The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-05-28 00:00:00

INSTRUMENTAL PERFORMERS.

Violins, Mr. D. Stubbs, Leader, Mr. J. Jones, Mr. D.
Smith, and Mr. -, Mr. Wilberforce, Principal Second,
Messrs. Thomson, Cornwall, and Nl` Kenzie ; Violas, Messrs.
Sergeant and Hulse ; Violoncellos, Messrs. Ball and Chap-
man ; Double Basses, Messrs. Harrison and Green; Flutes,
Messrs. Horrocks and Honiby ; Oboes, Mr. - and Mr.
J. Stubbs ; Clarionets, Messrs. Fisher and Entwistle ' • Bas-
soons, Messrs. Miller and Harrison ; Horns, Messrs. Scully
and Jones ; Trumpet, Mr. Bradbury ; Trombones, Mr.
Brindley an - ; Double Drums, Mr. Green ; Grand
Casa, Triangles, Jones and others.

Mr. HOLDEN will preside at the Piano-forte.
Several first-rate Solo and Glee Singers (including Mr. J.
LUNT and Mr. G. LuNT) are engaged.
Box Tickets, admitting to twenty-four consecutive Con-
certs, may be had from Messrs. HIME and SON, One Guinea
each.

Price of Single Admission :—Box, 2s. ; Pit and Gallery,
s. each.

The Doors will be opened at Half-past Seven o'clock, and
the Concerts commence each Evening at Eight precisely,

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

The stanzas on " England's Queen" were received too late
for insertion in our present number.

tbt Zthrrpriol otanbiarb.

TUESDAY MORNING, MAY 28, 1839.

We rejoice to assure our readers that the friends of
our sacred Establishment have not been idle in the
short interval which their enemies have given them for
energy and exertion. We have reason to know that
petitions have been prepared in every corner of religi-
ous England, and that the table of the House of Com-
mons will groan under the weight of these valuable
documents—the living proofs of loyal and constitu-
tional activity. This very day a great meeting is held
in Willis's Rooms, St. James's, at which the Primate
presides, and the natural heads of the Church rally her
devoted supporters. - Whatever cause there may have
been for querulous anxiety in times now happily gone
by, let no distrustful voice for the future exclaim,
" Do traitors lurl in the Christians' hold?
Are their hands grown stiff, or their hearts waxed cold?
I know not in sooth—but from yonder wall

There flashed no fire, and there hissed no ball."

There has flashed a fire in the bosom of many an ho-
nest Englishman. That flame that was.lighted by La-
timer, and that, "by GOD'S blessing, has never been put
out," has been blown upon by the blasts of anti-Chris-
tian opposition, ,and now burns with renewed and in-
creasing brightness. The legitimate bolts of constitu-
tional warfare are sounding on every side. The good
cause is up and in arms. Our Wesleyan brethren
have hoisted the standard of alliance. Those good
friends of the Christian cause, coming out, like Blucher,
from the forest of Soignies, have aided in turning the
enemy's undefended flank. His vain and hollow cries
against an endowed establishment will not tell upon
this unpatronised body of sober Protestants, whose
presence bears us unequivocal witness that the fight is
not for the external things of a state church, but for
the sacred cause that hallows the establishment : for
truth and gospel teaching. The enemy has been driven
from open warfare. Recent events have taught him
the bitter lesson that the people of England is a loyal
and a church-loving people. In despair he is driven
to the covert, and his treachery is more dangerous than
his open violence. But he. is unmasked ; his snares
are laid bare. The English public is alive to his in-
trigues, and will defeat them. Humble labourers in
this high and holy cause, faithful soldiers in our nar-
rower sphere of this sacred contest, we endeavoured on
Friday, so far as time would permit, to call the atten-
tion of the Liverpool public to this all-important ques-
tion. We now recur to it to congratulate our Pro-
testant friends on the zeal which universal England
has displayed; and to urge them, one and all, to bear
their part in the approaching struggle. If there. be a
man into whose hands this sheet shall fall, that has not
yet made his own voice be heard, let him ask for the
petition of his parish, and sign it. The motion stands
for Friday. Let no one think his aid superfluous, or
his voice unheard. Like the drops of summer rain
that fertilize the pregnant earth, each bears his own
part, and constitutes his own proportion to the fruit-
fulness of universal nature. The time presses, and the
call is loud.

