The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-01-20 00:00:00

VARIETIES.

There are 897 varieties of apples, 442 of pears, 149 of
gooseberries, 127 of plums, 99 of grapes, and 80 of cherries.
THE FIRST POLYGLOTT BIBLE.—The celebrated Com -
plutensian Polyglott was printed at Alcala de Henarez, in
New Castile, the ancient name of which city, when a
Roman colony, was Complutum. It was the first Poly-
_ .

glott Bible ever printed, and cost the Cardinal Ximenes
250,000 ducats. The impression was limited to 600
copies, three of which were struck off on vellum ; one of
these was deposited in the royal library at Madrid; a
second in the royal library at Turin ; and the third, sup-
posed to have belonged to the Cardinal himself, after
passing through various hands, was purchased at the sale
of Signor Pinelli's library in 1739, for the late Count
M'Carthy, of Toulouse, for £4BO. On the sale of this
nobleman's li rary at Paris, in 1817, it was bought by
George Hibbert, Esq., of Portland-place, London, for
16,000 francs, or £640.

DANGEROUS CONDITION OF THE AMERICAN SLAVE
STATES.—In order to see the bed of clay containing the
bones of the mastodon, at Hayner's Bridge, it was neces-
sary for me to be on the ground by daybreak at low tide.
With this view, I left Savannah in the middle of the
night. The owner of the property kindly lent me his
black servant, as a guide, and I found him provided with
a passport, without which no slave can go out after dusk.
The exact streets through which he was to pass in his way
to me were prescribed ; and had he strayed from this
route he might have been committed to the guard-house.
These and other precautionary regulations, equally irk-
some to the slaves and their masters, are said to have be-
come necessary after an insurrection brought on by aboli-
tionist missioners, who are spoken of here in precisely the
same tone as incendiaries or beasts of prey, whom it
would be meritorious to shoot or hang. In this savage
and determined spirit, I heard some planters speak who
were mild in their manners, and evidently indulgent to
their slaves. Nearly half the entire population of this
state are of the coloured race, who are said to be as ex-
citable as they are ignorant. Many proprietors live with
their wives and children quite isolated, in the midst of
the slaves ; so that the danger of any popular movement
is truly appa Wade's Review.
RUMOUR AND CALUMNY.—The report of the day is
to calumny, what the prick of a pin is to the stab of a po-
niard ; it is as the passing breeze to the raging hurricane,
as the insect to the reptile, as the wealth of poverty to the
poverty of wealth. Hearken not, it has no voice; gaze
not, it possesses no form. But it glides into the words,
into the glance of others ; there it penetrates, there it
melts; with honey upon its lips, it carries poison at the
heart. Base and cowardly as it may be, calumny never
cringes. It has feet that walk, a body which moves for-
ward, a hideous head which it sometimes rears aloft, a dart
which one can at least discern when it strikes, or when it
has stricken. But the report of the day is an impercepti-
ble hornet floating unnoticed in the air above us ; less than
it is an atom ; still less again an echo, a fluid sound which
enters your ear, and mingles with your thoughts, unsus-
pected, unseen, unfelt. Calumny bites you, the venom
remains ; but for this there is a cure, the sting can be ex-
tracted. But the report of the day tickles rather than
wounds. It is an itching, without pain at first, but which,
when you irritate, inflames and becomes a sore. Calumny
!s a pain, a grievance ; you can despise or conquer it ; it
is an enemy, you can contend with it. But the report of
the day—where are you to find it? Every where when
you wish to hear it : no where if you desire to seize upon
it. The former affirms, the latter always doubts. The
first lacerates, the second strangles ; impossible is it for
you even to utter a cry. Calumny has its martyrs ; the
report of the day has but victims. Protean mocker, it
defies even your hatred, for should it by chance permit it-
self to be seen, it is even through a smile. Thus, a man
accosts you ; should he be an enemy, fear him ; if a friend
mistrust him.—Literary Aspirant Magazine.

