The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-09-01 00:00:00

are fettered by obstacles which they create for themselves,
in various ways, by the too eager pursuit of personal or party
objects. But the Duke of Wellington's high reputation and
standing place him above all such considerations. He can
afford to speak the truth, and he does speak it on all occa-
sions fearlessly. While other speakers, on either side of the
House, have been wasting their powers in fruitless eloquence
(mere personal display,) or in perverting the truth for the
purpose either of unfair attack or unfair defence, the Duke
of Wellington has appeared to be paying not the slightest at-
tention to the proceedings. He, has sat absorbed in thought,
or at least in seeming indifference. You would almost sup-
pose that, overcome by fatigue or indisposition, he was in re-
pose, so perfectly motionless and silent is he, reclining with
folded arms, his legs stretched out to their full length, and
his bat over his brow. The question has been discussed,
argued, quarrelled upon for hours. 'No result seems to have

been come to, and you are as ignorant of the object and scope
of the measure as when the debate began ; nor have you any
clear idea of what will become of the bill. But at length the
Duke of Wellington rises, advances abruptly to the table,
wraps the tails of his coat like a dressing-gown over his legs,
and plunges at once in medias re*. There is an undivided
attention while he speaks—indeed it is sometimes abso-
lutely necessary, for when indisposed, he is often with
difficulty heard even by those near to him, But in a
moment you see that his mind is still as vigorous as ever.
His keen intelligence pierces at once to the very core of the
subject. No fallacy can blind or deceive the Duke of Wel-
lington. He knows why the measure was introduced, what
it is, what it will do, and what will become of it. He grap-
ples with it in the spirit of a statesman. He is a guardian of
the interests of the nation ; he is the parliamentary trustee
of the people ; he is bound to look to their interests as a
whole, for by the people he understands not those who bawl
loudest of their rights, but those who trust the maintenance
of their privileges and their interests to parliament, in silent
faith. He never forgets the mitts populi. The clap-trap
maxims of liberalism, on the other hand, meet from him with
just as much credence and attention as they deserve. He
measures the length, breadth, and thickness of the bill before
him—calculates with his unerring precision and practical
wisdom, the effect which it will have either on the happiness
of the people, or on the social or political constitution of the
country. According to its value for good or for evil, does
the Duke of Wellington support or oppose it ; and from that
hour its fate is usually decided. Why ? Because the un-
bending, unflinching honesty of the man, and his political
sagacity, have created him a character unprecedented in the
annals of his country. His style of speaking is what might
be expected from his character—plain, simple, straightfor-
ward. His sentences are short and pithy—his language
clear and lucid ; his delivery abrupt. When he makes a
point, it falls on the mind with the force of a sledge ham-
mer. His voice reminds one of that of an officer giving
the word of command : he lays emphasis, short and some-
what barah, on the leading word or words of the sentence,
and speaks the rest in an under tone. The arts and tricks
of the orator he wholly disdains. They are foreign to the
genius of his mind. They would be out of place in his
speeches, which depend for their interest and their value
upon their simplicity, their truthfulness, and their common
sense. For the same reason, he never attempts to impose
on the house a fictitious enthusiasm or a pretended excite-
ment. If the Duke of Wellington gets excited—and he will
sometimes get into a terrible passion at any infringement of
constitutional integrity or breach of discipline—there is no
mistaking it for a mere prepared climax to a speech ; he is
completely possessed by the demon. The only action he ever
uses is on such occasions, and then it is almost convulsive.
His arms and legs seem no longer to he under control—they
. .

quiver, and shake, and tremble.; and the clenched fist viol
lently and frequently struck upon the table, denotes that
some very potent feeling of indignation is, for the time, mas-
tering the usual calmness of this self-possessed man. Yet
though at times I have seen him thus carried away by his
feelings, I have not known- his ultimate judgment of a mea-
sure impaired by it. He can cauterise or cut out the can-
kered part, and yet preserve all that was not offensive to his
sense of right and wrong. Those who have read the speeches
of the Duke will have remarked the intensely British feeling
that pervades them. He is like the old Romans in his ad-

miration and love for his country and her institutions. The
same feeling breathes in his speeches. The same magnani-
mous. brevity that marked the public declarations of that
haughty people dignifies the addresses of the Duke of Wel-
lington. His denunciations are like the alarum of a war-
trumpet.

