The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-05-16 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD, AND GENERAL COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER.

A SPECIAL SESSION of justices of the peace for this
borough was held on Thursday, in the Sessions-house, for
the purpose of transferring publicans licenses..
The- CITY OF MANCHESTER screw steamer, Captain
Wylie, sailed on Wednesday for Philadelphia, with
seventy cabin, and a large number of second cabin passen-
gers.
• FLOWER Snow.—The first exbibition of the, Floral and
H`orticultural Society, for the present season, will be held
at the-Botanic Gardens, on the 25th inst. In addition to
the ordinary attractions, two bands will beim attendance.
WrGa:N.—On Thursday night two brothers, William
and Davenport . Barrow, were drowned. in the river
Douglass, near Wigan. William resided in_ Sheriff-street,
Liverpool, and was a watch-maker by trade. He has left
a, widow and one child. His brother, Davenport, resided
in Wigan,. and has also left a widow and five children.
SITIPWILECKS.—The Lena, Captain Patten,.which sailed
from Liverpool on the sth ult. for Quebec, with a crew
of thirteen men, having been wrecked at sea, the crew
were•taken off by the Hannah, Captain Kennedy, which
sailed on the 7th April, for St. John's,. Newfoundland,
from Liverpool. The royal mail steam-ship• Arabia, Capt.
Juakins, reports falling in with the latter vessel on the
19th ult. in a sinking state, and taking off her crew, ten
in number, in addition to the crew of the Lena, and landed
both at Halifax.
A Dsmanox from.the Liverpool Pilot Commissioners
had an interview with the Hon. Edward Cardwell and
Lord Stanley of Alderley, on Thursday, at the Board of
Trade. The deputation consisted of Mr. J. Nelson Wood
(Chairman), Mr. David Rowland (Secretary), Mr. Joseph
Cooke (Superintendent), and Mr. William Hughes
(master pilot), and was accompanied by the Hon. H. T.
Liddell, M.P., and Mr. Thomas B. Horsfall, M.P.
FRIGHTFUL ACCIDENT.—On Wednesday,. as a number '
of little boys were playing amongst some timber in Mann-
street, Northumberland-street, one of the balks rolled over
and literally crushed one of the boys to pieces, and severely
injured two others. The boy killed is named Alexander
Torrens, and his parents live in Upper Mann-street. One
of the other boys, Richard Hollinshead, residing at 35,
Sun-street, had one of his thighs fractured,.and received '
other severe injuries.
THE PRESTON STRIKE is virtually over. The weavers'
balance-sheet, issued on Thursday, states that the week's
income, from all the districts, only amounted to £3Ol
14s. ltd. The expenditure, including au allowance of Is.
per head to 3,967 weavers, was £2BB 3s. 10-111., leaving a
balance in hand of £l3 10s. 3d. The report stated that
the districts having ceased to pay their subscriptions, the
struggle must now cease ; but a strenuous appeal is made
for more money, to support the operatives until they can
resume work, and to pay off the £l,OOO which the execu-
tive borrowed to carry on the movement.
OPENING OF A NEW ORGAN.—A new organ, built by
Messrs. Williams and Massey, of this town, was opened at
their manufactory in Back Gill-street, on Friday, by Mr.
Evans, organist of St. Paul's Church, Prince's-park, who
played a selection of pieces by Bach, Handel, Mendelssohn,
&c., in a manner calculated to show to advantage the
capabilities of the instrument.
CAUTION TO ABSCONDING APPRENTICES.—At the
Police-court, on Saturday, Edward Walker, apprentice
with Messrs. Vernon and Son, shipbuilders, Brunswick-
dock, was committed to gaol for fourteen days, for running
away from his employers. His wages were 14s. a-week ;
and after he had absented himself, it was ascertained that
he had obtained work at Mr. Taylear's building-yard, at
Warrington, for 28s. a-week.
TESTIMONIAL.—Upon the occasion of the Rev. John
Lucas Moore's acceptance of the curacy of the North
Shore district, Kirkdale, and his consequent retirement
from St. Barnabas's Church, a silver inkstand, with a
rosewood writing desk, were presented to him by a few
members of the St. Barnabas's congregation and the
teachers of the Sunday and daily schools, as tokens of
their affectionate regard and esteem. Pleasing remem-
brances were added by the boys and girls attending
schools. The inkstand bears an appropriate inscripti the
on,
beautifully executed, on one side, and Mr. Moore's crest
on the other.