EDUCATION OF THE BOSTONIANS.—First, there is 110
class in want or extreme poverty here, partly because the
facility of emigrating to,the west, for those who are with-
out employment, is so great; and also, in part, from the
check to improvident marriages, created by the :thigh
standard of living to which the lowest work-people aspire
—a standard which education is raising higher and higher
from day to day. Secondly, I have often heard politici-
ans of opposite parties declare, that there is no safety for
the republic, now that the electoral suffrage has been so
much extended, unless every exertion is made to raise the
moral and intellectual condition of the masses. The fear
entertained by the rich of the dangers of ignorance, is
the only good result which I could discover tending to
counterbalance the enormous preponderance of evil aris-
ing in the United States from so near an approach to
universal suffrage. Thirdly, the political and social equa-
lity of all religious sects—a blessing which the new Eng-
landers do not owe to the American revolution, for it was
fu'ly recognized and enjoyed under the supremacy of the
British crown. This equality tends to remove the great-
est stumbling-block still standing in the way of national
instruction in Great Britain, where we allow one genera-
tion after another of the lower class to grow up without
being taught good morals, good behaviour, and the know-
ledge of things useful and ornamental, because we cannot
all agree as to the precise theological doctrines in which
they are to be brought op. The religious toleration of
the different sects towards each other in Massachussetts
is, I fear, accompanied by as little Christian charity as at
home, and families are often divided, and the best rela-
tions of private life disturbed by the bitterness of secta-
rian dogmatism and jealousy ; but, politically, all sects
are ready to unite against the encroachments of any other,
and a great degree of religious freedom is enjoyed, in
consequence of there being no sect to which it is ungen-
feel to belong, no consciences sorely tempted by ambition
to conform to a more fashionable creed.— Wade's Review.
NAPOLEONS'S HOUSE AND GRAVE AT ST. HELENA.
—Since the remains of that extraordinary man were
taken away from St. Helena, there appears to exist very
little interest about his tenantless grave; and the house
which he inhabited during his exile is become no longer
an object of concern. The tomb remains as it was left by
the French. It is open, the head-stone having been
lifted away and placed aside, so as to expose to view the
cavity, which is protected from rain by the erection of a
mean-looking canvass tent over it. Its depth is about a
dozen feet, and its bottom and sides are formed of cut
stones. Near the spot lives the guardian, a withered old
woman, who will induct you into an acquaintance with
the locality. With a little stretch of the imagination one
might fancy her the genius of the place, mourning over
the violated sanctuary of the dead ; as, indeed, she has
reason to do, for many a pound has she lost by Prince
Joinville's expedition thither. Close to the tomb is the
little romantic spring, where the illustrious exile used to
repair to taste its pure crystal. A draught is given to
eexacplL.vieisoietoedr ;inanoodyifretmhearrekabheleandyego
tune, I would advise them to visit St. Helena, and drink
rfe emtyh the eraedveerrss ews hoof have
-
of the waters of Napoleon's Fountain. The moral would
cure them, if the waters should fail. The willow trees
which shaded, as it were, with the wings of peace the
hero's grave, where he should have lain for ever (a whole
isle being his fittest monument, and the surrounding ocean
his most appropriate panoply !), have been cut down, and
every morsel of their trunks, branches, and boughs, con-
verted into boxes, toys, and ornaments, mementos of
friendship or pledges of love. Such has been the destiny
of Bonaparte's tomb in the Island of St. Helena. With
respect to the house which he occupied there, it is long
since it was converted into a barn. No idea could be
formed that it had been his dwelling, were it not for the
thousands of names and numerous scraps of poetry, in
all languages, inscribed on every part of the walls. It
was, at best, but a humble building—something like an
ordinary farmhouse. It is now fast mouldering into
decay, and probably in the course of twenty years will
exist no more ; so that the time may not be far distant
when the place of the Emperor's residence, like the
country of Homer, will become a subject for controversy
among learned antiquaries.—Simmond's Col. Mag.
EFFECT OF Low RAILWAY FARES.—There is, how-
ever, another consideration respecting the expense of rail-
ways, and that relates to the terms on which they can
afford to carry the public. It has frequently been pre-
dicted that a crash would one day take place in the pro-
perty of the great lines, when more than one line was
formed between important points ; or where the common
roads, urged by necessity, had established cheap and good
means of conveyance. The result of this, it has been
said, will be to force the various railroads so far to di-
minish their rates of transit as materially to diminish the
present profits to the shareholders. This is just the
question. Under the coaching system, the cost of con-
veying each traveller was necessarily influenced by the
cost of the animal that conveyed him. An increase in the
number of travellers involved a corresponding increase in
the number of horses. For the hundred and twenty miles
between Bristol and London, on any good establishment,
at least sixty horses were required daily. The cost of
each of these, including the great loss by sicknees and
death, was nearly four shillings per day, or twelve pounds
the whole number. They ran backwards and forwards
the same stage ; and, therefore, the positive transit ex-
pense for each passenger was eight shillings for the dis-
tance. No improvement in roads or coaches could have
made it less. On the other hand, each locomotive, on
the Great Western Railway, carries with ease a hundred
and fifty passengers ; the transit cost of each of these is
not sixpence : the cost is, in fact, so small that, in reason.
ing on the subject, it may be almost directly assumed that
any increased proportion- of travellers may, without loss
to the company, be attended by a decrease precisely cor-
responding to the transit rates. When this decrease be-
comes very great, of course the actual carrying cost be-
comes of greater comparative amount, and must be con-
sidered accordingly ; but not until the transit tikes have
become a mere fraction of what they are at present. Now,
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there is no saying to what extent travelling by railroad
effect would be other than benefieral. By the very nature
of the question, people will obtain what they want at a
better and a cheaper rate, or they would not take the
trouble of sending to fetch it. Doubtless, the tradesmen
of the small towns and villages would lose much of their
custom—the result would be a migration of many of these
to the great towns, where they would learn their trade
better, and acquire, for the most part, enlarged habits of
business. It• is only to the lowest order that congrega-
tion can be an evil ; the tradesman certainly gains by it—
who but knows the petty artifices and miserable wares of
most dealers in small places : the every day necessaries of
the inhabitants will always attract to these places a supply
of tradesmen sufficient to keep the vicinity thriving and
respectable, and we want no more.—Church of England
Quarterly Review.

