The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-03-15 00:00:00

POLICE CO N URT.-:ESTERDAY,

COMMITMENTS.—A man named John Armstrong, a
car driver, in the employ of Mr. Jib Shufflebottom.
George-street, was yesterday committed to take his trial
at the Sessions, charged with obtaining the sum of £3
under false pretences, representing that Mrs
tom had sent him for the money

Shuffiabot-

ANN MILLS was coromitteCl for trial, charged with
stealing 111 yards of Alpaca, from the shop of Mr.
George Williams, in Great George Street. She took the

goods from the slion door, and was seen by a
ing to drop them from under her cloak.

erson pass-

ST. JOHN'S CHURCH RAGGED SCHOOLS
HODSON-STREET.
To the EDITOR of the LIVERPOOL STANDARD
a,—ln a tabular statement of the attendance at the von

places of public worship in Liverpool, together with the schools
in connection therewith, published in the Mercury of the 25th

of February last, the number of children attending

Church Ragged Schools, Hods

only about one-,

,he real number, whic

lion on

13ooKs

THE BREEZE OF SPRING.

Dull winter hastens to be gone,
He's disappearing fast;
The sunny hours are coming on,
The stormy time is past.
The ice no longer binds the Till,

Nor snows their mantle fling.
k and barren hill

For every t

1 hear its music in the wood,

s along the vale,

where meiflowers in beauty
r lingers in the dare;
pon the primrose banks,

And rests its merry wing;
The drooping snowdrop kindly thanks
The western breeze of Spring.

well it knows where violets grow
In the lone and shady lane;
bids its sweet, blue fav'rites blow,
And onward speeds again.

It wakes the
And they t

,ivers of the field,

flowers their sweetest

cent the

breeze c

The blackbird, from t
Renews his lively strain
On topmost branches stands the t
And times his throat amain:

hawthorn bus'

At close of evening calm and mild,
He makes the forest ring
With native woodnotes, clear and wild.
He loves the breeze of Spring,

The robin leaves his winter friends

For hedge-rows far away—
Above his mossy nest he ben
And pipes his plaintive lay

prising w

merry mounting;
s all his mizlit till

A hundred voices fill the air,
The sun shines warmly down

soul•enlivenii

g:—R. Townie

LITERATURE.

FOR REVIEW, &C,

New Prints, Music, &c.

ft at Mr. C. Mitchell's, Red.

sed " to the Editc

ie LIVERPOOL STANDARD," IV

they will be forwarde

and rec

attention

The Cruise of the Challenger, Life-boat, and Voyage
from Liverpool to London.—London : William

Pickering.

This smartly written publication runs full tilt
against the popular error, that boats which can be
upset, swamped, or water-logged by any contingen-
cies of winds or waves in the open seas, are worthy
the name of Life-boats. " A Life-boat," say the
authors, " should be so constructed as to take care
of itself, no contingencies of winds or waves should
be able to affect it." The most perfect principle
of buoyancy known, they assert, is displayed in
Colonel Blanchard's bridge pontoons ; and on this
principle their tubular boat, " The Challenger,"
was built. To a detail of her advantages, and
a relation of her exploits, the present book is
dedicated. None have dared to accept her chal-
lenges. None have dared, like her, to take
eighty persons on their side, and to let sixty rush
and jump on board at once; to anchor broadside on,
in a heavy surf; to tow before a gale of wind, with sixty
fathoms cable ; to beach on a lee shore through
a heavy surf, with one person on board to every
foot in length ; land the passengers, and pull off
again. As many of our readers know, she is a
double boat, with a grated deck, on which her crew
are carried high and dry. The buoyant principle is
below them, and is hermetically sealed. "Life-
ships or steamers, of the largest size, as well as the
smallest boats, can be constructed on this principle,
and at a considerable diminution of expense.
Vessels of the first-class might sail over sand-banks,
in a few feet water, and enter shallow ports, even
Tun ashore in sandy bays with safety."
The account of the cruise of the Challenger from
Liverpool to London, is written with great vivacity;
and even the details of the journey from Manchester,
where the boat was constructed, to the Mersey are
not destitute of interest. While in the Mersey, Mr.
Richardson's crew played some pretty tricks on the
unsophisticated natives :

A FRENCH INVASION

Late in the evening we sailed for Lytham, and had
some difficulty in threading our way through the shoals,
which tested Sam Johnson's skill and knowledge. It
was dark and foggy when we arrived at Lytham, still there
were a great many people on the shore, and evidently
alarmed at our novel, and sudden appearance ; this
causing amusement, we hailed them in French ; and fired
our brass swivel gun ; the effect was prodigious, all fled
like a flock of frightened sheep, shouting that a French
logger had landed. In the morning, also, when approach..
ing Southport, a fishing-boat with an immense lug-sail
bore down for us, and, when nearly alongside, lowered
their lug, and lay to to observe us ; we then fired our gun
and steered for them, when with hurried haste they
hoisted their lug, and put before the wind ; but, observ-
ing us laughing, soon after returned, declaring that they
could not conceive what we were.

These occurrences gave us the idea of procuring masks,
which afterwards, in our voyage round the coast of Wales,
caused such terror and amusement.

With the fate of the unfortunate Rhyl boat
fresh in his memory, no one can peruse the Messrs.
Richardson's recital of their voyage without the
deepest interest. Theirs was decidedly one of the
most gallant deeds of modern days ; and while their
log reads like a romance, it will be deemed still more
precious as an assurance that a life-boat has at
length been provided which will, doubtless, be the
means of averting many calamities at sea. We
heartily wish the public-spirited inventors that suc-
cess which they so well deserve, but which a suspi-
cious and eccentric public are so frequently un-
willing to accord.