Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-07-16 00:00:00

TELEGRAPHIC NEWS.

By British and Irish Magnetic Telegraph.

THE BRITISH EXPEDITION
TO CHINA.

ON BOARD TDB ADEN, MAY 21.
To-morrow, we are told, we shall see the coast of
China. By " we," I mean that portion Of the Chinese
expedition which pursues its straightforward course to
Hong Kong, for General Ashburnham and his suite left
us at Suez, and go round by Bombay. The little sharp-
nosed Aden has made a passage like the flight of a bird.
She is rather lively and sportive, and even now is play-
fully resenting the affront of a passing squall in a manner
which makes writing a difficulty; but every one on board
agrees that for speed and beauty she leaves nothing to be
desired. When the north-east monsoon blows hard in our
teeth, and passing squalls deluge us with rain and stifle
us with spray, and drive us below, and when the ports
are screwed tight, and we suffocate in the sultry night,
and are rattled about in our cabins like pills in a pill-box,
we groan heavily, and even " captains, and colonels, and
knights at arms" are sad and miserable. But let us still,
although longing to escape from her, speak well of the
ship that bears us swiftly to the land, and let us speak
well also of the careful and courteous sailor who com-
mands her, and watches her as a father watches the gam-
bols of his favouri'e child. And now the events of what
is facetiously called the " Overland Journey" are nearly
over. It is such a pleasant thing to have climbed the
great pyramid under a noonday sun, and looked upon the
Libyan desert with expectation of an impending sun
stroke. It is well to have lain gasping on the deck as the
ship glided through that breezeless Red Sea, and to have
looked languidly on the range of Mount Sinai and the port
of Mecca. It is a comfort to know that Aden looks like a
mighty mass of coke, with huts and fortifications scattered
about among its crevices ; and it is wonderful to have
heard military men quartered there say they rather like
it. The track, however, is so beaten, and the journey so
common, that even your companions don't talk of the
slimy wonders of the Nile. Their talk is of the relative
accommodation of the different ships, and the mercy of
Providence which preserves six stout men from suffoca-
tion through the journey in a fiery desert, close packed in
a van whose utmost capacity appeared at first sight equal
to holding four good-sized children. But there is no
really pleasurable sensation until after that dreadful
passage of the Red Sea between the calcined shores of
" Araby the Blest " and Africa ; and after the hot pil-
grimage across the Indian Ocean, Ceylon appears clad in
full tropical green, with her domes of broad plantain
leaves, her far-sweeping forests of cocoas and mangoes,
and her inland highlands, which promise streams and
shadow. I should like to dwell in lenethened description
upon Ceylon. All that we see of forest beauty at Windsor,
or Richmond, or Blenheim, or B.eaudesert, or Cannock-
chase— all that we have of hill and valley, winding rivers'
forest glades, and bright green turf rides is here. Added
to all this, Ceylon has the mighty vegetation of the East ;
and the savages stalking along in the sun, clad only in a
scant girdle of some striking colour, are so swarth, so
lusty, and an picturesque. But Ceylon has nothing to do
with the (Thinese expedition, except to give its leaders a
few hours' respite. So, off to shipboard in a canoe 16
, inches broad, which, despite its outrigs,,er of bamboo,
SUICIDE OF A COMMERCIAL TRAVELLER.—On Tuesday seems but a man-trap invented in the interest of the
a traveller, named Henry Woodcock, about 36 years of age,
sharks.
Committed suicide at Barnsley, by taking a large quantity
of opium. The deceased, who was in the employ of Mr. Our course is across the broad, unquiet Bay of
idoorhouse, draper, &c., of Pontefract, arrived at Barnsley Bengal. Again we lose sight of land, journeying day after
On Monday afternoon, and, as usual, put up at the Devon- day without apparent p ogress in that eternal blue circle
shire Arms Inn, ol)se to the railway station. He retired which seems to realise the mathematician's definition of
to bed wparentiv in good health and spirits, having in- space as a circle whose centre is everywhere, and whose
`formed the landlady that he was about to leave his circumference is nowhere, without an event throughout
employer. Not coming down in the morning by 11 o'clock,
the day, except that ever and anon a shoal of flying fish
the landlady felt rathr uneasy, and went and knocked at
the:bed-room door. No answer being returned, assistance spring up from the smooth sea, and go off in radii, dotting
was got, and the door forced open, when the unfortunate and skimming their transparent wings glittering in the
Man was found in bed, apparently in great agony. Medical sun, and then splashing into the sea again at a safe dis-
aid was at once obtained, and the stomach pump brought tance from the dolphin which is prowling after them below.
into requisition, but all was unavailing. In his pocket One of these poetical creatures fl-,w through my port, and
was found a large quantity of opium, as well as some in came flop upon me in my sleep a few nights since; the
his hand. The quantity, it was thought, had been taken
coed, during the night, and bad been absorbed in the blood, so d' wriggling, prickly, gaspin thing gave me a more
that medical skill was ineffectual in rallying the deceased, horrible fright in the dark than 'I
ever felt in my life.
