The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-09-25 00:00:00

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HYMN FOR HARVEST TIME.

BY CHARLES WEST THOMPSON.
'Neath summer's bright and glorious sky,
While proudly waves the golden grain,
And through the falling fields of rye

Come on the joyous reaper train,— -
While nature smiles, and hill and plain
Are tranquil as the sleeping sea, •
And peace and plenty brightly reign
By homestead, hearth, and forest tree,—
God of the season, ❑nto thee we raise
Our hands and hearts in melody and praise.
There is a sweet breath from the hills,

The incense from the mountain air,
Which from a thousand flowers distils
Its odours delicate and rare :
We feel the balm—we see it there—

Among the bending wheat leaves move,
Rising the tops in dalliance fair,
As if the very life was love :
God of the harvest, whence its breezes blow,
Receive the humble thanks thy creatures owe.

Our loaded wain comes wending home ;
Then let us test beneath the shade
Of this old oak, our verdant dome,
And watch the evening shadows fade ;
O'er mount arutmeadow, lawn and glade,
They spread their deep'ning tints of gray,
Till all the stene their hues pervade,

And twilight glories melt away ;
God of the world, who round thy curtain throws,
Thanks for the time of quiet and repose !
How still is nature all around !
No song is sung, no voice is heard,
Save here and there a murmuring sound,
As if some rtA.ess sleeper stirr'd :
The grasshopper, night's clamorous bird,
Chirps gay, but all is hush'd beside ;
And silence is the soothing word,
Whose spell diffuses far and wide:—
God of the universe, by night and clay,
We bless thee for the gifts we ne'er can pay.

. „ •
CONTEMPORARY PRESS.

ACCIDENTS ON RAID AYES.
(From the Morning Herald.)
The accidents on railways, that are now of almost
weekly occurrence, are attracting a large share of pub-
lic attention to the advantages and disadvantages which
present themselves in connection with the new system
of travelling.
The dependence of the public on the owners of rail-
roeds increases every day. On many of the high roads
-of the kingdom, it is difficult to procure the means of
conveyance from one point to another. The irregula-
rity and increasing carelessness with which railway car-
riages are managed, are visible in the disregard of hu-
man life which is manifested in so many quarters.
Even to the cheapness of railway travelling' grave
doubts begin to be entertained ; because, in consider-
ing the question of cheapness regard must be had, not
merely to the direct cost of railway travelling, but also
to the loes of accommodation in other forms, which the
adoption of railway travelling involves. From the ap-
parent saving to the public, consequent on the intro-
duction of travelling by railroad, must be deducted the
increased expense of travelling from point to point be-
tween the various railway lines. The public has been
compelled, moreover, to sustain yet heavier losses in
. connection with the railway system.
The high roads of the kingdom have been, to a great
extent, abandoned. The moneyelaid out upon them is,
in a great degree, lost; and the misery caused by that
loss.may be appreciated by those who are aware that
the property of widows and of orphans was, not un-
frequently, vested in loans to the trustees of the public
roads. Look, above all, to the fearful derangement in
she industrial schflne of the kingdom,. to which the
desertion of the old lines of communication has given
"•'• rise. The tens of thousands who lived 11 ministering
to the old mode of travelling have been compelled to
abandon the vocations to which they were trained, and
the spots in which they resided. The capital embarked
in hotels and other establishments, for the accommo-
dation of coach passengers, has been nearly annihilat-
ed. Hamlets and villages have been rendered deso-
late by.the progress of locomotion by steam. Now, it
is possible, that these sacrifices may have been com-
pensated for by certain advantages connected with the
use of railroads ; but, on the other hand, these sacri-
fices must be recognised as a deduction from the seem-
ing benefits which railway travelling brings with it. If,
indeed, the loss of property to which the establishment
of railroads has given rise, be taken fairly into account,
travelling by railroads will be found to be the most ex-
pensive mode of travelling ever yet devised.
Measures must he adopted—and at no distant time—
to protect the public against the growing tyranny of
railwag directors. These gentlemen must not be per-
mitted to treat human life as a thing of no value—nor
must they be permitted to ruin coach proprietors, and
all the other bodies of men who so faithfully ministered
to the public convenience, before railways were beard
of. A fair tax on railways would appear to be a whole-
some measure. A strict system of superintendence on
the part of Government would appear to be indispen-
sable.

