The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-01-20 00:00:00

export dui

ansit duties, duties on imi

on shipping, system of conducting business at the various
ports, and to provide for the residence of our merchants and
their families, by affording them protection for their lives

of the repre-

and property ; and, lastly, to secure we

I and attended to by the

sentatives of Engle.—
Emperor. These points duly settled before our troops
Bri-
leave
China, we may look forward loy
to periods unexampled fur
tish enterprise, and sources innumerable for the empment
of British capital and skill. Mr. Wise, with the characte-
klitic spirit of an old sailor,—supposing that the foregoing
50* left, in a great measure, unsettled, and that the
f;411 should return to their beloved feeing system, or

Numerous, as you may conceive, have been the pilgrimages
made to the far-famed " Porcelain Tower." For the first
time in inspecting any of the monuments re'nomme's of this
country, no disappointment has been experienced, whilecom-
paring what actually is, with what the legends of the book-
makers in China &scribe to be. It is, indeed, a most elegant
and singular structure, as remarkable for its correct propor-
tions as for the rare material of which it is partially com-
posed. I say partially, because the mass of building is not
of porcelain, but is composed of common brick, with a facing
and lining of beautiful white glazed porcelain bricks or slabs,
fixed into the masonry by means of deep keys or shoulders,
cast like a half T, on the brick. Its form is octagonal, and
running up each of the angles is a moulding of large tiles of
very fine clay, glazed and coloured red and green alternately ;
round each story runs a light balustrade formed of green
porcelain, upon which four arched doorways open, set to the
four cardinal points, the arches being elegantly turned with
lare glazed tiles, cast in all imaginable fancies of design and
variegation of colour, representing wild beasts, demons,
deities, monsters, &c. It appears to be a " sight" amongst
the Chinese themselves, for there are priests or bonzes at-
tached to the building to keep it in order, who earn their
consideration by distributing to the visitors lithographed
elevations of the tower, with descriptions attached, and who
seem to have the duty intrusted to them of illuminating it
on gala occasions. This is effected by means of lanterns,
made of thin oyster shells, used in lieu of window glass by
the Chinese, which are placed at each of the eight angles
on every story, and the effect of whose subdued light on the
reflective surface of the. tower must be most striking and
beautiful. The walls of Nankin are more remarkable for
their extraordinary height and great extent than for the
strength which has been given to them by the builders : in
some places they are not less than seventy feet in height, and
at very few points along an enciente of fully twenty miles in
I extent are they less than fifty. There are, however, several
points at which they are open to escalade with twenty-six
feet ladders ; the Chinese engineers, though they have evi-
dently bestowed extensive repairs upon the fortifications this
year, having, as usual, forgotten to raise their ramparts
where the undulations of the ground alter the levels of their
foundations. From the peculiar features of the country ad-
joining the town, and from the situation of the Tartar city
or citadel, which is separated from the great straggling mass
of the town by open fields and gardens, it appears evident
that the place could at any time be readily carried by a com-
paratively small force, and retained against a very large one
of undisciplined troops, as long as they had the means of
procuring supplies, which, in consequence of the goodness of
the road and its inconsiderable length, could always be ob-
tained from the river. The Chinese, I think, must have wis-
dom enough to know that our stay here, and our examina-
tions of their city from the heights and from the summit of
the Porcelain Tower, have taught us this secret; and it may,
therefore, be considered as an additional reason to the many
that exist, why they should not too soon again tempt the
" devil's children" to measure strength with their bravos.
Three to four thousand seasoned troops, with a few guns,
some powder bags, mining tools and scaling ladders, would
have Nankin under their command in a week from Woosung,
with four or five steamers, and a dozen junks or decked boats
to be towed up by them against the stream ; and from the
important discovery of coal of decent quality in large quan-
tities here, we may always reckon upon being able to keep
steamers constantly employed in bringing in supplies from
all points on the river, whither they can be drawn. But to
render them serviceable to the state, they must never be
under the sole and despotic sway of an admiral. If the ex-
perience of the present military commander-in-chief could
be made available for the benefit and information of his com-
panions of the service, the government would, in all proba-
bility, have much difficulty in finding an officer of any worth
or standing who could be induced to serve as a joint leader
in a combined expedition, the circumstances of which pro-
mised to be at all similar to those under which the land
forces have reached here.

CHINESE POETRY.—We subjoin the following specimen
of Chinese poetry, published in the second volume of the
Royal Asiatic Transactions, and written 3,000 years ago.
Besides the pleasure its intrinsic beauty will afford, it offers
a convincing proof of the substantial identity of human feel-
ings in all times and countries. The piece bemoans the fate
of a maiden betrothed to a humbler rival, but compelled to
become the bride of a rich and powerful suitor :

The nest yon winged artist builds,
Some robber bird shall tear away :
So yield her hopes the affianced maid,
Some wealthy lords reluctant prey.

The fluttering bird prepares a home,
In which the spoiler soon shall dwell ;
Forth goes the weeping bride, constrained
A hundred cares the triumph swell.

