The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-12-27 00:00:00

DEC. 27, 1836.

fleas to secure that limit is manifested by ministers. We
think they have, in some degree, proceeded undetected
in this design; and in proof of this, were we to ask
almost any one under what government we live, we
should receive for answer—" A mixed government of
king, Lords, and Commons." This answer would also
have been given a century ago; but do the same words
convey the same sense Q We are now a practical demo-
cracy, mixed up with some aristocratic and monarchical
remains—sufficient, however, we think, if the country
continue firm, to regenerate the constitution. But, as
We, have before us the lamentable fact, that even the
the House of Lords, in which is lodged " that circum-
spection and mediatory caution which the wisdom of the
peers afford," permitted the Reform Bill to pass as it now
stands, and become part of the law of the land, so we
may fear worse issues; for assuredly they never so com-
mitted themselves as when they suffered that floodgate
of national insubordination to be lifted up.

Such is the uncertainty pervading England respecting
the state of the belligerents in Spain, and the unquiet in
Portugal, that if any one could be transported thither,
and be placed in the midst of the scene of action, we be-
lieve he would find the condition of affairs, in both coun-
tries, so little to accord with our " foreign intelligence,"
and " private correspondence," that he would hardly
know whether to ascribe the whole to the work of ima-
gination, or to the crude reports of casual conversation.
In some of our metropolitan contemporaries, this con-
jectural, or directly lying spirit, has been justly exposed.
But, whilst we declare the little confidence that can be
placed in such rumours of foreign affairs, especially as
regards the minuter circumstantials of events, yet there
spay be collected sufficient information from them upon
which to ground most important reflections, and from
which to draw most interesting inferences. If the wri-
ters do not know, and, therefore, cannot tell, correctly,
the movements of any one party, yet they cannot be mis-

taken as to the existence of intestine commotion—if the

.speeches of a camp council cannot reach their ears, the
of an army through the town in which they live
littinot-escape their eyes : of one thing, therefore, we are
certain. Civil war, and, with it, civil insubordination,
;nd all its gloomy train of concomitant evils, prevail
there. We need make no demands upon imagination to
picture the horrors of such a condition. Towns and vil-
lages subject to midnight surprise—trade and mercantile
intercourse suspended—agricultural labour heartlessly
performed, from the dread of frustration by the hand of
war, or the uncertainty, whether he who sows the grain
will reap the crop—injuries inflicted, and wrongs tole•
rated, without provoking the sword of justice—property
of every kind insecure—a universal jeopardy of the next
event—no one knowing " what a day may bring forth"
—from the highest to the lowest, care and consternation
impressed on every countenance—the appearance of the
soldier and not the citizen, or the citizen called to be a
soldier, in their streets—imparting a martial character to
every scene—and " the spirit-stirring drum, and ear-
piercing fife, and all the din and circumstance of war"—
proclaim the unhappy fate of those self-devoted coun-
tries.

• There is another conclusion of equal moment, and no
less certain, than that at which we have just arrived— af-
forded by our " foreign intelligence," vague and contra-
dictory as it is—that the contending powers are so nearly
equal, in all the requisites of war, that any conflict be •
Um them seems to be determined by some adventitious
eireutnstance. Victory gives no ascendancy of power,
Ind defeat only shifts the ground of struggle; and,
hence, the only prospect of peace rests on the exhaustion

of the means of protracting war ; for whilst there is any
thing to be gained by contest, or to be sacrificed, that is
prized, the rage of hostility will continue unabated.
Surely, if 'theta be any scourge more terrible than all
others, it is the scourge of civil war.
But whilst we deplore the miseries which protracted
intestine fury must; eventually, occasion to the countries
exposed to it, are we unconcerned spectators of the
scene ? Can.one kingdom be kept in such a state of
warlike agitation, for any length of time, and others,
connected with it by a thousaitd ties, receive no terror ?

Is there any political disease more contagious than that

of civil insubordination ?—any cause that sooner unites
the'diSaffeeted members of a state than rebellion ?--any
.enterprise more readily undertaken, or more vigorously
prosecuted, than that of which a crown is the reward, or
the subversion of a constitution is the end ? It was such
considerations as these that raised Europe to arms at the
French revolution ; and if the present struggle be some-
what murderously sanguinary, and regicidal, it is not less
fatal, as an example, to that order and good government
upon which the happiness of every country depends.
. To England especially such a scene is full of the deep-
est interest. Imbecility in her government, and rebel-
lion in one division of the empire—a large and reckless
faction in array against the aristocracy of the land—a
ministry notoriously ungracious to the Sovereign—all
conspire to awaken feelings of intense concern for the
issue of the struggle in Spain ; and France has, perhaps,
even more to dread from that issue, if it should prove po-
pular, than ourselves.
We know how delicate a question we are approaching.
Though we reprobate, as strongly as the firmest republi-
can himself, the interference of nations in the internal'
policy of each other, we still think there may arise a state
of anarchy, and cruel blood-shedding, in one country,
which may justify the council, and if that be despised, the
restraining hand of another. All Europe thought so less
than fifty years ago. However the flippant tongue of
radical perversion may contort this into foreign aggres-
sion and military tyranny, we see no difficulty in obvi-
ating those fearful consequences from such interference.
Can a nation, they will petulantly exclaim, not settle its
own disputes without foreign arbiters ? We reply, ask
Spain. If countries frowning horrible war at each other,
' can, and, frequently are reconciled to friendship, by the
arbitration of a disinterested party, why should not a
kingdom, falling by its own hand, be moderated by the
same interposition in its desperate designs ? Some, per-
haps, will tell us, that national interference would only be
the prelude to general war; but, surely, countries which
are seeking an occasion to commence hostilities, need
not wait for such a pretext. If a man sees his fellows
furiously attempting each other's destruction, is it not his
duty to interpose, and endeavour to set them If at one
again ;"—or, if that be fruitless, then to assist him who
is injured against "him who did the wrong ?" We think,
with some modification, the principle is applicable to
states; and applicable, without endangering the question
of national independence—or even the right of a people
to modify, or change, the character of its government.

In the lectur? of Mr. Hemming, to which our atten-
tion is now drawn, we find very little that requires com-
ment. It chiefly consists of historical details and mecha-
nical operations, with which chemistry has little connex-
ion. Though highly interesting, they form a distinct
branch of inquiry ; and much that is heard in the lecture
toom must be read over again in the study, by those who
wish to remember so many isolated facts.
According to Dr. Watson, when the silver in galena
does not amount to nine ounces in the ton, it is not worth
extracting; but since immense quantities of lead are re-
iluired in a state of oxide, for the manufacture of glass,
and a great variety of other chemical uses, it is some-
times prepared, simultaneously with the extraction of the
Silver, in the state of litharge ; indeed the presence of
silver, or antimony, or even copper, renders the lead
bard, and less valuable for many purposes; so that the
Previous extraction of the silver, and the subsequent re-
duction of the lead, produces a better article. That the
copper-is not always extracted, may be easily ascertained
by putting a portion of the litharge into water, with a
'mall piece of muriate of ammonia, (sal-ammoniac,)
vthicb wit soon assume a blue tint, as we have repeat-
ed!, seen.

We are very much disposed to question the truth of
t4llt il*rt ion of Mr. H., that silver "combines very fie.ely
solpfmr of sulPhuretted hydrogen," tIo we
'"aNt.lre of rierthollett's afiirmation ; for Proust ex
1!!!!'"ly wars of triorc)lry, that " when it is agitated in a
*o %tin, of a Colmlriests hydrosulphuret, i9O cLange
'firatt' the inetai 4- but Wh'n it is " agitated