The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-08-31 00:00:00

MISCELLANEOUS.

The same year (1592) saw. Coke, afterwards Chief Justice,
appointed Solicitor-general, reader of the Inner Temple, and
Speaker of the House of Commons.

The aceouchement of the Marchioness of Abercorn took
place on Friday morning at Byam House, Brighton. Her
ladyship was delivered of a son, who, with its high-born mere
is doing welt.

Sir Robert Peel, Bart. M.P., and Lady Peel, arrived at
Drayton Manor, their seat in Staffordshire, on Monday, from
a visit to the Duke of Rutland, at Longshawe Lodge, Derb) -
shire.

The Prince of Canino (Lucien Bonaparte) has arrived
from Italy. The statues, busts, and vases, excavated on his
estate at Canino, have also been brought over, and a part
sold to the British Museum.

Mr. Lushington, of Cambridge, has been unanimously
appointed Professor of Greek in the University of Glasgow,
in the room of the late Sir Daniel Sandford.

General Palmer, late member for Bath. made bankrupt
as a wine-merchant, is at present in the Fleet Prison for
debt, and in a bad state of health. His debts amount to
£150,000.
GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR OF STEAnI VESSELS.—We are
glad to understand that the appointment of an authorized
Inspector of steam vessels is under the serious consideration
of government.

The Admiralty gold medal has been awarded to Dr. C.
WArthur, surgeon of the Rodney, for having kept the best
medical journal in the service.

We-have authority to state that his Royal Highness the
Duke of Sussex has signified his intention of tesigning the
president's chair of the Royal Society at the close of the
year.—Ailienceuni.
Sir John Herschel, it is said, is to be the president, of the
Royal Society, in the room of the Duke of Sussex, resigned,
Sir John and the royal duke were rival candidates for the
honours when the last vacancy occurred.
The Inverness Herald states that the result of the county
registrations had resulted in a Conservative majority of four;
and the burgh registrations in a Coniervative majority of
forty-five !
GIANT HERRING.—An enormous herring was caught by
one of the boats belonging to Wick last week. It weighed
within a fraction of a pound; and measured 15 inches in'
length, with a proportionate circumference.—Scotsman.
The directors_ of. the. London and Birmingham Railway
Company have, it is said, borrowed a sum of £500,000, for
the completion of that undertaking, by the issue of bonds
bearing interest at five per cent.—Tines.
PERTIISHIRE.—FIom a tabular view of the results given
by the Perth Courier, it appears tint the additional Conser-
vative claims admitted (exclusive of re-inrolmeots,
,&c.)
amount to 184; the additional Whig claims admitted to 32;
making a clear gain for the Conservatives of 152.
Lord Brougham, in one •othis late speeches, openly avowed
his opinion of the inconvenience which has arisen from the
annihilation of close boroughs, and suggesting as a remedy
that members of the cabinet should he entitled toseats in the
House of Cointnons]ex officio.
PHENOMENON.—On Thursday week the people ofJedhurgh
were astonished during the storm of rain which occurred on
that day, by the fall of a large quantity of salmon fry from
the clouds some of which are yet alive It is conjectures; that
they must have been caught up into the clouds by a whirl-
wind; and this is the more probable as, about that tune, this
neighbourhood experienced several very severe storms.—Glas-
yow Chi onicle.
The Honourable Captain Osborne, of the 26th foot, mili-
tary sect etary to his uncle, Lord Godolphin, Governor-Gene-
ral of India, had a most narrow escape in April last. When
out tiger shooting in the Dhoon three tigers got up suddenly
under the very feet of his elephant, which so affrighted the
animal that he actually shook his rider off his back Captain
Osborne is said to have fallen on one of the tigers, and, strange
to say, the whole three tigers took fright and ran away.
A very amiable young man about nineteen years of age,
named Flintoff, left the house of his parents, who reside at
Skiddaw Cotsage, near Keswick, about nine days ago; and
although the strictest search had been made for him every day
since he left home, he was not discovered till Sunday last,
when his body was found by three men who had been con-
stantly searching for him,' in a deep part of the river net. far
from the head of Bassenthwaite Lake. It is rather singular
that, about nine years ago, the body of a person similarly lost
was found exactly in the same place.—Kendal Mercury.

