The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-04-23 00:00:00

MISCELLANEOUS.

The excise authorities have issued a detailed notice
capon the subject of the adulteration of tea, tobacco, and
other leading articles of consumption, which it is hoped
will secure the public to a greater extent than at present
from the shameful practices of a few unscrupulous dealers.
DREADFUL ACGrDENT rx SCOTLAND.--On Saturday
week, as a number of labourers were engaged in the for-
mation of a new road from Alyth to Glenshee, in For-
farshire, a high bank under which they were working
gave way, and buried most of the party alive. Five of
them were extricated totally lifeless. whilst a sixth was so
-shockingly bruised, that but slight hopes are entertained
of his recovery. Two of those killed were contractors,
and two were Irish labourers from Dundee, where they
have left destitute widows and families.
At the Central Criminal Court, on Tuesday Mary
Furtley, a married woman, aged 36 was committed for
the wilful murder of George Furley, her infant son, and
sentenced to death, by Mr. Justice Manic, without hope
of mercy. The unhappy mother being in a state of desti-
tution, after working at shirt-making at lid. per shirt,
threw herself into the canal on the 20th of March, along
with her child. She was taken out and with much diffi-
culty recovered, but the child, which was observed to slip
from her grasp was quite dead. They will hardly hang
the wretched mother under such circumstances as these.
TME GALVANIC TELEGRAPH.—The first intelligence
of the arrival of his Royal Highness Prince Albert in
England from Germany, on Thursday week, was com-
municated to her Majesty at Windsor Castle, by means
of the galvanic telegraph on the line of the Great Western
Railway. Within one minute of the arrival of his royal
highness at the Paddington terminus, the information had
reached Slough, at which station a special messenger was
stationed by command of the Queen, and who proceeded
with the intelligence to the Castle, where he arrived in
eight minutes and a half from the time of his leaving
Slough.
LORD FRANKFORT AGAIN !—A suit, in the nature of
an appeal from the Consistory Court of London, has just
been decided, in which this notorious personage and Lady
Frankfort were the appellants and respondents. The
former objected to the decision of the court below. which,
on the ground of adultery committed by him, had allotted
£550 as alimony pending suit, and £BOO pe: annum as
permanent alimony; and the latter objected also to these
sums as being too small, considering that she had to sup-
port and educate their two children, one of them heir to
the title. It was proved that his lordship's income of
£15,000 a year only yielded him £2,500 to £3,000 a year;
and the Arches' Court decided, under the circumstances,
that the alimony of £550 pendeute tile should have been
£550 per annum, and not for the four months only during
which the suit heated ; and the permanent alimony was
correctly fixed at £BOO per annum.
MURDEROUS ATTACK AND EXTRAORDINARY DE-
FENeE.—In the township of Dilworth, some eight or ten
miles from Preston, there is a house known by the name
of Cuckoo-hall, which is occupied by two brothers, Rich-
ard and Edward Hubbersty, the only other inmate being
a housekeeper. On Tuesday night last, at twelve o'clock,
Richard Hobbersty was woke from sleep by the barking
of the dog. The watchfulness of the animal had been ex-
cited by the sudden bursting open of the door, and the
entrance of three strange men. Richard Hubbersty went
down stairs, and was instantly set upon by the three ruffi •
ans. Being a powerful man, though fifty-six years old,
he returned with interest the blows dealt to him by the
assailants, calling to his brother for assistance. The
brother, who is sixty-two years old, went dewu, and a
fierce battle ensued, the assassailants dealing heavy blows
with heavy instruments which they carried, cutting and
bruising the heads and arms of the brothers severely, and
occasionally igniting Lucifer matches to direct their at-
tacks. At lenth Richard Hubbersty obtained possession
of a crow-bar from one of the villains, and they were with
difficulty expelled, and the door forcibly closed upon
them, But the men returned to renew the attack, and
complete their intended work of plunder or murder, or
both, or perish in the attempt ; and they again forced the
door and gained admission into the house, and commenc-
ed, and continued till the worn-out strength of the Hub.
berstys compelled them to express their readiness to give
up all the money they possessed or any other property i
that might be demanded. The money n the house
amounted to £5, with which the robbers, sorely against
their will were obliged to rest satisfied. From the quan-
tity of blood, and the marks about the door, terrible
blows must have been dealt on both sides, and the ruffians
must have suffered severely. The heads of the two bro-
thers are dreadfully cut, and they are bruised over their
entire bodies. Cuckoo-hall, the scene of this san-
guinary outrage, is situate about three miles from
Longridge, and belongs to the brothers Hubbertsty, who,
being men of supposed rather penurious habits, were, no
doubt, expected to be in possession of a much larger stock
of ready money than was met with.

FIRST LIGHTING OF LHNDON.—Anno 1416 Sir Henry
Barton, being mayor, ordained lauthorns and lights to be
hung out on the winter evenings, betwixt Allhallowtide
and Candlemas.—Howel's Londmo,tolie.

CORRESPONDENCE.

