The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-11-01 00:00:00

PHILHAR3IONIC HALL.
GRAND SUBSCRIPTION CONCERT.
MENDELSSOHN'S WALPURGIS NIGHT. •
THIS EVENING (TUESDAY),
Nov. IST.
QUARTER BEFORE EIGHT. [See Advt.]

EAntpotll tanbarb".

FROM OUR LOYDON CORPE P ON-DENT.

INI %.17 MORNING.
A FEW words will dispos;., of the Eastern question this
week. There seems to be no doubt that there has been a
"set-to" between the Russian and the Turk, near the fort
of Isaktchi, on the right bank of the Danube. In
Do leg-street, on Saturday night, it was stated that
hostilities had ceased. These few words embrace all that
can be said—profitably—on the subject.
Some not uninteresting gossip has been held, within the
last two or three days, on the same subject, at two very
different places—the University Club-house, where, if you
have a brother-in-law a clergyman, as I have, you are safe
for pullet and cream—the other place the office of Mr.
Mots, the Solicitor to the Income Tax Commission ers.
T. himself is as good a creature as his very obnoxious po-
sition will allow him to be ; in short, his " bark is worse
than his bite," which is a great blessing to those who get
behind in the payment of their income tax. Not that I
want to propitiate T. ; my " withers are unwrung." Pay
your taxes—not from any love of the thing —the moment
they are due : it saves worry; for paid, in the long run,
they must be. T.'s clerks are shrewd fellows, in the snug
Part of Somerset-house. Our friends in the University
Club are, for the most part, quiet gentlemen from the
classic banks of the Isis and the Cam. The subject has
been the " verdant" letter of Dr. CANTWELL, called the
" Bishop of Meath" by Roman Catholics, and the still
more " verdant and sappy" opinion of POLLARD Ungu-
HAIIT, M.P., on CANTWELL'S income tax non-liability.
Some bibliopoles of the club, more versed in Greek and the
writings of the primitive fathers than the construction,
misconstruction, appreciation, signification, and so forth
• of an act of parliament, think the government has got in a
" fix," a." cleft stick." So sky not the boys at Somerset-
house t The first words in the income tax schedule served
on the Rev. J. CANTWELL—" Bishop of Meath," as he
allows himself to be addressed when seated in his frowsy
library chair—are :--
" Income? from the Trade of
Carried on by me at --
From the Profession of
Exercised by me at --
From the Employment or Vocation of ---"
The first is answered thus :—" An Irish priest." The
others follow in the same manner. Here is no infraction
of the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill. "The Bishop" is entered
in the Government books as the Rev. J. CANTWELL, Meath,
Ireland, by which he has been served. There cannot he a
mistake here. Nor does the Government stop to enquire
whether Lichen M.D., P.Q.R., et S.P.Q.I? , with his curi-
ously-a
real M.D made and daintily-mounted
all, carriage, piebalds, and
is . under the wing of that eastomh
curator, Dr. PARIS, President of the Physicians' Collegace.
No ; the legal adviser of the Income Tax Commissioners
says—" Lichen, what's your income ?" " Doo Dousand,"
looks w ssto I believe you! This suits Lichen's purpose; it
ell to be rated so high ; Lichen pays as a regular
Practitioner. It is very soft for J. CANTWELL to affect
to lay the flattering unction to his soul, thus—" the
only income which I receive is derived from the title of
the Bishop of Meath, which the-government official in his
notice does nut recognise?' Of course not. Then Mr.
POLLARD URQUHART. M.P., seeing the lion in the way,
confesses that he is " unable to propound any solution of
the difficulty, and, indeed, I think it would require a very
wise man to do so." The Rev. J. CANTWELL is rated the
Rev. J. CANTWELL, and pays "as skis," and he knows it.
He is not so "verdant " by half as he would have POLLARD
URQUHART imagine.
Whether diplomatic interference is a means of procuring
religious tolerance and equality in countries deprived of
that essential element of true civilisation, and
one which
should be resorted to in preference to the moral influence
of good example, and the gradual dissemination of
liberal sentiments, is &question which would appear to be
still very imperfectly understood. The incidents which
led to the imprisonment of Miss CUNNING HAME, in Tus-
cany, under the operation of an absurd law,
are still
fresh in the minds of the public of this country, as are
also the circumstances of her release. It is not long since
I communicated to you the endeavours—the successful
endeavours, too—which were made in this country to in-
terest the government in her behalf; and connecting the
fact of her release with the representations that were
made by our own government to that of Tuscany, it would
not be straining them too much to infer that these pro-
ceedings occupy, with respect to each other, the relation
of cause and effect. To most persons, on the first blush
of reflection, it might appear desirable that this should
be so. National pride is gratified at the paramount power
we exercise abroad, and we are able to boast of forcing
toleration on unwilling and bigoted princes. On cooler
reflection however, we must feel a higher degree of satis-
faction in the consciousness that these silly abuses of
Power are spontaneously corrected by those from whom
they emanated. I am induced to suggest this considera-
tion, in consequence of the answers returned by Lord
CLARENDON, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, to a depu-
ltation of the Evangelical Alliance, who waited upon his
ordship, chiefly to direct his attention to persecutions at
resent raging in Sweden, under the auspices of the
Lutheran Church established in that &Pantry ; and took
occasion to thank his lordship for his prompt and efficient
exertions on behalf of Miss CUNNINGITAME. In the ad-
dress of Sir CULLING EARDLEY the desire was mani-
fested to ascertain the fact, that the liberation of Miss
CUNNINGHAME was due to the interference of our govern-
ment, as it was not supposed that Lord CLARENDON'S
