The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-04-27 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOt STANDARD.

DAY-DREAMING.—You may say what you please, but
it does the mind good to think of nothing at times ; to let
the impressions of passing events glide through the soul,
and titillate the imagination, but to " leave no trace be-
hind." Oh yes ! this fairy dancing on the sands of life's
dull shore, is very pleasant occupation for a summer
morn, and eke a summer eve. It is poetical, to say the
least of it ; and day-dreams may sometimes prove not less
agreeable than those mysterious scenes of night, when the
soul quits her corporeal shackles, and roams in pure fancy
through the world of thought, seeing sights of beauty, and
scenes of paradisaical splendour, which the dull organs
of bodily vision can never attain unto. Why ! the hap-
piest portion of my life is that which I have passed in the
land of dreams : one third of my existence has been spent
there—and I have friends, and well-known faces, and
peaceful valleys, and bright streams, and strains of ethe-
real music, which are still and ever vivid in my waking
mind, but at night call me to themselves, and wrap me in
a state of enjoyment which certainly this poor weak body
of mine never could be capable of experiencing. I have
positively new, altogether new and unheard-of ideas—l
do not mean irrational ones, nor those phantasmagoric
combinations that haunt the diseased brains of some
wretched mortals—but reasonable, possible, natural ideas
of form and substance, which I am persuaded have their
types in some corner or other of the universe, and which
it may perhaps be hereafter my too happy destiny to wit-
ness, and to dwell amongst for ever and for aye.—
Blackwood's Magazine.

TAKE THE CENTRE HOUSE.—She advised me, if ever I
took a house in a terrace a little way out of town, to be
very careful that it was the centre one—at least if I had
any regard for my reputation. For I must be well aware
that a story never lost by telling ' • and, consequently, if I
lived in the middle of a row of houses, it was very clear
that the tales which might be circulated against me would
only have half the distance to travel on either side of me,
and therefore could not be half as bad, by the time they
got down to the bottom of the terrace, as the tales that
might be circulated against the wretched individuals who
had the misfortune to live at the two ends of it ; so that I
should be certain to have twice as good a character in the
neighbourhood as they had. For instance, she informed
me of a lamentable case which had actually occurred while
she was there. The servant at No. I told the servant at
No. 2 that her master expected his old friends the Baileys
to pay him a visit shortly •, and No. 2 told No. 3 that No.
1 expected to have the Baileys in the house every day ;
and No. 3 told No. 4 that it was all up with No. 1, for
they couldn't keep the bailiffs out ; whereupon 4 told 5
that the officers were after No. 1, and that it was as much
as he could do to prevent himself being taken into execu-
tion, and that it was near killing his poor dear wife ; and

No. 32, who confident)

;ured the last house,

that the Bow-street officers had taken up the

;entlem

who lived at No. 1, for killing his poor dear wife with ar-
senic, and that it was confidently hoped and expected that
he would he executed at Horsemonger-lane gaol, as the
facts of the case were very clear against him. All which,
Mrs. Toosypegs said, proved, very clearly, that servants
were a " bad lot," and that there was no trusting 'ern with
anything, but what they must go wasting their time gos-
siping and putting it about all over the neighbourhood.
Though, for her own part, she always made it a rule to
shut her ears against all scandal.—Greatest Plague in
Life.
VEGETATION IN CANADA.—Vegetation in Canada is
exceedingly rapid; no sooner does the cold mantle of
winter disappear beneath the gladdening rays of an un-
clouded sun than the grass starts into existence, the trees
put forth their leaves, and the blossoms spring into light ;
the beautiful birds return ; and, although they are for the
most part mutes, yet their plumage is so gorgeous, and
their feathers so delicately tinted, that one forgets that
they are songless whilst gazing upon their splendid attire.
Some idea of the excessive rapidity with which nature
conducts her wonder-working operations may be gathered
from the fact, that in forty-eight hours' time from the
sowing of a field it is seen perfectly green and beautiful.
The fruits of Canada are delicious. Melons in all their
variety and richness grow without the least trouble to the
planters ; so that it is quite common, in passing through
many of the clearings, to see large beds of the choicest
kind advancing to perfection ; whilst in other districts,
Niagara for instance, there are whole orchards of peach
trees bearing the mosti tempting descriptions of that most
excellent fruit. Plums, apples, and pears in endless
variety, and almost unlimited quantity, grow in the colony.
Gooseberries and strawberries do not arrive at the size or
perfection of those propagated in Europe ; the wild field
strawberry is, however, a substitute for its more highly
cultivated companion. In consequence of fruit being so
exceedingly prolific, the natives and settlers in Canada
make vast quantities of preserves, and this will sufficient-
ly account for the fact that, in the poorest houses and
worst inns in the country, the visitor is sure to meet with
sweet-meats of all kinds. They generally make four
meals per diem ; and at every meal they introduce pre-
serves in some one shape or another. So general is the
rage for such things, and so great the abundance of fruit,
that some of the poorest people apply and obtain leave
from the more respectable inhabitants, &c., to enter their
gardens and gather currants for manufacturing preserves.
To the uninitiated reader this may appear very gross ex-
travagance ; but it is to be remembered that the greater
part of such delicacies are formed from the mapal sugar.
This is maintained in the following manner :—Early in
spring, when the sap begins to flow, the people go into
the woods and tap the mapal tree. The weather must be
cold enough to freeze at night, so that the wound may be
healed, and warm enough in the day-time to cause the re-
newal of the effusion : thus, having placed their troughs
under each tree having a tap, they empty the contents
which have run during the day into large boilers, and re-
duce them to molasses during the night ; it is made
exactly as our foreign sugars are, Very large quantities