CAPTAIN M`KAY, celebrated in nautical circles, sailed
for Boston in the steamer America, on Saturday. Capt.
M`Kay, by his professional skill as a sailor, renders famous
the clipper ships built by his brother. Since his arrival.
here in the Lightning,' we understand he has entered into+
arrangements with Liverpool houses to build from £150,000
to £200,000 worth of shipping—a proof that he possesses
the proverbial Yankee spirit of enterprise and business
habits. If the beauty and capabilities of the Lightning are
to be taken as a criterion of what the new ships will be,
there is little doubt their British owners will have every
reason to be satisfied with them. Captain M`Kay is
expected to return here in a month or two.
ROTATORY LITHOGRAPHIC PRINTING.—Through the
polite attention of Messrs. Maclure, Macdonald, and i
Macgregor, we were on Saturday gratified with an in-
spection of their self-acting lithographic press at work.
The apparatus by which the process is performed, though I
complicated in itself, is simple in its operation. It is in
point of fact a happy adaptation of the cylinder printing
machine to obtaining impressions from the lithographed
stone. The stone is placed on a traversing table in the
position occupied by the forms in letter-press printing ;
the ink is supplied to the stone by rollers occupying an
analogous place to those used in inking the type; the
paper is fed in by hand, seized by self-acting grippers, and
carried by a cylinder, composed of cylindrical rollers, over
the inked stone, and is again delivered in a printed state
on a table immediately under that from which it has been
supplied. Thus in all these respects passing through a
series of operations strictly similar to those of machine
letter-press printing. The chief advantage gained in this, I
as in that other process, consists in celerity of working.
This will be readily understood when it is stated that by '
printing at the usual lithographic press, for a post or demy '
sheet 200 impressions per day is reckoned great work : by
the self-acting machine, which is patented, 800 impressions
can be worked off in an hour. A rapidity which enables the
proprietors of the patent machine not only to cheapen the
price of their printing, in a very great degree, but it also
gives them the means of executing orders where large
numbers are required, within a short space of time, which
could not be undertaken by the ordinary process of litho-
graphic printing. We may add that the work is in all
respects equal to that produced by hand labour, at least
for writing, map, or plan printing.
HISTORIC SOCIETY OF LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE.
The Rev. J. S. Howson presided at the meeting of this
society, held at the Collegiate Institution, on Thursday. I
Mr. Gawthrop gave an interesting description of some
Old Chester newspapers, one of which contained an account
of the battle of Bunker's Hill. Several old books and
curiosities were exhibited by other gentlemen, after which
Mr. Picton read a lengthy paper on old Liverpool news-
papers, commencing with Williamson's Liverpool Adver-
tiser, published in 1756. A vote of thanks having been
passed to Mr. Piston for his interesting paper, Mr. Stone-
house exhibited a piece of lead water piping which had
been gnawed nearly through by rats. He also read an
extract from a fragment of The Morning Post, of 1808,
giving an account of the entry of the Russians into
Finland, and showing that similar pretensions were put
forward by Russia at that period to those which the Emperor
had recently made public. The extract was as follows :
" The Russians entered Finland the 22nd February ; their
force is estimated at between 30 and 40,000 men. The
Swedes had not collected above 20,000. The irruption
into Finland has been followed by a declaration on the
part of the Emperor of Russia,in which, after some general
expressions of his imperial majesty's friendship and regard
to his Swedish majesty's person and government, he de-
clares—' That having contracted 'engagements which
urgently call upon him to contribute all in his power to-
wards accelerating a solid and lasting peace for the con-
tinent of Europe, he feels himself under the necessity of
taking provisional possession of Finland, until his Swedish
majesty shall think proper to adopt a new and wiser sys-
tem of politics.' Previously to passing the Swedish frontier,
the Russians issued proclamations addressed to the Swedes,
inviting them to rebel against their king, and promising
them that their diets should be frequently assembled, their
privileges extended, and plenty flow in upon them."
Thanks having been voted to the gentlemen who had pre-
sented donations to the society, and also to the chairman,
the proceedings terminated.
CAUTION TO DRUGGISTS. On Tuesday an inquest
was held on the body of a child named Henry. Eller,
whose parents 'reside at No. 1, Peover-street. The Infant,
it appeared, was unwell on the previous Saturday evening,
when its mother, Henrietta Eller, a German, with an im-
perfect knowledge of the English language, sent the
daughter of a neighbour, named Dorothy NValberd, also a
German, to the shop of Mr. Thomas Andrews, druggist,
49, Richmond-row, for two-pennyworth of syrup of
rhubarb. This girl, who was about twelve years of age,
and gave her evidence through an interpreter, stated that
she took a cup with her for the medicine, and saw Mr.