There is yet another phase of the character of this illus-

trious man that has to be glanced at. By a singular and
glorious pre-eminence in wisdom he is always selected as the
referee in quarrels or dilemmas. Delicacy forbids more than
alluding to an instance where the feelings of the highest per-
sonage in the realm and a near connection were involved.
Less scruple attaches to a reference to the unhappy case of
Lady Flora Hastings. The duke was the active arbiter in
that melancholy affair. I could mention others, but that
they are shielded by the privileges of private life. He is not
less often referred to in political matters. He seems to be
recognised as moderator-general to the nation--an invaluable
evidence of the influence which integrity and high character
still hold in this changing country.
The Duke of Wellington's personal appearance and his
dress are in strict accordance with his general character.
Both are quite plain and simple. Although 71 years of age,
the duke is still hale. His countenance bears but few marks
of age, except its venerable aspect. Ile always has an air of
abstraction. Not above the middle height, his frame is
compact and well built, one of those iron constitutions which
defy time and the elements. His dress consists of a plain
blue frock coat and snow-white trousers; and in the winter
he frequently comes down to the house in a long military
cloak, which he wraps round him in the evening. On some
occasions, when going to dine with the Queen, or to celebrate
an anniversary, he comes in full dress, decorated with orders.
His general demeanour accords with the rest of his appear-
ance. It is perfectly unassuming, yet there is a latent self-
LORGNETTE.
possession which command your respect.

BIRMINGHAM AND GLOUCESTER RAILWAY. —The
directors in a late report state, that the Gloucester Railway
wiil be opened to within eight miles of Birmingham on the
15th of September; but, in a subsequent speech, the chair-
man said they did not bind themselves to a particular day.
WEEKLY MORTALITY IN LONDON.—The table of morta-
lity for the metropolis, registered according to the late act of
parliament for the week ending August 15, gives a total of
deaths of 888, being 125 under the weekly average. The
distribution, according to the classification of diseases, gives
epidemic, endemic, and contagious, 185 ; of the brain, nerves,
and senses, 160
; of the organs of respiration, 216; of the
heart and blood-vessels, 19 ; of the stomach, liver, and other
organs of digestion, 115 • of the kidneys, &c., 4 ; diseases of
uncertain seat, 108; old age or natural decay, 46; by vio-
lence, privation, or intemperance, 29; cause not specified, 1 ;
of the whole number 144 were GO years old and upwards.
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.—This extraordinary machine is
now being worked on the Great Western Railroad, between
Drayton and Paddington ; and, though no distinct idea of
the apparatus can be imparted without plans and draughts
of the dial, pipes, rods, &c., of which it is composed, yet the
principle will excite unqualified admiration, when our readers
learn that intelligence is conveyed at the rate of 200,000 miles
per second, or 8,000 times quicker than light travels during
the same period, by means of electrical currents passing
through coils of copper wire, placed immediately behind some
fine magnetic needles, made to operate upon a circular series
of twenty letters, which indicate such terms, either separately
or collectively, as they have been arranged to represent. This
telegraph will act both day and night, in all states of the
weather, and with a rapidity so superior to the common pro.
cess, that one minute only is required for the communication
of thirty signals.

The fashion of visiting the Brunnens of Germany during
the recess has latterly become so general, that the subject
may fairly be regarded amongst our regular newspaper topics.
A pleasanter trip—at so small an outlay of time, fatigue, and
money—is scarcely to be traced on the map of Europe ; and
if the great end of travelling—which we take to be health,
mental and physical—be attained by variety of costume and
language, by complete change of atmosphere, by novel and
beautiful scenery, and by all those excitements which spring
out of strange and delightful associations, we know not where
the English tourist can lay up such a stock of vigour and en-
joyment for after days as in a rapid journey through' Nassau
and the adjacent Rhenish provinces. This route presents
to him the obvious advantage of being always near home, if
circumstances should require his sudden return, while it em-
braces as many points of interest and freshness as it he were
ten thousand miles from the shores of his native country.
The facilities of making the journey are now so available,
that you may transport yourself to the banks of the Rhine in
less time than it would occupy to go to Edinburgh ; and it
is superfluous to observe that the transition is in every re-
spect more attractive to all classes of travellers, idlers, inva-
lids, or intellectual inquirers. First from London to Ant-
werp by steam—then by railroad to Liege—then •to Air-la-
Chapelle—and so to Cologne and the storied banks of the
blue Rhine. By and by we shall have a railroad the whole
way to the Rhine, and the journey may then be accomplished
in a still shorter period. But there Is no excuse whatever
for lingering on the road more than two or three days, even