We felt it our duty, in a recent number of this jour-
nal, to borrow from the very graphic pencil of Lord
Brougham a picture of our local patriots ; and, as we
ventured to insinuate that his lordship's description of
the civic nature was not (like Martinus Scriblerus's de-
scription of the lord mayor) an abstract idea, but that
his studies were taken from nature, and some of his
favourite subjects were doubtless to be found among
his exceedingly intimate acquaintances in Liverpool,
we gave the portraiture to our townsmen with great
confidence. Indeed we honestly believe that no pic-
ture of a reform mayor, ever exhibited in Trafalgar-
square, is more true to the life than Lord Brougham's
caustic sketch. We rejoice, therefore, in having it now
in our power to say a good word for our facile friends,
and to draw a comparison in which it will be confessed
they stand in very advantageous relief. We suspect
that, after the perusal of this present article, our read-
ers will admit that there are politicians in the world,
compared with whom the orators of Clayton-square
are moles to a mammoth, and the flights of their fancy
were flea-bites to the gripe of a shark.
Some days ago an announcement was copied from
the Guernsey Star, informing the British public of the
discernment and acumen with which the " aliens" in
the Channel Islands are endowed. This remote organ
of the philosophic liberals gravely announced a pre-
vailing belief among his readers, that Sir Robert Peel
had formed a plan for ridding himself of all embarrass-
ments at Court by poisoning the Queen ! ! And though
he dared not countenance the monstrosity himself (for
even Channel-Island credulity was not quite so rudely
to be taken by storm), yet the wiseacre brought no
great credit upon his compatriots by letting it be
known th it such an absurdity had ever been whispered
among them at all. We know not how many travellers
had resolved upon a summer excursion to the location
of this sapient writer, urged by the desire of seeing so
near to our own shores so very curious a specimen of
barbarous existence ; and we ourselves had seriously
planned a voyage of discovery to that part of the
Queen's dominions, and had prepared a note-book in
which we meant to register our adventures, hoping to
enliven for our readers the dulness of an English No-
vember, by sketches and memoranda, worthy of a new
Ulysses or a second Gulliver.
But it turns out, after all, that this Guernsey Editor

is by no means the fool that we took him for. Whe-
ther some eaves-dropper at the Reform Club had sent
our inter-Atlantic friend a faithful pigeon, or whether
he have a spice of the Kerryman in his own composi-
tion, and so the two great wits had jumped together,
we are far from undertaking to decide. But, however
this be, the story seems to be authenticated by the
Member for all Ireland, in an address to his metropo-

litan constituents. Curiously enough, we have good
evidence that there was a conspiracy somewhere, and
for a certain purpose; for no sooner does the startling
intelligence make its way from Guernsey, than lo ! it
is telegraphed from Hanover—it is echoed from Ire-
land. Now, although we had occasion to suggest to
our liberal friends in Liverpool that their ,public ap-
pearances would do themselves and their native town
more credit, if, before they assumed to be the conduit-
pipes of popular opinion, they would clear away a little
of the mud which municipal magniloquence naturally

deposits,—yet we are bound to bear witness to the
perfect harmlessness of all that they said and did. As
was natural, under the auspices of our good-humoured
friend, who performed as chairman, the whole affair
was only

" A linked tale of sweetness long drawn out ;"
and, whatever we may have thought of their wisdom,
we have no fault whatever to find with their intentions.
There was no " leporous distilment"—no poison poured
into the public ear—no miching malicho, which (as
Touchstone says) " means mischief,"—but all mere
civic thunder, fabricated at the Reform Forge, and
launched upon that most unfortunate topic, which, in
compliment to our (not very wide-awake) friends, we
shall call the Hertford Humbug.
It is scarcely possible—for human gravity is finite—
to give this subject the serious consideration it deserves.

" Here 's a stay
That shakes the rotten carcass of old Death

Out of his rags ! Here 's a large mouth indeed,

That spits forth death, and mountains, rocks, and seas :
Talks as familiarly of roaring lions
As maids of thirteen do of puppy-dogs :
What cannoneer begot this lusty blood?

