The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-03-21 00:00:00

OLD ENGLAND.

but already he was near his ruin. The unusual w;.-y of
life, the always increasing excitement, the constant speak-
ing and watching, the small quantity of bOurishment
which he took, from dread of poison—all this, in the most
fearful heat of summer, affected him bodily, and completely
turned his head. His actions can only be explained by
their being the beginning of insanity. If a crowd of
people did not please him, he attacked and wounded them
right and left. All the persons, amounting to a thousand,
that lived near his cottage on the market-place, he ex-
pelled from their dwellings, that these might be destroyed,
and he might build a large palace for himself. He lavished
gold and silver with prodigality, and gave a number of
prostitutes large dowries ; he distributed the titles of
princes and dukes, gave great banquets at Poggio Reale
and at Posilipo, to which he invited the Viceroy, and sent
his wife and mother, in magnificent dresses, to visit the
Duchess of Arcos. "If your excellency is the vicequeen
of the ladies," said the fisherman's wife, " I am the vice-
queen of the women of the people." But fear of the Duke
of Maddaloni haunted him like a spectre. He ordered his
beautiful villa at Posilipo to be destroyed, and made his
people ransack once more his pillaged palace at Santa
Maria della Stella. The barber of the duke and a Moorish
slave bought their lives, the first giving him various jewels
that had been concealed, and the other told him that he
was Diomed Carafa, who had caused the admiral's ship to
be set on fire, which had been blown into the air last May.
The Moor, for this lie, obtained the command of four
companies of the people ; but Masaniello's fall was brought
about by his own people. The fisherman put to death
many poor musicians merely because they had been in the
service of Maddaloni. The new master of Naples repaired
himself to the desolate palace of Carafa, and wanted to
dine there ; but he changed his mind, and had dinner
served up, with great pomp, at a neighbouring convent.
Whilst he was eating there, some of his people dragged
thither two portraits of the duke and his father, Don
Marzio. Upon them he vented his childish rage ;
smashed the frames, cut out the heads, which he put .on
pikes, which he commanded to be placed upon the table
before him. On his return from the market, he put on a
suit of Carafa's clothes, of blue silk embroidered with
silver ; he hung on his neck a gold chain, and fastened in
his jut a diamond clasp, all the property of his enemy,
who had escaped. Then he flung himself on a horse, drew
forth his pistols with both hands, and threatened to shoot
any one who approached him; or who showed himself at
the windows, galloped to the sea, where was the gondola
of the viceroy, undressed himself in it, was dried with fine
Dutch linen, and put on a shirt of Maddaloni's trimmed
with lace ; and hearing that Maddaloni had gone towards
Piedimonte d'Alife, he ordered a troop of two thousand
men to march thither to seize him..

THERE she sits in her Island-home,
Peerless among her peers!
And Liberty oft to her arms doth come
To ease her poor heart of tears :
Ohl England still throbs with the mused fire
Of a Past she can never forget ;
And still shall she banner the world up higher,
For there's life in the Old Land yet.
Hurrah!
There's life in the Old Land yet.

The great Hero-Mother's not hoary yet,
There is sap in the Saxon tree,
And she lifteth a bosom of glory yet,
Through her mists to the sun and the sea,
Fair as the Queen of Love fresh from the foam,
Or a Star in a dark cloud set;
Ye may blazon her shame, ye may leap at her lame,
But there'. life in the Old Land vat.
Warrall!
There's Lite in the Old Land yet.
They won scoff at her now, who of old look'd forth
lit their fear, when they heard her afar;
Oh, but loud will your wail be, poor Kings of the Earth,
When the Old Land goes down to the war!
The avalanche trembles, half launch'd, and half riven,
tier voice shall in motion set :
Then ring out the tidings, ye winds of heaven,
There's life in the Old Land yet.
Hurrah!
There's life in the Oid Land yet.
Let the Storm burst, it will find the Old Land
Ready-ripe for a rough, red fray I
She will fight as she fought when she took her stand
For the Right in the olden day.
Ay, rouse the old royal soul ! Europe's best hope
Is her sword-edge by Victory set !
She shall dash Freedom's foes adown Death's bloody slope
For there's life in the Old Land yet.

