The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-03-26 00:00:00

As a proof of the present unusual severity of the
weather, we may mention that on Saturday night the
thermometer fell to 29 degrees, and after midnight on
Sunday it actually fell to 24 degrees, being eight degrees
below freezing point. Ice of considerable thickness is now
to be seen in the country all round the town. We
do not believe that at any period of the winter was the
thermometer lower than on Saturday night.
DARING ROBBERY.—On Saturday week, a daring
attack was made by three men upon a Mr. Williams,
commercial traveller from the house of Mr. Staples, late
Buckley and Johnson, tea-dealers, Liverpool. Mr. Wil-
liams was proceeding in his gig from Llangynog to Bala,
when three ruffians leaped upon him, and demanded all
in his possession. Mr. Williams proceeded to share five
shillings among them, when the driving box was dragged
out, shattered, and the contents, which consisted of 105

sovereigns, £3O in notes, and £4O in sil;iet, were taken.
They unstripped the bridle, tied it well around the head
of Mr. Williams, and beat him with a staff unmercifully,
leaving him for dead, profusely bleeding.
A NEW ARTICLE OF IMPORT.—Amongst the articles
reported in the cargo of the Hew, from Charente, which
arrived in this port last week, is one which is certainly not
provided for amongst those enumerated in Sir Robert
Peel's tariff;—" a case of meat pies !" We can imagine
the difficulty under which such an importation must have
placed our customs' authorities. Were the pies in ques-
tion " fully manufactured" or " partly manufactured ?"
Were they baked or partly baked, peppered and seasoned,
or partly peppered and seasoned ? Were they beef, mut-
ton, pork, horseflesh, or catsflesh ? Meat pies of some
sort, however, we conclude they were; and suspect that

hey were baked for the ship's use that brought 'them, in
order to avoid their being seized by some of those gentry
who have of late displayed such an acute sense of smelling
American hams, and other edibles, sent ashore to be
cooked for the use of vessels lying in our docks. We
shall shortly, no doubt, have to notice importations of
ready cooked dishes of other descriptions, jellies, tarts,
blancmanges, &c. In another vessel from Bordeaux,
last week, we find contained in its cargo a case of bons
.

SUFFERINGS OF THE JOURNEYNEN TAILORS,—The
following melancholy record of human suffering is hardly
exceeded by the disclosures which the Morning Chro-
nicle has given to the world. The scene is Liverpool, the
narrator a journeyman tailor:—'' I came here last June,
and I got work out of doors from Mr. —; I made black
cloth trousers at ls. 6d. each; they were lined, with
bound tops. I was obliged to get:my mother to assist me
or else we should go without food ; and by working from
six o'clock in the morning until twelve o'clock at night,
we could make six pair, which came to 9s. ; out of that we
had to find silk, thread, twist, and basting cotton. They
cost.us 4d. a pair, which left us 75., without speaking of
what candles cost. I left because I would not line a pair
of trousers at my own expense. in consequence of a pair
being a:little soiled from pressing, and I got work a few
doors higher up. You see my mother and me now,
although it is Sunday, making this shooting coat; we
commenced it at twelve o'clock yesterday, but owing to
me going to the shop last night we will not be able to
finish it before this evening. What is paid for it is 2s. 6d.
The trimmings will cost 3d. ; they are the best paid work
I get. 1 have made great coats (beavers) for 2s. Bd., they
were double -breasted, and the collar was arched ; they
would take us two days each to make. I have made boy's
jackets for 25., and their great coats for ls. 6d., lined with
plaid. I have made men's shooting coats for 25., and
their best black cloth shooting coats for 4s. My mother
is a tailor's daughter, and learned the trade from her
father. My father is a shoemaker ; he works in this room ;
he is unable to work now ; you see him lying on the bed ;
he makes shoes while mother and me make coats; there
are five of us ; we work in this room, and we sleep in this
room : it costs 2s. a week. My mother has not been out
of the house but three times this eighteen months. My
sister, who is twelve years old, buys any provisions that
are wanted."

EXTRAORDINARY FRAUD UPON THE NOBILITY.—A
somewhat novel system of raising money by imposing on
the benevolent has just come to light in this town, and ap-
pears to have been practised with considerable -success,
the parties selected as the victims being the nobility in
different parts of the country. In the course of the week
communications were received by the police from Lady
Zetland and Frederick Norman, Esq., enclosing certifi-
cates which had been sent to Lady Zetiand and Lady
Adlizo Norman, accompanied by notes, signed " Mary
Thompson," to whom the certificates applied. Mrs.
Thompson represented herself to be in the most destitute
and bereaved condition, and the certificates, which other-
wise differed in many essential particulars, stated that she
had lost her husband and three children by a " total
wreck off the Skerrys," herself and three children having,
with several of the crew, escaped in the ship's long-boat,
" in which perilous situation they remained exposed to
the mercy of the waves until picked up" by the captain
and crew of a schooner, " who humanely landed them in
the port of Bangor." To these certificates the names of
J. Cummins, H. Tennant, T. Cunningham, and T. Wil-
liams, represented to be magistrates, are forged. In
order to make the documents appear genuine, portions are
printed, and the names of several persons, including those
of Lord and Lady Stanley, the Mayor of Bangor, are
written as subscribers to the relief of the mother and her
children. In one of the certificates it is stated that Mrs.
Thompson lost £BO by the wreck, and in the other £5O ;
and this variation, together with others, at once indicated
the fraud. Accordingly,: on Sunday morning, detective
officer Holme went to a house in Chisenhale-street, where
he apprehended a woman, who gave the name of Mary
Ann Foster, and a fellow named Henry Carter. The
postman had just delivered three letters, addressed to
' Mrs. Mary Thompson, care of Henry Carter," and on
opening them they were found to oontain certificates si-
milar to those mentioned above, and two of them were
accompanied by post-office orders, one from Lady Haddo,
of Blackheath, and the other from Lady Forde. One of
these documents represented that Mrs. Thompson had
lost her husband by the bursting of a locomotive boiler on
the railway between Liverpool and Manchester. The
prisoners were brought up at the police-court yesterday,
and remanded.

