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

ti a very
"The
The

m and Total Abstinence" is an

exquisite satire. The method by which the writer throws
ridicule upon the principles of the rigid advocates of total
abstinence is frequently amusing, especially when he demon-
strates that " the very water which we drink is composed of

two stimulating poisons of the most destructive character."
" The Metropolitan Stage" abounds in original thoughts,
and displays a thorough acquaintance with the subject. The
critique on "The History of the Celtic Language" is fre-
quently highly humorous. " Art and its Vehicles" is written
with much good taste. The poetical articles in this number
are far above mediocrity.

Fraser's Maya

ine. August, 1840

We have seldom opened a more interesting number of

Fraser than the present. It opens with an elaborate review
of " Ranke's History of the Popes of the Sixteenth and Se-

venteenth Centuries," in which the Neologian views of the
Professor are suitably animadverted upon. We heartily re-
joice to see the " Epistles to the Literati" revived. We
should be sorry to miss these agreeable notices of men and
manners. " Going to see a Man Hanged " is the abrupt
title to an excellent paper. We cannot, however, agree with
the writer in his conclusions on the subject of capital punish-
ment. The continuation of the "Tableaux of the most emi-
nent Soldiers of the Eighteenth Century" will afford a rich
treat to the military reader. The " Blue Friar Pleasantries"
are as lively and piquant as ever. The short notice of "Beau-
mont and Fletcher" is very interesting and curious. We
have perused with much delight the " Extracts from my
Journal between Chili and Jamaica." The writer furnishes
much novel information respecting Puna, Guayaquil, and
Panama. The " Sketches of National Literature" are evi-
dently from the pen of an accomplished scholar. " A Shabby
Genteel Story"—" A Railway Trip"

and the

French Sc-

' are severally deserving of praise

question. •
Any person who paid attention (and who has not ?)
to the clamours of the republcan newspapers for some
years past, must have been persuaded, had he not
known better, that the citizens of the state of Maine
were a set of the most oppressed and ill-used of God's
creatures—lambs worried by the prowling wolves of
England—turtle-doves fluttered in their nest—stricken
and, sighing sufferers under wanton injury, with whom
the world must sympathize, and who well deserved that
every man able to use a firelock would join in that
appeal to arms which they so long and lustily have
threatened.
The press of England, and The Times amongst other
journals, had vaguely apprehended, without direct in-
quiry, that the American claims had partially, though
not entirely, some sort of foundation in positive truth
and justice, and that a mutual compromise, or in other
words a certain sacrifice of pretensions on both sides,
might be necessary towards an equitable adjustment of
the feud. Our own fear was that the claim of Eng-
land to the line of boundary from Mars-hill (south-
west) towards the source of the Connecticut river
might, by reference to history, prove to be untenable,
and that we should very possibly have had to bribe
America by a - sum of money into a peaceable ac-
quiescence in the demand of a road or some narrow
strip of territory along which to carry our indispensable
communications between Fredericktun and Quebec.
It was assumed as almost certain, that where there
was so much smoke, there must have been some spark
of fire—that where here was such confident and vehe-
ment assertion, there could scarcely fail to be some
plausible pretence whereon to justify or excuse it—and
that, in fact, if Maine was not altogether in the right,
it was out of the question but that England must he
to a considerable extent mistaken. We shared that
impression, so prevalent of late years amongst our
countrymen, and should, according to the blindness
of our credulity, have, not.reluctantly, compounded for
a surrender of some portion of the national claim.
From such a necessity it is most gratifying to be
convinced by the official report above alluded to that
Great Britain stands henceforth completely and finally
relieved.