WILLIAM RATHBONE'S MOB-ORATORY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.
SlR.,—One of the most pitiful illustrations of the viper
gnawing the file, it has ever been my lot to witness, took
place in this town last week. Here it is in the Chroni-
cles report of Mr. William Rathbone's speech at the
Free Trade Banuuet on Friday evening :
" The young men of Liverpool have, however, done
their duty ; but I must say, so far as we are all concerned,
that the town has not done its duty to itself. (Hear,
hear.) It has been wrapped up in monopoly, and under
the influence of those who would monopolise even heaven
itself. (Cheers.) Gentlemen have told us to-night of
the ignorance of other places, but I can tell them we have
ignorance in Liverpool. ay, and in the pulpit, too, even
though it be occupied by M'Neile. (Oh, oh.) We have
had quoted in the pulpit Russell's history, and been
gravely told that it was Lord John Russell's history.
(Hear, and oh! oh!)"

Liverpool has not done its duty to itself! In other
words, it has become Conservative. Hine lachrymde.
But who is to blame for this ? M'Neile, of course. And
accordingly the galled jade, unable to conceal the sore,
proceeds with an essay at detraction. The charge is igno-
rance, and the instance a notable one. Mr. M'Neile, it
seems, could not read the author's name on the title-page
of a book he quoted from, but ascribed it to a different
author! This is beyond doubt a degree of ignorance in
the reverend divine which the Liverpool public were not
prepared for. It would seem from the notices of the re-
porter that even Mr. It athbone's free trade audience could
not swallow this, but instead of cheering as before,
groaned " Oh, oh," at the orator. It would seem fur-
ther that Mr. Rathbone himself did not believe it ; for
then, instead of saying, there is ignorance in the pulpit,
" even though" it beoccupied by NI 'Neile, he would have
said because it is occupied by M'Neile.
It has been well said, concerning envy, that like the
scorpion, it turns from a brilliant fire, and if closely sur-
rounded by such a fire, it turns in upon itself and stings
itself. An image of Rathbone ! He cannot bear
M'Neile's brilliancy : he turns away from it : he meets it
again on evtry side : he is surrounded by it to distrac-
tion: in the madness of mortification be stings himself.
Alas, poor scorpion! Alas, pale envy ! Alas, poor Will
Rathbone.

I am, of you, Mr. Editor, and others, on both sides,
AN OBSERVER.

LOCAL NEWS.

PUBLICANS FINED.—On Friday, publicans and retailers
of beer to the number of seven in all, were fined at the
police court in sums ranging from 40s to 808 and costs
for various infractions of the local Improvement Act.
ANOTHER CHILD BURNT TO DEATH.--A child, three
years old, who lived with her parents, poor people, named
Hayward, in Cooper-street, was burnt so dreadfully by
her pinafore accidentally catching fire, that she died soon
after, in great agony, on Thursday last.

KING'S ARMS HOTEL, EGREMONT.—We call the at-
tention of our readers to the advertisement of Mr. W.
Redhead, in to-day's paper. The bowling-green is in
excellent order, and will, we doubt not, give the greatest
satisfaction to the admirers of that popular amusement.
The fine steamer Hibernia, Captain Judkins, sailed
on Friday morning for Halifax and Boston, with a full
complement of passengers. Amongst them is our towns-
man, Mr. Edward Wilmer, of the firm of Messrs. Wil-
mer and Smith, who visits the United States and Canada
on business.

EMIGRANTS.—The Davenport and Argyleshire sailed
from the Prince's Dock on Friday, and the Atlantic on
Saturday, all bound for New York, having on board
about 300 emigrants each. Emigration promises to be
very extensive this season, and we are glad to see that
the vessels are of the very first class.
CAUTION TO PARENTS.—A little girl three and a half
years old, the daughter of George Hayward, who lives in
Co Ter-street, Toxteth-Park was so severely burned on
Saturday morning week, during the temporary absence
of her mother, that she expired on Thursday last. An
inquest was held upon the body on Friday. Verdiet,
accidental death.

THEFT IN A SHOP.—At the Police-court, on Friday, a
woman named Mary M'Corrnock, was charged with having
stolen 49 yards of calico from the shop of Margret Row-
son, Draper, in Scotland-road. It appeared that the pri-
soner went into the shop and bought half a yard of calico,
for which she paid and soon after she departed a roll
of calico was missed, when she was followed and appre-
hended. The case was fully proved, and she was com-
mitted for trial at the sessions.

FIRES,—On Wednesday night, the policeman on duty
discovered a fire in the stable of Mr, Shepherd, Shepherd-
street. A horse was nearly burnt; but water being pro-
cured in buckets, the fire was speedily extinguished.—
On the same night a fire was discovered in Mr. Sharpe's
stables, Low-hill, which was also quickly put out. Both
fires were caused by the carelessness of the stable people.
On Friday abcut midnight a fire broke out in a pawnbro-
ker's shop, Stanhope-street. It was speedily extinguish-
ed.

THE HEAD CONSTABLE.—Mr. Miller, the new Head
Constable was, on the afternoon of Monday, introduced
to the whole of the police force in Seel-street station, by
Mr. Whitty, that gentleman accompanying the introduc-
tion with some pertinent remarks on the private worth
and public experience of the new functionary. Mr.
Whitty having also tendered some excellent advice to the
men on taking leave of them, the whole force marched
past Mr. Miller in single file. Mr. Whitty retired from
his situation on Saturday.
THEFT FROM A SHOP.-Yesterday, a female named
Mary M'Cormiek, with a child in her arms, was brought
before Mr. Rusht,m, on a charge of having stolen 49 yards
of calico from the shop of the Misses Rowson, No. 105,
Scotland-road. About six o'clock the night before, the
prisoner called and asked for half a yard of calico, with
which she was supplied, and went away. After she was
gone, a piece. 49 yards in length, was missed; and, upon
coming up with her, she dropped it on the footway and
swore lustily that she had never either seen or handled it.
She was committed for trial.

EMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA.
—Emigration to the United States and Canada is now at
its zenith. Every vessel which leaves this port carries out
shoals of the poorer classes of agriculturists and mechan-
ics, who are bent upon seeking their fortunes on the west-
ern continent. From the beginning of March to the
present time, several thousands have left Liverpool for
this purpose. At least a dozen first-class ships will leave
here before the end of the present month, and every ship
will carry out as many as can be accomodated. the great
bulk of the emigrants are Irish peasantry. The emigrant
brokers are reaping a golden harvest.
CARELESSNESS OF OMNIBUS DRIVERS.—On Satur-
day last, as the " Criterion," Wavertree omnibus, was
proceeding down Lord-street, it came in contact with two
carts, the one going up and the other down the street.
Instead of the driver drawing up, as he ought to have
done, for a moment or two, although he slackened his
speed, he still went on, and the consequence was, that the
heavy omnibus caught the back part of one of the carts—
a small country covered one—and completely capsized it
and the pony. No accident occurred, but it is only one
instance out of many of the reckless manner in which om-
nibuses are driven through the streets.

CUSTOMS ORDERS.-By a Board's minute, dated the
Bth instant, the order of the 17th • February last,
masters of vessels who have adopted temperance princi-
ples are allowed, upon waiving all right to any allowance
of spirits for stores, to ship brandy for medicinal pur-
poses from the warehouse, duty free, in the proportion of
one-tenth of the total aggregate quantity of brandy and
other spirits to which they would be entitled for stores,
according to the complement of the crew and the duration
of the voyage, and also to ship brandy in stone jars, pro-
vided the whole quantity required be contained in one
package ; the like indulgence to be extended to the port
of London and the several outports in the united kingdom.

RAPID PROGRESS OF THELIVERPOOLGRAND UNITED
ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS.—At a meeting of the Royal
Britannia Lodge, of the Caledonia District of the above
order, on Tuesday evening last, a splendid and substan-
tial token of respect, was presented by the officers and
members of the above-named lodge, to brother John
Joseph. P.N.G. of the Royal Wellington Lodge, as a
grateful acknowledgment of the high and valuable services
he has conferred upon them as a body of working men,
and of his indefatigable exertions in the advance-
ment, welfare, and prosperity of the Liverpool Grand
United Order.

SWEARING IN:rTIIE NEW HEAD CONSTABLE.--Sa-
turday last having been appointed for Mr. Michael James
Whitty to retire from the head constableship of the bo-
rough, and for Mr. Henry Miller to succeed him in the
duties of that office, both these gentlemen entered the
Poliee-court, shortly after one o'clock, for the purpose of
going through the necessary formalities. They were ac-
companied by several members of the Watch Committee,
among whom were Mr. Alderman Houghton, Mr. Aspi-
nail, Mr. Thornhill, Mr. Preston, Mr. Parker, Mr.
Plumpton, Mr. Harbord, Mr. Thompson, Mr. Glaze-
brook, and Mr. Trotman, who took their seats on the
right and left of the bench.
FATAL AOCIDENr IN PEMBROKE-PLACE.—On Thurs-
day afternoon, as a girl named Margret M`Grey was pas-
sing through Pembroke-place, she passed between the
Walton omnibus and a brewer's dray going in the same
direction, when she was knocked down by the wheel of
the latter which went over her neck and head. She was
immediately taken up to be conveyed to the infirmary, but
she died before arriving there. She was eight years of
age and the daughter of a porter, residing at No. 13, Rus-
sell-place, Warren-street. No blame attached to the dri-
ver of the dray, as be had bold of the chain horse at the
time, and was proceeding very slow. At an inquest on
the body, which was held on Friday, a verdict of accidental
death was returned.

ACCIDENT AT BIRKENTIEAD.—FORTUNATE ESCAPE.
—For-some time previous to MednesdaY, workmen were
employed in digging the foundation of a house, belonging
to Mr. Thomas Hilton, Hamilton-square, corner of
Chapel-street east, next to the house occupied by Mr.
John Danson. About six o'clock on the morning before-
mentioned, Mr. Denson went out as usual ; but some-
thing providentially calling him back again, he perceived
that, the gable-end of bis house was giving way and crack-
ing in all directions. He immediately raised his family,
consisting of two boys, his wife, two babies, ten weeks
old, and a young female ; and they had scarcely time to
escape into the yard at the back before the wall of the
house fell taking with it the beds in which the inmates
were only a few moments before lying, and most of the
other furniture in the rooms. Surely there must have been
great neglect on the part of the persons taking out the
foundation. i

COLLEGIATE INSTITUTION.—Professor Rymor Jones
commenced his lectures on Tuesday, on the deveiopement
and metamorphoses of plants and animals. By some
neglect on the part of railway companies, the lecturer's
diagrams did not arrive in time for exhibition, so that a
portion of the interest of the lecture was unavoidably
lost. Notwithstanding this drawback, the able manner
in which the lecturer treated his subject was felt by all
and elicited the marked approval of his audience. He
speaks extemporaneously, and employs the most choice
language to clothe his ideas, sparkling with exquisite and
refined imagery, and his words flow without the slightest
embarrassment or interruption. Add to this, he never
fails to employ the many opportunities which his subject
affords him, by the introduction of a lofty- strain of piety,
to lift the views of the spectator from nature up to
nature's God.