by the Indians and settl

and no do

were it entered into with a proper spirit of enterprise, and
with the necessary apparatus for its speedy and better ma-
nufacture, large sums of money would be thereby realised.
Unfortunately the spring is so short, and the necessary
preparations for sowing spring crops so urgent, that very
extensive sugar bushes or maple plantations are suffered
to remain altogether untouched by the owners of the soil.
—Canada as it is, by the Rev. G. W. Warr.

JERUSALEM BY MOONLIGHT.—The broad moon lingers
on the summit of Mount Olives, but its beam has long
left the Garden of Gethsemane and the tomb of Absalom,
the waters of Kedron, and the dark abyss of the vale of
Jehoshaphat. Full falls its splendour, however, on the
opposite city, vivid and defined in its silver blaze. A lofty
wall, with turrets and towers and frequent gates, undu-
lates with the unequal ground which it covers, as it encir-
cles the lost capital of Jehovah. It is a city of hills, far
more famous than those of Rome ; for all Europe has heard
of Sion and of Calvary, while the Arab and the Assyrian,
and the tribes and nations beyond, are as ignorant of the
Capitolian and Aventine Mounts as they are of the Mal-
vern or the Chiltern Hills. The broad steep of Sion,
crowned with the tower of David ; nearer still, Mount
Moriah, with the gorgeous temple of the God 6f Abraham,
built, alas ! by the child of Hagar, and not by Sarah's
chosen one ; close to its cedars and its cypresses, its lofty
spires and airy arches, the moonlight falls upon Bethesda's
pool ; further on, entered by the gate of St. Stephen, the
eye, though 'tis the noon of night, traces with ease the
Street of Grief, a long winding ascent to a vast cupolaed

pile that now covers Calvary, called the Street of Grief,
because there the most illustrious of the human, as well as
of the Hebrew race, the descendant of King David, and
the divine Son of the most favoured of women, twice sank
under that burden of suffering and shame which is now

throughout all Christendom the emblem of triumph and
of honour ; passing over groups and masses of houses
built of stone, with terraced roofs or surmounted with
small domes, we reach the hill of Salem, where Melchi-
salek built his mystic citadel ; and still remains the hill
of Scopas, where Titus gazed upon Jerusalem on the eve
of his final assault. Titus destroyed the temple. The
religion of Judeea has in turn subverted the fanes which
raised to his father and himself in their imperial ca-
nd the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob is
before every altar in Rome. Jerusalem

by moonlight !
dissolubh

fine spectacle, apart from all its in-

associations of awe and beauty. The mitigat-
ing hour softens the austerity of a mountain landscape
magnificent in outline, however harsh and severe in de-

tail"; and, while it

blimity, removes much

avage sternne
A. fortified cit

ige and unrivalled
minded by ravines,

3g, throq

preading hills,
ky glens, the
moon has sunk

bunt of OEN

he darker

.Inne doubly bright over y • The all-
pervading stillness is broken by a breeze, that seems to
I have travelled over the plain of Sharon from the sea. It
The wails among the tombs, and sighs among the cypress

groves. The palm-tree trembles as it passes, as if it were
a spirit of woe. Is it the breeze that has travelled over
the plain of Sharon from the sea ? Or is it,the haunting
voice of prophets mourning over the city that they could
not save? Their spirits surely would linger_on the land

fate Omnipotence had shed human tears
lOunt ! Who can but believe that, at th

were merchants and mariners among mankind ; but what
were those passing phantoms to them ? John the son of
Thomas lived and died as Thomas the father of John had
lived and died from generation to generation. The first
news of the American war reached it in the firing of the
Woolwich guns for peace ; and the original tidings of the
French Revolution, in similar rejoicings for the Battle of
Waterloo.

