The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-11-06 00:00:00

CONTEMPORARY PRESS.

POPERY.
(From the Cari../e Pcartot.)
Those persons who believe that Popery is not the
same intolerant persecuting faith that it ever was, and
that it would not rekinnl.! the fires of persecution, if

the opportunity of doing so presented itself, reay, per-
haps, be disabused of their error by reading an ac-
count of the conduct of two Papist priests in the
island of Achill, in Ireland. In this island, a little
Protestant colony has been formed, and Protestant
schools established which have been the means of com-
municating the truths of the gospel to many of the be-
nighted population around, to whom the Bible had
been a prohibited book. The success which has at-
tended the efforts of the infant colony excited the ani-
mosity of the Popish priesthood, who have, during
the last six months, particularly, been using their ut-
most exertions to drive away the Protestants. Two
priests, Harley and the latter of whom auda-
ciously usurps the title of Archbishop of Tuatn, have
particularly distinguished themselves by their violent
proceedings. We extract the following passages from
a long article in the Achill Herald :
Mr. Harley, not satisfied with holding the people up to the
abborrence:oi Isis flock by a public denunciation of their names
in the chapel, came to the house of some to curse them to their
fate. In one cabin which this minister of cursing visittd, he
found a poor woman lying ill upon her bed—' I am come,'
said he, 'to ask you in the presence of these witnesses,' turn-
ing to four men who had accompanied him, whether you will
take your children from the school and return to the church.'
The woman- meekly replied that she could Out comply, her
mind was made up, and there was no use in speaking to her on
such a subject. Mr. Harley then discharged a volley of exe-
cration, informing her that be left upon her his curse and the
eerie of God, and the curse of the congregation, together
with the 7i)o curses (seachd mile mallachtuigl7) which Father
Martin (the twiner priest of this parish) had sent her.
On Sunday a large concourse of people assembled at the
chapel under the wildand retired mountain of Menane, where
Mr. M'Hale appointed to meet them. When the idolatry of
the mass was hnishval, the Rev. Mr. Hughes and Dr. M'Hale
addressed the assembled multitude in language becoming the
priests of such a worship. Dr. iNl'Hale, the more to impress
the simple people with a notion of his dignity, appeared in the
open field, robed in gorgeous canonicals, with a mitre upon
his head, and a crosser in his hand.
Mr. Hughes first addressed the people. He told them that
' God gave them all things;' if,' said he, 'you have cows, or
horses, or meal, it is from 'sod you got them, and I would,
rather than any profit you could have from them, that you
would throw your goods into the sea, or into a hole, than take
the rotten muney of the junipers or preachers for them: by
throwing them into the sea you would give them to God, front
whom yon gut them ; but by selling them to the jumpers you
give them to the devil. I give you my advice that when you
meet the jumpers or preachers you cut the sign of the cross
between yourselves and them, and us for the children that you
send to their school, it too hl be better for you to cut their
throats with a knife, fur when they are in hell they will call
upon God to put seven times more punishm'ent upon you,
their fathers and mothers, fer letting them go to such schools.
I give you my advice now to stand against your enemies for
they are striving to gain the victory over us.
'When you meet with a jumper ur preacher, if in your
house, put them out—if else, here, pot them in a bog-hole for
tea minutes, and if they rise out of it, let them go home to
that furnace (the Protestant colony) at the foot of the hill.
' Do not sell anything to them, nor supply them with a parti-
cle, and I expect that by these means you will make them fly
out of the island.'
Dr. M 'Hale nest spoke to the people. He commenced his
address with an affi)ctatioo of humility badly according with
the sequel. 11,, said, ' I have no power of myself, but lam in
place of an apostle. '1 are the flock, and I son the shepherd.
Every one that goes under the hand of a bishop is sure of sal-
vation, but these Cursed pe,,ple beyond ( na daoine malluighthe,)
avoid them— keep them from you, for they have no founda-
tion for their faith, they are as if )ou would put a boat on the
sea without oars or rudder, yyieiru would be driven here and
there with every wind that blew. I call upon you to make
a solemn promise this day 11,1 to have anything to do with
them. I call upon toe mouulains and sea to witness this
promise. You must erect in this very spot a monument
which, whenever you see it, will remind you of your promise
to me this day. There is no place of hell which more
engages the Almighty than tyre Protestant rehnig. If the peo-
ple living there would forsake it, and torn to him, he (Dr.
l'Hale) would forgive them their sins, and offer up the blood
of Christ for them. and give orders to the priest of the parish
to do the same. The people have no right to be in that co-
lony : this island was like the garden of our Saviour, when
these cursed people came to it, and I hope I shall have my
prayer from our Saviour and the Blessed Virgin that this
island shall again be as it formerly was. You have heard
the tree word of God. The danger is near you, and nothing
bat the Lent is keeping you out of it. The Blessed Virgin
is despised by these people, Christ is despised by them. When
you, especially you who are now confirmed, are in the great-
est danger, pray to the Blessed Virgin—if you see the gates
of hell open, then pray to her.
A full report of these circumstances has been laid
before the Irish government ; but they will not ven•
tore to offend their toaster, O'Connell, by enquiring
into them.