DOCK COMMITTEE, THURSDAY.—Present: Messrs.
Molyneux, (chairman) Smith, Trotman, Middleton,
Holmes, Holt, Bulley, Bold, Molyneux, Chilton, Royden,
Aikin, and Sandbach. The Marine Surveyor's report
contained the result of a survey on the 4th and sth of
the present month, with a tide of 20 feet 11 on each of
those days. It was as follows :—Victoria Bar 10 feet 9
inches ; Hilbre Swash, 7 feet ; Half Tide Swash Way, 4
feet, showing no alteration in depth at those places dur-
ing the winter. It was also recommended that the Black
Buoy, VI, should be removed north west about 30 or 40
fathoms, towards the edge of the bar; and that a new
life-boat house should be erected at the Point of Ayr.—
The Warehouse Management Committee have suggested
the appointment of an assistant at the Transit Sheds, the
matter was referred back, with power to select a suitable
person for the of ce.—A letter from Mr. J. F. Ford, of
Seacombe, complaining of incivility of one of the officers
at the George's Dock gates, was referred to the Harbour
Master's Committee.—Mr. Sandbach inquired whether
any information had been received respecting a meeting of
the American Chamber of Commerce, at which they had
decided to withdraw their opposition to the new Dock
Bill. The chairman said, he was not aware of any com-
munication having been made on the subject. —The com-
mittee then proceerLd to the consideration of financial
matters and soon after adjourned.
APPEARANCE IN LIVERPOOL OF THE CELEBRATED
VIOLINIST, HERR H. W. ERNST.—This splendid master
of the violin, whose performances at the recent festival in
Manchester were received by such enthusiastic admira-
tion, is to be introduced to a Liverpool audience, at the
concert advertised by Miss E. Hamilton, to be given at the
Amphitheatre on the Bth proximo. The lovers of music
are under obligations to this young lady for such munifi-
cent catering for their gratification, as is evidenced by the
engagement by her of, we are assured by those who have
heard him, the first violinist of the day. We give, for
the information of our readers, the following description
of Ernst's playing from a Manchester paper :—" Previous
to the third part, or miscellaneous portion of the enter-
tainment, Herr H. W. Ernst, the celebrated German vi-
olinist, made his first bow to a Manchester audience. He
is a tall semi figure, wearing moustachios, and altogether
he presented that spirituel, eccentric appearance which,
for some reason or other, it is the pleasure of the musical
lions of the continent to assume. His reception was most
flattering ; and after the applause had subsided, he pro-
ceeded to play a concerto from Spohr. his porformance
was indeed wonderful; the command he has over his in-
strument strongly reminded us of Paganini, for like him
he extracted the most plaintive notes from the violin,
which almost seemed to be narrating its sorrow to its
master. In the delicacy of his playing, in the tenderness
and feeling which he throws into the andante movements
there is consummate skill, a skill which he also imparted
tc his livelier movements. He is decidedly superior as a
musician to Camillo Sivori, not resorting to the quaint
devices of the latter, but rather trusting to his knowledge
of the violin and to its own resources, for bringing out
those strains which promise to establish his unquestion-
able superiority as a violinist. Loud and long continued
applause followed his performance."
DEATH FROM A DISLOCATED ANCLE.—An inquest
was held on Saturday, and, by adjournment, yesterday,
before Mr. Curry, on view of the body of Thomas
M'Ewen, a man aged about GO. It appeared that, on.
Saturday night week, deceased, who was much intoxi-
cated, was found by police-officer John Wilson leaning
up against a wall, and asked where he lived, but he spoke
so indistinctly, being very drunk, that witness could not
understand him. Witness took hold of him but deceased,
being a heavy man, fell down in the street. A young
man assisted witness in picking him up, and, having
ascertained where he lived, took him to his lodgings in
Thomas-street. He was there placed on the floor with a
pillow under his head, and it being found soon after that
his leg was app rently broken, and the bone protruding,
the officer was called back, and deceased was conveyed to
the Northern Hospital, where everything was done for
him. His right allele had a compound dislocation, and
mortification ensuing he died oa Friday. n ben taken
home, on the night in question, be was (said the woman
of the house) unable to walk, and was laid in the lobby,
but afterwards before the fire. Atithe adjourned inquest
a witness, named Connolly, said he was at the house when
deceased was brought home—much in drink. He was
unable to stand or walk. A woman, who saw the de-
ceased on the night in question, stated, that at first
deceased was standing near a cellar, supporting himself
with one of his arms, when the police-officer stopped and
said to deceased, " You drunken old beast, what are you
doing out at this hour of the night ?" and then went be-
hind the deceased and took hold of his left arm, and gave
him a punch with his stick, either on his back or his legs,