" 0 happy ye,.the happiest of our kind,
Who leave alike life's woes and joys behind ! "
says the philosophic Cowley ; and with Cowley I perfectly
agree.—But Erith is this scene of philosophy no more.
It has now shared the march of mind : it has become al-
most a watering-place ; it has a library, a promenade,
lodgings for gouty gentlemen, a conventicle, several vi-
gorous politicians, three doctors, and, most fatal of all,
four steam-boat arrivals every day. Solitude has fled,
and meditation is no more.—But, to my story. In that
lonely house lived for several years, in the beginning of
the century, a singular character, of whom nothing more
was known than that he had come from some distant
place of abode ; that he never received a letter ; and that
he never hunted, shot, or fished with the squiredom of
the county. He was of large form, loud voice, had a
sullen look, and no trust in her Majesty's ministers for
the time being. At length, on some occasion of peculiar
public excitement, the recluse had gone to Gravesend,
where, tempted by the impulse of the moment, he had
broken through his reserve, dashed out into a diatribe of
singular fierceness, but of remarkable power, accused.
England of all kinds of oppression to all kinds of coun-
tries, and finished his speech by a recapitulation of all the
wishes, wants, woes, and wrongs, as he called them, of
Ireland,

" First flower of the west, and first gem of the ocean."
Within the next twelve hours, a pair of Bow-street offi-
cers were seen galloping into the village in a post-chaise
and four. They brought a warrant from the Secretary of
State to arrest the Irish orator, as a leader of the late
Rebellion, returned from transportation on his own au-
thority. He was captured, and conveyed to the Tower.
And this was the last intelligence of the patriot ; except
that he appealed to the government against all repetition
of his Australian voyage, and swore that he preferred the
speedier performance of the law to the operations on the
Coal-mine river. A remarkable tempest, which broke all
the windows, and threw down half the chimneys of the
city, a few weeks after, was supposed by the imaginative
to be connected with his disappearance. At all events,
he was heard of no more.—" Lays and Legends of the
Thames," in Blackwood.

OrntraT

Aitken, of Aberdeen, has taken out a patent for the
acture of iron coaches.

On Wednesday, a little girl was killed at Clifton, by a
stone thrown from a rock during the process of blasting.

On Monday, at the Crookhalllronirorks, near Shotfey-
bridge six persons were killed by the bursting of a boiler.
Mr:Newman, says the Tablet, has been entrusted by
the Pope with the task of revising the English translation
of the Vulgate. _ _

The Macedonia, once a British frigate, but captured by
the United States in 1812, is now on her way from Ame-
rica to Cork, laden with bread stuffs.

The number of sailing vessels wrecked during the year
1846, amounted to 537, and the tonnage thereof to 91,899
tons.

A farmer, in Dumfries, has lost several sheep lately by
their swallowing horse leeches, which ate through the vital
organs.
___.. . . .

More than thirty thousand negroes in Africa and the West
Indies have subscribed towards the statue of their bene-
factor, Sir T. F. Buxton.
BURYING GROUND.—It is said that there are in Paris
four hundred acres of burying ground for less than one
million of inhabiiants, while in London there are but one
hundred for two millions.

• In Aberdeen, the streets are swept every day, at an
annual cost of £1,400, and the refuse brings in £2,000
a year. In Perth, the scavenging costs £1,300, and the
manure sells for £1,730.

A large meeting of the inhabitants of Wakefield was
held on Wednesday, and a memorial to the Queen was
adopted to obtain a charter of incorporation for the bo-
rough. _ _ _ _

Brandeston-hall, in Suffolk, a fine Elizabethan struc-
ture, the seat of Mr. Austin, Q.C., was totally destroyed
by fire, on Thursday. The loss is estimated at upwards of
£20,000. The mansion was not insured.

Mr. Alfred. Smee, who has all along attributed the po-
tato disease to the aphis vastator, lately placed some of
those insects- on a healthy plant, which they destroyed
with symptoms precisely similar to those which affected
the crop last year all over Europe.
Lord John Russell on Friday announced, amid general
expressions of satisfaction, that £5OO, and a medal, were
proposed to be granted by Government to Bernadino
Camp, the Spanish captain, who saved the survivors of
the unfortunate passengers and crew of the Tweed.
DEATH OF MRS. DISRAELI.—On Tuesday information
was received in town of the demise of this lady, the wife
of J. Disraeli, Esq., the celebrated author of " The Curi-
osities of Literature," and mother of the present member
of parliament. She was in her sixty-fifth year.

