The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-04-13 00:00:00

Sir John Ross has written to the Royal Astronomic a
Society, stating that he had made proposals to the Admi-
ralty to attempt to reach the North Pole, in order to
measure an ace of the meridian. He proposes to winter
at Spitzbergen, employing his officers and crew under the
direction of the talented son of the celebrated Professor
Schumacher. At the proper season, it is Sir John's in-
tention to attempt to reach the North Pole on sledges
drawn by Swedish horses, being a modification of the plan
proposed first by Dr. Scoresby, and of which that highly
talented individual has given his most unqualified appro-

THE INCENDIARY FIRES AT SOHAM.-MrS. Munson,.
who was remanded some time back for setting fire to some
premises at Soham, Cambridgeshire, in the occupation im,
Mr. Cooper, of that place, was on Saturday last committed
for trial at the next assizes. During the examination'
which was holden at Soham, her son Josiah was anxiously
waiting outside the room to hear the result. It was found
necessary, however, to send for a witness from Mildenball;
in the interim, the Magistrates sent for Josiah, who caw°
boldly into the room, wondering, apparently, what thel
wanted him for; and his surprise and mortification rag
be imagined when Mr. Wilkin, solicitor, said that he P.:%
peared to prefer a charge against him for havino.
a stack of straw, on November 1, I°' "" "'e to
f
Mr. T. Peck: of , the property 0
several outbuildings were
dei•:tnyed ; upon which charge the prisoner stood remand'
ed until Saturday, when he was heard at the Crown bpi
Soham, and was fully committed.
FORTUNATE ESCAPE.-THE QUEEN'S HOUNDS..."
Last Wednesday was a private meeting for the Queen
hounds, at Salt Hill ; the throng of amateurs was veil
considerable. Among the recreationists from scholastic
toils and plagues was Master Woolls, of Uxbridge, who
being mounted upon an old hunter, was much disposed to
go his length. The horse, however, soon found that he
was not to take the lead, but was to fall back in the ruck;
this created restiveness, and, at last, he bolted with his
young rider, making straight running for the Great Wes'
tern Railway, then some two or three fields in the front'
the two first fences were cleared in racing pace, but the'
boy seeing he was now advancing upon the line, and that,
there was a train fast approaching, threw himself out of
his saddle without much injury. The horse, however, WO,
not to be daunted by the loss of his rider, but pursued
his straight-a-head career, charged the railway fence,
being a stiff quick hedge, and post and rail, and cleared
over the line just in time as the train came up ; one
instant and the animal must have been struck down 1)1

THE MISFORTUNE OF RICHES.—On Monday a man
named John Parfleet, living at 74, Lucretia-street, New-
cut, Lambeth, while in a state of intoxication, reeled
down a cellar keep, in Kent-street, Southwark, sustaining
several severe injuries. On hearing that he was about to
be conveyed to the hospital he positively refused, saying
he was a gentleman, and could afford to pay for his own
doctoring. He was accordingly carried on men's shoulders
to his own dwelling. It is said that on tho 28th ultimo
he received a legacy of £ll9, and since then he has been
continually inebriated, and fined twice, to the amount of
£6, for assaults, and had £5 to pay for damages com-
mitted whilst in that state in a china-shop.
The new Italian Opera Company, at Covent Garden,
commenced their campaign on Tuesday evening, with
Rossini's grand opera " Semiramide," before a house
crowded in every part. The refitting and alterations of
the house would appear to have been effected in the most
judicious and elegant manner. Mr. Costa, the conductor,
Madame Grisi, Signor Tamburini, (who, after a four

and Lacy with his accustomed finish,) were each enthu-
siastically received and applauded ; but the great triumph
of the night was the debut of Siunora Alboni as Arsace,
whom the critic of the Daily News (the highest authority)
pronounces to be the finest contralto singer ever heard in