Andrews, whom she asked three times for syrup of
rhubarb, and told him it was for a child about four weeks
old. The druggist took the precaution to label the cup
" syrup of poppies ;" but the mother of the child, not
understanding the language, or the nature of the medi-
cine which had been sent, administered a teaspoonful to
her infant, thinking it syrup of rhubarb. This was about
eight o'clock on Saturday evening, and iu a few minutes
after receiving the medicine the child fell asleep, but awoke
for a short time about twelve o'clock, after which he again
fell asleep, and the mother discovered him to be dead on
her breast between three and four ,o'clock on Sunday
morning. She awoke her husband, Charles Eller, and he
went immediately to Dr. Nottingham, who sent him to
St. Anne's Dispensary, Rose-hill, for a surgeon, who,
upon seeing the child, said he had died from syrup of
poppies. The coroner, P. F. Curry, Esq., on hearing this
evidence, suggested that a post mortem examination
should be made, and the inquest was accordingly ad-
journed until Thursday, when Mr. David Pollock, the
house surgeon of St. Anne's Dispensary, was examined.
He said lie was called in to see the deceased on Sunday
evening, but was unable to say then what was the cause
of death. He had since made a post ,nortem examina-
tion, and found the cause of death to have been hydroce-
phalus, or water on the brain, the result of purely natural
causes. The surgeon was questioned at some length by
the coroner as to how lie formed the conclusion that it
was the result of purely natural causes. The surgeon re-
plied that lie considered hydrocephalus a natural cause.
Supposing a child was labouring under hydrocephalus, and
syrup of poppies (which was known to be a poison) had
been administered, lie was prepared to say that he found
appearances, on post modem examination, which would
warrant the opinion he had expressed. There would be
about a tenth of a grain of opium in a teaspoonful of syrup
of poppies—about nineteen or twenty drops. Mr.
theA
n-
drews, the druggist, then stated that lie had supplied
girl with what she had inquired for, and had affixed a
label on the cup at the time. The coroner observed, that
when they last met on this case, lie took the opportunity
of stating that it was one of such importance to the public,
that he deemed it requisite to have the body examined as
to the cause of death, and to give the
ying party
his whoreason for had sold
the medicine an opportunity of suppl
dweo‘ulidd ohfavcaereto.
give,
7aisf
qquieictthes;
they believed the evidence of the surgeon, would not in-
v ithe g
clear
ar under
that circumstancesthe,
volve him in any, criminal 'responsibility. He was. anxious
that his observations should goo orth to the public in this
ease, not with any ill-feeling wards druggists, but that
they might be made aware of the fact that th ought not
to sell wise') to a child. The jury then returned a ver
dict of " Died from natural causes," and an opinion was
expressed that the syrup of poppies was too commonly
administered by druggists in this town as a curative for
nearly all kinds of disease ;quoin; infants,

GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.

FALSE CHARACTERS TO DOMESTIC SERV6.STE3.—MT.
W. G. M. J.' Barker, late of Leyburn, pleaded guilty, on
Monday last week, before the Leeds magistrates, to the
charge of giving a false character to Elizabeth Lindsey,
his former servant, and was fined £.20, . including costs.
The money was- at once paid.
THE HIPPOPOTAMUS at the Zoological: Gardens, Re-
gent's Park, London, has become so fano" that fax its
safe keeping a new building is considered. necessary, and
will be erected; while its present den is to be occupied by
a female hippopotamus, presented to the society by the
Viceroy of Egypt, and expected to arrive in June.
Isninsissirrx.—ln the Court of Common Pleas, on
Monday, a farm-bailiff, named Amos, was mulcted in the
penalty of £2O, for having roughly driven, out of a field at
Northfleet, Kent, a woman of the name of -Atkins, who,
along with other females, had trespassed on the land. It
was asserted that the woman was eneiente- at the time,
and that the treatment to which she was subjected had
brought on premature labour.