Jan. 20, 1846•

DROLL ADVERTISEMENTS.—There are two in ;bill
weeks Times of a laughable description ; one advertise'
for an an answer from T. S., if " still in England, of
elsewhere;" and the other offers the sale of " a donkel
that has been kept at a gentleman's seat for three yen
carrying his little family, and having a handsome 101'
on January 1, 1816," just as if they were all of one
breed—a donkey family affair !
THE ROMANCE SIN GER.—The romance singer is ip ge.
neral a man of rather more than thirty years of age, shoe/
stout, and rubicund. It is in this state that he advance;
to the pianoforte to sing of his blighted hopes, his withered
,
joys, his sunken eyes, and pale and melancholy cheek'
Possessed of a most inordinate affection for the murmur'
ing stream, the warbling bird, the sighing breeze, be ever
proposes excursions upon the water, reveries in the shadl
groves, kisses in the zephry breeze. Then, all at once b!
cries, " My poor mother ! my poor cottage !" and be
in despair, and he withers away and dies, like the floater
of the fields, but always with that fresh and rosy face vie
have before mentioned. Then he is but fifteen—he coo.;
suits the oracle of love, which 'replies to him that he islp
be loved to madness for ever. At length, the moon rises;
he is content, he is happy. Page or demoisel he ea
forth to sing under the casement of noble dame or gentle
maiden ; he performs duos with the breeze, with the vus'
tens of the lake, with the rustling leaves—with whom, 131
what does he not perform duos? Meanwhile, as sleep 'S
necessary for the tranquil soul, he reposes himself under
the shadow of some rose-tree, or under the white wings(),
some guardian angel, who watches over his repose, and
smiles upon his waing glance. What a happy life is tbse
of a romance singer ! a life strewn with flowers and false
notes, a happy life for him, but not for others.—Literary
Aspirant Magazihe.