she could not say which, but that the legs cf deceased
went from under him. and lie fell down the steps of the
cellar, and then backwards on the p e-apet. Deceased
was able to walk before the fall, but not after it. The
jury returned a verdict to the effect that deceased came
to his death by cause of the injury to his leg, but how
that injury was received there was no evidence to show.
GRAND HISTORICAL PICTURE OF THE QUEEN PRE-
SIDING AT THE COUNCIL ON HER ACCESSION TO THE
THRONE.—This admirable production of art, painted by
Sir D. Wilkie, by request of her Majesty, and of which
the subject is truly national, while the whole execution
evinces he skill of a genuine master, is yet on view at
Mr. Grundy'. eppository of the fine arts, Church-street,
corner of the old Post• °me. ,eace. There are no fewer
than thirty-three portraits, forming teo
croup seated at,
or round the table, of the most distinguisuea eersonages
that at the time, June 1837, graced the court of our auee...,.
sovereign,—including the names of Wellesley, Howard,
Campbell, Grey, Paget, Fox, Lamb, Gordon, Russell,
Cecil, Temple, Erskine, Abercromb'e, Peel, Keppel,
Burghersh, and rousing pleasing reminis-
cences of historical events, ancient and modern, while
Howley, Copley, Denman, and Pepys connect the occa-
sion with both the law and the gospel, and Bing, Greville,
Croker, and others give it connection with the House of.
Commons. The likenesses are all admitted to be good;
and those of her Majesty, of the Duke of Wellington, and
his late Royal Highneis the Duke of Sussex, (who ever
entertained a parental fondness of her Majesty, and was
ever welcome in her sight,) are painted to the life. The
artist who thus happily represents the first great act of
the reign of Queen Victoria, employs no meretricious or-
naments in costume or architecture ; no glittering jewels,
or sparkling emblems of authority. He has caught up
the simple and chaste, we may almost say sublime taste
of the principal personage, who impressed, in her sin-
cerity of heart, with the solemnity of the occasion, herself
appears in plain but becoming attire, while those
around her, appreciating her firm but modest and retiring
feelings, in this as in other respects, are also in simple
modern garb. 1t is well said in a brief description of this
painting that " it is a picture of mind as well as of action ;
and doubly remarkable from faithfully representing the
first act of Queen Victoria's reign, and for being the first
great work of art which her name has called into exist-
ence." We confidently recommend an inspection of the
work to all lovers of the fine arts ; and may add that
beautiful engravings (proofs and prints) are to be taken
from it, for which orders are now being received.
THE LATE FIRE IN OIL-STREET.—On Saturday after-
noon last, a young man, named Robert Raleigh, was
brought before Mr. Rushton, at the police-court, he
having been apprehended on suspicion of having wilfully
set fire to the cotton, shed of Messrs. Howard, Horsley,
and Co., in Oil-street, on the 16th ultimo, in which he
acted as warehouseman. The circumstances had been
privately inquired into before the Magistrates, on Friday ;
and the prisoner who was on the eve of departing for
Bombay, was arrested on Saturday morning. The evi-
dence adduced, however, was of a vague and unsatisfactory
nature. Some bales of cotton had it appeared been mis-
sed from the shed, and the prisoner had received notice to
leave the employ—the notice expiring on the very evening
the premises and their contents were burned. It was ad-
mitted that when the cotton was missed the prisoner re--
quested that the bales should be counted by another per-
son, and not by himself. The prisoner had been seen
locking the door of the shed very shortly before the fire
and no matches were left in the place. It will be remem-
bered that there was a quantity of brimstone in the shed,
(part of which had just been sent away in a cart,) as well
as a large quantity of cotton. The Prisoner returned in
about a quarter of an hour after the alarm of fire was given
and appeared much surprised at what had taken place.
The prisoner in a conversation with Mr. Dowling police'
commissioner had said that he supposed the fire had ori-
ginated through the pressure of the iron break of the lorry
(or cart) in which the brimstone was taken away, and
which had he said pressed upon the brimstone in the shed,
into which the lorry had been backed. Two witnesses
stated to the contrary that the back of the lorry could not
touch the floor. The prisoner was remanded until yester-
day.—On his being brought up Mr. Rushton said that he
had thought it his duty to detain him till then, as a strict
enquiry ought to be made, as the warehouses were under
his, (the prisoner's care, and the fire had taken place un-
der circumstances of suspicion, He regretted, however,
to say, that the whole affair was involved in such doubt
and confusion, that all that could be really known was
that the premises had been destroyed. He was, he added,
bound to say that there was nothing before him to justify
him in further detaining the prisoner in custody, and he
was therefore discharged.