Mr. Edmund Garbett, for many years a solicitor at
Wellington, Shropshire, and well known to the profession
in Birmingham and elsewhere, was last week committed
on a charge of forgery, in placing the name of another
person to an acceptance.
EXTRAORDINARY El RTH .-The Wife of William Squires,
carpenter and joiner, Buckinghamshire, Kingsland, was
safely delivered on Sunday, the 18th inst., of three chil-
dren—viz., three boys, who, with the mother, are doing
well.

A woman died in London, last week, from exhaustion,

her foot slipped, and
enware, of which a fragment
,vered a small blood-vessel.

attending to her household affairs
she fell upon some earl'.
entered her back and

Mr. Dunn, the barrister, who fell desperately in love
with Miss Coutts' fortune, and is now a prisoner in the
Queen's Bench, sent a long, formal, and written com-
plaint to the Southwark magistrates, on Monday, against
a cobbler, who, having soled a pair of shoes for him, re-
fuses to deliver them without pre-payment of 4s. 6d. !
WARNING TO SURGEONS An Aberdeen paper reports
the death of Dr. Fidders, of Belhelvie, from the effects of
a puncture he received in one of his fingers, while making
a post-mortem examination. The virus spread rapidly
through the system ; and, notwithstanding the best medical
aid was promptly administered, he died in great torture.
Arrangements are being made by the Postmaster-Gene-
ral, for causing all letters to be marked with the dated
stamp of every office through which they pass. Hitherto
they have been posted and dated whence they have been
delivered. The new arrangement will facilitate the detec-
tion of the particular office at which any delay or error
in the transmission of correspondence takes place.
SHOCKING DEPRAVITY.—One day last week at Hor-
field, a poor wretch of afellow, to show his contempt for
I_l

the Bible, roasted it before a tire as he woula a Joint, of
meat, and basted it with beer. In the evening of the
same day he was drowned,—whether by accident or not
we do not know, but it is believed he committed suicide.
—Bristol Journal.
Throughout the whole agricultural districts of Scot-
land, the accounts of the seed time, and the promisinv

state of the young wheat are more than usually favour-
able. In Lanarkshire the oats are all in the ground under
favourable circumstances. In Roxburghshire the accounts
of the seed time are equally favourable. In East Lothian

all the young crops are looking well. In Ayrs►ure tann-
ing produce is declining in price generally.
PALACE COURT, WESTMINSTER.--ONE HUNDRED
AND TWENTY PER CENT. PER ANNUM I—Among the
parties summoned was a government clerk, at £lO a year,
who had borrowed £5 at 30s. a quarter interest ! An ap-
plication for commitment was made, but the court de-
clined to commit at the instance of the plaintiff, who had
taken such large interest. The clerk admitted that his
rent was more than his salary ?
The Duke of Bedford has intimated his intention of

giving, out of his own priva
former gift of £lO,OOO, the sum of £3,000, s
by the Commissioners of Woods and Foy
parish of Saint Paul, Covent-garden, as th(
its contribution towards the formation of th
from Leicester-square to King-street, Covent-garden
It is understood that this great improvement will be forth-
with commenced.

1 requi

EMIGRATION FROM THE POTTERIES.—
irteen &raffles from different

A. few days since

)f the Petteries,

numbering about sixty persons, took ti

`.amilies go uni

departure for

ter the auspices, 01

the Potters' Emigration Society, but the destinatiOn of all
Columbia County, United States, where the society
urchased a tract of land. The emigrants are pot-
backwoods of the new world they are to
obtain-a livelihood as agriculturists

have _
ters, but in tl

The llaLiton estate wa
tion at Birmingham, by Mr

on the 13th inst., sold by auc-
•. Tisdale. The principal part
2083 acres, including the man-

of the estate, contain

s of detached

The-tiniber, valued at £lO,OOO, and 2
laud valued at £9622, are to be paid for in addition to the

purchase
land, wil

letached

E MURDER AT DERBY.—DEATH OF MRS.
We very much regret to say that Mrs. _ Os-

)Ezci
e, who was so

neck had healed up, but she was troubled with a most Vi-
olent cough, which, no doubt, hastened her end. The
murderer cut her fingers so bad, that mortification of one
of them took place, and she had it cut off about a month
ago; an operation which she bore with great fortitude.
FATAL ACCIDENT TO LIEUT. HENRY.-011 Thursday,
as Lieutenant Henry, of the Royal Marine Artillery, with
two brother officers, Lieuts. Budd and Adair, were driving
along King's-terrace, Southsea, Hants, in a dog-cart, in
turning a corner into Wish-street, the carriage touched the
kerb, ran upon one wheel, and turned completely over, the
wheels uppermost, and the horse on its back. Mr. Henry
was heavily thrown, and fractured the back of his head,
besides receiving internal injury, from the effects of which

