The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-10-24 00:00:00

SELECTIONS.

LORD STANLEY'S ELOQUENCE.—Perhaps no quality
in Lord Stanley's eloquence is more deserving of notice
than its natural and spontaneous character. No parlia-
mentary orator ever exhibited his Saxon simplicity of
style. Lord Stanley is almost the only English orator who
is not classical in his illustrations and language. This
home-bred and racy simplicity is the strongest characteris-
tic of his speeches, considered as literary composition.
One can easily deduce from his mere diction, even if the
fact were not otherwise known, that Shakspeare and the
old divines form his favourite reading.—lreland and its
Rulers since 1829.
MEN AND GENTLEMEN, WOMEN AND LADIES.—The
New Orleans Herald makes the following singular distinc-
tions among these several classes of society :—" Men are
quarried from the living rock as with a thunderbolt. Gen-
tlemen are moulded as the potter's clay by the dainty fin-
gers of fashion. Women are the spontaneous growth of a
warm, rich soil, where the wind blows freely, and the
heart feels the visitings of God's ever-changeable weather.
Ladies are the offspring of a hot-bed, the growth of a
greenhouse, tended and watched, lest the winds of Heaven
may visit their faces too roughly, till they are good for
nothing as women, at any rate as wives or mothers.
Genius is an intellectual faculty, which enables the pos-
sessor of it to produce with power, facility, and elegance,
what another cannot effect with any degree of study or
perseverance. Education may accelerate, direct in the
right course, and enable genius to soar to excellence, but
education can never create the faculty. Genius without
instruction, without the aid of adventitious circumstances,
never carried an art or a science from its rudiments to its
ecme. Perfection, like confidence, is a plant of slow
growth, and requires constant and careful culture, the
seed being good, the soil fertile ; with that attention, the
fruits will approach perfection.
AUSTRALIA.—In the year 1827, 700 emigrants left Bri-
tain for the Australian settlements, and in that year those
colonies took from us £340,000 worth of home produce.
In 1836 above 3000 emigrated to the same colonies, and
the exports of British and Irish produce rose to nearly
£840,000 sterling ; and in 1841, the exports amounted to
£1,269,356; whilst to Russia, in the latter year, the ex-
ports amounted to £601,175. So much for the import-
ance of the foreign, in comparison with the home and co-
lonial trade.—Fraser's Magazine for October, " New
South Wales."

Woor..—ln the year 1810, 167 lb. of wool was imported
into Great Britain; in 1820, 99,415 lb. ; 1830, 1,967,309 lb.;
1840, 9,721,213 lb. ; 1842, 12,959,671 lb. !! a progressive
increase, almost unparalleled, in the history of commer-
cial prosperity. The quality of this wool was originally
very bad, but the climate has an extraordinary effect upon
the fleece. Latterly they have been of ♦aried qualities,
but all possessing an extraordinary softness, which the
manufacturers here so much admire; they are known to
require much less milling power that any other descrip-
tion of wools, and they are sought for more than any other
from that peculiar quality, which is supposed to arise
from the climate alone. It is asserted on good authority,
that, " if the farmers in those colonies were encouraged
in the cultivation of wool, the country is adequate to the
growth of as much wool of the fine description as ever
will be wanted by the manufacturers of England.—lbid.
FATHER MATHEW, AN INCENDIARY.—The late dread-
ful ravages occasioned by fire in the metropolis and else-
where, may be accounted for by the natural spleen of that
destructive element at witnessing the triumphs of its
ancient rival, water, in the person of the Apostle of Tem-
perance. It is quite clear the excessive water drinking
promoted by the reverend gentlemen during his mission
amongst us diminished the supply of that fluid, when it
was so imperatively required to arrest the progress of
the conflagrations we allude to. 'With all his cold water,
therefore, we cannot but pronounce his apostleship an in-
cendiary ; and we must add our deliberate •pinion, that
the incendiary who keeps a country in hot water is not
half so much to be reprobated as the incendiary who keeps
it in cold water.

DEATH OF PlTT.—Pitt died at a solitary house on
Wimbleton common. Not far off, by the roadside, stood,
and still stands, a small country inn, where the various
parties interested in the great statesman's life were ac-
customed to apply for information, and co leave their
horses and carriages. On the morning of the 23d January
1806, an individual having called at this inn, and not
being able to obtain a satisfactory reply to his inquiries,
proceeded to the house of Pitt. He knocked, but no
servant appeared ; he opened the door and entered ; he
found no one in attendance. He proceeded from room to
room, and at length entered the sick chamber, where on
a bed, in silence and perfect solitude, he found, to his un-
speakable surprise, the dead body of that great statesman
who had so lately wielded the power of England, and
influenced, if he did not control, the destinies of the
world. We doubt whether any much more awful exam-
ple of the lot of mortality has ever been witnessed.—
Edinburgh Review.
THE DUCHESS OF BERRY.—The marriage of the niece
of the Duchess of Orleans with the Duke of Berry was
an event of great importance in the history of the former
family. Lively, gay, witty, generous, and open hearted,
the Duchess of Berry captivated all parties, and even
gained the affection of the Republicans themselves. Few
women have ever lived whose passions have betrayed them
into more acts of indiscretion and 'impropriety than this
unfortunate lady; and yet, few ham ever possessed such
admiring and devoted followers. She had the art of
making herself loved to a greater degree than almost any
other woman of her time ; and to this day the name of the
Duchess of Berry carries a talismanic influence with it,
even in the liberal circles and saloons of Paris. That
marriage then introduced more frequently the Duke of
Orleans to the court, but the priest party was always op-
posed to him ; caused him invariably to be distrusted ;
and induced Louis XVIII., and subsequently Charles X.,
to believe that, in him, the eldest branch had a dangerous
and decided foe. It was, therefore, that the former prince
refused to confer on him the title of " Royal Highnes."—
Fraser's Magazine.

