The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-11-14 00:00:00

SELECTIONS.

TARRING AND FEATHERING. —This ludicrous but
painful punishment would appear to be an European in-
vention, as one of Richard Coeur-de-Lion's punishments
for sailors was, if any man were convicted of theft or
" pickery," he should have his head polled, and hot pitch
poured upon his pate, and upon that the feathers of some
pillow or cushion shaken aloft, that he might thereby be
known for a thief.—Hollinshed.

O'CONNELL'S PRESENT POSITION.--The policy of the
government has been successful beyond the most sanguine
expectations of their friends. In nothing is this success
more manifest than in the altered and humbled tone of
the repeal party. When Mr. O'Connell abandoned the
Clontarf meeting, he gave up and gave up for ever the posi-
tion he had previously assumed. This step is irretrieva-
ble. Other modes of agitation he still may have in re-
serve—other expedients and resources may still suggest
themselves to his fertile mind ; but the position which he
held on the Ist of October, that of the leader of the phy-
sical force of the people, ready to do battle for his coun-
try's cause—in the strength of his assembled thousands,
bidding defiance to the government—that position he has
abandoned, and abandoning it at the critical moment has
abandoned it for ever.—Dublin University Magazine.

THE DRESS FOXHUNTER.—The dress foxhunter is a
terrible bore. These affect watering-places chiefly,
though every hunt has one or more of such cattle. They
are noisy, rattling, jabbering, vapid blockheads, always
on the blab, or showing oft' before women. They are ge-
nerally great swells—everything of the newest and most
approved pattern, from the bottom of their hats to the
spur at their heels. They mostly come up at the last
moment, just as the master has exhausted his patience in
waiting, and are generally cased in some new-fangled con-
trivance for keeping that clean which was put on to be
dirtied—at least, such is the presumption ; but the fact
is, unless these men get dirtied in coming to covert, there
is little chance of their getting so after, for, if they stay
the " find" they are off at the first check, vowing that all
chance of sport is over, and venting anathemas at a pig,
a post, or a ploughman. Then see them on the
pav‘among the ladies, how they strut, bow they swagger,
how they ring their bright spurs upon the flags, and what
lies they tell about leaping! Magistrates ought to have
jurisdiction over these fellows.—Sporting Magazine.

SELF-MADE MEN.—Columbus was a weaver. Franklin
was a journeyman printer. Massillon, as well as
Fletcher, arose amidst the humblest vocations. Nieb-
huar was a peasant. Sixtus V. was employed in keeping
swine. Rollin was the son of a cutler. Ferguson and
Burns, Scottish poets, were shepherds. )Esop was a
slave. Homer was a beggar. Daniel Defoe was ap-
prenticed to a hosier. Demosthenes was the son of a
cutler. Hogarth was an engraver of pewter-pots. Virgil
was the son of a baker. Gay was an apprentice to a silk
mercer. Ben Johnson was a bricklayer. Porson was
the son of a parish clerk. Prideaux was emploped to
sweep Exeter College. Akenside was the son of a
butcher. Pope was the son of a merchant. Cervantes
was a common soldier. Gifford and Bloomfield were
shoemakers. Howard was apprenticed to a grocer.
Halley was the son of a soap-boiler. Richard Arkwright
was a barber for a number of years. Belzoni was the
son of a barber. Blackstone was the son of a linen-
draper. Blacklock was in a distressful state of poverty.
Buchanan was a private soldier. Butler was the son of a
farmer. Canova was the son of a stone-cutter. Catha-
rine the First of Russia was born a peasant. Captain
Cook began his career in the: merchant service as a
cabin boy. Curran was the son of poor parents. Sir
Humphrey Davy was the son of a carver. Dodsley was
a stocking weaver. Drake was the son of a shepherd.
Hunter was apprenticed to a carpenter. Falconer was the
son of a barber. Hadyn was the son of a poor cart-
wright. Herschel was the son of a musician. Johnson
was the son of a bookseller. Lawrence was the son of an
innkeeper. La Fontaine was the son of an overseer of
woods and forests. Milton was a schoolmaster. Parkes
was the son of a small grocer. Pizarro was never taught
to read when young, but employed to keep hogs. Pollok
was the son of a carpenter. Allan Ramsay was the son
of a miner. Raffaelle was the son of r peasant. Richard-
son was the son of a joiner. Shakspeare commenced his
career as a menial. Stone worked as a gardener, and
taught himself to read. Kirk White was the son of a
butcher.