who lingered till nearly four o'clock in the afternoon. No The Straits of Malacca are not so narrow that we can
reason has been assigned for the rash act. The deceased, often see the land, but on the morning of the 13th of May
wh3 was very much respected, has a wife and one child. we enter a British possession, which I must say something
He was under three months' notice to leave his situation) about.
and his employer Mr. Moorhouse, came to Barnsley ia After long steaming in smooth water in the neighbour-
the morning for the purpose of becoming acquainted with hood of well-wooded islands, enjoying reputations for
the customers in deceased's round, and was greatly shocked
on his arrival to find him in the agonies of death, piracy, cannibalism, flying monkeys, gigantic serpents,
CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE.—Dr. Fletcher, minister of and other amenities we at length enter a narrow strait-
Finsbury chapel, London, narrates the following case : On the left we have the lofty mainland of Siam rising from
"" A considerable number of years ago, I was sent to visit, woody lowlands and stretching away peak over peak till
on a Sabbath-day, Eliz t Fenning, ii prison, who was their outlines grow dimmer and more dim, an I the eye
sentenced to be executed on the following Monday, in the
can no more reflect them. On the right, about two miles
front of Newgate, and who was found afterwards—alas!
though too late !—innocent of the crime ! She was ex-
'-
distant, lies an island covered with palms and thick under-
wood of spice trees, the huge cocoanut trees rising like
ecuted for a deed which she never committed ! In company
with the Ordinary of Newgate, I unversed and prayed domes on the tops of hills, and bending over like the
with her. She was dressed in white, an emblem of her margin of the sea. There are minature bays with a beach
innocence. In the same garments she suffered death of shining sand, and white bungalows glitter through the
as a criminal on the following day. I bad no opportunity foliage which shelters them from the fierce sun. ' Crown-
of judging as to her innocence. The expression of
ing an upland, rising to an altitude of 2,500 feet, is a flag-
her countenance shall never be erased from my re-
memberance. It is literally stereotyped upon my heart. staff ; and our telescopes, aided by private information
From what was communicated to me some years after from the captain, tell us that it is the British flag which
the fatal and melancholy event, I can now explain lags lazily waiting for a breeze. As we steam rapidly
the expression of her couutena'ire. It was the demon- along between the island and the mainland we enter a
stration of injured innocence. When the event of her roadstead crowded with small vessels, and a town of low
execution was almost forgotten, a baker, dying in a buildings, with a rude wooden pier, is on our right. Snc
workhouse in the vicinity of Landon, said to the matron hours on shore, for this is Penang, heretofore celebrated
of the ward, or same individual, to the following effect:— for its "lawyers," but destined perchance so be hereafter
My mind is heavily burdened. I cannot die until I make better known as the sanitary station of the Chinese
the following communication :—Eliza Fenning died in-
expedition.
nocent of the crime for which she suffered. lam the Six hours on shore. Four sturdy Malays ply their
paddles, and impel their cranky canoe rapidly to the pier.
murderer of her mistress. I put the poisoa into the morsel We are deposited among a population of Chinamen. At
which effected her death. On the trial, the jury con- the entrance to the pier is a large supply of little
eluded it must have been the cook who had administered carriages, called palanquins, but resembling tiny double-
the poison, at they had not the slightest clue to suspect seated broughams, with sides and backs formed of
the baker. Yesterday, in the vestry of my own chapel, Venetian blinds, each drawn by a pony, so small and so
one of my elders stated to me that the baker was a relative stout that the eyes of commissaries and purveyors were
of the deceased. There is no doubt that he accomplished at once arrested, and such diligent inquiries are made as
his murderous purpose to gratify some long cherished ton theo itartbelr and value ofu such tiseful looking quad-
passion of revenge for an offence given him, real or make hastet hireonefor the nonce, lest
theyr3 should all have the broad arrow put upon their
imaginary, by the victim of his malevolence. Better that shoulders and be spirited away before we had had our
a hundred murderers should escape than that one innocent jaunt. To dive. into one of these palanquins was indeed
person should perish by circumstantial evidence.'—En- first necessity, for pith hats and turban cloths are no match
ti
field, Middlesex, July 6, 1857. for these sun rays.
