The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-02-22 00:00:00

MISCELLANEOUS.

A MISNOMER.—A paragraph in the Globe which relates
to the death of a faithful servant after living 66 years in one
family, is headed "Exemplary Longevity." To couple the
former word with the latter, is rather a droll idea, as if any
one could help dying young !
It is a notorious fact that immense quantities of whiskey
and other spirits and cordials have been brought to Bristol by
the Irish and Scotch steamers, and ruri without paying any
duty, to the great injury of the fair trader. The Excise and
Customs officers have received instructions to put an end to
this illicit trade.—Bristol Gazette.

A young lady, about 19; allied to some of the most respec-
table families of Alercon, eloped a few nights since, from the
convent of the Adoration, m that town, where she was a
parlour boarder, with a notary'.s clerk, not more than 20
years of age. The adventurous heroine descended from a
window of the second story into the street, with "the aid of
two or three ladders clumsily attached together. The lover
was assisted in the elopement by three or four hair-brained
comrades, who had a cabriolet waiting at a short distance, in
which the enamoured pair whisked off, but in what direction
has not been traced.—Galignani.

A MAN ASSAULTING HIMSELF.—At the Hull police-
office, a tradesman, named Clayton, was summoned for an
assault" on him, the said William Clayton." The solicitor
for the defendant contended that the summons should be dis-
missed. The clerk to the magistrates declared that the de-
fendant knew perfectly well who was meant instead of him-
self in the summons, and urged that the magistrates should
alter the name of the defendant to that of the complainant.
The solicitor for the defendant maintained that the error was
fatal, but the magistrates, after condemning the clerk for his
frequent errors, decided upon altering the summons ; on this
the solicitor refused to appear in the case, and left the office.
—Hull Paper.
THE QUEEN'S LETTER.—Much has been said about the
Queen's letter to Lord Durham during the brief period of
the Lord High Seditioner's stay in Canada, It seems how-
ever from the following copy, which we assure our readers
has been obtained from a most authentic source, that the
report of its containing any urgent request of her Majesty
that his Lordship would, as a personal favor to her Majesty,
continue to hold the reins of government in that colony, was
untrue. We print the copy verbatim:—
" Windsor, Oct. 25th.
"MY DEAR LORD DURHAM.—Understanding from
Mamma that you are coming back from Canada, may I beg
the favor of your bringing with you a copy of the Canadian
Boat Song, as it is sung in that country. You will know
the song I mean. It begins—' Row, brothers, row,' and a
precious row they have been snaking amongst them.
"With compliments to Lady D. and the children,
Daieve me, yours truly,
"VICTORIA R."

—Coventry Standard. _ ____
" FLASH NOTES."—CAUTION TO THE PUBLlC.—Shop-
keepers and others, and more especially the frequenters of
fairs and markets, at which places the unsuspecting are more
liable to be "taken in," are cautioned to be on their guard
against what are termed "flash notes, which are now in
extensive circulation. We have seen some so admirably
executed, especially the figure of Britannia, and the word
"ten" in the left-hand corner, at the bottom, that persons
who are daily accustomed to receive Bank of England notes
in payment, would easily, in the hurry of business, be decei-
ved by them, from the close resemblance they bear to a
genuine note. A short time since the proprietors of one of
the unstamped weekly publications gave away to each pur-
chaser one of this description of notes, and several thousands
of them have thus got into the hands of the public. The
printers, as well as the publishers of these notes, are liable
to heavy penalties ; and it would be well if the proper autho-
rities were to adopt the necessary legal means to put a stop
to their dangerous circulation.