THE SCHISM IN THE CONCLAVE.
MACHALE V. MURRAY AND THE BOARD.
( Prom the Dublin Evening Mail. j
At great inconvenience to ourselves, though we
trust with benefit to our readers, we have, by displacing
other matter prepared for this evening's publication,
made room for the long, and, we must add, the impor-
tant letter of Dr. M'Hale to the Roman Catholic
Clergy and Faithful of the Diocess of Tuam, which
appears iu the Freeman's Journal of this morning.
To the Roman Catholic laity of Ireland this letter is
of the most paramount interest. It brings the op-
ponents and the advocates (we speak of those amongst
the Roman Catholic community) of the national sys-
tem to issue—it sounds the trumpet which proclaims
M'Hale and his sutTragans to have entered the contro-
versial lists, in compliance with the flourish sounded by
Murray and his adherents, in the epistle of the latter
titular, to which we recently called public attention.
There is, therefore, an evident schism in the church
—a rent in the unity of doctrine, so long, and so loud-
ly, and so falsely vaunted of. The adverse champions
have taken the field. We cannot, with the heralds of
old, say of either—" May God defend the right"—for
they are both so far in the wrong, that they can do no-
thing but pull down the ruins of error on their own
Leads ; but we say, may God elicit the truth from the
confusion of its opponents and may the Roman Ca.
tholic laity he enlightened by the name that rages be-
tween their belligerent pastors. So far as the contra
verity liar gon, we are clearly of opinion, that, on
P4pisticai z,r(.nvis, kOt Oil, He

has, by the induction of the resolutions of the Roman
Catholic prelates in 1826, fairly committed Dr. Mur-
ray and his followers against the entire of the Popish
hierarchy—nay, against themselves and their own sig-
natures; and left to them the choice only of admitting
that if the board be now right, the Popish synod was
then wrong: or, if the synod were then right, the
board is now wrong. In the one case the principles
of the national system fall to the ground; in the
other, the decrees of an infallible synod are shaken to
the centre.
Roman Catholic laymen will not fail to observe with
astonishment the admission of M'Hale—that education
is thepoison most dangerous to the _edijilepcg of
man Catholic doctrine. Many of them havelmbibed
sufficient of this poison to know whether education
indeed be an ingredient dangerous to the well being
of society, the faith of a Christian, or the salvation of
a sinner; and they will give its due weight to the doc-
tor's admission. Others will observe with disgust the
usurpation of the Roman Catholic prelates of those
rights which belong exclusively to parents—namely,
such as pertain to the education of their children ; and
few, we trust, will be able to read, without disgust,
and a bitter sense of indignation and resistance, the
assertion of an exclusive right in the Roman Catholic
bishops to permit the reading of the holy Scriptures
in the vernacular tongue. Will any of them, living
under the free institutions of Great Britain, boasting
of the name of freemen, contending for civil and re-
ligious liberty, and witnessing the. Christian freedom
of their Protestant brethren—will any of them, we
say, submit to the arrogant, the despotic assertion,
that,

" The power of permitting the vernacular Scriptures in or
out of school hours, whether in separate or joiut education, is
a power which no secular, or even ecclesiastical, board or
bishop has a right to exercise, without the permission of the
ordinary of the diocese in which such vernacular versions
are read."

The press of other matter prevents our expanding
the considerations arising from this claim to-day, but
on a future occasion we shall not fail to revert to it.

LORD DURHAM AND THE MINISTRY.
(From the John Bull.)
Lord Durham is uot arrived, although by poetica
- . -

license our facetious parodist of to-dav gives an ac.
count of his " appearance," Lord Melbourne feels,
with regard to his return, much as the children do,
who beg for the absence of old Nick—
" For if he comes"—

he will inflict upon his lordship and his colleagues
such a castigation as may render the tenure of their
seats in the Council inconvenient, if not impossible.
It may be remembered that some fortnight since we
mentioned the receipt of a letter from Canada, the
contents of which we were not permitted to impart to
our readers. The murder is now out, and the Cana-
dian papers state, from what they hold to be unques-
tionable authority, that Lord Durham has stated that
the appointment of Mr. Turton, which Lord Melbourne
denounced in the House of Lords, and not only de-
nounced but declared_ his disbelief in, was made at
Lord Melbourne's own suggestion.
To this report we give no credit : it must be some-
thing more than newspaper authority, however re-
spectable its sources of information may be, that will
induce us to give credence for one moment to the
possibility of such conduct on the part of Lord Mel-
bourne—the thing is impossible. The only thing,
which may in any degree justify such an insinuation,
is the possibility of the existence of a letter written to
Lord Durham by Mr. Stanley, by Lord Melbourne's
direction, touching Mr. Turton's appointment, and
which may give some colouring to the American
statements that Lord Melbourne knew more of the
appointment than he admitted in the House of Lords;
but we repel, with scorn and indignation, the attempt
of a Colonial faction to fasten upon a nobleman of high
honour and principle (however unfit for the Premier.
ship), conduct which, if proved against him, must not
only drive him from the Ministry, but banish him
from society.

