The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-06-25 00:00:00

market for, and an increase in, the imports re-
mitted in return, are anything but infallible proofs
of a prosperous state of affairs.
A large increase, we observe, is also taking place
in our exports to The United States, with what e:4-
pectation of a profitable return we leave to exporters
to determine, preferring to quote the following
opinion of the Liverpool correspondent of the Man-
chester Guardian of Saturday to expressing any
decided one of our own :
" The Pacific, which sailed yesterday, took about sixty
passengers and a fair quantity of freight. When we con-
sider that the liners are all going full of dry goods, it is
rather extraordinary to find the steamers take so much
freight at the high rate of seven guineas per ton. The
excess of shipments during the last two months, over the
same period last year, is said to be over 50 per cent. I
cannot find a single American who thinks the actual cir-
cumstances warrant this increased export ; and it can no
longer be concealed that serious apprehensions exist
amongst the well-informed, that we are approaching one
of those revulsions which have so often disturbed the
' American trade, and that the high price of the raw ma-
terial is accelerating its arrival. The last five years of
successful trade (.9 have put out of sight the danger of
overtiading; and, at the hazard of being set down as a
croaker, I again intrude this unpleasant topic on your
readers."

We must remark, however, that there appears some
reason in the view of the case here expressed, with
the exception of the " five years of successful trade"
spoken of. The stock of Cotton—America's chief
remittance—is established now as being short ;
and the prospects of the next crop are anything but
favourable. Our Manchester friends assure us
that she has no grain to send us, or which she can
afford at present prices. We have as many of her
state and other stocks as British Capitalists can be
fooled into buying; and how.otherwise she can pay
us, without remitting specie, and thus bringing
upon her own mercantile community a monetary
crisis, of a more devastating character than ever
was felt by her since she became one of the family
of nations, passes our comprehension.
It may be said, indeed, by superficial thinkers,
that the Californian discoveries of America will
help her in such an emergency. We prefer, how-
ever, the opinion of parties on the spot as to the
present benefit to that country of its newly found
El dorado. The following extract trom the National
Intelligencer. adopted in a recent number of the
New York Courier and Enquirer conveys the opin-
ion upon the subject of many sensible Americans :
" From the opening of the Trade with California down
to the present time, the value of our shipments to this
country cannot be less than forty millions of dollars, and
it may be fifty millions. Sufficient time has elapsed to
receive the greater portion of this sum in gold dust; but,
according b the returns of the Mints up to the Ist of
May, only thirteen millions three hundred thousand dol-
lars had been received. The receipts since are stated to
be about two millions, making in all, fifteen millions,. or
about one-third of the cost of the shipments. If, as it
is generally believed, the shipments to San Francisco
have realised large profits, (which we do not believe,) we
ought to have received by this time, in gold dust, the half
of some sixty or seventy millions of dollars. As the ac-
count stands now, California is benefited at the expense
of the Atlantic border of the Union, and we doubt not
we shall be the creditors for a long time to come." _

Between their European creditors and their debtors
on the shores of the Pacific, the solvency of the
people of the Atlantic side of the Continent will be
rather doubtful should any monetary crisis visit
them.

Colonel Sibthorp has returned fifteen per cent. to his
tenantry.
On Sunday morning, shortly after daybreak, a re-
spectably-dressed man leaped from Southwark-bridge,
and was drowned.

Mr. Robert Batty, of this town, passed his examina-
tion at Apothecary's Hall on Thursday, and received a
certificate to practise.

The Rev. W. Maskell, late chaplain to the Bishop of
Exeter, was received on Saturday into the Roman Catho-
lic Church, at the chapel in Spanish-place, London.
The bazaar and concert in aid of the Lying-in Hospital
realized the handsome sum of £4OO. The institution can
now boast of being out of debt, and having a small balance
in its coffers.

The infant Prince was christened on Saturday by the
Archbishop of Canterbury, assisted by the Bishops of
Chester and Oxford. The infant was christened Arthur
William Patrick Albert. The sponsors were the Prince
of Prussia, the Duke of Wellington, and the Duchess of
Kent for the Duchess Ida of Saxe Weimar.

- .
Dr. MIN elle will preach in St. Luke's Church, Chorl-
ton-upon-Medlock, Manchester, this evening, when a
collection will be made in aid of the liquidation of incum-
brances at present resting on the church. St. Luke's is
under the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Maguire.
COLLISION. Yesterday, Mr. Rushton ordered the
owners of the steam-tug Earl of Powis to pay to the
owners of the David, for damage done to the latter by the
Argyle, which was in tow of the steamer, running into
her and damaging her to that extent on the Sunday pre-
vious.

FREEHOLD LAND SOCIETY.—A number of the leading
liberals in this town have, it appears, formed themselves
into a society for the foisting on the registry as many
faggot votes fur the county as they can muster. Our
Conservative friends should be on the watch to defeat
their unconstitutional intentions.

