The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-11-16 00:00:00

UNIVERSITY AND CLERICAL NEWS.

-.-
The Earl of Ellesmere has been unanimously re-elected
Lord Rector of the University of Aberdeen.
The weekly organ of the Tractarian party seriously sug-
gests that incumbents engaging curates should stipulate
for a certain number of months notice of any intended
secession to Rome.

The Hull Advertiser seriously and warmly contends
for the promotion of the Rev. James Aspinall to the
Archbishopric of York. We think our contemporary,
notwithstanding his eloquence, will fail in inducing the
government to act on his recommendation.
The Rev. Benjamin Strettell Clarke, curate of Christ
Church, Liverpool, and nephew of the Hon. Judge Jack-
son, of Sutton-house, Howth, county Dublin, has been
promoted to the incumbency of Thorp-hesley, West
Riding of Yorkshire.
EDINBURGH HEBREW CHAIR.—The Lord Ordinary
has refused to grant interdict against the induction of the
Professor elect. Should he be installed, it is understood
that the Presbytery will raise an action against the Town
Council.

The Earl of Digby has given a donation of £2500 to-
wards the necessary repair and restoration of the ancient
abbey church at Sherborne, Dorset. The venerable fabric
was founded in 704, and it is computed that £5OOO will be
required for its restoration.
Four new churches have just been consecrated in the
diocese of Ripon—one at Hull—another at Manstone, a
colliery district—a third at Wyke, near Bradford—and a
fourth at Little Holbeck, near Leeds. The latter is to be
built at the cost of J. G. Marshall, Esq., M.P. for Leeds.
The Morning Chronicle says that Dr. Maltby, Bishop
of Durham, is likely to be promoted to the archbishopric
of York ; but we do not think it likely, as the revenues of
Durham are considerably greater than those of York,
though, of course, additional honour would be conferred
by the translation.

THE DEATH OF THE REV. ALEXANDER STEWART.—
Intelligence was received in Edinburgh, on Sunday, of the
death of the Rev. Alexander Stewart, of Cromarty, who
had received a call to succeed the Rev. Dr. Candlish, in
St. George's Free Church, Edinburgh. The rev. gentle-
man died of brain fever, supposed to have been excited
by the prospect of translation. His congregation in Cro-
marty having been deeply attached to him, there was every
reason to anticipate their opposition to his translation.
THE BISHOP OF MANCHESTER A PEER.—By the death
of the Archbishop of York the new Bishop of Manchester
will at once probably attain a seat in the House of Lords.
The Bishops of London, Durham, and Winchester are
the only bishops who have an absolute right to a seat in
the upper house, and if the present Bishop of Chester (as
is likely) be elevated to the archiepiscopal seat of York,
or indeed any of the other bishops, except the above, the
successor of either of these parties will be considered only
a junior upon the episcopal bench, and will have to wait
his turn for a seat in the lords.

THE Scorrisx CHURCH.—A movement is in progress
in the Scottish Episcopalian Church which deserves serious
consideration. About five years ago, the Rev. Mr. Dru-
mmond, of Edinburgh, was rebuked by his diocesan, Bishop
Terrot, for holding religious meetings composed of his
own congregation, at which he did not use the Scottish
liturgy, or any other liturgy, and which, therefore, the
bishop declared to be uncanonical. Mr. Drummond per-
sisted ; and, after an unpleasant dispute, Mr. Drummond
and a large number of bis fellow-clergymen renounced
the authority of the Scottish bishops toto ccelo, and vir-
tually separated from the communion of the Scottish
Episcopalian Church. The separatist party have expressed
a strong desire to place themselves in actual communica-
tion with the English Church, and to occupy the same
position in Scotland as the Church of England in the
colonies. A movement is now in progress with this ob-
ject in view—a committee has been appointed to carry out
the scheme ; and we have no doubt that application will
be promptly made to parliament with the view of pro-
curing a legi lative warrant for carrying it fully into effect.
THE LATE PERVERSION.—The late Rev. W. J. G.
Bennett, perpetual curate of St. Paul's, London, has
published an address to his congregation on the subject of
the late secession' of one of his curates to popery, in which
he says,—" Whereas, Mr. Alexander Chirol, late assistant
curate of this parish, having joined certain schismatics
and sectarians, generally called Romanists, and being
thereby ipso facto deprived for the present of all the spi-
rituil functions of holy orders, and excommunicated from
the Church of England; and whereas the said Mr. Alex-
ander Chirol has been circulating letters, and otherwise
tampering with the faith of certain of the parishioners,
endeavouring to induce them to join him in his sinful act
of schism and apostacy, it is my duty, as the parish priest,
to warn the parishioners and all other faithful members of
the Church ; and they are hereby warned ; against holding
any intercourse by letter, speech, or otherwise, in spiritual
matters, with the said Mr. Alexander Chirol, until such
time as he may be restored to the Communion of the
Church. The rule of Holy Scripture and the Church is,
that the faithful should not hold communion with schis-
matics and apostates." Mr. Bennett also announces his
intention of delivering a lecture "on the peculiar features
of the Church of England, as opposed to dissent, and the
schismatic Communion of Rome, called forth by the con-
duct or the late curate."

