The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-01-31 00:00:00

• , '
TABLE TALKING.—A woman has been sent to
Metz for making a table "talk " scandal 00°701
women. The libellous table maintained a discreet'
in court. el
PUZZLES FOR POLL-CLERKS.—An American OPen.i
tracts from the poll-book at Nebsarka the follow:"
free independent electors :—" Jane-e-tak-e-q orl*
Os-si-e-men-e-men-he, Mah-men- wan-e-kah, Pe-
e.tatt)
me-quah, Muh-at-tah-noh-no-to, Kah-ku-noh-ne-w .41,
MAD'LLE GEORGES, the great French actress,..:
life, after having been a series of brilliant advent 7,
been gradually declining, has been reduced to Pet/ o(c
for the office of umbrella-taker at one of the doers
Great Exhibition of 1855 !
twittft°
PROTESTANTPROGRESS OF PIEDMONT.--K••••.,,-- Aia
ing the steady progress which Piedmont ismne
wards religious as well as political liberty, the of,
her advancement does not even yet seem to he I'4 b
dated in this country. It appears to us, that althos&
measures which the Sardinian Government has alre.'
troduced, and that which is now anticipated, do 110 b
of any doctrinal contradiction to the dogmas 01
they are in spirit essentially of a Protestant c'
The state is overrun by an enormous clerical arnlPb• ~
a population under five millions, it has thirty-fived
more than eight thousand priests, besides the ra°„A"l
nuns, who are stowed in nearly five hundred ce:
Some of these monastic orders subsist by begging
majority of the priests possess a paltry pittance,
..,‘-pi,
ble only to that of the priests in Ireland. 11°1
much depressed, this immense ecclesiastical shall!
army has been an instrument of civil disorder+
deavouring to depose the sovereign temporal aut' ,;4
setting over it the authority of the Pope. SarwT,,
been able to sustain herself against such ado:DI2;V
she now proposes to make a further step towards
enf.
tical independence, by bringing the whole bour.' e,',
clergy more under the control of the state.
_,,'-',,r:
measures are, the suppression of the medicant 07,.,'",t,..
taming only those which are self-supporting and ell,o'
a reduction in the number of bishoprics and w,„
with equalization, of emoluments, especially an inc t:','..
salaries for the poorer priests ; and finally, an eccle°,,,,
commission to investigate and re-arrange church relic
There is no doctrinal question here; but while, b.
very nature of the proceeding, the government of yr'
Oro)
asserts its supremacy over the indwellers, of all 0
must win a grateful feeling on the part of the is' i
clergy, to whose comforts it will so tangibly mihr,;
it must secure the confidence of its own people. •`''-
. pith of Protestantism is independence of Rome'
Sardinia is thus by degrees establishing.—speetatw,
'
GROSS IMPOSTURE.—A gross imposture was t
practised at Venice, which excited the highestloAt
from the peculiar circumstances attending it. A'
latter end of last year a young man made his aP,,
in that place, clad in the episcopal costume of t'
He pretended to be a certain Giovanni Battist3
~ Ile')
Apostolic Vicar-General of Fez, travelling for in' 0
and using sea baths. The reception he met with
be called brilliant. At Venice, Gorz, Cividale, and and
he was received by the Catholic bishops as well a!)
elite of society with the utmost distinction. lie l''.
te
large sums of money for pious purposes, eelebra d ,sto
in the largest cathedrals, and was about to recel"i
the privilege of confirming bishops, when the ponr7o
fered in right time, and discovered that the P a
bishop was no other than a common impostor,.")?
Petriolo, near Florence. He had been expelled, >n N
from the Ecclesiastical Seminary, where he DP"“)
reared, when he practised his imposture in severy
of Tuscany, where he read mass, exercised various co
functions, and committed all sorts of knavery. 11'e,40,
travelled, in 1852, with a false passport, to Malta+ if"
Asia, and the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. l'el
he forged a decree, as Vicar-General of Fez, with 11.1i0/14
was, at last detected at Venice. The episcopal &I
which he wore had been fabricated from yellow liael
raper. It is rather strange that he should have r+
to maintain his false position so long in high 0'
Augsburg Gazette.

