The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-01-11 00:00:00

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The Plymouth Journal relates a fact of a Mrs. North-
way, of the Queen's Head Inn, Tavistock, being awakened
on the morning of Christmas-day by a dream that the
house was on fire. After some persuasion her husband
got up. and proceeding down stairs discovered a ser-
vant's bed on fire, which had caught from a candle, in a
hark room ; a man was asleep in it. The timely presence
of Mr. Northway prevented the fire getting the mastery,
and, perhaps, the whole premises were thus saved. All
the man's clothes were burnt. _

The subject of the duties on foreign copper and ore is
likely to be again before the Legislature early in the ses-

sion: The smelters are beginning to see that it is for the
general interest that foreign copper as well as the ore
should be admitted free of duty. All parties are much
discouraged by the effect of this impolitic imposition ; and
the Birmingham manufacturers should bestir themselves
to get rid of a tax which, while it encourages foreign ma-
nufactures, directly hinder the export of our own, besides
the Inca to the shipping interest in the declining freights.
FREE TRADE.—Free trade was always paraded before
the country as a great blessing, and we were told that
when we got it bread was to be cheap, employment abun-
dant, trade brisk, commerce prosperous, and the only
difficulty apprehended was that men would not know how
to employ their spare cash. This was the promise—this
was the bait held out to catch the gudgeons. The reali-
zation of the promise is written in two lines in the journal
(the Times) which was foremost of all in the crusade
against the industrial interests of England :—" Probably
in no one year was there ever so GREAT an amount of
domestic calamity pervading ALL classes of men:"

THE DOUBLE SUICIDE IN MARYLEBONE.-Mr. WOE-
on Monday, held an inquest at the Fitzrny Arms,
Clip=ton-street, on the bodies of Alexander Thomas Wil-
liams and Susanna his wife, the late proprietors of the
Star Coffee-house, in Cleveland-street, Fitzroy-square.
The facts of the case oppeared in our last publication, and
after evidence had been taken, the jury found that "Alex-
ander Williams died by suicide, but that there was no
evidence to show the state of his mind at the time—but
that the wife in committing the act was in a state of de-
lirium, occasioned by the shock of seeing her husband

hanging.
The Lincolnshire Chronicle relate a curious dream con-
nected with the Kirton murder reported in our last. A
person named Whelpton twice dreamt that Copeman (the
murdered man) was killed in the place where he was
attacked and murdered. On telling Copeman of it the
first time he laughed at it. The second time the repe-
tition of the dream evidently affected the unfortunate
gentleman, and he solemnly promised his kind monitor
never to be again so late in returning home from Kirton
as had been his practice. That promise he faithfully kept
until the day when the dream was fulfilled, and he met
with the awful fate with which the country is familiar.
Among the usual Christmas pieces at the various places
of amusement in London, the " Golden Branch " at the
Lyceum bears the palm. It is put on the stage with all
that resplendant scenery of fairy land, which has obtained
for Madame Vestris so great a name as manager; and is
worthy of the elegant house that is so tastefully decorated
as to eclipse in splendour all its competitors, and make
the Lyceum the drawing-room of theatres. The parodies
on the popular airs of the day are admirably given—se-
veral of them by a debutante Miss Fitzwilliam—the fresh-
ness of whose voice and manner of singing is quite charm-
ing. The introduction of the favourite old air of " Cherry-
ripe," by Madame herself, is a resuscitation in admirable
taste, and its nightly encore proclaims its popularity to be
undiminished.
A SEVERE DISAPPOINTMENT.—At the meeting of the
British Association at Oxford, the geological section made
an excursion. The natives of the explored region were
very much at a loss to conjecture what it all meant.
The vehicles, the number and sturdy appearance of some
of the excursionists, and, so far as they could see, the
absence of all motive for the gathering, puzzled the
country people exceedingly. At last, when a party, who
had formed a circle round Dr. Buckland to hear his ex
planation of the conformation of the surrounding country,
had broken up, and was leaving the ground, one wonder-
ing native was heard to remark to another, in a tone of
severe illo.,knAtatsocutj ..T •ml.y, ;f
it ar'nt all over. They've broke up the ring, and there
arn'nt going to be no fight arter all."
A "navvie " riot, of rather formidable character, has
taken place at West Calder. The operations of the Cale-
donian Railway, in that neighbourhood, having been com-
pleted, an extensive discharge of workmen took place, but,
before leaving, the Irish portion resolved on inflicting
punishment on the English and Scotch labourers in the
village. Accordingly the belligerents, to the number of
between 300 and 400, entered West Calder and attacked
the inhabitants indiscriminately, but the latter, accus-
tomed of late to guerilla warfare, confronted the invaders,
and although with the aid of friendly " navvies," the de-
fensive was only half of the opposing force, the assailants
were repelled, and retired with a view of returning to the
charge at night, with a reinforcement of the undischarged,
who would then be off work. But in the interim a de-
tachment of cavalry was procured from Edinburgh, and
peace restored.
ANTI-BEEF EATING —Among the follies which came
in with 1847, and will we suspect, go out before the year
1848:is much older, was the establishment of a " Vegetarian
Society ;" that is, an Association of persons determined
to live upon vegetables ! Franklin tried this plan, but
the smell of some delicious fish put to flight his resolve
and showed him the absurdity of the plan. At the head
of this strange movement is Mr. Brotherton, the member
of Parliament, who has " vegetated" for eighteen years,
and the poorness of whose diet may account for the
meagreness and mistaken nature of his political ideas.
If that gentleman had been acquainted with physiology
he would have known that man was intended by his
Maker for a carnivorous as well as gramnivorous animal.
The construction of his teeth shows this, and if he had
been adapted to live upon vegetables, he would, like the
ruminating animals, have been supplied with three
stomachs instead of one. Not, however, to proceed on
this point, we would ask Mr. Brotherton how, the roast-
beef of England being banished, he can expect a cabbage
fed population to stand against the French who are com-
ing over in such numbers to attack us ?