MR. RAWSON AND HIS SAXONY HOSE.—The Notting-
ham Journal, after quoting the remarks on the statements
made by Mr. Rawson, at the late gathering of anti-corn law
agitators, observes as follows :—" Mr. Rawson, as some of
our readers are aware, formerly resided in this town and
neighbourhood : he has of late, to serve the purposes of the
corn-law repealers, been very busy on 'Change, in Manches-
ter and Liverpool, in exhibiting Saxony hose, which he has
represented as being so much cheaper than those manufac-
tured in the midland counties, that some merchants have
been induced, to the prejudice of the Nottingham trade, to
give their orders to Saxony. Experience, however, has al-
ready taught some (no thanks to Mr. Rawson) that they can
do a much better business with our own stockings ; and their
orders are, consequently, coming back to this market. It
,really does seem to us " too bad" that men, like Mr. Raw-
son, should not only injure our manufacturers, by fallacious
and absurd statements, but that he should be eternally cry-
ing out that our commercial prosperity is ruined by the pre-
sent corn laws, when, under the same order of things, they
have achieved for themselves pecuniary advantages and social
advancement. And yet it generally happens, that the most
surly grumblers at our laws and constitution are they who
have most reason to be grateful for the blessings which in no
other kingdom could they so readily have secured. Fancy
now a man rising, in a few years, from the drudgery and an-
xieties of a " bag hosier" in an obscure village, to take a
stand as a leader of public opinion in flourishing towns and
sea-ports, whose " merchants are princes, and whose traffick-
ers are the honourable of the earth," rising from a sphere of
humble occupation to rank with the manufacturing " aristo-
cracy" in their busy marts and country villas ; and yet to
hear this man denouncing our commercial and agricultural
policy as a curse, and labouring hard to excite murmurs and
discontent among the densely populated districts of. Lanca-
shire ! Why Mr. Rawson himself, one would think, if un-
warped by party prejudice, would reprobate such an ingrate,
even though, in passing judgment upon him, he should utter
his own condemnation."

EXTENSIVE ROBBERY.-At the Town-hall, Rye, on Tues-
day, two men, named Woollett and Terry, farming large
farms in the neighbourhood, were placed at the bar, charged
with stealing thirty packs of wool from Henry Brazier, a wool
stapler at Rye, of the value of £6OO and upwards. The pro-
sqcutor is in a large way of business, and has a warehouse
called the Chapel Warehouse, which had been robbed to an
immense extent. The warehouse contained £20,000 worth
of wool, and £6OO worth of that article had been stolen within
the last four weeks. John Hood, a gamekeeper at Northian,
in going his rounds on Friday, the 22d January, saw the pri-
soner Woollett go towards the Chapel Warehouse with an
empty cart, and return to his house, called the Tanpit farm,
with a very heavy load. Witness followed the cart, and heard
some parcels of a bulky article thrown on to the ground.—An
excise officer stated that he was called upon by information
he had received to go into the prisoner Woollett's house for
the purpose of searching for hidden spirits, and on searching
it he found twenty five packs of wool. A constable took the
prisoners into custody for the robbery, and has kept possession
of the wool. The servants of the prosecutor stated the wool
to be of the same description as that in the Chapel Ware-
house. Mr. Elkington and Mr. Powell, extensive woolsta-
plers in Southwark, proved having bought of the prisoners,
who are uncle and nephew, quantities of wool of the value of
£3OO. ; the wool was of the same kind as that in the Chapel
Warehouse. Mr. John Paris, of Maresfield, also bought wool
of the prisoners like that in the prosecutor's warehouse.
The prisoners, who made no defence, were fully committed
for trial. The apparent respectability of the prisoners, and
the great extent of the depredations, being in the whole above
£l,OOO, has excited a great sensation in the neighbourhood.
—Brighton Gazette.

NEW LAMP •FOR LIGHTHOUSES.—Professor Faraday, on
Friday night, gave an interesting lecture at the Royal Institu-
tion on the subject of a new lamp invented, or rather brought to
perfection, (for the invention is not, it appears, altogether new
by Mr. Gurney, which Mr. Faraday proposed to call the " oxy-
oil lamp," for want of a ,name better describing its nature,
not having, as he stated, been at present informed what name
the inventor intended to give it. The new lamp most nearly
resembles the common argand lamp, with this difference,
that its burners may be made•to equal at the lowest two and
a half and at the highest number fifty of the common burners,
and into the flame of which a stream of oxygen gas is intro-
duced, by which operation the character of the flame is
exchanged from a dark smoky light to the bright and indeed
brilliant light of the hydro-oxygen lights now used for micro-
scopic exhibitions. The application of oxygen gas to the
light of common oil lamps is not new, Dr Priestley having
discovered the use of such application many years ago ; but
to Mr. Gurney belongs the merit of having overcome all the
difficuTes which stood in the way of its practical application
and every-day use. The Tamp in question is more immedi-
ately intended for light-house purposes, and Mr. Gurney,
it seems, has been engaged for three years in the mcst perse-
vering and undaunted experiments in completing his task,
which is the more laudable, inasmuch as, on the authority of
Mr. Faraday, for five-sixths of that time all his efforts ap-
peared fruitless in overcoming the objections to and surmount-
ing the obstacles which stood in the way to the completion
of this useful invention. The introduction of the oxygen has
the effect of decreasing the length of the flame, which is
thus better adapted for the marine purpose to which it is des-
tined ; and it has the greatest of all recommendations,
namely, economy in its favour. This is not, however, appa-
rent at first view, for the gas costs double the amount of the
oil. But the introduction of the former effects such a dimi-