BITING IiORSES.—I never knew an instance of a bit'
ing horse being cured of the vice, and for this reason, WI
never hit upon any expedient (at least I never heard of
one) that would make him, like the boy striking the wall'
hurt himself ; if we could find any mode of making 10
do so, he would be cured at once. A somewhat curions
mode of doing this appeared in the public prints, namely,
the giving such a horse a hot roast leg of mutton to seise'
Absurd as this appears, it is really not so much so s°
many things that are done towards horses ; in fact, if s
horse was addicted to biting legs of mutton, it would be s
rational and certain way of curing him of his propensity''
but as legs of mutton do not often come in his way, and
arms of men frequently do, unless he was stupid enough
not to be able to distinguish the one from the other,
fear the mutton plan could not avail much. Now if
could cover a man with a coat of mail with invisible spike
standing from it, two or three times seizing the ma?.
would, I doubt not, radically cure the horse, not of /no
disposition to bite, but of attempting to do so ; but as ire
cannot well do this, I believe a short stick, and keeping
an eye on him in approaching or quitting him, is the onlY
thing to be trusted to. Flogging him after he has bitten
will tend to increase his propensity to do it, for this reason
—it is either dislike to man or fear of him that makes hits
bite ; he seizes us to prevent our hurting him, or in ree
venge for having been hurt; consequently, punishing bins,
only confirms his fear and hate ; so probably, if we 00,.
this, and be finds he dare not bite, he tries the efficacy of
a kick.—Sporting Magazine.
LABOURS OF SIR WILLIAM FOLLETT.
even the last eighteen months, or two years,
gone down one morning at half-past nine to Westminster,
you might have heard him opening with masterly easel
clearness, and skill, a patent case, or some other impor-
tant matter, before a special jury ; and immediately after
resuming his seat, you would see him go perhaps into an
adjoining Court of Nisi Prius, in which he was engaged
as leading counsel, and where he would quickly ascertain
the exact position of the case, and effectively cross-els'
mine or re-examine a witness, or object to or support the
admissibility of evidence ;—then, if you followed his foot'
steps, you would find him in the Lord Chancellor's Court,
engaged in some equity case of great magnitude and dim'
culty. Some time afterwards he might be seen hastening
to the Privy Council—and by about two or three o'clock
at the bar of the House of Lords, and in the midst of no,
admirable reply in some great appeal or peerage case-
When the house broke up, Sir William Follett would dog
the full-bottomed wig in which alone Queen's Counsel
are allowed to appear before the Howe of Lords, and,
assuming his short wig, re-appear in either, or by turn,
in both, the Courts of Nisi Prius, where he had left trials
pending, having directed himself to be sent for if there
should arise any necessity for it. Then he would in °
very few moments calmly possess himself of the exact
state of the cause, and resume his personal conduct of it,
as effectively as if he had never quitted the court. If be`
cuuld be spared for a quarter of an hour, he would glide
out, followed by one or two counsel and attorneys, tn
hold one, or perhaps two, or even three, consultations in
cases fixed for the next day. On the Court's rising, per-
haps about six or seven o'clock, he would go home, to
swallow a hasty dinner; then hold one, two, or even
three, consultations at his own house ; read over—as none
but he could read—some briefs ; and about eleven or
twelve o'clock make his appearance in the House of
Commons, and perhaps take a leading part in some yell,
critical debate, listened to with uninterrupted silence, and
with the admiration of both friends and foes.—Blackwood.
SKETCH OF THE CORN LAWS.—A short summary of
the history of the corn-laws cannot fail at this moment
to prove interesting. The first act for regulating the
rates of duty was 13th Geo. 111., c. 48. Previous to the
passing of that act, the statutes or orders in Council on
the subject were rather dictated by circumstances,--such
as prosperous or deficient harvests,—than any intelligible
and settled principles. Usually, a greater quantity of
corn was grown than was required for our own consume:
tion. When there was a scarcity the exportation of all
kinds of grain was prohibited, and even bounties offered
for importations from abroad. When, on the other hand,
there was a glut in the country, bounties were offered for
its exportation. From an early period, certainly as early
as the reign of Henry VI., the principle of protection to
home-grown corn has been invariably maintained by our
Legislature. In the reign of James I. the importation
of foreign .wheat was prohibited when the price in the
English market was below 325. per quarter; and in the
reign of Charles 11., when the commerce of England
became more extended, it seems a complete sliding scale
was established, the duty on foreign wheat being 16s.
when the price here was 535. per quarter or under; Bs.
when between 535. and 80s. ; and when above the last
price, all imports to be allowed free. The same line of
policy may be traced pervading the whole of the succeed-
