The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-11-22 00:00:00

LITERARY NOTICES.

THE SCOTTISH MONTHLY MAGAZINE,

This magazine, like all its contemporaries, caters fo.r
every variety of taste, and fastidiousness itself might riot
here ; but we no more feel ourselves bound to notice
every article written than we should be to partake of
every dish of a profuse feast; indeed, in both cases,
there would probably always be some which, though
savoury enough to others, would be insipid to ourselves.
In our present entertainment, we shall confine ourselves
to the sirloin and the haunch. The first article, entitled
" Our Relations with India," is replete with matter of
general, and, to Liverpool, of deep local interest. But,
before we advert to the question more immediately con-
nected with our town, we have a few observations to offer
respecting the government of India. We do not perfectly
agree with the conclusion drawn by Mr. T. L. Peacock,
(the assistant examiner of India correspondence, in the
India House, to the committee appointed last ses-
sion to report on the salt monopoly in British India,)
although that opinion is fortified by the high autho-
rity of Sir Philip Francis, the presumptive Junius,
that what they are pleased to call " tributes" are,
in every case, prejudicial to India. We take the.
same view of this subject that is very perspicuously
exhibited by the author of the present article. Speaking
of that " tribute" which is supposed to be paid by a
balance, in commercial barter, unfavourable to India,
the writer justly remarks :—" The mercantile returns
are procured by an exchange of commodities alike
beneficial to the inhabitants of both countries. If
the Indian merchants did not find it profitable to take our
exports, they would leave them in the hands of our mer-
chants. If our merchants did not feel it profitable to
exchange their wares for what they import in return,
they would cease to export to India. The process by
which the mercantile returns are obtained enriches India,
at the same time that it enriches this country." The
laMentation over an " absentee government" is a profit-
less sorrow. India must either be governed as it now
is, (we mean as regards constitutional structure, not
practical policy,) or at once be made independent. But
this subject cannot be discussed in the brief notice of a
monthly publication. We proceed to another point,
arising out of " our relations with India," which involves
considerations of great interest to the merchants of
Liverpool ; and, " in limine," we would ask, why are we
distracted with the clamour of reform, which benefits
none, whilst questions of this kind, momentous in their
issues, immediate in their consequences, not speculative,
but certain in their results, call loudly upon the intelli-
gence, the prudence, the interest of Liverpool Before
a committee of the House of Commons " on the salt mo-
nopoly of the East India Company," we find it stated by
Mr. Duncan Cribb, shipping agent of Liverpool—" I
have upwards of 3,000 tons now shipped in the Bombay
trade, and I might say that the capacity of these 3,000
tons is about 5,000; one-half of 5000 is vacant, in my
own experience ; the last ship I sent out from Liverpool
to Bombay was the Tore. She is a ship that would
carry 1,000 tons; I put 250 tons of ballast (250 tons of
metal) to ballast her out; therefore, when she, left she
had 600 tons spare freight-600 tons of spare room" !
" Similar staternents were made by other shipping agents;
and remain uncontradicted." " Mr. Alexander Reid
stated that, at the time of his examination, there was
a ship loading at Liverpool which was taking in SO tons
of salt to be put down. at Calcutta, at 20s. 6c1., and the
Coromandel or coast salt costs the East India Company
395. 4d. per ton, being 10s. per ton higher than Liver-
pool salt, and of a very inferior quality." This is but
one branch of a great commercial impolicy to which the
mercantile body should be vigorously directed; it is worthy
of their regard; we recommend the whole article of the
present number of the Scottish Monthly Magazine to the
careful perusal of our readers. The next paper of interest
to us is a review of Buckland's Bridgewater Treatise.
With the first paragraph of this paper we scarcely know
how to deal; the language is the language-of the author
of the paper, but for the opinion expressed Mr. Buckland
is held responsible. We differ "toto cceto" from Mr. 8.,
with regard to his almost endless succession of worlds;
not from any fear that the rock upon which divine revela-
tion rests will be shaken by such speculations, but because
We think the evidence he produces insufficient—the in-
duction too meagre to support his conclusions. The
author observes that " the researches of geology bring
.before us no confusion." Confusion! What builder
of a system, who has props of hypothesis and buttresses
of conjecture at his command, will fail to raise an impos-
ing structure ? Men have speculated upon the size of
creatures in Jupiter, and determined the limits of magni-
tude there possible; the soul has been affirmed to be
identical with electric fluid; and in the following quota-
tion from Buckland there is evinced the same kind apti-
tude to jump at conclusions without sufficient evidence,
and the bounding leap easily clears all " confusion."
We give an example :—" The tusks of the Denotherium
may also have been applied with mechanical advantage
to hook on the head of the animal to the back, &c.—the
animal might thus repose, &c.—these tusks might have
been further used to assist in dragging the body out of
the water." Why, very true, all these might be as
supposed, but it is not less possible that they might not
be; and the whole of the illustration is employed to sup-
port the hypothesis that the Denotherium was " an animal
destined to live in water"; and what, think ve, is the
ground of this hypothesis? Why, as Mr. Buckland
affirms, because " It is mechanically impossible that a
lower jaw, nearly four feet long, loaded with such heavy
tusks at its extremity, could have been otherwise than
cumbrous and inconvenient to a quadruped living on dry
land." Why, this is pronouncing, in no very modest
terms, upon the possible economy of animal life, the
fitness. of things, assigning the " sufficient reason" of
nature; we can point to a thousand instances in the ani-
mal kingdom where arrangements, no doubt subservient,
perhaps essential to existence, mock the explanations of
" mechanical" philosophy. Who would ever hare
reasoned himself to the conclusion that the ponderous
head of the elephant, with all its appendages, was ever to
be supported by muscular fibres? We do not make
these observations to disprove the verity of Mr. B.'s ex-
perience, but to show that, on questions affording little
light of evidence, it is easier to indulge in conjecture
than to establish truth. We highly value the advantages
derived from comparative anatomy, and admire the
application of them under the skilful hand of Cuvier ;
but comparative anatomy cannot prove the period when
an animal existed, however correctly it may assign the
class to which, it belongs. The reviewer's reflections
upon the Bridgewater Treatise are just, and evince a
comprehensive acquaintance with geology and its cognate
branches of science.