THE BISHOP OF MANCHESTER.—A surgeon, of the
name of Gutteridge, residing in Birmingham, has openly
charged the newly-appointed Bishop of Manchester with
immorality, and the matter, for the last few days, has
been the subject of discussion in the Manchester
papers. Mr. Gutteridge says his object is simply to
have the truth of his charges tested before a jury.
Another writer is the Rev. J. Molesworth, who says that
in his view, the ceremony of consecration ought not, for
the sake of the church, to take place, till the matter has
been fairly brought to trial—this, the rev. gentlemen says,
without in the slightest degree prejudging the case. It
seems that a meeting on the subject has been held in Bir-
mingham, at which there was a decision in favour of the
Rev. Mr. Lee, but Mr. Gutteridge says he has also had
other and larger meetings in his favour. Mr. Lee has
written to Dr. Molcsworth, condemning strongly his in-
terference, and announcing that he has laid the published
charges against him before the law officers of the crown,
and expresses his determination to abide by their advice.
This advice is, that they (Sir J. Jervis, Sir D. Dundas,
and Mr. Whateley,) are of opinion that a criminal in-
formation should be moved for without delay, and they
think that the court will make the rule absolute. Mr.
Gutteridge will now, therefore, have the opportunity
which he has professed to desire, of establishing his
charges against Mr. Lee, who appears to have acted with
great judgment in the difficult and harassing position in
which he has been placed.
SHAMEFUL CONDITION OF A CHURCH.—On Sunday
week the Rev. Dr. Croly, rector of St. Stephen's, Wal-
brook, took occasion to allude to the state of the parish
church in the following powerful words You may
easily imagine with what feelings I look round this church.
When I see its shattered casements ; its panes actually
boarded; its stained cupola; its vaults sending up their
vapours ; its roof letting in the rain ; its walls showing
the track of the shower ; and the floor heaved up as if the
church had been shaken by an earthquake,—l cannot
help feeling the utmost regret at the sufferance, and the
utmost indignation at the cause. But I restrict myself
within the walls ; on this subject I speak reluctantly, and
_speak no more. But this I must say, in justice to others,.
that this condition of things has not been for want of
exertion on the part of the principal parishioners. They
have given up'their time and their money to the attain-
ment of its remedy ; they have even undergone the dis-
comfort of that most comfortless of all discomforts—a pro-
tracted litigation. They have already spent five years
_,
in.
the pursuit of the parochial rights, at their personal risk
for five years have they gone from court to court, with
the case in their hand, making every court resound with
strong knocking at the door of law ; for five years have
they struggled along that sluggish and unfathomable
stream, whose shores are so wide asunder, and on which
so many a strong voyager has died on his oar. One
glance again recals me to the scene around me. Your
own eyes see the condition of the church—that it is repul-
sive, squalid, and scandalous. Your eyes can show you
its disgrace, but they cannot show you its dilapidation.
I am not sure at this moment that there is a sound case-
ment, or a sound rafter, a safe foot of stone, or a safe inch
of timber in the whole fabric. lam not sure that from
week to week the fabric itself is secure, or the worshippers
under its roof free from danger. Why have those things
been ? But on this matter I say no more ; it conies be-
fore another tribunal. The result of all is, that the pa-
rish is without a shilling."

RAILWAY AFFAIRS.