That Lord Durham is exceedingly angry, and ex-
ceedingly angry with just cause, nobody need doubt.
The selfish weakness with which Ministers abandoned

him to save themselves, was one of their most con-
temptible acts; but in spite of the enthusiastic cheers
for his Excellency, and the burning of Lord Brougham,
and the denunciation of his false friends, the greatest
possible benefits will-arise to Canada from his Excel-
lencv's removal. • -

We have received a letter from an influential and

extremely well-informed man—unfortunately written
in terms too violent to be inserted—who describes the
feeling of disgust which Lord Durham's conduct has
excited amongst the Loyalists of Upper Canada, as
something unquenchable. They feel themselves at
once insulted and betrayed, and according to his view
of affairs, the removal of Lord Durham was essential
to the safety of the colony. In fact, we believe nobody
is sorry for what has happened, except the Radical
revolutionary party in America, and Mt. O'Connell's
Ministry in London; and rely upon it, the one faction
does not more deeply regret his departure than the
other dreads his arriv
The shameful \ indsor made falsehood of the
Queen's having written to his Excellency to stay where
he was, has been contradicted by authority, being
equally decent and proper with that which we noticed
a week or two since, touching another autograph epis-
tle to the King of Naples about Lablache.

POPERY AT LEEDS—THE PUSEYITES.
(From the Statesman and Dublin Record.)
These priests are very clever fellows in their way ;
hut in spite of all their wisdom and cunning, they some-
times overshoot the mark. Brought up in the school of
Loyola, they know how to accommodate themselves to
places and circumstances, and to suit their doctrines to
the meridian under which they live. Every day affords
fresh proof that the religion of Rome, with all its
boasted unity and infallibility, has no claim whatever
to such pretensions, and does not in the zenith of its
power stand " in the unity of the faith." Our attention
has been directed to the Leeds Mercury, in which there
is a flaming account, with a flourish of trumpets, of the
opening of " St. Ann's (Roman) Catholic Church in
the town of Leeds." The usual pomp and ceremony,
with all its imposing concomitants of dress, music, &c.
&c., form a rich display in the foreground of this idol-
atrous exhibition. The simplicity of worship which
prevails in churches dedicated to the one true God,
would not suit the purpose of men who are driven to
the necessity of captivating the imagination, when they
cannot convince the understanding. It would appear
that, on the present occasion, nothing was wanting to
render the pantomime complete. The scenery, dresses,
and decorations accorded with the most approved plan
of theatrical representations, and the tout ensemble was,
no doubt, calculated to produce the most imposing
effect on weak and unstable minds. The act of dedica-
tion would have been nothing without an appeal from
the pulpit. "The Rev. Dr. Youens, of Liverpool,
preached a sermon from 2 Chronicles, vii. 12." We
are informed that "the necessity of an altar sacrifice
was dwelt on; and the preacher assured his hearers,
that it was not because the Catholic body supposed for
a moment that it could add to the great sacrifice itself,
but only BY REPRESENTATION to place that awful event
constantly before the people, and thus tend to keep
alive in their breasts the feeling of responsibility which
rested on them." Such an assertion as this may pass
current in England; and the preacher was, no doubt,
aware that, in making a false statement, he could reck-
on on the credulity of his hearers. How can the learned
Doctor, '-distinguished for acquirements of a very high
order," reconcile the word representation with the 17th
article in Pope Pius's creed, to which he has bound
himself by the most solemn obligation ? Now here
are the exact words of that article : do also profess,
that in the mass there is offered a true, proper, and
propitiatory sacrce for the quick and the dead; and
that in the most holy sacrament of the eucharist, there
is trully, really, and substantially, the body and blood,
tonether with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus
Christ; and that there is a change made of the whole
substance of bread into the body, and of the whole
substance of wine into the blood, which change the
Catholic Church calls Transubstantiation." There is
not a word or sentiment in this article which favours
the doctrine of "representation." What ought the
people of Leeds to think of a man who would dare to
assert, in the face of open day, and in the presence of
a crowded congregation, what he knew to be false, and
in violation of the vela creed which, as a Romish priest,
he is sworn to uphold ?
On the evening of the same day, another of the Fra-
ternity, "the Rev.J. WALKER, of Scarborough,"preach-
ed in the same chapel, on Matthew, xxviii. 19. Like
Dr. DROMGOOLE, of Catholic Board notoriety, he "pre-
dicted the downfall of the Establishment;" and hesi-
tated not to say, that "the termination of the existence
of the Protestant Church could not long be delayed."
All this was to be expected: but what will the Pusey-
ities say to the following passage ?—" He congratulat-
ed his brethern, and the Catholic body at large, on the
dispersion of the mist of error which had so long pre-
vailed, and eulogised the Oxford divines for their
manly conduct in coming forward to establish the truth
as it existed in the Catholic faith." We have often
canvassed the opinions of the "Oxford divines," and
exercised the severity of criticism in dealing with their
religious tenets; but the strongest expression of dis-
approbation which we have ever uttered, is less severe
than the praise which the Priest of Scarborough bestows
on a body of men whose " Tracts for the Times" are
virtually and essentially tracts for the dissemination
of Popery. The clergy and the people of England
have need to be on the alert, and to take alarm at the
state of their religious atmosphere. They are beset,
in every direction, by a priesthood determined to instil
the poison of their inventions wherever they can get a
footing; while, at the same time, there issue from the
new Vatican at. Oxford, "tracts" in accordance with
the religious opinions of Romanism, and written by
men who pledged themselves in the most solemn man-
ner, at their ordination, to "be. ready with all faithful
diligence to banish and drive away all erroneous and
strange doctrines, . contrary to God's word." Much
more might be said on this painful subject, but our
limits no not permit its to enlarge.