Tonrcno.—M. Matteucci, by aid of new apparatus, has suc-
ceeded in magnetising needles with the fluid produced by the
torpedo, and even to elicit sparks from this fish, which may be
seen during the day-time.— Athenczum.

FLA as-up AT LOWELL —The factory girls, at Lowell, turned
out on Saturday, because their wages were reduced twelve and
a half cents. a week, or rather because the companies have in-
creased the price of board so as to produce that effect. We
learn from the Lowell Advertiser, that yesterday afternoon, at
two o'clock, the girls were assembled in the Grove on Chapel
Hill, between Gorham and South-streets, to the number of about
two thousand. They were accompanied by several hundred men
and boys, which gave the whole scene the appearance of.a "ge-
neral muster." They appeared cheerfuland happy, and seemed
to think it a fine holiday. They had a regular meeting in the
City Hall, on Saturday evening, but concluded to bold their
meetings in the day time, as more becoming their character.—
Boston Transcript.

SERIOUS FA trucE.—We exceedingly regret the necessity
which devolves upon us of recording a fact which will have a
very material effect upon the trade and commerce of this city,
and we fear upon the county generally, we mean the failure of
Messrs. Forster, bankers, who stopped payment this (Friday)
morning very unexpectedly, and much to the surprise of every
Person. The consternation caused by this event it is impossible
to describe, and for some time no one would give credit to the
rumour, but it is unfortunately too true ; we are assured, how-
ever, from very good authority, that the loss ultimately sustained
will be very trifling indeed. We have already adverted to the
dreadful ch,e,ftiklhich the commerce of this city has received in
the failure
supposed,
inrmlerrs. Forster's bank; this, as may naturally be
the engrossing topic of conversation and
regret here this (F
claring the complentday) morning. A notice was issued Be-
atapuulolvency of Messrs. Connell's hank, and
two o'clock
which we give a sum;a::neeting was held at the Town Hall, of
,nty,vionf another column. The meeting
was attended by the
the city, the whole of the manu-
facturers and principai trades
and a number of resoln i t.ons wrnereen. 'rile Mayor took the chair,
an'tZ,eed. n n a n im ou sly declaring
perfect confidence in the the most
of this town and neighbourhood, and
,vr banking establishments
to take the notes of the existing bank r=` one pledged himself
s Carlisle Patriot.
. .

