The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-04-05 00:00:00

GENERAL NEWS.

A FINE RIDING MARE, the property of the late Ed.
ward Boyd, Esq., Merton Hall, Newton• Stewart, died a
few days ago at the great age of 43 years.
THE ARCTIC EXPEDITION.—Letters for any of the
officers, seamen, and marines serving in any of the ships
now in the Arctic seas, will be forwarded by H.M.S.
Phoenir, if sent to the Admiralty on or before the 14th
instant.

THE " STRIKES " of working men are not confined, we
observe, to Liverpool. The Ayr papers announce that
the operative shoemakers in the West of Scotland have
turned out, and demand higher wages than their em—
ployers are willing to give. Builders have been obliged
in the same district to succumb to the wishes of their
workmen.

Amw Laa
was
FEAST.—On
entertainedaE
bAI se T
f .
e- -a feature
rne
of
ft Mon,thae dpoaucycb
al i s
public
i as
was
n week,wnae
sr
taht a
14,
tSir-
e
juice of the grape and other alcoholic stimulants had
wick.G eAor George Grey eOryTe
been dispensed with, and a staunch teetotaller in practice
and precept was invited to preside over the festivities of
the occasion, in the person of Sir Walter Trevelyan.
About 2,000 persons were present.

POLYGAMY.—Joseph Wardle was, in September, com-
mitted to Gloucester gaol, to await his trial for bigamy.
It has since been ascertained that he has married as many
as six wives, all of whom are now living ; namely, one at
Manchester, two in Staffordshire, one in the Isle of Man,
the fifth at Birmingham, and the last at Dymock. His
plan appears to have been to obtain a sum of money from
each newly-made bride, and then desert her.
AN EARTHQUAKE, the effects of which was felt along
the valley of the Usk in South Wales, to Brecon and
Crickhowell, occurred about half-past 11 o'clock on Sun-
day night week. It was preceded by a low rumbling sound,
and the shock made chairs to roll and beds to shake. A
toll-keeper, near Abergavenny, states that his bed was
first raised, and then rocked with such force that he
thought his cottage would have fallen.

SHIPBUILDING ON THE WEAR.—During the past week
four very fine vessels have been launched in Sunderland.
One of these vessels, the Kangaroo, is, in nautical par-
lance, "to lick everything afloat." She is for the Aus-
tralian trade. It is stated that she has been brought to a
sharper point than any other merchantman hitherto built
in Sunderland. The other three vessels are—an East
Indiaman, an Australian trader, and a vessel for the Me-
diterranean trade.

STRIKE OF AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS.—On Mon-
day, last week, the agricultural labourers of Chipping
Warden, a village near Banbury, struck work. The men
have been paid Ss. per week for working from 7 to half-
past 5 o'clock. The masters required them from Monday
last to work from half-past 6 to a quarter to 6, for which
they proposed to pay them 9s per week, being an advance
of ls. The men refused the terms, and determined to
hold out in a body. The farmers are determined to have
their proposal acceded to, if they advance the pay.
ANOTHER CHURCH BURNT. —On Saturday week
another church was destroyed by fire, that of St. Hilary,
near Penzance, so far as can be ascertained, from the
neglect or rather carelessness of the sexton on Good Fri-
day. who, scraping out the red-hut cinders, left them
unheeded close to a supply of coal, which speedily ignited..
The conflazration was first observed about three o'clock
in the morning, and at that time had made very consider-
able progress, for at four o'clock, or a quarter past, the
whole of the roof had fallen in.

WHOLESALE PAUPERISM.—On Tuesday an extraordi-
nary scene presented itself at St. Pancras workhouse,
nearly two hundred families demanding admission. It
appears that the paving-board resolved to carry out the
powers of their act of parliament, and cause the removal
of all the stalls which have for the last quarter of a century
occupied the western side of Tottenham-court-road. The
requisite notice to the stallkeepers having expired, they
were removed on Monday. The entire staff of relieving-
officers were engaged the whole day in affording temporary.
relief, pending inquiry into the cases.

LAW REFORM.-It is said that the Lord Chancellor's
scheme for the revision of the statutes is fourfold. He
intends, first, to expunge from the statute-book every
enactment which has either expired, or become obsolete,.
or been repealed, so that it may be known with certainty
what portion of the written law is still in force; secondly,
to classify the existing enactments according to the par-
ticular subjects to which they relate ; thirdly, to con-
solidate into sirgle acts the disjecta membra thus classi.
fled, and, in so doing, to simplify their language, to
strike out superfluir es, to remove inconsistencies, and to
introduce, as far as possible, a systematic arrangement ;
and fourthly, to devise some machinery for correcting the
errors of future legislation.

CLEOPATRA'S N EEDLE.—Mr. Anderson, a director of
the Crystal Palace Company, has been disappointed in his
attempt to obtain Cleopatra's needle, it appearing now
that the needle is actually built into a part of the sea wall
and ramparts forming the fortification of the city of Alex-
andria, and to pull down so much of the fortification as
would be required to disinter the obelisk, and to launch
it, and afterwards to rebuild the wall, would not only
occupy a great space of time, but must involve a consider-
able amount of expense not originally anticipated. In
addition to these circumstances, it is stated that the Vice-
roy himself has a very strong objection to a breach of such
a nature being made or left open for any time in the pre-
sent state of European politics.

