The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-08-04 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY.—We can state from the
best authority, that the line will be opened from hence to
Bath in about three weeks from the present time. Every
thing progresses most satisfactorily in regard to the prepara-
tory arrangements. Mr. Brunnell is now on the spot, and is
pushing the work forward with great rapidity, and the utmost
activity prevails in every department. One locomotive is at
present being tried on this part of the line ; and in the course
of next week, we understand, four other engines will be
placed on the rail for the same purpose.—Bristol Standard.
BRISTOL AND EXETER RAILWAY.—From the appearance
presented by the first few miles *of this line, we should say
thatthere is a probability of its being shortly opened to the
public. The permanent way is laid a considerable distance
and is ready for the rails, and the bridges and masonry are
nearly finished. We went some miles clown the line a few
days since, and we were much pleased with the forward state
of the works.—lbid.

LONDON AND BRIGHTON RAI LWAY.—The half-yearly
meeting of this company was held on Wednesday, at the
London Tavern, John Harman, Esq., in the chair, when the
report of the directors and engineer was laid before the share-
holders. The former document
.contained the following
paragraph as to the present state of the works :—ln their
last report the directors stated they had not pressed on the
works with the view of opening the railway between Croy-
don and Merstham, under the impression that the line
would have been completed, within seventeen miles of
Brighton, in the course of the present autumn ; this
would have been accomplished• had not the works in the
tunnel at Merstham been greatly impeded by an extraor-
dinary rise of water, to get rid of which required great
exertion and perseverance, and caused considerable delay ;
but, notwithstanding these impediments, this important part
of the line will be finished by the early part of March, ac-
cording to the report of their engineer. It is proposed, how -
kever, under• these circumstances, to open the line in October
as far as the Star, at Hooky-lane—upwards of 16 miles from
London ; and further from a point to the southward of Mers-
tham, to the Three Bridges, near Crawley—a distance of 11
miles; so that the journey between London Bridge and
Brighton may easily be accomplished in four hours, as more
than half the distance will be traversed upon the railroad.
The directors have been in communication with some of the.
most influential coach-proPrietOrs, both on the Brighton and
other roads, who have expressed their determination to avail.
themselves of these advantages. The whole of the works are
progressing very satisfactorily, and the directors confidently.
anticipate they shall be able to open as far as Heyward's
Heath, a distance of 37 miles from London, by midsummer
next, and, throughout, to Brighton in the early part of next
autumn." It was farther stated that the total cost of the.
line would not exceed £1,800,000, in raising which the direc-
tors would have recourse to another call. The Shoreham
branch, already opened, bids fair to be profitable, and every
thing attached to the undertaking is in a prosperous and sa-
tisfactory condition.
NORTH MIDLAND RAI LWA Y.-011 Monday last the
directors of the North Midland Railway placed upon this
line third class carriages. To the humble portion of the
community it will, undoubtedly; e a great accommodation,
as the rate of charge is only one penny per mile.—Doncaster
Gazette.

DANrstr RAILWAY.—It is •not generally known that a
railway from Altona, two miles from Hamburgh, to Kiel, in .
the Duchy of Holstein, has been projected, and is about to
be constructed, under the auspices of the King of Denmark,
with a view of effecting a communication between the North
Sea and the Baltic. Mr. George Watson Buck, engineer-in-
chief to the Manchester and Birmingham Railway Company
has been selected as the engineer to the undertaking.

ROBBERY BY A BIRD.—A respectable sheep farmer, near
Fort Augustus, luis sent to us a communication, of which
the following is the substance:—After a walk over his farm,
at the beginning of this year's lambing season, and on a very
warm morning, he had fallen asleep on a high hill. On
wakening, he found that his broad blue bonnet, and a yellow
silk handkerchief, which he had placed beside him, were both
amissing. At first he suspected they had been taken away
in sport by some person on the farm ; but, on inquiry, every
individual on the farm and neighbourhood, who could pos-
sibly have approached the spot, denied all knowledge of the
missing articles. Some weeks thereafter, our correspondent
and a party were ascending a very steep and dangerous rock
on the farm, to destroy the nest of a glede (kite). Great
was his amazement when the first article taken out of the
nest was the missing yellow silk ,iandkerchief ; then the
broad blue bonnet, with three eggs most comfortably en-
sconced in it; next appeared an old tartan waistcoat, with
tobacco in one pocket, and Orr's Almanac for 1839 in the
other, (the Almanac having the words, scarcely legible, " J.
Fraser" written upon it); then came a flannel nightcap,
marked with red worsted " D. C. J.;" a pair of old white
mittens ; a piece of a letter with green wax, and the Inver-
verness post-mark ; an old red and white cravat ; and a
miscellaneous assortment of remnants of cotton, paper,
cope, &c. This bird must have been carrying on its larce-
nies on a large and miscellaneous scale.—lnrenzess Courier.