IRELAND.

IRISH FanßnrEs.—The Dublin Express say's'' ir
long neglected fisheries of the west of Ireland
length in a fair way of being rendered availably/
understand that Captain Symonds, R.N., has f
cently at Clifden and Westport for the purpose °
taming the most proper place for fizinga fishing
_A
and it is rumoured that Clew Bay was considercuo
eligible. It is said that two large screw-steanier°4;
stl
the stocks, constructed so as to carry, in wells 4
alive to market, and •at the same time take cattle'
to)
butter, or any goods that may offer, to Liverpool.
can be no doubt that, in either way, this s
must pay, if properly worked." b..
THE IRISH COURT.—The Lord-Lieutenant hela 1,
levee for the season on Wednesday, at Dublin CSS
attendance was respectable, and comprised a fair sr'
of lords, spiritual and temporal.
..,, ryti,
f 1
SINGULAR ACCIDENT.—A few days ago an 01: or
the Belfast Iron Works, whilst sucking with in's 04
the air out of a pipe through which molten ill If
pass—a usual custom in the process—he swalloW, le,
tion of the melted mass, receiving terrible interns,' ,
INAUGURAL BANQUET.—The Lord Mayor of Di,
Sir Edward McDonnell, gave his inaugural banclue,llo
King's-room, Mansion-house, on Tuesday. His F'P'w
~
the Lord-Lieutenant was among the guests. re,
DREADFUL THUNDERSTORM IN 311Y0.--1.!". it
there was an awful storm of thunder and lightnOlpt
neighbourhood of Ballinrobe, county Mayo. Colone lie(
two little sons were returning home from Athavlbo
A. Blosse's), and had a narrow escape, the hoe hl4
been killed under the jaunting-ear, and the sersrui.' 01,
off, quite stunned by the shock. Near the voi f e:
belonging to Mr. Courtney Kenny, were 1:110""' Aar,s'lti'l
and a house thrown down, and several tree were"— bel
Mr. Geoffrey Martin, of Curramore, also k..t so ne 6

A NEW DRAMATIC COMPOSER has appeared i 11111;
who promises to deprive Verdi of the pre-eminence
so long held. The Carnival season at Milan b?dsd
opened with a new opera, II convito di BO
(Belsbazzar's Feast), the maiden work of a you,itip
poser named Buzzi. No piece produced at Of Sc,
many years has created such a degree of enthusiaso
Madame Clara Novello, the prima donna, appears t°l„.
shared in the triumph. This opera is described Oat
a return to the pure vocal style of the olden Italiar4ci
The spectacle is distinguished not only for ruag,n,Pel
but for taste and research. The great scene and gyp;
of the banquet are copied from Martin's we,
picture of Belshazzar's :Feast ; and the decor:11101i
modelled from Layard's Assyrian remains in the
museum. may

PRICE OF HOME-GROWN TIMBER.—The grjY,
advancing rates demanded for foreign timber duwe,
past year are now beginning to operate on the pril ye
home-grown material. We learn from the 107
now taking place, that an advance fully equal 'c'd, A
cent. has been obtained on every variety of 500 n.,,,
grown timber, with a prospect of further increase.
shire Journal.
A SUBSTITUTE FOIL GUANO, Consisting of deco:cel
and concentrated seaweed, is about to be int'
.1,"
Mr. Longmaid, with the view of claiming the
£l,OOO offered by the Royal Agricultural SocietLyi
material is reduced to a powder, and rendered S
be applied by the drill. Many experiments with
, its fertilising powers are said to have been made d hi
past year, and an analysis of a sample has been fv,
„ie.
by Professor Way. The process is stated to be sly,
price is estimated at £5 per ton or under, andl'il
templated to establish manufactories at various s'
on the coast.