LAW REFORM.—Vice-Chancellor Sir W. Page Wood,
Mr. Justice Coleridge, Mr. Napier, the Attorney and
Solicitor-Generals, Sir T. E. Perry, J. G. S. Lefevre,
Esq., Mr. Keating, Q.C., T. Greenwood, Esq., J. Stewart,
Esq., and Germain Lavie, Esq., have been appointed Her
Majesty's commissioners for " inquiring into the arrange-
ments in the Inns of Court and Inns of Chancery, for
promoting the study of the law and jurisprudence, and
securing a sound.education to the students."
SINGULAR MISADVENTURE.—An aeronaut of Cannes
was, on Sunday week, about to make an ascent in a bal-
loon, and two companions of his air oal trip had taken their
seats in the car; when some of the assembled crowd, im-
patient to see the balloon start, cried out " Let it go."
The man who-held the ropes, thinking it was the aeronaut,
obeyed; the-balloon rose rapidly and disappeared, and the
two passengers, who were both entirely unskilled in the
management of a balloon, have not since been heard of.
HoU IN LUENCE.—A boy of 13, who has been in
prison twice for felony, has lately been admitted to the
Reformatory for Juvenile Criminals .at Saltley, at the re-
quest of the Shropshire magistrates. The following is an
account of his family and connexions :—His father being
dead, the mother married a second time, and the step-
father having been transported for seven years, she ab-
sconded from her home. An elder brother, after having
been in prison three times,was transported for seven years ;
a sister, aged only 1.4, also a convicted thief, is now a pros-
titute in her native town ; a cousin, a mere child, ten
years old, is now in prison a second time for felony, and
the sister of this boy, 16 years old, is in prison for the third
time.—Birmingham Gazette.
CizzstivEy SWEEPERS.—The Chimney Sweepers' Bill,
as amended in committee, contains the following clauses :
1. Every person who compels, or any master sweep who
compels, or knowingly allows, any person under the age
of 16 years to use or assist in the trade or business of a
chimney-sweeper, shall for every such offence be liable to
a penalty not exceeding £lO. 2. In all proceedings against
any party accused of an offence against this act the proof
of age shall rest on the party complained against. 3. All
penalties awarded under this act, and the costs and charges
of and attending the recovery thereof, shall be recovered
and levied in the same manner and under the same
powers and provisions as if such penalties, costs, and
charges were awarded or incurred under the recited act ;
and all the provisions of that act relating to appeals
against convictions shall extend to convictions under this
act.
THE DARIEN EXPEDITION.—The Panama Star gives
an account of the safe arrival of Lieut. Strain at Chapigana,
with two men of the Darien exploring party, in search of
provisions and boats for the rest of his party, whom he had
left a month before on the banks of the Chucanaque river,
When he reached Chapigana he was withont clothing,
reduced almost to a skeleton, and his body covered with
sores from the insects. He reported that the nineteen
men he had left on the Chucanaque were mostly disabled
from sickness and debility, their provisions having failed
after being out fifteen days from the Atlantic. Having
obtained provisions, Lieutenant Strain has gone back in a
boat, accompanied by a party from her Majesty's ship Virago
to his party on the Chucanaque, leaving the two men who
had penetrated with him to Chapigana behind sick.
CRYSTAL PALACE.—It is now stated that Saturday, the
has been finally decided on as the day on
on the subject of the nude male statues in the Exhibition.
swltothrailcillic'etfi'''ejhuasCnrSel:seteanl aPddalreeacesedis ttootlbldoirecpeirdors. ofAti‘terepmaloacne.
It is signed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops
of .St. Asaph, London, Winchester, and Lichfield, Lords
Clancarty. Harrowby, Mayo, Blandford, Berners, and
others. • The" remonstrants " open by stating that they
are
crowds persuadedof men
and
dat eofeixiuhdibeitsitoant,uetsoofprmomenisicn theuous
state represented, must, if generally submitted to, prove
women,— Th
very destructive to that natural modesty which is one of
the outworks of virtue, and which a great French writer
has called ' one of the barriers which nature herself has
placed in the way of crime.' And they conclude by saying
that they demand but a small thing, not at all a sacrifice
in point of artistic beauty —viz. the removal of the parts
which " in life " ought to be concealed, although we are
also desirous that the usual leaf may be adopted. The di-
rectors, it appears, had previously resolved on effecting
the alteration desired.
AMERICAN VIEW OF THE WAR.—The complete and
instant abrogation of our entire commerce with Russia,
being under $3,000,000 a-year, the imports and exports
nearly balancing, each other would not affect the general
business of the country so much as a week's suspension
of our trade with the powers which are at war with her.
