The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-01-24 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD, AND 6ENERAL COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER.

IA THE COURSE of his connexion with the "Edinburgh
Review," Jeffrey wrote not less than 200 articles for that
periodical.

PADDINGTON.—The village of Paddington, which was
once given to Westminster Abbey, and afterwards by
Edward VI. to the Bishop of London and his successors,
is now one of the most remarkable portions of London.
The story of its growth sounds like a fable. In 1801 it
contained 357 houses, and a population of 1,881 persons.
In 1851 there were 6,519 houses, with 222 in progress,
and a population of 46,306 persons. The rates were
levied in that year on an annual rental of £390,732; and
in 1852 this had been increased to £410,617.
ROMANTIC Kuinraoe.—M. Balzac, the French
novelist, exhibits another example of eccentricity in
matrimonial affairs. According to a Parisian correspon-
dent, the arrival of this celebrated author from Germany
caused an immense sensation in certain circles, owing to
the romantic circumstance connected with his marriage.
When Balzac was at.the zenith of his fame he was travel-
ling in Switzerland, and had arrived at the inn just at
the very moment the Prince and Princess Hanski were
leaving it. Balzac was ushered into the room they had
just vacated, and was leaning from the window to ob-
serve their departure, when his attention was arrested
by a soft voice at his elbow, asking for a book which had
been left behind upon the window seat. The lady was
certainly fair, but appeared doubly so in the eyes of the
poor author when she intimated that the book she
was in quest of was a pocket edition of his own works,
adding that she never travelled without it, and that
without it she could not exist ! She drew the volume from
beneath his elbow, and flew down stairs, obedient to the
screaming summons of her husband—a pursy old gentle-
man, who was already seated in the carriage, railing in
a loud voice against dilatory habits of women in general,
and his own spouse in particular—and the emblazoned
vehicle drove off, leaving the novelist in a state of self-
complacency the most enviable to be conceived. This was
the only occasion on which Balzac and the Princess ,
Henski had met, till his recent visit to Germany, when
he presented himself as her accepted husband. During
these long intervening fifteen years, however, a literary
correspondence was steadily kept up between the parties,
till at length, instead of a letter containing literary stric-
tures upon his writings, a missive of another kind, hav-
ing a still more directly personal tendency, reached him
from the fair hand of the princess. It contained the an-
nouncement of the demise of her husband, the prince—
that he had bequeathed to her his domains and his great
wealth—and, consequently, that she felt bound to requite
him in some measure for his liberality, and had deter-
mined in giving him a successor in the person of Balzac.
It is needless to state that the delighted author waited
not a second summons ; they were forthwith united in
wedlock, at her chateau on the Rhine, and a succession
of splendid fetes celebrated the auspicious event.
UNITY OF FEELING IN Russia.—lt is a common opi-
nion in Western Europe that a people inhabiting so vast
and varied a territory cannot by possibility remain united,
and that Russia broken up, as it must ere long be, into a
number of separate dominions, will cease to be formidable
to the other powers of Europe. There never was a greater
mistake. To reason thus is to fall into the usual error of
supposing that all mankind are placed in the same cir-
cumstances, and actuated by the same desires. There
have been many insurrections and revolts in Russia, but
none which ever pointed in the most remote degree either
to a change in the form of government, or to a separation
of one part of the country from the other. It is in its
Polish conquests alone that this passion has been felt.
Even when the Russians have appeared in revolt, as they
have often done, it was ever in obedience to the' im-
pulse of loyalty : they combated the Czar in the name of
another Czar, not knowing which was the right one; as
the Scotch Highlanders did the Hanoverian family in the'
name of the Stuarts. The principle of cohesion is much
stronger in Russia than it is in the British dominions,
infinitely lame so than in the United States of America.
