The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-12-18 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

WHAT THE MANUFACTURERS WANT NOW ?

The designs of the movement, or Manchester school of
politicians, are but thinly veiled. There was a great
banquet at Manchester, on Monday, to Messrs. Bright
and Gibson, the borough members. We shall make two
extracts from the speeches delivered upon the occasion,
which we think point out, as part of what we may expect
when the Manchester people get their own way, the ex-
tinction of the House of Lords, and the robbery of the
fundholder.

Mr. Bright said, in his own playful and quakerly way—

"The question has been asked in political circles, 'lf there
should be a dissolution of parliament, if there be a majority,
what can the ministry do? You would not abk a ministry to
legislate against a parliamentary majority.' They did not ask
anything of the kind, but they asked a question or two with
regard to the policy they would adopt. Unpleasant questions
would be asked in many quarters—indeed, many of them were
driven to opinions of a democratic nature from the extreme
difficulty experienced in repealing the corn laws. Unpleasant
questions would arise about the distribution of the representa-
tion, and the constitution of the House of Lords. Suppose
men began to ask themselves questions like this, for instance—
`There are 400 gentlemen called peers—men who, generally
speaking, are not born in circumstances calculated to give
them greater wisdom than other men. Why should these 400
peers sit there without being responsible to any one?' (Cheer-
ing.) Now, bear in mind he was not putting this question at
all. (Laughter.) He was merely throwing out the bait to
certain parties to whom such questions will present themselves
very forcibly,"

So much for the Peers. Mr. Gibson dealt with the
fandholders :

" It is said the interest of the national debt is so large that it
is not worth while troubling about the rest of the national ex-
penditure, because nothing can be saved worth saving. Now
he did not heed that opinion. He thought there was a large
margin that you might deal with. (Hear, hear.) Many charges
are on what is called the consolidation fund. This is a large
sounding nomenclature, not very generally understood, but it
did not frighten him. He did not think any contracts, although
they might be settled by act of parliament, were permanent if
they were not rightly settled. He believed that the govern-
ment should only have as much money given to it as would pay
for the services to be rendered. (Hear, bear.) If they adopted
such a principle as that, it would make a tremendous sweep.
(Applause.)"

We presume this is plain enough. Government is to
have money only for services to be rendered. Services
which have been rendered are to be ignored, and the debt
incurred for such services is to be spunged. " A tre-
mendous sweep," indeed, and a villainous robbery into
the bargain.

THE ROYAL INSTITUTION SCHOOLS-EXAMI-

NATION OF THE PUPILS

On Tuesday, the annual public examination (antecedent
to the Christmas vacation) of the pupils in the above-
named school took place in the theatre of the Institution-
house, Colouitt-street. Theodore Rathbone, Esq.,
president of the institution, occupied the chair, and
immediately to his right sat the Right Reverend the
Lord Bishop of the Diocese and the Venerable Arch-
deacon Brooks. Amongst the gentlemen present were
the Rev. J. S. Howson, (Principal of the Collegiate
Institution.) the Rev. William Pollock, the Rev. F.
Parry, J. B. Yates, Esq., S. Holme, Esq., Christopher
Bushell, Esq., &c., &c.
The PRESIDENT, after taking his seat, introduced to
the assembly the Right Rev. the Bishop, who he said had
not only honoured them with his presence, but had con-
sented to undertake the distribution of the prizes.
The " examination" was then proceeded with as
follows :
Byrn. Dirge from Cymbeline Shakspeare.
MiCheane.. Ode to Great Britain. Latin verse Canning.
Macrorie... Last Man Campbell.
Boult German Song Schiller.
Lister...... Speech of Pericles Thucidides.
L. Rees.... Duckworth
Yates Scene from Les Plaidures.Racine.
W. Rees

Duckworth f Address to a Mummy. 1 H. Smith.
Boult 1 Reply. Anonymous
M'Cheane.. Monody on the Death of Sheridan Moore.

Lister ..... Death of Napoleon
W. Rees... Prophecy of Capys

Lockhart.
Macaulay

In the delivery of the above pieces the whole of the
pupils engaged acquitted themselves in the most creditable
manner, and elicited warm applause from the audience.