ing changes in the laws until 1773, when they assumed s
more constant and regular shape. By the act of 13 Geo.
111., the duty was 245. 3d. when wheat was under 50s-
per quarter, and when the price was at or above 515., the
duty was 6d. These rates seemed to have been fixed
with a view of keeping the price of wheat as nearly e°
possible at 50s. per quarter—which, regarding the greater
value of money in those days, would probably be about
equal to 655. the quarter at the present time. Shortly
after the commencement of the last great war, the pivot
was raised, and when the price was below 635. per quarter,
the duty on foreign wheat was 30s. 3d., falling to 7d.
when the price reached 665. These duties were advanced
soon afterwards, and in 1815 Mr. Robinson succeeded in
passing an act absolutely prohibiting the importation of
foreign wheat until the price in our markets had been, for
three consecutive months, above 80s. per quarter. Ano'
ther law was passed in 1822, prohibiting the importation
of foreign wheat when the prices were at or under 70'
per quarter, admitting it when between 70s. and 80s. at
duty of 12s. ; when between 80s. and 855., at a duty 01
ss. ; and when above 855., at a duty of ls. This Ist
however, never came into effect, as it was provided that
its operations should be delayed until wheat rose aboT6
80s. per quarter, which did not occur before another alt
ration took place. Early in 1827, Mr. Canning brought
forward a series of resolutions for the purpose of forming
them into a corn law. He proposed a sliding scale, need/
similar to the one afterwards carried by the Wellington
Cabinet, and which remained in force until Sir Robert
Peel's bill in 1842, which now regulates the admission of
foreign corn.—Mark-lane Express.
THE MODE OF GIVING COLOUR TO PORT.—Formerly'
the grapes of the Douro, having a thin skin, the wine Pro;
duced was of a fine dark ruby, which was then much au'
mired by all consumers ; but once, some dark tastelee
dye having by accident fallen into a tonel, the wine was_
pronounced so much superiar to anything that had before
been seen, that no other than dear wine would suit the
taste of the day. What was to be done ? The grapes
were pressed to the utmost, but the skins refused to give
forth any further colouring matter. The wine was or
beautiful ruby colour, but it was not black enough. It ww'''
considered that through the ignorance of the farmers tbe.
best qualities were left behind. Nothing would please
them. At last it occurred to an intelligent farmer, who
was always ready to adopt any novelty which he thought
might be advantageous, that he had seen the fermenting
juice of the grape have a very wonderful effect lan the MI:
man skin. In truth, he had observed that the Gallegn'
employed in dancing in the wine-presses went in with V.Ce
dark brown legs, and came out, though stained with o
very white and clean when washed in water. He reasoned
that if brown becoMes white, so probably will the wing
extract a black colour. He forthwith therefore c'e.spatchel
a vessel to the kingdom of the Ashantees, on the coast n
Africa, where the natives are the darkest, and she returnq
freighted with a cargo of blacks. The inhabitants up
Oporto wondered when they saw so many black o,f,
landed from the ship ; but the farmer kept his counsel
he merely observed that he thought they would work 03°,,,
cheaply in his vineyards than would Gallegos.
the vintage he closed the gates of his estate against evell-
body. People wondered what he was about : they
pected he was adulterating his wine. Now, it is well
known that the darkness of the negro race is caused L 1.%
' black substance contained in the epidermis, or the 0nt,96
skin of the body. The same is the case with the grape, a 6
I have before observed. It is also well-known that
violent fermentation of a vinous fluid will extract the CZe
lour from any substance steeped in it, as it does from t`,),
skin of the dark grape. I say no more. The fair toui,
place, the farmers tonels were approved by the cornPaPc'e,
and he sold his dark-coloured wine at a very high 131.1,0.
His Ashantees wore trousers and socks till the next
,fitile
tage. Nobody guessed the fact. How should they ?
following year the wine was of an equally good cold "0
and, as the competition for its purchase consequently wen
great. it sold for an enormous sum. The Ashantees.. c 7,
the surprise of every one, afterwards wore gloves, vai!
met the sleeves of their coats. On the third year the 10,
was even better than before, for it had more flavour
06
body. On the fourth the blacks had disappeared, no °
knew whither, though in their stead a very fine set of Per.
te,
fectly white men were seen, who could not speak Pvrr
guese. Still everybody was in the dark, till the far
sent for a fresh supply of negroes, when the truth treks
pired, and the Royal Wine Company strictly forbade to,
nefarious practice, under pain of the forfeiture of the o,
tate. They however applied for and obtained the rc")0
poly themselves, offering as an excuse that the neg.. n
•0
00
thus washed white made better Christians. Of coursel,g,
this plea, no Christian monarch could refuse their requ'oti
Now and then dreadful surmises were whispered sb°oo6
but in a despotic country, as Portugal then was, Oeiver
dared utter them aloud—only a dead black man wag°
, seen !—Lusitanian Sketches.

—Till withid
if you had