The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-01-25 00:00:00

LITERARY PAPERS hint that the late Edward 1
son-in-law of William Wordsworth, left a
behind him, which will

ARIETIES.

humous poe

ACTIVITY in three letters—N.R.G. And
" sourness" in four—A.C.D.T.

,e issued

SPELT,

don newspapers, including the
'art/ Gazette, have resolved to

I HOLD it to be a fact, says Pascal, that if all persons
knew what they said of each other, there would not be
four friends in the world.

of the press privilege of writing orders

n to the theatres

THE

complain that their liters-

CFI REVIEW;
4 ho *

MANY BOOKS require no thoughts from those who read
them, and for a very simple reason—they made no such
demand upon those who wrote them.

newspapers

,nd that their

lish nothing which has not passed

arance in afeuillelon

NOURISHING DIET.—A returned gold hunter from
California says that he once lived for ten days on broth
made from an old door-mat !It was that made him so fat.

FOUR HUNDRED YEARS have elapsed since the invention
of printing, yet books are not in circulation all over the
globe ; while the use of tobacco became universal within
fifty years after its discovery

NT RA ORDINARY RATIONALITY.—We are enabled to
state as a fact, which, though apparently incredible, may
be entirely depended upon, that a lady-, being offered a
new bonnet by her husband, positfvely declined the pre-
sent, on the ground that she did not want it. Hence it
appears that there is not, in all cases without exception,
unqualified and absolute truth in the complaint of married
men that women are always wanting new bonnets.—Punch.
A YOUTHFUL PARTY.—Sixadmirals dinedtogether last
week at Portsmouth, and their united ages amounted to
556 years. The youngest of the party, who was not more
than 73, is anxiously waiting for his turn to be called into
active exercise. It is strongly feared by his friends, how-
ever, that his age will stand materially in his way, as he
is considered far too young at present to be appointed to
any responsible post. The other admirals join their ships
(gout permitting) in a few days.—Punch.
QUALIFICATIONS FOR MARRIAGE.—Fanny Fern, a
very pretty writer for some literary papers, says she is
ready to jump at the first offer of marriage, and presents
her qualifications as follows :—" I have black eyes and
hair, and am petite. I am as sensitive as a ' mimosa,'
spirited as an eagle, and untameable as a chain of light-
ning. Can make a pudding, or write a newspaper squib ;
cut a child's frock, or cut a caper; and throw more hap-
piness or misery into ten minutes than any Fanny that
was ever christened."—American paper.

C U ARAN AND CHANCELLOR CLARE.—Lord Chancellor
Clare, on one occasion, while Curran was addressing him
in a most important case, occupied himself with a favou-
rite spaniel or Newfoundland dog, seated by him ; and all
the world will remember the rebuke administered to him
by that rarely-gifted man. Curran having ceased speak-
ing, through indignation, or malice prepense, Lord Clare
raised his head and asked, "Wby don't you proceed, Mr.
Curran 1" " I thought your lordships were in consul-
tation," replied Curran.—Reminiscences of an Emigrant

a vain one
Birkenhead, 21st Jan., 1853

Milesian,

EXPRESSIVE SIGNS.—Tosay "Leave the room," is less
expressive than to point to the door. Placing a finger on
the lips is more forcible than whispering, " Do not speak."
A beck of the hand is better than " Come here." No
phrase can convey the idea of surprise so vividly as open-
ing the eyes and raising the eyebrows. A shrug of, the
shoulders would lose much by translation into words. Of
Hawthorne, the American author, it is said his principle
seemed to be, if a man cannot understand without talking
to him, it is quite useless to talk, because it is immaterial
whether such a man understand or not.

CHURCH, OLD SWAN."

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD, TUESDAY, JANUARY

CORRESPONDENCE.

Letters addressed to the. Editor should be accompanied by the
real name and address of the writer, not for publication, but
as a guarantee of good faith; this is indispen
in any statement of facts.
The Editor wishes it to be understood that be does not hold
himself responsible for the opinions or statements of his
correspondents.

WOODSIDE FERRY-PIOUS

.ably reqais.

To the EDITOR of the LIVERPOOL STANDARD,

SlR,—When we toast " The PresS" at our public dinners, we

ouglit not to forget its important " mission," to use a favourite

term, as the redresser of public grievances; and it is in full

appreciation of its valuable services in this respect, that I
address these few lines to you.