H arrah !
There's life in the Old Land yet.

REVIEWS OF BOOKS.

The Carafas of Maddaloni : Naples under
Spanish dominion. Translated from the Ger-
man of Alfred de Renmont. London : Henry

It is needless further to pursue the career of
imbecility and maddened vanity of this unhappy
child of fortune, who, borne on the waves of popular
commotion, was tossed upon the seat of power. A
few brief hours sufficed to raise him from obscurity
and indigence to the pinnacle of wealth and great-
ness—his progress in elevation was too rapid to be
safe, he stumbled even in the assent—on reachi g
the summit, he found the prospect too expansive,
the platform too narrow, to ensure stability—a few
days of anxious misery was his sum of earthly
glory—stained with crime— defiled with blood and
bereft of reason, he perished miserably beneath the
blow of assassination, a sad example of the punish-
iment which follows the lust and the abuse of power.
From the story of that tide of popular frenzy
we learn, also, the further and fearful lesson of the
danger to be apprehended from deeply-rooted ill-
feeling left rankling in the bosoms of the populace,
the frequent, though not invariable concomitant of
misrule and oppression ; and, above all, the off-
spring of estrangement between the different
classes of society, a condition at once seized on in
cases of emergency as a pretext for insurrection,
robbery, and murder.

G. Bohn.

In this volume we have prescl,:.!d to us a lively
picture of public life and mor.,k, as these were
affected and participated in by the noble family
whose history, during more than two centuries, was
intimately mixed up with public affairs in Naples;
leading, as it not unfrequently did, to acts of oppres-
sion against the populace, which oftener than once
were avenged amid scenes of disorder, rapine, and
bloodshed, such as have few parallels in national or
family annals. The history opens in 1494, and is con-
tinued to the year 1799,during which period many re-
markable events have to pass in review before the
compiler of this chronicle. The special object of
the author is to show the effect and peculiarities of
Spanish dominion in Naples, as these were illus-
trated in the course of events which have long
since passed away, and in the present circumstances
and social position of the people, arising in no small
degree out of those bygone events. In the course
of the narrative it is clearly shown how dangerous
and detrimental is the unchecked sway of power,
exercised in a spirit of harsh and overbearing
sternness, where commiseration, kindness, and love
find no place in the bosom of the ruler, and where
poverty in the ruled, unrelieved by pity, unsoothed
by sympathy, generates only reckless passion—finds
relief or enjoyment only in brutalising appetites.
The dangers to be apprehended from such a system
of the social relations, found frequent and cruel
illustration in the history of Naples ; one of which,
the extraordinary and sanguinary, though brief
revolution, effected by Masaniello, and terminated
by his treacherous murder, all within the short
space of ten days, forms an episode in human affairs
which cannot be viewed by an intelligent eye with-
out awakening feelings of a painfully conflicting
nature, and inculcating lessons of deep political and
moral import. Of this singular outbreak and its
chief actor our author gives a graphic account,
from which we take the annexed extracts :

The History of Xerxes the Great. By Jacob

Abbott. -London : Nathaniel Cooke.

In those biographical treatises which have ema-
nated from the pen of Mr. Abbott, due attention
has been paid to the chronological sequence of
events by which the narrative has to be marked
and illustrated ; and in general the selection of
subjects has been judicious. That which now lies
before us is of questionable merit in the last-named
respect. Xerxes is a name which, from very early
associations, we have been led to look on as nearly
synonymous with a rapacious lust of power, vain-
glory, intellectual weakness and personal pusilla-
nimity. In the narrative of Mr. Abbott we have
been unable to discover much reason for changing
the early formed impression alluded to, and con-
sequently we are left still in amazement at the
literary concatenation by which we find the
affix " Great" appended to his name. Like its
predecessors in the series, the life of Xerxes is a
volume in which youthful students will find much
to interest and inform them, and we therefore can-
not but regret to see so palpable a misapplication
of the sonorous and glorious title " Great."