DISTRIBUTION OF PRIZES

The Rev. DAWSON TURNER, principal of the
school, then proceeded to call forward the pupils to whom
prizes were to be awarded ; and as the scholars presented
themselves the Right Rev. Bishop banded to each,
accompanied by a few appropriate and commendatory
remarks, his prize. The result of the award was as fol-
lows :
CLASSICAL.—iSt, Lister; 2nd, Rees ; 3rd, Byrth.
MATHEMATICAL.-ISt, Rees ; 2nd, Glen and Lister.*
COMPOSITION.-15t, Rees I 2nd, Byrth.
HISTORICAL ESSAY.-ISt, Abraham; 2d, Lister.
DIVINITY ESSAY.-ISt, M'Cheane ; 2d, Byrth.*
ENGLISH HISTORY.-ISt, Rees*; 2d, AlTheane*; 3d, Byrth.*

EXTRA PRIZES OF THE SECOND CLASS

CLASSICAL.—R. Crook.*
MATHEMATICAL.—G. Yates.

JUNIOR SCHOOL

PRIZES GIVEN BY THE HEAD MASTER.
ARITHMETIC.-ISt quarter, J. Campbell ; 2nd quarter,
Mawdsley, A. Glen.
WRITING (improvement in during the half year).—lst quar-
ter, T. Bowman ; 2nd quarter, J. Job, Bousfield C. Bushell.
DIVINITY ESSAY.—ISt, Yates; 2nd, Pilkington.*
HISTORICAL ESSAY.—Kirkpatrick.
ENGLISH HISTORY.—P. Bushell*; Pilkington*; Parry.*
* The prizes thus marked are the gift of Theodore Rathbone,
Esq., the president of the institution.
The award of prizes having ceased,
The CHAIRMAN rose and said, that after the excellent
specimens which had been given of the proficiency of the
pupils, all would agree with him that it was but an act of
justice to acknowledge to the head master that thanks
were due to him for the admirable manner in which he
had discharged his duties. The number of pupils had
risen during the year from 28 to 66 ; he drew attenti n
to the fact that no fewer than nine university orders 1 ad
been conferred. He concluded by highly eulogising We
head master, with whom, he observed, the committee
had always acted in the most harmonious manner.

The BISHOP spoke highly of the efficiency of the
schools from what he had seen that day, and paid a high
compliment to the head master, Mr. Turner.
Mr. CHRISTOPHER BusunLL also gave his testimony
in favour of the efficiency of the schools, and the attention
of the head master.

Mr. TURNER acknowledged, in an appropriate manner,
the high compliments which had been paid him ; and,
after a vote of thanks to the chairman, the meeting broke
up, from two to three hundred of the company adjourning
to the residence of the head master, were they partook of
luncheon.

The Rev. W. J. Conybeare, late Principal of the Liver-
pool Collegiate Institution, is a candidate for the Head
Mastership of Rugby School.
COLLEGIATE INSTITUTION.—The Rev. J. C. Rich-
mond's lectures during the past week have been extremely
well attended. On Friday evening he took for his subject
"The Anglo-Saxons in England and America," which he
treated in his usual discursive manner, but at the same
time with a great display of originality, thought, and
learning. Regarding the inhabitants of the two countries
as members of the same family, whose destiny it is to rule
the world, it was one of his great objects to draw closer
the bonds of relationship and sympathy between them,
and to show that he considered himself part and parcel of
the English equally with the American nation. Upon the
glorious mission of the Anglo-Saxon race he enlarged with
great eloquence. In ninety years from that time, he said,
it had been proved by calculations, there would be three
hundred millions of human beings speaking the English
language in the United States. There were already
fifteen times as many Englishmen there as in England.
But would they continue to hold together under one
government ? The United States government was the
most stable government in the world. They had no 10th
of April there there was nothing to make a 10th of April
of. Everybody had everything he wanted, and therefore
all were satisfied. Yes ! the American Englishman and
the English Englishman were to govern the world. They
constituted the strongest man that ever was born. They
had been well described by Goldsmith :
" Pride in their port, defiance in their eye,
I see the lords of human kind pass by."