CONTEMPORARY PRESS.

Of all the speeches Mr. Daniel O'Connell has recently
delivered, that we published yesterday, relative to the in-
troduction of poor-laws into Ireland, is perhaps the most
important, because the most characteristic of the intel-
lect, the acquirements, the morality, and the feelings of
the man. He threatens to favour us with this speech,
accompanied by notes, illustrations, Sze. If he should for
once keep his word, we think we may promise our read-
ers a more extraordinary specimen of foolery and false-
hood than has issued from the press of these realms since
Daniel sent forth his speech on the subject of the repeal
of the union. We are quite willing to wait the appear-
ance of this rubbish in an authentic shape, before we
deal with it in detail. There are some points of the ora-
tion, however, about which there can be no mistake, and
which are too remarkable for us to suffer to pass without
comment now.
Daniel, admitting-with a sigh that " the time is come
when it is impossible to avoid doing something for the
Irish poor;" proceeds to state the amount of the some-
thing, he, thus driven, has made up his mind unwillingly
to yield to his naked and starving fellow-countrymen.
" I go," he says, "to this extent—let the absentees be
taxed, and let the aged, the infirm, the crippled, and the
diseased, be provided for out of the resources of the soil.
Further than this I (Daniel) will not go." Now, for an
able-bodied beggar like O'Connell, who with the great-
er part of his family, all able-bodied also, are supported
by public alms, to use this language, is as brazen as the
sentiment it conveys is brutal. We have the report'of
the Irish poor law commissioners, which furnishes over-
whelming evidence of the fact, that able-bodied labourers
of both sexes in Ireland daily perish from insufficient
food, from want of clothing, from exposure to cold and
wet, against which their ragged, unthatched hovels af-
ford them no shelter,—nay, from actual starvation, tit-
ter destitution of food of whatever kind. And yet this
patriot, this friend of Ireland, this lover of his country,
this Grub-street panegyrist of the " finest pisantry,"
this dealer in worse than Cockney cant about green fields
would leave the Irish to die the slow but sure death that
cold, and hunger, and nakedness inflict, unless they hap-
pen to labour under the additional afflictions of being
aged, infirm, or crippled ! Why, the leader of the most
uncultivated tribe of savages would spit upon so cruel and
cold-blooded a churl ! Oh that the Irish poor could be
made to understand this bad-hearted man. They have
murdered, they have plundered their neighbours, they
have starved themselves to fill his begging-box; and see
the return he makes them ! But he will tax the absen-
tees"! Virtuous and just man ! By his accursed agita-
tion he renders life and property, in all but the protest-
ant-peopled districts, insecure,—drives the rich and the
respectable out of the land, and then proposes to tax
them on account of their absence ! We dare say that
Daniel, for whom no falsehood is too desperate, would
insist that an absentee who draws his own property from
the country is much more culpable than the mendicant
agitator who, causing the absenteeism of others, stays
at home to levy contributions in the shape of tribute or
alms upon the property of others.
The only reason this great Irish pauper assigns for re-
fusing assistance to the smaller of his own fraternity, un-
less they happen to he diseased, crippled, or disabled by
old age, is, that any such assistance would lead to demo-
ralization. We suspect he was thinking of himself when
he came to this conclusion, though he is content with
talking of the number of pregnant women, who, accord
ing to the English poor law commissioners, were accus-
tomed to appear every now and then at the altar, in some
parts of this country, ❑nder the old poor law system. We
have repeatedly shown, first, that the number of such
cases has been grossly exaggerated ; and, secondly, that
they were attributable to the mal-administration, or ra-
ther to the violation, of the poor laws, and not to the
laws themselves. We will not on this occasion go into
that subject again. For the sake of the argument, let
the cases have been as numerous as they would have been
if there had been a number of Daniel O'Connells in
every parish, and all our women had been as frail as
Daniel has found but too many to be in another part of
the empire—even so the picture of English demoraliza-
tion would not be half so frightful as that of Irish demo-
ralization which the report of the poor law commission-
ers for Ireland exhibits. There is no poor law in Ire-
land; there has been one in England. Yet in Ireland
infanticide, child-dropping, pregnancy before marriage,
and the false swearing of rapes in order to compel mar-
riage, are, according to the report of the Irish poor law
commissioners, common offences in Ireland—offences pre-
veiling in that country to an extent never heard of in
Great Britain. It is clear, therefore, that it is the ab-
sence of a law for the relief of the poor, and not the en-
acting of such a law, that leads to demoralization. So
much for Daniel's argument.
We shall no doubt have occasion to revert to this
speech, and we shall certainly repeatedly return to the.
subject to which it relates. For the present, we have
only once more to direct public attention to the igno-
rance and bad-heartedness of this political quack, this
thriving trader on the miseries of his fellow-countrymen,
who, perpetually calling for " justice to Ireland," has
refused, when put to the test, to consent - that the com-
monest offices of humanity shall be exercised towards
that portion of the Irish who have been declared, on o
ficial authority, to be naked, houseless, and starving!
Times.

