The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-10-18 00:00:00

TOWN IMP,ROVEMENI'S.

KEEP TO THE RIGHT."

TO THE EDITOR Or THE NORTHftN lAILY TIMES.
SlR,—The above moral injunction is inscribed on half-a-
dozen half-obliterated boards, about the bridges connecting
George's Pier with the streets of 'Liverpool; and with about
as much effect upon the inhabitants of "the good old town"
as-if they were flexed upert the gates oaf Canton, or in the
purlieus of Hong`liOng.
What a-world of parchment might be saved—how much
of frauds and-feuds prevented—hew many lawyer's fees eco-
nomizediflow many head-aches.and heartjiches escaped—
how many family broils and domestic stews avoided—how
much of -hatred, malice; and *all uncharltableness shunned —if
people would tut." beep to the right..". 'And—what is most
to my present purpose—how many -pushings, pokings, jost-
lings, hinderings, would 'be evaded, if people, in walking
throngh-igitreets, would but "keep to :the right."
The art of walking the -streets is one which the people 'of
Liverpool have yet to learn.' Ido 'riot :quarrel with the pro-
posed"improvements"-=the making of new streets, and the
widening of old ones—wherever the necessity' exists ;—but
let us, meanwhile, make the best of the space we have ;
and, possibly, it may appear that, by better Management, in
this most needful art, we may show that half the alterations,
and half the expense proposed, may be delayed till a future
generatienshall require and can afford to pay for them.
Any one' who goes to London, and walks from Chariiig
Cross to the Mansion House,' will find in the 'same width
'of pavethent, at least twenty times the number of passengers
that we have in Liverpool.. -In London we trace in
fo.tures-Of the passers to and fro, an eagerness to arrive at
the place and object in pursuit, and yet all is order in their
movements. In Liverpool there seems less of that eager
rushing at the end and object of the journey, and a slovenly
laxity and disregard of all method and arrangement in effect-
ing a speedy and commodious. passage through the,crowded
streets. All this. would be avoided if people, would but
"keep to the. right." Let anybody walk up Church-street
—from Lord-street to Bold-street—and I'll bet you a new
hat that in passing St. Peter's_ Church, where the wall is
your right—being orr the right—you will meet half a
dozen pig-headed pedestrians who will butt, and -dodge, and
rush at you to displace you. As a man of. peace, you give
way, and allow the confusion to be 'still confounded. As a
sturdy belligerent reformer of our ways, you might stand
and fight it out, and be carried before the magistrates for an
assault. The pig-headed iforenamed seem resolved to hug
themselves into the odour exuding from the graves, rather
than take their rightful place, and the freer air upon the
kerb. The simple rule of ".keeping to the right," would
spare all this annoyance and confusion.
If a waggoner drives his team through the street, his
horses and carriage are on the left of the road, and he must
be on the right of the pathway to guide and manage

them
" The rule of walking the streets is simply this :—pa__
to the right of all you meet, and to the left of all you over-
take. There is no hinderance in this, to your walking faster
than otheri, if you desire, or have occasion to do so ; in such
case Pass round the left hand of the slower walkers, but
immediately take your place before them on the right hand
of the pavement, and you will find yonr passage all the
smoother and more facile for this concession to the rule of
all large .and civilized communities."
Say this, my dear Mr. Editor, to the people of Liverpool,
and you will confer an obligation on society at large, and
amongst the number to
Your cordial well-wisher,
A FELLOW WHO WANTS TO GET ON IN THE WORLD.

DR. NETVM.AN'S LECTURE ON TURKEY.

