The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-05-21 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD

MISCELLANEOUS.

The Journal des Debate states, that smuggling is now
so completely organized in Spain, that on the 3d instant
there was a regular pitched battle between 300 smugglers
and a party of mounted custom-house officers. The offi-
cers were defeated, leaving 20 killed and 10 wounded.
The smugglers had but two of their party wounded and
three horses killed.

BearlNG IVITH ONE ANOTHER.--The Zoological Gar-
dens of this town, which are daily rising in popularity, at
the present time exhibit the extrordinary group of a Grizzly
Bear, a Black Bear, a Brown Bear, and a Polar Bear,
domesticatinc, together in one pit. It is, we believe, the
first instance known of the Polar Bear being so far tamed.
—Hull Packet.
FIRE AT WILLESDEN.—About nine o'clock on Sunday
morning a fire broke out in the farm yard of Mr. Tatter-
sall, near 'Willsden. Two large stacks of hay were to a
great extent destroyed, and the total loss is estimated at
nearly £4OO. Mr. Tattersall is insured in the Royal
Exchange fire-office. The fire is stated to have been the
result of carelessness on the part of a boy engaged about
the farm.
GLASGOW Crruncnns.--LTlae liev. Mr. rtunciman, of
Edinburgh, was on Thursday inducted into the pastoral
charge of St. Andrew's church and parish,, by the Pres-
bytery of Glasgow. This is the last induction to the
charges in our city rendered vacant by the late secession ;
and from the high character and Christian attainment of
the new incumbents, and the harmonious nature of all
their settlements amongst us, see feel confident that our
churches will soon be as well filled as they were before the
disruption. Some of them are much better attended than
before, which we feel assured will yet soon be the case
with all of them.—G'lasgow Constitutional.
His Majesty the King of Saxony is expected to arrive
in England, upon a visit to her Majesty, either at the end
of this month or the commencement of June. His Ma-
jesty will be received by the Queen, upon his arrival, at
Buckingham Palace. In the event of her Majesty's
illustrious guest not reaching this country until after the
29th instant, it is the Queen's intention to remain at
Claremont until the Wednesday in Whitsun week. The
King of Saxony, after remaining a short time at Bucking-
ham Palace, and spending a few days with her Majesty,
as it is expected, aY-Windsor Castle, will make a tour for
some three weeks or a month through the provinces,
which it is not improbable may be extended to the mining
districts in some of the Welsh counties, and also to a por-
tion of the more,southern Scotch counties, including the
cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh.
EFFECTS OF A SEVERE SENTENCE..—An Irish girl,
named M'Kenzie, only 17 years of age, was tried at Staf-
ford for stealing a gown and petticoat. She was of a re-
putable family ; her character had heretofore been unim-
peached, and there was reason to believe that she took the
goods to wear upon some particular occasion, rather than
actually to appropriate them to her own purpose. Her
mistress was to appear and vouch for her character, but
arrived too late, the poor girl's trial being taken number
one on the list. She was sentenced to seven years' trans-
portation. She heard the judgment and remained stupified ;
in 24 hours she was a lunatic, and is now in the In-
&mazy with no hopes of recovery. She was a remark-
ably handsome girl, but from the period of her sentence
her health has visibly declined, and her hair has actually
turned grey.—Sunday Times.