THE DECISIONS OF REVISING BARRISTERS.—The de-
cision of the revising barristers on the claims of the mill-
owners to vote for the West-Riding will be read with no
small degree of amazement. The unlearned reader will
be astonished to find that the cases which last year were
decided to be bad are this year pronounced to be good,
and that, too, by two of the barristers who last year con-
curred in their condemnation. The learned reader will
open his eyes on hearing the law of Mr. Cottingham
that a chattel interest is still a freehold interest, if the
subject matter out of which it issues is rateable and ca-
pable of qualifying a member to sit in parliament—and
will stand aghast at Mr. Henry's legal distinction by
which real estate shall be converted into personalty
against the express declaration of the parties, and a chat-
tel interest shall confer a freehold vote—thus converting
real into personal in spite of the owners, and reconvert-
ing personal into real in the teeth of the reform act. The
unlearned will, however, see from this exposé of Mr.
Cottingham that he was last year in the glorious mino-
rity of one, and bowed, though unconvinced. Being
this year reinforced by the accession of Mr. Henry, and
Mr. Henry and Mr. Cottingham counting two, and Mr.
Hildyard only one, " the ayes have it," and the Law is
changed ! It is very clear that the Revision Court is no
longer to be termed a judiciary but a legislative tri-
bunal, in which the majority lays down the law with the
luminous exposition, " Sic volo, sic jubeo, stet pro ra-
tione voluntas." How long this absurdity is to last—
how long,the annual session of the revision parliament is
to enact new laws—to unsettle votes and give counte-
nance to illegal claims—to ndd to the glorious uncer
tainty of the reform act, and provoke multiplied objec-
tions and disputes, perhaps our reforming ministers will,
when they haVe leisure, inform us.—Leeds Intelli-
gences.

CONSISTORY COUNT, CHESTER -THt L.DAY.

THE LATE MADAME MALIBRAN Di BERIOT'S
REMAINS.
The Court met this morning at eleven o'clock, in the Call),
ral,—the Rev. HENRY RA TEES presidine hiS capacity of Chan-
cellor. After the disposal of several unimportant causes, that
of De Beriot v. SHARPE came •on for hearing. - At a former
court dly a caveat was entered by the Defendant, one of the
Churchwardens of the Collegiate Church of Manchester, and
he was now cited to showcatoe why a faculty, licence. or autho-
rity should not he granted for the removal of the corpse of Ma-
ria Felicia de Beriot, late the wife of Charles de Beriot, from
the Collegiate Church of Manchester, in which the stone is now
deposited or interred, to the Church of Lacken, 'near Brussels.
in the kingdom of Belgium. •
Mr. PARRY, the Proctor, introduced the citation by observ-
ing that notice had not been personally served upon the defen-
dant. In his absence from home, it had been served upon his
servant. The service of the notice had been announced in the
Manchester papers, so there could be no doubt of the defendant
being aware of the present proceedings.
Mr. MAunocKs (of the firm of Jones and Maddocks,) said
the defendant did not appear, as he had not been personally ser-
ved with the citation. He (Mr. Maddock) had expected that
the defendant would have attended the court that day, and with
that view an affidavit had been prepared, and the defendant,
had he been present, would have sworn to the truth of its con-
tents.
The CHANCELLOR enquired if the citation had been serv-
ed ?