Hogg' s Instructor. Edinburgh : James Hogg.
The number of this periodical for March is rather
better than an average one. It opens with an
excellent article descriptive of " Constantinople and
the Bosphorus," a theme which, at the present
moment, is fraught with peculiar charms ; not that
the lovely natural scenery and gorgeous artificial
incidents of those localities have received any sud-
den or extensive acquisition of beauty, or been of
late invested with new attributes of glory ; but
chiefly because the inhabitants of that region have
become objects of solicitude to the ever wakeful
generosity of Britons in protecting the oppressed.
So long as Turkish indolence and sloth made the
nation the home of despotism and the chosen abode
of ignorance, superstition, and prejudice, so long
the history of its people, the charms of the country,
and the value of its productions, remained compa-
ratively matters of indifference to the British pub-
lic ; but the instant a cry of wailing, and a call for
help to ward off from her impending danger, has
reached our shores, every object connected with her
history and resources has become instinct with
vital interest to every class of Britons. Men who
before scarce heeded the warmest eulogia on the
natural beauties of the " golden horn," and who
listened with the most immovable apathy to descrip-
tions of its wonderful mercantile and naval capabi-
lities, are now eager in their inquiries on such
topics, and gladly avail themselves of such informa-
tion as design or accident places within their reach.
Such inquirers will find rational as well as interest-
ing information in the paper to which we allude,
which, we learn, is from the note-book of a
traveller who spent portions of 1852 and 1853
on the spot which he describes. It has freshness
as well as picturesque beauty to recommend it.
We had marked several portions for quotation, but
find the space devoted to such matter already filled ;
we must consequently content ourselves with a
general commendation. " The' Eating and Drink-
ing Capabilities of the Metropolis" contains much
curious and well-selected matter ; and, in general,
the descriptive and statistical portions of the num-
ber deserve high praise. To some of its more aspir-
ing articles we cannot accord a similar judgment.
Several of them are beset by that bane of modern
literature, a love of fine writing ; and no one is
open to more deserved reprobation on this score
than the reputed editor of the periodical, the Rev.
George Gilfillan. Inflated and bombastical anti-
theses form no necessary part of English compo-
sition, yet in an article entitled " Modern British
Orators," by that gentleman, we find such turgid
trash as the following :
We do not mean to compare him to Burke, whose
enthusiasm was as slow as it was sanguine, as lasting in
its results as it was sudden in its rise.
It would be as cruel as it would be fruitless to ask
any one to picture to himself an enthusiasm at once
slow and sudden ; but in addition to this puzzle, he
tells us in the same sentence that Burke's wrath
was at once Fenerous and fierce ; so that, accord-
ing to Mr. Gilfillan, the wrath and the enthusiasm
of the great Edmund Burke must have been equally
enigmatical and contradictory. In another portion
of the same paper we are told of Brougham, that
on some wonderful occasion " the orator is sub-
limated into the man." Such escapades in most
instances would be only laughable ; but, as we have
reason to believe, this prolific writer is looked on
as a sort of literary deity among a certain knot of
small worshippers, it becomes a matter of duty to
expose such solecisms in composition, such outrages
upon common sense. The periodical to which our
observations apply is good in plan, and generally
respectable in execution. Can it continue to deserve
such a character, if its pages are befouled by stuff
like that which we have quoted ?

On Shipping. Showing the Evils of the Broking
System. By Ralph Darling. Newcastle-on-
Tyne : John Christie.
A pamphlet under the above title has been pub-
lished, in which its author undertakes to show that
numerous and heavy grievances are inflicted on the
shipping interests of this country by the system of
brokerage. He also proposes practical remedies
for the evils which he points out. He addresses
himself to the shipping and mercantile communi-
ties of Great Britain and Ireland, and by them the
suggestions he makes will no doubt be entertained
at their full worth. The subject is one of impor-
tance, and both merits and will repay attention.

The Newspaper Press Directory. London;
C.*Mitchell.