A TRINIDAD MAN ABOUT TO BE SOLD AS A SLAVE
IN NEW ORLEANS.—We have been informed that a
coloured man, named Henry Bennet, who says he is a
British subject, and native of this island, is now lying in
gaol in New Orleans, where he has been for the last two
years, in consequence of his not being able to prove him-
self a freeman. He is a short stout made man, and much
marked with the small-pox, and says that be was for
some time in the employment of Mr. Gibbs, formerly of
Port of Spain. The British consul informed the gentle-
man through whose attention to the cause of humanity
this information has been brought to this island, that there
are three other persons, who claim the privilege of Bri-
tish subjects, in the same unfortunate circumstances, and
who will soon be sold as slaves to pay expenses, if not
speedily liberated from their imprisonment,—Trinidad
Standard.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY.—The General Assembly of the
Church of Scotland commenced its sittings on Thursday
in the new Assembly-hall, Castle-hill, Edinburgh. Pre-
vious to the meeting of the assembly a levee was held in
Holyrood Palace by the Lord High Commissioner to the
General Assembly (the Marqnis of Bute,) which was re-
markably well attended. There were present, among
others, the Lord Provost, the Earl of Selkirk, the Earl
of Strathmore, Lord Ruthven, &c. The Rev. Dr. John
Lee was elected moderator. His Grace the Marquis of
Bute announced that her Majesty had directed the sum
of £2,000 to be placed in their hands, to be applied to
such uses as may best promote christian knowledge and
the principle of reformed religion in the highlands and
islands of that portion of the united kingdom. The ser-
mon in the High Church was preached by the Very Rev.
Principal Macfarlan, Moderator of the last General As-
sembly. His text was from 11. Corinthians, chap. 4,
v. I,—" Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we
have received mercy, we faint not." The sermon, which
was eloquent and impressive, was attentively listened to
by a large audience.
AN OLD STAGER " DoNE."—A stale old trick was
played off at Huddersfield on Tuesday afternoon, during
the fair, and upon one who from his great experience and
long dealing in horse flesh, might have been exected to
be more " wide awake." In the afternoon two men went
into the dram shop of the Rose and Crown Inn, where
they sat over their glasses of grog, and began to bargain
for a horse, the one requiring 30 guineas for it, while the
other would only give £3O. At last the apparent owner
of the animal declared with great emphasis that he would
not sell it to him at any price, upon which the would-be
purchaser went to the former landlord of the house, (Mr.
George Hare,) who happened to be in the place, and re-
quested him to buy the horse for him for the thirty guineas,
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MELANCHOLY OCCURRENCE.—On Sunday evening.
about eight o'clock, thirteen young persons ventured into
a boat on the Thames. Two of them were girls, and one
had a young child with her. Upon leaving the stairs on
the eastern side of the bridge, and before they had reached
the current opposite the second arch from the shore, im-
mediately alongside the head of the hull steamer, one of
the Diamond packets came up. The swell from the latter
steamer rocked the small craft most fearfully, and, unable
to contend against it, the oarsman was drawn into the
surge, and in another moment the boat was upset and
went down, all in her being thrown overboard ! One of
the lads, who it appears could swim, instantly struck out,
and succeeded in buoying himself up until he was rescued;
another, in attempting to save a young girl 16 years of
age, was overwhelmed—the girl's bonnet came off in his
hand, and both of them sunk immediately ; the child in
her charge was also drowned with them. The other girl
also went down. The man who had charge of the boat
escaped. Exertions were immediately made to recover
the bodies by the watermen and others upon the spot,
and five were taken out of the water. A fine lad li:s dead
at the Castle, in Fish-street-hill ; four others were taken
to the Thames police-station. Up to half-past ten on
Sunday night no other bodies had been found.
REDUCTIONS IN THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD.—It is not
to be conceded that there is growing up a feeling of un-
easiness, if not discontent, about the reductions that are
constantly taking place in the Royal household. The
whole case, reduced to figures, seems to resolve itself into
the following particulars :—lndependently of the personal
income of the Sovereign and her Consort, of the augmen-
tation of Prince Albert's allowance by about 10,000 a year,
derivable from places and appointments conferred upon
him by the Queen, and of the large revenue drawn from
the Duchy of Cornwall for the use of the Prince of Wales,
an annual sum of £375,000 is granted by Parliament for
the maintenance of the customai y splendour of the Court.