England.
THE LATE MR. YOUATT, AUTHOR OF " THE HORSE."
—This talented author had been long collecting materials
for a complete history of the pig (a subject hitherto much
undervalued and hardly written upon), and a few wseks
before his lamented death he placed the manuscript in the
printer's hands, and it is now published. We find in it
the same research and agreeable style of composition that
please so much in his account of the horse, and his other
works on domestic animals. The work is handsomely
got up, with excellent engravings from Harvey's drawings,
and as it is certainly as useful, it bids fair to be' as popu-
lar as any of those celebrated productions of his pen. A
few months ago the same useful writer gave to the public
a new edition of his " Complete Grazier," a most valua-

the engine

EDUCATION.—A public address was given, in the Christ
Church Sunday-school rooms, Bradford, on Monday eve-
ning week, by the Rev. W. Morgan, Incumbent of Christ
Church, to the parents of the children who attend the
Sunday and week-day National School, and to others, who
were freely admitted without any restriction. The room
was quite filled, and all present paid the greatest attention
to an historical detail of the progress of education since
the formation of the Society ror Promoting Christian
Knowledge in 1698, to the rise of Sunday-schools in 1781'
and there increase, and also to the National School So-
ciety, instituted in 1811, and incorporated in 1817.
Various documents were quoted and referred to in illus-
tration of these and other means employed both II
Churchmen and Dissenters to instruct the children of the
poor. But, notwithstanding all these efforts, a statement
was made of the total ignorance and the inefficient know-
ledge of large masses of our population, which 'occasion
immortally, crime, and misery. The Government plan of
education was afterwards fully explained, with an earneeS
exhortation to study it without prejudice, and in itself
without the garbled accounts of party writers and an'
onymous hand bills. In conclusion, the clergymen left
it to every man's conscience what steps to take respect-
ing it. As soon as he had finished this address, whicb
took up more than an hour, one of the Sunday-school
teachers, without any previous arrangement, proposed
that a petition in favour of the Government plan should
be forwarded from the meeting to both Houses of Parlia-
ment. This was seconded and put to the vote, and it wee
unanimously carried. We leave our readers to judge
from this fact what the judgment of the common people
would be on the subject of the Government plan if they
were not misled by the garbled statements and mispepre'
sentations of those who prefer falsehood to truth.
MYSTERIOUS POISONING.--A.TTLEBURGH, TUESDAI
NIGHT.—The investigation opened by Mr. Pilgrim, the
Norfolk coroner, on the 30th ult., respecting the death,
of Mrs. Mary Pearson, aged 50, and Mrs. Elizabeth Eve'
rett, aged 56, who were poisoned by means of arsenic'
being secreted in their food, was resumed this morning at
ten o'clock, at the Greyhound Inn, Tibbenham, a village
about eight miles distant. James Warren, an intelligent
lad, aged 18, servant to Mr. Joseph Pearson, was the fie'
witness, but his evidence was so unsatisfactory that the
coroner ordered him to the care of the police.—Eliza Sage'
17, another servant, stated, that on the day in question
she filled the kettle for breakfast.—Coroner : If poison,
has been found in the tea kettle, can you form any opinion.
as to how it got there ?—Witness : I cannot, sir ; she wv
a good mistress to me, and I am very sorry if that is the
case. The water that remained in the tea kettle on Sal'
a
day morning the doctor took away. I filled a bottle wit
the water from the kettle on the same morning to wor.`;',
my mistress's feet. I put the kettle in the copper hole
the back house on Saturday night. I placed it on the Ove
on Sunday morning before I went milking. On t 1;
Thursday before her death, my mistress took -me up In
le
'
her room and showed me some mice holes in a closet ; sP,
put some poison in the hole, it was mixed up in sower
thing in a basin. I swept out the closet, and some piece
of the poison were amongst the dust which she threw %.
the fire, and there was no vessel on the fire when s!,
threw it there ; the kettle was not near it. On the Sla,;
day night, Mrs. John Pearson, a sister of the deceas;
called at the house and directed me to fetch another te
kettle for tea, as she was afraid to drink out of the 087,6
that had previously been in use : she was afraid to 11
ettle
tea made in it. The medical gentlemen had the k
on;
which boiled the water on Sunday mornin A s:qfied,
one was given them at first, but the mistake was_l:ecpirth,
and the right one entrusted to them. Mr. G.o73farch.
surgeon, of Norwich, deposed that on the
he made a post mortem examination of :elntodies of the
arsenic.
had died
deceased ; he had no doubt they from ,
He also examined some tea-leaves and a tea-kettle, an
found arsenic in all. The proceedings were then 1#
j cairn ed