A STRIKING NIOMENT.—That was a striking moment
in the life of Louis Philippe when he pronounced his first
speech to the remnants of the last Chambers of the Re-
storation, and when he declared he had come forward
" with the firm resolution of devoting his efforts to re-
establish the empire of the laws ; to save, protect, endan-
gered liberty, and render the recurrence impossible of
such great evils by securing for ever the power of that
charta whose name, invoked during the combat, was re-
peated after victory." In this first address Louis Phi-
lippe clearly indicated the policy he was resolved to pursue.
" Every right should be substantially guaranteed, all the
institutions necessary to their full and free exercise should
receive the developments of which they had need."
Again : " Attached with his whole heart, and from con-
viction, to the principles of a free government, he ac-
cepted all its consequences beforehand." That Europe
might at once understand that his was an orderly and pa-
cific mind, and that his government would partake of the
same characteristics, he declared,—" Yes, gentlemen,
this land of France, so dear to me, will be happy and free;
it will prove to Europe that, solely engaged in promoting
its internal prosperity, it cherished peace as much as
liberty, and only wishes for the happiness and repose of
its neighbours. This was the programme of the lieute-
nant-general ; and, after thirteen years of a most labo-
rious and agitated reign, he is as faithful to that programme
now as he has ever been, amidst all the fury of factions
and the desperate violence of anarchists.—Fraser.

AMERICA. AND ITS CREDITORS.—Among the discus-
sions to which the moral lubricities of this insolvent peo-
ple have given birth, they have arrogated to themselves
the right of sitting in judgment upon the property of their
creditors—of deciding who among them is rich, and who
poor, and who are proper objects of compassionate pay-
ment ; but in the name of Mercury, the great god of
thieves, did any man ever hear of debtors alleging the
wealth of•the lender as a reaaon for eluding the payment
of the loan ? Is the Stock Exchange a place for the tables
of the money-lenders ; or is it a school of moralists, who
may amerce the rich, exalt the poor, and correct the ini-
quities of fortune ? is Biddle an instrument in the hands
of Providence to exalt the humble and send the rich empty
away ? Does American Providence work with such in-
struments as Biddle? But the only good part of this bad
morality is not acted upon. The rich are robbed, but the
poor are not paid ; they growl against the dividend of
Dives, and don't like the sores of Lazarus. They seize
with loud acclamations on the money-bags of Jones
Lloyd, Rothschild, and Baring, but they do not give back
the pittance of the widow, and the bread of the child.
Those knaves of the setting sun may call me rich, for I
have a twentieth part of the income of the Archbishop of
Canterbury ; but the curate of the next parish is a wretched
soul, bruised by adversity; and the three hundred pounds
for his children, which it has taken his life to save, is eat
and drunken by the mean men of Pennsylvania—by men
who are always talking of the virtue and honour of the
United States—by men who soar above others in what
they say, and sink below all nations in what they do—who,
after floating on the heaven of declamation, fall down to
feed on the offal and garbage of the earth.—Sydney
Smith's Letter.

