The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-03-10 00:00:00

GLINTINGS OF THE SHANNON.--Yes! "spreading
like a sea." So spake Edmund Spenser. We love the
mightiest of British rivers for his sake. Who, indeed,
that ha 3 wandered among its beautiful and winding lakes,
its purple mountains, its banks and slopes of richest green,

its imc.cerons and storied isles, that has mused onits mag-
nificent, rapids, and has rambled amid its ivy-mantled
ruins, its dismantled castles, its wild dells and glens, its
rocky headlands and promontories—but must feel delight
at that " other brother" of Milton and Shakspeare, thus
in one line, stamping with immortality our glorious tribu-
tary to the Atlantic. We love the Shannon for dear Una's
sake, that child of light! when we remember that the
poet has placed ber fabled residence, overhanging the most
magnificent and beautiful pieces of scenery among its
upper lakes ! Distinction meet, indeed, for its poetic
grandeur, and investing its fairy legends, and lovely
waters, with such a crowd of gentle and hallowed associa-
tions, of the Faerie Queen, that " divinest allegory," that
we should not willingly exchange our liver of "quiet
depths, and dark mementos," for any, the most crowded
stream in the three kingdoms.—Dublin University Meg.
LORD PALMERSTON AS A SPEAKER.—AII things taken
into account, Lord Palmerston is, perhaps, the best deba •
ter among the Whig leaders of the House of Commons.
In the different qualities which, when combined,,go to
render a man an orator, he is excelled by many indivi-
duals among his contemporaries. Lord John Russell
shews more tact, more intimate acquaintance with party
history (not with part'es, for, in that knowledge, Lord
Palmerston beats all men living, having been a member of
almost every government within the memory of man),
greater skill in pointing allusions to the political errors of
opponents, and altogether more refinement in the manage-
ment of his parliamentary case. In eloquence, both of
conception or in delivery, Lord Palmerston is, of course,
excellEd by Mr. Shell or Mr. Macauley, and even by men
holding a far inferior rank as speakers. In soundness and
vigour of argument he cannot stand a moment's compari-
son with Mr. Cobden or with Earl Grey (when that no-
bleman does justice to his own powers), or even with Mr.
Charles Buller. Each speaker on his own side, in fact, is
in advance of him in some particular quality of the orator.
Yet no one would for a moment hesitate to place Lord
Palmerston amongst the first speakers in the House of Com-
mons, or would deny that he had derived from hearing one
of that nobleman's speeches as much pleasure, of its kind,
as if be had listened to the most brilliant efforts of Mac-
auley, the most spirit-stirring of Shiel, or the most skilful
and satisfying of Lord John Russell. The peculiarity in
Lord Palmerston which gives him this singular power of
charming with an oration as a whole, the several parts of
which are not calculated to please, if critically analysed,
is the thorough and hearty spirit of partisanship, not ma-
lignant, or angry, or mean, as is that of most zealous ad-
vocates of embodied opinion or interests, but frank,

manly, open-hearted, and undisguised, so much so as to
assume almost a sportive character, as if parliamentary
politics were a mere pastime, a kind of relaxation from the
heavier cares or labours of administration or of ordinary
political life, in which all men are bound by a sort of mu-
tual compact, answering to the laws of a game, to exert
their utmost powers to excel or to overcome each other,
for the sake of the distinction and applause which are the
reward of success.—Contemporary Orators, in Fraser.