ble assistant to the occupiers of land ; and it may be said
with that work (embhcing a complete body of husbandry),
" The Pig," " The Horse," and his other works on rural
subjects, the agriculturist has nearly all he requires to
complete his farmer's library.
THE REVENUE.—The returns made up at a late hour
on Monday night are again favourable. In every de-
partment except the Stamps and Crown Lands—in the
Customs, the Excise, the Taxes, the Property-tax, and
the Post-office—there is an increased return, the total in-
crease upon the year being £1,538,168, and upon the
quarter £403,632. Under the head of Property-tax' the
increase upon the year is £379,840—a most satisfactory
amount. The Post-office revenue shows an advance of
£lOOO a week during the last year ; and that compre-
hensive term, " Miscellaneous," shows an increase of
£129,173. The first feeling in the mind on reading these
gratifying details, is the pleasing anticipation of a reduc-
tion of taxes, and especially must it be satisfactory to the
present government to remove the impost of which they
so thoroughly disapproved, the income-tax : by a law,
however, which affects all mundane affairs, the cup of
hope is only raised to the lips to be dashed to the ground.
The interest of the eight millions added to the public
debt will absorb the increase, and hence we are in a posi-
tion contrasting strongly with that of a year or two ago—
the national receipts are but a very trifle more than the
expenditure.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF UNION-HALL, BARNARDCASTLE.
—(From the Daily News.)—" I was originally erected
for the disciples of Father Matthew, and have since un-
dergone as many metamorphoses as Mr. C. Matthews.
The brethren of the fountain—the teetotallers—soon for-
sook me ; and from a temperance hall I was transmogri-
fied into a theatre. One season settled the business of
the unhappy manager ; he did not venture on a second.
Mr. J. Barker's followers, however, had the courage to
take me in hand ; but they, too, very soon gave me up.
Next—presto !—I became a theatre once more ! Mr.
Thorne took me ; and I never was so well attended be-
fore. He made a pretty penny by me, if one-half
that I have heard be true. After his departure, T under-
went a series of rapid changes. I was a concert-room—a
lecture-room—a bazaar. I was distracted by trombones
and bored to death by twaddle ; and every now and then
I was puzzled by ejaculations of ' going ! going ! gone !'
followed by the tap of a hammer. At last, however, I
have the prospect of peace. The [Roman] Catholics have
taken a lease of me ; I have been converted into a chapel ;
and a bishop has preached within my walls."

- -
INTERESTING WILL CASE.—At the Shrewsbury assizes
yesterday week, a question was tried as to the validity
of a will. On the thirtieth of December, 1844, there
died in that town, at a very advanced age, without wife or
child, a Mr. William Brayne, who many years ago com-
menced business as a brazier and tin-plate worker, and by
industry, economy, and luck, had amassed, at the period
of his death, a fortune of £30,000 or £40,000. His nearest
relatives were two nieces and a nephew. In Sept., 1844,
he made a will, bequeathing the bulk of his fortune to the
grandchildren of a Mr. Bather, his uncle, who had lent
him• £5OO at the commencement of his career. In his
attend on him.
ade four days

Un tlis (team, the niece pl.(
before his death, and signed only with I
name, though lie had been an educated man. and hat

EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF SELF-DESTRUCTION
s.—A most extraordinary act of self ueg‘
_ ~as committed last week in Leeds, by two youu„
persons, Joseph Bolland and Maria Wilson. Bolland
a labourer, 19 years of age, and lived with his parents of
Lincolnfield-place. Maria Wilson was about 17 years as
age, had lodged with Bolland's parents, and Bolland
paying his addresses to her. She had been employed e!
a factory, but left these works before the occurrence, tfo
had not procured work elsewhere. Late on Wednesu
night last, Bolland's jacket and the girl's slip were fount
by the side of the river Alive, at Lower Fold, and net,
morning their dead bodies were discovered in the ricer'
They were locked in each others arms, and tied togetheo
with a handkerchief, which the young woman had wt.
round her head on the previous day, the knot being "'„'
hind Bolland's back. At the inquest a sister of the u.,";
ceased female said that both of them called on the P'",
vious morning at her father's house, and washed the for
selves. Maria had bought some print for an aprooret
herself, and said she would give it to witness to make
baby a slip, as it would be the last time she (decerts'"ot
would see the baby. She told witness she would not
again see her alive, and that she was going on tramp'nuol,
would not tell witness where she intended to go to. ~,°
„to
laud said he thought about going to Harrogate. no
seemed low spirited. Maria said she would do away ode
herself if neither she nor Bolland could get any work. r,
then told her to hold her foolish talk. Witness also Pei,
suaded her against anything rash. Bolland said he. et
pected work in the morning. When Maria left she ki.sts
witness's baby,and repeated it would be the last time 0,.
child would see her alive. Both she and Bolland crief",
Maria had been in low spirits since she was out of wor!e
She did not appear to be in the family way. Frown
evidence it appeared that the female deceased had set,
that they were going to be married on Monday, and We
land said he thought they would. She also said to anotbr,
person that a man had offered to take her to France 110
work) and that she thought of going. It was stated tor
he too had said he was engaged to go to France. or
Wednesday night they both left two acquaintances, a filer
and girl (Drisdale) at the bottom of Dyer-street, and
bidding them " good bye," went in the direction of 014
Peter's-square. They were not seen afterwards. Be`fr
parting, Bolland kissed the girl, and both he and the AJ
male deceased said it would he the last time they she ~";#
see their acquaintances. The jury were of opinion Iv"
they had drowned themselves while in a perfect state
sanity, and returned a verdict accordingly. stV
FREE TRADE.—It has been well observed by of
Morning Herald of Friday that "the first free trade Y. do
establishes the important fact that vast importation"
not by any means ensure to the importing people not
England] corresponding exportations ;"—that it is it'
fair to assert that the famine in Ireland prevents for tlO
present all rational conclusions as to the effects of,
free trade policy." •The writer then proceeds to SI
Blackwood of the month, setting forth that the 03;10
has accelerated the effects of such policy, rather I_,ifig
retarded or impeded them. We make the follosj
extract :—" What has the famine done ? It has eau to
fifteen millions worth of domestic agricultural prodoll'
be exchanged for fifteen millions worth of foreign ag1:11i!I
tural produce. The potato crop which has perislit:Wl
Ireland is estimated at fifteen millions worth. But jO7 A 1
agricultural produce, to an equal or greater amouni,_sio
Leen imported; six millions of quarters, between grP',4
all sorts and flour, have been entered for home coonn,i'
tion, in seven months preceding sth February, ,"
Taking these quarters on an average as worth 50s.et:
consumer, we shall then have six millions of quvol4
worth fifteen millions sterling. The distress that pre te,
therefore, is not owing to any deficiency of food, fort, r.
.or animals, in the United Kingdom, for as anuci:6
come in of foreign produce as has disappeared of dolei
We have been always told that all apprehension aboo
imports being paid in gold, and not in manufactUre.c;
chimerical ; that the sooner the inferior lands I.`„'
British islands go out of cultivation, the better, fry il
ample food for the inhabitants will be obtainedo4
foreign states ; and that the agriculturists throw°4
employment by the change will be rapidly absorbt'-edi,,
more profitably employed in sustaining our ei,cll
manufactures. Well, the thing has been done, 'a ec4e?,j:
desired consummation has taken place, from an •,,stio
neous cause, even more rapidly than was antietrore!,•
The free traders contemplate the substitution ofleolii
for British agricultural produce to the extent of ri
man lying prostrate on the ground, fast asleep, with the twenty millions as a most desirable result ; but the 4, !°4l
portrait of Mr. Cobden, framed and glazed, under his ' lamented it could not be looked for for three vorit:he
arm. With some difficulty the sleeper was awakened, but years. It would take that time to beat down the„ oft
as he was evidently not a commodity which the guardian farmer, to convince the cultivators of inferior lanost 014
of the night could with propriety pass duty free, he placed folly of attempting a competition with the gre,abeil'ill°
both him and the portrait in. bond eleven o'clock the districts of the Continent. Providence has don°, 'toe,' to,
same morning. At that hour he was brought before the at once. We have got, and at a railway speed lea` of
magistrates at the court-house, when he said his name blessings of the new system. Free trade was tortes'`
was George Fowler, and that he was.a glass blower. He the much desired substitution of 6,000,000 00,11 t 1 .e
also stated that he had been at York on Sunday, and ac- home for 6,000,000 quarters of foreign grain 'The 1.
counted for his found as described by saying that he years. But the potato rot has done it in one.
had got too much liquor. On being asked where he had trade rot could not have done it nearly so exP'l'; ,am
got the portrait, he said he had swopped something eft but it would have done it as effectually. It eioatre
for it at the Mulberry Tree, Hunslet-lane. The olice- mistake, therefore, to represent the famine in ir,,,,hic"A
man informed the bench that the prisoner had given three the west of Scotland as an external calamitTert aoldisf
different accounts of the portrait. Mr. Marland oh- concealed the natural effects of free trade. Pci4o,l
served that he bad perhaps such a great partiality for Mr. brought them to light at once.' "—lf, as ti;," eifeiar;
Cobden that he had taken it without permission. A mes- suggests, we had been further advanced in and Per/
senger was then sent to make inquiry, and it Was found free trade, -and had neglected agriculture, all he° It
that the statement as to the swop was correct. The pri- inferior land to out of cultivation, what ?
senor was therefore set at liberty, and the portrait was our fate and position in a period like the VT 5'
given up to him. I a question worthy of all remembrance.