He speaks plain cannon, fire, and smoke, and bounce."

Of the morality of the man who uttered this fright-
ful thought, we would not willingly say a word. We
merely say that in our own minds he stands just where
he did before. We rejoice as the plain facts are more
and more displayed, and the repulsive features are
brought out more clearly before the public gaze. But
what shall we say of the public feeling among ms
before whom these murderous slanders can be launcr-
ed, and yet the miscreant's cheek be purpled by no
shame, nor the depth of his degradation be deepened,
nor his moral or political turpitude bear a darker dye !
Equal laws indeed for England and Ireland ! The
privileges of civilization to these worse than barbarians!
As well shall we send to the Hottentots the British
constitution, or confer upon the Chippewa Indians
the blessings of Magna Charta, and the franchise of
civil freedom ! If General Vallancey had lived in these
latter days, he would have spared himself the trouble
of proving that the Milesians of Ireland owe their
origin to Carthage. Their speech bewrayeth them.
In every act and word the "fides plus quam Panica"
is written in characters that cannot be mistaken.

It is extremely difficult to draw a line of demarca-
tion between the principles of the liberals (as they style
themselves) and those of the chartists ; and yet there
is scarcely any portion of the public press more lavish
of its abuse of the chartist leaders, or more virulent in
its condemnation of the chartist agitation, than the
liberal" journals of the day. There surely must be
some great inconsistency in this matter. The political
objects of the "liberals" and of the chartists, as far as
they are distinctly avowed by either, appear to us to be
nearly identical. A cursory examination of a few lead-
ing points will satisfactorily establish this position.
The liberals have been long clamorous for an indefi-
nite extension of the suffrage—the chartists demand
universal suffrage, between which and the demand of
the reformers the difference is rather technical than
real. The liberals, again, demand vote by ballot, as
the grand political panacea, that is to operate as an ef-
fectual antidote to all our social evils : the chartists
make the same demand. The liberals wish for annual
parliaments : the chartists do the same. The liberals
desire to do away with the "property qualification" for
members of parliament : the chartists express the same
wish. These are among the most prominent points of
coincidence between the two factions, and these in-
clude the most radical and sweeping changes in the
constitution of Great Britain. If, then, the opinions
of the liberals and the chartists are so closely assimi-
lated, we may well express our surprise that the former
should be so intemperate in their denunciations of the
latter. Perhaps we can account for the apparent ano-
maly.

There has long predominated in this country an es-
sentially revolutionary feeling—a feeling of attachment
to republican institutions—an impatience of the re-
straints imposed upon us by our present form of go-
vernment. This feeling had its origin about the period
of the French revolution, when the infidel principles of
the philosophical democrats of that age found their
way, through the medium of the corresponding socie-
ties, into every city, village, and hamlet in England.
The events which succeeded the bloody drama enacted
in France had a tendency materially to depress the de-
mocratic zeal which had spread, toward the close of the
last century, through the length and breadth of the
land ; but they did not extinguish it. The latent poi-
son soon began to manifest its malignant activity once
more, as soon as the salutary effects of the late conti-
nental war had ceased to operate upon the public mind.
Witness the turbulent outbreaks which led to what is
called the " Peterloo Massacre," and to such frequent
riots in the manufacturing districts. These, whenever
they occurred, were not the mere ebullitions of discon-
tent, venting itself in occasional, but temporary vio-

lence. They had a far deeper origin. They are to be
traced, as well as the present chartist agitation, to the
revolutionary phrenzy which has seized the minds of
so many of the English people—to the abstract love of
republican institutions engendered by an infidel educa-
tion—to the morbid desire of an undefined good, con-
sisting, as far as we understand the matter, in nothing
less than anarchy and plunder.
It is extremely difficult to describe the ultimate objects
which the chartists and the liberals seek to obtain by a
remodelling of our constitution. When we hiar
them prate of vote by vallot, universal suffrage, annual
parliaments, and the like, we can form some conception
of their meaning, as far as these several schemes are
concerned : but surely all these matters must be con-
sidered as means to accomplish some end. What is
this end ? We shall probably be told "good govern-
ment." This definition leaves us as much in the dark
as ever. What is " good government ?" The infidel

