The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-07-11 00:00:00

The dread that the cold-hearted Saxon will tear

One chord from her harp, or one wreath from her hair?
Would anything but the intelligence of the North, to recur
to painful facts, retain her present commerce? Would not
the Protestants alone subdue the Romanists in Ireland,
were they alone left to settle the question? Intelligence
is to brute force in a much higher ratio than one to seven.
Ireland must abandon talk and take to trade, and then
trade will take to her. The capital O'Connell is con-
suming in time amid her millions is immense, to say no-
thing of what he takes by the sheer robbery of the rent.
Let her think on the blessings that flow from such an
United Kingdom as has yet never lightened on the me-
mory of man ; let her feel due pride in the enjoyment of
that common renown her arms have contributed to win,
and in the supremacy in the hour of peace, in the coun-
cils of the United Kingdom, of that warrior that owes to
her his birthplace—one, of whom her greatest living poet
wrote—

But, oh, there is not
One dishonouring blot
In the wreath that encircles my Wellington's name.
The counsel of that chieftain, equally wise in war and
peace, has literally made, not one only, but the United
Isles,

Even all that we wish them, great, glorious and free ;
First flowers of the earth, and first gems of the sea.
—From an article " On the Commerce and Prospects of
the British Empire in India," in the British and Colonial
Quarterly.
PROPAGANDA.—That enormous system of fraud and
imposture the Propaganda has existed in France under
various forms and with various fortunes since 1655. At
present it is in part supported by government grants, and
in part by contributions. The income of this association
amounted in 1841 to about £142,000, collected through-
out the papal countries. In 1841 the contribution from
Ireland amounted to nearly £B,OOO. Scotland, however,
is in a bad case; she is fairly in partibus infidelium, and
so far from contributing, required a grant of about one
thousand pounds to remove the woeful spiritual destitu-
tion of the descendants of the covenanters. That this is
a political as well as a Romish association is admitted by
its friends as well as its opponents; and under this im-
portant fact some very serious considerations arise. A
vast number of missionaries are sent to the Mediterranean
and to the east, and all of course sent from France, and
of course so many political agents for that country. Such
being the case, we would suggest to our generous but
mistaken countrymen, whether it is in good taste, or con-
sistent with unsullied loyalty to contribute along with a
foreign government for purposes beyond the propagation
of religion. It is humiliating to be gulled in this man-
ner; and why do they, if they wish to spread their faith,
not insist that the directors of the plan should reside in
Dublin, and thus place their loyalty beyond suspicion.
The occupation of Tahiti is an event of no political or
commercial importance : a more valueless colony can
scarcely be conceived. It is not so with the Sandwich
Islands : they occupy a midway station between China
and America; they afford an asylum to the South-sea
whalers and vessels passing between Asia and America.
It is needless to say that their importance will rise yearly,
in proportion as the China trade increases. The occupa-
tion of these islands by France would; in the event of
war, give her great influence in the P cific ; it would be
to her what the Mauritius was with respect to the Indian
Ocean—a nest of privateers. The government of the
United States are aware of the importance of the subject,
and we suspect their efforts will rescue the Sandwich
Islands. But there is another circumstance deserving of
notice : it is obvious that no Briton can in any way abet
the efforts of France ; he may remain inactive, but he
cannot exert himself against his country. Now, the fol-
lowing circumstance deserves to be remembered : Ireland
sends a contribution of eight thousand pounds per annum
to the French Propaganda ; and these funds have furnished
and sent out Father Short, and Father Walsh, both Irish-
men, two indefatigable agents in the interest of France in
the Sandwich Islands ; or in other words, their loyalty to
their queen, and patriotism towards their native land, is
as dust in the balance, compared with their zeal for the
pope, or their devotion to the cause of France. We shall
concluden
Tahiti i with single
mayb
rn remark—it o
re
harm
is
thanpos goodstble to the
Roman thet
doingse
Roman Catholic cause. For many years the dissenters
of England and Scotland have been the supporters of the
political claims of the Romanists. The cause of Tahiti
is taken up by the dissenters; and may not a Protestant
re-action in England prove too high a price for a triumph
of popery at the antipodes?—Dublin University Magazine.