THE AMERICAN BANKING SYSTEM.
( From the John Bull. )
The exposures which the Times makes periodically
of the "corrupt system of American banking," are
lhoubtless very gratifying to such of our readers as are
in the habit of seeing that journal, and who have most
poi-Jet-I,v 4un frorp joyesipg any of their property

to be gambled with by the "rotten and swindling pa-
per-money manufactories" of the United States. We
avail ourselves of one passage from the Times of
Wednesday last, as an introduction to a few brief ob•
servations of our own on this subject. After showing
the nefarious conduct of a particular hank, our straight-
forward contemporary most justly tars all the banks
with the same brush—thus: "Enough has already
transpired to account for the strenuous opposition of
the larger proportion of the United States banks to
the resumption of specie payment, as well as to the
extraordinary unanimity with which they all (700 of
them) in one day agreed to stop payment and defraud
_their rreciitars.-111..eyjagni gerieraLmtung.-__
Lion can be accompliShed yet, and no really wholesome
• state of a sound currency established, without a tho-
rough reform of this most corrul:t system of American
banking, and a clear sweep out of those rotten and
swindling paper-money manufactories as we base
noted, and vast numbers (ALL) of others of the same
sort, but of much higher pretensions."
There is but one drawback on the merits of these
words : they are, we fear, uttered too late. The
Bank of England, in spite of all our warnings on this
momentous subject, and in spite of her own experi-
ence, during and since the late " crisis," has increased
her modes of implication and involvements with those
" rotten and swindling paper-money manufactories."
For the behoof of the Bank of England—not on her
own account so much as on account of the nation which
reposed confidence in her—we, on the 4th of
.Septem-
ber, 1836, wrote thus:—

" The Times says the Bank of England is in a false pos-
ition. We deny the fact. She is in a right position now.
She is refusing to discount the bills of A. B. in London, be-
cause those bills represent the same transactions as the bills
of C. D. already discounted at New York, and with British
capital too. She is refusing to discount the bills of E. F. in
London, because they represent the same transactions as the
bills of G. H. all eady discounted by the joint Banks through-
out the country, whose only capital is—DEBT."

Why do we now repeat these words ? Because we
know the same practices are being repeated; and we
also know that those practices are being repeated, not
only to bolster up the price of cotton, but—oh, shame
to human nature!—to enlurnce the price of core. But
the practices we speak of with regard to cotton being
must germane to the matter in hind, we'will confine
ourselves to these, and call into court a witness the
Bank of England little dreams of; and we trust the
result will be a separation, as far as possible, of all her
interests from those of the " rotten and swindling
paper-money manufactories" of the United States.
Every merchant on either side of the Atlantic, not
bitten by the gambling mania of the day, has for nrny
months been disgusted, first by the " wild specula-
tions" in cotton of the spurious bank of Philadelphia,
and second, by the details tittered on this subject by
the agent in London throng,' the columns of the
Morning Chronicle, and which agent has, by name,
avowed himself in the columns of Biddle's paper in
New York.

We have now before us two letters, published at
two different periods in the New. York Courier and
Enquirer, and which letters are evidently the produc-
tion of the man whom no one can mistake. In the
first letter he says,—
' "At the period of the panic of 1836, the Bank of the United
States displayed so folly the effects of its credit in Europe,
and, by the issue of a large amount of bonds, so substantially
added to the means of carrying on the mercantile transactions
on both sides of the Atlantic, that the popularity of the insti-
tution has since become extremely high with all parties con-
nected either directly or indirectly with the American trade."
After this pleasant avowal of the prostrate depend-
ency of the "mercantile transactions on both sides of
the Atlantic," on the " bonds" and " credit" of a bank
trading under a false cognomen in Philadelphia, and
one-third of the whole of whose original but lost capi-
tal belongs to Britons, the writer tells us—our readers
will smile—that the Times is the "only exception"
among newspapers which does not bend the knee to
old Nick Biddle. The writer's words are these :
" The only exception to these opinions would appear to be
on the part of the Times newspaper—a journal of great cir-
culation and power unquestionably—but which, for almost
two whole years, has been daily putting forth the strangest
and wildest accounts of the Bank of the United States.
Amongst other objections which the Times is continually
raising against the institution, is on the ground of what it
calls the enormous cotton purchases of the agents of Mr.
Biddle's Bank;' and as the limes reiterates this statement
on the authority of one of your contemporaries of New York,
it may be well to assure your readers, and the readers of those
journals by whom the articles of the Times are reciprocally
copied, that the most unqualified contradiction of this state-
ment has here been put forth by Mr.. Jaudon, who, in the
columns of another London journal, has announced that
not one pound of cotton ever has been bought by the Bank
of the United States.'"
That the mistake about the Times being the "only
exception," is not the only mistake in the above pass-
age, we entreat the reader's attention to a passage in
the second letter we have spoken of, and from the same
writer. On the late occasion his words are these:—
"Again, it was not insinuated, but broadly asserted. by
the same journal, in its columns of yesterday, that the Bank
of the United States was`insolvent'—a stupidity which is
answered by the facts that, besides that abundant supply of
specie which appears in the returns of the Bank, there is in
England alone, as known to every merchant in Liverpool, a
stock of cotton little under 50,000 bales, held by the agents of
the Bank, and which could be sold, in case of pressure, fur a
sum of probably £600,000, but which, for souse time past, the
parties have not only shown no symptoms of compulsion to
make sales, but have, on the other hand, supported the mar-
ket in the most marked manner, by afistaining from sales,
and have, indeed, been principally instrumental- in effecting
the late rise in the price of cotton, and giving that animation
to the market which exists at the present time."
We will not weaken any one of the facts in this mat-
ter by any more commentary, further than to observe
that the nation which breeds slaves to perpetuate such
a system as those facts develope, and the;nation which
transports children for stealing cotton pocket. handker-
chiefs, ought, as both nations doubtless will, hereafter
meet with their just reward-