SHIP LETTERS.—Some idea may be formed of the extent
of communication between the United States, England, and
France, from the followingfacts:—The number of letters for-
warded through the New York Post Office, by the packets
for Liverpool. London, and Havre, from the .16th of April
last, to the 19th July, was. 61,307—f0r other ports, 4,360—
total, 65,667. The number received at the Upper Post Office,
from Ist January to June 30th, was 230,548—f0r city delivery,
101,819. There can be no doubt, that, but for the embarrass-
ment of the times; the number ofletters would have been much
greater.—New York Evening Post.
ACCIDENT ON THE MANCHESTER AND LEEDS RAILWAY
WORKS.—On Saturday morning last, between nine and ten
o'clock, as a labourer; named John Rammil, was driving a
waggon load of soil to a slope at Newton Heath, called the
Battery Head, the horse which he was leading suddenly drag-
ged him forward, so as to throw him down. The waggon
wheel passed over his foot, ankle, and leg, crushing the ankle-
joint to pieces. The man was instantly conveyed to the Man-
chester Royal Infirmary, where he underwent amputation of
the limb, just below the knee, between eleven and twelve
o'clock the same forenoon: and we believe is now doing well.
GRAND JUNCTION RAILWAY.—We understand, that in
consequence. of remonstrance made by the Grand Junction
Railway Company upon the subject of charges on forward
parcels through the- coach offices at Birmingham, directions
have been issued by Mr. Chorley, the treasurer and chief
agent at Liverpool, that all such parcels shall in future be
delivered by the company at the offices of the forward con-
veyances to Birmingham. It seems that the three principal
coach proprietors jointly have a clerk at the railway-station,
and the parcels have probably been delivered to such clerk ;
an intermediate charge, however, has sprung up of 44. or 61
upon each parcel, claimed by the coach proprietors a:, a re-
muneration for bringing them from the station by their own
conveyance, but stated by the Railway Compauy to be a
mere office charge, and independent of -the manner of de-
livery. The correspondent from whom Ite received our in-
formation thinks that the public are suffering very extensively
from this evil, and wishes us to point out that the railway
companies engaging to deliver their parcels are bound to de-
liver them at the proper forwarding offices, without any
expense beyond the railway charge, and that in such case
there is no Other charge for passing through the coach-office
than the customary 24. for booking, to be added to the usual
forward carriage.—Correspondent of the Times. ,

HYDROPHOBIA.—The death of Mr. John Wilson, of
Barnstown, county of Kildare, on Thursday week, is as
severe a domestic calamity as has ever come under our notice.
Mr. Wilson had, it appears, a favourite dog, which was
missing for some days in May last; at length he received in-
formation that it was in an adjoining field, and on going out
two of his labourers warned him not to approach the dog, as
they believed it was mad; but the dOg, when he saw his
master, ran towards him and frisked about his feet in a most
friendly manner. Mr. Wilson concluded from this that the
animal was not mad, took it up in his arms, and unfortunately
allowed it to lick his hands, on one of which there was a small
and unhealed cut or sore. The circumstance escaped from
Mr. Wilson's mind, and nothing more was thought of the
matter until,Sunday before last, when, after prayers, he felt
a pain in one of his arms (that on which the sore was), which
continued to increase in violence until the evening, when
hydrophobia set in with dreadful malignity. He died on
Thursday, the 16th, after four days of unremitting and most
severe suffering. Mr. Wilson was a fine young man, in the
prime of life, possessing a good property, and the affectionate
esteem of all his neighbours.—Leinster Express.

