The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-08-05 00:00:00

LITERARY NOTICES.

Auxiliary Explanatory Notes, for the use of Children
of all Sects who are to be instructed at the two Corpo-
ration Schools of Liverpool from the Irish Bible Se-
lections, with Notes. Dedicated to the Mayor, Al-
dermen, and Town Council of Liverpool. J. Maven-
port, Ranelagh-street, Li7erpool.
Tuis is a clever written pamphlet, divided into parts,
and well calculated to show the aggressive and encroach-
ing nature of popery unless carefully watched. In the
first part the 17th chapter of St. John's Revelation is ex-
plained, as- given in " Brown's Self-interpreting Bible,"
and its application to the Church of Rome shown. The
succeeding parts show the progression of christianity
darkened by the errors of Rome, and that religion which
the Bible teaches usurped by monkish superstition, false
miracles, and lying wonders, and the adoration due only
to the Deity given to sacramental bread, the Virgin
Mary, saints, angels, images, and reliques. It is a cleverly
written, satirical little work.

Ministerial Fidelity and Joy in Death,—a Sermon,
preached in Pitt-street Chapel, Liverpool, on occasion
of the Death of the Rev. David MWicoll, by James
Dixon. London : J. Mason.

This is at once an eloquent and merited tribute of re-
spect to departed worth, and a solemn improvement of a
mysterious dispensation of Providence in the sudden re-
moval of this eminent preacher from the sphere of his
ministerial usefulness. We understand that the profits
arising from the sale of this sermon are to be applied for
the benefit of the widow and family of this zealous and
talented. pastor. We heartily wish the object every
success.

• -
A Letter to the Operative Conservatives of Great Bri-
tain, by one of their
This spirited and well-timed address to operative con-
servatives deserves an extended circulation among the
industrious classes to whom it is addressed. The follow-
ing is given as an epitome of the three branches of the
British form of government:—
" Tits KING, or first estate, is the great palladium of liberty. In
him is vested the majesty of the nation; or, in other words,.he is the
great representative of the whole people; therefore, we contend that
to encroach upon the royal prerogative—to interfere with it in any
shape—is the attempt of faction to destroy the liberties of the na-
tion.
" THE HOUSE OF Lomas, the second estate, is a body of nobility
particularly useful in our mixed form of government, in order to sup-
port the rights of both the crown and the people, by forming a bar-
rier to withstand the encroachments of both.
" THE HousE OF COMXONs, or third estate, is the people assembled
by their deputies ; and as all money is produced by the industry of
the people, the constitution has placed the purse of the nation in their
hands."

General Statistics of the British Empire. By James,
M'Cloeen, Esq. London : B. Fellowes.

We do not know of any work which, in the same com-
pass, contains so ample a developement of our national
resources as we find presented in this volume. It not
only contains, in a tabular form, all the parliamentary
and other returns on the statistics of the British empire,
but it. also includes many useful speculations upon these
important details. The utility of such a work to the
statesman, the agriculturist, the capitalist, the manufac-
turer, or the merchant, is unquestionably great ; we
have, therefore, great pleasure in recommending it to
our readers as a valuable book of reference on all ques-
tions relating to the real strength, wealth, and resources
of the country.

Marriage: the Source and Perfection of Social Happi•
ness and Duty. By the Rev. H. C. O'Donnogirue
M. A. London : J. Dinnis. A Prize Essay.

This little book is one of the most delightful-we ever
perused. Indeed, how could it be otherwise, while treat-
ing on this fascinating topic ? So enraptured have we
been with its contents, that we intend to get the whole
book by heart as soon as the long winter nights arrive.
To our unmarried friends we cordially recommend this
essay, as the most likely means of making them dissa.
tisfied with the loneliness and misery of a single life. If
this does not induce them to renounce the life of a bache•
lor, nothing else will—excepting the presence of an en-
chanting woman.' It is so rich and luxuriant in its con-
tents, that,O,know not what to choose for a specimen ;
every page is so strewn with flowers of the loveliest hue
and sweetest fragrance, that we know not what to cull.
We almost suspect that the author had an eye to a sur-
rogacy when he penned this book. He is certainly no
Malthusian in his philosophy., The following commences
his description of " love and rtship" :
" Love has been sung by the sweigt bards, and its influence been
felt and aeknowledged by the best 0 men. Its joys, its fears, its
anxieties, and its hopes have inspi d the song of noblest verse, and
given energy to the best efforts of t human mind. Under its mighty
influence the hero has gone fort all the pride and pomp_ of war,
to battle and to victory ; he rmounted opposing difficulties,
and won from the hand of deathless fame and an imperish-
able glory.
Oft hast thou proved, e'en to the bold and wise.
The spur to zeal, the soul of enterprise ;
Oft has thou led the merchant far from home.
An ocean pilgrim round the world to roam;
Oft hast thou led the soldier to the field,
Adorned his sword, and garlanded his shield ;
The spirit of his courage thou hast stood,
And fixed his hero soul to deeds of blood.
In private life it has sustained the heart of desponding melancholy,
and thrown over care and misfortune the sunshine of hope :

Which seems, with heavenly smiles and light-robbed form,
Like Mercy's angel in Affliction's storm.