Look what they had done in colonization. Who had the
Canadas ? Frenchmen : yet now they had become
thoroughly English. The French were crowded together
in one place--400,000 Gauls; and there they sat. They had
no idea of enterprize. The Englishman, on the contrary,
took his axe on his shoulder, and went to a distance, and
established himself in a new place. So the Englishman did
everywhere. What was the origin of the Anglo-Saxons ?
According to Herodotus, about 800 years before Christ, a
captive people were settled on the banks of the Araxes by
one of the Assyrian monarchs. There was reason to sup-
pose that these were the ten tribes of Israel who never
returned to their own land. All the Germans believed
that their father Herman came from the east, and the
Saxons who peopled England came out of Germany. They
were subdued by the Normans, but not driven out. In
the 14th century, under Edward 111., the Saxon language
got the upper hand, and the French were driven out. Mr.
Richmond entered into some proofs of this hypothesis as
to the origin of the Anglo-Saxons. One point upon which
he laid much stress was the promise of Jacob in blessing
thetwo sons of Joseph. Thetideof dominion, he observed,
had been setting from east to west ever since the time of
the first:emperor Adam. Returning to the subject of
colonization, he remarked that the French once had
Louisiana : now the Saxons had it. The Spaniards had
Florida : now it belonged to the Americans. So it was to
the west. When De Tocqueville was in the United States,
he predicted that Texas would soon be added to the great
republic : that prediction was now fulfilled. An unjust
annexation, they would say. Well, let them look at the
Punjaub. He did not say it was wrong of England to
take possession of the Punjaub : let England look after the
east, and America would attend to the west. They were
the two hands which were to stretch out and fulfil God's
command, " Have thou dominion over all the earth."
Cuba would as surely be a part of the United St'stes as
Texas was. From this part of his subject the lecturer
passed on to consider the peculiarities of the Saxon tongue,
which he highly extolled for its majestic simplicity, and
illustrated its force and beauty by several examples, con-
trasting them with various specimens of false style, which
be criticised with ludicrous effect. The best maxim for
writers and speakers was, large thoughts in small words:
it was for want of attending to this that so many writers
and speakers failed. The remainder of the lecture was
occupied with a review, intermixed with a multitude of
racy anecdotes and illustrations of national character, of
Ill.:, great Anglo-Saxon poets. At the head of these Mr.
Richmond placed Chaucer, Spenser, Shakspeare, and
Milton. These were the first four : who was entitled to
the fifth place he was it quite decided ; he said Words-
worth.

Sagrtruiturat anb /torttruitural

COLUMN.

The incessant influx of novelties which has marked the
history of horticulture during the present season has not
been unattended with evils ; foremost amongst which is
the neglect which it has caused to be paid to many really
good things, which have not been surpassed by the later
introductions. Indeed a garden might be well filled, and
made moat pleasing, with these neglected flowers. How-
ever, there is reason to hope the healthy tone evinced by
the increasing taste for the hardy herbaceous plants, will
cause most of these favourites of our forefathers to take
their proper places in our parterres. More especially will
these things be needed in the winter gardens, which are
now becoming so fashionable; the little winter aconite,
with its golden, chalice shaped flower, and bright, emerald-
green, salver-shaped leaf, in the centre of which the flower
is so beautifully placed, now a rarity in the nurseries, will
soon be a popular favourite. The genus primula will
again unfold its treasures ; and what can be more beauti-
ful? Look at the varieties of the common primrose.
What can excel the double ones—lilac, crimson, white,
copper-colour, and yellow they are all beautiful
flowers. Then those little gems, P. cortusioides, P. fari-
nose, P. Scotica, P. integrifolia, and P. marginata, are
such early visitors, enlivening the early spring. Primula
elatior, too, is not to be despised ; we have seen it used
with much effect in pots, to decorate the greenhouse
shelves with its kindred species from China. Many of
these, under proper cultivation, are almost constant
bloomers; but it is in spring, when few flowers dare ven-
ture to unfold their petals, that these beauties are best ap-
preciated. The hepaticas are also a beautiful genus: the
blue, as a colour, is unrivalled—it is a perfect ultra-ma-
rine ; and the pink looks like brilliant enamel ; the white
compensates for its want of brilliancy by its snow-like
purity and larger size—it is also a very profuse bloomer.
Even the common daffodil, with its cheerful yellow bells,
is not devoid of beauty, and certainly has a good effect.
The snowdrop and crocus are still, and ever will be, fa-
vourites.