as it is.
The grand object of the tourist is to reach the Brunnens,
and as so many of our countrymen are annually in the habit
of visiting those pleasant and picturesque springs, a few pass-
ing hints or suggestions may not be altogether useless at this
part of the season.
In the first place, all travellers ought to be forewarned
against placing too much confidence in the medical books
that undertake to describe the virtues of the various baths
and springs. The opinions of English physicians, even when
they are thoroughly candid, are frequently found to differ
widely from the opinions of physicians who live upon the
spot, and who may be presumed to be best acquainted with
the effects of the waters. But this is not all. Such books
are sometimes unworthy of trust on other grounds. The
Brunnens are well known to yield so considerable a revenue
to the ducal and princely houses in whose hereditary domi-
nions they are found, as to be regarded with no little anxiety
by their royal proprietors. Sir Francis Head was so im-
pressed with importance in a fiscal point of view, that he
called the Duke of Nassau a lodging-house-keeper on a large
scale. No pains consequently are spared to bring them into

fashion, and to draw crowds of invalids from all parts of
Europe to test the efficacy of their remedial application. The
result is an open rivalry between those small states, or sove-
reignties, where the Brunnens are found :—a rivalry as dis-
tinctly marked by the usual features of jealousy and puffing
as we daily observe amongst the venders of rival nostrums.
Of course all kinds of influence are employed to bring the
different baths into repute, and the writers of books are very
naturally, and sometimes unavoidably, exposed to be acted
upon in divers ways, direct and indirect. in the expectation of
a favourable report in their pages.
These circumstances, which we have only lightly touched
upon, will explain many of the contradictions to be found in
such works, and even in the various editions of the same
works. Travellers will, therefore, easily perceive, without
being troubled with more minute details, the necessity of
being very careful before they implicitly adopt the advice of
any of these books.

The fact seems to be that the waters of Germany affect
different constitutions differently, and that they are effica-
cious in certain diseases only in reference to certain habits
and states of body, all of which must be proved upon the spot,
and cannot be decided upon general principles. The Wies-
baden Spring, for instance, has given occasion to a marvel-
lous diversity of opinions, and many people, who have gone
over there to try upon the suggestions of medical men, have
been grievously disappointed. The only fact that seems as-
certained clearly and established about it is, that it is good
for gout and rheumatism. Every body seems to agree about
that. One gentleman has found it so effectual in gout that
he has actually taken up his residence in the town perma-
nently. On the other hand, the assertion ventured so posi-
tively by Head that these waters are injurious in cases of
fever and consumption, does not appear to be borne out by
experience—at least so far as fever is concerned—although
neither the waters, nor the still warmer atmosphere, would
seem to be very salutary for consumptive patients. We
know an instance of a gentleman who tried the Wiesbaden
Spring after having first recovered from a fever, and found
no ill effects whatever. For the first few days he felt his
head grow giddy and confused, and was at last obliged to get
himself cupped; but he persevered, nevertheless, and after a
prolonged
.experiment, declared that the waters were of no
avail either for good or evil. It has been clearly established
that they have the effect, upon some persons at least, of pro-
ducing a rush of blood to the head, accompanied by lethargic
syniptoms. In one case this result threatened such serious
consequences, that the patient was obliged to abandon the
experiment at the end of four days. We allude to these facts
simply to show that no general statements, or even particular
details can be safely relied upon, except in so far as the ana-
lyses of the waters indicate obvious conclusions.

There are nearly a dozen works exclusively dedicated to
wthee
resuebyj einc, etnstioomneeisnpeGeeierlmlyanti,leotphuebrslieiantieEensgelifshii
mOef
rteahaense,
Stett, Granville, Richter, Peez, &c. Remarkable incon-
sistencies and contradictions pervade them ; and the best
piece of advice that can be derived from the best of them is
to consult a physician on the spot. In a little work of this
nature by Mr. Edwin Lee, which made a noise in Nassau last
year, the invalid was strongly advised to take the opinion of
a resident physician ; and in confirmation of his own theory,
and very appropriately to avail himself of its fruits, there
was Mr. Edwin Lee, at Les Quartiers Saisons, ready to ten-
der his services to his nervous countrymen. All this was
fair enough, but the German physicians objected to the in-
terloper, and some strong allusions were made to a statute of
Nassau which prohibited foreigners from acting in a medical
capacity in that duchy. Two parties were rapidly formed,
and several meetings were held at Wiesbaden, followed by
angry discussions. How the matter ended we know not ;
but we believe Mr. Lee carried his point. One of the hu-
mourous features of this affair was the publicity that was
given to Mr. Lee's treatise on the waters. Wherever you
went throughout Nassau, you saw the title of the book pla-
carded at the shop windows, on the walls, and in the hotels
and bazaars. The frequent occurrence of the name of Edwin
produced an involuntary expectation to find it at last asso-
ciated, as it ought to be in such poetical regions, with the
name of Emma :—but you drank the waters, and fell asleep
in utter oblivion of all such imaginative notions.
We might fill a budget with hints concerning the Brun-
nens, but enough for the day is a column thereof. Should
the stream of emigration, however, continue to flow in that
direction, we will resume the subject, and induct the reader
into some of the mysteries of Ems, Schlangenbad, and
ws.atbaAcilii.
—asthose inexhaustible retreats of indo-
lLenancegean Sh
ndhcip

