The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-09-19 00:00:00

Kttaaturr.

NOTICES.

The Polyglot Educational Magazine. London : W.
Strange, Paternoster-row; Liverpool: R. Wrightson.

This is a most useful publication, conducted by Pro-
fessor Bertinchamp, of our town,• a gentleman whose
acquirements as a linguist and teacher are known to most
of our readers. The plan is a highly useful one : the
editor intends the puhUcation not only for the assistance
of teachers and families in communicating the elements
of sciences and languages to their pupils, but for the
perusal of all persons Ivho wish to make themselves ac-
quainted with the principles of a sound mental and liberal
education. As a specimen of the editor's mastery over
the English language, we cannot resist quoting the fol-
lowing metrical translation from the Polish. It is most
spirited, and reminds one of Macaulay's splendid lays,
than which higher praise need not be given :

THE SONG OF THE WAJDELOTA.*
(Translated from the Polish of Michiewiez.)
Tradition ! Tradition ! thou cfthe seraph tongue,

The arch that links two aces—the ancient anti the young;
True arch ! thou art not broken by any stroke of fate;

No tyrant's touch profanes thee—whi:e millions consecrate:
In thee our warriors treasure up their strength of hearts and

swords,
The tissue of their holy thoughts—the lightning of their words !
Thou song of olden glories ! like incense from the shrine
Of a nation's fame and freedom, thou risest up divine.

Thou song of olden glories! like an angel at the gate
Of a nation's storied temple, thou art ever seen to wait
With wings of golden light, and a voice of thrilling might,
And the sword of an archangel like a red flame waving bright,

Time may rot the written stone—and royal brigands burr.--
But the song we loved of old, untouched, shall to our hearts

return
The heroic legend of the dead the crowd shall ne'er forget,
They quenched its thirst with ardent hopes, and feed it with

regret.
It shall go amongst our hidden glens, and to our mountains
And from the rock and ruin shall the olden spirit sing.

The hoary peasant goeth forth to till the grassy plain,
And riveth with his ploughshare the bleach'd bones of the slain ;
He prayeth for the noble dead—the long-renowned story,
And he singeth unto echos with the old song of their glory:
" Rest—rest upon your bed of fame, where the good fight ye
tried.
And sword in hand for freedom ye conquer'd and ye died;
The stricken-down invader rests here beneath your glaivel
Where are your children, Fathers? 0 answer me, ye brave!"

* A Lithuanian word.—A pagan priest who sang to the peo.
ple during their national festivities the praises of their ancestors.

VARIETIES.

The London correspondent of the Liverpool Albion
describes John O'Connell as a mendicant, a monk, a
mountebank, a maligncr, and a muff.
Married at Barn-staple, by the Rev. John Gates, Mr.
John Post to Miss Sophia Rails. If this match don't
" make a fence" of the first quality. we should like to
know what stuff will.—Bristol Mirror.

-.-
STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL.--During a speech of the
Premier, a member near Sir Robert Peel asked him if he
did not hear a noise. "No," replied the ex-one, "only
a little rustle."—Puppet Show.
HARD TIMES CONJUGATED.—A country schoolmaster
thus describes a money-lender :—" He serves you in the
present tense—he lends you in the conditional mood—
keeps you in the subjunctive—and ruins you in the
future."
SPLENDID AMERICAN ALOE.—There is now in bloom,
in the gardens of Drummond Castle, Perthshire, the re-
sidence of Lord and Lady \Viilouehby d'Eresby, a splen-
did specimen of the Agave Americana, or great American
aloe, the flower stem of which is 30 feet high, supporting
upwards of 2,800 flowers.
DINING WITH THE DARDANELLES.—A gentleman was
boasting in his travels that he had been caressed every-
where, and that he had seen all the great in Europe.
" Have you seen the Dardanelles ?" said one of the com-
pany. Yes," replied be, "I dined with them at Gib-
raltar, and found them to be excellent company."—New
York Harbinger. _ _