UNANIMITY OF THE CONSERVATIVES.
(From the Cambridge Chronicle.)
It has been most erroneously urged, and with much
appearance of triumph, by the radical press, that in-
ternal difnrences greatly agitated the conservative
party, differences which, unless healed, were calculated
to break up their ranks. In proof of this, some vari-
ation of sentiment in the minds of Sir J. Graham and
the Duke of Wellington on the affairs of China was
eagerly cited, whilst the conduct of the conservative
'members in the triatter.of the. Canada bill was severely
scrutinized, to detect any irreconcileable opposition
of opinion and principle.
But both positions were ludicrously untenable, inas-
much as there was nothing in the counter-views of the
two statesmen just mentioned which would have force
to disjoint their cause, or to let their perfect co-opera-
tion in the carrying.out of first principles : whilst the
expressed opinion of the conservatives on the Canada
bill was rather at variance with itself as to the modus
operandi, than as to the principles involved ; the con-
servatives of the House of Commons highly disap-
proved the ministerial roeastire; the necessity of the
case seemed to them, however, to demand an immedi-
ate activity, and they allowed this necessity to weigh
against objections wisely grounded and strongly felt :
whereas, in the Lords, the Duke of Wellington, en-
tertaining the very same dislike of the bill, desired to
throw it out, because expedient with him was but a
slight and paltry excuse for losing sight of first prin-
ciples !
On the whole, what is there to disturb the harmony
of the party; on the contrary, is there not everything
to prove it independent, in thought and action, and to
show that it can exist in full and powerful combina-
tion, without circumscribing the scope of individual
opinion ?, But it is to the great questions of party
opinion that a politician must look iu order to derive
his auguries. Herein we find the conservatives single
and unifosm.
On matters of church government and taxation, on
the extensive themes of representation and constitu-
tional government, on finance and corn laws, on the
preservation of the integrity of the empire,—on these
and on fifty other subjects of the same magnitude and
the same vital importance the conservatives are as one
man, holding the same identical opinions, expressing
them in the same tone in which they have been de-
clared for years, and acting upon them with unvarying
consistency.
This is what no man in his senses dare to predicate
of the whigs ! On the question of corn laays a vast
proportion of them are total repeaters ; whilst their
chosen leader declares interference with the existing
arrangements to be utter madness !
On the subject of reform there is even less unani-
mity : the finalists and Wakleyites of the house call
reform a bugbear and the reform bill a failure. Mi-
nisters declare it a precious boon, and insist that it
shall remain intact !
On the fanatic project 'of dismembering the empire
by the ruin of Ireland we find O'Connell and half a
hundred supporters of his mad and selfish views beard-
ing ministers in their stronghold, and declaiming
against the injustice of the union, whilst those very
ministers, who exist abd ract solely by the-impulse of
the pliant tail, represent themselves as opposed tooth
and nail to repeal, and pretend to view it as treason!
In fact there is scarcely a question either of domestic
or foreign policy, upon which any uniformity of sen-
timent or any simplicity. of action can be looked for on
the part of the whigs. Their strength is composed of
heteregeneous particles brought into chance collision,
rather than combination, by the contingencies of time
and circumstances,.and which, when the crisis comes.
will fly asunder and be Aspersed by the violence
their own internal disorganization. Such contrariety
of opinion can hardly harmonise for any useful action.
Who can pretend to amalgamate Lord Melbourne,
Lord Ebrington, and Dan O'Connell?

An Association of Amorican Geologists, on a plan similar
to our own British Association. has just been formed in the
United States, the first meeting has been held in Philadel-
phia. The next meeting will be held in April, 1841.

HANOVV.R, SZp-r. 13.—We learn from very good authority
that his Royal Higoess the Duke of Cambridge will soon
arrive at Hanover, and stay here some weeks. His Royal
Highness's Aide-de-Camp, Captain Von Knesebeck, has
been here a long time.
THE WINE AND SPIRIT TRADR.—In the wine trade
generally the business has been very active of late, although
the trade in. general has beeri in a tolerably healthy state.
Large sales a,e advertising as coming forward very shortly
of very good and fiae wines in bottle, which will be duly
announced, and which will probably give a tone to the feel-
ing of the trade. The wines severally on sale are too various
to allow of a quotation. Ports, fur example, are at one price
for the lowest, aad at another for the highest, but the differ-
ent gradations can only tie judged of by a purchaser accord-
ing to his discretion and taste, and therefore cannot be
properly distinguished in a general quotation. The same
observation regards wines of all classes, as it would be per-
fectly impossible to guarantee quality without actual inspec-
tion. Regarding the trade generally it is dull, but the
approaching advertised sales will show some dt cision in the
general feeling in the bottle trade, a circumstance which
does not often occur, some opinion of the actual feeling in
the trade can be formed. In spirits the trade is in a state of
inuth uncertainty. The rumours of war keep the rim
market in some state of suspense, although but little depend-
ence is placed on it• to influence prices. Brandy is consi-
dered to be very dear at the present quotations. Hollands
are of such small consumption as to be almost insignificant,
and rum, although at present very high, is thought to be at
the highest, the advices from the West Indies encouraging
the hope of an exeellent trade.--Skipping Gazdte.