THE BATTLE OF THE NILE.—As Nelson truly remark-
ed, the battle in its consequences was a conquest rather
than a victory. Only two victories of modern times have
had greater results, Vittoria and Waterloo. The battle
of the Nile is considered by naval judges to be the most
perfect in tactique, execution, and completion ever fought.
The superiority of force was on the side of the French, in
the proportion of one ship of 120 guns and three of eighty
guns to four seventy-fours, a serious difference, cceteris
paribus ; also four frigates, two brigs, and two bomb
ships. Yet it may be justly said, that if England added
to her naval glory and riveted her naval pre-eminence,
the character of the French navy was rather heightened
than lowered by its defeat, and the chivalrous spirit of
several of the captains and the Admiral increased the ho-
nour of their victories. Henceforth our naval affairs
were more intimately connected with the military move-
ments and continental combinations than before, and it
may be said, that from this period the Commander-in-
Chief of our fleet in the Mediterranean became of neces-
sity our chief diplomatist in that quarter of the world ;
even now that command requires an officer of great naval
experience, and superior abilities, with the knowledge and
views of a statesman.—British and Foreign Review.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ANIMAL AND VEGETA-
BLE LlFE.—That animal life is a distinct substance, and
not an accident or quality of the body to which it is at-
tached, an argument may be drawn from a comparison of
it with vegetable life, in the manner i■ which both cease
to exist. If a tree or plant be drawn out of the earth, or
cut from its roots, it does not immediately shew any signs
of decay. Its branches retain their elasticity, its leaves
their verdure, and its circulation proceeds unchecked for
some time after the mortal shock is given. As its juices
are exhaled, its parts wither and gradually decay, till its
vital powers are totally extinguished, not by any determi-
nate crisis, but by the continued process of death (if I
may so express myself) attending them. The dissolution
of animal life is sudden. Its powers often continue to
the last ; and the instant of its departure is generally
marked by a violent and convulsive effort, not unlike the
last parting flame of a taper, to which it is often compared.
This effect is sometimes produced when the body has re-
mained for a time in a torpid state, and apparently life-
less. It then revives for a moment, struggles, as if to
break or to retain its hold, and is gone for ever, affording
to the eye of the attentive observer a conviction, exceed-
ing all argument, that some real substance united to the
body was at that instant forcibly wrenched and disunited
from it.—Fraser's Magazine.

HOSPITALITY OF FATHER 'MATHEW'S ANCESTOR.—
The celebrated Mr. Mathew, mentioned in Sheridan's
Life of Swift, was a gentleman of princely hospitality,
and resided at Thomastown Castle. It was his whim to
have his mansion fitted up as an hotel, and the guests
might do as they pleased, as he seldom headed his ow❑
table, but behaved as one of the company. There were
forty tied rooms—a large coffee-room, with a bar and wai-
ters—a detached tavern for the votarias of Bacchus.
There was a daily ordinary, at which the guests might as-
sernble if they did not dine in private. There were two
billiard-tables, fishing-tackle, guns, &c., buckhounds
and harriers, and twenty choice hunters in the stables.
There was also a bowling-green on the demesne ; and
Swift was so delighted with the place, that instead of a
fortnight be remained four months.—lreland and its
Rulers since 1829.