MERCHANT SHIPPING BILL.—The Government bill to
amend various laws relating to merchant shipping has just
been printed. It extends to 63 clauses on several
matters connected with the merchant service. There is
an analysis to the bill, showing that it has reference to
light and other dues on shipping, to the formation of
" the Mercantile Marine Fund," to manning and vo-
lunteering into the navy, desertion, &c. There is a
clause by which it is declared expedient to give facilities
for obtaining seamen in the Australian colonies. It is
proposed to enact that contracts may be made with natives
in India, under certain conditions, binding them to go to
Australia, and thence to serve in other ships in the united
kingdom. The new law is to be called "The Merchant
Shipping Law Amendment Act, 1853." It is proposed
that it shall take effect on the Ist of August next.

A MAN WITH MORE THAN FIVE WIVES !—An Irish
paper gives a sketch of one Robert John Hawthorn Coch-
rane, alias Harbison, who pleaded guilty to the charge of
bigamy and perjury at the last Armagh assizes :—" He
was married about eight years since to his first wife, Alice
Whitten, with whom he remained about two years. He
then married a girl named Moore, with whom he lived
for a short time, leaving her minus any valuables she
possessed ; and, a short time after, formed another ma-
trimonial alliance with a girl in Ayr. His first wife went
to Ayr and gave information, when he was indicted for
bigamy at the next assizes of Ayr, to which he pleaded
guilty, and got twelve months' imprisonment. The next
marriage of his known of was with a very respectable girl
in the neighbourhood of Rathfriland, to whom he was
married in the registrar's office, Banbridge, in July last.
He then got hold of about £2O, with which he decamped,
taking with him a very young and decent farmer's
daughter in that neighbourhood. He was pursued by her
friends, and overtaken in Liverpool, when she was rescued
from him, and sent off to America. He again returned
to Ireland, to pursue his old trade, and his next exploit
was that he courted a girl in Markethill, young and re-
spectable, and was married to her in December last, in
Armagh church. He was then indicted for bigamy and
perjury, to both of which indictments he pleaded guilty,
and got the severe (?) sentence of fifteen months' im-
prisonment, not with hard labour, for both crimes.

A POSTAL DELUGE.—ApsIey-house was closed on
Saturday week, to the further admission of visitors, who
have for so long a time been admitted to view the old
dispatch-box, on which the records of so many battles
had been written, and the unostentatious bed on which
the great Duke so long took his nightly rest. More than
150,000 persons, of widely varying social ranks, have
passed through the rooms without confusion, and without
a shadow of crowding. Much of this satisfactory result is
owing to Mr. Mitchell's admirable arrangements. The
first announcement of the public opening of Apsley-
house, with the direction to appl y to Mr. Mitchell,
brought down a perfect avalanche of letters upon 33, Old
Bond-street. The postman came staggering beneath the
burden, and the officials sent in all haste to ascertain
what extraordinary correspondence Mr. Mitchell had
entered into. Due explanations having been given, an
extra postman was at once put on between St. Martin's-
le-Grand and Bond-street, and so vigorously did he per-
form his duties, that, in the course of a week, he poured
in upwards of 50,000 enveloped applications. An office
directly devoted to the Apsley.house business was at
once opened, and a staff of clerks forthwith set to work.
In a day or two, however, it became evident that a great
proportion of the applicants could not be attended to.
Their letters were, nevertheless, received, duly opened,
folded, neatly docketed with name and date, and tied up
in closely squeezed bundles of five hundred each—
bundles which, it is needless to say, accumulated in a far
greater proportion than the daily batches of tickets issued
could clear away. The simple principle observed in dis-
tributing the orders was that of first come first served,
and the plan of dispersing the periods of admission by
half-hours over the day was at once novel, ingenious,
and useful.

A SIGNIFICANT FACT.—One of the most important
facts connected with the present age is the unparalleled
increase of the Anglo-Saxon race in numbers, wealth,
and influence, within the last 200 years. In the early
part of the 17th century, England, Wales, and Scotland
numbered only about 6,000,000, and as a nation was
classed amongst the second-rate powers of Europe. Now,
at the present time, the English language is
upwards of 60,000,000, scattered over every island and
continent of the earth. Great Britain now stands. first in
the order of nations, holding territory and swaying power
eh thus
discoveriesgrow n
in powerfulthe arts
rntds
whahso s
in every quarter of the globe, sending forth her fleets of
merchant ships, which encircle the ocean with her corn.
stable in a comparative short period, we trace its. surpass-
merce. And
measure to the work of time, aided
ing progress in a great.
These powers, which have done so much
and guided by the inventive genius and persevering
energy energy inherent
and sciences and . mechanical. appliances have been
valuable auxiliaries in achieving that greatness which be-
longs to her.
for Britain, were not
allowed silently and unobtrusively
to take their places in the category of the inventions and
discoveries
.of the nations, without being tested by that
severe scrutiny which public o inionexercises as its right, in
proving whether they are worthyP of its regard. A case
in point is. that of the Glenfield Patent Starch, an article
while
i n heßrrsitoanins,
of domestic utility now enjoying the universal favour of
the people. When the inventor first introduced it to the
public notice, it was maligned and run down by interested
parties to a very great extent, as unworthy of the public
patronage ; but the manufacturer, being aware of the fact
that its qualities excelled those of any other Starch in the
market, and unheeding the rude outcry raised against it,
persevered in laying its merits before the ladies of Britain,
and now, after a few years industrious exertion, he is re-
warded by seeing it nearly universally used by the public
throughout the kingdom, and large shipments,of it -almost
daily exported to our colonies, and other countries Mier°
the English language has extended. A trial from those
who have not had the pleasure of testing its qualities is
enough to ensure its constant use in their laundries, while
no trouble will be felt in procuring it, as almost all the
grocers, druggists, &c., in this, as well as In all other
towns in the kingdom, keep it constantly on Rttl@, PO
great is the increasing demand for it.