AN ORIENTAL'S OPINION OF ENGLISH DANCING.—
His first impressions on English dancing are perfectly
unique in their way, and we can only do justice to them
by quoting them at length. "Itis so entirely unlike any
thing we ever heard of in Hindustan,that I cannot refrain
from giving a slight sketch of what I saw. In the first
place, the company could not have been fewer than 1,500
or 2,000, of the highest classes of society, the ministers,
the nobles, and the wealthy, with their wives and daugh-
ters. Several hundreds stood up, every gentleman with a
lady ; and they advanced and retired several times, hold-
ing each other by the hand, to the sound of the music : at
last the circle they had formed broke up, some running off
to the right, and some to the left—then a gentleman.
leaving his lady, would strike out obliquely across the
room, sometimes making direct for another lady at a dis-
tance, and sometimes stooping and flourishing with his
legs as he went along : when he approached her, he made
a sort of salaam, and then retreated. Another would go
softly up to a lady, and then suddenly seizing her by the
waist, would turn and twist her round and round some
fifty times, till both were evidently giddy with the mo-
tion ; this was sometimes performed by a few chosen
dancers, and sometimes by several hundreds at once—all
embracing each other in what, to our notions, would seem
rather an odd sort of way, and whirling round and round ;
and though their feet appeared constantly coming in con-
tact with each other, a collision never to, ', place. And
those who met in this affectionate manner were, as I was
told, for the most part perfect strangers to each other,
which to me was incomprehensible ! Several ladies asked
me to dance with them, but I excused myself by saying
that their dancing was so superlatively beautiful that it was
sufficient to admire it, and that I was afraid to try—' be-
sides,' said I, it is contrary to our customs in Hindus-
tan:—Blackwood's Magazine.

ENVY AND FRAUD OF AMERICANS.—Figure to your-
self a Pennsylvanian receiving foreigners in his own coun-
try, walking over the public walks with him, and showing
them Larcenous Lake, Swindling Swamp, Crafty Canal,
and Rogues Railway, and other dishonest works. " This
swamp we gained (says the patriotic borrower) by the re-
pudiated loan of 1821. Our canal robbery was in 1830 ;
we pocketed your good people's money for the railroad
only last year." All this may seem very smart to the
Americans ; but if I had the misfortune to be born among
such a people, the land of my fathers should not retain me
a single moment after the act of repudiation. I would ap-
peal from my fathers to my forefathers. I would fly to
Newgate for greater purity of thought, and seek in the
prisons of England for better rules of life. This new and
vain people can never forgive us for having preceded them
300 years in civilization. They are prepared to enter into
the most bloody wars with England, not on account of
Oregon, or boundaries, or right of search, but because
our clothes and carriages are better made, and because
Bond-street beats Broadway. Wise Webster does all he
can to convince his people that these are not lawful causes
of war ; but wars, and long wars, they will one day or
another produce ; and this, perhaps, is the only advan-
tage of repudiation. The Americans cannot gratify their
avarice and ambition at once; they cannot cheat and con-
quer at the same time. The warlike power of every
country depends on their Three per Cents. If Caesar
were to reappear upon earth, Wettenhall's list would be
more important than his Commentaries ; Rothschild would
open and shut the Temple of Janus ; Thomas Baring, or
Bates, would probably command the Tenth Legion, and
soldiers would march to battle with loud cries of Scrip
and Omnium Reduced, Consols, and Caesar ! Now, the
Americans have cut themselves off from all resource of
credit. Having been as dishonest as they can be, they
are prevented from being as foolish as they wish to be. In
the whole habitable globe they cannot borrow a guinea,
and they cannot draw the sword, because they have not
the money to buy it.—Sydney Smith's Letter.