Mourn for the tiny architect,
A stronger bird hath ta'en its nest ;
Mourn for the hapless, stolen bride,
How vain the pomp to soothe her breast !

THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND MORE ANCIENT THAN TIIE
CHURCH OF ROME.—Tbe following anecdote will serve to
illustrate this truth. It is extracted from a work, entitled
Appeal to Common Sense," written (A.D. 1770) by the
Rev. Philip Skelton :—" About sixty or seventy years ago,
there was a poor man in Dublin, who earned a scanty sub-
stinence on a loom, but found time on Sundays to read the
Scriptures, and a few other nooks of easy digestion. This
man, in the shops and streets of the city, entered into fre-
quent controversies with Jesuits, and other abettors of popery;
wherein be was thought, at4least by Protestants, to have
generally the advantage. After some time, a Jesuit of more
than common eminence gave him a challenge to enter into
an argument with him in the Thosel of Dublin, on a day and
hour prefixed. A vast concourse of people, and some bishops,
assembled on the remarkable occasion. The Jesuit asked
him—' Where was his religion before Harry the Eighth ?'
The weaver, looking attentively at his countenance, as if he
observed something extraordinary, asked him, if he had
washed his face that morning ?' and had an affirmative
answer. Where, then (said the weaver), was your face
before you washed it ? Here ended the dispute in a very
sensible peal of laughter, set up by common sense. This
poor man, whose name is lost, as that of the poor man in
Ecclesiastes, who saved a city by his wise counsel, knew
perfectly well that our Reformers did not undertake, as the
Genevans did, toform a new church, but to reform the Church
of England. The Church contracted, in the corning down
from the Apostles' days, a great deal of rust by the falseness
and carelessness of its keepers, particularly by the Church of
Rome. The reformers scoured off the rust, and kept the
metal; that is the Romish religion, this is the English.
The members of the Church of Rome added false doctrines
to the Christian faith ; our reformers left the one and kept
to the other : this is ancient, those are new. Our religion
is the same with that of the early Christians, martyrs, and
confessors, believed in the first three hundred years, and de-
fended by all councils truly general. Our 'religion in those
first ages was in Palestine, in Greece, in Antioch, where
the disciples were first called Christians by divine appoint-
ment, (Acts XI. 26) ; in Bjitain, where it was planted in the
apostolic age, if not by St. Paul himself; and in Rome, and
wherever the great labours of her first Apostles carried her
to the different and remote countries of the world. It suf-
fered, indeed, great variety of changes and conditions by the
interest and wickedness of men. Sometimes more adultera-
ted, and sometimes more pure, it tted from country to
country ; sometimes greater and sometimes smaller in its
number—sometimes in a dejected, and sometimes in a nun

flourishing state. But somewhere or other it was, entire and
without roiAture, as it was at first given to the world. And
such an old religion we are of; holding fast neither more nor
less, neither adding nor diminishing what Christ and his
Apostles taught. These considerations sufficiently prove the
antiquity of our Church, and fully justifies her claim tot an
origin long prior to that of the Church of Rome.—The Vil-
lage Churchman, edited by the Rev. Joshua Fawcett, In-
cumbent of Wibsey, Bradford.

A person named Westgate, from Chalvington, undertook
for a wager, to shoot at and hit 97 penny pieces out of 100.
The match came off in the cricket-ground, when George
Picknell, the Cricketer, threw up the pence, and Westgate
actually hit 99 of the 100!—Susses Erpress.
A young woman named Hoffam died at Lewisham on
Tuesday from having drunk gas water under the impression
that it would kill worms, with which she was afflicted.:The
water is that which escapes from gas works. It is a deadly
poison.

EXTENSIVE TIIEFTS.—A young man, in the employ of
Messrs. Campbell, of Glasgow, has embezzled from his em-
ployers, at various times since October last, large quantities
of silk goods, and pledged them. The value of the whole is
estimated at £350.

The wine trade is again stirring to obtain a remission of
duties, on account of the contemplated treaty with Portugal,
and intend to make a vigorous assault during the next session
of parliament, though, we apprehend, with no better prospect
of success than heretofore.—Sunday Observer.

BRITISH CIGARS.—At 'Worship-street police-office, on
Monday, a young man named Charles Nash was charged
with hawking cigars without a license. It appeared that the
cigars were made from rhubarb leaves, and called by the
prisoner " British manufactured cheroots."

On Monday last William Smith, a little boy, about twelve
years of age, was committed by the magistrates of Yarmouth
(Norfolk) to the House of Correction for three mouths, for
being found sleeping in the open air, and without any visible
means of subsistence.—Suffolk Chronicle.

SECRETARYSHIP OF IRELAND.—A report has prevailed
during the present week, we know not on what authority, that
the Hon. J. S. Wortley, one of our knights of the shire, is
about to accept the Secretaryship of Ireland, vice Lord Elliot
the rumoured successor of SAC. Bagot in Canada. —Leeds
Mercury.

