The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-12-04 00:00:00

population ! The moral degradation, deep as it is, is no
deeper than the physical deterioration of the fathers and
mothers of the next generation.

. . . . nequiores mox daturos
Progeniem vitiosiorem.

We have thou"ht it worth while to improve the breed
of oxen, sheep, Ad pigs. Our sleek and comely animals
seem another race from the lean and long-legged crea-
tures of France. But there is reason to fear that the re-
verse operation as to human creatures is proceeding in the
great cities of both countries. Compare the swarms of
fragile women, of slight, delicate, and half-begotten men
in London, Paris, Lyons, and Manchester, with the men
and women now living in the country districts of Nor-
mandy, and frequenting the markets of Dieppe or Caen,
and you will see what is going on.
There is no reason to fear an increase of population.
But there is great reason to fear an increase of a mo-
rally-depraved and physically-deteriorated population.

INVITATION TO UNITED PRAYER

The Rev. J. H. Stewart has just issued his annual
address on this subject, from which we make the follow-
ing extracts : _ _

".` How many urgent calls are there at this eventful
season for earnest prayer for the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit.

First of all, that God, of his infinite grace and mercy,
may sanctify the judgment with which he has lately visited
us, in the grievous disease which has suddenly carried off
so many of our countrymen. It is true that by the com-
mand of Her Gracious Majesty—whom may the Lord
long preserve in health and peace—prayer was offered in
the churches for the removal of this malady ; and whilst
writing this address, the public journals make known that
a day of general thanksgiving has been ordered ; still,
unless the active energy of the Holy Spirit is granted,
there will be no real repentance for sin ; no breaking off
from our many and grievous transgressions; no true
thankfulness of heart, leading to a general desire to glorify
God, to honour his Son, and to render a willing obedience
to the Divine commandments. It is the Holy Spirit who
must put the fear of the Lord into the heart, and make us
sensible that Righteousness exalts a nation, but that sin
is a reproach to any people.' Without his gracious aid a
day of thanksgiving may be but a vain offering, like the
morning dew, which passeth away and is no more seen.
Let then this loud call for prayer sink deep into your
hearts, my beloved friends ; and as you love your country,
commence the New Year by earnest entreaty that by the
aid of the Holy Spirit, when ' the judgments of the Lord
are upon the earth, the inhabitants of the world may
learn righteousness.'

" A second pressing call for our uniting in this concert
for prayer is the great importance of carrying into effect
the proposals which have been lately made for the reve-
rential observance of the Sabbath of God. Whoever
consults the history of the Lord's ancient people will see,
that whilst the Lord promised special blessings to those
who kept his Sabbaths, it was the profanation of this holy
day which filled up the measure of the iniquities of Judah,
and was one of the immediate causes of the destruction of
the first temple, and of their captivity in Babylon. And
if we read the lives of the most holy men who ever lived,
it will be seen that in the degree in which they feared the
Lord, in that degree was their reverence for his holy
Sabbath. They did not enter into those doubtful dispu-
tations into which some in later times have gone, but
' they called the Sabbath a delight, the Holy of the Lord,
and honourable ;' a day in which God, of his abundant
mercy, relieved mankind of that curse which sin had
brought upon them—the necessity of gaining their bread
by the sweat of their brow—and admitted them to enjoy
the privilege of the angels who stand around the throne ;
the privilege of employing ONE DAY IN SEVEN in the
special service of the Lord, in acquiring an increasing
knowledge of his glorious attributes, and in praising and
magnifying his holy name. What a blessing would it be
if such a reverence for the Lord's Day was general ! But
how can this, or even a less spiritual observance of the
Sabbath be effected, but by the aid of the Holy Spirit
giving that delight in God which will make the Sabbath,
not as it is now used, alas, by some, as a day of worldly
gain or ungodly pleasure, but the day of all the days the
best—the day which may be termed a stepping-stone to
that blessed abode where ' our Sabbaths will never end,
and our assemblies never break up.'
" Oh, then, my beloved friends, as you love the Sabbath
of God yourselves, and as you desire that those who are
now almost compelled to labour on that holy day may be
set free from their burdens, unite in this concert for
prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the first
day of the New Year, that by his Divine aid the Sabbath
may be kept holy, and 'the Lord of the Sabbath' duly
honoured.