NHIG- RADICAL HINTS TO THE LANDOWNERS

(From the Sun, Friday.)

"A formidable anti•corn-law association has been
formed at Manchester, the provisional committee of
which consists of 70 members, among whom are to be
found some of the first spinners, calico-printers, &c.,
in the town and neighbourhood. John Benjamin Smith,
Esq., one of tl:e magistrates of Lancashire, is treasurer,
and the society has already commenced its proceedings
by inviting Mr. Paulton, of Bolton, to lecture at Man-
chester. We have already noticed this gentleman's
beneficial labours, and we are glad to learn that they
have given as much satisfaction at Manchester as at.
Bolton. His lecture yesterday week, at Manchester,
was atended, we are informed, by at least 1,000 per-
sons; and it is worthy of notice by the landowners,
that those parts of his lecture which-most bitterly con-
demned them were received with the most heartyappro-
bation. The application for tickets to attend his next
lecture have been so numerous that it has been found
not possible to grant them all. The Manchester asso-
ciation, therefore, have wisely proposed, as one of
their first operations, to engage Mr. Paulton to lec-
ture on the subject of the corn laws in all the large
towns of England during the winter. If they succeed
in that, we are assured, from the applause he has re-
ceived at Bolton and Manchester, that the flame he
will kindle in the north will not only destroy the corn
laws, but scorch the landowners. Let them look to this
in time. They have no hold on the affections of the
country,. They are of no use in society. Their depen-
dents and the agricultural labourers hate them almost
as much as do the manufacturing labourers. They are
now deservedly branded as a selfish, cruel, and unjust
race of men, who sacrifice the interests of the public,
and starve the labourers, for their own advantage ; and
if they persist in such an unrighteous course of proceed-
ing—if they obstinately support the Devil's laws. they
can only expect severe and condign punishment."

DREADFUL FIIIE AND LOSS OF LIFE AT TAMWORTII,
STA FFORDSHIRE.—Tamworth, Nov. 2.—About a quarter to
four o'clock this morning the quiet town of Tamworth was
alarmed by a cry of fire. It was found that the interior of
the Castle HoteL was in flames, and the inmates screaming
for assistance. Mr. and Mrs. Webb, the landlord and
landlady, with the mother of the latter, escaped by a
ladder from one of. the windows, when, from some fatal ru-
mour, there was a cry that all the inmates were out. This
turned alt exertions to extinguishing the fire, and near an
hour elapsed ere doubts arose of the safety of all; and a lad-
der being secured to one of the upper windows, five of the
young women servants were found locked in each other's
arms, on the floor, in the sleep of death ! They were let down
from the window, when every exertion was used by the sur-
geon in attendance; but the vital spark had fled. On the
tire being somewhat got uuder, the bar-maid was found dead
on the stairs, much burnt, thus making the number of six
who have thus awfully met their death.
PORTUGUESE PROVISIONS AND PRICES.—Of the fruits
which are purchased in Oporto, and indeed wherever we
travelled in Portugal, it may be remarked that the peaches
IT large, but greatly inferior in flavour to the produce of our
English walls, and the pears are good for nothing; but the
mains are everywhere fine and cheap, as are the grapes,
which, of the small black cluster kind, are most delicious,
and have often proved a great addition to our breakfast fare.
he apples and plums are very inferior in flavour to ours.
Bread is very fair in quality, and reasonable in price. The
beef at Oporto is also not to be complained of, but the mutton
is small and inferior. In the provinces, what was served up
to us tinder the name of mutton, we believe to have been kid's
flesh; and upon one occasion, on which our trusty attendant
produced, as a great rarity, a " beef cutlet"—we think it was
at Leira—it suffered greatly in comparison with the good
English beef-steak, of which, alas ! but the memory re-
mained to us. While on the subject of provisions, we may
add that the wine of the provinces, and indeed that drunk by
the lower classes geneially, is execrable ; it is what is termed
green wine, and somewhat resembles our small beer.—Jen-
ning's Landscape Annual.
A BLACK GHOST ON THE LONDON ANo BIN MINGH AM
RAILWAY.—For some time past the policemen and naviga-
tors employed on the London and Birmingham railroad, near
the central station at Wolverton, have been dreadfully
alarmed by the appearance of a supernatural figure gliding
np and down the tine, at more than railroad velocity, enve-
loped in a cloud of white smoke instead of steam. This figure.
which resembles a man of colour, is supposed by the super-
stitious and terrified workmen to be no other than the ghost
of a gigantic black, designated Black Shag, and who, about
two months since, was buried alive by the falling in of a
quantity of earth at a place called Sandy Hole. The body
of Black Shag was got out, and buried in Wolverton church-
yard. Since that time his ghost has been exceedingly trou-
blesome. Sometimes he has appeared to the excavators
when engaged at mining any dangerous part of the road,
with a huge pair of horns on his head, and as black as soot;
and, after capering about in the most mysterious and awful
manner, would exclaim, "'rake warning by my fate," and
immediately vanish. At other times he is seen bearing the
resemblance of a tall black, and gliding along the road with
amazing velocity, choosing the "witching hour of night" for
his extraordinary pranks. Several policemen, as well as ex-
cavators, have been so terrified by the ghost of Black Shag,
that they have thrown up their employment, and one man
lies now in an alarming state of illness at the above village,
from the shock he received at seeing this ray§terioile Visitor,
who is the talk of the whole ueighhourhood,