Mr. MADDOCKS admitted that the citation had been left at
the house of the defendant; but he contended that the admis-
sion of such service would tend very much to introduce a great
laxity of practice in the Court.
Mr. PARRY said he had received a letter from Monsieur Pi-
ennes, (the deputed agent of De Beriot,) in which that gentle-
man expressed his belief that Mr. Sharpe was out of the way on
purpose to prevent a personal service of the citation.
Mr. DDOCKS denied the insinuation. The .respectability
of Mr. Sharpe was a sufficient answer to such an insinuation.
The fact was, Mr. Sharpe was on a visit to a personal friend at
Beaumaris, and had been written to requesting him to attend.
The CHANCELLOR thought the service sufficient, as it was nut
necessary to serve it personally., &caveat was only a-notice to
the court, and as the defendant was not present, ho (the Chan-
cellor,) should admit the service to be. good.
Mr. MAnnoc,xs said he should in that case appear for his
client under protest.
Mr. PARRY conSidered that after the public feeling that the
case had excited, it was but to be expected that the parties who
had become parties to the suit, and by their conduct rendered
themselves so prominent, would have been present and fairly
have met the case, instead of keeping M. De Beriot in such
anxious suspense.
The CHANCELLOR next inquired when the citation was serv-
ed?

Mr. PARRY said it was served on Saturday.
The CHANCEL GDR wished to know whether. Mr. Bagshaw
who had withdraWn the caveat previously entered, was not Mr.
Sharpe's legal adviser ?
Mr. MA DDOCKS believed he was, but could not speak positi-
vely to the fact He said he had no wish to proceed against
the wishes of the court by taking any advantage of the want of
personal service. If the court announced its intention, he
should bow to that decision and advise his.elient to withdraw
the caveat.
The CHANCELLOR observed that it was important to consider
the grounds upon which the applications of this kind were
made. It was no unusual thing for the court occasionally to
issue its order for the exhumation of a corpse, The power to do
so was very properly vested by the Ecclesiastical law in the Or-
dinary, wtio used his discretion according to the circumstances
of the case, so as to meet the feelings of both parties interested.
He was of opinion, that in the present case he should be justi-
fied in granting the faculty, as the individual applying was a
Romanist, and it could not be otherwise than objectionable to
him to have his wife interred in a Protestant Church. Such
was also the feeling of his family, and they wished the body of
their deceased relative to a Catholic place of burial. Under
this impression it was that he considered he should be justified
in granting the faculty, unless some strong reason were shown
to the contrary.
Mr. Alapnocks in reply said, that under those circumstances
he should advise his party to withdraw the caveat, unless the
facts adduced in an affidavit, which he held in his hand, were
considered by the Chancellor to be sufficient grounds to induce
him to stay the issuing of the faculty.
The document was then handed up to the Chancellor for his
perusal. It purported to be an affidavit of the defendant, Mr.
Robert Chapman Sharpe, and was to this effect: It began by
stating that the deceased, Madame de Beriot, was engaged as
principal female vocalist at the late Manchester Musical Festi-
val. fiat when she arrived at Manchester she was in delicate
health, and in attempting to perform the whole of the profes-
sional task allotted to her, she became worse, and on the second
evening of the festival was removed to her hotel, where, after
increasing illness of nine dax,s, she departed this life a little
before midnight on Friday, the 23d day of September last. It
further stated that her husband, Mons. De Beriot, was also en-
gaged professionally at the same festival, and was in attend-
ance upon his wife during the said illness, and that an hour or
two before her death he sent for Mr. Thomas Beale, a gentle-
man residing in Manchester, with whom he was slightly ac-
quainted, and requested him to superintend her funeral, giving
written directions to see her interred in such place as he (Mr.
Beale) might think
.proper, and to erect a tablet to her me-
mory. During the night, and a little more than an hour after
her death, without looking at her remains, the said Charles de
Beriot set off for London, in a post-chaise, taking along with