Lord Viscount Falkland, Lieutenant Governor of the pro-
vince of Nova Scotia, goes passenger in the Britannia steamer
from this port, on the 4th September.
COLNE.—Comparative quiet has been restored in this dis-
turbed district, and many of the extra police have conse-
quently been withdrawn. It is to be hoped that the late me-
lancholy occurrence will have a beneficial effect, and that we
shall hear of no renewal of those lawless proceedings which
have caused so great an excitement in the country.

Making allowances for the alterations which have taken
place in dress since the time in which the worthy knight Sir
Hudibras flourished, the description which Butler gives of
his hero may appropriately be applied to the intelligent re-
presentative of the intelligence of the intelligent town of
Birmingham. With the exception of the redoubtable Sir
Hudibras, and perhaps of Don Quixote also, there never
existed such a grotesque looking animal as Mr. Muntz. Have
our readers ever seen him ? If so, they will never forget
him.

Muntz is a creature of such hideous mien,
That to be remember'd needs but to be seen

To those perhaps we have not had the good fortune, o.
rather misfortune, to gaze upon the hon. member for Bin
mingham, it may be necessary to say that he is a very tall
and marvellously strong man, with the whole of his face
literally covered with hair. His whiskers extend about six
inches on either side of his face, his beard almost reaches
to the bottom of his waistcoat, and his mustaches are of
most formidable character. We believe that Mr. Muntz
has a nose and eyes, and a mouth, but we have never been
able to discover them, on account of the mass of black,
filthy looking hair which covers the places where thoge
several portions of the " human face divine " are wont to
be situated. With respect to dress, he sometimes wears a
coat of a cut so marvellously strange and out-of-the-way-
lab, that we cannot presume to attempt a description of
it. The other day we happened to be passing down White-
hall, on our way to the house, and saw Mr. Muntz figuring
away in one of those outrageous garments called " a
blouse," or something of the kind, with which linen-
drapers' shopmen or other monkeys of their class are in the
habit of doing what they call " the genteel thing, and making
the gals stare." Guess our astonishment when we saw our
hero walk, a few minutes afterwards, coolly into the House of
Commons, wearing the identical blouse which had excited
the astonishment of every person in the street ! A shout of
laughter greeted the worthy M.P., but the mirth was soon
changed into astonishment that any man should presume to
appear in the presence of a body of English gentlemen in such
an attire. This, however, is somewhat of a digression, and
we therefore proceed to say that the garments which cover
Mr. Muntz's nether limbs are, if possible, of a more extra-
ordinary description than the dress of the upper part of his
person. The mass of cloth that he carries about his legs is
perfectly astonishing ' • it would prevent any other man from
walking a dozen yards, its width alone being calculated at
somewhere about nine or ten yards : his hat is of the cut
denominated, we believe, by men about town, " spicy," and
his stick is as thick as the monument, and about half as
heavy.

These details must, we are perfectly aware, be considered
very tiresome, but how can we help giving them ? Mr. Muntz
chooses to seek notoriety by the singularity of his dress and
the extravagance of his appearance; and we are therefore
bound, in giving a sketch of him, to dwell at some length
upon both of these peculiarities, just as we are bound, in
writing of the Marquis of Normanby, to notice his sweetly-
scented curls, or, in speaking of Lord Palmerston, to advert
to his well roughed cheeks, and in noticing of Mr. Joseph
Hume to dwell upon his impenetrable brass.