L STANDARD.

SECOND EDITION.

Standard-office, Eleven o'clock.

DESTRUCTIVE FIRE AT MANCHESTER.

A most destructive conflagration occurred in Manches-
ter yesterday, when the whole of the extensive warehouse
occupied by Messrs. Mark Nightingale and Co., the ex-
tensive carriers, in which was stored upwards of 1,000
bales of cotton, and about 300 sacks of flour, was, with
its contents, totally destroyed.
The warehouse in question is situate near to a vacant
plot of land, well known in Manchester as Granby Row
Fields, and fortunately stood detached from any other
building.
The fire was discovered soon after six o'clock in the
morning, and the alarm was instantly given, but from the
combustible nature of the materials the progress of the
flames was very rapid ; and when the engines arrived the
roof had fallen-in.

Water was soon procured from the canal, and the en-
gines played with great effect on the burning pile, but in
forty minutes after the arrival of the engines the building
was completely gutted, and the south wall fell with a tre-
mendous crash just as the engines and men had been or-
dered from beneath. The other walls fell in succession,
the east one falling into the canal, which is thus partially
blocked up. The value of the materials in the building is
estimated at £12,000, and the building itself at £2,500.
Amongst the owners of the cotton are Mr. Bailey and
Mr. Ashton.

The building, &c. are insured, and the heaviest losses
will fall on the West of England, the Manchester, the
Sun, the Phoenix, and the Imperial.
At present, not the remotest idea Can be formed as to
how the
originated. It appears that two or three
c.':goes of cotton from Liverpool were delivered at this
warehouse on Friday last ; and one way in which it has
been attempted to account for the fire, is, by supposing
that these bales had been near some napththa or other sub-
stance, which may have led to their spontaneous combus-
tion. Taken in connexion with the late fires of cotton in
this town, the matter has excited the utmost alarm at
Manchester; and an idea is becoming prevalent there,
that some of the materials used in America for cleaning
cotton may be the means of causing its combustion
when it comes to be closely packed in warehouses.
Our neighbours in Manchester have, however, proba-
bly not seen the Cotton packed in a ship, at one of the
American ports, or they would not give countenance to
the latter:supposition, for if there is any ground for it,
we see no reason why so many cotton ships escape the
destructive element, seeing their cargoes are packed with
all attainable tightness.

ABSURDITY OF DUELLING.—A person ignorant of the
origin and history of the modern duel would be at consi-
derable loss to analyse its nature and elements. If he
were to conceive that a mere spirit of revenge dictated
the practice, he would find cases where an adversary,
having met his antagonist in the field, shook hands with,
took his ground, exposed himself to a mortal fire, and
finally discharged his own pistol into the air ; revenge
thus taking the whimsical course of receiving, not impo-
sing, an infliction. if it were then supposed that the duel
might merely be an invention to enable two men to dis-
play their physical courage and contempt of death, a mis-
take would be found in this view also : for, not unfre-
quently, where two individuals are prepared to go all
lengths as princ;pals, their seconds or friends, into whose
hands they have put their case, will permit no further
procedure, on the ground that, by the code of duelling,
no infringement of honour has, after all, taken place. If
the inquirer persisted in his investigation, and endea-
voured to ascertain in what the gentlemanlike satisfaction
of duelling consisted, be would perhaps be surprised to
find that a man, having sustained an injury, possesses by
duel practice the further advantage of a chance of having
a final end put to all his earthly cares and annoyances.—
Anti-Duel; by John Dunlop.

