The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-08-21 00:00:00

Some of our contemporaries on this side the Chan-
nel, as well as the other, continue to exhibit all the
symptoms of the liveliest apprehension of a rupture
with France. M. 'riders is denounced by one of the
correspondents of a morning paper as the main author
of the strife, resisting all the pacific inclinations of the
King of the French, and despatching " dangerous"
instruction to the French fleet; whilst a crstinguished
writer in another column assures the public that his
Majesty approves of all the measures adopted by his
minister, and persists in the most warlike resolves.
But, whatever alarm may have been expressed here
from the apparent renewal of a more hostile tone on
the part of the French government, we are now per-
fectly assured, that though the posture of affairs is ex-
tremely serious, and that a spark may set the world on
fire, yet no new incident has arisen, and no projects
are entertained by the French government to hasten so
disastrous a consequence. On the contrary, the states-
men who met last. week at the Chateau d'Eu appear to
be fixedly and unitedly determined to adhere to that
expectant policy, which is unquestionably the best re-
maining chance of peace. Under the circumstances of
the case, with a community offended and annoyed at
the interruption of that alliance by which peace has
been preserved for ten years, jealous of England, hos-
tile to Russia, and besotted to the Pasha—with an in-
fUriated press, and a large excited military population,
it does not appear that any more prudent or pacific
course could have been pursued without exposing the
government to being carried away into what would be
less prudent and less pacific of all. As far as we know
anything of the matter, the King of the French and
his ministers are not less pacific than they have ever
been, but they have a triple and an arduous task—to
keep the French nation within bounds, to keep the
French fleet within bounds, to keep the Pasha of Egypt
within bounds, and all this with a due regard to their
own safety and character.

The somewhat vehement measure of instant prepa-
ration for the worst has served at least to maintain the
King's personal authority at a crisis when it was as
likely to be required to restrain France as to assail
Europe.
To keep the peace between two great and jealous
maritime armaments is doubtless a matter of consider-
able difficulty ; and the most pacific orders sent from a
distant authority may be frustrated by a thousand ca-
sualties. But we venture to affirm that as long as the
measures of coercion which are resorted to against the
Pasha are confined to the maritime operations of a
blockade on the coast, the French fleet has received the
strictest and most precise instructions to re'rain from
any kind of hostile interference, and to avoid every
risk of collision. Is England inclined to do more ?
Is England, any more than France, disposed to fight
the battle of Navarino over again, in order to destroy
the fleet which she seeks to restore to its rightful mas-
ter ? Or are we to be responsible for the territorial
operations of Russian land forces against Syria, which
would hardly be viewed in this country with less jea-
lousy than in France ? _ _ _ _

On the other hand, the tardy nature of a blockade
may concur with the injunctions of France to induce
Mehemet Ali to remain quiescent in his present posi-
tions, until circumstances afford some means of re-
opening the negotiations, or compel him to relinquish
his extravagant demands.
In the meantime, if the chronicle of the Court may
serve as an indication of the intentions of the Cabinet,
M. Guizot leaves town to-day on a visit to 'Windsor
Castle, where Lord Palmerston and the Duke of Wel-
lington are both staying; and the Right Honourable
Thomas Babington Macaulay, who is not staying at
"Windsor Castle, is gone to Paris at this particular
juncture, in order, doubtless, to confound the French
belligerents by the bland and unperturbed demeanour
of the English Secretary at War.

COMMUNICATION WITH NORTH AMERICA
(From the Manchester Guardian)

The success of the steamer from Liverpool to Boston,
by way of Halifax, has caused considerable attention
to be directed to that route; and the Boston steamers
seem likely enough, not merely to divide the trade in
passengers with the New York vessels, but to obtain
the greater portion of it. The advantage obtained by
the Britannia over the British Queen, both in the out-
ward and homeward voyage, is not owing entirely to
her speed, but to the smaller distance which she had
to cover, as will be seen from the following statement,
which has been carefully taken from the best charts,
and may probably interest some of our readers :

New York to Liverpool,

To Cape Clear
Cape Clear to Tuscar
Tuscar to Skerries
Skerries to Liverpool

New York to Brixtol.

To Cape Clear
Cape Clear to Bristol

New York to Portsmouth

To the Lizard
Lizard to Portsmouth

Halifax to Liverpool,

To Cape Clear -
Cape Clear to Tuscar
Tuscar to Skerries
Skerries to Liverpool.

---- 3,048

- 3,162

Boston to Halifax

- '4500
.... 350

The advantages of the route by Halifax and Boston
are not confined to the smaller total distance ; for, in a
steam voyage across the Atlantic, it is a matter of no
small consequence to have an intermediate station, at
which, if the progress of the vessel should be retarded
by unfavourable weather, a fresh supply of coal can be
obtained, and the chance of missing the voyage greatly
diminished.

ORGANISTS AND CHURCH MUSIC

(From a Correspondent of the Bristol Journal.)

