The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-02-20 00:00:00

LITERARY NOTICES.

The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British
and Foreign India,' China, and Australia. Febrii-
ary, 1833.
The Asiatic Journal has reached us much ilater this
Month thin any of the other periodlcals. The contents
of the present number are as interesting, copious, and
-varied as usual. The " Review of Eastern News" is a
abdid and dispassionate survey of the events of the past
year. " The Indian Army—Military Force of Ben-
gal" is a valuable contribution to the statistics of India.
:" The Vow of Sunjocta" is a very spirited translation of
an episode from an epic poem of the Rajpoot Bard
rhuncl. The note's are extremely valuable. The article
'611"" Tiiuggee" contains nothing new on the SubjeCt,
but will be read with interest by those who have never
mei with any other observations•o❑ this revolting• topic.
Offerings and Omens," a tale of Lucknow, contains
numerous illustrations of Mohamedan superstition. The
liner of classical' literattire will deriVe much pleasure
from the perusal of " Seleitions and Reflections."—
"Horse racing among the Ancient Arabians" is a very
curious paper. The usual miscellaneous articles will be
found exceedingly interesting.

WilSon's IlistOrical, Traditionary, and Imaginative
Tales of the Borders, and of Scotland. Parts 40,
.41; 42, 43. Edinburgh : Sutherland. •1833.
We are glad to find that these tales have met with a
dedree of success proportioned to their intrinsic merits.
We have no doubt that, as they become more generally
known, their circulation will be greatly increased. We-
have seldom perused a series of tales so well adapted for
the juvenile library. Their cheapness is unparalleled,
anal places them within reach of every class'or the coin-
rivinity ; whilst the variety of form in which they are
written—linmorous, pathetic,- traditional, historical, and
descriptive—renders them suitable to readers of every
taste and mood of mind. •

.
A Selection of the Most Popular, with many Original
Psalm and Hymn Tunes, Chants, 4-e., harmonised in
Four Paris, for Voices, Piano Forte, Organ, or
Band. By Joshua Done. London. Ward and Co.
13,33. Second Edition.
The extraordinary success which attended the former
edition of this work, the whole of which, we understand,
was exhausted in six months, has induced the publitther
to issue another impression: The collection consists of
tip Wards of three htindied-psalm and hymn tubeS, chants,
&c., of which about twenty or thirty are original com-
positions, chiefly by Mr. Done. Instructions on vocal
and instrumental arrangement are appended. Thewhole
is adapted for private families who make" sacred music a
ttitiY, or for public %Vorshipl' We particularly recom-
mend its introduction into the social circles of Christian
families, among whom we are glad to find a taste for
psalmody becoming more generally cultivated.

CONTEMPORARY PRESS.