England and France may be subjugated, or broken into
separate states, before the integrity of Russia is threatened;
and many rival republics will be contending for the supe-
riority on the transatlantic plains, while the Muscovites
are still slumbering in conscious strength and patient
expectation under the sceptre' of the Czar. The cause of
this remarkable, and, to the other states of Europe, most
formidable unity of feeling in the. Russian dominions is
to be found, in the first place, as that of all great national
peculiarities is, in the original character and disposition
of the race. The Russians are not,• it' is true, encamped
on the plains of Scythia as the Turks have been for four
centuries on those of the Byzantine' empire ; they have
taken root in the soil, they constitute it'S,entire inhabit-
ants, and are now devotedly attached -twit by the posses-
sion of its surface and the labours of agriculture. But
they are not on that account less orientall in their ideas,
feelings, and habits ; on the-contrary, it is that very cir-
cumstance, joined to theii agricultural persuits which
renders them so formidable: They unite-the devotion
and singleness of purpose- of Asia to the-industry and
material resources of Europe: It is incorrect to say that
the Russians, like the inhabitants of England and France,
are generally loyal, and only. occasionally seized:with the
diStinbing passions of revolution or religion. They are
loyal at all times, and in all places, and under all cir-
cumstances. They can neverbe brought to etanbat the
Czar hut in the name of the. Czar. Devotion to the
throne is- so interwoven with the inmost feelings-of their
hearts, that it has become part and parcel of their very
being ; a is as universal as the 'belief in God en. a future
state is he other countries. No •disturbing or-rival pas-
sions interfere with 'the unity- of this feelin,. whichis
sublime- from its universality, and respectabl- from its
disinterestedness. The Czar is at- once their- temporal
sovereign,. their supreme chief,.whose will is law in all
temporal affairs, and the head of their church, under the
aegis of whose protection they alone hope for entrance into
paradise- in the world to come: The Patriarckof Con-
stantinopie is, properly speaking, the head of ate Greeic,
Church, but he is a foreigner, and'at a distance.;-. the' real
ecclesiastical. authority resides ins the Czar, who,appoints
all the bishops ; and his brows. are surroundedi.ini their
eyes, at once with the diadem of. the Sultan antl:tiara of
the Pontiff,"-- Sir Archibald Afison'sHistory ofEhrope.

ORIGICS OF HUMAN LIFE : TUC GUMMY: THEORY.--.
Mr. A. Jackson Davies, the founder of a new American
seat who call themselves Spiritualists, has, been
delivering lectures, in which lie• propounded& a some-
what novel' theory of the origin- of life. The Nor-
wich ,3Y ctr.. Examiner, in describing the. lecture,
says:"God, be it known,. never made anybody,
according to the new philosophy—and the first pair did
not make•- themselves. Whence; then, came man ? Mrs.
Stows 'Topsy' was not far out of the way; after all,
when, she• said she was not made, but growed. The first
settlers, the• very first pairs of-every living thing, man
and all; actually did grow out of this terrestrialball !'
Fact—it the. old theologies don't admit it.. The.philo-
sophy, you see, is this. Matter is progressive: The finer
qualities. rise to the surface and go into business--subli-
mate—aud become intellectualities. The =hen mass of
fire at the earth's centre fiirnishes the motive power.
Thus, the particles that day before yesterday were a grain
of wheat, yesterday were nerve. and muscle, and to-day
are sparkling thoughts ! capital, is it not ? Man, to be
more particular, got along hi this way. The better part
of matter came out from the grosser by a natural law—
was warmed or steamed out—and coalescing with water
at the beds of the oceans, formed a gelatinous compound
like brains—gluey, gummy. This. slush,, though much
purer than ordinary matter, was no. more than raw
material for the new artible. Then, by a further natural
process, this glutinous mass underwent-fermentation, and
evolved a —what do you. think ? Why,.a life principle, as
steam from boiling water—which steam or principle madey
a living thing of whatever. absorbed it ! Hence life!