Russia cannot molest the vast trade of the United States
with her enemies to the amount of a dollar, because her
fleets and cruisers are confined within great internal seas
singularly excluded from the great oceans which bear the
world's commerce. It is for the interest of the great
maritime powers, that the United States should continue
its peaceful mercantile career during the pendency of the
conflict, since our doing so will contribute to their revenue
and resources. Russia might wish to coerce and repress
our commerce in this crisis of her own fate, hut, happily,
has not the power. Yet with facts like these before the
country, the Washington Union, seeming to speak for the
government, is teaming from day to day with fulsome
eulogies upon the policy of Nicholas, and with covert or
open attacks upon the motives of England and Prance !
The evident purpose of the official organ has been, and
still is, to revive forgotton prejudices against Great Britain,
and to embarrass her in the prosecution of the great con-
flict on which she had entered, by raising suspicions of the
intentions of this government on the questions which may
arise in consequence of the state of geueisl war now com-
mencing.—New York Courier.
THE LATE M.P. FOR IPSWICH.—FTOIII proceedings
taken before the Chief Commissioner at the London Insol-
vent Debtors' Court, a few days ago, it seems that a man
may have an income of £12,000 a-year, and still involve
himself to the extent of £lOO,OOO or upwards in an incre-
dibly short space of time. This, too, can be done without
the assistance of the hazard-table, the racing-stud, or any
of the expeditious aids to the destruction of an estate
which so greatly facilitate the labour. It appears that Mr.
S. W. Lane Fox, late member for Beverley and Ipswich,
from various landed estates, from a house in St. James's-
square, from funded property, and from coal royalties,
derived an income of more than £17,000 per annum.
From this gross income a certain deduction must be
made for various charges upon the estate of about £5,000
a-year, leaving to Mr. Fox, in the shape of disposable
income, as life tenant, no less than £12,000 a year.
This large income has been simply muddled away
among. coal-merchants, fruiterers, &c., upon elec.
tioneenng expenses to the extent of £7poo, and upon the
interest on money raised to satisfy the debts contracted in
the two methods just named. Mr. Fox appears just to
have kept a good house, to have bought a seat in parlia-
ment, and to have raised money from time to time, when
' he found himself short of cash, to meet the expenses con-
sequent upon this mode of life. Twelve thousand a-year
and £lOO,OOO besides have been devoted to such uses
in the course of a very few years. The Chief Commissioner,
in giving judgment, observed that on a case of the descrip-
tion now before the court one might comment for the
whole day. It was, no doubt, a very painful subject to see
a comfortable property wrecked by extravagance. The
only matter he had to deal with was to say whether, after
an imprisonment already of fourteen months, the adjudi-
cation was to be a discharge or a judgment. The Chief
, Commissioner supposed all sources of income by Mr. Fox
• to be dried up. Mr. Lewis said, " Entirely." He' was
discharged.
HORRIBLE MURDER NEAR ABERDEEN .-011 Saturday
evening, the 6th instant, shortly after six o'clock, a young
woman, named Ann Harvey, left leer residence at Peter-
miter, where there are paper-mills at which she was em-
ployed, with the intention of proceeding to Aberdeen,
about eight miles distant, to purchase provisions for the
ensuing week. On leaving, she observed to the woman
with whom she lived, " Not to be surprised though it were
midnight, or even after it, ere she returned, as she was to
see Francie" (Francis), a young man understood to be her
suitor. Nothing subsequently was heard of her until be-
tween five and six o'clock on the Sunday morning, when
the dead body of the unfortunate woman was discovered
at a place called Cults, about four miles from Aberdeen, by
two lads, resident in the neighbourhood. The body was
lying inside a stone wall which skirts a plantation, rhea
throat cut in a frightful manner. Beside the body
small tin pail, a small basket containing packages of tea
and sugar, and other articles, and a loaf tied up in a nap-
kin by itself; so that evidently she had executed her
errand in purchasing the week's provisions. The wall
behind which the body was found is about five feet in
height, and is situated close to the turnpike, there being
a ditch at the road side. In this ditch, and at the spot
immediately opposite where the body was found, must the
brutal deed have been perpetrated ; for here, both in the
ditch and on the side of the road—though to judge by the
appearance of the ground there had not 'been violent
struggling—was found a very great quantity of blood.