CONSUMPTION.-Dr. Latour, of Paris, has published the
following rules for preventing the advent of consumption in
thbse who are predisposed to it :—A consumptive patient
should inhabit a dry, airy locality, well exposed to the influ-
ence of the solar rays. Residence in a large city predisposes
to consumption. A. temperate climate should be chosen,
where the variations of the •temperatnre are neithet sudden
nor frequent. Travelling, and particularly sea voyages, is
attended with decided advantage in the early stage of con-
sumption. The patient should be warmly clothed, and
covered with flannel from head to foot. He should take

habitually some moderate exercise, as walking,
exposure to the open air and sun's rays are absolutely
necessary. He should exercise the mind in a moderate de-
gree, but avoid all strong moral emotions. He must renounce
any profession which requires strong muscular exertion, a
bent position of the body, residence in a damp, moist place,
&c., and finally, the food should be rich and nourishing.
THE SHREWSBURY PEERAGE.—By an act of parliament
procured by the great Duke of Shrewsbury (a protestant,
whose heir was a papist), it was settled that the heir
in all cases should at the age of twenty-one be called
upon to declare his religion : if it were protestant, he was to
take the estates in fee, that is, discharged of all entails; if
popish, he was to take them for his life only without any
power of disposing of them. The present Earl of Shrews-
bury is a papist, and has no son. Ilis brother, the late Mr.
Talbot, who lived separate from his wife, a very amiable pro-
testant lady, (now Mrs. Berkeley), died. leaving a son and
daughter, and these he left to the guardianship of a popish
priest named Doyle ! So the young heir by Mr. Doyle was
taken off to Rome, and Mr. Doyle procured an order from
the Court of ChanCery to take from Mrs. Beiltelei her daugh-
ter also. Young Talbot (now about ten we believe) has lately
returned to England, and Mrs. Berkeley being naturally de-
sirous to sec him, asked leave for him to stay with her for a
month. This was refused by Mr. Doyle, who consented
however to allow the mother an interview in his presence.
Whereupon Mrs. Berkeley has applied to the Court of Chan-
cery, praying for an order to compel Mr. Doyle to give her
the liberty she requires. How the Lord Chaneellor will de-
cide we know not ; but this we know, that a more flagrant
specimen of popery's real spirit never was developed than in
this case. Here is a popish priest who has induced poor Mr.
Talbot on his deathbed to deprive a mother of her children,
and give them with the prospect also of the guardianship of a
great prbperty to him ; and then this priest proceeds to keep
the son so completely under his own eye, that he will not
allow that mother (because she is a protestant) liberty to
speak with him, save in his presence ; what an awful but in-.
structive story ! Who now will say that popery, whose priest
can thus act, whose magazines and papers and public advo-
cates can defend such conduct, is changed into a tolerant and
enlightened system ? Alas those who do so, must, to use
scriptural language, be under "strong delusion that they
should believe a lie."—Protestant Magazine for July.