(and most of the liberals and chartists are infidels, if
they had only the courage to avow it,) will tell us that
there can he no good government where the restraints
of Christianity are experienced—where the laws of God
are made the basis of the laws of the land—where the
Christian sabbath is nationally recognised—or a Chris-
tian order of ministers is maintained by the state. In
the opinion of the infidel all these things would be con-
sidered as totally incompatible with "good government."
Is it not possible that the " ulterior" views of the
chartist reformers are too plainly developed to please
the more insidious liberal democrat ? Is not this the
secret of the opposition at present offered by the whig-
radical press to the proceedings of the chartists ? It
is but a very short time since that the self-styled liberals
were in active co-operation with the parties that have
now assumed the name of chartists. Why have they
disagreed ? Is it not because the chartists have honestly
and openly avowed the designs which the liberals wish
secretly to carry into execution ?

We should like to see one of our liberal brethren
endeavour to explain the difference between the " fur-
ther progressive reforms" of the Morning Chronicle
clique, and the "five points" in the chartists' demands.

In again urging the Protestants of Liverpool to be
prompt in signing the petition against the government
scheme of national education, we are happy to con-
gratulate our townsmen on the noble stand which the
people of this country are now making in opposition
to this jesuitical scheme. In every part of the kingdom
meetings have already been held, and petitions pre-
pared, praying the legislature to refuse the proposed
grant ; and if the notice had not been so very short, we
have no doubt that such a burst of Protestant indigna-
tion would have been witnessed as would have deter-
red the unprincipled and "enormous-lying" ministers

from making the desperate attempt which Lord John
Russell has announced. As it is, we sincerely trust
that the expression of public opinion will be sufficient
to thwart the nefarious designs of the Popish and So-
cinian education-mongers.

We have been particularly gratified at the noble
stand which the Wesleyan Methodists have made on
this important question. The resolutions passed by
_ _

the ministers of the London district, which we have
elsewhere inserted, reflect the highest credit on the
loyal and truly Protestant body which they represent.
They particularly denounce as highly objectionable and
alarming that part of the plan_ which sanctions the in-
troduction of Romish and other spurious versions of
fhe Holy Scriptures, into schools supported by the pub-
lic money. They also protest against "the training and
employment by the state of Romish and other teachers,"
and the recognition of the corrupted " Romish transla-
tions of the Holy Scriptures, as of equal authority with
that authorised version which has so long obtained the
suffrage and preference of almost every body of Pro-
testant Christians among us, and is now, in fact, the
great external link and badge of English Protestant
communion." To these sentiments we most cordially
respond, and we earnestly call upon every churchman
in Liverpool to emulate the zeal thus so worthily shown
by our Methodist brethren. On this subject we
would say that it is necessary to agitate and petition
without any relaxation. This infidel and popish specu-
lation is craftily designed to undermine the foundations
of our Established Church. It is the small end of the
wedge which, if once effectually inserted, will demolish
the whole fabric.

There can be no doubt that the recent exertions of
the clergy and friends of the Established Church to
raise schools for the education of the middle classes,
in the principles of sound religion, as well as in the
various details of human learning, has stimulated the
Central Education Committee to demand of Lord John
Russell the concession of the grant for which he has
given notice of motion. Mr. Wyse and Doctor Wise-
man, together with their jesuitical allies, perceived that
the " Great Diana" of their craft was in imminent
danger from the praiseworthy efforts of the Protestant
clergy. Hence their feverish anxiety to carry their
darling measure through the House of Commons by
stealth.

But if the clergy have, by their interference in the
cause of popular education on Christian principles, so
far roused the fears of the Popish intriguers, and
prompted them to increased zeal in the persecution of
their unhallowed designs, it has become still more im-
peratively necessary that the clergy should be more
watchful, more zealous, and more persevering in la-
bouring to establish in this country a system of educa-
tion so comprehensive in its character as to render the
national education scheme a mere nullity. The Pro-
testant people of England are not yet so stultified or
so debased, as to give a wilful preference to the un-
christian plans of the education board. A general
effort on the part of the friends of the Established
Church is only wanting in order to render nugatory
the new system, even if the proposed vote should be
carried. The example of Liverpool, in reference to the
corporation schools, only needs be extended over the
whole kingdom, in order to render fruitless the efforts
now making to unchristianize the nation. We trust
that the trickery practised by Lord John Russell will
not be without its salutary effect. We hope it will
lead the clergy to rely more upon their own exertions,
and to trust more to their own resources, than to rest
upon the " broken reed" of whig professions of at-
tachment to the church.

