The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-05-03 00:00:00

Prince laughed, an Ambassador took snuff. Silently,
however, the Council was doing something ; not a tra-
veller of any character has left these shores who has not
gone out under the auspices of the Royal Society. It was
here I last saw poor FRANKLIN. Observatories are now
placed in every part of the habitable globe. and the pith
of Lord WROTTESLEY'S speech in the House of Peers
was mainly derivable from the impetus given to science
by the society. Here rank and title count nothing.
" Who are those two plain-looking little men, yet instinct
with genius, sitting on the front crimson bench ?" One
is thin,
sicklied o'er
With the pale cast of thought."
"Eh! Why there's PrinceALDEßTcome in—he is fain to sit
between the two little men—they laugh—shake hands,—
they are apparently at home in each other's affections."
Who are these two little men ? They must he Saxs: Go•
THA'S, SAXE WEIMAR'S, MECKLENBURG STRELITZ'S, Or
something that way. Not a bit of it. The twain are English.
The paler of the two was a bookbinder's apprentice ;
he who afterwards eliminated the first electric spark in
England. Great MICHAEL FARADAY. The other, son
of a music seller—skilled in phonics—doctrine of sounds.
The youth improved many instruments which he was not
ashamed to sell in his father's shop. Jew's harp twanging
he would make to twang less; harp of King DAVlD—the
young man would have attempted to improve, could he
have laid hold of the sweet psalmist's golden wires ; certes,
our young friend had afterwards to do with " wires" of
another kind. In conjunction with FARADAY and others,
I admit cantankerous men he perfected, made manifest—
as near as mortals can make manifest—the voice of the
most High and Omnipresent ! To them we owe the
electric telegraph. Without a penny to begin the world
with, they are now the companions of princes.
All hail, Kossurx ! The rocket affair has been again
before the magistrate this week, since which it has been
in every body's mouth, and I understand, on unmistake-
able authority, that the " great Magyar patriot and nis-
i trious exile" is himself somewhat perplexed. I intimated
to you, in last week's communication, what Mr. HENRY,
the Bow-street magistrate. has since confirmed ; he has
sent the lot to the Old Bailey, and finds that powder is
powder, though its granulation be as coarse as onion seed,
or as impalpable es meal on butterfly's wing, or pollen of
wild flower on thigh of bee. No great weight is paid to
the evidence of the foreigner, who said he was introduced
to HALE by KOSSUTH • but then KOSSUTH had publicly
denied that he had anything to do with the rocket people.
I believe that the whole affair will exit inferno, like a had
made squib on GUY FAWKES'S day. Again, people say
bow un-English for the detectives to watch KOSSUTH'S
house. I say nay to that ; I hate espionage with a perfect
hatred, but there cannot be a doubt that peace, goodwill,
and good understanding with a great nation is of far more
importance than squeamishness on account of the feelings
of an individual, though they even in the humblest, are
to be respected. Let KOSSUTH be right or wrong, his
name and that of JOSEPH AIAZZINI are blown upon
throughout three parts of Europe,—dangerous to mention
them in friendly accents, and it becomes England to be wary
—a little spark sometimes makes a great fire; and however
un-English it may appear, it may just be as well quietly to
look after Louts Kossurx a little longer, though he has
nothing to do with HALE'S rocket factory. KOSSUTH
certainly recommended to HALE Hungarian refugees who
were starving ; they were sent to the HALES, having been
in the service of Hungary in those departments where a
knowledge of guns, gunnery, and gunpowder was required.
Give KOSSUTH his due, he recommended others of his
compatriots to establishments in town, where they are
now employed in the peaceful art of folding and stitching
religious tracts ! Not much of fire and cannon in them.
Meantime, let the friends of KOSSUTH deny, if they can—
palliate they will—the fact that English, Scotch, and Irish
travellers in Austria have their wings clipped, because
KOSSUTH is here. This is great inconvenience ' • may lead
to broils ; we cannot help it. KOSSUTH has tasted
our 'constitutional salt; he is sacred in person; quietly
" bide your time," Kossurx, as you say you will—no
more—while you are here. But I hold, and so do better
lawyers, that one letter written, stirring up revolutionary
strife, and dated London, is warrant sufficient to cause a
discreet Government to say Cave to and if need be—
Go to New York, KOSSUTH. This result, however, is not
anticipated ; Kossurx is out of the HALES' affair.
You may depend on it " there is a hair of good wool"
in English character after all. The frank and manly way
in which the public were admitted, on Thursday and
Friday, to hear the startling evidence in the " AuGusrus
STAFFORD" inquiry, told every one that JOHN BULL will
" tell truth, and shame the devil." Oh, AUGUSTUS
STAFFORD ! I remember you, my boy, when you rejoiced
as STAFFORD O'BRIEN, M.P., and a nice amateur play-
actor with lords and ladies fair in ancient hall, at Yule
time ; but when I recollect at the Admiralty, where you
now sit, JOHN WILSON CHOKER. the eloquent, the
scholar, the experienced ; Sir JOHN BARROW, the earnest,
the infatuated—on one subject only infatuated—the
north-west passage. When I remember such men secre-
taries at the Admiralty, and see you there, and contem-
plate the figure you make, I heave a sigh, and say that
times are altered. When STAFFORD O'BRlEN—pardonnez
Mi.—AUGUSTUS STAFFORD got his appointment, about
the first thing he did was to get measured for a pair of
large blue sailor's trowsers. He wears the same sort,
slightly modified, at present. Life and fortune ! that a
young fellow, neither without brains nor money, should
have made such mistakes ;—" there's no use blinking the
question ; I am pressed by Lord DERBY and the CHAN-
CELLOR of the EXCHEQUER." Fine admission for a
political jobber—a member of the Coalition Ministry !
Mr. AUGUSTUS STAFFORD did very wrong to interfere, for
" political purposes," in the appointment of blacksmiths
to do government work for their votes. Having men-
tioned JoHN WILSON CROICER'S name, some of your
elderly Conservative readers will be glad to learn that in
his old age he lives with " honour, love, obedience—
troops of friends." Sir JOHN BARROW, the other
Admiralty Secretary, has gone to that bourne whence there
is no return, without knowing the fate of Sir JOHN
FRANKLIN and his brave men, whom Sir JOHN BARROW,
main agent, despatched on the worthless errand to the
arctic regions. Sir JOHN dunned into the ears of each
succeeding ministry the propriety of sending out explorers.
The Board of Admiralty yielded, though they as good as
told him, were the passage possilale, it could, in the
nature of things, only be accomplished once in two or
three years—what was to be gained ? Scarcely a grampus.
I have heard Sir JOHN BARROW, at nearly four score
years of age, dilate on this hazardous journey with enthu-
siasm—it was his hobby—had he not agitated, FRANKLIN
would not have been sent.