ATHENS AS IT IS.—We see Athens in ruins. On the
central rock of its acropolis exist the remains, in a muti-
lated state, of three temples—the temple of Victory, the
Parthenon, and the Erectheum ; of the Propylaea in the
same place ; at its western entrance, some walls and a few
columns are still standing ; of the theatre on the south
side of the Acropolis, in which the dramas of dEschylus,
Sophocles, and Euripides were represented, some stone
steps remain. Not a vestige survives of the courts in
which Demosthenes pleaded. There is no trace of the
academic porches of Plato, or of the lyceum of Aristotle.
The pcecile of the Stoics has vanished ; only a few of the
long walls which ran along the plain and united Athens
with its harbours, are yet visible. Even nature herself
appears to have undergone a change. The source of the
fountain Callirrhoe has almost failed ; the bed of the
Illissus is nearly dry ; the harbour of the Peirceus is
narrowed and made shallow by mud. But while this is
so, while we are forcibly and mournfully reminded by this
spectacle of the perishable nature of the most beautiful
objects which the world has seen, while we read in the
ruins of these temples of Athens, and in the total ex-
tinction of the religion to which they were dedicated, an,
apology in behalf of Christianity, and a refutation of pagan-
ism, more forcible and eloquent than any of those which
were composed and presented to the Roman emperor by
Aristides and Quadratus in this place, we are naturally led
by it to contrast the permanence and vitality of the spirit
and intelligence which produced these works, of which
the vestiges either exist in a condition of ruinous decay,
or have entirely disappeared, with the fragility of the
material elements of which they are composed. Not at
Athens alone are we to look for Athens. The epitaph—
Here is the heart : the spirit is everywhere—may be ap-
plied to it. From the gates of the Acropolis, as from a
mother city, issued intellectual colonies into every region
of the world. These buildings now before us, ruined as
they are at present, have served for two thousand years as
models of the most admired fabrics in every civilized
country of the world. Having perished here, they sur-
vive there. They live in them as in their legitimate off-
spring. Thus the genius which conceived and executed
these magnificent works, while the materials on which it
laboured are dissolved, has itself proved immortal. We,
therefore, at the present time, having witnessed the fact,
have more cogent reasons for admiring the consummate
skill which created them, than were possessed by those
who saw these structures in their original glory and
beauty.—Wordsworth's Greece.

THE VA UDOIS.—In 1686 the Vaudois of Angrogna as-
sembled in an amphitheatre of rocks to implore the suc-
cour of heaven, and to hear their pastor's exhortations,
being prohibited from meeting in their usual places of
worship. The scene is thus described in an interesting
work just published, entitled " The Escape of the Vau-
dois." It was an impressive scene that opened on the
eyes of the young party as they reached the summit of
the acclivity, and looked down a deep gorge between
hanging rocks, whose rugged points, emerging from the
wild vine, glittered in the evening rays. About half way
down the mountain was a mossy sward, some fifty feet
wide, sheltered by wooded rocks, which shelved down to
that same brook they had just left so placid on the other
side, now dashing and foaming over the rocks that broke
its current. Yet not alone the water's rush disturbed
the stillness of the hour, but the footsteps of several Vau-
dois peasants, leaping from the heights above, or hurry-
ing up the ascent beneath. These were the Protestants
of the early church coming to perform their evening
sacrifice. And beautiful was it to see the hoary head of
old age, and the comeliness of youth, meet,in no conse-
crated building, whose stately pillars and ;storied walls
attested the pride of human skill, but beneath the glori-
ous canopy of heaven, resplendent with the.indescribable
brilliancy of a thousand hues, and within the massive en-
closure of the Alpine rocks. All now was still ; one deep
clear voice alone rang clearly through the hushed multi-
tude, and accompanied by many a silent prayer, ascended
on the wings of faith. It was again a !beautiful sight—
that prostrate crowd, that scenery, and the venerable form
of the old man, who, with simple and energetic devotion,
poured forth the supplication of the Vaudois flock for de-
liverance from the yoke of tyranny, and for protection in
the hour of need The appearance of Arnaud was calcu-
lated to inspire attention and respect. His figure, rather
above the common height, was such as might have realized
the imagination of the first apostolic preacher of Christi-
anity ; and the holy subjects of his constant meditation
had given an elevated expression to his countenance,
which awed rather than commanded all beholders. It
might have been deemed stern, but Christian love had
softened even the resentment which his country's suffer-
ings had awakened, and lent a milder lustre to the bright
eye which beamed from beneath a bushy and thick-set
brow. His eye did not in truth bear proportion to its
signs ; for deep thought and ardent anxiety, rather than
years, had ploughed the furrows on his cheek, and prema-
turely changed the hue of the once dark and clustering
locks. Some passages were read and listened to with the
serious attention that a deep value of the privilege of
which bigotry would fain have deprived them, well me-
rited ; and then the congregation was dismissed, their
hearts full of the holy feelings which the ceremony had
engendered. Some had many a weary mile before them;
their path lay across dark and dangerous regions, but
these could not deter the Vaudois from discharging so
clear a duty, the performance of which was attended by so
many difficulties ; for it was only by night and after a day
of labour, that they could hold their meetings undis-
turbed."