It has seldom occurred to us to meet in the course
of any political controversy a demonstration so
triumphant as, that brought forward on the pare of
Colonel Mudge and Mr. I'eatherstonhaugh in support
of a right so hotly and pertinaciously disputed. The
temper, the diligence, the reasoning power, the tho-
rough knowledge of their subject in all its branches,
and their lucid exposition of such a variety of complex
and difficult matter which are presented by the report
of these able gentlemen, must do them the higheSt
honour both here and in America, although praise from
the latter quarter may no doubt be but grudgingly
bestowed. Indeed, after the disappointment which
this decisive paper will have inflicted upon the con-
fident anticipations of many thousands of sanguine
minds among our neighbours, we cannot wonder, and
ought scarcely to blame them for showing signs 'of
considerable dissatisfaction. We trust, however, that
the good sense of America, when it has had time to
operate, and the respect for justice, which belongs to,
as it ought to be inherent in, a free people, boasting of
the fairness of their foreign policy and the wisdom of
their domestic institutions, will ere long smooth down
any angry sentiments which may have been excited by
this occurrence, and will leave unimpaired and unin-
terrupted their friendly relations with Great Britain.
It would be an attempt at once irksome and super-
fluous for our readers to follow us through an analysis
of the facts and arguments which constitute the body
of proof in this report. It may suffice to state, as the
result of the labours assigned to the commissioners,
that they have satisfactorily ascertained, by a strict in-
vestigation of the face of the country, by an industri-
ous perusal and comparison of charters, treaties, trans-
fers of territory; and other historical records, the abso-
lute and undisputable conformity between the intent
and spirit of the treaty of 1783 and the demarcations of
territory originally contended for by Great Britain ;
that no portion Of the " disputed" districts ever could,
under the authority of that treaty, or with any colour
of justice, have been claimed by the United States;
that the award of the King of Holland, which trans-
ferred to the republic about three-fifths of the " dis-
puted territory," was rounded on erroneous data, and
on entire ignorance of facts which have been subse-
quently developed; that the award of that sovereign,
if accepted by the parties, could never have been exe-
cuted under any circumstances, the structure of the
country interposing thereto physical and irremove-
able obstacles ; that, so far from the smallest frac-
tion of the disputed territory falling within the line
of the United States, a rigorous construction of
some authoritative documents would actually prove
a just title on the part of England to a portion of what
has heretofore been regarded as part of the state of
Maine itself ; and that, Li fine, the conclusions upon
which certain " official agents of the republic have
rested the American case, instead of being the legiti-
mate results of practical investigation, are unsnbstun-
tial inventions brought forward in the absence of all
real investigation, conveying erroneous ideas of the na-
ture of the country, and calculated to mislead not only
their own authorities, but public opinion in the United
States and in Europe, as to the merits of the ques-
tion."

. Again and again the same conviction is emphatically
repeated—viz., that "notwithstanding the assertions
which during so long a period have been so confidently
urged, that the United States alone can rightfully claim
the territory in question, we hope to have proved that
the claim of Great Britain does not, as has been al-
leged, rest upon vague and indefensible grounds ; but
that she has always had a clear and indefeasible title,
by right and by possession, to the whole of the disputed
territory—a title, it .is true, which has hitherto been
somewhat obscured by its rather complicated history,
and by the want of that interest which countries in the
state of a wilderness sometimes fails to inspire."

To the rights thus ably stated and zea!ously enforced
it is not too much to express a hope that full justice
will be done by the government of this great country,
and that the credit reflected on the commissioners by
the service they have now rendered to Great Britain
will not be turned into disgrace against their employ-.
ers, through a failure to maintain with skill, firma ess,
and patriotism, the national interests thus brought
home to the consciousness of all intelligent and honest
men.

THE SPRING RICE JOB

(From the Dublin Evening Mail.)