The deceased was a very promising

young officer.
Messrs. Jennens and Bettridge, of Birmingham, have
just completed a splendid suit of papier macho boudoir
furniture for the young Queen of Spain. The suite con-
sists of eighteen reclining chairs, a sofa, the largest ever
Made in this material, sofa-table, light ornamented tables,
ennvnrcatinn Astirs_ and ottomans. The shape of each

article is exceedingly elegant, and their several uses are
not sacrificed to, but enhanced by the beauties of form.
The ornaments are chiefly of burnished gold and mother
of pearl, in the ornate style of Louis the Fourteenth.
Groups of birds, fountains, and festoons, are disposed
with excellent effect; and the light and delicate tracery
of gold forms an elegant fringe to the gorgeous pictures,
one of which is a view of Windsor Castle.

the preci

IRISH IMMIGRATION INTO LONDON.—The importation
of Irish paupers, so much complained of in Liverpool and
Glasgow, begins to wear a threatening aspect in London.
On Sunday, the Prussian Eagle, from Cork, and the Li-
merick, from Dublin, landed 1,200 Irish paupers at Alder-
man's-stairs, Lower East Smithfield. The new-corners--
who were in the most wretched state of distress—were
forthwith distributed over the eastern part of the m etropolis.
The same vessels landed 1,200 Irish paupers on Sunday
week.

A MAN SHOT BY A PIG.—On Monday morning week,
about seven o'clock, the eldest son (about twenty-three
years of age) of Mr. Amos, farmer, near the Cuckoo, in
Spalding, left a gun heavily loaded standing in a corner of
the barn. During his absence, which could scarcely ex-
ceed ten minutes, several pigs entered, 'and whilst they
were being driven out, one of them knocked down the
gun, which immediately exploded, and the unfortunate
individual alluded to being not more than four feet from
the muzzle, the whole of the charge entered a little below
the calf of his right leg, which was dreadfully lacerated.
AN INSOLVENT BARONET.—Sir Henry Chudleigh Ox-
enden, Bart., an insolvent, appeared from the Queen's
prison, on. his application to be discharged. From the
schedule it appeared that the debts were in the aggregate
£90,620; of which £29,563 were without consideration,
and £3OOO more than once entered. The consideration
debts from 1830 were £57,799. The insolvency was attri-
buted to heavy law expenses, anu to the failure of carry-
ing out an agreement with the South Western Railway
Company. The court having appointed Mr. Kingsford
assignee, the insolvent was ordered to be discharged.
THE CONSTABULARY FORCE IN ENGLAND AND WALES.
On Friday, members of the House of Commons were put
in possession of a return of the constabulary force in Eng-
land and Wales, for each city, town, or borough, with the
wages paid to the officers, &c. It contains no account of
the rural constabulary force, and so far is defective. The
following summary of the total number of officers and
men, consequently, must be takenwith large allowances :

In the metiopolifin and city of London poliCe forces,
In constabulary forces in municipal boroughs
. .

In ditto in towns not municipal Boroughs

Total officers and men 10008
Superannuation funds have been established in ten
boroughs ; in 201 the return under this head is nil.

SIMPLE DIVISION, OR A NOVEL MODE OF ARRIVING
AT A VERDICT.—At the recent Maidstone assizes, an ac-
tion was brought by Mr. Gardener, of the Globe Tavern,
Mile End Road, near Bow, against the Directors of the
North Woolwich Railway Company, for trespass. The
damages were laid at £lOOO, and the defendants had paid
£75 into court. Some dispute arose among the jury as to
t of damages to which the plaintiff was
entitled, when one of the jury suggested that each of them
should write on a slip of paper the sum they conceived
equivalent for that purpose. The suggestion was acted
upon, the aggregate amount of the whole ascertained, and
pivided by 12, which gave £137 damages. This verdict
was actually given in and recorded.

THE WESI:EY:ANS AND THE GOVERNMENT EDUCATION
SCHEME.—The United (Wesleyan) Committees of Privi-
leges and Education have made the following declaration
with reference to the Government Education Scheme :

"That on the whole subject, surrounded as it is with
many difficulties, these Committees, after long, deliberate,
and prayerful consideration, have come to the almost
unanimous resolution, to advise the Wesleyan Societies
and Congregations, under present circumstances, not to
offer any further Connexional opposition, or to take any
further Connexional action, in reference to the Govern-
ment Measure of Education, as these Committees under-
stand it to be now explained, and intended to be ulti-
mately proposed to the House of Commons."
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC INSTITUTE AND THE EDU-
CATION SCHEME.—At a meeting of the Catholic Institute
held on Wednesday, at which the Earl of Shrewsbury
presided, and at which there was a large attendance of
bishops and clergy, the following resolution was- unani-
mously agreed to :—" That this meeting, deeply impressed
with the outrage offered to the rights of conscience by the
declaration of her Majesty's present government—' that
Catholics are to be excluded from a participation in the
grant of £1,000,000 to be voted by parliament for all
other religious communions,'—call upon all classes of
their fellow Catholics to unite in one cry of indignant
reprobation at this insulting exception from a public grant,
paid out of a public fund, under the administration of a
ministry who have appropriated to themselves the title of
' Liberal,' but whose shrinking policy, at the cry of a
bigoted sect, has countenanced the worst features of
religious intolerance."