LIVERPOOL MECHANICS' INSTITUTION

LECTURES ON ASTRONOMY.

On Wednesday evening, Mr. Wallis delivered the third
lecture of his course. The theatre was crowded to excess.
If the earth were a spherical body, we should have no pre-
cession of the equinoxes, or recession of the equinoctial
points, although we might have the obliquity of the ecliptic;
and without the obliquity. of the ecliptic, however oblate the
earth might be, no such result could happen. In astrono-
mical calculations we begin our reckoning upon the ecliptic
from the point where the vernal equinox takes place, which
we call the first point in Aries; but as this point varies every
year, and in seventy-two years is one degree different, it
could not be marked upon the globe. W believer the sun
.44141--irriuou not—in the--equinox-- -ciufusasttirice which. •
happens with the sun only twice a year, and with the moon
only twice a montb,—they- act obliquely upon the mass of
matter around the 'equator, and attract it towards them, and
thus prevent the earth from having its axis exactly parallel
to itself. By this means two annual periods are constituted,
viz. the tropical, when the year of seasons is completed, and
the sidereal year, when the 355 days are completed.—[This
Mr. Wallis illustrated by means of models of the earth and
sun on the whirling table, as Well as by a beautiful skeleton
globe hung on gymhals.]
It is thus the overbalancing of the accumulated matter in
the tropical regions, as produced by the attraction of the sun
and the moon, whenever they are out of the equinox, that
produces the effect of the precession of the equinoxes. When
the precession is in one direction, the recession is in the
contrary. Owing to this, our pole star is constantly changing
its place. In about 12,000 years from the present time, the
bright star in
_Lyra will be our polar star, so that in 25,000
years the earth will complete a revolution of this kind. and
~r course during such a revolution the north pole will be
successively transferred to all the stars which lie within a
circle of 27 degrees in diameter.
With the exception of the sun, the moon is to us the most
important, as well as tke most beautiful, of all the heavenly
bodies, and the one with whose nature and properties we are
the best acquainted. It is, in fact, a very near neighbour to
us. As the moon is 2,110 miles in diameter, and the sun,
which appears of the same size, is 214 times removed from
her, the sun must be 111 times the diameter of the earth.
So distant are the celestial bodies from one another, that
until we have ascertained satisfactorily to our minds by tri-
gonometrical observations, we cannot conceive their Inag,ni-
tude and value in the universe. The sun must be an im-
mense bo3y-, hut there can exist no doubt in the mind of an
astronomer, that there are a hundred of millions of bodies of
equal importance and magnitude with our sun. We call the
moon a secondary planet, because she is a satellite of the
earth; but those planets which move more directly around
the sun, we call primary. In every instance, the satellites
or attendant planets are incomparably smaller than the
bodies around which they revolve. The earth does not go
round the moon, our the moon round the earth, but each
revolve round the centre of gravity, which is as much nearer
to the earth as that planet is heaVier than are moon. 'Fhe
moon appears of different magnitudes to us at different pe-
riods; consequently she is at various distances from us.
While we observe this variation of magnitude, we also ob-
serve a variation in the rate of motiou. If we notice the
moon with great care, we shall. observe that our objects in-
crease more rapidly at one time than another, in the same
ponion of time, and that when she appears least her motion
is slowest, and vice versa. The moon is in Perigee, or at the
least distance from the earth, twice in a month; and in
Apogee, or at the greatest distance, twice during the same
period. As the moon is a dark body, she is only visible to
us when enlightened by the sun, and in consequence presents
a number of phases, as more or less of her illuminated disc
is presented to our view. _ _

11Ir. Wallis then illustrated and explained the theory of
eclipses of the sun and moon, by means of his splendid orre-
ries, which are certainly the most extensive and well arranged
of any that we have yet seen in Liverpool.

WATER DRINKERS.—There is a curious passage in one of
Dr. Franklin's letters, in regard to wine; he pleasantly ob-
serves, that the only animals created to drink water are those
who from, their conformation are able to lap it on the face of
the earth, whereas all those who can carry their hands to their
mouth were destined to enjoy the juice of the grape.

