The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-10-15 00:00:00

)13R PORTFOLIO.—No.

istable minds are

of which they are more afraid,

" and yet what is this court

powers are so omnipo-

neral sentiment—the concur-

4e number. And why is this court

;its decrees so profoundly reve-
to the important results which it

.ctual rewards it can bestow, or

lict—but to the mere moral power
whence, we would ask, is this
would seem to be considera-
t place, we find that the decisions

a there

iything but uniform ; nay, that

ng that its very rule of right

ad dishonourable, is different in dif-
a reason of fact which ought greatly
l weight of its authority ; but there

)nstitution—

inherent in its very

)1 e to diminish the terror of its

t it is composed of an infinite
e judgment, separately and indi-
•ee to maintain the least possible

low can so many cyphers, at the

tity, make up a gross total—
e—so many fallibles, as they

.esult in one infallible

There

condition of society in which this common

n the world more than common error
e. In some savage tribes—(we believe
origines of Australia)—there is a want
.1 as to the existence of deity ; and in

mon sense so teems with superstitions

that it exercises a power, or rather a

general happiness—retains

tarbarism, and trains them in habits which ren-
xus and degraded in the eyes of civilised nations.
, an uninstructed, uninformed, and unenlight-
t sense, which constantly misjudges and mis-
enlightened one, which judges rightly, leads
;ht way, and imparts to the general character

sobriety, and what we

This, then, is a most im-

ment, and happy are the people

source, and how is it
We Englishmen are in the habit of considering
a of this invaluable possession has fallen to our
ur national character is distinguished beyond
r people by a plain, unadorned, sound, yet

amon sense, and that we give proof
y imaginable shape and form. We

participate in the national feel-

and join in the boast, for we think it is

and our inquiry now is merely as to the source
proud a distinction. Does it come, then,

Dur cloudy sli

summer

our storms winters, our

'mom fog, and mist, and rain ?

se obstacles overcome—hindrances sur-
the serenity nor the elasticity which
of mind is an attribute of our clime, and
Ives that mind does not slumber here.
ruly-English poet, Cowper, sung on this

se, yet Nature here

deals out the year.
the Spring, and often pours
on Summer's drooping flowers;
ours quench Autumnal beams,
attending, curl the streams ;
;e their harvest,ply the fork

le toil, and shiver at their work

rigour, for leis good designed,
rfav'rite man of all mankind.
be neither climate, nor parallel of latitude

ppy result, perhaps it is organization,
lent, or some other physical instru-
? We have visited the catacombs of
, and sundry other well-stored theatres
e examined many skulls in our day, and
ire to dogmatise on this point; we will just
the position that he must be a very wise
natomist indeed, who will pronounce with all the
nd familiarity of Hamlet's grave-digger, that here

:rman—here that of a Spaniard ; that this
and this an Englishman's. On this point

ler remark ; but, as to temperament,
loss to know how it should produce

though we have some idea that common

It exercise a very considerable control over tem-

a you communicate common sense by diet?
eef and porter, in sausage and Rhenish ? or

sort we must leave to physiologists ; we
s quite incapable of offering any feasible

teeming it ; we can only say that in none of
parately, nor in all of them put together, are
)ver any causation at all capable of accounting

ult of whose reality we feel so perfectly sure. On
find there is no doubt whatever that the true source
evalent good sense, which is the glorious charac_
our country, is to be found in the principles dif-
-11 of wisdom set less, by our national
words, that a sound Christianity is the

.e fountain of a sound, rational,

I common sense

ntroduced many more good things into
world is not willing to give it credit for,
ads and tens of thousands who reap the
owledging the hand which deals out the

.re thous

ire many, a vast many, who refuse to acknow-
hs of Christianity, who yet owe all they are
the respectability they enjoy in the world, to
gruent of its precepts and the adoption of its
Iby themselves as others. Put out the light
and we know not at what vestal lamp the
of mankind is to relume its taper. If some
•stition be the religion of the people, think

till remain an o'ermastering common

in all ordinary secular matters to overcome
7 ? The supposition is false and delusive : a
corrupts the court—that court of which we
vain will you look for equity, truth, or justice

