The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-05-30 00:00:00

VARIETIES.

A GENTLEMAN of African extraction, who used to dis-
play his grinning combination of ivory and ebony about
the streets of Indianapolis, was asked by a white gentle
man, " How old are you, Sam ?" " Twenty-five massa,"
was the reply ; " but if you counts up de fun I's seen, just
call me seventy-five."
AMBIGUOUS TAPERS.—The Morning Post states that
" His Holiness the Pope has forwarded Queen Isabella the
magnificent present of a box of candles." The meaning
of this present may appear to be an encouragement to her
most Catholic Majesty to persevere in reading by the Pope's
light. We trust that this is the case. We hope Pius aid
not, by his gift of candles, intend to hint any necessity for
their conjunction with white sheets.—Punch.
TILE Bombay Guardian states that Major Rawlinson is
prosecuting his labours at Bagdad with great energy. He
has made some important discoveries of remains in Lower
Babylon, the region about Bagdad, and found among the
Assyrian records the name of Belshazzar, thus completing
the list of kings mentioned in the Bible, and attesting the
unerring fidelity of the Scripture accounts.
zti Sir Francis Chantrey was building his mausoleum,
he said to Allan Cunningham, his friend and principal
assistant, that he would make the vault large enough to
contain him also. " No," said Allan, " I should not like,
even when lam dead, to be shut up. I would far rather
rest where the daisies will grow over my head."
As A DANDIEb FELLOW was wending his way through
a narrow passage, he met a pretty girl, and said to her,
"Pray, my dear, what do you call this passage ?" " Ba-
lsam's passage," she replied. "Ah, then," continued the
fellow, "I am like Balaam—stopped by an angel." " And
I," rejoined the girl as she pushed past him, " am like
the angel—stopped by an ass."
BATnos.—Some years ago, during a discussion respect-
ing the Bank of Waterford, an honourable member said,
" I conjure the Right Honourable the Chancellor of the
Exchequer to pause in his dangerous career, and desist
from a course only calculated to inflict innumerable cala-
mities on my country—to convulse the entire system of
society with anarchy and revolution—to shake the very
pillars of civil government itself—and to cause a fall in
the price of butter in Waterford."

TILE DAIIGITTER of a celebrated countess was about to
marry, in a few days, a very amiable gentleman, but whose
years, unfortunately, numbered thirty-six, while his in-
tended only reached eighteen. Though naturally of a
cheerful disposition, she had seemed sad for several days,
which at last attracted the attention of the mother. 'My
dear child,' said the latter, one evening, `how serious you
look !. What are you thinking about so deeply ;'— Mam-
ma,' replied the Miss, with a deep sigh, `l'm thinking my
future husband is just double my age.—' That's true ; but
no matter; you don't think him old at thirty-six No,
it's not so bad now—but just think when I shall be fifty.'
Well, what then ?'—' Why, then, he'll be a hundred !'
CHARGES OF CAVALRY.—The Great Frederick won his
principal battles—fifteen out of twenty-two—by cavalry
charges. It was a maxim of his day and of his army that
infantry and artillery were powerless against the mad surg-
ing wave of the Prussian horse. His two chief officers
were Ziethen and Siedlidtz. These two generals devoted
all their thoughts to making the men good horsemen.
The great point to obtain was that they should charge at
full speed for 1,000 yards without breaking their array.
This point-was gained, and with it the fate of battles. In
many of the contests, during the Seven Years' War, the
Prussian cavalry literally swept whole armies out of the
field like chaff before the wind. The arm of these horse-
men was the sword—the secret of their victories, good
horsemanship.—Reviewof Capt. Nolan's Cavalry Tactics.

THE BEST EDIICATION.—The ancient Athenians were
the most intelligent community the world ever saw, and
yet there were few of those who had conquered the Persians,
or gazed on the Parthenon, or listened to Pericles, or ap-
plauded the works of Eschylus and Sophocles, who knew
how to write or read. What was it that taught them. to
be aspiring yet practical, to be valiant and yet humane ?
Why, that which teaches the Englishman—the talk and
the habits of every-day life, the custom of self-government,
the consciousness of liberty, and the electrical transit of
stirring ideas that come from the common interest in
public affairs ; the present constant intercourse between
man and man, that frank publicity of opinion, that
sympathy of united numbers which carries to the multi-
tude every more useful and vivid thought which genius or
study originates in a few. It is all this which teaches the
Englishman, and gives to our people the superiority, in
the real enlightenment of their common ideas and the
masculine energy with which they carry their ideas into
practice.—Sir Bultver _Lytton.
AINISRICA./1 ECCENTRICITIES IN PARIS.—Mr. Mason,
the American Minister at Paris, is highly respected; but
it is unfortunate that, at a time like the present, with a
general war about involving the whole continent, he does
not understand French. An American correspondent
writes, "Our citizens are here in crowds, and present
themselves in great numbers to Mr Mason for presenta-
tion to the Emperor. At a recent levee our good-tempered
minister at the head of some thirty or more of his country-
men, said to the Emperor, as he stooped before the group,
" Permit me to introduce your Majesty to my country-
men ; they are all Americans. Thislturning of tables by
introducing the Emperor, only created a smile; but one
of the group made a much more unfortunate error. He
was a New Yorker, and had been, it appears, personally
acquainted with Louis Napoleon when in former days the
latter was in that city. Of this, in very bad taste, he re-
minded the Emperor, and then added, `I hope to have
again the pleasure of seeing your Majesty in New York.'"
This was almost as bad as the speech of a lady to George
the Third, " That the thing she most wanted to see was a
coronation!"