Hence oysters, and alt other folks ! Or, rather, hence the.
first pairs of all living creatures.; for after life became.
existent, this process.was.voted.a hambug, and the world
was; peopled in a happier way. The lecturer said, that, at
onetime, long before- animal life- was in the world,,the
beds of the oceans same to be immense masses of glutinoua
matter resembling brains—that the warmth of the earth,
generated a fry, and. that the-steam that came up vivified
whatever it got into, making % live and cut about., We•
cannot be mistaken that gluten. was the stuff—that- gum
was the foundation, and that in a general effervescence
life was evolved—though we. may have failed in. other
respects to grasp his full theory and discourse. This we
did look into.. Jelly and gum! Transporting conception !
And it must be. SO. Davies says it; we believe.% ; and
the extrema. facility with, which men may still be.gummed,
ought to satisfy our orthodox friends, that % isn't any-
thing else."
AMERICAN TRAvn.a..—The late celebrated Mt. Clay once
told the following anecdote to a friend of ours :
Travelling, in early manhood, in a public conveyance in a
south-eastern sta* he found himself in company of three
other persons, cow-testing of a young lady and gentleman,
her husband, and of a person muffled up 41- a cloak, whose
countenance was concealed, and who appeared to be in-
dulging in a tete-a-tete with Morpheus.. Suddenly, a big
brawny Kentuckian got into the coach* smoking a cigar,
and frowned fiercely around, as much as to say, I'm half
horse, half alligator ; the yaller flower of the forest, all
brimstone but the head and ears, and that's aquafortis."
In fact be looked as savage as a meat-axe, and puffed out
huge volumes of smoke, without reference to the company
within, especially of the lady, who manifested certain timid
symptoms of annoyance. Presently, after some whisper-
ing, the gentleman with her, in -the politest accents, re-
quested the stranger not to sinoke as it annoyed his com-
panion. The fellow answered, "'I reckon I've paid my
place. I'll smoke as much as I darn please, and all hell
shan't stop me no how." With that he looked dangerous,
and rolled his eyes round as fiercely as a rattlesnake, It
was evident he had no objection to a quarrel, and that, if
it occurred, it was likely to lead to a deadly sle. The
young man who had spoken to him shrank band was
silent. Clay felt his gallantry aroused. He considered
for a moment whether he should interfere, but experienced
a natural reluctance to draw upon himself the brutal
violence of his gigantic adversary. In that lawless country
he knew his life might be sacrificed unayenged. He knew
himself physically unequal to the contest, and he thought,
after all, it was not his business Quixotically to take up
another man's quarrel. Feeling pity for the insulted, and
disgust towards the insulter, he determined to take no
notice ; when, very quietly indeed, the cloaked figure in
the corner assumed an upright position, and the mantle
was suffered to fall from it without effort or excitement.
The small but sinewy frame of a man, plainly dressed in a
tightly-buttoned frock coat, with nothing remarkable
about his appearance, was seen, and a pair of bright grey
eyes sought the fierce optics of the ferocious Kentuckian.
Without a word, this " lay figure " passed his hand under
his collar at the back of his neck, and slowly and deli-
berately pulled forth a long, extremely long and glittering
knife from its sheath in that singular place. " Stranger,
he said, " my name is Colonel James Bowie, well known
in Arkansas and Louisiani; and if you don't put that
cigar out of the window in a quarter of a minute, I'll put
this knife through your bowels as sure as death." Clay
said he never forgot in after life the expression of the
colonel's eyes at that moment. The predominant impres-
sion made upon him was the certainty of the threat being
fulfilled, and apparently the same conviction impressed
itself ere long upon the offender. During two or three
seconds his eye met that of Bowie. His was the weaker,
and he quailed. With a curse, he tore the cigar from
between his teeth, and flung it, scowling, but downcast,
out of the coach window. Upon this Colonel James Bowie
as deliberately replaced his long knife in its eccentric
hiding place, and, without saying a word to any one else,
or even vouchsafing a glance at any one, refolded his cloai
around, him, and did not utter another syllable tie the end
of the jouruey.—New Quarterly Rtvitw, •