"A third reason which calls for this devout concert for
prayer is the increasing activity of the powers of darkness.
Of necessity it is difficult to distinguish the thoughts or
actions which are the offspring of Satanic suggestions,
from those which are the produce of ' the desperately
wicked' human heart ; but those who have reflected upon
the late horrid blasphemies put forth by infidel writers,
the artful devices used to lessen the paramount authority
of the Bible as the inspired Word of God, and the late
woful increase of dreadful crimes and 'acts of depravity
too distressing to specify ;—those, I say, who have re-
flected upon these things, and who consider that the last
days are approaching, are led to believe that Satan and
his evil spirits are now more than ever at work ; that
earnest prayer, therefore, becomes needful, that when
the enemy is coming in like a flood, the Spirit of the
Lord may lift up a, standard against him,' especially that
he will endue some among the Lord's servants with those
powers of mind which may enable them to meet every
sophistical argument against the plenary inspiration of
the Holy Scriptures, and confirm his people in their
faith; leading them to be followers of those who over-
came the Enemy, BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB AND BY
THE WORD OF THEIR TESTIMONY."

'l'll LIVERPOOI STANDAR%

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The Duke of Sutherland has presented to the Ragged
Schools of Wolverhampton a piece of land consisting of
858 yards, for the purpose of a central school.
On Friday morning the Mystery lugger, with a crew of
five men, while attempting to speak a schooner bound for
London, was run down by her, and all her crew perished.
The Gazette contains official notice of the appointment
of Messrs. Lewis, Wood, Byng, Miles, Sir H. Verney,
and Sir J. Duke, as commissioners for inquiring into
Smithfield market.

WILD GEESE.—It may interest our ornithological and
meteorological readers to hear that a flight of wild geese
passed over Greenwich on Friday, testifying to the early
setting in of the winter, and its probable severity.
A very extensive and successful forgery of the £5 note
of Messrs. Backhouse' Bank, Darlington, has been
effected, and many of the tradesmen in the town have
been taken in by them.

On Tuesday Birmingham was visited by the densest
fog remembered for many years. it commenced about
twelve o'clock and terminated at six,—the town, in the
interval, being wrapped in almost total darkness.

At a recent meeting of the Westminster Medical
Society, Dr. John Welster related the histories of three
cases of insanity after the use of chloroform, during
labour, which had come under his cognisance.

Dr. Buckland mentions that the scarcity of water in
London is likely to ruin the brewers. If it has this effect
upon the brewers, it is horrible to think what will be the
fate of the milkmen.—Punch.

The Tablet, in its list of " Conversions," announces
that, a few days ago, the Rev. I-I. Bittleston, assistant-
minister of Margaret-street Chapel, was received into the
Roman Church by " Father Oakely."
The Queen has conferred a liension of £lOO per annum
from the Civil-list upon Mr. George Petrie, one of the
honorary secretaries of the Royal Irish Academy, who is
so well known for his extensive antiquarian researches.
The Sunday Times states that Mr. George Hudson,
M.P., at one period was the leader of a Methodist congre-
gation. A female member having bequeathed him a large
sum of money he turned linen draper, and afterwards
railway speculator.
At a meeting in Landon of " Fraternal Democrats,"
on Wednesday, to sympathise with Ledru Rollin and Co.,
Mr. Bronterre O'Brien called the French a " rascally
government." What ! a government resulting from uni-
versal suffrage " rascally ?"

The voluntary choir of St. Philip's, Sheffield, have pre-
sented Mr. J. K. Hoberfield, the mayor of Bristol, with a
case of razors, as a token of their gratitude for; his strenu-
ous efforts to maintain the choral service in the Cathedral
Church of that city.