In this case, which cannot be said in all in-
stances, the title is happilsignificant of the pur-
pose of the work ; which is. to furnish a complete
list of all the newspapers, daily, weekly, or monthly,
which are published throughout the kingdom. It

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD, AND GENERAL COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER.

also furnishes information relative to their political,
religious, and commercial views, generally furnished
by parties so connected with the respective publi-
cations as to give authenticity to the various state-
ments. To professional men of most denominations,
and to the commercial public it presents a mass of
useful information, and in its pages the general
public will meet with much to interest and amuse
them. •

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

BIRKENHEAD HOSPITAL.

man. When cities and boroughs were first infested,
and inflicted by the creation of Corporations and Town
Councils, it was not the custom to consult such authorities
as NEWTON as to the latitudes in which the greatest
luminary bodies were likely to appear in subsequent ages,
therefore, society was left without that data which would
have enabled them to have copied the great laws of
nature, in selecting those localities, which were in the
nineteenth century, to become the foci of human
refulgence."
I have pored over these brilliant sentences, Mr. Editor,
with the hope of eliminating therefrom their meaning,
and " working out the perfection of the philosophic end "
intended, until I became fearful of the effects on my
brain—for some physiologists contend that insanity is con-
tagious . So transported from earth to heaven, and anon
from heaven to earth—so bedizzen.d and bedazzled with
" twinkling stars, " " great luminaries, " " gorgeous
lights," " celestial brightness," and " human reful-
gences," it cannot be wondered at, that a poor mortal like
myself, so accustomed to the ordinary language of this
working-day world, should find my understanding com-
pletely nonplused, being deluged with "excessive bright,"
which, like an ocean, rushed in upon it ! I hardly dared
to read further ; but, after a little, I resumed courage,
and proceeded
Such being the case, we are left to infer that
corporations were originally forked out upon the
land to fertilise it, and preserve the productiveness of
the political strata of those regions where the shepherd
suffered most from the ravages of wolves. A kind and
considerate feeling here shows itself on the part of the
early originators of corporate bodies. Nor has this kindly
feeling been suffered to diminish in the slightest degree
through the many centuries that have passed since corpo-
rations were first invented. We we will here instance,
par excellence, the Town Council of Liverpool. Mark the
spirit of brotherly esteem and inextinguishable friendship
that dwells there! Once a councillor, for ever a brother.
' The outside world may reject thee twice brother Shand,
but we will receive thee thrice. Thy qualification is re-
gistered on many a deed, and in this representative coun-
cil chamber shalt thou be enshrined without that vulgar
appendage,—a constituency.' "
Splendid scribbler ! Magniloquent declaimer ! What
were the nature and quantity of that inspiration
by which thy pen was guided ? At what Pierian
spring didst thou, 0 scribe ! imbibe immortal draughts?
And art thou the prot4;g6 of Bacchus or Apollo ? Per-
haps, after all, the darkness of the writer's mental vision
is not more sublimely visible throughout the long, weary
article, than in the introductory sentence, descriptive of
provincial corporations
The provincial corporations of this country occupy the
same position in the social and political world, that the
fixed planets do in the firmament. They are the centres
of reflection from which sufficient light is thrown upon
the earth to render ' darkness, visible. "
After perusing this specimen of what MOOSE would call
" blatheruna-skiteum" composition, I determined "to fork
our no more for your contemporary.—l remain, &c., &c.,
COMMON SENSE.
Liverpool, March 20, 1854.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