In our last we gave a report of what took place in the
House of Commons, in reference to this recent transaction.
It would really seem as though the country were never to
get to the end of the jobs of this " lively little West Briton."
The one now under consideration was exposed in the House
of Commons on Friday last, by Mr. Emerson Tennent.
When the Shannon was to be surveyed, with a view to im-
provements in its navigation, the duty, being so extensive,
was committed to a distinct commission, with the under-
standing that on completing this survey their functions were
to cease, and the works were to be under the management of
the body who are constituted and paid for such services—
namely, the Board of Public Works. To the new commis-
sion, ou this understanding, Mr. Matthew Barrington was
appointed solicitor. To Mr. Barrington, personally, of course
no fault can possibly be found—and even in his selection for
this occasion, there is nothing to blame, But now comes the
job. Mr. Barrington, it is well known is Mr. S. Rice's pri-
vate solicitor and his political friend. The survey is finished,
and the works recommended as approved of, and of course the
country will expect that the Commissioners of Public Works
are now to begin their duty of carrying then into effect.
But no such thing takes place ; for in that case, their
solicitor, Mr. Stewart, would receive all the profits and, fees
of the conveyances, surveys, &c. &c. • and the favourite
protege of the Chancellor of the Exchequer would receive
nothing. To avoid this, and to saddle the country with a
new set of functionaries, the form of a new commission is
adopted, but consisting, in reality, merely of the officers of
the old commissioners, and with separate offices, separate
clerks, a separate staff of every class, and, of course, a sepa-
rate solicitor, and that solicitor Mr. Matthew Barrington.
As to this gentleman personally, we repeat we do not object;
but why is he to be thus juggled and thimble-rigged into an
-officer, for the mere imroose of drawing away the emolu-
ments which ought, in all fairness as well as sound economy,
to go to the actual solicitor, Mr. Stewart ? The first fruits
of this job were a vote of £11,300, on Friday-last, for the
services of the new solicitor. Are we wrong when we say
the country are never to get to the end of the jobs of Lord
o:
3v i ce
WRETCHED
tr rt
EiweToc
:E
D ig
Mount Vulture ?
one :We copy from the Limerick Reporter, an ultra liberal
iu
the following remarks in reference to this nefarious
job, r
fl in a reformed House of Commons by a majority
—ELAND.—Amidst the thousands upon
thousands of the people's money voted away in an English
House of Commons in the committee of supply, we find the
following :
" On the vote for £11,300 for defraying the legal expenses
of carrying into effect the act for improving the navigation of
the Shannon, Mr. E. Tennent objected to the vote, as no de-
tailed statement had been made to the house. Mr. Alderman
Thompson moved the reduction of the sum to £3,000; and,
on a division, there appeared-
-5R •

For tlie vote. . 26
For the amendment .........
—32'
Majority .............
~n-costs
costs iecnutrhreodusiannpdretpharerieng Alton's able
hnthnedraecdt
opfopuanrdlisamtoenatsfoolricitor,for
improv-
ing the Shannon! We point attention to Mr.
letter to the poor law voters, of the Richmond-place ward.
This wretched country is a nation of jobs. The _
commis-
sioners of poor laws in Ireland insist on the guardians o
unions giving mortgages for every loan they require-thef
smallest probable cost being fifty pounds or more !—Some-
thing about four hundred of these mortgages the already
enormously taxed acres of Ireland will have to
pay for.
Twenty thousand pounds for a poor law solicitors cost ! !
Eleven thousand three hundred pounds to the Shannon Na-
vigation Commissioners' attorney !! We pause for breath.
The public can now easily perceive why the poor law com-
missioners were so frightful of the press. These dreadful
and cursed jobs were never exceeded in the worst tory times.
We shall soon—very soon—give in our columns every word
of what occurs at the poor law guardian meetings. Twenty-
thousand pounds for poor law mortgages—eleven thousand
three hundred ;rounds for a Shannon Navigation Improve-
ment' solicitor s costs !!! Wretched, miserable Ireland!"

MtlnEn.—Last week, a In!in of the name of John R an
who lived at Ahane, a phice stuate between Mountshanynoti
and Montville, in the liberties, was barbarously wounded
with a cleaver by a woman in wh house he went on some
business. lie was immediately taken to the hospital, where
he shortly after expired.—.Limeriek Standard.