The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-12-17 00:00:00

APPROACH TO CAIRO.—As the evening drew near, the
air was richly scented by the odour of numerous bean-
fields in full blossom. In recrossing the Nile, from
Ghizeh to Old Cairo, the scene was beautiful beyond de-
scription. The sun, just as we embarked on the river,
was setting behind the Pyramids and the Desert; and the
summits of the woods, the tombs, the minarets, and
other lofty objects, were relieved against a sky of the
richest hues. The firmament, on the edge of the horizon,
was of a deep tawney-orange colour, which, growing
paler as it ascende I, appeared, a little 11,g-her, to change
into a light green ; and this again, in its turn, growing
less and less intense towards the summit of the vast arch
which it described, terminated in a lovely purple flush.
which diffused its brilliance over the whole circle of the
hemisphere. The moon, calmly rising in the east, threw
its soft rays over a portion of the river; while, on the
other hand. the indescribably beautiful purple, and pink,
and green, and gold of the sky, were reflected from the
surface of the water, which, when slightly ruffl.'d by the
motion of the boat, or the dip of the oar, shone and
glistened like a metallic sea. In the hack-ground, to-
wards the east, the naked rocks of the Gebel Mokattarn
were painted with the most gorgeous hues by the setting
sun, which seemed to convert its rude pinnacles into
masses of lapsis lazuli, turquoises, and amethysts. But,
had I the pen of Milton, or the pencil of Claude, I should
despair of imparting to others a just conception of that
sunset, which I never, but once in Upper Egypt, saw
surpassed. It was quite dark when we reached Cairo.
• MANNER OF TRYING THE FORCE OF GUNPOWDER,
AND IMMENSE QUANTITIES USED.—Mechanical aid
contributes no less than chemistry to the pet fection of
gunpowder • therefore other means of forming a judg-
ment, in addition to chemical tests, become necessary.
Manufacturers are in the habit of paying great attention
to the manner of its burning, whether it ignite rapidly or
slowly, whether it scintillate or not, whether it leave
much residue, and on the contrary, &c., &c. There are
also instruments called eprovettes for ascertaining the
comparative force of powder : but in our government
service the force of gunpowder is ascertained by trying
the power of a given quantity in projecting a known
weight. A charge of four drachms of fine grained or
small-arm powder is expected to project a steel ball with
the requisite force to perforate a certain number of half-
inch wet elm planks, placed three quarters of an inch
asunder, the first being thirty feet from the muzzle of the
barrel. A charge of four ounces of cannon powder must
be capable of projecting, from an eight inch Gomer mor-
tar, a sixty-eight pound iron shot not less than 380 feet.
Few persons can be aware of the enormous quantities of
gunpowder used for military purposes. At the siege of
Cuidad Rodrigo, in January 1812, 74,9781h5. of gun-
powder were consumed in thirty hours and a half; at the
storming of Badajos, 228,8301b5. in 104; and this from
the great guns only ! At the first and second sieges of
San Sebastian, 502,1101b5. were used; and at the siege of
Saragossa, the French exploded 45,0001b5. in the mines,
and threw 16,000 shells during the bombardment !—Poly-
technic Magazine.

EDUCATION AND CRIME.—In a late charge to the
grand jury of York, Mr. Justice Coleridge, in referring
to the concurrent increase of crime and education, uttered
the following sentiments, which do honour to the bench,
and might instruct some of our anythingarian nobility and
prelates, if ignorance, hedged up by political advantage
and self-conceit, can ever be instructed :—" One of the
great engines," said he, " which had always been looked
to for the reduction of crime, was the spread of education.
Education had no doubt spread very largely throughout
the whole of England ; and it could not be denied that
the number of persons who were unable to read and write
had much diminished.' In 1837, the proportion was
nearly thirty-six per cent.; it was now reduced to about
thirty-one per cent. When they found, however, in the
face of the great increase of education of some kind, that
crime went on steadily to increase, it undoubtedly gave
rise to some misgivings with regard to the effective nature
of the remedy; Far was it from him to cast any doubt
upon the certainty of education in the end to produce a
good effect. It led them to this important consideration
—"Whether the education that had yet been given had
been entirely of the right sort? Whether, though it might
be desirable to spread a knowledge of reading and writing
amongst the common people, they did not mistake the
meaning of education who rested their idea of its efficiency
simply on an acquaintance with those branches ? There
was another thing which should be made the basis, and
not the basis only, but the superstructure also, of the
system of education ; and that was a practical, vital, and
entire diffusion of the principles of religious truth into
the hearts of the people. For that reason it had often
occurred, that instead of the prison returns containing
accounts of the capabilities of the inmates to read and
write, and so on, it would be well that the chaplain of the
gaol should be instructed to examine the prisoners as to
the amount of their religious knowledge ; and then it
would he seen what such an education as that would effect
amongst those who had the misfortune to become the in-
mates of gaols."
THE CHURCH'S DECISION AS TO THE OFFERTORY.—
What is the evidence which the church offers me as to the
observance of the weekly offertory ? I find the sovereign
of the realm, the temporal head of the church, acting, of
course, under the primate, recognized a disuse of this ser-
vice. A few years after this I find the primate himself
composing a form of prayer in which this service is alto-
gether omitted. After a short interval I find a bishop
(and that bishop Bishop Andrews) in the solemn duty of
consecrating a chapel, (and this, be it remembered, is one
of the recognised festivals,) using this service only as a
portion of the Eucharistic service. This, too, is succeeded
by an important alteration in the prayer for the church
militant, made by the two houses of convocation, and
sanctioned by the parliament, 1661; confirming Bishop
Andrews's practice. Again, in 1712 1 find a form of prayer
proposed by the bishops in convocation to the other dig-
nitaries and representatives of the clergy. I find that form
discussed and approved by the lower house; and thus ob-
taining the sanction of both houses of convocation ; not
only confirming, but carrying on the practice of those pre-
vions authorities. And in addition to this, I find a tenour
of high authorities down to the pre tent time, encouraging
in their writings, and confirming by their practice, those
changes which are in strict accordance with the statute
law of the land; and which have been made, as I trust I
have shown, to meet the changes of its requirements. If
this be not the voice of the church, whither shall I go to
hear it? May I not, at least, require that an authority
equal to that of 1712—the whole convocation of bishops,
dignitaries, and representatives of the clergy—should au-
thoritatively deliver their judgments in effecting so great
a change in the practice of the church ? I repeat that this
consideration does press most heavily upon me. But this
does not appear to be the only obstacle to a revival of the
weekly offertory. I speak with great submission and with
great reverence for the authorities who may differ from
me; but I am certainly of opinion that the church, as an
integral part of the state, has no power to revive the offer-
tory as a provision and maintenance for the poor : assu-
ming that these portions of the rubric will bear the inter-
pretation which the advocates for the revival affix to them,
and that the rubric itself has the force of an act of parlia-
ment. Without again referring to any prior statutes, I
submit that the 4th and sth William IV., cap. 76, repeals,
or rather annuls, its operation. By clause 15 it is enacted
that from and after the passing of this act the adminis-
tration of relief to the poor throughout England and
Wales, according to the existing laws, or such laws as
shall be in force at the time being, shall be subject to the
direction and control of the said commissioners. The
alms offered at the celebration of the holy commu-
nion (and God forbid that they should he suspended) are
valuable, inasmuch as they enable the minister, in cases
of sickness, and other emergencies, to supply afew com-
forts to his poor parishioners. They are, as I have before
observed, subsidiary to, but not superseding the legal pro-
vision for them. But if you revive the weekly offertory,
in its original intention, you create an imp eriunz in: im-
perio, the legality of which no one, I presume, is prepared
to defend.

