ages nine kings of England have come to France,
without reckoning William the Conqueror, who left it to fight
Harold the Dane, and never returned. Some of them came
as enemies, others as fugitives, and very few as allies. John
Lackland appeared for a short in 1203, to the misfortune
of the young Duke Arthur of Brittany; Henry 111. lost in
France the battle of Taillebonrg in 1242; Henry VI. was
crowned in France in 1431, in contempt of the rights of
Charles VII. of France and of the Salk law; Henry VIII.
competed in magnificence with Francis I. at the Camp of the
Cloth of Gold, in 1520, and that interview only led to an alli-
ance which was exceedingly precarious, because not disinter-
ested. For one monarch of the race of Hugues Capet, whom
the events of a disastrous war sent to die in London, fate
willed it that four kings of England should find a last asylum
on the Gallic soil ; Henry 11. (Plantagenet), excommunicated
for the murder of Thomas A'Beckett, Archbishop of Canter-
bury, and driven out by his subjects, died of grief in the
town of Chinon, in 1189; his son, the heroic Richard Coeur
de Lion, was killed by an arrow before the town of Chains, in
Limousin, in April, 1199; Henry V. of Lancaster died at the
Chateau of Vincennes in 1422 ; and James Stuart 11. termi-
nated in 1701, at the Chateau of St. Germain-en-Laye, a life
ull of misfortunes.—Galignani's Messenger.

before two o'clock they took their departure amidst enthusi-
astic cheers, and proceeded for luncheon to the Elysee. There,
at half-past two o'clock was a reception of the corps diplo-
matique. At three Her Majesty, accompanied by her Impe-
rial host, visited La Sainte Chapelle, and was received on her
way there and back in the most cordial manner by immense
numbers of the population. Among other streets, the cortege
passed through the Rue de Rivoli, the principal hotels in
which, including Meurice's, were handsomely decorated. At
half-past five the Imperial and Royal party returned to St..
Cloud to dinner; and in the evening attended a performance
at the Theatre Francais.
TUESDAY.

Their Majesties left the palace at half-past ten o'clock, and
proceeded, followed by their respective suites, in open car-
riages to Versailles. The drive is one of extraordinary beauty.
The inhabitants of the neighbourhood turned out to pay their
homage, and the Ville d'Av ray was decorated in a simple but
most effective manner with flowers and evergreens.
The survey of the state apartments occupied some time, and
was conducted in privacy ; but any one who has visited Ver-
sailles may picture to himself the extreme interest attached to
such an occurrence as that of the emperor conducting the roy-
alty of England through a long series of halls and galleries, on
the walls of which are delineated in almost unbroken series all
the great events of French history down almost to the present
time.
After a survey of the interior, the emperor took his guests
into the grounds, and there for some time they were driven
round the fountains which have hitherto rendered Versailles
one of the wonders of the world. The grand fountains were
shown, and, viewed under such auspices, appeared to the great-
est advantage. It was really a splendid sight to see the impe-
rial carriages, with their escort of Cent-Gardes, circling round
basin after basin, moving along shady avenues of interlacing
trees, through the umbrageous shelter of which the powerful
sunlight scarcely penetrated, or emerging again into the full
blaze of noon, which shot rays of fire from each cuirass and
helmet. While the Emperor took his guests through the
apartments and grounds, military bands stationed at different
points filled the air with music. There were also large num-
bers of people present, so that the spectacle altogether was
exceedingly gay and splendid. After examining every object
of interest in the immediate neighbourhood of the palace, the
illustrious party proceeded to the Trianon, and explored that
also. There they were joined by the Empress, whose delicate
state of health did not permit her to take any very prominent
part in the festivities. She and the Emperor, accompanied
by their royal guests, now withdrew to the chalet behind the
Trianon, where in retirement they had coffee served to them
on the grass. The pretty chalet, with its adjoining sheet of
water and mill-wheel, appeared to take the Queen completely
by surprise, and her gratification and that of the Prince were
still greater when the splendid band of the Guides made the
air of this sweet spot resound with the choicest music. The
cortege returned to St. Cloud about four o'clock, and having
dined there, en famille, at half-past six, the royal party went
at nine, in state, to the Opera. The Boulevards, and other
streets along which they passed, were brilliantly illuminated,
and it is impossible to do justice to the fairy-like appearance
of that part of Paris, lit up by thousands of variegated lamps.
Not a seat in the theatre had for days been obtainable. The
Emperor's box was erected in the grand tier, directly
opposite the stage, and on each side of it stood, like a statue,
a soldier of the Cent-Garde, en grande tenue—superb-looking
fellows, as superbly dressed and equipped. Two others stood
sentry on the stage at each wing. When the Emperor and
Empress, with their guests, entered, they were received with
enthusiastic plaudits, which had hardly subsided when the
orchestra began to play the National Anthem, and at its close
the cheering was renewed. Her Majesty gracefully acknow-
ledged those tokens of respect. She was tastefully, but
simply dressed, and wore the riband of the Garter, and on
her bead a tiara of diamonds. She sat on the right hand of
the Empress, having the Emperor on her right, and looked
remarkably well. On the right hand of the Emperor was the
Prince Napoleon, and on the left of the Empress Prince
Albert, who had the Princess Mathilde on his left. The
Emperor wore the riband of the Garter also, and appeared in
the uniform of a General of Division. Prince Albert dis-
played the insignia of the Legion of Honour over his Field
Marshal's uniform. The Empress wore a magnificent tiara
of diamonds, and her delicate but beautiful features were the
theme of general admiration. The Royal and Imperial per-
sonages seated in front, with the Maids of Honour standing
behind them, formed together a group which was at once
historical and dramatic. " God save the Queen" was sung,
with the English words, before Her Majesty retired, and the
house again renewed its plaudits as at the commencement,
insisting upon an encore.