RENTAL OF MANCHESTER.—It appears from statistics
which have just been published, that, notwithstanding the
the pressure upon trade and manufactures experienced since
1839, there has been an increase in the value of property in
the borough of Manchester, within the last three years, of
not less than £224,494.

On Friday last, Mr. Paisley of Broughton's celebrated
greyhound, Gelert, was unfortunately killed whilst in the act
of striking his game at the fence, after a splendid run over an
extensive fallow near Greysouthern. When the sportsman
got up, the hare and the dog were both found lying dead.—
Carlisle Journal.

We have just heard of a curious and interesting practical
application of a recent and scientific discovery, which will
somewhat startle our readers—the Chinese treaty was copied
by the photographic process .of Mr. Fox Talbot ; and the
copy, so made, for the safe of securing perfect accuracy, is
now deposited amongst the state papers.—Alhenfflum.
TILE CHURCH QUESTION.-It appears from the roll of
the Court of Session that the Auchterardar and Strathbogie
cases are to be held before the whole court on Tuesday, the
24th instant, to be continued on Wednesday and Thursday,
and to be concluded on Friday—one counsel to be heard on
each side.— Witness.

A terrific affray took place on Sunday, between the Lon-
don police and the inhabitants of Lincoln-couft, Drury-lane,
a place inhabited by the lowest orders. The police were
severely injured, one having had his head laid open. A
woman also received the same injury, and another had her
arm fractured.

The law officers of the crown have given an opinion that
magistrates at petty sessions have not power to commit for
contempt parties misconducting themselves in court. The
remedy is, to have informations sworn on the spot against
the party, who will afterwards be prosecuted by the crown at
the quarter sessions or assizes.

THE HERRING FISHERY.—In Orkney, the herring fishery
has been very successful during the last month, particularly
at Lewis, where herrings were selling a week ago at the low
rate of ss. a cran. So great has been the success that we
hear the fishermen have been under the necessity of stopping
for a time owing to the want of the means of preserving any
—Edinburgh Paper.

OPPOSITION LEADERSHIP.—The following circular has
been addressed to the Whig and Radical members :—" Lord
John Russell presents his compliments to and takes the
liberty of informing him that questions of importance affect-
ing the state of the country will be brought forward at the
commencement of the session, which opens on Thursday,
Feb. 2."

Goon PELAYERS.—The Lacediemonians bad a peculiar
form of prayer ; for they never used, according to Plato,
either in their public or private devotions to make any other
request than that the Gods would grant what was honourable
and good for them ; but Plutarch tells us they added one
petition more—viz., that they might be able to suffer in-

Cituncn Cuotns.--•1n England there are about 10,000
churches, and as many chapels of ease ; it is fair to presume
that at least 10,000 of these places of worship could support
a choir of eight persons ; this would give partial employment
to at least 80,000 persons, which, considering the times,
would be the means of alleviating many a worthy father's
care in providing for his family.—Musical World.

On Sund;:v afternoon a temporary gallery in Queen-street
Chapel, Lambeth, which had been erected for the accommo-
dation of the children in the school, gave way, carrying fifty
children upon it to the ground. The annual sermon was to
be delivered that day, and a numerous congregation were
assembled. Several children were severely injured, and the
life of one is despaired of.
About the middle of last month there was a grand ceremony
at Venice, called the solemn inauguration of the railroad be-
tween Venice and Padua. The Patriarch, surrounded by all
the first authorities, gave his benediction, and then delivered
a very violent speech against such innovations as railroad
travelling, which he thought would facilitate the introduction
of books and liberal opinions?
The will of the Countess Munster has been proved in
Doctors'-commons by Lord De Lisle, General Wyndham,
and Mr. Cameron, the executors. Her ladyship gives to her
three younger sons £50,000 ; and the remainder of her pro-
perty to her eldest son, the present earl ; her daughters, the
two Ladies Fitzclarence. having been separately provided
for by their maternal grandfather, the late Earl of Egre-
mont,;

If the collection of specie in the vaults of the banks was
any evidence that the merchants were doing a good business,
or that the country was adding to its wealth, there would be
no difficulty in demonstrating both. There is now in the
banks of this city more than 7,000,000 dollars. In the pre-
sent state of their circulation, 4.000,000 dollars is deemed
an ample supply. It is believed that at no former period has
so great an amount been in the state of New York as at the
present moment, and the quantity is increasing by daily ar-
rivals.—Letter from Genevese Traveller.

The half-yearly general meeting of the proprietors of the
St. Katharine's Docks, London, was held on Tuesday, when
a dividend of 21 per cent. on the half-year was declared, the
company defraying the charge of the income tax. It ap-
peared from a return of shipping that entered the Port of
London with cargoes from foreign parts during the last two
years, which established the following result

BRITISH. FOREIGN. A TOTAL.
Ships. Tons. Ships. Tons. Ships. Tons.
1841.. 4,627 996,350 1,992 316,860 6,619 1,313,210
1842.. 4,766 1,000,000 1,615 287,890 6,381 1,288,490

More 139 4 ,250Le55377 28,970 Less 238 21,720