The exhibition of manufactures and arts now open in
George-street, Hanover-square London, is nothing better
than a private speculation—an adroit attempt of a 'cute
Frenchman to make a handsome profit on the sale of the
goods he has collected together.
TRAVELLING IN THE INTERIOR OF AFRlCA.—Govern-
ment has determined to afford effectual assistance to Mr.
Richardson, the African traveller, in prosecuting his
travels in the great desert of Sahara, Soudan, and the
regions of Bornou and the Lake Tshad.

The Times, in an article denying that it is the official
organ of the Colonial office, nevertheless communicates
the important official announcement that government has
decided on establishing a penal colony for convicts in
Western Australia.

INCENDIARISAI IN DERBYSIIIRE.—During the last
fortnight there have been some half-dozen incendiary fires
in the neighbourhood of Putbury and Hatton. Haystacks,
sheds, and other outbuildings have been set on fire, and
in some cases considerable damage has been done.
Mr. Macaulay's .History of England is now in its fifth
edition; Layard's Nineveh is in its third; and within a
few weeks of the issue of a second edition of Sir John
Herschell's Astronomy, it was out of print, and a new
issue, equivalent to a third edition, is now on sale.

James Brabant, a wine cooper, aged 53, in the employ
of the London Dock Company, was directed 'to fill fifty
bottles with brandy on Wednesday last. He was found
near the barrel in a state of insensibility, and conveyed to
the hospital, where he died from the effects of having
drunk a quantity of brandy over proof,
Elizabeth Hillier has been committed by the coroner
for Bath, for the wilful murder of her illegitimate off-
spring, which was found tied up in a bundle in her box,
quite dead, and the lower jaw broken and pressed back
about an inch, clearly indicating that great violence had
been used to deprive the child of life.
The United Service Gazette complains that the Royal
Victoria and Albert yacht is about to have a new set of
boilers, the third within five years, although only em-
ployed about a month in the year, and that she has now
cost nearly £200,000, a sum sufficient to purchase half a
dozen efficient vessels instead of one most inefficient.
You cannot see a Welsh beggar in London. When an
investigation into the mendicity of London was made
some years ago not one Welshman was found ; although
the number of beggars that infested the streets of that
capital at that time was reported by the committee of the
House of Commons to be 15,239.

As Mr. Shrewsbury, a surgeon, of Bradford, was talk-
ing to a patient last week, he suddenly stopped, and the
parties standing by thought he was collecting his thoughts.
They soon found however that he was dead, having ex-
pired of an affection of the heart.
On Saturday, on the arrival of the 4.39 down train at
Ashford station, Sir Norton Knatchbull, in attempting to
leave the carriage before the train had stopped, lost his
balance, and was thrown with such force upon the plat-
form, that his collar-bone was dislocated and his arm
broken.
EXHIBITION IN HYDE-PARK IN 1851.—The prelimi-
nary arrangements for that great trial of the industrial
strength of nations which stands for 1851 are, we are
happy to announce, progressing successfully. The sum
of £20,000 to be given away as prizes has been deposited
in the hands of the trustees for the objects intended.
Itusu PRODUCE.—For many years between 2000 and
3000 pigs were, on an average, imported from Ireland to
Bristol weekly. For a long period, judging from the
official lists. hardly a single pig has been brought to
Bristol ! Free trade is annihilating the provision or
staple trade of Ireland.
At an inquest, held on Friday, on the body of the late
Mr. Sergeant Law, Mr. Dens, a surgeon, stated his
opinion that the deceased brought on spasm of the heart
through .imprudently leaving his warm bed during a very
severe night and drinking a tumbler of cold water. The
jury returned a verdict accordingly.

EXTRAORDINARY SIIICIDE.—On Friday, a respectable
female, named Elizabeth Baker, aged 56 years, committed
suicide at her apartments, No. 30, Hampton-street,
London, by sitting down on the floor, opening a small
wound in the front of her neck by a penknife, and delibe-
rately bleeding herself to death.
A young man, named John Hayes, interfered with
others to keep the peace on Sunday week at Manchester,
between Bernard Sheridan, a bricklayer, and his wife,
who were violently quarrelling. Hayes was subsequently
met by the former in the street, when Sheridan ran at him,
plunged a chisel into his breast, and killed him. He has
been committed for trial for the murder.