Now, of that sum of £375,000 per annum, reductions have
been effected to the amount of £25,000. The rage for
retrenchment which appears to have set in with the in-
come tax has reached the Palace itself, and equerries
riding-mistresses, chamber-pages, and all sorts of gold and
silver people in waiting, have been cut down to meet :the
economical spirit of the times. If a saving to the coun-
try had been positively accomplished by this reduction of
£25,000 per annum, it would be very ungracious on the
part of the country to complain ; but the popular griev-
ance consists in the somewhat anomalous fact, that this
very reduction will absolutely entail an increased burden
upon the public. The persons whose services are thus
dropped out of the Royal household must be pensioned ;
but the pensions are not to be paid out of the amount
saved by their reduction, but are to constitute a fresh
charge upon the national Treasury. The consequence
will be that the public expenditure, instead of being di-
minished by this £25,000 a-year, will, in fact, be aug-
mented by the amount of the pensions. To this conclu-
sion all the information we possess at present on the sub-
ject distinctly points.—Court Journal,

HORRIBLE CASE.—The inhabitants of Prince's-street,
Chelsea, have lately had their attention called to groans
proceeding from a house in that street. On Saturday,
with the authority of the magistrates, an entrance was
effected into the dwelling, when a most revolting scene
burst upon them. On a straw bed lay a poor human
creature of the male sex, without one morsel of clothing
more than an old filthy rag, which might be termed a
shirt, and a small piece of flannel or blanket. Beneath
him was a hole rotted through the filthy straw of the bed,
evidently by his own excrements, and maggots and loath-
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difficult to descern in him a human body. His beard
reached neariy down to his middle, and his nails protruded
some inches beyond his toes. Ina few minutes afterwards
the police brought to the Queen-square police-office.
London, a fashionably-dressed woman, from 50 to 60
years of age and a heavy looking man about 30. On
being place at the bar, the woman gave in her name as
Harriet Eleanor Pelham, and the man was described as
her son, Wilson Pelham. Mr. Ryder, one of the parties
presen t when the house was broken into said that after their
admission, the poor: creature, who was evidently a lu-
natic, was dressed, a portmanteau of clean wearing
apparel
being brought from some other part of the house, and he
was then put in a cab, and conveyed to the workhouse.
The woman at the bar said that the unfortunate man was
her son, and that he and his brother, (Wilson Pelham)
were natural children of General Spencer. The woman
and the man who placed the blame of the miserable con-
tition of the miserable man on his own shoulders, said
that his filthy state was owing to his own negligence
This, however did not appear to be the fact, and the case
was remanded for a fortnight.

CAPTAIN PIDDING'S CHINESE, OLIO, AND TEA
TALK.—Tbe first and second numbers of a small work
under this title have appeared, and judging from these
specimens we should say that it is likely to become the
favourite with a large portion of the public The greater
portion is devoted to Chinese history, biography of cele-
brated characters of that country, national literature and
manners, descriptions and events, &c. A not less impor-
tant though briefer portion relates to the trade with that
country. including a weekly view of the tea markets ; with
results of the tea sales on each occasion of which a sup-
plement is annexed, containing "Captain Piddings charac-
ters" of each break or chop put up ; the prices realized,
and other particulars, valuable as guides to dealers in se-
lecting. The second number contains a continuation of
an interesting life of Candida Hia, a christian Chinese
lady of rank ; the Chinese theory of the creation of the
world and the origin of government; account of the Tar-
tar Chinese wars; life of Tsin-Che-Hoang-jo, emperor,
and builder of the Great Wall, &c.—also an account of
the first sale in this country of a quantity of Chinese
quicksilver of the finest quality. This was previ-
ously obtained by mining companies an:l c!'"i :I.lmcst
'solely from the Spanish mines of Almadin, the proprie-
tors of which enjoyed a monopoly, which it is .probable
the expected imports from China will break up.
THE LATE MR. BECFORD.—This gentleman inherited
from his father, the celebrated Alderman 13eeford, (who
bearded King George the Third, on the occasion of pre-
senting an address to His Majesty from the city of Lon-
don), a princely estate, and a fortune of about £150,000
per annum. He had also some valuable West Indian
property. Before he was twenty he had written his ro-
mance of " Vathek," perhaps the finest of all our East-
ern tales, and evincing inimitable correctness of costume,
beauty of description, and power of imagination. He af-
terwards went to reside in Portugal, and at Cintra erected
a magnificent palace, which he capriciously left to ruin
and decay. Byron has alluded, in his Childe Harold, to
this "fairy dwelling" at Cintra, and moralised on the
" halls deserted, and portals gaping wide," abandoned
by " England's wealthiest son. On returning to his
paternal estate of Foothill, he threw down a large and,
splendid house built by his father, and proceeded to ex-
pend about half a million on erecting that once celebrated
but unsubstantial Gothic structure, Foothill Abbey.