LANCASTER AND PRESTON.—Third-class carriages will
run in future with every train on this line.
•A body of police, upwards of a thousand strong, has
been despatched yid the North-Western line, to the scene
of the stoppage of the great railway works.
SHEFFIELD AND lIUDDERSFIELD.—This company is
amongst those which suspended their works during the
monetary pressure. The workmen thrown out of em-
ployment number upwards of 4,000.
It is said that one great railway contractor has more
than £7,000,000 of contracts incomplete at this moment ;
and although 2,000 have recently been discharged from
his employ, he yet pays £50,000 a-week in wages alone.
It is said that one great railway contractor has more
than £7,000,000 of contracts incomplete at this moment;
and, although 2,000 workmen have recently been dis-
charged from his employ, he yet pays £50,000 a-week in
wages alone.
A RAILWAY'S PROSPECTS.—At a court of inquiry held
at Driffield, last week, to assess the amount of compensa-
tion to be paid for land at Driffield, required for the Mal-
ton and Driffield Junction Railway, it was stated by Mr.
Atherton, Q.C., that the whole of the traffic between
Malton and Driffield had been conveyed on the back of a
donkey!

DISCHARGE OF RAILWAY LABOURERS.—About 400
railway labourers were discharged from the Stamford and
Rugby works near Morcott.on Monday, in consequence of
the present alarming state of affairs in the monetary
world. Mr. Pickering, the contractor, stated that about
1200 others would be discharged from works in which he
is concerned in other parts of the country.
On the arrival of a goods train at the Edinburgh Station
of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, on Wednesday
last, the engine driver discovered that a man, sound asleep,
was lying along the buffer beam in front of the engine.
The sleeppr was immediately aroused and questioned,
when he admitted that he had placed himself on the beam
at the Falkirk Station, in order to be conveyed to Linlith-
gow; but as he was somewhat intoxicated, he had fallen
asleep, and had not awoke until aroused by the driver.
On Thursday Mr. Vice-Chancellor Knight Bruce
granted an interim injunction until Thursday next, when
the motion will be heard to restrain the North Stafford-
shire Railway Company from entering upon certain lands
and saltworks, at Sandbach, in Cheshire, belonging to the
plaintiff, Mr. Barker, on the ground that the notice served
upon the plaintiff, under the 85th section of the Lands
Clauses Consolidation Act, with the view of entitling the
Company of taking possession without the owners consent.,
was insufficiot for the purpose.

FATAL RAILWAY ACCIDENT.-011 Thursday, a porter
at the Tewkesbury station was mounting the break as a
train was leaving, when, from some cause, not clearly ascer-
tained, he got jammed between one of the trucks and the
stone archway opening into the street, and was crushed
so dreadfully that be died shortly after.
CURIOUS SEIZURE.—Last week a first-class carriage
was seized at the Chelmsford station in payment of £3l
due for poor rates to the parish of Margaretting, from the
Eastern Counties Company. The company and the parish
authorities have been at variance coil the subject ; and as
the appeal to the quarter sessions had been abandoned by
the company, the chairman of the bench had issued a
warrant for the above proceeding.
From official returns it appears that the amount of traf-
fic for the last week, on upwards of 3.227 miles of railway,
was £178,975, thus accounted for :—£82,091 for the con-
veyance of passengers only, £47,998 for the carriage of
goods, and a remainder of £48,886 for passengers and
goods together, not respectively apportioned ; being an
increase of £25,091 over the corresponding week of last
year, when the mileage was about 2525.
AMBERGATE RAILWAY.—The directors of the above
company have let the contract for making that portion of
the line which lies between the junction with Notting-
ham and Lincoln Railway at Colwick, and their works at
Bottesford, a distance of about eleven miles. The con-
tractors will now be enabled, during the winter, to make
preparations for proceeding with the bridge over the
Trent, being the heaviest part of the work, early in the
ensuing spring. This contract will complete the line
between Nottingham and Grantham.
THE RAILWAY ACCIDENT AT WINSFORD.—At the
inquest at Winsford, the verdict was accidental death. It
was proved that the proper signals were given, and that
the deceased engineman had been cautioned before leav-
ing Crewe against proceeding too quickly when getting
near Winsford, as the coal train would have to shunt
there, and the impression on the minds of the jury ap-
peared to be, that Blacaburne, seeing the engine of the
coal train on the up line, was under the impression that
the whole of the coal train was so also, whereas the coal
engine was in the act of shunting, and part of the train
was on the up line, against which his engine struck.
BIRMINGHAM AND OXFORD RAILWAY.-The pro-
ceedings of the demurrer in this case, brought by agree-
ment before the Vice-Chancellor, were commenced last
week; and have since been continued on Monday, Tu-
esday, and Wednesday last. Opening arguments for
the company are concluded, and the reply for the Great
Western is now in progress, having been resumed on
Friday. Should the decision be in favour of the Narrow-
gauge Company, the Great Western will .loose this line ;
'but if the other way they will not gain it, as the decision
would only be that the Great Western has a locus standi
in the equity courts for " something," and the validity
of the agreements of sale will go over for decision on the
hearing of the cause and the answers put in by the Nar-
row-gauge Company. The losing party will appeal to the
Lord Chancellor.