But we cannot conclude without reiterating our wish
that this abominable scheme may never meet with the
sanction of the House of Commons. The plan is utterly
opposed to the express recommendation of the House of
Commons' Committee on Education that sat last year—
it is repugnant to the feelings of the vast majority of
the people of England—it is a base concession to the
Romish and Socinian enemies of the Church—and as
such ought to be strenuously opposed by every Pro-
testant member of the Commons. We trust that no
conservative will be absent from his place when this
infamous motion is introduced. A defalcation of duty
on such an important occasion would be indeed de-
serving of the severest reprobation.

In all probability, before this day is closed, specula-
tion on the trial of strength in the llouse of Commons
last night, on the question of the Speakership, will be
converted into reality. There does not appear to be
any reason why the debate should he a protracted one.
The result, therefore, may probably be known this
evening. It is likely that, with the assistance of the
Irish tail, and the radical party, the ministers will suc-
ceed in placing Mr. Shaw Lefevre in the Speaker's
chair, and thus secure to him the prospect of a salary of
£6,000 per annum, together with a snug retiring pen-
sion and a peerage. But is this prospect likely to he
realized ? We think not. Mr. Lefevre now represents
North Hampshire—a purely agricultural district of the
kingdom. Is he sure of being again returned for this
constituency ? Has the agitation of the corn-law ques-
tion done nothing to endanger his seat ? Mr. Shaw
Lefevre is scarcely known for anything but for his
violent opposition to the interests of the agriculturists.
Such a man is scarcely likely to obtain the suffrages
of the farmers -f Hampshire at the present crisis. We
hope the latter will do their duty by unseating him.

Between Mr. Shaw Lefevre and Mr. Goulburn it
would be almost ridiculous to institute a comparison.
The former is only known as a whig jackal—a conve-
nient manager of jobs ; while the former is a gentleman
of the highest standing in the house, and one who has
already occupied, with credit to himself, and benefit to
the country, an office of the greatest responsibility, and
requiring talents which peculiarly fit him for the
Speakership.

SUCCESSFUL TRIAL OF MR. DENNETT'S
PATENT ROCKETS,
FOIL THE PRESERVATION OF LIVES FROM SHIPWRECK.

Yesterday, a second exhibition took place of the applica-
bility of the rockets invented by Mr. Dennett, for the throw-
ing of lines on board of vessels stranded or otherwise in dis-
tress on a lee shore, and the result was on the whole highly
gratifying. The spot selected was at the entrance to the
river, and immediately opposite to the Fort at the Black
Rock. Two steamers belonging to the Steam Tug Company
—the Victoria and the Mona—were engaged for the occasion,
and a considerable number of ladies and gentlemen were on
board to witness the operations.
About two o'clock the whole of the visiters were landed
at the Rock, and Mr. Dennett and his assistants made im-
mediate preparations for the exhibition. Five rockets were
fired from the shore, with a view to throw a line on board of
one of the steamers, which were lying off at a distance of
from 200 to 300 yards. The rope or cord—a twelve-thread
white line (inch-and-quarter)—was coiled in alternate trans-
verse or diagonal position in a box, and the rocket carried it
out a distance of about 300 yards from the shore, but, owing
to the breeze from the westward, it fell to leeward of the
vessels, though far beyond them. The angle of elevation in
this instance was 27 degs. ; the weight of rope upwards of
201 b.