Among other subjects to which the attention of the public
has of late been directed, in connexion with the service of the
Church of England, is that of its music. For a long period
has the psalmody of the church been too much neglected by
those responsible for the proper performance of divine ser-
vice ; and from this neglect have arisen the humble attempts
at improvement set on foot by the " sackbut, psaltery, and
dulcimer" of provincial amateurs, of various tastes and _not
much judgment. Now, we repeatedly hear of the erection
of new organs in our churches, and the sign is a good one ;
but the improvement must be carried out, ere our church
music become what it ought to be. Many of the existing
race of organists, who have learnt to play mechanically, as a
matter of trade (I beg their pardons—profession) would have
made much more efficient tailors, capital hands at shoe-
making, unrivalled artists in ploughing. Set one of these
geniuses down to a fine old " plain-song" of the church,
which the master-mind of a Handel, or a Gibbons, or a
Purcel has enriched by effective soul-thrilling harmony ; our
spoiled ploughman conceives himself authorised to alter the
arrangement, merely because it is possible to change some
familiar and noble chord ; and has the vanity to think his in-
version, or subversion, or whatever else it may be, an eman-
ation of genius !_

Another, not less adventurous, and not a whit more clever,
if he take no liberties with the harmony, must give you some-
thing of his own mixed up with the author's score—a shake,
or an appogiatura, or a flourish of some kind or other, lest
the dexterity of the organist should be forgotten amidst the
harmony which should lift the souLheaven-ward. Then again
(and this is a very prevalent fault in Bristol), between the
lines of the Psalms there must be a sort of flippant interlude,
sadly marring the poetry, and reminding one of Cowper's
line,—

" God's worship, and the mountebank between."
And unless the clerk is charged with the duty of " giving
out" (as the phrase is) the verses, it is ten to one but the
organist favours you with an extempore effusion of his own—
perfectly original—there can be no mistake about that—and
as different in its style from what church music should be as
the presiding operator can contrive to make it.
There is vet another barbarism in modern organ-playing,
which is avoided by all men of taste and judgment, but much
petted by the new lights. Modern genius scorns to let the
common chord rest gratefully on the ear, at the close of a
chant, psalm, or anthem., It must revel (often after a pain-
ful and stupid suspension of the 3d) in a series of discordrs,
by way of finish ! What would be thought of the performers
of an overture of Mozart's, or a chorus of Handel's, who
would perpetrate such a barbarism in an orchestra ? How
long would the fame of the two Lindleyi and Dragonetti last,
if they took liberties with Corelli's trios, such as are con-
stantly practised by the quacks of the organ loft ?
The writer of these remarks is not a professional musician,
and therefore has no private interest to serve in making them.
His competency for criticism may be questioned, and he has
no other defence to offer than that he has made a practical
study of music, as an amateur, for forty years of a life ex-
tended to nearly half a century's duration ; and now, having
seated himself in a lecturer's chair, he ventures to give the
following advice to organists

1. AdOpt a well-arranged score, and adhere strictly to it.
Alter no chord for alteration sake, nor suffer your' singers to
introduce even a passing note without your written sanction.
2. Remember that you have the responsibility cast upon
you of leading the devotions of a congregation in an act of
praise to the Supreme Majesty of Heaven and Earth, before
whom the angels veil their faces in their wings, while they
cry Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of Hosts! If this feel-
ing does not restrain the exuberance of real genius, and abate
the vanity of self-conceit, nothing else can.

DUTY ON GALLIPOLI OlL.—Owing to a misprint in the
last Mercury, the duty on this oil was stated to be reduced
from 89s. to 495., whereas it should have been from eight
guineas to four guineas.—Leeds Mercury.
HIGH PRICE FOR A BULL.—The pure Hereford bull,
Hampton, lately imported in the ship Chalydra to Launces_
ton, has been purchased at auction, by Mr. David Gibson,
for £soo.—Hobart Town Courier.

DEATII BY DROWNING.--A fatal accident occurred here,
between two and three o'clock on Sunday afternoon, to a re-
spectable individual, named Charles Parker, who had, during
the morning, been sailing in a skiff on the river Dee, accom-
panied by a friend. In consequence of the heat of the wea-
ther, he undressed himself in the skiff, with a view to bath-
ing, and, after plunging into the stream, was suddenly seized
with the cramp. He was observed to lift up his head once
above the surface of the water, and, after motioning to his
companion in the boat for assistance, he immediately sunk
to rise no more. The friend of the deceased, seeing that
all his endeavours to save his companion would be fruit-
less, immediately want on shore, and gave the alarm.
Boughton Ford, where the accident occurred, was soon after
tried with the drag-hooks, but in vain. Mr. Hill, the
Superintendent of Police, then had a large net brought to the
spot, which being thrown into the water under his directions,
the body, after being submerged about four hours and a half,
was, at length, brought on shore, and then rowed in a boat to
IMr. Wall's, the Groves Tavern, to await the coroner's in-
quest, which took place last Monday, at twelve o'clock.
The deceased, who was clerk in an office at Liverpool, had
that morning merely come over to Chester on a pleasurable
excusion. He waa respectably connected, and was about
twenty-four years of age.—Chatrr Chronicle.