SCENERY AROUND HEDRON.—There is no part of Pa-
lestine which I have visited, so well cultivated as the
country around Hebron. On the evening of our approach
to the city, we passed for miles through scenes of ravish-
ing loveliness, varied with hill and dale, of wood and corn
fields, and vineyards, illuminated by the rays of the de-
clining sun. The prospect was enlivened by groups of
men and cattle busy at the harvest. Nothing could be
conceived more rich, brilliant, and smiling than this gar-
den of Eden. Thoughts of the days of old rose up, to
give their interest to a scene replete with patriarchal as-
sociations an historic events. But here there was no
melancholy contrast, as this country elsewhere presents,
of present desolation and departed glory. The teeming
threshing floors and the clusters of Eshcol, are proofs
that the land is not unworthy of its ancient patriarchs
and kings.—Mr. Ewald's Report.
A RUSSIAN WIFE SHOW.—The chief opportunity of
seeing native finery is mixed up with a curious custom
observed on Whit Monday at the summer gardens, when
the unmarried girls paraded themselves, on the chance
of being selected and sought in marriage by those
who are on the look-out for wives. These young people
arrange themselves in rows by the sides of the long ave-
nues, attended by their mothers, decked out in their gay-
est costume ; while congregated thousands promenade up
and down in dense crowds. The idea realises what we
call " love at first sight," and is certainly a novel way of
putting the power of Cupid to the test. If an arrow tells,
the party introduces himself to the mother, exchanges ad-
dresses, and the matter is negociated at home. This is
confined to the little people—l mean those just above the
lower class; but in former times it was common to all
ranks.— Thompson's Life in Russia.
OPIUM EATING IN CHINA.—The habitual use of this
drug terminates the smoker's life in about five years.
The offspring of the opium-smoker, may always be known
by his emaciated appearance and imbecile mind. Unborn
generations are thus doomed to suffer for the sins of their
parents, and the aggrandisement of heartless traders. In
the empire, the smoker, to evade the penalty of the law, is
compelled to use the opium pipe in secret. Awealthysmoker
provides himself with a subterranean chamber, where he
may indulge his suicidal propensity without molestation.
We cannot penetrate into those narcotic caverns, or wit-
ness their sepulchral horrors. Whole streets are devoted
to licensed opium-shops, from which the colonial govern-
ment derives a large revenue. It is even a more shameful
crime to fill the treasury of a colony from the produce of
such a trade, than to traffic in slaves. Prudery has ex-
claimed against our French neighbours for taxing gam-
bling and prostitution ; but we should look more at home
before we boast of our morality, and not suffer our colony
to turn this murderous and soul-destroying drug into a
source of revenue.—Dublin University.
SINGULAR STATE OF THE CONTlNENT.—Altogether,
although our efforts to preach the Gospel to the Jews are
somewhat circumscribed just now, on account of the vol-
ca sic state of the Continent, and by reason of the jealousy
of the authorities in regard to foreigners, especially in the
smaller towns and villages, from the circumstance of the
numerous political emissaries who are now traversing the
Continent; yet I am thankful for having been enabled to
find such opportunities of making known the Gospel to
the ancient people of God. It is indeed, amongst other
things, no little privilege just now, to be thrown into the
midst of this " tumultuous stir of the kingdoms of the
nations gathered together ;" and as you see the different
parties, Jew and Gentile, struggling for their own objects
on the arena of conflict, to bear them in your heart by
prayer within the vail, that God may be pleased to defeat
their objects where they are for evil, and prosper those
which are for the advancement of his kingdom. What-
ever changes may yet take place, I believe that, for any
permanence, the old system of absolutism in Church and
State is done away with in Austria and Italy for ever.
To the watchful contemplatist at the present time, there
cannot be two more interesting countries than these, the
imperial and pontifical centres of the ancient Church of
Rome, both of which contain within their boundaries
such an influential section of the ancient people of God,
and in both of which we have reason to believe a mighty
revival shall yet take place. Many there shall yet " learn
righteousness." many shall " be affrighted" and led " to
give glory to God," and shall say, " Who shall not fear
thee, Oh Lord ! and glorify thy name, for thou only art
holy. for all nations shall come and worship before thee,
for thy judgments are made manifest in the earth." If
ever there was a time when those words of our blessed
Lord were applicable to his disciples, " Have faith in
God," it is the present; let us watch and pray, and be-
lieve as we pray, and we• shall probably live to see great
things come to pass.—.7itcish Intelligence.
PRESF.NT STATE OF ROME.—The bulk of the inhabi-
tants dwell in the space between the Corso and Old Tiber,
and are closely packed,—a few in tine palaces, the many
in cheerless, shabby dwellings. A third street, running
from the same starting point in a south-easterly direction,
leads to the Piazza di Spagna, where another fountain
cools the air, and the huge building called the Propaganda
blocks up all further view ; but the traveller will meet
other fountains, and massive palaces, and churches, and
piazza, interspersed with venerable ruins. Whithersoever
he turns his eager steps, he is alternately delighted and
disgusted ; the majestic remains of a great antiquity he
wishes to examine with critical accuracy, but he stands in
the midst of inconceivable filth. He finds in his guide-
book, and notes on the map, numerous piazze, which he
imagines to be fine squares, clean, if not splendid; he
observes, with some few exceptions, they resemble waste
ground, reserved for rubbish or the refuse of a great city.
Persevering in his walk through Rome he finds himself
more severely fagged in one hour than he would have
been in holdon in three • for the streets are generally
narrow and gloomy, seldom clean, the pavement sharp
and broken, there being no flagging, with the exception
of the Corso, where it is three feet broad, and of so
raped a material that little knobs of stone rise up in the
flags, and almost penetrate the stoutest boot. Following
the map to gain an object of interest, he turns into narrow
by-sfreets and lanes, and then learns, through the me-
dium of his senses, what amount of filth can be endured
by human nature. * * * A principal source of busi-
ness is the imitating, in bronze, the classic monuments,
and at every corner is an artist's studio. He remarks no
substantial houses building for a respectable middle-class,
but several old ones plastered with white cement to at-
tract tenants in the English quarter; fifty dwellings are
inspected before he meets one congenial to his English
taste ; for if an invalid, he wants sunshine, and does not
want malaria. He desires wholesome air and spacious
apartments,- with a good look-out; yet he finds several
excellent apartments, but looking into a yard or court
everlastingly covered with wet or filth. He thus learns
there never was a real opulent middle-class in Modern
Rome. and that cardinals and bishops cannot, even with
their fine palaces, make a flourishing city. But still does
he ever find, to his inexpressible delight, that into no
quarter of the once Imperial City, no palace, no church,
or building, or studio, can he put his head without meet-
ing with some object of interest and art, novel to his
eyes, beautiful or wonderful.