There is no instance of any such thing
sere mockery to talk of the good com-

,erstitious populace ; they can constitute

Iheying with my wind when I do blow,
nd yielding to another when it blows,
ommanded always by the greater gust.
tandard to regulate their conduct—nei-
to steer by ; and the will of some

2or compa

levitably rules the whole.
.rd to a people who have emancipated themselves
mmels not only of what we call superstition, but

the record of history leaves us nothing to re-
mire in what it tells us of their common sense.

s of reason was enthroned among our Gal-
mrs, their common sense seemed absolutely and
to forsake them, or took so sanguinary a turn that
as safe either in the capital or the depart-
" motley was then the only wear " ; but it
sprinkled with the blood of perpetual and
Ind rendered mirthful only by the

ecapitations

innumerable victims. Common sense of this sort
;ryes no other name than that of common madness.

e say pause, and consider,

ADROIT ROBBERY

(From L'Audiene.)
nd respectable looking femme de chambre,
?me grace parfaite the white cambric apron of
calling, entered the shop of a jeweller in the

)enis. "Monsieur," said she to the jeweller,
la Baronne de V- will require her jewels to-
shall bring them back again to you after she has
this evening, that you may change that stone
bjected to, according to the directions which you

tact had the evening previously
e V- a parure de diamans, in
wee some slight alteration made, with-
delivered the casket to the maiden, who took
Insuspected of trick or fraud. But imagine
`he hones boutiquier, when in the afternoon
re- drives up in her carriage to inquire
ltion has been made. " Madame must be
'inpossible," replies the jeweller, " as I
-.s morning by her femme de chambre, who
sly to fetch them." " 'What is this I hear ?"
" I sent no person for them." " Ma-
It
ute cambric apron, with an air de:gage:" "My
arnbre is mote than 30, and has not quitted the

aed to la

s vous assurer

s the baroness

as I am roe, exclaims the jeweller ; and this
In a state bordering on dispair he runs
4missaire de Police, and in passing the shop of a
in his own line of business, he sees coming out of

venom he recognizes as the heroine of the cambric
air dP-gage". He attempted to seize her, bnt in his
eized the basket instead of her arm, and the adroit
pped her arm from the handle and was off like a
rig the basket in the hands of the stupefied jeweller.
inside, however, and, to his inexpressible joy, found
safe and sound.

ly appeared that the interesting little thief had
of the day been trying to dispose of her booty
ellers in the neighbourhood, and was just corn-
makinc, an unsuccessful attempt of the kind,
• her dupe ; and the latter was so overjoyed at
ieved from his mental anxiety that he protested
:e should not make any attempt at discovering

was re-
ATioN. A frightful
ae House of Detention crime '
reprimand for
comrades
One of the prisoners athErses, near
had received a severe re' who was noted
conceived
ihich interdicts secret correspondence
s. Suspecting two or three of his ence be-
led" upon him, the wretched man rpono
2ct of vengeance. Armed with a shar
:ecured in a workshop attached to the praiiii;
until one of his unfortunate comrades passed
he plunged the instrument into his breast,
al wound. He then withdrew the bloody
ediately afterwards threw himself on a se..l
m he struck with the utmost fury, in-
ve terrible blows. Excited almost to
Ad crime, he next fell upon one of the
good fortune to escape; and it was with
that he was at last secured and put in
wounded men expired, the one in-
, .ue other on the following morning, in the
',most horrible sufferings. The murderer, who
ee,k.„._ , Ativ
Reined in one of the dungeons attached to the
1 Trredt glit'knaosted no remorse whatever, but expressed his
fi imrt tlAt:swing made other victitus.

) had tt

C~~ . ~o s,

Both ti

-;Nk;iiali 144