"THE GAME UP WITH REPEAL AGITATION."—By a
double proof the Repeal sedition is at an end : were it
not, upon Clontarf being prohibited, the repealers would
have announced some other gathering in some other place.
You that say it is not at an end, tell us why did they for-
bear that ? Secondly, Mr. O'Connell has substituted for
1 repeal—what? The miserable, the beggarly petition, for
a dependent House of Assembly, an upper sort of " Select
Vestry," for Ireland ; and that too as a bonus from the
parliament of the empire. This reminds us of a capital
story related by Mr. Webster, and perhaps within the ex-
perience of American statesmen, in reference to the claims
of electors upon those candidates whom they have re-
turned to congress. Such a candidate, having succeeded
sa.far as even to become a Secretary for Foreign Affairs,
was one day waited on by a man, who reminded him that
some part of this eminent success had been due to his
vote ; and really—Mr. Secretary might think as he pleased
—but him it struck, that a pretty considerable of a debt'
was owing in gratitude to his particular exertions. Mr.
Secretary bowed. The stranger proceeded—" His am-
bition was moderate : might he look for the office of post-
master-general ?" Unfortunately, said the secretary,
that office required special experience, and it was at pre-
sent filled to the satisfaction of the President. " Indeed !
that was unhappy : but he was not particular ; perhaps
the ambassador to London had not yet been appointed ?"
There, said the secretary, you are still more unfortunate :
the appointment was open until 11 p.m. on this very day,
and at that hour it was filled up. " 'Well," said the ex-
cellent and Christian supplicant, " any thing whatever
for me ; beggars must not be choosers ; possibly the office
of vice-president might soon be vacant ; it was said that
the present man lay shockingly ill." Not at all ; he was
rapidly recovering; and the reversions, even if he should
die, required enormous interest, for which a canvass had
long since commenced on the part of fifty-three candi-
dates. Thus proceeded the assault upon the secretary,
and thus was it evaded. So moved the chase, and thus
retreated the game, until at length nothing under heaven
remained amongst all official prizes which the voter could
ask, or which the secretary could refuse. Pensively the
visitor reflected for a few minutes, and, suddenly raising
his eye doubtfully, he said, " Why then, Mr. Secretary,
have you ever an old black coat that you could give me?"
Oh, aspiring genius of ambition ! from that topmast round
of thy aerial ladder that a man should descend thus aw-
fully I—from the office of vice-president of the U. S. that
he should drop, within three minutes, to " an old black
coat ?" The secretary was aghast: he rang the bell for
such a coat ; the coat appeared • the martyr of ambition
was solemnly inducted into its sleeves; and the two par-
ties, equally happy at the sudden issue of the interview,
bowing profoundly to each other, separated for ever.
Even upon this model, sinking from a regal honour to an
old black coat, Mr. O'Connell has actually agreed to ac-
cept—has volunteered to accept—for the name and rank
of a separate nation, some trivial right of holding county
meetings for local purposes of bridges, roads, turnpike
gates. This privilege he calls by the name of " federal-
ism ;" a misnomer, it is true ; but, were it the right name,
names cannot change realities. These local committees
could not possibly take rank above the Quarter Sessions ;
nor could they find much business to do which is not al-
ready done, and better done, by that respectable judicial
body. True it is, that this descent is a thousand times
more for the benefit of Ireland than his former ambitious
plan. But we speak of it with reference to the sinking
scale of his ambition. Now this it is—viz., the aspiring
character of his former promises, the assurance that he
would raise Ireland into a nation distinct and independent
in the system of Europe, having her own fleets, armies,
peerage, parliament—which operated upon the enthusiasm
of a peasantry the vainest in Christendom after that of
France, and perhaps absolutely the most ignorant. Is it
in human nature, we demand, that hereafter the same en-
thusiasm should continue available for Mr. O'Connell's
service, after the transient reaction of spitefulness to the
government shall have subsided, which gave buoyancy to
his ancient treason ? The chair of a proconsul. the saddle
infinite
r e
tohfe throneapash and
a—theseadaerme goofldaet sio,bearieigts;n prince.yetthese aßruetbferloomw
these to have descended into asking for " an old black
emoaaitn,s"
foron ItrheelanAdmbeurit iricanfipariteeceddiestgitu,
IstFfaourguhs 1
but What
laughter ?

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.