The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-12-20 00:00:00

GRAND JLTNOTION RAILWAY VIADUCT.

The ceremony-of laying. the key-stone of the twentieth and
last arch of the viaduct across the valley of -the Weaver, near
'Dutton, in Cheshire; was perforated yin Friday the 2d instant,
in the presence of the directors of the 'Grand 3nuctii)ii Railway
and a numerous assemblage of gentlemen, who -were tieeotn=
panied there by Mr. Locke, the engineer to the company. The
masonic ceremony was deputed to Mr. James ileyworih; one
of the directors, and, after- the'stone had beer: laid into the place
assigned for it. amulet the enthusiastic cheers of the assemblage
and the -workmen and the. firing of canon, Mi. Hey worth
dexterously applied.tbe trowel and the mortar, and then address-
ed the company in a: very eloquent speech of considerable
length, and peculiarly well and happily adapted to the various
circumstances connected with this -interesting event; he was
followed by an able speech from Mr.'Locke, which afforded the
highest gratification upon his announcing that, through the
whole progress of this tupendons
.work, neither a life nor a
limb had been lost, winch reflects greet credit upon the arrange- •
ments of the resident engineer, Mr. Erriugton, and Mr. Betts
and his son; the-agents of Mr. Wintosh, the contractor for the
work. The Rev. Mr. Stanhope.conciluded with a very feeling
address in allusion to the'exennilary.i.onduct of the workmen_
employed, and in the evening the viaduct was illuminated with
torches, and the operatives tiere regaled with a bountiful supper
and ample allowance of ale. . .
This gigantic structure, which is now so' near its completion.
appears to he less known to the public than-the grandeur of the
design and the magnitieence of the undertaking merits, and it
will scarcely be believed that a work or this extent and of such
superiority in style and architecture, far exceeding inl.m;ignitude
anything of the kind yet' accomplished in this country, or per-
haps in Europe, not even excaotiog the splendid hi idge over the
Menai Straus in Wales, should have attracted su little notice
hither to.

The viaduct is of the Gothic order, formeA of red stone pro-
cure+ from the neighle of Bolton and Uuncorn ; it con-
sists•of twenty.arthes of sixty feet span and sixty feet in height,
,and the hattlemepts, when finished, will add twelve feet more
"to the height.;. and the ‘vlio;e length is. 1,490. Net; .700,01. X!
square feet .4 stone have been used in the work, and it will be
completeti•in.less than eighteen mouths from the .thhe of its
consmencement, and at an expense of £50,000, being considera-
ably under t•he •ot tat ate. " ••• • •
It will enable our readers in this neighbourhood to form some
idea of the Magnittide:of this greal work when we, inform them
t hat its length, is ,equal to the distanCe From st. George's Church,
in Castle-street,- to- the Postoftice. in Church-street, and. the
height of the arches equal to our loftiest warehouses... The view
from the viaduct is exceeding picturesque, comprehending an
extensi've vahl.ry 'foritilleS in every direction, variegated ,vith
winding' stre-atn, and iting,tlnp:to the horizon wills rich wood-
lands.

As the vittiketonay be approached by moot,: of a steam-boat,
direct front Liverpotd up the •river.tWeaver, it. 00 ,I.(tubt
be a favourite vfateit c.xetsisittn during the ensuing sumuter;
and, fitr those who wish to visit it with greater expedition, as
tho (Alt ire levAth_oftbegrand ..inoction-itailay to Birtninghant
is no, decided fo liepencil itn the Ist of June next, a sight of
this tine itieee of workmant4l4:,tuhy be then obtained iu little
inure than an hour frotn,Liverpnol.

LOSS AND i.q;:coyEß y OF A BANKER'S PARCEL:

Some accounts were lately published relating to the loss of a
parcel belonging to the Northern. and Central Bank of Eng-
land, whir' were, in many important particulars, erroneous.
The following• statement will be found to be correct