Such was his eagerness to see this show of Gothic gran-
deur completed, that at one time he had above 400 masons
employed night and day, and his supreme delight was to
wander at midnight among his trees, catching glimpses of
the workmen et the Great Tower, as they proceeded in
their labours by torchlight. To the mortification of
King George the Fourth, it is said, some repairs at Wind-
sor Castle had to be suspended, because Mr. Becford had
engaged every workman, horse and cart, that could then
be obtained. At Foothill, shut up from nearly all society,
he resided for some years, when at length, satiated with
the contemplation of his various treasures, he sold Font-
hill, and repaired to Bath, where another mansion, with
its airy monastic turrets, soon rose under the power of
his potent wealth and creative taste. Here he died, on
Thursday, the 2d instant, aged eighty-four—the eldest of
the living authors (Mr. Rogers is eighty-two) who have
added lustre to our country. Besides his tale of " Vathek,"
Mr. Becford published travels in Spain and Portugal,
Memoirs of Painters, &c. His genius was of the highest
order, but squandered on shows and magnificence.
INCENDIARISM.—On Friday, the 10th instant, a fire,
occasioned by some chemical combustible having been
deposited in the straw on the previous night, took place at
a farm in Lidgate. Fortunately it was extinguished with-
out very serious damage.—On the following Monday
another fire broke out in a farm-yard at Shouldham
Thorpe. A barn which contained 70 quarters of wheat,
a large quantity of straw, various farming implements,
the outbuildings, and three cottages, were wholly con-
sumed. The property destroyed is estimated at £500.
A third fire took place on Tuesday morning, at Great
Thurlow. The flames having caught the granary, speedily
spread to the barns, stables, cart-sheds, and other out-
buildings, which, from the combustible nature of the
material, burned with terrific fury until the whole was
consumed, including two clover stacks, 40 coombs of
threshed wheat, 60 loads of straw, a large quantity of
barley, and the farm-house, from which the inmates had
barely time to escape.—On Tuesday evening a similar act
of atrocity was committed at Whithersfield. The barn
and granaries, coot ining a large quantity of threshed
corn, together with 60 coombs of wheat in the straw, and
40 coombs of beans, besides the farming implements,
were all destroyed.—Three other fires—one at Snarehill,
near Thetford, on the premises of Mr: J. C. Partridge, a
county magistrate, which destroyed a rye stack ; another
on the premises of Mr. Day, of Garboldisham, which
destroyed a haulm stack ; and the third at Mr. Emerson's
farm, near Bradfield, (the second on the same premises
within a year,) which was fortunately got under without
serious damage—complete the catalogue, so far as has
been ascertained, of last week's outrages in the county of
Suffolk, in which county all the places mentioned are
situate.—On Thursday at Braintree, in Essex, a confla-
gration took place at a farm-house in the occupation of
the Rev. A. Fletcher, minister of Finsbury Chapel. The
two barns, the stables, a long range of sheds, coach-
houses, piggeries, poultry-house, granary, and two large
stacks of hay, were entirely consumed. The reverend
gentleman's travelling-carriage was also destroyed, and
the damage is estimated at upwards of £l,4oo.—About
seven o'clock the same evening that the above fire took
place, a large bean stack was maliciously set on fire upon
the premises of Mr. Jeffery Gardner, of Tollesbury, about
a mile and a half from Tolleshunt D'Arcy, where an in-
cendiary fire occurred upon the farming premises of Mr.
Seabrook, a few evenings previously. This was one of
th, ost daring instances that has occurred, as Mr. Gard-
ner'ms children were playing at marbles in the road, with-
in a few yards of the stack-yard, when they discovered
that the stack was on fire. They instantly ran into the
house, and informed their father, who immediately went
in pursuit of the villain, but without effecting his capture