In the ditch also was found
the unfortunate deceased's
shawl, bundled up. After the bloody act had been com-
mitted, the murderer had lifted the body from the ditch
and over the dyke. This had evidently been a task of
difficulty. The stones of the dyke were clotted with
blood, as if the head had struck frequently upon them.
The contents of the basket—tea, sugar, &c.—also bore
marks of blood, and presented the appearance of having
pockets of the deceased were examined, and a
fallen out and been replaced by bloody hands. The
package of
letters found including an embossed love epistle with
some verses, addressed her by " Francis Forbes, East Mid-
dleton, Banchory, Devenick." On obtaining this clue,
the sheriff and an officer proceeded to his house and found
him. Forbes admitted at once that Ann Harvey was a
sweetheart of his ; but lie denied any knowledge of the
murder, and said lie had been In bed all night. HisThisclothes,
clothes, however, exhibited various marks of blood. This
he attempted to explain, by saying that his nose had been
bleeding on the previous day. Forbes was placed in safe
custody till evening, when he was lodged in Aberdeen
gaol. Besides the marks of blood on Forbes's smock and
trousers, one of the sleeves of the shirt lie had on was wet
up to the elbow ; and the soiled shirt which he had worn
during the past week was nowhere to be found. The
prisoner's declaration was taken on Monday afternoon, in
which he stated that lie had not seen the girl llarveY
since the war fast day, on Wednesday week, His brother
and his sister-in-law, with whom lie lodged, also say that
he was in the house during the whole of the niht be-
tween Saturday and Sunday. It is reported that three
parties who live in the neigrhood of Forbes'
hlaui residence
, state that they saw himit
Saturday night. Wh the murdered girl late on

Tourtrsrs are already flocking to the Lakes of Killarney
in large numbers.
AMONG THE CREDITORS on the estate of Mr. Charles
Mathews, the comedian, are the Marquis of Abercorn for
£2,500, and the Mullah; oflcormanby, £3OO, money lent.
Locusts have appeared in the province of Cadiz, Spain,
and threaten the crops with great injury. Measures have
been taken by the authorities to destroy them.
Irr THE YEAR •11353 there were 15,498 persons corn-
mitted for trial in • Ireland. Of this number 8,821 were
convicted, and 3,142. acquitted. In the other cases there
was either no prosecution; or no bill found.
FIRS ENGIN Es.,-InCincinnati afire-engine, worked by
steam, is used with much success. It is only four or five
tons, and steam can be got up in the short space of seven
minutes. It is proposed to.provide New York with similar
engines.
THE FRENCH AY-CIACTILAORNA.—A French squadron '
of six sail, consisting of three steam-sloops, one frigate,
and two 20-gun brigs, was at Carthagena on the 12th ult ,
for the purpose of enforcing a claim of $BO,OOO made by a
French subject for flour destroyed by order of President
Herrera at Camelia a few years ago.
CANADA.—Our exports. in 1852 were £3,251,393; in
1853 they reached £5;3502;725.. Our imports in 1852 were
£5,071,623 ; in 1853 they amounted to £7,995,359. Great
Britain figures at £2,888,200 in the table of exports ; the
United States at £2,228,09(1. In the table of imports Great
Britain is down for £1:,612,642, the United States for
£2,953,605.—T0r0nt0 Globe.
THE GOLD OF VscTouTA.—The Melbourne Argus con-
tains some statistics of the gold-field of the Victoria dis-
trict for the year 1853, being the second year of its pro-
duction. The total produce, for the two years, of this
district alone, is givenar,t2s,ooo,ooo.
THE VACANT SEAT ON THE SCOTCH BENCH.—Chas.
Neaves, Esq., advocate, the Solicitor-General for Scotland,
under the government of Lord Derby, has been selected
to fill the vacant seat on the bench. This appointment
will afford unqualified' satisfaction to the legal profession
and the public generally.—Scottish Record.
RELIGION IN Russza.—The Ecclesiastical Gazette of
Vienna states, upon theauthority of authentic documents,
that in White Russia, in 1833, 33,000 persons were con-
verted to the Greek religion. The means of seduction em-
ployed were distributions of brandy, and to those who
resisted the temptation an application of the knout. The
Governor of the province received from the State a rouble
for each convert.
ECONOMY OF TIME.—A writer in the Christian Times
complains of " feminine impropriety" at the Exeter Hall
meetings. He has.been much struck with the indecorum
of a number of the ladies in working the whole time.