The rocket is encased with iron, and is 91b. in weight.
The pole attached to it is about 9 feet long, and the projec-
tile is fired from an iron spout or conductor of its own length,
supported on two extended legs or poles—the spout forming
the longest leg of a tripod. The average range of these
rockets is, we learn, about 350 yards, with the line attached
to them ; and they have been known to carry a line a dis-
tance
460 yards. Their efficiency, if properly aimed or
directed, is unquestionable; but in this a nicety of judgment
is required, and considerable practice and attention to the
force of the wind on the rocket and the line. To throw a
line dead in the wind's eye towards a vessel is not so difficult
as to throw it (as this day) with a side wind, which, though
it is projected with great velocity, carries it more or less to
leeward.
After throwing four rockets, all of which, with the exception
of the first, went slightly to leeward of the object, Mr. Dennett,
taking an aim a little more to windward, threw the line beauti-
fully over the steamer, and the boat was hauled on board by it.
The elevation, in the last instance, was 21 degs., which, it
- would appear, is the medium or average angle for a distance
of about 300 yards. The parties on the shore, amongst whom
were many persons from New Brighton and the neighbour-
hood, took much interest in the exhibition ; and the success
of the last rocket projected was hailed with much applause,
followed by a complimentary tolling of the bell on the top of
the Rock Lighthouse, by some parties who witnessed its
effect from that elevated position.
The company who had gone down in the Victoria then re-
embarked, and a trial was made of the last rocket on board,
to throw a line from that steamer to the other, which was
lying at a considerable distance. It went off beautifully, and
in a true direction to the vessel, but owing to some entangle-
ment in the line, it fell a few yards short of the mark, the
line being broken.
On the whole, we should say that Mr. Dennett's rockets
may be highly valuable in cases of shipwreck, and though, as
in aiming at an object with a fowling-piece, some shots may
miss, the comparatively trifling expense of a few of these
missiles is not to be put into consideration with the desidera-
tum of eventually throwing a strong line on board of a ves-
sel in distress, giving those on board the means of attaching
a hawser, and thereby finally saving the lives of the parties
on board.

The Earl of Derby has again rallied surprisingly ; but his
lordship's general state of health is still a source of uneasi-
ness to his numerous friends.—Morning Herald.
UNPRECEDENTED SHORT PASSAGE TO LIVERPOOL FROM
GLASGOW.—The Royal Sovereign, iron steam-packet, left
Glasgow at twenty minutes to twelve o'clock, on Saturday,
25th instant ; stopped at Renfrew and Greenock and took in
passengers and goods ; stopped at Portpatrick, took on board
passengers there ; and arrived at Clarence Dock, Liverpool,
next morning at eight o'clock precisely, thus performing the
voyage (including above one hour for stoppages) in twenty
minutes.

A FEW WORDS ON THE DUTY OF PETITIONING
PARLIAMENT.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

SIR,—I know it is the opinion of many very good conser-
vatives, that to trouble ourselves to petition Parliament against
any bad measure, is useless, that it is in fact, a loss of time,
and a waste of pen, ink, and paper. But I think I can
show some few reasons why such is not the case ; and that,
at any rate, it is the strict duty of every Protestant conser-
tive to attach his name to (and to use every exertion to pro-
mote and forward numerous and well signed) petitions against
all measurers of which he conscientiously disapproves.
Ist.—lt is the only means left to us of protesting against
such measures, whether they be grants to Popish Colleges,
Infidel schemes of education, or any other attacks upon our
National Church and Protestant constitution, and surely no
sound Protestant has faithfully performed his duty until he
has entered such protest.
2dly.—lt greatly strengthens the hands of members of
Parliament, in opposing such measures to know that they are
well backed by their friends out of doors. It must be dis-
couraging to a member who is anxious to raise his voice
against all bad measures to find, that not any, or perhaps
but a few scanty hundreds of his constituents, are publicly
standing by him.
3dly.—lt is the only means we have of letting our repre-
sentatives know, what our opinions are on such subjects.
We cannot expect that a member will represent the opinions
of every voter in the county, or borough ; it therefore be-
comes the strict duty of all, to express, through petitions,
entrusted to their representative, their feelings on the various
important subjects brought before. Parliament, and by the
Protestant conservatives not doing so, they cast a degree of
odium upon their own body, which is very discouraging to
those who are actively employded in such work.
I could go on enumerating many important reasons on this
subject, but for the present I will forbear; trusting that the
few hints which I have given to my Protestant brethren, will
be taken in good part, and that being seasonably made, be-
fore the petition against the whig educational scheme is gone
up, they will, one and all, who have not yet signed it, do so
before Wednesday evening, that being the last night the
petition can lie for signature. Yours,

A ' PROTESTANT.

