The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-05-30 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD:-

M. Guizot moves about in Londounow as if completely
naturalised. On Tuesday week he appeared on the plat-
form at the anniversary meeting of the Foreign Aid So-
ciety, established to assist the continental Protestant as-
sociations.
INCREASING COST OF THE POOIL.—By the Uarnarvon
Herald we learn that the parochial rates in Carnarvon-
shire have increased, between 1801: and 1839, from £5,431
to £34,410, being more than sixfold; while the population
had not doubled in 1841, which is two years. later. In
Anglesey, the rates, during the same period, have increased
from £4,348 to £25,468 ; being within a trifle of sixfold ;
whilst the population, in 1841, had been increased but by
a little more than one-third.
CHILDREN POISON ED.—Nearly ahundred children were
poisoned at Bristol by eating some berries which were
strewed upon the quay, having fallen there from a drug-
gists package. When the young creatures began to
sicken, much consternation was created in the city. The
infirmary was crowded with applicants for relief, and
private surgeries were equally besieged. Although much
suffering was caused, it appears that none of the cases are
expected to terminate fatally.
The grand jury of London have returned among the true
bills one against the Marquis of Chandos for wilful
perjury. It understood that the charge arose out of
some proceedings in Chancery ; the Marquis having made
an affidavit that he was not aware of the character of
certain deeds executed by him, charging an annuity of
£2,000 a year on estates in which he had a life interest.
The indictment has been removed by certiorori into the
Court of Queen's Bench.
The congregation of the Rev. W. Marshall, of the Cal-
vinist Secession church, Leith, lately presented him with
a gold watch, and appendages. The cost exceeded the
subscriptions, and the watchmaker, who was himself a
member of the subscription committee, commenced an ac-
tion against the committee for payment of the balance.—
The sheriff held that the committee were liable, but that
they in their turn could sue the flock which had appointed
them ; and it is stated that they intend to avail themselves
of this right.
OPENING OT THE NEW STEAM BASIN, PORTSMOUTH
Thursday was a great gala day at Portsmouth. The
steam basin, which was commenced in 1845, was then
formally opened by her Majesty in person. The basin
occupies nine acres of ground ; and at its entrance was
placed the Rolla 10-gun brig (manned by the young
apprentices), the Excellent and a crowd of Barges.
After witnessing the laying of the lasi stone, Her Majesty
and Prince Albert re-embarked at 4 22 p.m.. and the
Fairy having steamed slowly round the basin, returned to
Osbourne House. The Royal children were on board the
tender, and the Prince of Wales particularly was loudly
cheered by the-spectators.
THE SEAL FlSHERY.—Gratifying accounts of the seal
fishery have been received at Lerwick. One vessel arrived
on the 22nd instant with 125 tons. There were eight
vessels reported, or supposed to be clean ; but a number
of others had been successful. The following is a report
of the fishery so far from a Hull paper :—Dublin, 10,000
seals-100 tons ; Eclipse, 10,000 seals-95 tons ; Hamil-
ton Ross, 10,000 seals-120 tons ; Resolution, 9,500 seals
—ll4 tons. Hamilton Ross left the ice on the 3rd inst.
Saw five vessels at a distance, supposed to be brigs ; seals
very abundant all round. The Hamilton Ross was in
company with the Hebe, and left that vessel beset in
March, since which time she had not seen any other Hull
vessel.
An extraordinary judicial investigation commenced on
Thursday week, when a commission was opened under the
Great Seal, addressed to the Lords Commissioners of Jus-
ticiary, constituting them justices, and directing them to
inquire, by the oath of a grand jury of the counties of
Kincardine, Forfar, and Aberdeen, into all felonious for-
geries, and utterings of bills of exchange and promissory
notes committed by John Viscount Arbuthnot within the
said counties. The grand jury found true bills in each
county. and the commission was adjourned to the 20th of
June, when it is understood that a writ of certiorari will
be issued by the House of Lords for the removal of the
indictments for trial before their lordships.
MR. SIMS REEVES.—We have already published the
successful debut of this gentleman at the Opera House in
" Linda di Chamoni." On Wednesday he was to have
sung in the same opera, but a quarrel had, in the mean-
time, arisen between him and the manager, the cases
being the refusal of Mr. Lumley to permit Mr. Reeves to
take the part of Edgar, in the " Lucia di Lammermoor,"
with Jenny Lind on the following Thursday ; and as the
tenor considered this a slight, and a denial of his proper
position in the theatre, even though but engaged for a
limited number of nights, he threw up the negociations,
and left Mr. Lumley in the lurch. Mr. Reeves, it seems
to us, acted right.
LAND SLIP ON THE BANE OF TEES.—There is a hill
or precipice at Cotherstone,-called the Hag, 95 feet high,
at the junction of Tees and the Balder, a picturesque
object much admired by tourists. After the heavy rains
of April, there was an accumulation of water in a field
behind the eminence, which passed by a natural filter into
the river. The Hag, which had long been napped and
undermined in this manner, has since slipped to the
extent of 70 yards, by 15 in breadth. The rocks in front
were hurled with a tremendous crash into the Tees below.
One stone thrown down is estimated to weigh upwards of
nine tons. The footpath round the hill and the road to a
water-mill have disappeared—stopped, without the cere-
mony of an order from the justices. The noise of the
fall was heard two miles off.—Local paper.
SHAMEFUL TREATMENT OF A CLIMBING BOY.—On
Tuesday last, at Hull, a master chimney-sweep, named
Batty. was brought before the magistrates of Hull, on a
charge of cruel treatment to a little boy, named Sullivan,
nine years'of' age, who was serving him as a climbing boy,
under an agreement for one year. The lad was unable to
walk, and was placed upon the table. On removing a
shawl that covered him, his appearance was horrifying.