AN ACUTE TELEGRAPH AGENT.—A station agent of a
certain railway, who has likewise the charge of the tele-
graph, lately received, by means of the latter, news of the
Suspension of payment of a bank sixty or seventy miles
off, with instructions to communicate the same to its
branch office, situate in the quarter to which the message
had come. which, of course, was then to suspena payments
also. The agent was a 'cute man, however, and he re-
flected, before doing this, that a small sum which he had
lodged in the branch bank before, might be endangered
thereby. So, saying nothing to any one, he very coolly
walked down to the bank, and having drawn out his little
deposit in gold, he handed over the message in writing
that he had received per telegraph. We presume, under
the circumstances, that the telegraph agent will be consi-
dered to have acted a very natural part.
PREVENTION OF RAILWAY ACCII:PEN4'S.—On Monday,
at the monthly meeting of the Liverpool Polytechnic So-
ciety, the largest audience of the season ever assembled at
the Royal Institution to Lear Mr. Spence's highly-inte-
resting paper " on the active and inactive states of iron,"
which elicited the warmest applause, and alto the thanks
of the hearers. Afterwards, Mr. Henry Hulme, surgeon,
of Moss-street, suggested a method for preventing the la-
mentable effects of collisions on railways. The diagram
spewed a couple of strong luggage waggons placed before
the engine, heavily weighted with iron, lead, or the like,
as freight or with ballast, having between the waggons
three or four pairs of strong parenthesis-shaped springs,
similar to those used in the Railway Station, Lime-street.
Each of the engines being protected in this manner, at
whichever end the collision occurred, the shock would be
neutralised before it reached the carriages, and materially
broken. The weight would also prevent the tendency to
leave the line. Self-acting breaks might be attached to
the waggons, and the latter might be placed either before
the engine or after the last carriage. Mr. Hulme was
highly complimented by the society.
THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.—The mains and wires are
now laid up to the premises in Exchange-buildings, taken
for the company's offices. Some temporary delay has,
however, occurred in the present tenant obt ining posses-
sion of the offices to which he is about to remove ; but,
until that is accomplished, the telegraph will be worked at
Gloucester-street night and day. e communication is
now complete between this town and London vid Man-
chester, from which place the wires extend to f isormanton,
where there is a telegraph station ; thence along the North
Midland line to Derby, where also there is a telegraph
station ; thence by the Midland Counties to Rugby, where
there is another telegraph station ; and thence by the
London and North-Western line direct to Euston-square,
where this and other northern lines of telegraphic com-
munication are connected with those extending to the
south and south-eastern coast. Of these, the principal
now open are those having telegraph termini at Dover, at
Gosport, and at Southampton. With these ports we, in
Liverpool, may now communicate in a few minutes. As
the telegraph stations are now open day and night, of
course any important intelligence can be transmitted
throughout the kingdom with a speed surpassing every
need of even this railway age.

THE WASP FAMILY.

(From Chambers' Journal.)