nution in the consumption of the latter, that-
not only is the
expense of the gas and the apparatus used in its preparation
paid for, but an ultimate saving, as well as a most supe-
rior light, is the result. This lamp was the text of the pro-
fessor's discourse for the evening, and he treated it in so
lucid and pleasing a manner, as to render his lecture exceed-
ingly interesting, and to elicit the applause of a numerous
and scientific audience.

DESTRUCTION OF A COAL SHIP.—On Saturday intelli-
gence reached London of the total destruction by fire of the
collier brig Swallow, of Shields, and her cargo of coals, in
Long Reach, off urfleet. On Thursday last the vessel
brought up in the place assigned to her by the harbour-
master, in the No. 5 section, just below Long Reach Tavern.
At midnight. when the captain and crew were asleep in their
berths, an alarm was raised by the people in the oam-r•ships
of the tier, that the Swallow was on fire. The crew were in
the forecastle, and soon ascended to the deck with their
clothes and hammocks. The captain and mate, who were
asleep in the cabin, were with great difficulty aroused, and
on leaping from their berths they found that the fire had
already reached the bulk-head separating the cabin from the
cargo. The cabin was full of smoke, and the captain and
mate were nearly suffocated before they could reach the top
of the companion ladder. They were unable to save a single
article of clothing. The captain immediately slackened the
cables and got away from the tier, thus avoiding all danger
to the fleet of colliers. The wind drifted the ship to the
Essex shore, where she grounded and stuck fast, just below
Purfleet, and a few sails were all the crew could save. At
two o'clock the coals had ignited, and the deck was soon
burnt through, when the flames illuminated the counties of
Kent and Essex to a considerable distance. The country-
people flocked from all quarters to ascertain the cause. The
villages of Erith, Purfleet, and Greenhithe were distinctly
visible. The fire, which was perceivable at Gravesend, con-
tinued to rage with fury until day-break on Friday morning,
when the top sides of the ship were burnt through, and there
was not a stick standing. About noon on Friday the coals
were on fire from one end to the other, and the heat was so
intense that no boat could approach within twenty yards.
The coals were not entirely consumed until yesterday morn-
ing, when all that remained of the vessel was her keel and a

poition of her lower works. The Swallow was a ;ery file.
brig, being only three years old, of 295 tons register. She
had nearly 400 tons of coal on board for the London market.
THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH ON THE BALLOT.—The single
lie on the hustings would not suffice ; the concealed demo-
crat, who voted against his landlord, must talk with the
wrong people, subscribe to the wrong club, huzza at the
wrong dinner, break the wrong head, lead (if he wished to
escape from the watchful jealousy of his landlord) a long
life of lies between every election ; and he must do this, not
only eundo, in his calm and prudential state, but redeundo
from the market, warmed with beer and expanded with
alcohol ; and he must not only carry on his seven years of
dissimulation before the world, but in the very bosom of his
family ; or he must expose himself to the dangerous garrulity
of wife, children, and servants, from whose indiscretion every
kind of evil report would be carried to the ears of the watch-
ful steward. * * * It must always be remem-
bered, and often repeated, and said and sung to Mr. Grote,
that it is to the degraded liar only that the box will be useful.
The man who performs what he promises needs no box.
The man who refuses to do what he is asked to do, despises
the box. The liar, who says he will do what he never means
to do, is the only man to whom the box is useful, and for
whom this leaf out of the punic Pandects is to be inserted in
our statute books ; the other vicecs will begin to look up, and
to think themselves neglected, if falsehood obtains such
flattering distinction, and is thus defended by the solemn
enactments of law. * * * Universal hypocrisy
would be the consequence of ballot; we should soon say,
on deliberation, what David only asserted in his haste, that
all men were liars.