ROMANCE IN REAL LIFE.---One of those extraordi-
nary events which now and then occur, as if to exemplify
the adage of truth being stronger than fiction, has this
week taken place at Gravesend, the facts, as communi-
cated to us by a private correspondent, being as follows.
On Monday, an old " man-of-wars' man," the boatswain
of a yacht belonging to a gentleman, who was about to
sail for the Mediterranean, having obtained a brief leave
of absence, went up to London in one of the steamers
which ply la and fro, for the purpose of transacting some
private bu-Wess. In the boat he met with a young man,
a servant to one of the officers at Tilbury fort, whom he
had never seen before, but he did not then take much
notice of his fellow-passenger. Upon returning the next
day, however, he found the same man on board, and
" Jack," having scraped acquaintance, they entered into
conversation. The officer's servant soon became exceed-
ingly communicative, observing, amongst other matters,
that he was to start for China in ten days, and that he
had been to town to see a lawyer respecting some leases
of property to which he believed he was heir • but, upon
referring to the will, it had been discovered that he was
only to inherit the property in the event of an uncle, sup-
posed to be drowned some years since, not coming for-
ward to claim it. The name of Lord Glanville being
mentioned, the sailor observed, " Why, messmate, I have
heard and know that name well." Mutual explanations
took place, when it turned out that the boatswain was the
very missing uncle, and will now inherit the property,
worth in all about £5OOO. Notwithstanding this unex-
pected acquisition to his fortune, the son of Neptune,
' tar-like, seems inclined to stick to the ship of which
he is now the boatswain, observing that " shiver his tim-
bers" if he cares about the money, he'd just as soon sail
round the world with his new master.

JESUITISM AND THE CONFESSIONAL.—It has some-
times been urged in favour of auricular confession that it
tends to keep people honest, and in numerous cases has
secured the return of stolen property. That there are so
many persons of predatory habits belonging to that system,
rather tends to cast discredit on the general view of the
case, and we much fear that only a part of what is pilfered
by Romanists is returned under ghostly auspices. We
had some few years back a good deal to say on this point,
and do nothere enter into
• of " Popery as it was, and as' it is,"
ful in devices, has account its reputation
the argument. But Popery,
turned to good
for causing robbers to disgorge their prey. Some curious
fruit-
disclosures of this kind are to be found in a work entitled
no further explanation
" Auricular Confession," tke , by William Hoggan, author
aofrtereformerly a Roman
Catholic priest. Mr. Hoggan states that some Jesuits,
call upon the head of the family, and hand either the lady
gentlemanscertainsion:
some
eocnirecy7gisvtainngce of Protestant families,
at the time. It is further made to appear that the party
was robbed of this money. and that it was restored by
means of the confessional. The ci-devant Jesuit then
describes as the result of this artifice, that " the husband
tells his wife to throw no obstacles in the way of her do-
mestics going to confession. . . . . . He calls upon
the Jesuit priest ; touches his hat for him should he meet
him in the street ; tells him he would be happy to see
him at his house; and thus, by this tedious, though sure
process,ith
l‘ does a reverend Jesuit priest gain his end."
With r. Hoggan such plots were not matter of testimony
but of personal experience, and he very candidly con-
fesses,
." At the present time when the emissaries of
are so active and indefatigable, a trick like that
deservesPPoltplEers `OFTEN HAVE I DONE THIS WHILE A ROMAN
PRIEST.
exposure. The cret of the Romanists is all but
infinite, and it ought to be carefully guarded against,
especially by those weak in faith—wavering in mind—or
ill informed as to the nature of the religion of which they
are nominally professors.