WILFUL MURDER ON THE HIGH SEAS.

At the Police-court, yesterday, a seaman named Daniel
Miller was charged with the wilful murder of Peter Marr,
the carpenter on board the packet-ship Lady Mary, of
London, during her passage from Demerara to this port.
The charge was preferred against the prisoner by the ,
captain of the vessel, on her arrival at this port, on Friday.
Detective officer Murphy said that, from instructions which
he received on Friday evening, he went on board the
Lady Mary, lying in the Brunswick Dock. He found the
prisoner in the cabin, and told him he was an officer, and
that he (prisoner) was charged with killing a sailor named
Marr, by striking him on the head with a stick. Prisoner
said, "he said he was going to strike me with it, and I took
it from him. He then drew his knife, and I struck him on
the head with a stick." Witness asked prisoner if they had
been quarrelling before, and he said " No, I don't recol-
lect ever having had a wrong word with him." Witness then
took him into custody. The captain then came into the
cabin and pointed out a stick, and said that was the stick.
Witness examined it, and found marks of blood upon it.
[Stick produced.]
Alexander Young said—l am master of the English brig
Lady Mary. The prisoner was one of my crew. He was
an able seaman. About the hour of seven on the morn-
ing of the 28th of February, we were on the homeward
voyage, a little to leeward of Demerara lightship, at sea,
when the prisoner came to me on the quarter-deck, and
said, " Captain, I have come aft to give myself up to
you." I asked him what he had been up to, and he told
me he had struck the carpenter with a stick. I asked
him if he had killed him, and he said, " I believe so, or
nearly." I went forward, and found the carpenter lying
on his bed, on the deck of the forecastle. He was insen-
sible, but alive. I called all hands, and secured the pri-
soner. I examined the wounded man, and found it was
Marr, the carpenter. I found two wounds upon
his head, from which blood was flowing. There
was one wound upon the forehead, above the eye,
and another higher up nearer the top of the head.
One of his hands was smashed as if with guarding
off the blow. The deceased never spoke after we saw
him, and died in about two hours. I inquired from the
mate and crew if they had seen or heard anything of it,
and they said they had not. I saw the mate find the
piece of wood now produced. It was lying in the cabin,
about twelve or fourteen feet from the deceased. I exa-
mined the wood, and found blood and hair upon it. I had
seen that piece of wood in possession of the prisoner when
he came alongside in the pilot boat. We had only been 12
or fourteen hours at sea when it occurred. Immediately
after I found the deceased insensible, I asked the pri-
soner if that was the stick he struck him with, and he
said it was. I asked him what he struck the deceased
with it for, and he told me that the carpenter had a knife,
and said he was going to stick him or kill him with it. I
then said to hitn, Was it in self-defence that you struck
him ?" He said it was. The prisoner appeared to be
under the influence of liquor when he came on board the
ship. I examined the place about where the carpenter
was lying, but did not see any knife. The body was
thrown overboard.

A seaman, who assisted the mate in sewing the de-
ceased up in a sheet, before throwing him overboard,
stated that, on examining his clothes, they did not find
any knife.

Mr. Francis Ayrton, a surgeon at the north dispensary,
said he had examined the prisoner, and from that ex-
amination he believed him to be sane, but from his own
account of this transaction he believed him to have been
labouring under delirium tremens at the time of the
occurrence.

On the prisoner being asked what he had to say, after
receiving the usual caution, he said—" It was not my in-
tention to kill the man. I should never have struck him,
if I had not thought that he was going to kill me."
He was then fully committed to take his trial at the
assizes on a charge of wilful murder.

MRS. HILES' CONCERT.— On Tuesday last this lady,
in conjunction with her daughter, gave a concert in the
Hall, Lord Nelson-street. Miss Hiles went through the
usually difficult task of a fie st appearance very satisfac-
torily. Her voice is a contralto of rich quality and good
compass ; not, as has been stated, " a sort of mezzo
soprano." The first song selected for her debilt was,
however, but ill calculated to produce a favourable im-
pression. the words and music being of a very mediocre
description. The same remark will also apply to other
portions of the programme. When it is considered Miss
Hiles has had but little opportunity-of instruction, there
is no doubt, under the judicious training of an able
master, she will be eventually a very great acquisition to
our local concerts. Mrs. Hiles is a soprano, possessing
considerable talent, and was much applauded in her songs
and duetts ; in the latter she was ably assisted by her
daughter. The old and favourite songs—" Should he
upbraid," and " Tell me my Heart," were capitally ren-
dered. The other portions of the concert call for no
especial remark, the performers being well known, and
their exertions being
auditory. fully appreCiatCd by a very crowded