The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-12-06 00:00:00

'terriory, in a way that never yet was done by the government
of any independent state.
When the royal banner. of the loyal inhabitants in Upper
Canada had surmounted these various evils, and a second
time restored peace to a distracted land, the sympathy of our
rulers with their old allies—the republican party i►► America
—was so strong, that they have never proposed a vote of
thanks in either house of parliament or from the crown, to
the brave soldiers and patriots who saved the empire from
dismemberment! Lastly, to show our sympathy with the
anti-national party in our transatlantic possessions, in our
total disregard to their vital interests, we placed at the head
of the colonial department Lord Normauhy, whose policy in
Ireland was graced by the wholesale liberation of felons and
anti-national convicts, and placed at the head of the Govern-
anent in Quebec, Poulett Thomson, the President of the Board
of Trade, who is chiefly-known by his long established con-
nexion with the Baltic .timber tiade, and his often avowed
predilection for an equalisation of the duties on Baltic and
Canadian timber.

-. Serious as there evils are, we much. fear that greater and
More heavy blows at out. colonial interests are yet in the con-
templation of 'our infatuated government. Acting en the
dictation of the urban constituencies, whose great object is to
buy cheap, and still clinging to the blind system of foreign
propitiation, there is little room for doubting that they will,
ere long, perhaps in the next session ofparlialuent, bring for-
ward ministerial plans for equalising the duties on Baltic and
Canadian timber, and Foreign and British sugar. Strong
indications of these intentions have already appeared in the
speeches of many of the supporters of government, and the
appointment of Mr. Poulett Thomson to the viceroyalty of
Canada may he considered as the cfficial promulgation of their
intention. Let no one imagine that these propositions are
so obviously destructive in their eflects, and bear so obviously
the tendency to dismember tl
e empire, that therefore they
will not he attempted by a ministry whose only principle
seems to be to prolong. their official existence, without any re-
gard to the jeopardy in which the means of accomplishing that
object may place the existence or independence of the coun-
try. it is never to be forgotten, that to secure the support
of O'Connell's tail, they have surrendered the government of
Ireland and the direction of the naticii to the Popish faction,
whose bond Of cement is the repeal of the union, that is, the
dismemberment of the empire. True, by establishing a free
trade in timber, we should annihilate the industry of our
North American Colonies, and throw them at once into the
arms of the United States, and cut off at once 600,000 tons of
British shipping, and altogether extinguish both our maritime
superiority and national independence. True, by equalising
the duties oh Foreign and British sugar, we should utterly
destroy our West India colonies, and perpetuate that hideous
tearing of 200,000 negroes from the shores of Africa, which
we have professed ourselves so anxious to prevent. But what
doeS all that signify ?—the urban constitueacies must be pro-
pitiated; a few stray seats at the next election may turn the
balance in favour of the destructive or conser% ative party ;
and the cry of cheap sugar and cheap bread may catch these
stray votes and cast the balance.
It is childish to descant always upon the weakness and im-
becility of ministers, or suppose that a tortuous policy, so
flagrantly dangerous and impolitic as that which we have just
• been considering, is to be ascribed to the mere recklessness
or want of capacity of our present rulers. It is perveisity in.
the public mind which is the real source of the evil—it is the
short-sighted views of the numerous constituencies that have
so long rendered a remedy impossible. The colonies are
wholly unrepresented in the House of Commons ; the ten-
pounders have the disposal of the majority of the seats in that
assembly ;' to buy cheap is their immediate interest, and it
matters little to the short seeing Masses what effect that cheap
buying may ultimately have upon their•own or the national
interests. Here is the true secret of colonial misgovernment ;
we are governed by masses who think only of buying cheap,
and the interest of the colonies is to sell dear. Eight years
ago we foresaw, and distinctly predicted this effect, as neces-
sarily flowing from the Reform. Bill.
All the colonial calamities that have since occurred are but
the accomplishment of our predictions in this-particular.*
The colonies were not actually represented under the old
constitution, but they were virtually so, because colonial
waalth found an easy entrance into parliament through the
close boroughs. The whigs have destroyed that avenue for
colonial representation in the House of Commons ; time will
show whether they have not destroyed with it the colonial
empire and national independence of Great Britain.