Musical, TREE.—In the neighbourhood of St. Quentin
stood a remarkable tree, from whose roots dull sounds were
frequently heard to issue. It had excited much surprise and
alarm among the inhabitants of Nauroy, and the circumja-
cent parishes; but the mystery is now unravelled. The en-
chanted tree is a very strong beech, at the summit of which
two branches crossed each other in such a manner, that
when the wind blew, a vibration took place, which resounded
as far as the roots. By order of the mayor, the axe has de-
stroyed the charm, and imparted tranquility to many a
troubled spirit.
DISTANCE OF THE STARS.- -The 19th century is remarkable
for triumphs of science, enterprise, and perseverance, over
great and acknowledged difficulties, and for the solutions of
problems, practical and theoretical. To the discoveries of
the north-west passage, the course of the Niger. the cause of
magnetism, the mechanism of light, &c. we have now to add
another—the parrallax of the fixed stars. This magnificent
conquest has, we understand, been achieved by Professor
Bessel, of Kouigsburg, in a series of observations of the
double star, No. 61, iu the constellation Cyngnus, whose
distance he has ascertained to be 660,000 times (in round
numbers) the radius of the earth's orbit, or (also in round
numbers) 62,700,000,0110,000 miles. The details of this im-
portant discovery have been communicated by him to some
of his astronomical friends in this country, and will, no doubt,
he speedily before the public.—Athenecurh.
EXTRAORDINARY PRESERVATION OF A HUMAN BODY.--
On the 15th June, 1832, Captain Mead and his clerk, of the
steamboat Homer, both died of cholera, and were buried side
by side in Louisiana, fifteen miles below Natchez. By the
caving in of the bank of the river in February, 1836, three
years and eight months afterwards, the coffins became ex-
posed and the gentleman who owned the plantation had
them removed back out of the way of the river. The very
yreat disparity in the weight of the coffins suggested the cu-
riosity of opening them. The one known to contain the body
of the clerk, by its being smaller than the other, was found to
contain little else than the bones, the grave clothes, &c.,
being in a state of the most perfect decay. But the body of
Capt. Mead was found to be in every respect as full, sound,
and undecayed as when he was buried. It had every appear-
ance, as well to the eye as by. handling the limbs, of a body
recently deceased. The `crave clothes, winding sheet, &c.
were also as sound as they ever were. His coffin was of cy-
press plank, such as is generally used, and both bodies were
interred about three feet below the surface. The circum-
stance is unaccounted for by our informant, but no fact can
he better authenticated than this is, in every particular as we
have stated it.—Notches Courier.
WEST INDIAN " STOREKEEPERS."—Avery exalted sta-
tion is held by the tradesmen of the different islands, or, as
I should mores properly term them,- the .lorekeepers;. for it
would be an affront of the deepest (lye to designate their
shops by other than the epithet of store. Many of these
gentlemen possess sugar estates; have heavy mortgages. on
must of the properties; arc slave-owners, and consequently,
in every sense of the word, planters as well as tradesmen.
These are, indeed, men of might; all the ready money of the
colonies is in their possession; and one word Lam them
would imprison half the settlements. They and their clerks
constitute chiefly the exquisites of the West Indies; for
them sigh the love-sick Creoles, for them manoeuvre the
match-making mammas. They are the stewards of every
ball, the setters of every fashion, "the observed of all ob-
servers." A stranger, unaware of the importance of these
characters, is not a little surprised on entering for the first
time one of the stores, and purchasing an article at a tithe of
the suns originally demanded, to receive an invitation to din-
ner, in terms protecting and condescending, from the not
very cleanly nor particularly honest personage behind the
counter. Unhappy man, if he exhibit astonishnient, or fail
to acknowledge with gratitude the attention ! A cartel would
be the inevitable result; for these gentry are mighty puncti-
lious in points of honour ; and, notwithstanding their sur-
charges and uncouthness of appearance, the shopmen stan&
ing behind the counter are nobles of the land, perhaps
bearing tire high-sounding rank of the Hon. Charles Suuar-
Cane, member of his Majesty's council; or Lieutenant-
General Molasses, Commandant of the Royal Plantation
Hussars. So it is: in the shops of the West Indies arc to
be found more honourables titan ever attended a levee at