My attention was attracted a few clays since to the very in
efficient accommodation provided at Woodside Ferry for thos,

who sit at the receipt of customs. Instead of a commodious
building, in which so large an amount of traffic could be con-
ducted with comfort to those concerned in it, there is a nest of
little pigeon-heles arranged in a kind of promiscuous proximity
(as though division and addition had been practised
ill ventilated, most imperfectly protected from the weather,
and without sufficient height for a tall man to stand erect.
Surely the Commissioners can hardly be aware of the interior
of a place which presents so fair an outside, or some other

.t random),

influence must be at work to prevent its reform. It may be
asked, what concern have I, as simply one of the public, with
the comforts of a place through which I have merely to pass in
my way to and from the steamers, in common with many
thousands more, who have the like brief business to perform
. _ _

in it? I answer, not much, or perhaps none at al

a strong feeling of sympathy for the unfortunate clerks whose

business compels them to remain so large a portion of their
time within its walls. It may be that their position precludes
them from complaining, though I have heard that it is no un-
common thing for one or other of them to be laid up from ill-
ness so produced. It is, therefore, as one of the independent
public, who am simply an observer, that I desire, through your
columns, to call the attention of the proper authorities to the
fact, in the confident hope that the appeal to them will not be
I am, Sir, yours, &c.,

ALPHA.

TENANT RIGHT FOR ENGLAND.—No. I

To the EDITOR of the LIVERPOOL STANDARD,

Sin,—As the important subject of securing a tenant right
for Ireland is now before the legislature in Mr, Napier's series
of bills, it is, I believe, a fitting opportunity to direct public
attention to the necessity of improving the present law of
tenure in England with reference to agricultural improve.
ments. I shall, therefore, with your permission, offer the
following remarks ; premising that the whole subject may
occupy three or four letters.

The progress of nearly,very department of industrial acti-
vity has been of so startling a character within the last few
years, that the spirit of enterprise has almost paused to dis-
cover a new field of operations upon which to exert its skill for
effecting improvements. In nearly every branch of manufac-
tures the resources of science have been almost exhausted—in
mechanics, in chemistry, and in mineralogy. The steam-
engine has been applied to locomotion to an extent which ren-
ders ancient fables no longer incredible, while electricity in
the spread of intelligence has almost outstripped the power of
belief. While skill and ingenuity have done so much for every
thing which may add to the comfort and luxury of man, the
question may be asked, how is it that so little has been done
to supply his actual necessities? While our population is year
by year increasing in number, and still more so in the means
of purchase and the consequent increased consumption of food,
our amount of production has not kept pace with the demand,
so that England might be rendered independent of foreign
supplies for the most indispensable requisite to the mainte-
nance of her people. The simple fact may be broadly stated,
that we have but the same number of acres available for culti-
vation, while the number of people to be supplied with food is
daily being added to. The only legitimate resource, therefore,
is to increase the fertility and productiveness of the soil, to
cause two blades to grow where but one grew before, and reap
each year from each acre a greater quantity than was done the
year preceding. This can only be accomplished by improved
scientific knowledge, by the investment of that capital which
is too often thrown away on idle speculations, and by an eco-
nomical devotion of industry and skill to the desired object.
In the giant strides which science ems made towards perfection
in manufactures, in locomotion, and in commerce, has nothing

been done towards the far more important art of agriculture?
Has the genius of Enterprise, mindful of everything else, been
only neglectful of the cultivation of the earth, the mainstay of
national greatness, and the foundation of every other pursuit ?
This can hardly be said to be the case. The discoveries of
Liebig and others in science have done much, and the actual
operations of practical agriculturists have also tended to prove
that the land may be made capable of yielding produce even
beyond the requirements of man. We read of improvements
effected by means of draining, of sub-soiling, and other me-
chanical contrivances ; of the wonderful effects of bones,
guano, and other foreign and artificial manures; of the pecu-
liar advantages of particular courses of cropping, and the suc-
cessful application of industry and skill to the cultivation of
the soil. But while these facts are instanced as proofs of what
may be clone, it is nevertheless a fact that they have been con-
fined to a few individuals, whose names stand prominently
forward as pioneers of agricultural improvement ; while the
great body of English farmers have been content to follow the
beaten track, and till their land in the same manner as their
fathers did before them. This unwillingness on the part of
agriculturists to avail themselves of improvements, the advan-
tages of which have been so clearly demonstrated, must be
attributed neither to apathy nor to want of intelligence. Eng-
lish farmers, as a class, are quite as intelligent as the inhabi-
tants of the large towns who have been more boasted of, and
fully as alive to the importance of increasing their products by
the aid of capital and skill ; but causes over which they have
no control have operated as an incubus upon their energy, and
stayed the course of improvements, from which all classes of
the community would have received direct and immediate
benefit. In every other pursuit, the man of capital, of enter-
prise, and of skill, is protected in the possession of the fruits
of them. He invests his wealth, and devotes his energies,
with the moral certainty that he or his family will profit by the
advantages derived from them ; and the natural consequence
is, that wherever there is a reasonable prospect of profit, there
is no want of either money or industry to prosecute it to the
utmost limit of improvement. The tenant farmer, on the
other hand, has no such advantage and no such protection.
He is bound by the law to restore the land of which he has the
use, in the same state of fertility as that in which he took it;
but he has no claim, either by the statute law cr that of cus-
tom, for any additional value which he may have given to it.
He may be fully aware of the advantages of the numerous
improvements which have been pointed out to him ; may en-
tertain no lingering doubts as to the results of particular ma-
nures, or the profitable returns from additional expenditure;
but then comes the conviction that he has no further interest
in it than the mere annual return

