The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-03-30 00:00:00

iOrretrff.

TILE ARCTIC LOVER TO HIS MISTRESS.

BY BRYANT, THE AMERICAN POET.

G►ne is the long, long winter night,--
Look, my beloved one !
How glorious, through his depth of light,
Rolls the majestic sun !
The. willows, waked from winter's deaths
Give out a fragrance like thy breath—
The summer is begun !
Ay, 'tis the long bright summer day ;
Hark, to that mighty crash !
The Toosen'd ice-ridge breaks st'way—
The Smitten waters flash.
Seaward the glittering mountain rides,
While, down its green translucent sides,
The foamy torrents dash.

See, love, my boat is moor'd for thee,
By ocean's weedy floor—
The petrel does not skim the sea
More swiftly than my oar.
We'll go-where, on the rocky'islPW;
Her eggs the screaming sea-fowl piles
Beside the pebbly shore.

Or. bide theewliere the poppy blows,.
With wind-flowers frail and fair,
While r; upon this isle of snows,
Seek and defy, the bear.
Fierce though he be, and huge of frame,
This arm his savage strength shall tame,
And'drag him from his lair.
When crimson sky and flamey cloud
Bespeak the summer fled,
AncPsnows. that melt no,more; enshroud
The, valleys white and dead,
I'll build or ice thy whiter home;
With _glistening walls and lociedotne,
And floor with skins bespread.
The White fox by thy cough shall play;
And,: from the frozen skies,
The meteors of a mimic day
Shall flash upon thine eyes.
And I—for such thy, vow—meanwhile,
Shall hear thy voice.and see thy smile,
'fill that long midnight flies...

CONTEMPORAnY PPESS.

THE LATE PRIZE FIGHT MURDER.
( From, the Morning Herald.).
We have received from various quarters corrundnica
tions on the subject of the late pugilistic murder in
(Cambridgeshire—and on the conduct of certainmagis-
trates in the immediate vicinity, of some of, whom it is
alleged,. that they sanctioned the murder passively, by
their presence, and actively, by belting on the result of
the:contest !
' We trust that the conduct of the incliviclualSte whom
-has been entrusted the preservation of the peace in the
neighbourhood of the scene where the murder was coin-
mitred; will be rigorously inquired into ; and that every
individual against whom 'a case of remissness in the
charge of his diny,—(for we pass over the consideration
of a caseso.monstrous•as. the direct encouragement by
a magistrate of a breach of the law)—will be removed
from the'roli of justices t_ We trust, inoitover, that the
Home-offiee will, without delay, atone, as far as possi-
ble, for the disgraceful' remissness which it has hitherto
exhibited on this subject, by taking effectual measures
for the prevention, in future, of such brutalising exhi-
bitions
County magistrates may, be called tn.aCcount by the
Home-office; and the Home-oKce itself may be cell?.
p4lerl, by the expression of public indignation, to dis-
charge its duty, in cases like the present; but there is
a class of persons concerned in these outrages upon so-
cial decency to whom no official respOpsibility attaches,
and upon whom the voice of public opinion has little in-
fluence. We ,allude to the wealthy and aristocratic pa-
tronsof the prize-ring. Of these. an Irish marquis, of
large fortune, and of habits disgraceful to a gentleman,
is understood .to be the leader. This person has long
been accustomed to associate with ruffiansand despera
does ;—and it has for. years been his pride to vie, with
them in the acquirement and display 'of their peculiar ac-
complishments. His object of ambition' has been of late
to restore the prize-Ting to the glories of its condithin
five and-,twenty, years ago :—and he is stated to have
been mairtly instrumental in getting up the late fatal
fight,-fatal„ as some believe,to both the wretched coins
batantsl. Upon a person of the tastes and pursuits of
this nobleman, it were- raOk folly-to eipect that any ex-
pression of, public opinion can; have effect,, if he were
not sunk below the range of , public opinion,: public opi-
nion would have driven him, long ago, from the associ-
ations•in which lie delights. There may, hovvever., yet
be left modes of reaching this noble violator-of public
decency. feW menths at. the tread-mill would, as one
'of our correspondents suggests, in all probability, miti-
gate the ardour of his disposition to appear as an alder
and abetter in the perpetration of murder, or man-
slaughter, or whatever ,may be the title, 'which n cero-
nor's jury shall assign to the proeess which deptiVed
'Phelps of life.,. „ ;
There is, -werare- aware, current a-species of impudent
cant,- which seeks to rank prize-fighting-amongst the
manly' sports of the people. When the mass of the po-
pulation in this country was much more "manly" in its
'habits, than it is now, prize-fighting was utterly un-
known;—and how "manliness" of sentiment is to be
induced-by the exhibition of a brace of ruffians, beating
each other to death, in cold blood, for the amusement of
ruffians with heavier purses than themselves, it might
puzzle casuists to explain. The lovers and patrons of
boxing meet in public honses, and in-the lowest, haunts of
depravity; but if the mass of the labouring poor'are to
be restored to " nianly" habits, their propensity, to fie-
qifent gin shops and scenes of vicious excitement must
he lessened, not increased. The acquirement and dif-
fusion- of habits that, in- truth, deserve, the name. of
manly"—might perhaps be facilitated by a legislative
enactment that should prevent the labouring classes in
towns from being sebjected to excessive toif—Which
sliouldleave them a little time for out-door- exercise—
and which should, by preventing the utter exhaustion of
their physical energies, save them from the necessity of
using, vicious stimulants, and from the contamination of
the scenes where prize-fights are concocted.
Prize-fighting is, in fact,the lowest and most debasing
form of gambling. It is gambling in human pain—it
may he, in human blood ! It is akin to cockfighting—to
hull-baiting—to do?: fighting! If these practices con•
duce to the growth of .'manly" habits, why so, perhaps,
May prize-fighting. It remains, however, to be pointed
out by what subtle process the exhibition of scenes. of
cold-blooded cruelty is fitted to call forth in the specta-
tors any of the better qualities of manhood.
If the object of the patrons of the prize-ring be to
discover bow large a quantity of physical pain human
beings can endure, they ought, undoubtedly, to recom-
mend the introduction of the American practice gouging,
and of the continental habit of employing the knife. If
the infliction of a certain amount of bruises has' a ten-
dency to elicit the " manliness" of the spectators of the
brutality, let the degraded actors in the,scene be ericoir-
raged to improve upon their present customs, and boldly
force each other's eyes out, or rip open each other's
bowels! If, there, be virtue in the habits of our prize-
ring, there must be a larger amount of virtue in the ha-
bits to which we allude.
We are astonished that the men who advocate a con-
tinuance of the practice Of hanging human beings for
offences against prouerty, have. not discovered that the
practice of hanging tends to make the spectators more
"manly !" The logic or the prize ring is susceptible of
wide application.
Mr. Martin framed an act for the protection of dumb
animals from the cruelty of theirdrivers.. We call upon
Lord John Russell to introduce an act for the prevention
of scepes of cruelty a thousand times more fearful in
their influences than any which ever preceded the intro-
duction of an over-driven bullock to Smithfield.