THE JEWS AND " FRATERNITY."

(From the Jewish Intelligence)

[The following article shows that political power can
never be conceded with safety to the Jew till he is Chris-
tianized, and consequently that Christianity alone can
elevate this people; all other efforts to elevate them in the
social or political scale of nations are futile and dangerous.]
One of the great characteristics of the new order of
things on the Continent has been the eagerness with which
the people, especially in the capitals of Berlin and Vienna,
have availed themselves of the unwonted boon of a free
press. Newspapers have started up like mushrooms,
making up by zeal and violence of language their deficiency
in talent. But above all it is in pamphlets and placards
innumerable, that the prejudices of the hour, and the ever
changing temper of the public, are reflected, and the fears
and passions of the masses arc appealed to, with the aid
derivable from low wit, humour, and sarcasm. We have
already seen that the Jews of Berlin have taken no insig-
nificant part in this literary warfare, and that there have
been proclamations and addresses without end, with Jew-
ish names appended to them. We learn from recent
communications received at Vienna, that there also the
democratic newspaper press has been, and is to a consider-
able extent, under Jewish influence, as the publications
called the " Radical," " Cat's Music," the " Democrat,"
the " Lantern," the " Free-spoken," &c., &c., abun-
dantly show.

It Is, however, to be remarked that the active part taken
by the Jews in these political commotions, have by no
means procured for them the favour of their revolutionary
com-patriots ; on the contrary, we meet with frequent
symptoms of a feeling of dislike and hate towards them, on
the part of those on whose behalf they have been so zea-
lous. We have before us several proofs of this hostile
feeling, in the shape of placards, which have been posted
in the streets of Vienna, all bolding up the Jews as ob-
jects of suspicion, and representing them as plotting to.
obtain the mastery over their Christian fellow-citizens
Thus giving another proof how hollow and worthless the
pretensions to liberty and equality are on the part of those
who, while they boast of their humanity and brotherly
love, manifest such rancour, hatred, and unmingled bit-
terness.