THE LATE THOMAS BALDWIN, ESQ.—This gentleman
died suddenly at Birmingham, in the month of January,
1845, possessed of personal property amounting to
£200,000. He died intestate and a bachelor. A consi-
derable number of his relatives reside in this county,
among whom are John Taylor, Esq., of Moreton Hall,
near Padiham ; Mr. Thomas Robinson, draper, Burnley ;
and Mr. Edmund Robinson, manager of the Burnley Gas
Works, The first-named gentlemen drew £9OOO in behalf
of his aged mother, who was a first cousin ; and the two
latter in their own right, as relatives in the like degree,
have each received the same sum. Mr. Richard Fort,. of
Waterloo Plaee, Accrington, has received £lB,ooo—one
moiety in behalf of his mother, and the other in right of
his wife. Mr. ,William Robinson, of Padiham, has also
received £9,000. The money was paid on Saturday week,
at the Queen's Hotel, Piccadilly, Manchester. We un-
derstand that this is only a first instalment, and that a
further dividend will be paid in a short time. The legacy
duty on each share amounted to £450.

EXPLOSION OF A POWDER-MILL.—A terrific explosion,
attended by the complete demolition of some extensive
powder-mills, took place at the gunpowder manufactory
of Messrs. Wakefield and Bainbridge, at the village of
Sedgwick, near Kendal, on Monday night last. Near the
mansion of Mr. John Wakefield; mayor of Kendal, were

ling the raw materia.
3f wood. Closely ad

was what was called the preparing mill, built of stone, to
which was attached the composition-house. From some
unknown cause an explosion occurred, by which the entire
of these six erections were completely demolished, leaving
only here and there a vestige of the walls standing.
Happily no life was lost. After the explosion a mass of
burning timber was scattered about, and at one time the
flames from a quantity of ignited saltpetre were very alarm-
ing, but by the assistance of the Kendal fire engines were
finally extinguished.
INCITING A MAYOR TO FIGHT A DUEL.—Last week,
in the Bail Court, Mr. Sergeant Talfourd moved for a
rule to show cause why a criminal information should not
be filed against Mr. Charles Ricketts, Mr. Chamberlain,
and another gentleman for having incited F. T. Elgie,
Esq., the Mayor of Worcester, to a breach of the peace by
fighting a duel. Mr. Elgie and Mr. Chamberlain are
both solicitors, and a difference arose respecting the tax-
ing of a bill oicosts for a railway company. The former
having declined to answer the letters of the latter, Mr.
in the navy, to wait upon Mr. Elgie, to name the time
Chamberlain, deputed Mr. Tangier, his friend, an officer
and place of meeting. The mayor very properly declined

the appeal to weapons of a deadly nature, preferring one
to law and reason, and the matter was therefore brought
before this court.—As nothing, however, had occurred
since the 24th of March, Mr. Justice Coleridge hoped the
matter would go no further. If anything unpleasant did
take place, of course a second application could be made.

—The subject was then dropped
CRIMINAL OFFENDERS IN SCOTLAND
parliamentary papers, presented in the course o
week, was one of a voluminous character, containing

amongst the

in Scotland. The offences are divided into six classes,
from the higher to the lower grades of crime. The infe-
rence to he drawn from these statements confirms the
view likely to be taken by the House of Commons—that

crime is mainly owing to the want of education. The
chief punishment (murders or heinous offences being rare)
is imprisonment, varying from twelve months to less than
six. In transportation the term seems to be usually seven
During the twelve months (1846) only three were

There I

I, consequently, not been one in:

•
stance of the execution of the capital punishment ; and
there does not appear to have been any commutation
either of transportation or of imprisonment, nor one free
pardon. The return was made by the Lord Advocate,
and was received with peculiar interest.
NARROW ESCAPE.—On Wednesday last a carriage and
pair. containing three ladies, was waiting at the railway
station at Rugby, whilst the coachman went to make in-
quiries after some luggage. During his absence the horses,
alarmed at the noise. of the numerous engines that are

constantly passing backwards and iorwurcw aL tins paint,
turned round and started off at a rapid rate towards the
town. A man engaged in mending the road, alarmed at
the approach of the carriage, removed his barrow, but
dared not attempt to stop the horses ; a young man, how-
ever, who lines at the Crown, seeing the dangerous post-
Lion in which the ladies were placed7gallantly ran towards
the horses, and succeeded in obtaining possession of the
reins, and also in checking „ the progress Of the_ spirited
. .

