The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-07-25 00:00:00

LOCAL MEETINGS.

BIRKENHEAD DOCK COMPANY.—The following is a list
of the shares, (with the names of the proprietors,) which
the directors have announced their intention, in con-
formity with the act of parliament, of declaring forfeited,
in consequence of the non-payment of calls : John An-
derson, Renfield-street, Glasgow, 30 shares ; George An-
derson, Lime-street Square, London, 125 ; Marcus Free-
man Brownrigg, Birkenhead, 141 ; Joseph Travis Clay,
near Huddersfield, 500 ; William Clay, Cheapside, Lon-
don, 150; 20 shares for which the two last named are en-
tered as joint proprietors ; William' Potter, Birkenhead,
1030; James Burt, Manchester, 50; William Feckney
Black, London 25; William Edmund, Barnard's-buildings,
Liverpool, 20 ; Josiah Macgregor, St. Vincent-street,
Glasgow ; and Henry Whitwell, Darlington, 50. With
respect to the shares of Messrs Potter and Brownrigg it
appears that no calls have been paid since the 2nd of Oc-
tober, 1846, although four have been made amounting on
each share to £35.

THE DUTCH RHENISH RAILWAY COMPANY.—A meet-
ing of the shareholders of this company was held in this
town on Friday last. Mr. Charles Holland, who was
called to the chair, explained the position in which the
Liverpool shareholders were pieced with regard to the
London and Dutch directors. He thought that consider-
ing the number of shareholders in Lancashire, the general
meeting should have been held here, in place of London ;
and complained of the Dutch board assuming too much
power—which had even repudiated the resolutions of the
deputies sent by the English shareholders, although those
resolutions had been carried at the meeting in Amster-
dam. He contended that the proceedings of the share-
holders here were in strict conformity with the act of in-
corporation, and that without an adherence to them it
would be madness to proceed with the line. A resolution
was passed to this effect. A deputation was appointed to
proceed to the general meeting in Amsterdam on the 22nd
of August ; and the following resolution was agreed to :
"That the committee be requested to name a deputation
to proceed to London from this meeting to the meeting
in London on Monday next, the 25th instant."

THE CHINESE COLLECTION, ISLINGTON

MARKET.

We could last week notice this attractive place of re-
reation and instruction in Chinese history, but briefly and
imperfectly ; and we acknowledge that even after a second
visit we are unable to do justice to its merits, whether as
regards the extent and variety of the collection, or the
admirable grouping of characters, and arrangement of
curiosities, all appertaining to and illustrative of the cha-
racter, customs, habits, and ingenuity in many manufac-
turing and otherarts, of a most extraordinary and strangely
exclusive people, assuming to be subjects of " the Celes-
tial Empire." China contains upwarts of three hundred
millions of human beings, and can date an era of at least
partial civilization, and lieterature, and even philosophy,
antecedent to any European country. That they have
risen in the scale of intellect in proportion to their lon-
gevity as a distinct and, until recently, an integral nation,
we cannot admit ; but there can be no question that they
have long ago produced, and yet produce philosophers
and moralists (as witness Confucius and his successors),
and also artisans, artists, agriculturists, fully demonstra-
ting high capabilities as a portion, and a large portion, of
the human family. All that is wanted is the introduction
amongst them of Christianity, in the wake of which would
came happiness, and profitable commerce to themselves
and all the civilized nations with whom they might deal.
The Chinese Collection, therefore, being genuine and
accurate in every point, is calculated to excite a warm
and benevolent interest in behalf of the people of China,
independently of the gratification of mere curiosity.
Visitors may, at a small cost, obtain at the rooms a de-
scriptive catalogue, by W. B. Langdon, Esq., the curator
of the Collection, which is not only fully explanatory of
all the wonders and curiosities to he seen, but furnishes
condensed and interesting accounts of the Chinese, their
manners, customs, &c., from the earliest records. We
connot do better this week than quote the substance of a
short pessage from the " Introduction " to this ably-
written pamphlet. An examination of the Collection
will (says the writer) enable the visitor " to analyse, in
some sense, the mental and moral qualities of the Chi-
nese ; to gather some knowledge of their idols, their tem-
ples, their pagodas, their bridges, their arts, their sciences,
their manufactures, their tastes, their fancies, their draw-
ing-rooms, their clothes, their finery, their ornaments,
their weapons of war, their vessels, their dwellings, and
the thousand et ceteras which make up their moving and
living world." The book gives an interesting account of
the manner in which the collection was made by Mr.
Nathan Dunn, of Philadelphia, during a long residence
in China. Round and in the immense room there are no
fewer than sixty cases or compartments, and the multi-
plicity of figures, articles of manufacture and vertu, &c.,
is truly immense. There are many paintings and draw-
ings, all by Chinese artists,—one series representing the
process of tea-making, another the rearing of silk-worms;
and there are really well-painted views of harbours, towns,
&c. A variety of Chinese maxims are hung around in
various parts, on rice-paper, silk, &c. The collection, in
fine, without reference to the illustrations (in figures as
large as life) of national character which it conveys, forms
a vast and highly interesting museum of Chinese produc-
tions, useful or ornamental. During the whole week that
it has been open, it has been visited by thousands, and
may be said to have become a fashionable promenade.
There is a highly efficient saxhorn band, the first, unques-
tionably, out of London.