. _
How SHOULD WE DO WITHOUT A NEWSPAPER.—
But with all its present imperfections and faul,s, the press
is acceptable to society st large. No man except an op-
pressor likes to have anything to do with a lawyer, and he
uses him only as a tool which it is unpleasant to handle.
No man is willingly without a newspaper. Paley thought
the rough disorder of English freedom, the want of cour-
tesy which is the national characteristic, and all the evils
of warm political discussion, cheaply purchased by the
amusement and instruction of a newspaper. Cowper de-
scribes it as :
.. This 'olio of four pages, tappy work
Which not e'en critics criticise; that holds
Inquisitive attention while I read
Fast bound in chains of silence, which the fair,
Though eloquent themselves, yet fear to break ;
What is it but a map of busy life,—
Its fluctuation and its vast concerns !"
But the folio of four pages has now swelled to a folio of
eight pages, sixteen pages, and even twenty pages. Loco-
motion has scarcely improved more than newspapers since
Cowper wrote, and is not more subservient than they are
to the general welfare. Every man looks daily for his
newspaper. Were the judges to abdicate, and the courts
to suspend their functions, no man would at once miss and
regret them, except for the loss of a column of amusement
in the newspaper • but the day and the hour when the
postman " with his twanging horn," " the herald of a
noisy world," or the mail train leaving its great bags of
almost a ton weight of letters, should go to its destination
without newspapers, would be full of consternation. We
cannot picture the general alarm, the fidgetty uneasiness
of the merchant looking for accounts of the arrival of his
ships, or of the state of the markets, on which his whole
daily business is dependent; and the fright of the timid
owner of public securities, or of the well-paid functiona-
ries of the government,—which would spread itself into in-
numerable conjectures as to what commotion could have
laid an embargo on the newspaper. For the mail to ar-
rive without the journals, would be like the approach of
day followed by no rising sun. Whenever the.fact is al-
luded to, every man becomes instantly sensible. that so-
ciety could not exist in its present wonderful ramifications
without them. They are not merely the offspring of the na-
tural system of society, they are essential parts of it, which
will outlive the throne and the peerage.—Jerrold's Mag.
LIFE ASSURANCE.—The man of twenty-five years of
age, young, strong, full of hope, and health, and vigour,
thinks, perhaps, that he need not concern himself about
life assurance at present, as he has a long lease of life be-
fore him. Let us see if this is a sound view which be
takes of his own position According to the now well-
known value of life at different ages he may expect
to live about thirty-seven years. Now, how many chances
are there against his continujng regularly to set aside the
annual sum he designs as a provision for his family, in
the event of his decease, when he is not impelled by the
the fear of loss in failing in his engagement with another
party, by the formality of the contract between them, by
the periodical demand of the company. If he hoards his
savings, they will amount to little, compared with what
an insurance company would give, and are 'liable to be
continually encroached upon for trifling objects. His
grand aim is to improve these savings as much as he can,
' with perfect security. Is he likely to be able to invest
them from time to time so readily, or so securely, as -a
company which receives them from him in small annual
(or even quarterly) payments, and without trouble to him
invests them safely and profitably ? And what bright
prospect, what fair chance of health, long life, or good
fortune, can be set against the moral certainty he acquires
that those for whom he is anxious to provide are assured
beyond all accidents or risks of the sum he is desirous to
recure for them, even should he die the next day after
having paid only the first annual payment 1 How many
chances are there against his attaining the expectation due
to his age ? Of every hundred persons of the same age,
ten will be cut off in ten years. What assurance has he
that he will not be one of the ten? In the next ten years
eleven more will be gone to their graves; and at the end
of the thirty-seven years, of the hundred who thirty-seven
years previously were living men of twenty-five, only
fifty-six (little more than half) will remain. Who, then,
that would leave any one for whom he has a regard in dif-
ficulties were he cut off will be so rash as to delay insur-
ing because he has a chance of a long life. But this is not
all. If he delays he may be attacked by disease. He will
most likely have about nine weeks' sickness between
twenty-five and thirty-five, the effects of which on his
constitution may raise considerably the premium for in-
suring his life. Between thirty-five and forty-five be is
liable to about twelve weeks' illness ; fifteen between
forty:five and fifty-five. Lastly, should he have the sin-
'Ruler good fortune to have all these chances turning in
his favour, to attain a long life, to acquire independence,
to have preserved good health, so that delay would not
have increased his premium, he cannot be so selfish as to
complain, when he receives a return but little short of
what he has advanced, (with its compound interest,) or to
grudge that little differ rice which has gone to alleviate
the sufferings of oth who have been less fortunate,
while he has so lar proportion of his payments re-
turned to him, and enjoyed so long the security he
sought for his family or his old age.—Mr. Reid's Circular.

SABBATH DESECRATION IN LONDON.—WE were both
astonished and grieved to find the opening of places of bu-
siness on that holy day seemingly on the increase in Lon-
don. Net only cigar and snuff-shops, but common gro-
cers-shops, tea-warehouses, and the like, were carrying
on sales—at least in the intervals of service • not to speak
of those abominable hotbeds of misery, the gin-palaces.
Piano-fortes, too, arc not rarely to be heard sounding by
the street pedestrian, decency being only so far observed
as respects the gravity of the sits bone to his ears. In the
evenings, some of the suburbs of London present any-
thing but commendable scenes of moral instruction for
youth. Near Primrose Hill, towards Hampstead, we re-
marked immense swings and circular hobby-horse ma-
chines, in full work on several Sunday evenings consecu-
tively, according, we believe, to an established custom.
The frolickers here were chiefly boys, seemingly old
enough to be apprentices to tradesmen and merchants;
and we own that the recollection of George Barnewell
came across our mind as we saw these lads paying their
pence reiteratedly fora prolonged swing, and treating girls
about their own age and standing to the same enjoyment.
The flushed faces of most of the parties spoke also of their
indulgences. At the same spot might likewise be seen
youngsters, of lesser age generally, following the amuse-
ment of riding on asses, provided by men there for' a con-
sideration.' The galloppings over the short penny-course,
the tumbles, the shouting, and the swearing which fell on
the bearing on the occasion, formed anything but an
agreeable subject of reflection. We ciamot but deplore
the existence of such scenes as these, and think with omi-
nous regret of Paris and its open Sunday theatres, The
description which Dr. Harris gives in his Christian Citi-
zen' of the desecration of the Sabbath in the metropolis
is by no means too highly-coloured. Speaking of the
many forma and sources of evil existing in London, he
says—' But does not the return of the Sabbath form an
exception to this state ? It does—but an exception of the
most;fearful kind—for it consists in their state then being
aggravated tenfold; 650,000 hunian beings then stand up
and say in the face of heaven, There shall be no Sab-
bath. We will rest from our ordinary labour only to toil
in sin—the flay shall be set apart to evil.' And in obedi-
ence to this fearful decree, issued as from the throne of
wickedness, the temples of vice are early thrown open, and
thronged with impious devotees : the press issues its
weekly manual of slander and sedition, impurity and blas-
phemy ; every minister of evil is then in full employ,
aided by numerous helpers, called in for the occasion. In
many districts, the ordinary market is quickened into the
bustle and riot of a fair; the quiet of the week is broken
up by the carnival of the Sabbath; the great volcano of
iniquity heaves, and rises, and discharges its desolating
contents into the country for miles around ; every availa-
ble form of art is pressedinto the service of sin ; the whole
satanic system of depravity is in active and universal ope-
ration; and vice holds its saturnalia. Such is their Sab-
bath state.' Let us hope and pray, that the progress of
moral and religious education will soon change this fear-
ful state of things.—Hogg's Weekly Instructor.