Blot this heaven-born passion from our common nature, and you
destroy, at once, both the mainspring of its exertion and the anchor
of its Lopes ; and, at one effort, terminate the reward of its toils and
the chief of its pleasures :

Of life's sublimest joys be knows but part
Who never held a place in woman's heart."

The People of Russia and the Policy of England. Lou
don : James Ridgway and Sons, 169, Piccadilly.
This is a pamphlet containing, much information on the
internal condition of Russia, the civil relations of its peo-
ple, and the spread of intelligence amongst its different
classes. It gives the reader an insight into the manners,
customs, and state of the people : information which is
but very little known. The pamphlet then goes on to
describe the arbitrary nature of the government and the
gradations which the people are compelled to serve be-
fore they can attain any semblance of liberty and civil
rights, and concludes with alluding to the policy of Eng-
land with regard to that empire. In speaking of the pea-
santry we find the following :
" When the peasant becomes a soldier, he must serve twenty-
five years, after the expiration of which period he may return
home to his village, and is no longer the slave of his master.
If, at the time of his joining the army, he bad any sons, all
these sons, by a recent regulation, as soon as they attain the
age of seven, are torn from their mothers, and removed to mili-
tary institutions which have been established fortheir reception.
In these institutions the children are formed 'into a distinct
corps, which in Russia is called the cantonists (kantonisty.)
No system can be more unjust and cruel. It forces a whole
family at once to become soldiers, and deprives the wretched
soother of all she holds dearest, it may be her only support in
her old age. We cannot refrain from mentioning in this place
that this atrocious system was adopted by the Emperor Nicholas
agAinst the sons of the Polish noblemen who took an active
part in the last Polish insurrection. The fathers were declared
civilly dead, their property was confiscated, and their sons were
dragged to distant parts. - The mothers and the relatives of the
proscribed implored for pity toward the innocent children.
Nothing availed; the vengeance of the Russian government
was inexorable.
" In virtue of the existing regulation, a peasant who has
sewed without fault for twelve years in the army as a serjeant-
major, and who can read and write, is at the end of that term
of service promoted to the rank of an officer. But this is a cir-
cumstance of very rare occurrence. Any other promotions of
peasants in the army commonly take place on the especial com-
mand of the emperor.
."fhe Russian peasants are excessively ignorant; yet their
desire to ameliorate their lot gives rise to a vague hot general
longing for change. Hence this illiterate and miserable mass
is ever ready to embrace the cause of the first adventurer who,
under whatever pretext, promises them an imrrovement of their
condition. Hence so many false pretenders to the throne have
gained numerous partizans among them; and by their aid some
of these pretenders have been successful.
" Exclusive and oppressive as we have shown that the bearing
of the Russian government is toward the citizens and the pea-
santry, the mode of conducting the general administration of
the country in regard to all classes is still snore arbitrary and
uncontrollable; it surpasses every thing we in England can
imagine. In this respect the noble, the citizen, and the peasant
are quite on a level. The tact and accurate information of the
Russian diplomacy has for some time been remarked, and the
foreign policy of Russia has been thought to indicate great
wariness and foresight; hence has been Inferred the general
encouragement of men of ability in official situations. But
home affairs are managed very differently. Intelligent and
upright men are not preferred; and, according to * the Emperor
Nicholas himself, the only requisite is obedience. Whatever
is servile and ignorant composes the aggregate of the home
service; and. thus, to form any thing like a just conception of
the interior administration of-Russia, we must imagine, on the
one hand, the grossness of an overwhelming and most ignorant
power, and, on the other, the total absence of any controlling
jurisdiction. But injustice and tyranny are what, according to
the Russian system, constitutes a strong and energetic govern-
ment."
At page 22 the find the following :
The officers of the crown, haYing ascertained that a tnart is
rich, resolve to make hin, the subject of legal exaction. They
then devise some such plan as the following:—One of their
number, holding the office of observer of the execution of the law,
in Russian called procuror or straptchy, bsings some kind of
accusation against the nnfortnnate individual. It is not re-
quirid that the public accuser should establish his charge. On
the contrary, in Russia it is the accused who must prove his-
*nnotence. For this purpose it would be necessary fur bins to
demand a commission of inquiry. (Sledstvennaya Koumissija,) ,
anti, of course to pay all the members of this commission, as
wel,l as all the expenses of the process. Such cases are pro-
tracted Y6r
Under his
.tseveral years, and the expenses become enormous.
a friend among the accused is almost sure of finding I
ested pee,hunf the colleagues of the accuser. This disinter-
ested
in an'iihtred with the opportunity of offering his
sure in recontilin.g ot this nature, for he has a peculiar plea-
kindly points out litigants by an amicable arrangement. He
the of delay, the great and cer-
tain expFrise, and
intmee,te. The Zete;l*inster of a deficiency in the proof of
the one 'party gives as littelveded a regular hargain,in which
other takes as much as
possible. Flaying thus bought thel"
Jaw and rewarded his pieadli atedi„toVlexible protector of the
applaud themselves
on clutches, and the worthy
feels delighted at his escape firnm their ,ctihe menaced criminal
functienaries the success of their
scheme."
propensities
The author thus notices the aggrandising
of the government of this country, and, if
we
may take
an example from ancient Rome, their probable result
" If ever a country existed to which peace was absolutely

s " I don't want wise men, DLit obedient men."—The famous
saying of Nicholas in 1826.