NEW USES OF IRoN.—Among the new employments
found for iron, must be mentioned ship.• building. Iron
was first used about the year 1810, for the construction of
vessels employed in canal and river navigation. After this,
the first similar employment of this material occurred in
1820, when a steam vessel, called the Aaron Manby, was
constructed at the Horsley Iron Work, and made the voy-
age between the capitals of England and France without
unlaiding any part of cargo. This vessel is still in good
condition, although 22 years old, never having required
any repairs to her hull. In 1825, a small iron steam boat
was placed on the river Shannon, where she is now em-
ployed, in good condition. In 1832, the Elburkah,
an iron steam vessel, built by Messrs. Laird, and Co.
in Liverpool, made the voyage from that port to the coast
of Africa, and twice ascended the river Niger. This suc-
cessful experiment led to the construction of many other
iron steam vessels. One builder, Mr. John Laird, of
Birkenhead, near Liverpool, has built 45 iron vessels, of
the aggregate burthen of 12,600 tons. The total number
launched since 1830 is said to exceed 150. The largest
iron vessel yet finished, and in use, is the Guadaloupe, a
steam frigate of 788 tons, carrying sixty-eight-pounders,
and belonging to the Mexican government; but her di-
mensions are insignificant when compared with those of
the Great Britain, now building, and nearly finished, at
Bristol.
The length of this vessel, from her figuer-
head to the taffrail, is .. . 320 feet.
The breadth of beam 5l „
The depth of her h01d....... 3l „
Her draught of water, when loaded, is cal
culated to be
16 „
and her burden 3,500 tons. The engines will have a force

. ~

equal to that of 1,000 horses, and will be used to keep in
action, as the means of propulsion, an Archimedan screw.
The draught of water will be seen not to exceed that of a
first-class West Indiaman, At present this vessel can only
be considered as an experiment; and, should it fail. an
abundance of ridicule will no doubt be cast upon the pro-
jectors by men whose genius would hardly have sufficed
for the invention of a wherry. A great part of the steam
navy of the East India Company consists of iron vessels,
twenty-five of which are now in use in India, among
which are the Nemesis, the Phlegethon, the Ariadne, and
the Medusa,—names well known to the British Public
from the conspicuous part which the vessels have perform-
ed in the war with China. The advantages of iron over
timber, for naval architecture, are—the absence of "wear
and tear" in the hull—no necessity for caulking or cop-
pering—no possibility of injury from dry-rot—greater
lightness and increased capacity—and, what is of even far
more importance, greater safety. The first cost of iron
vessels is somewhat, but not much, less than that of tim-
ber-built vessels : their comparative cheapness results
from their greater durability : after years of constant em-
ployment, they are found to be as sound and as clean as
when first built. Their weight, upon which depends the
nisplacement of water, is—as a general rule—three-fifths
the weight of wooden vessels of the same capacity. The
weight of metal used in proportion to the burden of the
ship varies, of course, with the size. A sea-going iron
steam vessel will take from nine to twelve cwts. of iron
per ton register. Boats intended for river traffic, which
do not require an equal degree of strength, of course take
a less weight of metal.—Porter's Progress of the Nation.