The economy of the wasp family possesses considerable
interest, and deserves far more attention than in our hos-
tile state of feelings towards the race we are already dis-
posed to believe. It is only necessary that the real cha-
racter of the tribe should be known, to remove at least the
blot of laziness from it. That they are a set of bold, inso-
lent, daring robbers, no one can deny.
The society consists of males, females, and neuters,
each having their appropriate functions ; but the males,
on the whole, leading the quietest and least arduous lives.
The females are the hardworking foundresses of the colo-
ny, and the neuters are wasps of all work—robbing, fight-
ing, defending, nursing, and building indifferently, and by
tarns. Their history commences most conveniently for
our purposes in the spring. At the conclusion of the pre-
ceding summer. the males, after pairing, all died, and there
remained but a few females behind of all the busy ranks
which crowded the vespiary. These arc awakened by the
return of spring. The solitary wasp finds herself imme-
diately summoned to active duties. She has to construct
the carcase, and to excavate the earthwork, for her future
she is to be
mornings, looking out for
rernahhhahrs bankhtoo
sheu re;
effect
seingistf
a single load!
companion'iipsateeceeaoenrrlslebsaenailinaeozrntnzgideniteo;gcsiilnlar,yob.te:uraeteitsSiuoieniairgllitiolhgteuoehsttitsethhuaneiesns
neujsxyneottrdmrheeleer tmbtdaitaotrkosuyyi krneti cheer ewl
here she sets to her work. She perforates it, and forms a
alosnigtec.irclutiitsousosotnunfnoeuln,d;t
out a vault of considerable dimensions. After the labour
of excavation is ended, the walls are to be plastered, and
to this fresh duty she at once addresses herself. Surely
every person has seen the nest of the wasp, and wondered
at its exquisite and delicate architecture of celled paper ?
Behold the architect ! The nest is really Made of paper :
it was for some time a puzzle to our philosophers. Reau-
mur appears first to have detected the wasp in the very
act of this manufacture. He beheld her alight on a deal
window-frame ; and watching, saw her tear a bundle of
delicate hair-like fibres, about an inch in length, from it,
bruising the woody fibre with her mandibles, until it be-
came like a fine lint.' This is the material from which the
papyraceous plaster is to be prepared. She has built the
walls of the city, it remains for her to commence the edi-
fices, and supply the population. She builds a terrace of
hexagonal cells, of marvellous exactness, and suspends it
by paper pillars from the roof of her texture. These ter-
races emulate in elegance and artistic skill, and far sur-
pass in utility, the famous hanging gardens and terraces of
the renowned city of old. A few hundred cells are thus
constructed, and at length an interval of comparative
repose awaits the labourer, while she proceeds to fulfil her
more proper duties as a parent. In the cells the insect
deposits her ova, gluing them to the walls by an adhesive
substance. These are soon hatched, they become larva;,
and are for some time, entirely dependent upon their pa-
rent's exertions for their supply of food. She has to
forage for this numerous and voracious progeny, and runs
about from cell to cell with the utmost solicitude, while
the grubs put forth their mouths, and are fed by her just
as the " callow brood" of a bird is fed.

Dr. Darwin says he once beheld a curious act of a wasp :
it had caught a large fly, and in rising with it into the air,
the breeze caught its wings, and nearly wrenched it from
the wasp's clutches. The insect immediately alighted,
and deliberately sawed off the wings of its victim, when
it was able to carry it in safety away. There was some-
thing nobler than instinct in this action ; nor is it by any
means an isolated example of insect sagacity.
The mode of government is republican : there is no
recognised head, as with the bees ; yet an amount of even
military discipline, and the utmost order, are to be found
among the subjects. The good of the common wealth
seems to be the prevailing object of each insect. If the
workers are building, each has its own spot, about an
inch square, assigned to it, as the amount of work it is
expected to execute. It was an interesting discovery of
Mr. Knight, that wasps also have sentinels. These are
placed at the entrance of the vespiary ; they run gently in
and out of it, and give immediate notice of the approach
of danger.
One of the most striking facts in the natural history of
the Vespidm is the occurrence of an annual massacre in
October. Then the vespiary is indeed a scene of horri-
ble atrocities and profuse carnage. The wasps, whose af-
fection for their young is generally remarkably strong, seem
then to be possessed with frenzied rage against them.
They cease to feed their larvae ; " they do worse," angrily
writes Reaumur ; " the mothers become implacable mur-
deresses ; they drag the helpless larvae out of their cells,
slay them, and scatter them outside t'le nest, strewing the
very earth with their dead carcasses. There is no com-
punction ; the massacre is universal." A wise purpose is
fulfilled by
this apparent cruelty. The coming winter
would rapidly destroy, by a far more miserable death, all
that are killed on this occasion ; and it is a stroke of
mercy to terminate their sufferings by a blow. The early
frost destroys the murderers themselves. The scene is now
in truth altered ; " the populous city has become waste,
and without inbabitruts, saving some one or two females,
which spend the winter in the depths of the vespiary.