* Blt.ckwood's Magazine, September, 1831, vol. xxx. p. 436

The conservative majority in the lords has been lately aug-
mented by three votes.
It is stated that the mountains in the neighbourhood of
Keswick and Ambleside have assumed their mantle of Snow,
and that the lakes and tarns are unusually stocked with wild
fowl.

The trade in Carlisle continues in a very depressed state ;
the weavers having usually to wait two, three, and four days
for every fresh web—and considering the very low state of
their wages, this is a very great grievance.
A HINT.—A half-crown piece weighs four grains and a
half under the half ounce, so that a letter can be easily ascer-
tained by this means to be within the weight allowed at the
post-office for a single postage after the sth of next month.
The provincial police should be vigilantly on the look-out
for suspicious characters, as the activity of the metropolitan
constabulary has driven into the provinces many of the most
accomplished London thieves and sharpers.
The fact that her Majesty was to marry Prince Albert, of
Saxe Coburg; has been long known to every inhabitant of the
vicinity of Claremont, where the young prince made long and
repeated visits to the Duchess of Kent before her Majesty's
accession to the throne.
JONATHAN..NO MATCH.—A correspondent informs us
that the carriages on the Ayr and Irvine railway have acquir-
ed such a degree of velocity, that the passengers can, with
the most perfect ease and safety, alight at the one end before
• they can get up at the other.—Ayr Advertisee.
Mr. Leader has act publicly denied the newspaper report
that he was the writer of the hoaxing letter to Mr. Mont-
gomery, announcing Lord Brougham's death ; therefore the
natural inference is—he was the author of that " lamentable
piece of folly."
In Sir T. D. Lauder's account of the tournament, pub-
lished in Tait's Magazine for November, it is mentioned as
a curious circumstance, that scarcely any of the suits of an--
cient armour worn on that occasion were large enough to fit
the wearers easily. The idea of modern degeneracy is thus
practically proved to be quite erroneous.
Friday night's Gazette contained the Royal commissions
for the trials of the prisoners implicated in the chartist out-
break in South Wales. The judges appointed are the same
as those already named, viz.—Sir Nicholas Tindal, sir James
Parke, anti Sir John Wiliiern*- with the addition of Mr.
Serjeant Ludlow. The day for the opening the special com-
mission is not fixed in the Gazelle, but left to the decision
of the judges themselves, and they have appointed the 10th
• inst. for that purpose.
THE DUKE AND THI,7 SWEEPS.—Three Mansfield sweeps
were lately going through Welbeck Park, for the purpose of
sweeping, in the morning; the chimneys of the duke's noble
mansion there. Tq beguile their lonely walk, the sable-
coloured boys comMenced singing a hymn. His grace, who
was in the park, being aroused from his reverie by the unusual
-sound of religious devotion in his plantations, proceeded to
aseertainfrom whence it arose ;..and our readers may judge
were some
tfutehe sweepsduke'swshttor pv,r_ sree or,tusdipsreaoivsehr,igntg,h,etihr actretahte9yr.
" Which
of you was singing?" he inquired ; " We were all singing,
your grace," was the answer, in tones whichlndicated their
fear of having offended the duke. " Sing on," said the no-
bleman ; the sweep-srecounnenced their hymn, his grace fol-
lowing them to the Abbey. On their arrival there, he or-
dered them a very iibgral refreshment, gave the eldest boy
3s. and the two younger 2s. each. This trait, so honourable
to thoduke, speaks for itself, and renders comment unneces-
sary. It is but right to add, that the master of these boys
hears an excellent character, and pays great attention to the
morals of his apprentices.--Nottingham Review.
THE PRESIDENT STEAM-SHIP.----This new and splendid
transatlantic steam-ship, which has, for some time past, been
building in Messrs. Curling and Young's yard, Limehouse
(the builders of the British Queen,) will he launched on Sa-
turday, the 7th December. The President is the largest ship
in the world. The British Queen has a Hush deck, covering
the whole of the engine and vessel from stem to stern. The
President has another deck, similar to the spar-deck- of a
frigate, which gives an excellent promenade for passengers,
working of the crew, &c.- Her dimensions are as under
Length, extreme, 268 feet ; length for measurement, 230 feet ;
length of keel, 220 feet ; breadth, 42 feet ; breadth, including
paddle-boxes, 64 feet, depth in the hold, mid-ships, 23 feet
6 inches ; beisht of upper deck, 7 feet 6 inches ; burden in
tons, old measurement, 1,921 57-94ths feet ; power of engine,
600 horses ; diameter of paddle wheel, 21 feet ; weight of
engine, boiler, &c., 560 tons ; draught of water with cargo,
17 feet. Thus it will be seen that this magnificent vessel is
126 tons more burden, and has 100 horse more power than
the British Queen.