" To sit working on various sorts of female work, in front
of the speakers, under their very eye, all the time of the
report being read and the resolutions moved, does seem
to me something in. very bad taste, to say the least."
A FEMALE PARISIT OVERSEER.—Miss Sarah Matilda
George was recently nominated at a vestry meeting as a
fit and proper person to fulfil the duties of overseer of the
poor of Misson, Notts, and the Retford magistrates have
made the appointment. Miss eorge subsequently attended
a vestry meeting, declared her willingness to fulfil the
duties, and received the balance due to the parish from the
outgoing overseers.
A USEFUI CLERK.—A New York letter to the Mobile
Tribune says,—" There is a remarkable man connected
with the Custom-house here, a Spaniard. His business is
to receive and test money. He will pour the contents of
a bag of gold and silver coin into a scale —for it is weighed
not counted—and in a trice announces the amount in dol-
lars and cents ; then running his fingers through the
shining pieces, and applying his nose to them, immediately
takes out every counterfeit coin. He was never known to
make a mistake in pronouncing money good or bad, and
his infallible instinct for detecting the spurious metal is
located in his olfactory organs."
A WARNING.—A few days since Leeds was visited by
a heavy thunderstorm. A workman at a new Romish
masshouse, which is being built at Richmond-hill, was
struck dead, the lightning tearing his clothes to shreds ;
four men beside him were thrown to the ground, and
three of them dangerously injured ; two men a few yards
off, and working, one at the top and another at the bot-
tom of a new well, were frightfully injured—the man at
the top having his thigh fractured, and the other at the
bottom being crushed almost to a shapeless mass by stones
and timber, whisk fell-into the well from buttresses which
the lightning knocked down.
THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH has long been in operation
between St. Petersburg and Warsaw, and for some time
numbers of men have been employed in completing the
line, which is to extend from Warsaw to the Prussian
frontier. But in order not to lose time while the works
of the latter are going on, the Czar has caused the portion
already constructed to be connected with the Prussian
telegraph near Myslowitz, and by this means St. Peters-
burg is placed in direct communication with the capitals of
Western Europe. There is no longer any reason why the
embarkation of a regiment at Southampton, or the depar-
ture of' a ship from Portsmouth, should not be known in
the Russian capital before either can get out of the Chan-
nel. There is, however, no reciprocity of advantage. The
Russian line is not open to private dispatches.
SINKING OF THE ERICSSON STEAMER.—We learn by
the New York papers that during the storm which was
raging at the time the Arctic steam-ship left, the caloric
steamer Ericsson was sunk off Jersey city. It appears
that the vessel had been out on a trial trip. While return-
ing up the bay, and while some of the firemen were
heaving coal ashes out of the side port, which is a very
large one, the squall struck her, healing her down to star-
board, putting the port under water, through which .she
gradually filled, and sank within 300 yards of Jersey city,
with the upper decks about four feet under water. The
small boats of the Asia, lying at the Cunard dock, were
immediately despatched to the aid of those on board.
Small boats also came from neighbouring vessels, and
steam-tugs also came to her relief. One of the Jersey city
ferry-boats, the Jersey City, Capt. Price, also went off to
her; but as there were only a few persons on board—it
being a trial trip—they were got off in season, and before
the ferry-boat arrived. With the company onboard there
wore several ladies, who were much frightened by the acci-
dent, as well they might have been, for it was a disaster
which would no doubt have resulted in great loss of life,
had she been farther from the shore and the assistance she
received. The herald says : "Those on board of her
were much pleased with the result of the day's experi-
ment. They report that she made 12 revolutions per
minute during her trip, and attained a speed of about 11
miles per hour. The party were in the cabin, surrounded
with all the requirements of social enjoyment, and making
congratulatory speeches, when they were suddenly inter-
rupted in their enjoyment, and were compelled to flee to
the deck for safety, in consuence of her capsizing."
The same paper, of the 30th, says: " This ship was com-
pelled yesterday to buffet the storm, without any attempt
being made to raise her from her uncomfortable bed.
Derricks and steam-tugs have been placed around her, and
she will no doubt be pumped out, and again walk the
waters as proudly as ever, after the first few days of
favourable weather. This vessel is estimated to be worth
$500,000, and she is insured, we understand, for about
$300,000."
PIRACY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN.—The following re-
port, which leads to the impression that the crew of the
Harriet, of London, has been murdered by pirates, may
be relied on. It is dated Athens, the 25th of April :
"On the 21st instant, H. M. steam-ship Triton, hearing
that an English merchant vessel was in distress, sailed
from this place and anchored in the harbour of Gavrios,
island of Andros, where she found the English schooner
Harriet, of London, in charge of the Greek authorities.