Tire LICENSED VICTUALLERS' DEFENCE LEAGUE.—On Penang is not quite a metropolis. Its streets are not
Tuesday afternoon there was a meeting of delegates of very many, and its bend nes are not among the loftiest.
several towns, in connection with the Provincial Licensed Square white pillars, eight feet high, support a roof of
Victuallers' Defence League, held at the Engraver's Arms tiles or a thatch of dried plantain leaves. Under these the
Inn, Cross-street, Manchester. Mr. Andrew Dobb'e, the Chinaman works at Ids trade or sells his mangoes, or
chairman, real the circular convening the meeting, which pineapples, or plantains, or greatest of all, his man-
was chiefly to hear from Mr. George Candelet ar tof gostems. Even the Parsee storekeeper exhibits his bot tns
his recent mission to London, as agent of the League.or in a place of similar architecture. Fortnum and Mason's
The chairman introduced Mr. Candelet, who said that there shop struggling with the exigencies of a barbarous country
was a pretty general impression amongst the licensed will describe our Parsee friend from whom we buy some
curious old —very curious, and then proceed to
victuallers, and also amongst the public, that Mr. Hardy's chaffer with thesherr Chyinamen.
Beer Bill would be thrown out. There was also an anti- It is our first meeting with the Chinese as a population,
cipation in the public mind, that in the event of Mr. Her- and the impression they make is not favourable. It is
dy's bill being rcjec'ed, either some private member of the not because they are universally naked to the waist, or
government would bring in another bill next year. They because they outrage the common decencies of extortion
Would be aware that Mr. Hardy's bill being thrown out, by asking 3d. for a green orange, and as much for a
Sir George Grey had
mango; the Malay who runs with your palankin or rows
Wedged himself to bring in a bill
you ashore in his canoe is quite as naked, except on his
next session. Had it not been for that pledge, he Dir. face, for he wears nothing more than two handkerchiefs,
Candelet) believed Mr. Hardy'a bill would not have been one round his head and the other round his loins, and he
defeated. He saw m any members in the lobby of the House is rather more importunate. But we resent the literal
of Commons, but found few in favour of the system re- matter-of-fact identity of these Chinamen with the other
inaining as it is. But they lived in the system, and passed Chinamen whom we have seen carved in ivory or painted
by its defects without observation, quieting themselves on fans and tea-caddies. After 8,000 miles of sea sickness
Into the position of thinking that all was right. He and suffocation one expects to see something more than
thought the licensed victuallers might derive much advan- the stupid, expressionless pigs' eyes and bald faces, and
tage from the promised measure of Sir George I the same attitude of stolid, grave conceit, which we fancy
Grey, if they watched its progress. The trade Itobe a caricature when we see' it on a willow pattern
Was divided into too many sections, ; if they plate, but find to be true vegetating Chinese life when we
could be centralised, and one uniform license adopted, see it at Penang.
and the magistrates have a uniform method of There is one lion at Penang—it is the waterfall. Thither
granting every one goes who has not duties that lead him elsewhere. licences, it would free the country from a
great. many evils which have an injurious influence upon The ride tbither is through the environs of the town,
replete with smart bungalows in shady places, then along
society, ant uponthose who are- embarked in the liquor. the coast, then up a beautiful valley where every spice
trade itself. It would lace competition upon a fair basis, tree grows, and many a rare flower we prize in
and ease the labours of the police, b • preventing much of England springs up a weed. 'I ne hills that close this
the evasion which now takes place by
Hardy's assump- valley in are clad with forest fruit trees. Occasionally
lion. was, that beer-houses had place,
rise to a lam we meet a palanquin like our own, and inside thereof
amount of drunkenness in the country, and. that drunken-not are four naked Chinamen solemnly taking an airing.
The road is as good as the Holyhead-road is, or was,
nets was greatly on the inclrenase,
the
t:evet that. could_
_3l, but it ends abruptly at the wall of a nutmeg plantation.
be sustained by statistics.
35,553 persons were taken into cuss ropolis,. in 18
4,379odwyer_er being drunk The sun is high and the shade is scanty, but they
and disorderly, of which number who would see the waterfall must climb the steep on
convicted, and foot • I was one of those who adventured this. It 26,974 discharged. In 1855, there were taken7i9nlt,,o custodyquite as much as could be
39,528 ; convicted, 4,734 ; and discharged, 4, h although we tried to lighten the toil bsyafely aettlnd -endured,
drunkenness bad decreased in London to a large extent, Chinarogstories of cobras in the long grass and eigers
and the same could be said of other large towns in En- in the high jungle.
gland, air. Hardy's assumption was, therefore, entirely Arrived at the foot of the principal fall, some of us
-untrue ; and there was further hope of the people makingro crawled in under the scant shadow of a " Penang lawyer."
Pgress in society, if the legislature gave them. facilities others stripped, and sat in an eddy up to our noses, and
?nor education and recreation. They might look forward
a the others stood under the edge of the We drank our
pojed on
hope that instead of further restrictions being sherry in this state, and the conversation became so lively
that a yonug turtle rose from the bottom of the not very
public houses, some existing restrictions.. would
be remo dve , He
in Scotland Jahear
aunt
detchkaetd the restrictions imposed bright pool, flapping himself leisurely up to the surface,
consumption, but the
reverse, on, and why those white bodies were standing in the spray
bright
out his long neck to ascertain what washe going
of the descending water, lie had nearly enjoyed the