ut injury, as the road along which the hors'i
it all times thronzed with tarn

of dif-

zo, to show the estima

conduct of the young

April V, Mit

PRICE or GAIL—In the House of Commons on Thurs-
day, Mr. Hume Moved for " a statement of every gas
company established by act of parliament in the united
kingdom, stating the several acts of parliament under
which established ; the rates per 1,000 feet at which each
company or corporation has supplied gas in each year
since 1820 ; or, if later established, in each year from the
year the company commenced to supply gas, and the price
of the best coals in each year for the same period : also,
stating the amount of fixed capital of each gas company,
and the rate per cent. of each dividend to the share-
holders or proprietors on their shares in each year during
that time.' The motion was agreed to.

SUICIDE OF SIR HENRY IVD BSTER.—A most painful
sensation pervaded the vicinity of Grosvenor-square, on
Monday, in consequence of a rumour that Sir H. Web-
ster, Bart., residing at No. 31, Upper Brook-street, had
committed suicide by cutting his throat with a razor. Upon
making inquiry into the truth of the rumour, it was
found to be too true. The unfortunate gentleman, it ap-
pears, has for some time past been in a desponding state
of mind, but no fears were for a moment entertained that
he would take his own life. On Monday morning he rose
at his usual hour and took breakfast, and expressed his
intention of going out to walk. He was left by himself to
dress, and shortly after a heavy fall was heard in his
room. The servant immediately proceeded to his apart-
ments, and found him lying upon the floor with a wound
in the throat. Medical assistance was promptly obtained,
and the wound in the throat dressed, but at twelve o'clock
at night the unfortunate gentleman expired from exhaus-
tion, consequent upon loss of blood.

NATIONAL SIN THE CAUSE OF NATIONAL JUDGEMENT.
—The Rev. W. Gillmor, perpetual curate of Illingworth,
near Halifax, has just published an admirable sermon with
this title ;it was preached on the fast day. It ought to
be extensively circulated, for the observations are no less
true than seasonable. There is much that we should like
to reprint, but the following remarks are too pointed to
be omitted. "In the year 1829, the passing of that sui-
cidal act, the Popish Relief Bill took place. And what
were the consequences of this heavy blow against the
Church of Christ in the British isles ? Was the introduc-
tion of an idolatrous religion to occupy a position in_the
temple of the state, side by side with that of the true Ca-
tholic faith, punished as heretofore as a national crime ?
Yes, beloved. There was an immediate withdrawal of the
bounties of Providence. From that hapless period, when
idolaters were admitted into both houses of parliament,
until the year 1834, the United Kingdom underwent a
succession of unfavourable harvests. Agricultural distress
extensively prevailed. Commercial transactions, .during
the same interval, were in a most depressed condition.
Conflagrations in the rural districts were of almost nightly
occurrence. Serious riots took place in several populous
places. In short, violence and tumult and popular excite-
ment prevailed in the following year to so alarming an
extent throughout our land, that, by the advice of the
cabinet of the day, really believing that mischief and
bloodshed might, in consequence, ensue, the King's visit
to a London festival was obliged to be postponed • and
one of our principal cities was well nigh destroyed. 'And,
at length, that fearful, mysterious and most appalling pes-
tilence, Cholera, whose advances no barrier could impede,
was sent upon us, sweeping away, in its devastating course,
whole masses of the population in every quarter which it
visited. Persons, as I have known, were frequently seized
with this dreadful complaint in the streets, and died, and
were buried, in the course of a few hours. And so wide
was its range, that the cry of death was heard in almost
every parish throughout our land ; and, in. some quarters,
hundreds upon hundreds were, within the space of six or.
eight weeks, consigned to one common grave."
On Monday, a general conference of delegates from the
various metropolitan parishes, Brighton, and other pro-
vincial towns, took place at the Court House Marylebone,
with reference to the Health of Towns Bill, the Rector of
Marylebone, (Dr. Spry,) in the chair. The meeting hav-
ing been addressed by the chairman, Mr. Daniel, of
Marylebone, Mr. Davis, of St. Leonard's, Shoreditch,
Mr. Dempstor, of Brighton, and others, resolutions were
adopted, condemning the government scheme as a politi-
cal bill, under pretence of being a sanatory enactment,
and as a scheme utterly destructive of the functions of
local boards. It was then resolved forthwith to send
copies of the resolutions to every parish and paving and
cleaning district in the metropolis, as also to provincial
cities and towns, with a view to obtain their opinion upon
them; and a vote of thanks having been awarded to the
reverend chairman, the conference separated.