The headings of some of these placards will indicate their
general tone and tendency. Thus we have one : " The
German Michael (Michel) and the Jews;" another
headed " Fresh Jew-cherries ;" and a third, " Pertition of
the Christian slaves to their Jewish masters, for emanci-
pation of the Christians." Another, again, denounces the
Jews, in consequence of the discovery on the Jewish bu-
rial ground, of chests containing military stores, &c.
As may be expected, the language of these placards far
exceeds all the bounds of reason and justice. Thus to
quote some of the least violent passages :

"Their participation in the political commotions of our times
is a clear proof that they only aim at supreme nile. They sow
discontent that they may gain advantages in the general con-
fusion. They wish to become ministers, princes, regents, that
they may trample on the Gojim in conformity with the doc-
trines of the Talmud. They have started a disreputable press,
and consider that courage, which others denominate insolence.
. .. ___

" Who are the most furious republicans? The Jews. They
perceive that we will never suffer their emancipation, and look,
therefore, to a republic as their &oal.
"The manoeuvnng tactics which the Jews practice against
us, consist in the invention of audacious lies, which are dis-
seminating for the purpose of exciting among the lower orders
either fear or rebellion. They only aim at promoting distrust
and dissatisfaction, and would even not flinch from the horrors
of civil war, if it be the bridge leading to their emancipation.
" It is to be regretted that for the sake of the dregs, a whole
nation should be persecuted and hated, but the true tact of our
iennese will here also know how to separate the chaff from the
corn, and do full justice to the many worthy men among the
Jews. But Nemesis will surely overtake the rabble."

One of these productions, after many accusations, winds
up with the following warning :
___

"The Jews have already got us, i. e. our money, in the bag,
and carry their heads high, but they wish now also to get
everything we have left, and to be the sole masters; this is what
is meant by emancipation ! We have concluded the chapter of
Jewish cunning, but come now to the chapter of Jewish folly.
"The Jews imagine that when they have rooted out Christi-
anity from among the Christians, by means of their Jewish
Neologian literature, from among the people, by means of their
atrocious pamphle s, (for the authors of most of these are
Jews,) that then their wishes will be crowned, that then all dis-
tinction of religion will be merged, and the much longed for
emancipation will be obtained.

"Thii is very possible. It may be so. But mark this, you
Jews! Just as those Jews who have no Jewish faith more, are
now the bitterest enemies of Christianity, so will the Christians,
who have no Christian faith more, be the bitterest enemies of
Judaism."

Such is the prospect which is held out to the Jewish
nation by those who use their boasted liberty as a cloak of
maliciousness.

Some of the more light-minded Jews have been seduced,
unawares, to join in the movement that has spread so
widely ; but the more sober-minded among them have
all along seen the danger that must be occasioned by a
course which every principle of earnest Judaism teaches
them to abhor. May those who have been misled soon
have their eyes open to see the gulf that threatens to de-
vour them, and attending to the warning contained in the
passage last quoted, learn that those who are false to that
Christianity which they profess in name only, will never
be the friends of those who have been led astray by vain
glory and unbelief, to unite with them in opposition to
that lesson which is taught by revelation, and verified by
the univeral testimony of the history of all nations and all
ages, —" Meddle not with them that are given to
change."

ANECDOTE OF LORD ERSElNE.—Erskine, when some-
what young at the bar, was engaged in the fallowing case.
An old gentleman had died at a village inn, and a will
was produced by which all his property was left to an at-
torney not in the most distant way related to the testator.
The widow of the gentleman in question was left in a
state of destitution with a large family : in vain did she
solicit the attorney, to assist her in providing for herself
and family : the matter soon became the subject of gene-
ral conversation, and means were provided to enable the
widow to contest the validity of the will, on the ground
of the testator's incapacity to make a bequest at the time
the will in question was stated 'to have been made and
executed. Erskine was retained for the widow and suc-
cessfully advocated his client's cause. In the course of
the trial the defendant brought forward, as evidence to
show that the testator was in a fit state of mind to make
and execute the will in question, witnesses who swore
that they had seen the testator playing at cards. " Gen-
tlemen of the jury (said Erskine)—it certainly appears
that the old gentleman has been played with : how far
this is a test of his sanity will be for you to determine.
Yes : he played at cards—probably he might play a king,
or a queen, or an ace ; but, gentleman of the jury, before
you leave the box, I think that I shall be able to point out
the party who played the KNAVE in this business."