THE LATE LORD ABINGER AND THE WHIGS.—We
could name men, who never were known for Whigs at all
until the party was in possession of power, and who nobly
sacrificed to their principles by receiving high and lucra-
tive offices for adhering to the whig opinions, and further
sacrificed by being promoted to still more lucrative office
a short time after their first adoption ; and yet some of
these men have the effrontery to cry out against Lord
Abinger for having left their party ! 'When did tney
and those they act with ever remain cne hour out of
their just rights and rank because of the Whigs? But
Lord Abinger was kept by his Whig principles from
being Chief Justice in 1818. and from having the rank
of King's Counsel and the ample revenues of leader on the
northern circuit in 1802, fourteen years earlier than Lord
Eldon by mere compulsion removed the black mark of
-Whig from Mr. Scarlett's name. But this isnot all, nor
anything like all that is suggested by the history of Lord
Abinger. We have noted the injurious effects of his
principles upon his professional fortunes. Then of course
the party, who are now so loud in their complaints of his
desertion, did all that in them lay to indemnify this their
zealous adherent for the sacrifices he was malting to his
connexicn with them. Kept from his just place in the
profession, because he was privately an advocate of Whig
opinions, of course they seized the earliest occasion of
placing him in parliament, where he might openly support
them by the advocacy of the same principles. The policy
of such a course? too, was as manifest as its justice ; for
no greater gain in force and in weight can accrue to any
party, but especially to a party in opposition, than the
alliance with able and successful lawyers. Therefore, of
course, he was brought into parliament early in life for
some of the whig seats—close seat,, afterwards, the vie.
tims of schedule A ?—no such thing; nothing of the kiad.
Mr. Scarlett, while seriously injured by his principles,
saw others daily brought into the House of Commons who
bad never lost a brief' by their adherence to the vibigs ;
saw Mr. Horner, in 1806, seated in parliament before he
was called to the bar; saw Mr. Brougham seated in 1810,
after he had gone a single circuit; saw Mr. Denman, in
1817, seated before he could have lost a brief by his prin-
ciples. All this Mr. Scarlett saw, and he continued
a whig, and continued to suffer the professional pains
and penalties of a whig lawyer under the Eldons and the
Liverpools. We do not believe he ever condescended to
utter any complaint on this neglect; but we are sure that
neither Lord Denman nor Lord Brougham, nor Mr. Hor-
ner, had he been fortunately still living, could have mus-
tered up courage to condemn very seriously their truly
honourable and learned friend for afterwards quitting a
party to which he owed obligations like these. That,
however, is not our defence fir Lord Abinger : and it is
a defence which ne never dreamt of making for his con-
duct in 1831. We only state it for the purpose of remind-
ing the whig party how little ground they have of personal
complaint against him. They have been as loud in their
clamour as if, instead of being slighted by them while all
but ruining himself for their sake, he had been treated by
them with extraordinary kindness and preference during
all his professional and political career. It was not until
the year 1818 that the death of Mr. W. Elliott putting a
seat at the disposal of Lord Fitt"williarn, that venerable
person had the honour of introducing Mr. Scarlett into
the House of Commons as member for Peterborough.—
Law Renicm.