Mr. Rock, one of the churchwardens of St. Stephen's,
Walbrook, writes to the Times that the City of London
passed a resolution, on Tuesday, to discharge immediately
all the casual poor at present in the union, except those
actually sick, and in future to refuse relief to all casual
applicants, however destitute, if not at the time aotually
sick.

An inhabitant of Penrith, allured by the prospect of a
cheap bargain, purchased for 17s. 6d. a parcel purporting
to contain 151 b. of tobacco, from a pretended smuggler,
who visited that town last week. On further examina-
tion, however, the unlucky buyer discovered that the par-
cel was filled with sawdust, though about half an ounce
of tobacco was spread within the paper at one place.
IRREGULARITY IN A CHURCHYARD.—An unsuccessful
attempt was made by the Vicar of Weston, near Spald-
ihg, last week, to prevent a " Forester" from reading an
address at the grave-side of a departed member of the
Order. The vicar called upon the churchwarden to aid
him in stopping the ceremony, but the churchwarden
siding with the Forester, the latter read on to the end.

MINIATURE STEAM ENGINE.—Mr. Blanklev, of
Brunswick-terrace, Gateshead, has under a glass shade a
steam engine, the whole machinery of which, fly-wheel
included, stands upon a twopenny piece ; yet so exact and
ekilful is the workmanship, that when a, steam-pipe is
applied, there being no boiler, the engine is immediately
set in motion, and works with admirable precision.
The system of free-trade in corn is beginning to pinch
those whom it was never designed to affect. It is said
that one of the finest and largest farms in the northern
part of this county, belonging to a leading member of the
present government, and which has been advertised to he
let for some time past, has not met with any offers within
£4OO a-year of its former rental.

THE GAME LAWS.—An extraordinary society, called
the Rural Supporting Club, has been formed in Wiltshire,
at the instance, it is said, of John Collett, Esq., of Lake-
house, Cheltenham. The Times, which gives an account
of some proceedings of this club, states that " labourers
are not to be paid by it as much money whilst undergoing
imprisonment for poaching as they would have obtained
by the exercise of honest industry."
A NOVEL SCHOOL.—A correspondent informs us that
there was lately opened, near the White Milbank, in the
parish of Llandebie, a school, superintended by a female,
who herself is ignorant of the alphabet. At present,
however, only one person has entered this academy. It
is not poverty that makes her have recourse to this scho-
lastic scheme, as she lives as comfortable as any person
of her station in the parish.—Carmarthen Journal.
A curious accident occurred in the streets of Glasgow
on Saturday week. Simultaneously three individuals
perceived lying on the flags eleven £1 notes, and simul-
taneously they dashed at the prize. A girl got two, a
wright one, a weaver eight, and away sped the weaver,
leaving the other two to dispute with an envious city
porter. Subsequently, however, all the notes were reco-
vered by the aid of the police.
A SHROPSHIRE MAN !—There is now residing at Wel-
lington, a man named William Ball, a native of Horse-
hay, near Wellington, who is supposed to be the heaviest
human being in the world, his weight is supposed to be
about 35 stone, he measures 6 feet 5 inches round the
body, 3 feet round the thigh, and 22 inches round the
arm ! He has be en every bard-working man, and is very
act ive, notwithstanding his immense size and weight.
The Literary Gazette states that letters from Mr. Lay-
ard, the explorer of the ruins of Nineveh, mention the
discovery of representations of the moving of the great
winged bull, and it is hoped that these representations
will explain the mechanical means employed by the Assy-
rians and Egyptians in raising and moving the immense
masses of stone which form part of their buildings and
monuments.

In a case of the most frightful depravity which came on
for trial at the Old Bailey, on Friday, the offender escaped
through the impossibility of administering to the only
witness for the prosecution the necessary oath. The
charge was one of incest committed by a father, but the
victim, a girl of twelve year§ old, proved ignorant of the
very existence of the Divine Being, and a verdict of Not
Guilty was recorded under the direction of the learned
fudge.