ALLEGED PROPULSION OF A VESSEL BY STEAM IN THE
YEAR 1543.—Thomas Gonzales. Director of the Royal
Archives of Simancas in Spain, published in 1826 an ac-
count of an invention by Biasco de Garay, a naval cap-
tain, who, it is stated, exhibited in Spain, in 1543, an en-
gine, by which ships of the largest size could be propelled
in a calm without the aid of oars or sails. He made an
experiment before commissioners, appointed for the pur-
pose of examining his invention at Barcelona, on the 17th
June, 1543,—the vessel used being a ship of two hundred
tons. Garay, we are informed, wished to keep his mecha-
nism a secret ; but it was observed to consist partly of
a large cauldron, or vessel of boiling water, and of two
movable wheels, one on each side of the ship. The expe-
riment succeeded so far, that the vessel was propelled at
the rate of two leagues in three hours; and the inventor
was rewarded by receiving a sum of two hundred thousand
maravedis, besides having his expenses defrayed from the
public treasury. It is added, that the invention would
have been further encouraged had not State expeditions of
great consequence claimed the immediate attention of the
emperor. But it is important to mention, that the au-
thenticity of the entire history of Garay's invention, as
published by Gonzales, has been called into question ;
and it is certain that no practical results of any utility fol-
lowed.—Fraser's Magazine.

EFFORTS OF THE JEWS TO OBTAIN POLITICAL POWER
AND EQUALITY OF RIGHT.—As was to be expected, the
Jew, who has long lain unheeded and neglected at the
very gates, as it were, of the Austrian Established Church
(and may this be a warning to our own dear Church),
should be, diroongst others, an especial agent in the pro-
vidence of God, in transmitting the bitter cup of retribu-
tive suffering into the hands of his oppressors. I had not
been a day in the city when I found out the truth of this;
I went in company with Mr. Hoff to the principal syna-
gogue, which we found to be a spacious building with
double galleries, all crowded to excess. The preacher, a
man of great ability. took for his text the subject of the
two faithful spies returning with good intelligence from
the promised land ; he seemed to anticipate a bright future
for Israel in the new ow. et'
that they had played no unimportant part in the great
achievements of the times, and called upon them to press
forward in the same direction, until they came into full
possssion of the rights that were due to them. On
leaving the synagogue, two Jews conducted us to the hall
where the " Sicherheits Ausschuss," a sore of provisional
government, was sitting, and this we found was presided
over by a Jew; subsequently to this we met no end of
Jews in the dress of National Guards in the streets, and
shortly afterwards a Jew who was a newly-elected member
of the National Assembly of Austria; so that altogether
it seemed as if the Jews, a long time the party oppressed
here, were in a fair way of becoming the oppressors of
others.—Letter in Jewish Intelligence.

A YANKEE ALLIGATOR STORY.—A singular piece of
temerity, with regard to an alligator. is related in camp.
At Sabine river (now a long distance back), one of the
men of Caswel's company, called in camp " Skin-horse,"
went along the bank for game ; did not see any ; but then
a young alligator popped up his head ; " Skin-horse "
fired at it, and the water was stained with blood, but the
alligator had disappeared. The report of the gun brought
some of his comrades to the spot, and they were told by
him what he had killed. They thought he was " fooling'
them, which made him very angry, and, swearing that he
always told the truth, he stripped off his clothes, and
waded in the water to his neck, feeling about with his
foot, and stepped on the chap at the bottom ; he being
only wounded, instantly rose and poked his long•nose out
of the water, behind " Skin-horse," who turned, and
with one hand seized him by the fore-foot, and threw the
other arm around his neck, and himself on his scaly back.
Now came the tug of war. The alligator whirled round
and round, making the water foam with his tail, snapping
his jaws together, in his endeavours to get at his antago-
nist, while the latter, having got a hold on shallow bot-
tom, pushed and dragged him towards the shore, while
his.companions, at first petrified with astonishment, ran
to his relief, and they soon got the alligator ashore and
dispatched him. He measured in length seven feet.
Hugging a live alligator in the water is a ticklish sort of
business. " Skin-horse "is a good-humoured dare-devil
chap, cross-eyed, medium height, bony and strong, in for
a scrape at any time, and is a great favourite with the
whole regiment.—Purber's Americans in Mexico.