Saint-James's; and fete garrison towns in England could
a
;officers as are occasionally to be seen tippling
iay t
soJ a
manymes' s
in the rum-shops of Barbadoes and Trinidad.—Hudgson's
Truths from the West Indies.
TAKING CROCODILES.--The fishermen in. pursuit ''of the
crocodile look for him in shallow parts, where some spots of
the land project, with channels of water running between.
find the crocodile basking on the land.
the canoe, he retires into the water, but
little distance; and by paddling slowly
goesol In siuh(c)enh
tpaorc(eams
cv
htehr
of
yr
on, and carefully observing the motion of the weeds and air
bubbles that escape from his lungs, they soon discover where
he is. They then fix loosely, on the handle of a long paddle,
a strong barbed harpoon-iron, which is, joined by a rope to
the paddle ; and, putting the harpoon gently down, find
where the animal is. He is very sluggish, and does not
move when they touch his side; su that they draw up the in-
strument, and thrust it into his back without any dexterity.
The animal &truces a good deal, but never attacks the canoe,
which one stroke of his tail would instautly send to the hot-
tom. He often, however, shakes out the harpoon after
which be neither seems to have an increase of ferocity our
sbynes, but allows himself, as in the instance I saw, to be
struck a second and third time, antil he is secured and dragged
on shore. He there flounces and snaps with his horrid jaws
in a violent and dangerous manner; but a large bamboo
being thrust into his mouth, he bites with such violence that
he cannot readily disengage his teeth, and gives the people
time to secure the gag by trine a rope round his jaws. He
is then helpless. In the one which I saw caught, a ball tired
through his head from a small fowling-piece instantly de-
prived him of motion; nor did he show almost any sign of
sensation, when, immediately afterwards, the harpoon was
torn from his back. On the whole, the crocodile seems to be
a stupid animal, and to make but a poor iesistance, consider-
ing his great power, and the tremendous force of ,tail, jaws,
and teeth, with which he is provided. The hardness usually
attributed to his skin will appear, from the above account, to
have been very much exaggerated. I have seen the croco-
dile, however, move with very great velocity; and have no
doubt that, in the pursuit of fish, it uses great exertions of
this kind ; nor does it seem to be entirely destitute of cun-
ning, as crocodiles have been repeatedly found lurking in the
fords of rivers through which high roads pass. Of this. in--
deed, I saw one instance, and am assured that it is not un-
common.—Montgomery Martin's Eastern India.
THE THEATRICAL PROVESSION.—" Does no other pro.
fession occur to you, which a young man of your figure could
take up easily, a,nd see the world to advantage in ?" asked the
manager.—" No," said Nicholas, shaking his head.—" Why,
then, I'll tell you one," said Mr. Crummles, throwing his
pipe into the tire, and raising his voice. " The stage."
"The stage !" cried Nicholas, in a voice almost as loud.—
"'The theatrical profession," said Mr. Vincent Crummles.
" I am in the theatrical profession myself, my wife is in the
theatrical profession, my children are in the theatrical pro-
fession. 1 bad a dog that lived and died in it from a puppy ;
and my chaise-pony goes on in Thnour the Tartar. I'll
bring you out, and your friend too. Say the word. - I
want a novelty."—" I don't know any thing about it," re-
joined Nicholas, whose breath had been almost taken away
by this sudden proposal. " I never acted a part in my life,
except at school."—" There's genteel comedy in your walk
and manner, juvenile tregedy us your eye, and touch-and-go
farce in your laugh," said Mr. Vincent Crummles. " You'll
do as well as it you had thought of nothing else but the
lamps, from your birch downwards."—Nicholas thought of
the small amount of small change there would remain in his
pocket after paying the tavern bill, and he hesitated.—" You
can be useful to us in a hundred ways," said Mr. Crummles.
" Think what capital bills a man of your education could
write for the shop-windows."—" Well, I think I could
manage that department," said Nicholas.—" To be sure you
could," replied Mr. Crummles. "For further particulars
see small hand-hills—we might hare half a volume in every
One of them. Pieces too ; why, you could write us a piece to
bring out the whole strength of the company, whenever we
wanted one." "I am not quite so confident about that," re-
plied Nicholas. " But I dare say I could scribble some-
thing now and then that would suit you."—" Well, we'll
have a new show-piece directly, said the manager. " Let me
see—peculiar resources of this establishment—new and
splendid scenery—you must manage to introduce a real
pump and two washing tubs.,'—"lnto the piece said
Nicholas.—" Yes," replied the manager. " I bought 'em
cheap at a sale the other day ; and they'll come in admirably.
That's the London plan. They look up some dresses, and
properties, and have a piece written to fit them. Most of the
theatres keep an author on purpose."—" Indeed !" cried
Nicholas.—" Oh yes," said the manager; "a common thing.
It'll look very well in the bill in separate lines—Real pump!
—Splendid tubol,rPreat attraptieu l"—Nicholas
No, 7,

,i.bipptng Entatiatntr.

FRIDAY, Nov. 2.
ARDlVED—Devereux, —. and Minerva, Pearson, from Quebec
.Lord Nelson, --, from Denia.

Mary, Marsden, hence for Trieste at Milford, with losa of main
and fore top-masts
A ship of 600 tons, with a poop and forecastle, was seen on shore
near the Cargados, north of Mauritius, 4th Aug. and schooner
alongside
Victoria, Burn, hence for St. Petersbur,gh, was wrecked on
Iloogland, on the 10th Oct.
Vi; ilant, Sault, from Danzig for this port, put back to Danzig on
the 22d Oct. with damage, and must discharge to repair
Cruizer, Chandler, is lost at Kutch
Porter, --,-, and Dorset, , hence for South Australia*,
'were spoken 2ith Sept. in lat. 11 N, long. 29 ld
Eliza, -, from Sierra Leone, for this port, was spoken 20th
Oct. in lat. 48. long. 29.
Southampton, Briggs, from Callao, at Arica, and sailed 2d July
for Islay.
Express, Ilensing. hence at Liebau.
Richard, Doodt, hence at Pillau.
Selma, Dotloff, hence at Danzic.
Liverpool, Johnston, from London for this port, at Torbay, with
loss of anchor. _ _

Brilliant, Craig, for this port, put hack to Bristol, 30th Oct. with
cargo shifted, and loss of bulwarks, sails, &c.
Chihail, Holton, from Arica, at Deal,
Great Western, (steamer.) from Bristol to New York, was passed
29th October, at 2 15 pm., long. 11. blowing hard from N.W., with
a very heavy sea, appeared to be doing well. About 320 miles in
48 hours.