TWO PERSON

this will the nephew and two nieces claimed the house in
which he lived, and to test the validity of the will, the
Bather family brought the present action to recover its
possession. In this they failed.; however, after a long
investigation, the jury found for the defendants.

A DANGEROUS LUNATIC.—On Wednesday night week
an Irishman of the name of Barney Fitzpatrick, who had
formerly been confined in Hanwell Lunatic Asylum,
rushed into the streets of New Brunswick in a very ex-
cited state, and created a great disturbance. Sergeant
Gibson, T 27, knowing his dangerous character, endea-
voured to appease him and persuade him to go home
quietly, but without avail. Mr. Millard, the landlord of
the Catherine Wheel public-house, who knew him well,
then went up to him for the same purpose the sergeant
had tried in vain, when Fitzpatrick instantly rushed upon
him arid assaulted him very severely, the whole time
threatening his life; and there is no doubt that he would
have carried out his threats to the fullest extent had not
Sergeant Gibson ably assisted Mr. Millard in defending
himself, but it was not until the assistance of five police-
men had been abtained that Fitzpatrick was overpowered
and conveyed to the station-house. On Thursday he was
taken before the Brentford magistrates. The Beuch
were at first disposed to commit him for trial for the
attempt at murder, but it was eventually considered that
the best course would be to send him again to Hanwell
Lunatic Asylum.
The Bishop of Exeter has discountenanced, and preached
and published a sermon in opposition to "a grand Easter
Ball" at that city, as a means of increasing the Irish and
Scotch Relief Fund. Regarding the dearth and famine
as a signal visitation of the Almighty at a time of our
greatest national prosperity, his lordship objects to such
an attempt at the reparation of the sad consequences of
our sins as arises from ball-room selfishness, frivolity,
mockery, and dissipation. The Bishop, in a communica-
tion to the Mayor of Exeter, stated that he felt it his
duty to animadvert upon the subject, but wholly dis-
claimed personal imputations on any one. His worship,
in his first reply, alluded to the loss which the charity was
likely to sustain in consequence of the discourse, to ob-
viate which as far as lies in his power, his lordship intends
to give, not the profits merely, but the whole proceeds of
the sale of the sermon, which is sold at one shilling each,
purchasers giving more for the sake of the distressed, if
they think proper. The Mayor, however, with grea
deference, thinks the Bishop wrong in denouncing an
assemblage of individuals of the highest character for the
purposes of benevolence and refined amusement.
EDUCATION.—It is astonishing to observe the extent to
which this subject is dividing the press, as well as parties.
The Dissenters are told that they are afraid of _their con-
gregations being churchified,—as one of the resulzs of the
extension of knowledge : this they deny ; contending that
inspectors, being paid by the State, will give a State in-
fluence to the machinery. It is said that ministers have
given way to a certain point on this question, and that
some sects will be at liberty to choose their own in-
spectors ; thus jobbing away the public money in holes
and corners. The Wesleyans are rather split on the sub-
't • t • the Unitarians and Scotch Free Church going with
jest

the Government measure. There is something- question-
able in the Whole proceeding ; parliament not having a
due control over the details. We do not exactly know
where this greatly improved class of new schoolmasters
are to be found,—where and when they are made, or
where educated. At present they can only be considered
as the pupils of the very demagogues denounced as in-
competent. Officering a new corps of recruits out of the
ranks, is appealing from the greater knowledge to the
less ; but the nation is to be made, one way or another,

more gramatically, geographically, and astronomically
virtuous. We rather doubt the fruits than grudge the

DIFFERENT FATES OF MR. COBDEN AND HIS POR-
TRAIT.—WhiIe Mr. Cobden, M.P., the great apostle of
free trade, is in Rome, endeavouring, it may be, to per-
suade his holiness the Pope to drain and cultivate the
pestilential marshes of the Tiber—
" Where Campania's plain forsaken lies,
A weary waste expanding to the skies,"
the league portrait of Mr. Cobden is destined to play a
part in adventures in fields and courts nearer home.
'About 2 o'clock on Monday week, one of the Leeds police-
-- —mi. nn duity in Pottery Field, liimslet, found a