Both knees and the wrists were much swollen by his
forced labour in chimneys and blogs inflicted by his
master. He had been carried to sweep twelve chimneys
in one day, and a number on other days. A surgeon had
become acquainted with the case, and had given him
medicine. He considered the lad's life in danger. The
result of the examination was that the father, who had let'
out his son (under age) to sweep, was fined £lO, and
Batty was committed for trial at the sessions.
DREADFUL BATTLE.—Of late, a series of well-con-

tested engagements have raged in Renfrew-street. These
skirmishes took place between a gallant and pugnacious,
though diminutive cock, aided by the ladies of his estab-
lishment, and a number of thievish rats. which, with-
out any invitation, drop in when they feel inclined, and
take pot-luck, at the expense of the feathered friends.
The other day, a rat of large size coolly came forward to
take a share of the good things just laid down for the
comfortable support of the chuckies. Mr. Cock, irritated
at such impudence, immediately showed fight. Mr. Rat,
nothing loath, accepted the challenge, and to it they both
went, teeth and wing. Cock advanced to the assault, and
struck with beak, heel, and wing. Rat received the charge,
standing on his hind feet, and repelled it like a pugilist,
occasionally making effective use of his teeth. The
dreadful strife raged for many minutes with varied success,
but Cock was game ; his honour, his food, and the respect
of his female followers, all were at stake, and he fought
on only as a cock animated by the purest motives of
cock honour can fight. At last Mr. Rat began to show
symptoms of distress, and, without waiting to take re-
spectful leave of his adversary, sneaked off to his hole,
pursued by the victorious bantam, which, when his pilfer-
ing enemy bad disappeared, set up as loud a crow as his
little throat would permit, in token of his gallantry and
success.—Glasgow Paper.
PROPOSED GROWTH OF INDIAN CORN IN THIS COUN-
TRY.—Mr. H. Cansdell, a scientific American agricultu-
rist, has arrived here from Wisconsin, where he has been
making many experiments with numerous varieties of
Indian corn, in a climate the mean temperature of which,
during the summer months, varies very little from that of
England. In the hope of being able to raise a crop here,
he has brought over one hundred varieties, and Prince
Albert has given permission for the various experiments
to be made on his domain at Windsor. Mr. Cansdell
states, that admitting the grain should become acclimated,
it will be possible fora poor man to raise, on one rood of
land, from fifteen to twenty bushels of corn, in addition
to, and without in any way interfering with, his ordinary
growth of potatoes, cabbages, or beans, besides finding
nearly enough of fodder to keep a cow in winter. Mr.
Cansdell also says the usual plan with farmers in America
is to plant an under crop of saccharine pumpkin, of which
twenty tons an acre is frequently raised, (in addition to
the usual crop of maize,) and which is considered to con-
tain a larger amount of fattening properties than either
Swedes or mangold worzel. Should the issue of the expe-
riments be successful, it will be of incalculable benefit to
farmers and the labouring classes in England, and parti-
cularly of Ireland, and will be the greatest agricultural
achievement since the introduction of the potato.
FATAL ACCIDENT TO A SCHOOL BOY.—A few, days
since a young gentleman, aged 15, son of James Gilmour,
Esq., of Polwren-lodge, Eaglesham, who has been long
celerated for deeds of fearlessness, the exercise of which
generated a contempt for the most imminent danger,
determined to take a hawk's nest on the brow of a preci-
pice about a hundred feet high, overhanging the coast.
At the time he was a pupil at Ayr Academy, and was 'cc-
companied by two of his schoolfellows, who attempted
strongly to dissuade him from his purpose. He would
not, however, swerve, but proceeded to a farm in the
neighbourhood, where his application for the loan of a
rope was not granted, on which he went down to the cot-
tage on the shore, near which he found a piece of rope
that had evidently beer. washed by the sea. With this
he proposed that his companions should lower him down
the face of the abrupt crag to the nest, which might be
about eight feet from the brow of the bank. The rope he
had found was, however, too short ; it would not pass
round him and reach the nest. But, never at a loss for
expedients, and determined not to be balked, he tied some
tar nettle (a kind of rope used by gardeners) round his
person, and to this he joined the thicker rope. His com-
panions are represented to have remonstrated to the last
against the recklessness of the proceeding, and state that
they all refused to seize the rope till he went out of sight
over the brow of the hill, and they feared out
of be
lost. The bold but ill-fated youth reached the cliff, plun-
dered the nest, while the old hawks kept whirling and
screeching round his head; and having called to his com-
panions that he was bringing away three young hawks in
his pocket. he proceeded to ascend. While in the act of
doing so, however, he did not, as might be supposed, hang
entirely on the rope ; indeed, it was sometimes tight and
sometimes slack, as, in point of fact, he needed no assist-
ancewhere human foot couldtravel or hand hold. His com-
panions, therefore, had only to take in the slack of the
rope as he ascended, holding hard when some tuft cheated
his grasp, or his footing yielded. In this way they guessed
he must be witnin eighteen inches of the summit, when
the rope suddenly slacked, but little they thought of the
fearful cause ; for although the rope had either given way
or slipped at the tie, no cry escaped the hardy young sut•
ferer, who was immediately afterwards discovered to have
fallen from a height of not less than 90 feet. An alarm
was instantly given and every attention was paid to him
but he expired the same night, before his distracted pakents,
could reach hiro.-44yr Advertiser.