BARON ALDERSON ON PECULATIVE ECONOMY.—On
Saturday, in the case of a prisoner named Werrall, who
pleaded guilty to having, at Warrington, stolen money-
letters, the property of the postmaster-general, witnesses
were called who gave the accused a most excellent cha-
racter. One of them, a clergyman, stated that the pri-
soner had for a series of years borne the character of a
consistent professor of religion. Since his committal, he
had visited the prisoner in gaol, and found him over-
whelmed with grief and shame, and in a conversation the
prisoner attributed his error to the temptation to which
he had been exposed. In answer to a question from Mr.
Baron Alderson, the postmaster at Warrington stated
that the prisoner, who was a married man, was employed
in the postoffice at 9s. 6d. weekly wages. The highest
wages given were £7O per year ; but persons receiving
this sum were government servants. The prisoner was
his private servant. Baron Alderson : " Then he had
access to all money-letters, having only 95. 6d. per week.
It is bad economy not to put a man out of the way of
temptation, by giving him wages to enable him to live
decently. You have a set of regulations which you think
cannot be violated without detection, and these are admi-
nistered by persons you do not sufficiently pay, and the
consequence is that they are not worth anything. This
comes of such economy, which is the worst species of pe-
culation, perhaps. Here is a young man, marrying on
9s. 6d. a week, and trusted with access to money ; and
who can wonder at what happened ? But we can't help
it. Let him stand down."—The prisoner was brought
up yesterday for sentence, when his lordship, in a mild
tone of voice, addressed him in effect as follows :--You
have pleaded guilty to opening letters at Warrington,
entrusted to you to deliver to the parties to whom they
were addressed, and abstracted the money which they
contained. The safe transmission of letters, in a com-
mercial country like this, is of great importance, and must
be insisted upon by law. He regretted much the low rate
of wages given to letter-carriers; for, considering the
facilities which such persons had to open letters, and ap-
propriate their contents, he could not help thinking that
the parties who advised such scanty remuneration took a
wrong view of the subject, and did not observe that good
policy which would be advantageous for the community.
The prisoner had received a good character from a clergy-
man, and he had since shewn contrition ; yet such an
offence could not be passed over without severe punish-
ment. What he (his lordship) would do in the case would
perhaps be better for the prisoner than any other course.
He must be transported for seven years ; but he should
recommend that, in the first instance, he should be sent
to the Pentonville Penitentiary. The prisoner could not
redeem his character in this country, in which he might
find it impossible to obtain employment when again at
large : but by good conduct he might, where he would be
sent to, again become a useful member of society. The
prisoner was then removed.

THE MAN OF THE TIME!
There never was yet any useful plan.
That had not for its guidance some brave man;
One truly gifted with the mind and will
To bear up nobly against every ill,
To combat tyranny, and fight with wrong,
And feel himself in moral courage strong
Mighty in opposition, fixed as fate,
To check the tricks of interest and hate;
Fearless of envy, and prepared for all
That would the workings of his plan enthrall;
Looking beyond the present with an eye
That reads the secrets of futurity,
And heeding not what thoughtless triflers say,
Who never see beyond one little day.
To them the wonders of the giant stenav
Appear'd an idle and delusive dream •
The smooth highway, vein'd o'er with iron rail,
Was but a project that was sure tryfail ;
The magic labours of the talking wire
Would, like the lightning,flaslt, and then expire ;
Aud all the usages of olden day
Were held too sacred to beigwept away ;
Customs absurd must vete the land and state,
Merely because they own'd no modern date :
And so our grandsire'atind our granddame's plan
Must rule the vigoroUs and thinking man.
Away with all such *titiated stuff!
To by-gone prejudjee we've bow'd enough,
And misty schemes must now dissolve away.
Like clouds of night at dawning of the day.
Foremost behtld among the clothier race
One far renovni'd for elegance and grace ;
One who hath scatter'd raiments o'er the land,
That heartypraises from all ranks command;
So cheap, that buyers, with distended eyes,
Look quite bewilder'd, in intense surprise,
Astomild they so long could blinded be
By an nt tailors' cunning mystery:
Behol B. Hyam's famous, well-stock'd mart,
A wonder for economy and art,
And own that he whose skill the plan design'd
Hath power to lead and charm the public mind;
Worthy to be proclaim'd, in prose or rhyme,
The man most suited to his trade and time

The advantages to the Public of purchasing their Clothing
at this magnificent Temple of Commerce are that they can
procure the very finest description of Clothing, either ready
made or made to measure, at extraordinary low prices; and
that they also have the opportunity of selecting their styles
from a stock of at least 40,000 porads sterling.