WRECK OF THE BRIG FRANCIS : CONFLICT BETWEEN
THE COAST-GUARD AND WRECKERS.—We have received
letters from Ilfracombe, announcing the loss of the brig
Francis, of Whitehaven, from Belize, in the Bay of
Honduras, last from the Cove of Cork, and bound for
London, which took place on the night of Tuesday last,
by tbe vessel running ashore at Milhoe Bay, situated
about six miles to the westward of the coast-guard sta-
tion, at Ilfracombe. The brig is laden with a cargo of
mahogany and dye-wood, and is so much imbedded among
the rocks, that in all probability, ere long, she will go to
pieces. About midnight, on Wednesday, at least two
hundred wreckers, of a most desperate character, made
their appearance on the beach, to plunder the wreck
however, their motives being communicated to Lieut.
John Coleman, the chief officer at the Ilfracombe Coast-
guard station, he met them with his small party of men,
and drove them back, but not before they bad a severe
conflict, in which the wreckers got the worst of it. All
he hands were saved.

Etterature.

POETRY.

[We quote the following from an excellently-written article in
Fraser for this month, entitled " A Colonial Tour." To those
of nor readers who are personally a'quainted with the fearless
and truly Protestant Editor of the Shropshire Conservative,
the beautiful lines which we quote will not perhaps convey a
higher appreciation of the talents—we may say genius—of the
man, than perhaps already they feel. To the author himself
the unprompted tribute rf an able writer must afford sensa-
tions which none but a poet, and a gifted one, can feel.]

From the Church I strolled into the Verein Garten, and fling-
ing myself down beneath one of the green trees that shaded me
from the rich sunlight, but did not obstruct either the view of
the landscape which I coveted, or the perfume of the flowers
from the neighbouring Bard ns. I reflected on those ch
p-ssages in the works of Ouseley.—a true poet, filled with the
true Olympian fire of genius, and destined, as I think, one day
to fill a niche next to Shelley, the most poetical imagination
since Spenser and Shakspeare

" SUMMER.

The full ripe corn i, bending
In waves of golden ight.
The new mown hay is sending
Its scents upon the night.
The breeze is softly sighing,
To cool the parched flowers;
The ran to see them dying.
• w• eps forth its gentle showLrs.
The merry fish are playing.
Mown yon chrystal stream,
And night from day is straying,
As twilight gives its glea n.
And thus manhood in its prime is fu I, and ripe, and MT ng,
And it scarcely deems that time can do its beauty wrong;
Like the merry fish we play adown the stream of life,
And we reek not of the day that gathers whit is rife.

AVTUMN.

The flowers are all fading,
Their scents are rifled now,
And night sends forth her shading
Along the mon It in's brow;
•
The bee hath ceased its winging
To flowers at early morn;
The birds have ceased their singing,
The scythe hath mown the corn;
The harvest now is gathered,
Protected from the clime,—
The eaves are seared anti witheed,
That late shone in their prime.
Thus when fourscore years are gone o'er the frail life of man,
Thne sits heavy on his throne, as near hi. brow we scan;
Like the autumn leaf that falls when wind, the branches wave,
Like night-shadows daylight palls,—like all, he finds a grave."

Already was the summer blending gradually will autumn.
but it was not this so much as th train of thought awakened
in the great hutch, which seemed to me so much in unison
with the beautiful poetry I have quoted.

[ORIGINAL.]
" SITTING ON A RAIL."
BIT SECOND.

Didn't we laugh heartily when sitting on a rail in a se-
cond class, whilst pausing at the Wigan station? We es-
pied a drunken old man lifted in by his friends, whose
teeth were gone, and the sands of life had well nigh run
their last, as a device occurred to his friend in order to
prevent him losing his ticket, he plucked it out of the
fumbling old man's hand, and sticking it in his hat, com-
mitted it to the safe-bind—safe-find guardianship of his
bat-band. " There then now, wheq the guard comes,
he'll see tby ticket just like every body else's, and thoult
have no more troWe about it !' The old man behaved
during the rest of the journey as all drunken old men, or
drunken young men will, replying when nobody spoke to
him, singing to himself, interpolating the conversation
around him with interjections, adjectives, and the like,
ridiculously droll from their very irrelevancy ; but we
Shall not take upon ourselves to record either the sayings
or doings of this drunken old man, lest ears polite should
jar. But didn't we laugh again, more than before ?—when,
just as the train was starting, a young man standing beside
the rail, gave us a parting nod, with apparently no ordi-
nary significancy of expression, though it struck us at the
time he must have the advantage over us in the matter of
iecol'ected acquaiutanceship, our memory not serving us
iigh:ly to the amount of recognition, on our part, of an
old friend. We stared—we prepared to look even grate-
fully upon the features of a fellow-creature, who seemed
inclined to bestow upon us this expression f parting in-
terest and regard! 'Twas but for half amoment we felt
in this suspense, for a whole process of thought can take
place in less than the smallest lapse of time ; and just when
we were getting up a most proper nod in reply, we were
surprised to observe a distinct nod of the fullest recognition
power got up and performed by a party who sat opposite
to us!! We speak advisedly when we aver that this was
a case of the clearest mistake possible on our part—the
convergence of the two organs of vision in a focus with
the middle line of the face, cm-responding to the point of
the nose and the tip of the chin, indicating that the visual
lays in general naturally establish a " grand junction ter-
minus" not far off, and enjoy their concentrated focus in
sympathy and common with the other adjective features
of the countenance. Judging then from these data, which
we don't mind the danger of being contradicted in, whilst
looking earnestly at the man's three-quarters face, we did
feel completely floored at the idea of a nod which was
clearly meant for us, being appropriated by any one else,
and further that such should be " all right," and the guard
again " beg leave to sit—on a rail ;" puzzling ourselves to
make out whether, in the present case, mesmerism bad
attained so far as to make angles of incidence and angles
of reflection, in matters of parting, equal to each other, as
in the matter of meeting. We thought of the 'Yankee ex-
periment with the " bowl of treacle," and the " mirror of
ink," as reflecting media; but our philoshphy tumbled
down fromhtr idealrange,upwardstowardstheledgeof cau-
sality and comparison, when, on the man turning his face
by chance more fully towards the carriage, we discovered
that the eye nearest to us " had no connexion with the
other concern on the other ,ide of the way l" GOr rcepon -
dence having been mutually declined, we suppose, from
the reason we once saw labelled up in an Irish village,
over an artisan's door, " Hopposition is the life o' trade."
Backward we fell in our seat, as far as we could, cramming
our handkerchief into our mouth, endeavouring to stifle a
huge laughing fit, which ime,edierely assailed us on our
discovering that the d
;,,,g,unal of a squint had well nigh un-
done us! and coat we were liable to be tried for poaching
it, f.e. opposite neighbour's preserve!
After progressing along our journey for mile upon mile
bf jar and rattle—rattle. and jar—we were favoured at one
of the stations with the company of a little girl, placed ;m-
-iler the care of the guard by some ladies from whom she
parted, in the innocent sadness of childhood's simplicity ;
but the tears also rol'ed fastly one after another down her
Cheek, indicative of sorrow at parting with her friends.
Woman's tears at parting moments are not infrequent
episodes in every day life; but girlhood's tears are less
scarce still, being their ready silver currency whenever
golden moments are about to be broken up and exchanged !
Whilst the train slowly increased towards its velocity, our
sympathies could not be entirely diverted from our little
travelling companion, any more than that of others pre-
sent, not excepting the iron-faced guard, to whose tender
solicitude her juvenile fears had been consigned, a lamb of
'the humen flock ; and to whose guardianship as well, we
afterwards observed, a bleating lamb of a less gifted race
bad been comm'tted, and which occupied the " locker"
under her seat, and which be lugged out, tied by a fore
.and hind leg together, after a few miles run, having much
enjoyed, doubtless, the ride it had " booked" for, its own
locomotives being now sick of their strike for work !