despatch could have reached in time to procure her libera-
tion on the day on which it took place. This doubt was
confirmed by his lordship,who said that the despatch came
too late ; but that the view of the British Government was
nevertheless, communicated to the GRAND DUKE. His
lordship added, that he had great reason to doubt whether
the incarceration of Miss CUNNINGHAME was instigated by
theGRAyD DUKE ; but, however that might be, his minister
had rendered Mr. SCARLETT every assistance in his power,
in the furtherance of his wishes, and Miss CUNNINGILAXE
herself admitted, that, apart from her imprisonment, she
had no harsh treatment to complain of. But, as to the
main point, Lord CLARENDON emphatically said that he
was quite unable to declare what were the motives that
had weighed with the GRAND DUKE iu liberating her.
Upon the whole, therofore, much as we may deplore the
existence- of such a harsh and absurd law, its exercise ap-
pears to have been of the most mitigated character ; and,
taken he conjunction with the fact that that law, however
harsh or absurd, had been broken, the conduct of the
Tuscan Government appears under a more favourable
aspect. The persecutions in Sweden were described by
Dr. STEANE, upon the authority of the branch of the
Alliance in Sweden, and certain ladies in that country
were the subject of the oppression complained of- It
seems that the substance of the coercionof is this :—Certain
members of the Lutheran Church hold religions meetings
among themselves, which are illegal unless headed by the
pastor of the district, within the church, and in canonical
hours. The violation of this law is visited by fine and
mPrisonment, bread and water diet, exile for three or five
Years, and for a third offence transportation. A Baptist
and a Roman Catholic had suffered a sentence of transpor-
tation for life. As regards the Baptists, whose creed is
that baptism can only take place upon a personal confes-
sion of faith, they refuse to take their children to the
font, and so the police come and take them away from
their mothers' arms. They are then baptized, and the
parents fined for not doing so voluntarily. Their goods
are confiscated, and a cow is sometimes sold to defray the
expenses of the baptism and seizure. Marriage cannot be
contracted without a certificate of good character being
produced by each party from the clergyman of the dis-
trict. These cases of oppression had recently increased
very considerably in number, and in one village no fewer
than sixty peasants had been fined 30s. each, a consider-
able sum for peasantry worse off than our own. The
object of the deputation was to know whether it was com-
petent to the Alliance to present a petition to the Swedish
Diet now about to assemble, and, if so, whether the Govern-
ment would, take it up. Lord CLARENDON undertook to
make inquiries, and to assist the deputation if he could.
He was glad there was an authority to refer to, as he had
been some time before entrusted with petitions complain.
ing of oppressions in Denmark, Hanover, and Wurtem-
berg, which turned out to be quite unfounded.
Another great man has passed away from among us ;
made great by himself—still keeping in mind the beautiful
words of SHAISSPEISE—
" There's a divinity doth shape our ends,
Rough hew them as we may." '
Somewhere about the beginning of the present centugutt,
ire
was a young man in London, by name WILLIANI _
of good name and family ; his father was rector of a parish
in the apple county of Hereford, descended from_
th
BETHAMS of Betham, in another beautiful county of Eng-
land—the Lake one—Westmoreland. WILLIE BETn?.3I
was located in London--doing nothing—could do nothing
—yes—one thing. A friend mentioned his name to another
friend, who could push the unemployed Lad on a little in
the way of finding work.. The twain called at BETICAM'S
humble, though high abode—first floor down the chimney
it may have been, as rough city wits characterise the attic.
Never mind. " What can you do, young man " Don't
know;" half a dozen questions individualised were put, the
lad answered frankly in the negative. There was a slip of
lnaPer before the youth. " What's that ?" He was amusing
zilmself, he said; the scrap had drawn on it a nice bit of
Iferaulderie—a gentleman's study, but when one is given
100 much to it, it is as bad as chess for swallowing time.
Ternpus edax rerum"—stuff! Many a fine week's lite-
Tary work has been spoilt by one game at chess. Shade of
'4,IY &ESSINGTON, you may be cognisant of the fact !
lierau/derie—l like to give the French—is that science
tea elling' how to blazon, or explain, all that belongs to coats
of arras public ceremonies, and so forth;
as also how to
Illarshal them properly. The patron looked at the sketch,
knbetter, knew a friend in that droll house of motley, not far
he boctore' Commons—the Herald's Office. He shewe
scl'aP ; it was liked ; the men of the escocheon and
atabard wanted somebody of the sort, who could do the like.
',,e Reflux was engaged, and, after the lapse of half
died Ulster-King-at-Arms of all Ireland;
Kerr Attendant on the glorious order of St. Patrick ,
s';...se'Pebt of the Records in the Castle of Dublin—which dare
have vublished for many a long year—yea, the. b.oy.nl
the described, died on last Wednesday morning
.1
:staatisq shaving, I am told, he dropped down, and. in-
s teitypireci.
grarititi !I, Strike Home" is the title of one of the most
trksah,Qms compositions ever put together, or sung by
died at Poor Ilmairr PURCELL, the author thereof,
zest
stars mangy ag'e of 37 years—fatal, apparently, to emi-
III". But Shall I name two ? MOZART and BEL-
am about to t!7.33:r Practia,'s " Strike" is not the one I
strikes lately ""l'e. The papers have been teeming with
look at she irkos of bakers, butchers, and—oh, me
pentera
seeZ 'elssrts—blackguards ; strikes of car-
causing us to p.s,eavers, and coal miners too, the last
diamonds" thasi hens forta per cent. more for our " black
strikes of cursiess acutTe ;—strilses of smiths and snobs ;
curious conThinatioss masons and milliners,
At all tof
he strikes in this striking