DREADFUL. FIRE AT HEMEL HEMPSTEAD—THREE LIVES
LOST.—On Saturday night a dreadful fire occurred at the
beautiful little town of Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. It
appears that on Saturday night, about 11 o'clock, the ser•
vant of Dr. Hallet, a physician in the town, retired as usual
to rest. It is supposed that be fell asleep before be got into
bed, and that he knocked the candle off the table, which set
fire to the bed furniture. In a little time the conflagration
burst out in an alarming manner, and the greater portion of
the inhabitants were soon on the spot to render assistance,
but their efforts were unable to check the progress of the
flames, and the mansion was soon a heap of ruins. Engines
were sent for frcim Arlindge Castle, Sir Astley Cooper's, and
and General Montague's, but they arrived too late to be of
much service. It is impossible, at present, to give an exact
account of the damage done, but it is supposed, on a rough
calculation, that property to the amount of £20,000 is de-
stroyed. None of the property is insured. The body of
Thomas Jackson, the servant, has been dug out of the ruins.
He was quite dead. A servant girl, named Mary Sharp, and
the son of Dr. Hallett, a fine youth, six years of age, are
missing. It is greatly feared that they, too, have perished.—
Courier.
IMPORTANT TO SEAMEN.—At the meeting, last week, of
the British Association, Lieut.-Col. Reed, of the Royal En-
gineers, read an interesting paper on the progress made to-
wards developing the law of storms, and what seems further
desirable to be dune to advance a knowledge of it. He be-
gan by stating, that his attention had been more particularly
directed to the subject in the year 1831, when he was em-
ployed as an engineer officer at Barbados, immediately after
the great hurricane of that Year, which, in the short space of
seven years, killed upwards of 1400 persons on that island
alone. Since that time he had made numerous searches into
the logs of vessels which had been exposed to great storms,
and, combining their information with what he could obtain
on land, he had been led to the conclusion, that storms have
a revolving motion in a course opposite to that of the hands
of a watch. Hence, he was led to believe, that, in accord.
ance with the order of nature, they would be found, in south-
ern latitudes, to revolve in a precisely contrary direction to
that which they took in the northern hemisphere. They
might thus expect that the problem so long desired to be
scilved, viz. on which side to lay .a ship in a storm, would now
he explained. By watching the mode of veering off the
wind, the portion of a storm into which a ship was falling
might be ascertained. The object required was, that the
wind, in veering, should veer aft, instead of a-head, and that
a vessel should come up, instead of breaking off; to accom-
plish which, the ship must be laid on opposite tacks, on op-
posite sides of a storm.

IMPORTANT TO TOLL KEEPERS.—A case of general im-
portance was tried before a•bench of justices in Glasgow last
week, which we think should receive all manner of publicity.
Mr. Walter Parlane is taxman of the toll or pontage dues
exigible at the bar at the 'south end of the Glasgow bridge
over the Clyde; and, on the occasion libelled, it appeared
that the orderly servant of Sir Waiter Scott, Bart., the
major-commandant of the 15th regiment of hussars, at
present stationed in Port Eglington barracks, was passing
the bridge, riding his own horse, and leading that of Sir
Walter to Blythswood-square, from whence his master was
to proceed to a review of the troops, which was to take place
on the Green'. of Glasgow that day, under the inspection of
Lord Greenock, the general officer of the district. Parlane
demanded and took toll from the servant, in the face of his re-
monstrances; and it appeared in the course of the proceed-
ings, that Parlane was continuing the practice; and to have
the question settled, Sir W. Scott and his brother officers
caused a complaint to be brought before the justices, at the
nominal instance of his orderly, against Parlane the toll-
keeper, for recovery of the statutory penalty of £5 for exact-
ing toll from a soldier. Mr. 'A. Gemmell appeared for Mr.
Parlane the toll-keeper, and pleaded that Sir Walter Scott's
servant did not fall under the description of persons who are
exempted from the payment of tolls under the 37th section
of the general turnpike act, Ist and 2d William IV. cap. 43:
—" Nor shall any toll be demanded or taken for the horse of
any officer or soldier "on march or, duty." See also Barclay
on the Law of the Road, page 9; and Blair's Manual, page
325. And Mr. Gemmell pleaded that as Sir Walter's ser-
vant was not in full regimental uniform, hut merely in a
stable or undress, the toll-keeper was not bound to know
that he was a soldier at all; and even although he did, that
being neither "on match or duty," he was not entitled to
exemption ; and be also made reference to the Glasgow
Bridge act. Mr. William Jaffrey, jun., appeared fof Sir
Walter, and contended that neither the general turnpike act,
nor the bridge acts, could be held to regulate the present
question; and he read the 61st section of the mutiny act, Ist
Victoria, cap. 17, (passed llth April, 1838.) whereby it is
declared, " That all her Majesty's officers and soldiers, being
in proper staff or regimental or military uniform, dress or un-
dress, and their horses, &c., shall be exempted from payment
of any duties and tolls, &c., on passing turnpike roads or
bridges, otherwise demandable by virtue of auy act already
passed, or hereafter to be passed," &c. Penalty, £5 each
offence. After a patient hearing, the
_justices (under the
able assessorship of their clerk, Mr. John Douglas) found
the exaction .of the toll or pontage in question was illegal,
and they accordingly convicted the toll-keeper in the miti-
gated penalty of 205., besides expenses.--,Scotsman.