THE FULLERS' TEAZLE.—The wild teazle (Dypsacus
.sylrestris) may now be seen in many of our hedges. This
is a member of a very curious family of plants, and it is
supposed that the fullers' teazle, so extensively used by
clothiers, is only a variety of this plant. The name dip-
sacus is derived from dimao, to thirst, and is given on
account of the upper leaves of the plant holding water.
They do this to such a degree, that after a shower we have
poured from the various leaves what would be a very ac-
ceptable supply of water to a thirsty traveller. The blos-
soms of the teazle are lilac-coloured, numerous, and col-
lected in a large conical head. The plant grows to the
height of about four feet, and its large lance-shaped leaves
are defended, as is the whole plant, with an abundance of
prickles. The fullers' teazle is cultivated to a great extent
in the West of England ; and it is the bristly scales of the
flower heads that render the plant so valuable in dressing
cloth. These bristles are just strong enough to raise the
wool without tearing the cloth. The dressing of one piece
of cloth is said to require from 1,500 to 2,000 teazles.
When the common teazle is in blossom, it is a great orna-
ment to our hedgerows, from the delicate colour of the
flowers, but soon after the blossoming is over, the recept-
acle becomes dry and brown, and remains long on the
stalk in that condition.—Saturday Magazine.
THE INDIANS AND QUEEN VICTORIA.—A deputation
of chiefs and warriors from one of the tribes of Indians
located on the lands at the head of Lake Superior, was in
New York, en route to the Court of Queen Victoria, to
lay before their royal mistress certain grievances under
which their people are labouring. The following account
of them is from the _New York Inquirer:—" These veri-
table and rugged sons of the forest, with the wives of their
two principal chiefs, come fully equipped and appointed
with all the paraphernalia of war. hunting, travelling wig-
wam, &c. The venerable patriarch at the head of the
deputation is nearly 70 years of age, being the oldest war-
rior of his tribe; and having fought upon the frontiers
during the war between Great Britain and the United
States, both his warriors and himself have enjoyed the
highest favour and confidence of the British government.
A difference having esisted for some time between the
Chippewas and the Upper Canadians, these warriors have
been delegated to lay their grievances before the Queen
in person. Their locality is at the head of Lake Superior,
the most remote and isolated of any of the tribes of Ame-
rican Indians. It was a party of this tribe that accompa-
nied Captain Back in part of his celebrated expedition to
the North Pole in search of his friend Captain Ross.
Having never lived near the shore of the lake, every ob-
ject connected with civilisation is a matter of great curi-
osity to them. Their interpreter says that their astonish-
ment upon beholding a steam-boat for the first time was
unbounded ; and that in descending the locks of the Erie
Canal, they went through a variety of heathen ceremo-
nials to propitiate the Evil Spirit, who they firmly be-
lieved had an agency in causing the waters to sink or rise
over hills and valleys. What their wonder will be on
witnessing the scenes of a play, or the wonderful exploits
of the circus riders, remains to be known. They are,
certainly, objects of great interest, and in fact the only
Indians from that remote region of country that have ever
been among us, or that in all probability ever will visit
these parts again."
DESCRfPTION or ADEN.—Aden presents us with one
of those phenomena which the giant " steam" is every
day and everywhere achieving. Barren rocks, and a few
yards of sandy shore, once tenanted only by the sea-gull
and the crab, are now covered by cheerful domiciles, and
animated by a small but busy and contented population,
who live by unloading the fuel-ships, storing and protect-
ing the coal, and embarking it upon the steamers. Upon
the shore of a little bay, formed by a small belt of rocks,
stands a spacious and commodious building, of wood, wat-
tle, and dab, covered within and without by whitewash
and duly matted and thatched, which serves the purposes
of a hotel. Some enterprising Parsees from Bombay
started and maintain this establishment, where the steam-
boat traveller will find an excellent and (all things consi-
dered) not expensive table and cellar, clean beds, white
linen, and excellent attendance. Fire-wood and sweet
water, being brought from a considerable distance, must
necessarily be dear; but they do not constitute special
items in the bill, unless you indulge in a fresh bath, when
four shillings, or two rupees, are payable. Donkeys and
their attendant vagabond owners are available by scores,
and it is usual to hire one for a ride to the Arab town of
Aden, four miles from the anchorage, and inspect the
scene of many a bloody strife before our troops esta-
blished their present footing on the soil of the Ishmaelite.
We were regaled with excellent fish, including oysters,
during our stay at Aden. But, indeed, there was no de-
ficiency of any of the necessaries of life. Every thing
that reasonable men can desire is obtained in abundance
from the interior ; and, judging from the specimens of
grain and vegetables daily brought in on camels' backs,
there can be no doubt of the richness and fertility of the
soil of Arabia. It was singular to see every Arab in and
about Aden unarmed. On the opposite coast, and on the
shores of the Persian Gulf—nay, from Bussorah to Con.
stantinople, from Busbire to Tabreex—yon rarely meet
a man without his matchlock, his kundjur, or his scimi-
tar, and sometimes with all three, and a lance and pistols
into the bargain ; but here you would fancy that the Mos-
lem had ceased to war with his fellow, for if his hand be
against every body, it is at Aden an empty hand ! This
restriction upon the use of arms has, 1 suppose, originated
with Captain Haines, the political agent, and is no doubt
intended as a protection against treachery. There is not,
however, much of that to be apprehended now. The peo-
ple are evidently more than reconciled to British autho-
rity, for they flock to Aden in numbers totally unknown
during the government of the Sultan. From six hundred
to a thousand souls inhabited the town before our conquest
and occupation : at this moment there are not less than
20,000 living there !—From " Overland Trips in general,
and a Trip in particular," in the Asiatic Journal.

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.