But there are many flowers equally beautiful and less
known than those we have mentioned ; for instance, the
various species of Scilla, perhaps the most beautiful of all
the hardy spring bulbs. Those which are blue—as most
of them are—possess that desirable colour in its most
brilliant intensity. Every one of the species possesses
strong claims to our admiration. The most beautiful in
our estimation is S. bifolia, the flowers of which are like
little stars of sapphire ; and its two varieties, alba and
rubra, —S. precox and S. sibirica—are amongst the earliest
of our spring flowers, often blooming in frosty weather.
We might, however, specify every species of this genus
if they were not so numerous, for they are all most desi-
rable. The snow-flakes (Leucojum) are also handsome
flowers, resembling large snow-drops, generally three or
four on a stalk. L. vernum, carpathicurn, is particularly
fine, and produces its flowers in profusion. Tussillago
fragrans, though possessing no beauty, is a mid-winter
flower, and is as fragrant as the heliotrope, reminding us
in dreary winter of the fragrant hawthorn. And what
can exceed the beauty of the forget-me-not—like Ompha-
lodes verna, excelling the turquoise in its fine opaque blue
colour ? There are very many more we could mention ;
we will therefore promise our readers another chapter on
neglected flowers.

PAPERS ON AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY

NO. XII

The substance next in importance is phosphorus, which
exercises a remarkable influence in the economy of vege-
tation : it usually exists in the form of phosphoric acid,
which is invariably found in combination with the alka-
line basis, whenever vegetable tissue is analysed, and the
phosphates of potash, soda, lime, or magnesia, are one or
more of them always present in plants. Sometimes phos-
phate of potash will be the prevailing phosphate of the
foliage ; phosphate of lime of the woody tissue ; and phos-
phate of magnesia of the seeds,the latter phosphate always
exists in the cereal seeds.

We have before shewn that it is necessary to know, not
only what substances exist in plants, but also whence they
are derived. In this instance we have the strongest evi-
dence that the phosphoric acid of plants is derived di-
rectly from the soil. Hence it is that manures contain-
ing any of the phosphates are beneficial to most plants,
especially those of rapid growth.
To many it will appear strange that a substance like
phosphorus should not only be necessary for vegetation,
but still more so, that it should exist in such abundance

as to meet the enormous demands of the vegetable world,
this difficulty, however, soon vanishes when we exa-
mine the mineral formations of our globe, it not
only exists in all soils whereon plants will thrive,
but is also found largely in strata of much earlier
periods, and even in the primary rocks ; it is also
discovered in volcanic products, in one of which
(Apatite) it forms the principal constituent ; and it
probably exists more largely than has yet been proved
in volcanic districts, for in many instances it has been
found present in mineral waters. Latterly, coprolites,
and pseudo-coprolites have been extensively used as
manure, and have been found very valuable. Coprolites
are generally found in connexion with organic remains of
animals, of which they are the fossilized faeces ; they pre-
sent the form of rounded nodules, and upon analysis are
found to contain phosphoric acid in abundance; this is
attributed to the food of the animals, or rather to the
phosphate of lime contained in the bones of the animals
consumed by those which furnished the coprolites ; these
appear to have been principally the great saurians of the
blue lies formation, such bodies having been found
amongst remains of Icthyosauri, Pleiosauri,&c., and under
such circumstances as leave no doubt of their actual
nature.

The food of all these great fish-lizards appears to have
consisted almost wholly of fish, the remains of which are
distinctly traceable in the coprolites or dung-stones; and
phosphorous is contained so largely in the bones and
other parts of fishes, that it is even visible to the eye by
its luminous character. Every one must have noticed
t iis when fish-bones are placed in the dark, especially if
t ley be in a state of decomposition. Pseudo-coprolites
are more largely consumed, and are far more plentiful.
Their origin is not, however, so well defined. They are
also rounded nodules, containing similar matters to the
true coprolites ; but their irregular structure betokens
some other source. The most rational hypothesis is, that
they are the result of beds of decomposed marine animals,
which, after having been once hardened by exposure, or
by the pressure of super-imposed strata, have been, by
some of the upheaving processes of which we have so
many instances, split and broken into fragments which
have afterwards been rounded by attrition.