,nd that he would be ex-

pending his own property to confer an additional value on that
which belongs to another. Ile may even entertain the most
confident opinion in the honour of his landlord, but that is
subject to numerous contingencies, and never can be consi-
dered a security upon which any man of ordinary prudence
would hazard the outlay of his capital, or even exhaust his
energies. It is in vain to convince a practical agriculturist
that a certain expenditure in labour, in manure, in farm build-
ings, or in other adjuncts to his art, would add to the produc-
tiveness of his fields, when he is equally aware that no impro-
bable contingency may deprive him of the advantage without
any legal redress, and that he has no title to that property
which his own outlay has created. He is consequently deterred
from the risk, and compelled by force of circumstances to
continue the former system ; for though he may be also con-
vinced that the immediate returns in increase of crop will
more than reimburse him for the amount he has expended, it
is not in human nature to expect that a man will undertake all
the hazard, to afford another the certainty of perhaps the
Zreatest share of the profit. This was the case in the former

system of taking tithes; and so strong was the impression
that the Church taking a share of the increased produce tended
to retard improvements, that the Tithe Commutation Act was
passed, fixing the amount of tithe upon the simple question of
marketable value of grain, without any reference to acreable
quantity. But if the case was so strong as to call for legisla-
tive interference where but a tithe of the increase was taken,
bow much stronger must it be where so large a proportion is
concerned as that which now absolutely depends upon the will
of the landowner! The effect is evident. The means of great
improvement are capable of being exercised by the agricultu-
rist; he has the knowledge, the will, and in numerous instances
the requisite capital ; hut as a tenant farmer he has no ade-
quate security, and the improvements are consequently not
effected. The evil of this want of protection is evident in se-
veral ways, all tending to the same unhappy results, because
they retard that growth of supply which is indispensable to
national security. I am, Sir, yours,
Cheshire, Jan. 20th, 1853.

AGRICOLA,

" THE SINGULAR EXHIBITION AT ST. ANNE'S

To the EDITOR of the LIVERPOOL STANDARD.
SIRS In reply to a paragraph in your last publication, en-
titled "Singular Exhibition at St. Anne's Church, Old Swan,"
I have to state, in the first place, that the exhibition, if it may
be so called, was not singular, but plural. Secondly, there was
neither three nor four Irishmen, but only one present. There
was also one Englishman, your humble servant, with two wo-
men and two infants, a boy, and two girls; in all, nine in-
dividuals. Thirdly, they were not under the impression that
they were in a " Romish mass house." Fourthly, they didnot
approach the communion rails in front of the communion
table, nor did they commence a series of external evidences
of devotion. Again, the incumbent was not at his reading
desk; and, I am prepared to prove there was no intrusion
committed by any one of the party. I think there was no
delay before the party were removed, and though one police-
man was sent for, he was too late to be of any service, though
it was quite unnecessry to call 'him, as we considered ourselves
dutiful members of the church. On arriving at the church,
we entered, without delay, pew No. 44, one of three shown to
us by the sexton. Soon after being seated, the sexton came to
me and stated that the individuals with me could not remain, but
uponl
that I might. I informed him that " they. were with me and
I with them." He replied that a party had." engaged the pew
for the morning," whereupon
himselfu withtl
ie pr
et Isieornessitblai
iftty,othte pew
another. Some of the party entered, but the
incumbent took p
ordering
were shown to
them out. A directed them to tit iu the tree seats, ito which