' What ails thee, young one? what? why pull so at thy cord?''

Perhaps the rapid motion of the train tends to subdue
the activity of thought, and exuberance of restless obser-
vations, down into the more sober channel of reflection,
.not less profitable perhaps than the fernier, either in point
of direct mental exercise or habit; yet we remarked that
whilst for same time this state of mind may combine the
.dulce with the utile, still that after a time the physical
condition of being constalit'y whirl ng on a rail tends to
produce a gradually increasing listlessness or vacuity of
thought, upon which commonly succeeds a sleepy state—
a state not altogether devoid of danger, when the party
-has passed the meridian of life, and immediately after'
having made a very full or hasty meal ; apoplexy having
in more than one or two instances occurred to such par-
ties, and that of a fatal character, owing in some cases to
the want of sufficiently early discovery,—and medical aid.
But in reference to the soporific influence of " sitting on
.a rail," and whirl, whirl, whirl ; the rapid transit of object
after object, in seeming giddy dance, perhaps may be con-
sidered a semi-mesmeric state, a /a anode de Braid,
wherein the fatigue of the organ of vision seems capable
-of inducing a corresponding state in the brain; at least,
to such class of phenomena it seems to us not altogether
wide of the mark to refer the state alluded to. Whether
~or not we should very soon, in that not very particularly
Attractive part of the country, have fallen a ready prey to
.this act-of-parliament mode of carrying out mesmeric
..experiments by wholesale, we don't undertake positively
to guess, nor would it much concern our reader whichever
way we might have ultimately concluded ourselves to
have been tested. No doubt the engineer would have
,done his best to have had us asleep like many of the rest ;
but "returning to our sheep"—orlamb rather —this unlock-
ing of the crystal sluices for the relief of overwrought
sensibility, even in a child, is a subject that was at once
calculated to awaken the curiosity of the guard and our-
fitelf, prompted perhaps by a corresponding flow of the
milk of human kindness in our not-altogether-obdurate
breasts. Surely we might take credit for the former as a
qualification of benevolence rather than anything else,
seeing that the joys and sorrows of childhood, as they
-ebb and flow, may be said never to appeal in vain to the
:sympathy of those around them, be they old or be they
.young. If old, they read before them the transcripts of
their own youthful hours drawn to the real life, in unso •
phisticated naïveté of character. Childhood's smile is
reflected from their own matured features, almost, we
play say, with the faithful portraiture of youthful origi-
nali y : the tears of. childhood have called forth, before
now, a correspondent welling up of tears in the eyes of
old age, or of ordinaryindifference to human passions. This
is matter of trite remark, which every one can make,
even the most superficial observer of mankind ; but is it
as generally observed how beautiful and passing wise are
the arrangements of Providence, whereby age shall sym-
pathise with youth in stronger and more intensely glowing
interest, because, as Wordsworth says in one of his
beautiful lines,