LIVERPOOL MECHANICS' INSTITUTION.

LECTURES ON ELECTRICITY.

On Wednesday evening, Robert Addams, Esq. resumed
the consideration of the principles of voltaic electricity.
This species of electricity is found to be identical to that
produced by the electrical machine, and may be similarly
collected in Leyden jars. We are unacquainted with its
cause, though some persons imagine it is owing to the ab-
straction of the electricity of one of the metals used, and its
accumulation by the other. In the last lecture we spoke of
copper 'and zinc being the metals employed, but were plati-
num not so expensive, it would be infinitely more advan-
tageous than copper, as producing much more electricity.
Dr. Faraday and a number of other philosophers have main-
tained that there is no necessity for a contact between these
two metals, but the lecturer believed there was something
due to the contact of these metals as well as to chemical
action, although there was no immediate necessity for it.
Galvanic or voltaic batteries may be constructed of any
number of pairs of metallic plates, by which the intensity of
the electricity, but not the quantity, is much increased. Dr.
Faraday conceives, that when the metals are put into water,
the particles of the water immediately become polarised.
The form of the voltaic battery has undergone much change,
as well as the mode of exciting it, since the first discovery of
this mode of producing electricity by Galvani. We first had
metallic discs, like halfpence, piled above each other, sepa-
rated by flannel moistened in salt water. Square plates were
then placed in pairs in wooden troughs, great care being taken
to prevent any communication of the acidented water em-
ployed to excite the battery. The wedgwood wire trough
with separate cells was then employed, by which means the
metallic plates could be readily withdrawn from the liquid
acid, when the battery was no longer required. The battery
used by the lecturer consisted of twenty-four cylindrical
copper vessels, containing a quantity of the aqueous solution
of the bisalphate of copper, into each of which was placed
another small cylindrical vessel of porous earthenware, con-
taining zinc and a solution of common salt in water. This
battery, when excited, was exceedingly powerful. It instantly
heated to redness a platinum wire exceeding a foot in length ;
it fused iron wire with the utmost ease ; it caused charcoal to
emit a light as brilliant and intense as the oxy-hydrogen
light, over which it has this advantage, that if the charcoal
be placed in vacuo, between the poles of the battery, the
charcoal will be unconsumed, however long the action of
tha battery is continued ; and we thus have a simple means
of procuring a brilliant, permanent, illuminating agent,
without much cost. Sparks of electricity were produced by
the battery under water, when the points of the wires were
brought into contact. We find that charcoal, by itself, will
remain for centuries beneath water without being destroyed,
but if galvanic electricity be passed through it beneath water,
the water will be decomposed, and its oxygen uniting with
the carbon, carbonic acid will be formed. Mr. Addams then
burned gold, silver, copper, and tin-leaf, by means of the
battery, the effect of which was exceedingly brilliant. When
voltaic electricity is sent through animal bodies, the muscles
are contracted, and a live subject experiences considerable
pain for some time. To show this effect of galvanism, Mr.
Addams passed the shock of his battery through some eels
which he had in a glass jar. The eels were quickly aroused
from a state of torpor into the most lively and animated
movements, which continued so long as the electricity was
continued. By far the most important part of the voltaic
science consists in our ability to apply it to the purposes of
the most delicate analysis, and separating, by its means,
compound substances into their simple element. Sir H.
Davy astonished the chemical world, in 1807, by the disco-
veries which he made through its instrumentality, amongst
which the most important was the obtaining of the bases of
potass, soda, magnesia, and lime. Mr. Addams then termi-
nated an exceedingly brilliant lecture by decomposing water,
iodide of potassium, and chloride of lime, into their simple
elements, by means of the voltaic battery.
To-morrow evening Mr. Addams will continue his remarks
on magnetic electricity, and explain the principle of electro-
dynamics. This lecture will be illustrated by a number of
beautiful rotating machines ; and we have heard it said that
Mr. Addams will introduce a locomotive engine propelled by
the agency of electricity.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.