CONCERT. —The concert in aid of the Lying-In Hospi-
tal, on Thursday evening, was very numerously and
fashionably attended. The performances of the 52d gave
the greatest satisfaction. Miss Whitnall, Mr. Percival,
Mr. Miranda, and Mons. Saqui, kindly tendered their
services, and the singing delighted the whole company.
Mr. Percival's solos on the flute were given with his usual
unparalleled efficiency.
Yesterday two men (both cripples) and a woman were
committed for trial charged with knocking down and ill-
treating, on Saturday night in Roscommon-street, a gen-
tleman named Mather, who was subject to fits, and un-
fortunately was overtaken by one during the altercation
with the prisoners. They stripped him of his coat as he
lay insensible, and were proceeding to take off his waist-
coat, when some parties came up, and they made off.
HIGH-CLASS PICTURES.—We had the pleasure yester-
day of a cursory examination of a few excellent paintings,
late the property of J. Williams, Esq., of Boughton,
which are now on view at the Adelphi Hotel, Woodside,
and which will be sold by auction on Thursday. They
comprise some exquisite specimens by Town ; a Gem ;
" The Hawker's Cart," by Gelkie ; works by Van Wor-
rd, Naysmith, Paul Potter, Cooper, Wattenas, Grant,
Rembrandt, and other renowned Artists. They form a
valuable though small collection.
THE APPEARANCE OF THE CROPS,—The uninterrupted
fine weather which we have had during the last few weeks
has had its effect on the growing crops. Along the whole
line of the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway from this
town to Manchester the aspect of the country presents
one unvaried picture of plenty. The potatoes never looked
better, both as r r,i)rCs health and the promise of a plenti-
ful crop. The hay crop is equally good; some is already
housed, and a good deal is under the scythe. The corn,
too, has a strong and vigorous appearance.
SUNDAY LABOUR AT THE POST•OFFICE.—We had
prepared a long notice on this subject, which we have
been compelled to postpone until next week. We are
glad to hear that the new system works remarkably well.
The letter-carriers, fifty in number, attended St. Silas's
Church on Sunday morning, and St. Mark's Church in
the evening, where thanksgiving was offered for the
blessing conferred on them ; and they were afterwards
suitably and impressively addressed by the Rev. Messrs.
Cordeaux and Pollock. Owing to the omission of posi-
tive directions, on a single point, one or two clerks were
detained on Sunday for a short time. We understand
that a petition against the excellent arrangement lay in
the Exchange News-room last week for signature, but it
has been withdrawn—having received only about one
hundred and sixty signatures. On Saturday evening,
after the business of the day had been completed, we are
informed that the clerks, sorters, letter-carriers, guards,
&c., met at the Post-office, and, after singing the national
anthem, gave three cheers for the good and gracious
Queen who had released them from Sunday duty.

IMPORTANT TO PURCHASERS OF PIANO-FORTES.-It
gives us great pleasure to bear testimony to many im-
provements in Messrs. Broadwood and Collard's piano-
fortes, manufactured expressly for Mr. Edgar's establish-
ment, No. 1, Upper Duke-street„,-Tfie amateur will bi
gratified to discover that in tUele instruments he can
execute rapidly repeated n s e'i with the same precision
and decided articulation • a first-rate performer. It has
been Mr. Edgar's s •y to give to the public a first-class
instrument at a • y moderate price. The piano submit-
ted to us is of s e neat cottage form: its keyboard is six-
and-three-' • arter octave 3. We congratulate Mr. E. on
his succe- in offering the instruments at such a moderate
price b such eminent makers as Messrs. Broadwood and
Collar .-13th June, 1850.—Mail.

AN Ar AB GAME.—The Arabs are far more amusable,
far more jovial and open-hearted. They have their
I coffee-houses every night, and their religious festivities
periodically; they play at all sorts of complicated games,
reserabling draughts and chess, and find means ingeni-
ously to vary their sports. If they compromise their
dignity, they succeed in whiling away their leisure time
far more successfully than the pride-stuffed Levantine.
One of their amusements—called the game of plaff—is
worth mentioning, especially as it is not only indulged in
by the vulgar, but formed the chief delight of the vene-
rable Moharem Bey himself. Two men, often with
respectable grey beards, sit on a carpet at a little distance
one from the other. All Easterns are usually dry smo-
kers; but on this occasion they manage to foment a
plentiful supply of saliva, and the game simply consists
in a series of attempts on the part of the two opponents
to spit on the tips of each other's noses. At first, this
cleanly interchange of saliva goes on slowly and delibe-
rately—Socrates never measured the leap of a flea with
more seriousness—but presently one receives a dab in
the eye, another in the mouth. They begin to grow hot
and angry. " I hit your nose," cries one. " No, it was
my cheek !" replied the other. They draw a little nearer,
in order to ascertain the truth by feeling ; spit, spit, they
still go, like two vicious old cats; their palates grow dry ;
their throats become parched; but the contest continues,
and they exhaust themselves in making spitoons of each
other's faces and beards. Hamlet and Laertes were not
more eager and desperate. " A hit, a very palpable hit !"
they exclaim, as they hawk up their last supply of am-
munition. Each denies the truth; they mutually pro-
ceed to a verification ; and the game of plaff often ends
in a regular match of nose-pulling,—Baylett Residence
in a Levantine Family,