Last evening a lecture, on the Tartar *races and the Turks,
was delivered in the Catholic Institute, Hope-street, by the
Very Rev. Dr. NP-WmAx,"of the Oratory, to a numerous and
respectable audience. RICHARD SHIEL, Esq., presided.
The CHAIRMAN said—Ladies and. Gentlemen, I am about
to perform a duty which I think might have very well been
dispensed with, that is, of introducing to you the Very Rev.
Dr. Newman. (Applause). He has been for some time
very well known to us_and to him 'we owe so many and such
great obligations, as render it quite impossible that we should
forget him (hear, hear) ; or that we should even be'capable
of not receiving him with • that, expression of gratitude to
Which he is so justly entitled, not only from us, but from
all Catholics in the Empire, in every place, and under every
circumstance. (Applause). I feel I should be trespassing
on 'your patience and acting injudiciously, if I were to take
up your time any longer than by saying, I have the honour
of introducing to, you the Very Itev. Dr, Newman, who will
have the pleasure of addressing you. (Applause).
NEW3IAN commenced by
:laying. it down as a prin-
ciple that there -had been .from time immemorial a great
conflict 'between the north and South the north had been
aggressive, and the south had always to be on the defensive.
This was brought before them in the Holy Scriptures.
When the favoured people fell into sin and - were
threatened with judgement, 'it was said to come from the
north, because in the history of the world, the north was the
place' which was the home of, those restless nations which
poured down upon the south. Why they did 'so was very
plain also. The due had every thing to tempt, and the
other had numbers to be tempted. The south was rich and
beautiful, and the north on the otho hand had been called
the store hoftse of nature. There was an enormous tract
starting from the 50th degree of latitude, running from near
the Chinese sea, across the whole of Asia and Europe. It
went to the Baltic and Euxinn'Seas, and even to the
Rhine, and the, peculiarity of that. great tract was- that it
was a plain. This plain had been a sort of wild common
or broad horse path, of those nations,and the home,if it could
be called So of 'those wandering races. 'ln ancient times,
before the Christian era, this extended into Europe. This
tract was said to be 5,000 miles in length ; its breadth
varied very much, sometimes 400 miles, and sometimes as
much as 1,100. This great sphere was the home of the
Nomadic or Wandering tribes, with their flocks and herds.
In Asia this great space was scarred by four different ranges
of very high mountains. None of them intersected each
other, but ran parallel from west to east. The' lowest of
those was the. Himalaya, and the highest the Altai, and
that might he said to be the metropolis, the fountain head
from which those races had poured out and' lled the im-
mense space he spoke of. It was a curse pronounced on
man in the beginning, that by the sweat of his' brow he
should earn his bread, but man in a naturally savage state
was unwilling to comply with the necessity put upon him,
and was exceedingly indolent. In the vast plain of which
he spoke, the, inhabitants did not till the land, but subsisted
on their flocks which lived on the spontaneous vegetation
they found. Those people were especially attached to their
horses, and they had duties of experience to perform to those
brutes because they depended upon them. The horse to
them was everything; whether as shepherds or in the chase,
and as they travelled about much, the horse was their means
of transport, but more than that, the horse was their
food, both living and dead. The lecturer then described how
they sturOunded therhselves with domestic animals, such as
sheep, oxen, and horses ; but of all animals the horse was
their peculiar characteristic. • The lecturer then described
the many services which the horse renders to the Tartar
from time immemorial, how, in past ages, he distilled a far
from unpleasant spirit from the mare's milk—how his friend
in war; the horse, was no less useful to him when dead, his
flesh affording him food, his hide; the means of constructing
a rude boat, which enabled him in his many wanderings, to
cross wide and deeply flowing rivers, and the intestines a
substitute for cordage. With this characteristic all their
customs were connected ; and even at the present day the
decrees of the sublime Porte are dated from the " stella,"
and the flying of the " horse-tail" is, as of old, their decla-
ration of, war. _ They had more than a contempt for houses,
and would never enter them, calling them " the sepulchres of
the living ;" but they wandered through the wastes, with,
their families 'and herds, a . kind of knight-errant, though
their object Was different. seeking wherever they went, war
and plunder. The -lecturer then pointed 'out how a certain
amount of discipline being necessary to preserve the cohesion
between these wandering hordes, they could with a very
slight transition be made a military camp, possessing a
fitness for war which no other people had or could have.
For in all warfare; particularly modern 'warfare, the
great difficulty was the providing a proper Commis-
sariat, but with this, now essential, the Tartar from
his mode of life could easily dispense.. The lec-
turer then described the formation, • the cold, and other
characteristics of the extensive plateau possessdd by_ the
Tartar tribes, and observed that the only office their father-
land could do them, was to thrust them forth from its inhos
pitable boSom on lands more fertile and tempting. He
then described the course the tribes took in their migrations,
which were alWays in the first instance westward. Having
got to the edge of the 'plateau, they left Mongolia and en-
tered Tartary. They then reached Pama, crossed the Oxis,
and then descended into the vast plains of Turkistan. If
they did- not take that course, they, turned towards Siberia,
and the top of the Caspian, and then, crossed the Oxis, 'by
the Caucasus. And when they took neither of these courses,
they. crossed the. Don; and so get into Russia, 'and then,
crossing the Danube, they would,find themselves in Europe.
The lecturer then described how these migrations were nothing
more than, raids: or invasions, and how, travelling at their
usual rate on such occasions, of 100 miles a day, they could
within a few weeks overrun all Asia, devastating and laying
waste the country which they passed, more fearfully than a
cloud of locusts. They rushed along with all the excite-
ment of a fox hunt, but with the eagerness and silence of a
beast of prey. Whatever they met. they destroyed, and
the 'only human beings whom they ,spared were priests and
doctors—the first from a superstitious feeling, and the latter
for their skill and knowledge. 'But they never spared lawyers,
(laughter) and it was not wonderful, for 'of all things they
had the least to do with law. 7
.(Laughter.) Society had
eut-lawed them; and there, was 'One case on record, where,
when they came to a lawyer, they sewed up his mouth,
(laughter) saving, that the viper should not speak or hiss
any longer. (Laughter.) The lecturer then said, that though
he did not intend ,to go into the much vexed question of
races, he should observe, that there was..a. general similarity
in physical conformation among all' these' tribes, and that
the character of the races. whatever their origin might be,
would in that country, become like each other.' He then
Pained the countries which suffered most from these raids by
the Northern hordes, and remarked, that while the North
was so powerful, the South was equally powerless against