THE SCOTTISH CHURCH' COMMISSION.
(Prom the Scottish Guardian.)
None trill accuse us of haste or rashness in taking up
the.government. proposal in reference to endowments.
We have purposely used all forbearance, in-the hopethat
it would. turn out more favourable than some of the ac-
counts of the. parliamentary. proceedings, had led us to
believe, Even still we can
.scarcely persuade ourselves
that Lord Melbourne means to put off' the church with
such an insulting scheme as has been announced ;, but- in
ease this should be the ultimatum, let our readers and
the public think for a little of its merits. It is• grately
'commissioners,
do nothing for the large towns! The. royal
commissioners, after a waste of nearly three years, and
an expenditure of. £30,000, have ascertained that there
I. are 40,000 poor perishing souls- in Edinburgh, and
' 60,000 in-Glasgow, and vet nothing is to be done to
[bringnearer to them the Word of Life. They are to
remain in their moral wretchedness. They are to perish
I still. Can anything be more absurd. or monstrous ?
1, These are.the,only towns about which any report has
been given to Parliament. The government are not to
know of any destitution elsewhere ; and vet, in spite of
all promises, and engagements, tlieproved cases are to be
cast aside.. its the Time of common sense, what was the
use of the commission? Of what consequence were its
inquiries and resultS, if. the prcof of a destitution of
100,000 was to be of no avail ? ..Lt. is a perfect farce—a
mockery of the poor man—a fraud upon the public.
What is the use of the .commissiorrers' still parading
about the country, going fo Stirling one day,and Dun-
fermline the next, when they must know quite well that
their masters intend to do nothing, and that it is the
same thine to,them whether there be a destitution of
half a million, or no destitution at all ? We wonder
how the commissioners have the face to go on with the
public hypocrisy any longer. Had the government said
that they were voluntaries, and that they did not intend
to give a shilling for church.extension„rither in town or
country, we could, however base and infidel the determi-
nation, have understood it ; but these same men, who
are to abandon perishing multitudes in Edinburgh and
• Glasgow to their fate, tell us that they mean in certain