WESLETAN METHODIST CONFERENCE.---The 97th an-
nual conference of this religious community commenced on
Wednesday in Brunswick-place Chapel, Newcastle-upon-
Tyne. It was expected that the Rev. Robt. Newton would
be elected president for the ensuing year. During last week
the stationing committee, consisting of ministers elected by
the several districts in England, Vales, and Scotland, met
for the purpose of preparing a rough draught of the preach-
ers' appointments for the next year. The Rev. Thos. Jack-
son officiated in the absence of the president, the Rev. Theo-
philus Lessey, who has been incapacitated by ill health for
discharging the duties of his office. On Sunday morning at
seven o'clock, the Rev. Daniel Walton preached from Ist
John, c. iv., part of the 18th verse.—" Perfect love casteth
out fear." At half-past ten the Rev. R. Reece, the oldest
travelling preacher in the connexion, delivered an impressive
and highly edifying discourse from Hebrews, c. vi. part of
the Ist verse,—" Therefore leaving the principles of the doc-
trine of Christ let us go on unto perfection." In the after-
noon another service was conducted by the Rev. J. H. Adams;
and in the evening Dr. llannah, Theological Tutor of the
Wesleyan Theological Institution,. delivered an admirable
discourse to a crowded congregation from John, c. vi., v.
68,—" Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord to
whom shall
we go, thou hast the words of eternal life." Similar services
were held in the various chapels of the town and the surround-
ing villages, and in Gateshead, Sunderland, North and South
Shields, &c. On Monday morning, at five o'clock, Mr. W.
R. Williams, one of the young men intended for examination
previous to being admitted into full connexion, preached in
Brunswick-place Chapel. Other religious services are held
daily. Next Sabbath day the newly-elected president will
preach in Brunswick-place Chapel, at half-past ten in the
morning, and Dr. Bunting at six in the evening, on which
day collections will be made in all the chapels towards de-
fraying
the expenses of the Conference. The examination
of the young preachers who have completed their terns of pro-
bation will take place in Brunswick-place Chapel on Monday
and Tuesday evenings, the 3rd and 4th of August; the ordi-
nation will be on the following evening, and the charge will
be delivered by Dr. Hannah on the evening of Thursday the
Gth. Out-door services are also to be held, and the's?. is every
reason to hope that the proceedings connected with the Con-
ference will be attended with great moral arid spiritual bene-
fit.—Halifax Guardian.
AN IRON EXPRESS COACH, FOR CROSSING. SANDY
DoSERTS.—The want of a vehicle of this description has
lang been considered a desideratuni by European travellers,
in their toilsome journeyings across the arid-and scorching
deserts of Egypt and Arabia, through which tracts commerce
is carried on and travellers must pass, to keep up the valuable
commercial relations between many eastern nations. The
importance of this intercourse becomes daily more evident to
England. Hitherto . the means of conveying travellers or
merchandise over these extensive and barren sands has been,
as our readers are aware, by camels and dromedaries, for
Wooden carriages of any description were utterly useless, as
it was found impossible to discover any species of timber that
could resist the intense heat of those districts, which soon
splits and rends the best seasoned timber, so as to render it
useless after a few days' travelling. But travellers and com-
mercial activity have increased so much of late years that it
was evident something must be done to facilitate these great
objects, and Brstish ingenuity has found out a mode of over-
coming the difficulty by substituting iron for wood. In fact
a 'carriage has been constructed, under the direction of Mr.
Waghorn, by Messrs. Theodore, Jones, and Co., of Spital-
fields (the patent iron wheel manufacturers.) This vehicle
will hold six persons, their stores, water, &c., and has not
the smallest portion of wood in its construction. The frame
work, the wheels, shafts, flooring, benches, &c., are all of
wrought iron bars, either flat or round according to purpose
required ; as, for instance, the floor is composed of light
flat bars in two rows, one row .runs parallel with the sides of
the machine, and another row lies across them at right angles,
the bars are set at two inches asunder, which leaves the but-
tons open like a net-work, this is done to allow the temperate
air to come up freely, to drive out the hot air as it generates
through the top valves. The whole of the body and roof are
covered with
the best sort of storrnstay-sail canvass ; instead
of wooden or leather panelling, the roof frame is simply
that of the tilted waggon. There are two strong iron shafts
for one horse, but are so constructed, that two other horses
may be yoked to the machine, all three abreast; one horse
will, it appears, be quite sufficient for the ordinary work.
There are hair cushions placed on the benches which form
seats quite as comfortable as those of any other coach. The
machine is hung on the centrical spring principle, which dis-
charges the weight from the horse, and throws it on the
wheels—this is another great advantage in a hot country.
'ln fact, the excellence of this new machine may be summed
up in a few words—viz. strength, lightness, durability, cheap-
ness, and ventilation. It will thus afford, when brought
fully into operation, a safe and comfortable conveyance for
travellers, despatches, and the lighter articles of commerce
and is likely to be the means of opening extensively that
easy intercourse between Palestine, Persia, Arabia, and
Egypt, which is greatly wanted, and would vastly extend the
bounds of human knowledge, Commerce, and civilization.—
Morning Herald.