Six,—Appended to the report of the proceedings of the
late meeting of the governors of the Birkenhead Hospital,
in the Birkenhead Advertiser of the 11th instant, appears
a copy of a letter, addressed by the Rev. Dr. Baylee to Mr.
Dixon and others, assigning eight distinct grounds why,
in his opinion, the recent appointment of Messrs. Ha-
milton and Jennette, as consulting surgeons, should not
be rescinded. It is much to be regretted that, as such a
letter was not read at the meeting, where many of its
statements might have been disproved, it was afterwards
allowed to appear in print.
Containing reasons founded on erroneous data, and
bearing so justly-influential a signature, I fear it is cal-
culated materially to damage the interests of the valuable
institution to which it refers. I therefore venture to
request the favour of yoiir inserting a few remarks upon
the subject, as the Birkenhead Advertiser, in which I
had intended them to appear, has been since discontinued.
The rev. doctor first objects that the subscribers had not
received notice of the intended proposal. Such a course
would have been without precedent in the history of the
charity, and unwarranted by any of its laws. The several
appointments of Messrs. Stevenson, Smith, and Dixon, are
equally open to the same objection. No such proposal ever
yet emanated from the committee, but has invariably been,
as on the late occasion, a spontaneous vote at the general
meeting of governors ; and I submit that, had the secretary
given notice of any particular motion, he would have
thereby departed from the invariable practice of the calling
of stated public meetings.
The second objection sets forth that the annual meeting
was not a representation of the body of subscribers. The
rev. writer believes only 13 subscribers were present,
of which only four voted for the appointment, and then
dwells upon the absence of the president, treasurer, and
secretary. We have since had the public assurance of the
secretary, that the usual notices convening the meeting
were issued by post ' • therefore, if it did not represent the
body of subscribers, I am at a loss to know what body it
did represent. As to the numbers in attendance, I can, if
needful, furnish the names of a greater number than the
rev. doctor " believes" to have been present, besides those
who were strangers to me.
Having, I think, attended every annual meeting for the
last eight or nine years—though I have no recollection of
once meeting the rev. gentleman—and having had on the oc-
casion in question; and on many others, the duty of selecting
movers and seconders for the various resolutions, I do not
hesitate to state that there was a full average attendance.
I know not how many voted in favour of the motion, but
there were no adverse votes. Thepresident was certainly
absent, and his chair was occupied by Mr. Watson, a cir-
cumstance which favors the validity of the appointments
made. The treasurer and secretary found substitutes.
The third grotind assigned is, that "the medical officers
justly conceive themselves to be slighted in appointinF
superior medical officers without reference to them. '
Surely Dr. Baylee cannot be aware that the appointment
of Mr. Jennette was made on the motion of Mr. Dixon,
consulting surgeon, seconded by Mr. Vide, honorary sur-
geon. Therefore, on these two gentlemen, must rest en-
tirely the charge of slighting each other and their medical
brethren, as the appointment of Mr. Hamilton was merely
a promotion of a late senior officer to a still higher position.
This objection also will equally militate against the ap-
pointment of Messrs. Stevenson, Smith, and Dixon.
The fourth reason states that " the present senior hono-
rary surgeon will not be entitled to the distinction of
consulting surgeon until he shall have servedten years ;"
and implies that Mr. Hamilton had retired after less
than six years' service, and was only then made senior to
him. Sir, what shall we be told next ? Let yourreaders
only refer to the often-quoted 14th law, and they will find
that "EVERY honorary medical officer may be appointed
on his resignation," &c., &c.; there is no exception with
reference to the present senior surgeon,—why should
there be? Again, had the writer referred to the books-of
the hospital, he would have found himself in error as to
the period of Mr. Hamilton's service ; and I have already
mentioned that he was previously senior to Mr. Vale. The
late Mr. Smith was appointed consulting surgeon after a
service of only five years.
ppeDr.nßtmayelneet
wasnext
nsettatpesreptsedlastbelief y
thatear was,
that
toint
was
a i
ascertained " that the opposition would be too strong?'
lie "can see no other grounds for the delay." It is well
thatt thena
an:
known to many members of the committee that I was'
rebdei
mmaydseel.f therpnr'enacsipaeml objector to ththeaptror
feared
honour so immediately conferred might act as a premium
on resignation ; and secondly, that I believed two consult—
ing surgeons were snfficient. My object was " delay"—
I borrow the appropriate term of the rev. gentleman,whieh.
conveys the very reverse of final disqualification. The
limited interpretation of law 14 had never at that time,
been heard of ; had it been so, I would have at once with- '
drawn all objection; rather than jeopardise the services.of-'
two gentlemen of unimpeachable character and professional
reputation. As the case now stands, the lapse of a year
has removed one obstacle, and the lamented decease of the
late senior consulting surgeon the other.
The rev. doctor next objects to the distance of Dr. Ha-
milton's residence- from the hospital,—a difficulty which
may be overcome- by half an hour's walk, in addition to'
which, I believe,. Mr. Hamilton's_ private practice brings
him to Birkenhead daily ; yet this is urged as a reason for
rescinding not only hisappointment but,strang-e to say,that
also of Mr. Jennette, whose residence is in the same-street
as the hospital ! It may be reasonably asked, at what
distance would all the honorary medical officers have re-
sided, had the plan, only-recently abandoned, been carried
into effect—of building the hospital at the foot of Bidston-
hill ? _ .