him the wearing apparel, valuables, and other property of his
said wife; and that the said Maria Felicia de Beriot, was then
left without a relative to direct or attend her funeral, and de-
pendant upon the humanity of strangers for the performance of
the last sad offices to her remains. That the committee who
conducted the said funeral, on hearing of these circumstances,
on the following day caused a letter to be addressed to the said
Charles de Beriot, at London, urging him to return to Manches-
ter, that he might attend the funeral of his departed wife, but
the said committee found, that after remaining in London a few
hours only, the said Charles de Beriot, had embarked precipi-
tately for Belgium, where deponent is informed his said wife
had personal property to a considerable amount. That actuated
by a strong feeling of compassion for the state in which the
mortal remains of the unfortunate lady were left, and to testify
their high sense of her unrivalled professional acquirements,
the committee co-operated with Mr. Beale in the conduct of
her funeral, and that the Warden and Fellows of the Collegiate
Church of Manchester aforesaid, also generously and gratui-
ously offered a resting place for the remains within the chancel
of the said Collegiate Church, and the authorities of the town
of Manchester, a neighbouring nobleman of distinction, and
a numerous assemblage of the gentry, magistrates, merchants,
and other respectable inhabitants of that town and its vicinity
paid their last sad testimony of respect to her memory, by fol-
lowing her remains to the grave; and that on the whole of
these circumstances becoming known, a feeling of indignation
was exhibited at the said Charles de Beriot's extraordinary con-
duct, and various observations in disapprobation thereof ap-
peared in the newspapers of the day. And deponent is informed,
and, from the citation of this honourable court directed•to hirci,
path no doubt that the said Charles de Beriot is now seeking to
have the body of his said wife disinterred, and removed to Bel-
gium; and that although the said said committee have trans-
mitted to him a resolution passed by them, remonstrating
strongly against such a step, as repulsive to the feelings of the
inhabitants of Manchester and its neighbourhood, the said
Charles de Beriot persists in his determination to have the said
body removed from the place. That the deponent is advised
that this honourable court has no jurisdiction to order or autho-
rise the disinterment and removal of the said body from the
place where it is now deposited, the same not being in the body
or parochial part of the said church, but in the chancel, over
which the said warden and fellows have the exclusive owner-
ship and control. And depon4nt saith, that the disinterment
and removal of the said corpse would be most repugnant to the
deponent and other churchwardens of the said parish, and re-
pulsive to a great majority of the inhabitants of Manchester
and its neighbourhood; and would be consideredan ungenerous
return for the honour paid to her remains. And that deponent
is advised such faculty of license cannot be claimed as a matter
of right, and is convinced that, under the circumstances above
mentioned, the said Charles de Beriot has no claim to it as a
matter of courtesy or favour.
The CHANCELLOR said the affidavit appeared to, assume a
great many things which were completely irrelevant. Some
allowance was to be made for the state of mind of Mons. De
Beriot under circumstances so painful, and the habits of the
country to which he belonged, it being usual there for parties to
leave their houses immediately after the death of their rela-
tives. The strong fact of Dr. Belluomini's having made
urgent representation to Mons. De Beriot of the necessity for
his leaving, and hurrying him into the carriage ought to be
considered, and the politic mind disabused of the erroneous
impressions that had gone abroad. There were some allega-
tions on the affidavit.which he (the Chancellor) happened to
know were not exactly correct.
Mr. MA DDOCKS said he had handed the affidavit to the Chan-
cellor with a view to show that Mr. Sharpe was not actuated by
any improper motive.
The faculty was then granted. Mr. Maddock* dissenting
and protesting to appeaLto the Metropolitan. Court York.
The appeal must be prosecuted within 14 days ; so that unless
the appeal is proceeded in within that time, the 'body vrilto
couisu be removed.