THE ROXBURGHSHIRE ELECTION.
( From the Leeds Intelliyeneer.)
At each of the two elections for Roxburgbshire pre-
ceding the last contest, riots of the most vitilent and dis-
gradeful character have taken place at the town of Ha-
*ick.,"one of the polling places for the county; The vo-
fersin the tory interest have been abused and ill-treated
by the mob, and when threats and intimidation proved
ineffectual, open violence was resorted to, to deter them
from the exercise of their franchise. Practices such as
flieSe, unless checked at once by the strong arm of the
law, are wont to gather strength from impunity, and to
increase in atrocity. Accordingly, long before the poll-
ing took place at the last election, indeed as soon as the
canvass commenced, very intelligible Symptbini of a re-
currence of riotous proceedings. were evinced. The or•
dinark peace-officers were, of course, nseleis, and a body
of special constables were sworn in by the magistrates
to assist them. Shortly before the election; the mob in-
creased in numbers and in daring, and the special con-
stables were quite unable to hold them in cheek: In this
State of things application was made in writing to the
Lord AdVoCate, with whom the power of granting the
aid of the military rests, for the assistance of tire sol-
diers in preserving the peace of the town, and protect-
ing the voters in going to the poll:
The application was refuSed, and the clay of election
arrived.. Riot, as had been foreseen, succeeded riot ; the '
tory voters were pelted,. beaten, their clothes torn from
their backs, and themselves thrown into the river; her
Majesty's mail was even stopped and ransacked for
voters; those who intended voting for Mr. Scott were
forcibly prevented from going to the poll, and those who
bad prnmised not to vote were compelled to poll for Mr.
Elliott. in fact it was not until the government party
themselves thought that the rioting had got to such a
pitch that the election must be rendered void by its con-
tinuance that my Lord Minto, a cabinet minister and
the father of Mr. Elliott, the whig radical candidate, in-
terfered to suppress the disturbance and to protect the
tories from further injury.
• We do not state these facts from hearsay evidence or
P-artial accounts of what took
„place; the rioters have
been convicted and punished, and upon their trials and
before the committee now sitting to inquire into the va-
lidity of the election, all we have stated, and more, has
been proved. 1
Mr. Elliott having been returned, a petition was pre-
sented praying the house to declare the election void,
and the ballot for a committee to try the merits of that
petition took place last week.
The public will not have forgotten the htiblmb that
*as kicked up both in and out of ParliaMent, When Sir
Francis Bartlett subscribed £2O in aid of the fund raised
in support of twenty Irish petitions, nor will the ground
upon which the hon. baronet was attacked have escaped
recollection. What ! a person who may be 'a judge upon
One or more of these very' petitions subscribing to sup-
port theta! Monstrous! exclaithed the whiff radical
party without St. Stephen's. Monstrous! echoed those
within, and my Lord John Russell did his possible to
strangle the subscription, and to deter the tories from
petitioning by threatening to suspend the Grenville act.
Various were the authorities quoted to show that a man
Ought not to be a judge in his own cause ; authorities
which Were not and never could be disputed, but which
unluckily had nothing to do with the question, because a
person who subscribes to support a petition is not a party
to the cause.
BUt conduct, which when only imputed to a tory is
most atrocious, may be actually perpetrated with impu-
nity—nay, is even praiseworthy, on the part of a: ‘‘ li.
beral" member; and accordingly we find the " liberal"
tort Advocate, the Attornev-General for Scotland, the
very person charged by the petition and by the petition-
ers' counsel with culpable negligence in withholding the
assistance of the :military when the occasion for their
services was manifest; in other words, the party but for
Whose neglect of duty or something worse, the peace
would have been preserved at Hawick—freedom of'elea-
Gun secured, the voters protected from outrage, and all
necessity for the petition prevented,—yes, reader, we
find this very functionary occupying the chair of the
committee sworn to try the merits of the petition and'
the validity of the Rokburgh election. The election is
impugned on the grOund of riot, and a party charged in
the petition and by counsel at the bar of the committee_
with having neglected, after proper application, to use
the means placed by the law at his disposal to prevent,
riot is thus made the principal judge in his own cause
and "upon his own Conduct, 'and 'be reftises to receive in
evidence the very written requisition made to himself
fur aid.
Little did the honourable and learned gentleman's
party think when they poured forth the torrents of their'
wrath upon Sir F. Burdett, that the whole stream would
alight upon the devoted head of their own Lord Advo-
' elite: If Sir John Dudley Catripbell, the ScOteh Attor-
ney-.General for England, has a blush left, we bespeakiit
in behalf of his own twin-brother, and we entreat the
.leamed,gentleman when next he quotes Coke upon this
_subject, not to forget that it was laid doWn by that
' learriedlord, that " it is not safe for any man (be he
'n( vei So Teartietjj_txt„te of 'counsel with himself in his
own-catise,s4alice-h.kvice of other great and learn id
men—for.ri
.arrzit ' prio more foolish in their ovin.
coudiart ' iiiittchs'e- otter people.-
7..... ',, :,
_y„...
~,,
~.
--• I. ' .....,fr..sr ;ALLOT.
11,--
!t 'A. ikit Standard.) o'
Am, yrr▪ r iit. ,l, i to reconcile themselves to
their iirs)litijitn other that the question is
, .
" Viittlms* ca 1.--.*:(E"''''' - was there a
.prOposition,
they ask, wit N' • led the point of being able to