•
The seventh ground is, that election to such offices ought
not to be a matter of personal influence or favour, but that
candidates should be elected solely on their personalmerits.
This objection does not apply in the present case, as the
appointments iti question were made with the strictest
adherence to that principle.
The rev. writer, referring to law 14, states, lastly, that
he " thinks tho recent election a violation of the plain
letter of the rule." I respectfully differ from him in this,
but I rejoice to observe that he does not mention it as
being a violation of the plain meaning and intention of
the rule ; and; as the only surviving member of the sub-
committee who revised the laws and rules, I may state it as
my conviction that the election was in perfect accordance
with the intentions of the sub-committee.
Deeply regretting that Dr. Baylee should.have lent his
name and influence unwittingly to promote the ends of a.
professional jealousy: without having first informed himself
of the facts and bearings of the case, I have felt it my duty
to enter into the above explanation, in, the earnest hope
that it may stay the evil which threatens a most valuable
institution..
With every sentiment of esteem and respect for the rev..
gentleman upon whose letter I have presumed to comment,.
I em, Sir, your obedient servant,
THOMAS, FRY,
A Member of the Committee.and late Hon. Seek
Birkenhead, 18th March, 1851.

"RECEPTION OF THE BUDGET IN LIVERPOOL."

TO THE EDITOR OP THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

Sir,—A paragraph as above headed has been going the
round of the local papers during the past week. I have
waited till now to see who were the influential citizens
who composed the highly respectable meeting which ven-
tured to speak as the exponent for the town of Liverpool;
and though fourteen days have elapsed since the reception
of the Budget in town, the only names published are those
of Mr. Carmichael, and a Mr. Morris, secretary to same.
We are not favoured with the names of the, remaining
portion of this influential meeting, but no doubt they are
of the hoc genus, and though their number within the
Bar-parlour of the " Union" could not be very numerous,
yet "Nye are informed it afforded the company the greatest
pleasure to have duly reported to them. the speech of the
Rt. Hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
whilst he still spoke before the house whilst the speech
itself was hailed with the greatest satisfaction."
This, Sir, is really amusing in the extreme.
"The joy (!) of the company was however only completed
when the important measure (doubling the income-tax, to
wit ! how very joyous?) of the Chancellor was announced !"
This is thrillingly interesting and agreeably gratifying
" so much so, that it was immediately suggested, in flowing
bumpers, that a telegraphic message should be immediately
forwarded to the right hon. gentleman, conveying the
thanks of the meeting and expressing the delight which
doubling the income-tax had given his fellow-citizens in,
general," but those of the Bar-parlour in particular ! !
Any commentary on the above would be unnecessary.
It may be added, however, that there is but one opinion
generally expressed, which is, that the public of Liverpool
repudiate the idea that a few private gentlemen within
the bar-parlour of any hotel, aid under such circumstances,
should publicly put themselves forward as the exponents
of public opinion on such a national question. It appears,
however, that the above suggestion was drunk super
naculum when the Hebe of the establishment made her
appearance to replenish ; and the secretary, Mr. Morris,
gave the following to the company :

(TENDERLY.)
I give thee all, I can no more,
Though poor the offering be;
I give thee leave to extend the tax
Across the Irish sea.
(JAUNTILY.)
And if they ask thee why it is
I give this leave to thee,
It is because "we all ha'e got
A drappie in our ee."
Yours, OMEGA.