BLUE TEA.—Why shouldwe not have blue, or red, or
yellow tea, as well as black and green ? An assortment of
coloured teas would be rather an elegant improvement of
the tea-table, especially if there were an array of variega-
ted tea-pots to correspond. " Purple, if you please."
" / always drink yellow." " Indeed—l'm told it is bad
for digestion, and that the most wholesome tea is sky-
blue—which matches, too, with our best London milk."
Are our readers aware that there is no reason why rain-
bow teas should not be manufactured ? A Select Parlia-
mentary Committee is now sitting to inquire into our
commercial relations with China, Sir George Larpent, the
chairman of the East India Association, stated in his
evidence, that " the whole of the supply of tea for the Eu-
ropean market was a manufactured article. There was
not a pound of tea which came to this country from China.
which did not undergo a colouring process. Tea which
we called green here was coloured green, and might as
well be coloured yellow or blue. (Laughter.) The tea
underwent that manufacture with the view to adapt it to
the market in this country, and the process might to sone!
extent alter the essential quality of the tea."—John Rut'
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
Gas, for the general purposes of artificial illumination,.
of life,
having now become one of the real necessaries
any improvements in its quality, or greater economy ill
its production, must be of the greatest importance to
society at large. We are led to these remarks by having
before us the prospectus of a new ~ns en/lin:lnv I-apr

[mai ai

iras:Liiiit, Yen-

formed for the introduction to

Manure

?üblic utility

of a new, cheap, and efficient manufacturing gas front
sources hitherto unproductive—for a more efficient mode
of -warming and cooling apartments—for a new system of
ventilation—for a new preparation of animal charcoal of
superior quality—which, having been employed on various
chemico-economical operations, will form a highly-superior
manure to any now in general use. The most novel fea-
ture in the formation of this company is, the privilege to,
be granted to the customer of changing the present mode
of lighting at so much per 1,000 feet, to " such an illu-
minative power, at so much per quarter, to be estimated,
by the size of the room to be lighted, by every 100 cubic
feet of space, which will be accomplished at one-third the
present charge.' The prospectus states, that from the
value of the remains in the retorts, and their improve-
ments in the manufacture, a superior illuminative gas can
be produced by them at 4s. per 1,000 feet. These advan-
tages are obtained from the use of one-fourth bones to
three-fourths of coal ; and the substances obtained from
this system are—grain black for the sugar-refiner ; flako
black for the japanner, currier, &c.; ivory black ; coke
from the coke-ovens and retorts; limpid naptha ; the

earth, used in the manufacture of porcelain ; carbonaceous
manure ; and a large volume of rich gas, at the rate of
7,000 feet for every ton of bones calcined. The patentee
of this new, and apparently economic and elegant system,
is a gentleman who was many years a pupil of Dalton,
the celebrated originator of the theory of atomic che-
mistry, and also of Berzelius ; and has founded his system
on true chemical principles, and on the law of 1
bodies, as laid down by Davy, Sir J. Leslie, and other

urinous

eminent men

and, when carried out, will, no doubt►

Mama great support from its purity and economy-16
being, as stated by the patentee, free from those exhala
tions so injurious to paintings and decorations. The,
capital is to be £750,000, in 75,000 shares, at Xlo:each.
THE HUMAN TEETH.—This beautiful organ not only

forms the main point in our personal appea-rance, but is
also chiefly the instrument to cause perfect articulation, so
as to give a distinct sound and utterance to our vocal ex-
pressions ; it is the masticating apparatus, or grinding-
mill, for our food and nourishment, and without
. the func-
tions of it we should be most miserably situated respect

to preparing our food p__
er
andf ec tv, i
ghoeuarl t; I
hu
rfeo for
nnduitcraiteiaotni oonf. A
youthp
clear and audible delivery of speech—the cause of an even
isstotmheac s
and gradual digestion—necessary to our health,—and last,
not least, one of the most prominent and striking features
in the beauty of the human countenance ; for no matter
whom, be the figure ever so graceful, the body all syrn-
mptry, the cheeks tinted like the rose, the eyes sparkling

set of teeth
means of a

with intellectual lustre, the hair in locks nig' Old ror rave

)aster neck of

emale beauty—

-,
row 01

shrink with repugnance, and pity the being
v moments before we were gazing on with de-
I vet, convinced and aware of the absolute ne!

is not the uir_