LOUIS NAPOLEON AT THE EGLINTON TOURNAMENT.—
Close by Kilwinning is situated Eglinton Castle, the
princely mansion of the Montgomeries, Earls of Eglinton,
who have held the domain for nearly five centuries. At
this noble residence in August, 1839, Archibald William,
the fifteenth and present earl, revived the disused and
almost forgotten pageant of a tournament. The arrange-
ments for the tilting and its chivalrous accomplishments
were magnificent and costly, thousands from all quarters
of the kingdom flocking to witness the alluring spectacle,
the gentle and courteous sports of which were participated
in by numerous members of the British peerage. Among
the participators in those chivalrous gaieties were many
who bore patrician names of old renown, and not a few
graced the assembly of knights who represented the
chivalry of lands beyond our sea-girt isle. One of those
eminent exotics was a slenderly built, dark-complexioned,
and thoughtful, albeit impulsive and withal wayward
young man, whose easy and nonchalant grace of demea-
nour, combined with a certain resoluteness of purpose and
fertility of resource in trivial emergencies, served to point
him out as somewhat remarkable, while his gentleness and
suavity of manner secured for him general observation not
unmingled with esteem. At that time, little distinguished
from the noble personages by whom he was surrounded, it
would have been difficult for even the keenest scrutineer
of coming events to have pointed him out as the future
ruler of the French Empire—the man by whose energy,
sagacity, and unhesitating boldness a new turn was to be
given at a critical and dangerous moment to the destinies
of France, and whose unbending firmness of purpose seems
yet likely to exercise an important influence over the moral
and social condition of Europe. Yet so it was—that
isolated, self-possessed butunobtrusive individual, mingling
carelessly in the pastimes of the tilt-yard, was Louis Napo-
leon, at that time but little marked except by an unenvia-
ble notoriety which had attached to him from his some-
what mad-cap exploits at Strasbourg—though destined
subsequently to grasp and to wield supreme control over
one of the most powerful nations on the face of the earth.
—Banks' Guide to the Land of Scott and Burns—
unpublished.
OMER PACBA is a Sclavonian by birth, forty-eight
years of age, and has been in the Turkish service for up-
wards of twenty years. When he entered that service, he
was obliged by the Turkish custom to change his name,
which he did, from " Lattas "to " Omer ." It appears
that he never informed his family of the circurnstance,
and was, to them, as lost. His eldest brother, Simon Lat-
tas, is fifty years of age, and.has been residing in Jassy, a
town on the Pruth, for many years past, devoting his
time to mercantile pursuits. About ten years since, an
officer informed him that his brother, Omer, had been
killed on the field of battle, and that he (the officer) had
seen him both dead and buried. Having been thus so
positively informed of his brothers death, Simon naturally
concluded that the information must be correct. In the
month of August, 1853, Simon Lattas was one day regal-
ing himself with a cup of coffee at one of the numerous
cafes in the ancient town of Jassy, and not having any
friend to talk with, took up a French newspaper that was
lying on the table. After having read the current news
of the day, he accidentally fell upon a short biography
of the celebrated Turkish commander, Omer Pacha:—
and from mere curiosity commenced its perusal. He
was rather astonished to find that Omer Pacha formerly
bore the family name of Lattas ; and from several
circumstances related in the memoir, began to think
that the renowned general might, by some accident,
prove to be—his own long-lost younger brother. Yet,
how could this be, when he had (what he considered)
positive proof of his brother's death ? The information,
which he had thus casually acquired, dwelt so much upon
his mind, that he determined at once to write to Omer
Pacha. He addressed his letter to Chumla, where Omer
Pacha was at that time residing. Simon shortly after-
wards left Jassy for Varna, accompanied by his son, a fine,
tall, strong-built lad, fifteen years and a-half old. Soon
after his arrival at Varna, he received, through Omer
Pacha's first aide-de-camp, a reply to the letter he had
forwarded from Jassy. What ! what do you imagine was
his brother's astonishment when he read the answer ?
His own dear brother was alive—yea, still alive, and
anxiously waiting, with open arms, to receive him. Omer
had sent his confidential aide-de-camp to welcome, and con-
duct him, with all speed to Chumla. On arriving there,
Omer Pacha came out to meet him, and in an instant re-
cognized his brother Simon. But Simon did not so
readily remember his younger brother, owing, perhaps, to
the grey hairs which now adorn his head and beard. This
was truly a romantic and affecting scene : Omer Pacha
surrounded by his staff, meeting and embracing his long-
lost brother, whom he had not met for more than thirty-
two years. In commemoration of this happy event, the
Sultan has been pleased to confer on Omer Pacha's nephew,
the rank, title, and pay of commander in the Imperial
Army. He has, therefore, been received into the Turkish
service, with the appellation of Bimbashe, Omer Bey.—
Rhodes' Military Inspection of European Turkey.