After the description given of Mr. Muntz, it is perhaps
almost unnecessary to add that he is an ultra-radical, for our
readers will feel assured that no conservative could disfigure
himself as he does. Once upon a time the man was a
chartist, but now he is a ministerial tool, and votes black to
be white and white to be 'black, with as much readiness as
one of O'Connell's tail, and with as much impudence as the
gabbling goose of Kilkenny. To do Muntz justice we must
state that on the debate on the corn laws, he made a short
but very sensible speech, in which he completely demolished
many of the crotshets of his ministerial friends, and showed
as clearly as any thing could be shown, that the repeal of the
corn laws would no more benefit the working classes of this
country than it would tend to the advantage of the man in
the moon. This was all very well, and it would have been
better still had Muntz voted as he spoke, but oh! monstrous
absurdity, his vote was in direct opposition to his speech ; he
spoke for the corn laws, but voted against them! " Oh!
that somebody were here to write me down an ass ! But re-
member, my masters, though it be not written down, that I
am an ass !"

On the very best authority we are enabled to state that
Muntz will not be exhibited at the ensuing Bartlemy fair as
" the wild houran hautang, nor the man vot vas caught run-
ning vild in the voods, and kivered vith hair." The terms
he required for exhibiting himself were considered too high,
besides it is reported that Mr. Joseph Hume intends in the
next session to propose that the Brummagem M.P. shall be
required to dance on hot iron, for the amusement of the
public, who are to be admitted at a shilling a head, the pro-
ceeds to be devoted to the liquidation of the national debt.
This project, if carried into effect, will afford a fine field for
the developement of Muntz's abilities.

Heaven be thanked, no Mr. Muntz ever sat in the House
of Commons until after it was " reformed."

STATE OF RELIGION IN IRELAND.—A converted Roman
Catholic priest, in a letter addressed to a clergyman at Dur-
ham, says :—" A movement in religion is at present in pro-
gress. The times are big with coming events. The Roman
Catholic aristocracy are, almost to a man, disgusted with the
conduct of their priests, and set little or no value on their
ministry. This disgust is extending itself among all classes,
and will, in all probability, with the spread of knowledge and
reflection, at no distant period pervade the whole body.
Many priests of late in various parts of the kingdom, urged
by the force of truth, have openly protested against the errors
and abuses of Popery, and declared in favour of the Gospel.
Two priests of the name of Crotty (uncle and nephew) have,
in conjunction, established an independent Catholic congre-
gation in the town of Birr, in the King's County. In all the
cities Roman Catholics flock in crowds to hear Protestant
sermons—quite a novel thing ; and both in town and country
many people, who never before troubled themselves on the
subject, are beginning to make vital inquiries concerning re-
ligion. If due advantage be taken of this critical state of
things, the happiest results may be expected."
THE THAMES TUNNEL.—The process of what is termed
" driving the piles" in this undertaking . proceeding ra-

pidly. The total number of feet from the entrance at Wap-
ping to that on the Itotherhithe shore will be exactly 1,300,
when the tunnel is completed. The workmen, having
reached the Middlesex side of the river, are now engaged in
carrying the extent of the tunnel as far as the Wharf Wall at
Wapping, to reach which only 35 feet more are required, and
then the whole distance will be accomplished. The average
number of feet which the men are able to finish in a week is
three ; therefore, there is every probability of the tunnel be-
ing completed in between three and four months from this
period. The whole of the premises which it was requisite to
remove for the purpose of. forming the entrance at Wapping
have been pulled down; and the expenses attached to pur-
chasing the property, which was very valuable, and remune-
rating the occupiers of the houses, will form no small items
in the company's accounts : as it is, however, the tunnel will
be completed at a cost of less than half a million of money.

SAD REVERSE OF FORTUNE.—In the small town of Max-
welltown, on the bank of the Nith, Kirkcudbrightshire, may
be seen a poor feeble old woman destitute and distressed, who
picks up a scanty subsistence by washing clothes. This was
one of Burns's loveliest heroines, the daughter of a highly re-
spectable gentleman in Nithsdale. Of her the poet sang—
" 0 lovely Polly Stewart!
0 charming Polly Stewart!
There's not a flower that blooms in May,
That's half so fair as thou art.
The flower it blaws, it fades and fa's,
And art can ne'er renew it ;
But worth and truth eternal youth
Will give to Polly Stewart.
Poor Polly Stewart forgot her " worth and truth," and has
sunk from the highest circles of fashion to her present ab-
ject state. Such reverses feelingly remind us of the vicissi-'
tudes of life.---Inverness Courier.