SALUBRITY OE LONDON.'-"A respectable corn: ~de"ir,
now living in the Whitechapel-road, who is in a'''
year. He is nearly six feet high, and has all the 1
ance of a man of sixty, with dark hair, and he
active in business. IA
NEW THEATRE.—Mr. E. T. Smith, of Drurt of
about to build a new large theatre on the lb'
Shadwell Workhouse. fry (1,
TRADE BETWEEN FRANCE AND ALGERIA.--""reee'
mittee of the Privy Council for Trade, &c., heceps, ti
copies of two despatches, enclosing imperial dee"...ce
authorising foreign ships to trade between FrTe 9
Algeria, and the other extending the coasting try i
ties to foreign ships till the 31st of July, 1854. De
THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE.-The history Of the
press Josephine had been very remarkable.
born in the West Indies; and it had early been 1130/
sled, by an old negress, that she should lose ia
husband, be extremely unfortunate, but she shotts44
wards be greater than a queen. (The author het
prophecy long before Napoleon's elevation to th 00
from the late Countess of Bath, and the Count
4
cram, who were educated in the same conveno r;
Josephine, and had repeatedly heard her menlA
circumstance in early youth.) This prophee3r, A'
thenticity of which is placed beyond a doubt, was, Art,i'
in the most singular manner. Her first husbaotd
der Beauharnois, a general of the army on the ou'o6
been guillotined during the Reign of Terror ;„„e,
herself, who was also imprisoned at the same is;cil
only saved from impending death by the fall of
Rube t
)
So strongly was the prophecy impressed on h;ftV
that while lying in the dungeon of Conciergerie,e4i j
every hour to be summoned to the revolutionary " Pi
she mentioned it to her fellow-prisoners ; and, be t°4,
them, named some of them as members of the ef (
ber ; a jest which she afterwards lived to realise °lli
their number. Josephine herself narrated this 15)1,
dinary passage in her life, in the following terinVi
memoirs :—" One morning, the jailor entered the 10 i
where I slept, with the Duchess d'Aiguillon °Ol/ rd
other ladies, and told me he was going to telEe, 1,10" c
tress, to give it to another prisoner. Why, sal' ,8)01
d'Aiguillon, eagerly ; will not Madame del3e3, 004,
obtain a better one ? No, no, he replied, wh'" ori
t`
smile ; she will have no need of one, for she is..,6lVoti
led to the Conciergierie, and thence to the gullit/d Floil
these words, my companions in misfortune uttere, to, /,,
shrieks. I consoled them as well as I could' 3,f'
length, worn out by their eternal lamentaue-tp
them that their grief was utterly tmreasonable; ,
only I should not die, but live to be queen. 0,,,,ei
Why, then, do you not name your maids of hooL", 051
Madame d'Aiguillon, irritated at such expression of,vlJ
a moment. Very true, said I ; I did not thia'ijapl
well, my dear, I make you one of them. UP 1I iti
fears of one of these ladies fell apace, for they e.mdi
ted I was mad. But the truth was, I was not foo7
any extraordinary courage, but internally Pei:oosi
the truth of the oracle. Madame d'Aigudloo,o,/,','„
became unwell, and I drew her towards the winuch le
I opened, to admit through the bars a little fre° 0,40
there perceived a poor woman, who knew trT,',oool
was making a number of signs, which I at fir'3'4.o*;
understand. She constantly held up her goo' i, r0,,,k ,
seeing she had some object in view, I called °a2 or",
which she answered, yes. She then lifted uP 3 I,e(
put it in her lap, which she lifted a second tirletii),:,
out ' pierre ;' upon which she evinced the gr.„7009
perceiving that her sign was understood. `" Iliotty",
the stone in her robe, she eagerly imitated the to f.,,,
cutting off the neck, and immediately heg,3-11';,i`.
and evince the most extravagant joy. This sn:t rA
tomime awakened in our minds a vague hope ti'.,oot, (
Robespierre might be no more. At this Ilic"--Agili
lie J
we were floating between hope and fear, we -, oar lii
noise in the corridor, and the terrible voice °Le, I 6)
who said to his dog, giving him, at the same tip 01 j
` get out you cursed Robespierre.' That coax!: sal
once taught us that we had nothing to Jel.. 'i.
' France was eased,"—Alison't History of Al/'