FEMALE COURAGE.—A little before twelve o'clock on
Friday night last, the grate was forced, and the cellar of the
house occupied by Mr. hill, in this town
the same moment, or immediately after, k was entered. At
Mr. A. Hill, hair-
dresser, Bridlesmith Gate, who lodges with his father, hap-
pened to go home ; and, on opening the back door, which
was fastened with a French latch, with his key, he found the
family had retired to bed. He instantly proceeded to the
top of the cellar steps to find a match light, when he over-
heard a noise in the cellar : suspecting all was not right, he
closed the back door carefully, went to the cellar grate out-
side the house, and discovered it had been forced ; he placed
himself as sentinel, and called "Watch ;" his eldest sister,
who was in bed, hearing a disturbance, but not aware that

it was her brother calling out, instantlyjumpednp, ran down
stairs, and, to her surprise, saw a strange man standing iu the
house ; she repeated several times "Who is it—who is it ?"
but, not receiving any answer, she concluded it was a thief,
and though in her night dress only, and without a light, she
courageously dashed forward, and seized the fellow by the
collar. A violent struggle ensued; but Miss Hill, who is
stout, kept firm hold : the thief, however, though closely
pinioned, contrived to open the back door, and had actually
dragged Miss Hill into the yard, when her brother Anthony
came up, and the villain was" Securcd.—Nottingham Review.
SAGACITY OF GnEYnouNns.—Three dogs of this species,
the property of a gentleman residing at Gomersal, were ob-
served a few days ago to be Wending their way in the direc-
tion of a small covert on the estate of Mr. Emmet, of Bir-
kenshaw, which the owner of the dogs had been in the habit
of beating, and where a hare was usually found. On arriving
at the covert, two of the dogs covered it, whilst the third took
his station on the outskirts in the direction which the. hate
was, wont to take when driven out of the covert. Although
the covert teas beat by the two dogs inside with as much ex-
actitude as if' they had been accompanied by their owner, the
draw proved a blank, and the dogs trotted off to a small
clump of brushwood a few hundredyards distant, when pre-
cisely the same arrangement again took place ; but in this in-
stance with more fortunate results, as a hare was found,
driven into the open - fields, and after a capital course was
killed. A gentleman, who had been an amused observer of
the singula?proccedings of the dogs, sent one of his labourers
on to ascertain the upshot ; when he discovered the dogs
bearing away the dead hare in triumph in their mouths : he,
however, succeeded in securing them, and conveyed the
truants, together with the fruits of heir sport, to their
owner, who rewarded him by a present of the game.—Brad-
ford Observer.

CROP OUT IN THE lIIGHLANDS.—We have been informed
by a person who has made a journey into the Highlands with-
in the last few days, that he was surprised to observe in
Strathbrand, in Perthshire, nearly three-fourths of the crop
still in the fields; and on approaching the country from a
distance, the stooks which dot the hillsides have the appear-
ance of numerous herds of black cattle. The small tenantry
of Stratbbrand seem to think that a fatal spell has fallen over
their country, once of fair reputation for fertility and earli-
ness. Far north of them, and still farther south, the harvest
has been got in Well, and the Mind of the husbandman free
from care ; but here, " the rain it raineth every day," and
the crops of oats and barley promise to be utterly destroyed.
In certain intervals, when misty days gave pface to actual
deluge, the Strathsrnen secured a splendid yield of potatoes;
but, as has been stated, it is far otherwise with the white
crops. The people themselves are much down-hearted, and
not without cause ; and many of them who attended the re-
cent Donne market in the midst of splendid weather, were
still more depressed, on their return, to find that in their own
locality there had been no abatement of the watery influ-
ences. Strathbrand is about twelve miles in length, by from
two to four in breadth. The western division, called Glen-
quaich, is the property of Lord Breadalbane • and the eastern
that of Sir William Drummond, of Marti:ly.—The above
facts, of the veracity of whiCh we have been assured by a
person who witnessed them, forms only another and a dis-
tressing proof of the fitful freaks of the
,present season.—
Glasgow Herald.