On Tuesday morning, the sth instant, Mr. Evans, the ma-
nager of the head office in Manchester, arrived in town by mail,
having with him a parcel containing about £96,(X10 in good bills,
I:5,000 in Bank of England notes, £4OO in the notes of country
bankers, and E,10,(1(X) in American and other securities. The
parcel was placed in a crimson bag and locked. The bag Mr.
Evans took with hint in a cab from the new Post-office to St.
Paul's Coffee-house. The bag, with its contents, was lost, but
the loss was fortunately discovered before daylight, and was im-
mediately made known to Mr. Braidley, one of the directors,
who happened at the time to be in London. Ininn!Oiate steps
were taken by Mr. Braidley and Mr. Evans to recover the pro-
perty; their first efforts,' however, were unavailing-, and Forres-
ter, was consulted. Mr. Braidley and Mr. Evans thought of
offering a high'reward for the recovery of the parcel; but, by
the judicious advice of Forrester, it was determined to offer try
handbill a reward of £lO imly for the delivery' of a crimson hair,
describing it, and the manner of its being lost, at St. Paul's
Coffee-house, no mention of banker's parcel or banker's office,
or any idea of the value of the parcel being given. The bug
was found by the horsekeeper, in the stable-yard, some hours
titer the citionao had.put up his horse, and gone to bed, his duty
being night•wmk; arid it was thrown by the finder under souse
stray; ii a vacant stall. When the cabman went-to take out
hislot se again, the horsekeeper told hint of the booty, and they
together determined to keep the bag the three days allowed by
law, and then, if no reward was offered, to take it to Somerset
House. Two men then knew of the loss, and it could not be
wrongly appropriated by either without their joint ptivity. The
cabinets had taken his fare out of his turn, and was coutplaint
of by the cai,nau.whose turn he had taken, as he repassed- Ifse
stood near the Postoffice ; and the former replied, " Oh, it was
no great catch, for I only got a shilling fur taking a gentleman
to St. Paul's Coffee-house. It. happened that one of the hand-r
bills fell into the hands of the disappointed cabman, who, Itut-
ting things together,•eorieluded that it related to,his rival.of the
morning, and forthwith went. to hint with the neWs, and finally
a haigain was struck, that the two cabmen ar4l the hossekeeper
should share the rewind among them, and the parcel Wilt, deli-
vered at St. Paul's Coffee-house, by the three ouch about
o'clock in the evening, tieing within thirteen how's di, the
' tithe k
when the, pastel was .lost.:
• It is 'right its itretitiuu that £lO was-given to each of the three
men who aided the speedy delivery of the parcel to its owneis.
In the wore', of the day, when the loss was made known, ru-
tnour. magnified the disaster. as far as the result to the hank
was concerned, and on Wednesday its credit beeatne exceed-
ingly shakt,n in quarters vitally imis,irtant to its stability anti
A consultation avon the affair .lin,ne,qately took
;place hetween the principal London agents and the chief tug.
,ttagerin London, when an int,intation was conveyed to bet to
,ttAi“ptiowing effect :—That if they .were.pressed. the hank of
lt.ngland w-as . ready to advance these any sum. to cati v them
over their
,tem pnratv difficulties. The otler of the bank of
i'mgland was finally accepted, and the don' ts and fears occa-
sioned by the rumour soon subsided,

THINGS [N .St•a.a'cic Cnl.OUl2S.—,Wt!hove all either seen or
read of that anomalous creature, a white blackbird. Perhaps
or a morning too, gentle reader,. after sitting pp too late on the
previous night. y.,u may have been tolddhat -the white of your
eve was red, and all this, too, Without starting. A native of
Paddy-land, asked a neighbour if he had ever seen led black-
berries ? "To be sure I have," said Pat, bladiberries are
red when they are green !" Logan,
WORK rNG Or THg B AtLoT.—A periodical writer describes
the following effect of the Ballot in'Ainerica:—" I have seen
the Ballot in Amedea: and I tell you that if it would be here a
juggle, it is there a jest ; if here it would be a trick on public
Ironesty, there it is an insult to common understanding. It has
two uses: one is, that it allows the candidate to bribe to any ex-
tent he likes, without tear of being brought to book afterwards
fur his ,bad votes; the other is, that it allows men who are too
drunk to know their right hand., from their left, to give their
voles at the hustings. I have seen it at New York, at Boston,
at Baltitnore, and at the head-quarters of republicanism. I have
seen `free citizens.' as they caß themselves, carried to the poll,
en dingx,,,i with brandy and opium, that they knew no more of
the candidate than of the man in the moon : that they could no
more speak English than one of the UnknownTougues,' and
no more walk, than if they h4d'been born without legs : I have
seen such fellows actually carried in omen's erms to the htfstinos
I have seen the balloting ticket put into their hands when they
could-nut dictinguish black 'ruin white: I have seen the ticket:a
of a Particular eandidat4 potred'out in heaps upon the voters,
and ecelv MAW,' vfite a 5 nwill known in this way beforehand as
if-it hod 'been pulOished lkthe common crier. ,Lust: before I
left America, I was at ille-ihdadeltihin election. rhe Whole city
was in from on:?, wad to tlre,other ; inouts peaaided the
.Itreets, 111 Ut (le( to every mine.; awl. this
was no elialice`q,arrMokke inob were reg,olatlY set in motion
hr the eommittecq. ;-k ,i,hens firing in: streets., siiw
to !;r a! committee -hooe the Li r
storm Iti +l were beaten off and that. with nil
of c .1.,;(041.11iji,,,w4s none Of 'your child: S play of
bo,„4„,ui, f 1!g,414,
.61.0 on iiirair of bullet and.bayonet.
F1,a.114;;:tbe,?,,v r,ecurn CA to the iliarge, and burnt down the house
anVP'l.r. 1:3."7.M; foe Er!,edoi,!l..!,