Upon making inquiries, it was ascertained that the pea-
sants on the heights of Andros discovered a vessel, with
sails set, on the 12th and 13th of April. Her movements
were so peculiar, as she kept going round and round the
compass, the sails at times full and at others aback, that
on the second day the peasants sent to Gavrios and re-
ported the circumstance to the head man of the place, who
despatched boats, and found the vessel on a rock near
Thelo, island of Andros, totally abandoned, a dog being
the only living creature on board. On the 15th she was
navigated to Gavrios. On the examination of her papers,
&c., it became known that she had discharged a cargo of
coke at Valencia, and was bound to Constantinople for
cargo. Her log at noon of the 11th of April placed the
ship with Cape Doro bearing, by compass, north-east by
north twelve miles, and here that document ceases, stating
the weather to be calm and sultry. Large pools of blood
appeared on the deck and bulwarks ; the captain's cabin
was ransacked and in great confusion, also that part of
the ship appropriated to the ship's company. Her books
state her complement to be seven souls (all told.) Two
boats were on board. And now comes the piestion, where
are the crew ? Some people suggest mutiny, but, if so,
how did the perpetrators leave the ship ? Two boats were
surely sufficient for so small a crew, and the boats are on
board. The position of the Harriet at noon of the 11th
was about equi distant from the Negropont and the islands
Zea and Andros, and she was an easy victim for the law-
less gangs who are well known to infest the former place ;
they use the large row-boat, and a calm is well suited for
a dash alongside small vessels of commerce. The Harriet
was towed into this port on the 23rd instant by the
Triton, and given in charge of Mr. Neale, H. II M. Con-
sul." Another act of piracy is also reported. The English
schooner Sarah, Cole master, which arrived at Alatzatta
on the 27th ult., from Trieste, iad scarcely been at anchor
two hours when she was assailed and boarded by forty
Greeks in two boats, who stripped her of her chronometer,
watches, provisions, spyglass, clothes of the master and
crew, an& in fact, everything valuable. The master was
then menaced if lie did not give them money, but, having
none to give, he escaped further annoyance. She was to
load a cargo of fruit for London.
DREADFUL STORM IN AMERICA. By the Arctic steam-
ship, Capt. Luce, which left New York on the :30th ult.,
and reached the Mersey on Wednesday last, we have intel-
ligence of a dreadful storm which then raged. The
" windows of Heaven" (says the Herald of the 30th) are
open, " the fountains of the great deer are slightly broken
up, and we are in the midst of what the Peruvians on the
sea coast would undoubtedly consider a second deluge. It
has rained—no, that is not the word—it has poured down
upon ns in one interrupted stream from about twelve
o'clock on Friday niKlit, and at the time we go to press—
two a.m.—not the slightest indication of a ' hold up" is
discernable. The Russ pavement shines in the gaslight
like the marble floors of the St. Nicholas, and the homely
cobble stones, " long lost to sight (iii the mud) but to
memory dear," lift their modest heads in gratitude for the-
copious ablution. The urban& have suffered, some in the
way of overflowed cellars ; the suburbans have had their
trees blown down ; and their fancy flower gardens are in a
woeful plight.—ln Brookyli a melancholy accident
happened. The flood of water carried a mass of earth and
rock against a frame building situated on and partly over-
hanging the brink of the Heights, demolishing the lower
story, and, strange to say, leaving the upper
.part of the
house almost unharmed. Two persons lost their lives, and
five other were more or less injured, by this casualty. It I
appears that the rain first commenced on the afternoon of
the 27th, during a severe thunder storm. We are accus-
tomed (says the Herald) to witness similar disturbances '
of the elements at this season of the year, but the sudden-
ness of the transition in this instance, from the luxurious
balmy softness of one of the finest days in spring to a
roaring, pelting, pitiless tempest, with terrific thunder and
sharp blinding lightning, was enough to appal the timid
and -disturb the equilibrium of the calmest mind. This
storm has prevailed over a vast extent of country. It has
given the coasters oil' the North Carolina seaboard some
rough handling. Our inland seas, from Lake Ontario to
Lake I.llichigan, have felt its violence, and it will be fortn-
nate indeed if its disasters by land and sea are one-half as
yet reeottntell,