" The child is father of the man ; "
because age lives again its joyous hours of innocence,
when the sunny face of childhood irradiates its fading
paths ; and because the tears of childhood's grief bid
again the old man's tears of childhood flow, at the me-
mory of bygone troubles, proportionate in their magni-
tude to melt the tender passions of the infant breast, and
abase very contrast with the after stern realities of life
is sacredly written down in characters of hallowed joy ;
for the whole drama of childhood's chequered hours is to
the fostering memory of age but one many-coloured joy,

associated there with the tender reminiscences of the en•
deared past, when the path of life had more flowers than
thorns to every one of human rade. We think the joys
and griefs of the child we look upon are but so many
mirrors of our-own witching past—gone, gone—never to
return ! This is the real secret of that close sympathy
between the extremes of life, when reciprocated by age
towards childhood, in.commernoration of our once many-
coloured joy—our fresh and budding springtime. Thus
again we could

" talk of sunshine and of song;
And summer days, when we were young; -
Sweet childish days that were as long
As twenty days are now."
Such reflections; as they stole upon our mind, almost
amounted to pleasing sadness, and we treasured up what
appeared to us the philosophy of the subject heore us—
viz., the moving sympathy of the old iron-faced guard
towards the child before him, expressed in the language
of truest significance—by the suffusion of each eyelid
with a tear. The picture drawn thus to out corporeal and
mental vision seemed a cabinet gem, and we accordingly
framed and hung it up in the treasury of our recollec-
tions!
In the course of a short mile or two another element
in the field of our curiosity presented itself. The train
stopped—hardly so the girlish tears. A little boy, redo-
lent with health, buoyant with animal spirits to bursting
—he was a boy ! full of boyishness in every sense of the
word—awaited ourstopping , whilst someparting trick of fun
must be let off against the party who handed him into the
carriage, and placed him opposite the tearful one. She
was expecting him to join her: the meeting was one of
mutual affection : he might be two years older than her.
self, perhapS eight years old : smiles were interchanged,
and a hasty kiss as well, by these little lovers, somewhat
abashed at the presence of strangers ; whilst the train
again gradually broke into its accelerated speed. The
thing was natural: smiles and tears, and tears and smiles,
chequer the countenance of youth, like April showers and
sunshine ; and everybody knows this—and everybody
knows, too, that children's sympathies are keen and
quickly excited. It was quite proper that smiles should
be exchanged for tears when a little sister greets a little
brother from whom she may have been separated for
months, and so too with children of a larger growth
under similar circumstances ; and it was quite natural,
too, that the brother's ever-smiling countenance should
kindle with brighter glow on regaining his long-lost sister,
and that a touch of tenderness should gravitate from his
beaming e) e down through laughing features : all this was
as it ought to be. Perhaps they were both returning from
school, whither they had been sent, for the time, to he
estrangedfromtheendearments of home. Soit wasinreality
a fact, which our benevolent curiosity learned and gathered
as its reward. But again—the little episode of greeting
joy being.,passed—,a transient sunbeam through a watery
sky—again the tears commenced afresh to pour down the
u,,turrowed cheeks of that little sister, and this though
she was returning back to her home ! We cannot account
for it, neither could she; therefore the old guard and
ourself were reduced to the necessity of " booking" them
as tears of joy ! Highly wrought indeed must be the tone
of that infant mind which has no other mode of expressing
the thrilling and rapturous notes of joy but in the secret
and unaccounted-for—yea, mysteriously-wrought—ca-
dences of sorrow ! Though this occur in numberless
instances every day, yet no less striking because common
is this passage in human sensibility ; nor less exquisitely
balanced and faithfully true must. be those tones -of sym-
pathy from the heart of affection, because it has been and
ever presents itself a matter of common-place occurrence,
in which note answers for note in harmony and full ac-
cord, whether the keys of_ joy or sorrow are struck, or
struck alternately. The harmony of love must respond :
one chord must answer to its fellow and none other, be
that sounded high or low, or both successively. We
have all heard that if two stringed instruments,. placed
together, and if a chord in one instrument, be struck, the
corresponding chord will vibrate its responsive echo of
unison, provided they were both of perfect tune. Thug,
though we were• at first a little surprised, yet the reflec-
tion of a moment or two struck out the-analogy we have
alluded to, as a satisfactory explanation of the interesting
psychological problem that followed it; for as both these
little creatures had smiled together in greeting joy, so the
joy of greeting, through the bond of sympathy, as was
abtually the fact, must bid their tears together flow
Were not their hearts in unison ? Did not the chords
respond ? There could be but one pulse, then, flowing
in but one stream from separate hearts. God grant it
may be ever so !

If but we had possessed an artist's pencil, we would
have sketched, as well as noted in a book, the embodi-
ment, the living portraiture of that sweetest of human
passions, that sensibility par excellence, whose natural
study was before us—the crown-jewel of human dignity.
The majesty of human nature rose before us, to assert the
loftiest prerogatives of its crown. What a study ! How
did that picture travel on with us, rivetted on the field of
our organ of reflection ! When the little joy-twins
stopped, our musings went on ; till at last We pulled up
short at the end of our trip, the pretty little port of
Fleetwood,—and just on the eve of swallowing the body
and bones of a proposition conjured up by our imagina-
tion—almost an absurdity, perhaps quite so—viz., that
Joy and Sadness were born twins, severed by the vulgar
mind, but blended in the " ideal," so as to become—dare
we utter it ?—mutually convertible terms!