The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-12-17 00:00:00

GENERAL MISCELLANY.

Mr. Walsh, a solicitor of Oxford, was thrown out of
his gig, on Saturday night, and killed.

In England the proportion of illegitimate children is 20
to every 10,000 of the populati an, and in Wales, 43.
Yesterday week four lives were lost by the overturning
of a vessel in the river Parrott, just below Bridgewater.
In the year ending on the 2d November, 1844, it seems
the number of bankruptcies was 1,064. Last year. the
number was 1,169 ; and in the preceding year, 1,373.
On Tuesday week, Thomas Smith, a bookseller, of 2,
King-street, Tower Hill, Landon, committed suicide by
placing a pan of burning charcoal in his bedroom.
On Wednesday last, Burgess was committed for trial at
the Central Criminal Couxt, for his late robbery of the
Bank of Eng!and.

, The corporation of London have voted the freedom of
I the city, together with a silver cup, value 100 guineas, to
1 Sir Robert Sale, and a similar grant to Sir W. Nott.
Mary Gallop, convicted the week before last, at Ches-
ter, of the murder of her father, has made a full =ales-
/sion of her guilt, and appears sincerely penitent.
The lighthouse on Goodwin is now above high-water
mark; and may be expected to be illuminated by the Ist
of January next. The light is to be a pale blue.
On Thursday, a boy named Birch, aged 14, was killed
at Chiswick, by the discharge of a gun which his brother
and his cousin were struggling to obtain from him, in a
dispute as to who was to fire it. ,

John Wall, charged with attempting to poison his sis-
ter, mother, and brother, at Leicester, was discharged on
Monday last, the evidence being insufficient to bring the
charge home to him.

GOOD NEWS FOR TAE LOVERS OF SPRING.-It iS
certain fact, that whenever we have very early and severe
winters, like the present, the succeeding spring is invaria-
bly early and genial.

On Friday night week, as a butter merchant was re-
turning home to Brecon, Cardiganshire, in his cart with
about £7O in his pocket, the produce of his sales of but-
ter, he was shot dead by a highwayman, and robbed of all
his money.

AN OLD SONG.—The opponents of mesmerism, not
convinced by the late literary cure, when spoken to on
the subject, quietly hum the refrain of the ancient lyric,
"All my eye and Betty Martin oh!" (Martineau.)—The
Great Gun.

A young man, named Jackson, who was sentenced
to seven years transportetion, at the last Bristol assizes,
for stealing a gold watch from a prostitute, has. since his
conviction, succeeded to a property of seven hundred a
year.
ORIGIN OF KISSING.—PIiny, in his Natural History,
says that Cato was of opinion that the use of kissing first
began between kinsmen and kinswomen, however nearly
allied or far off, only to know, by kissing, whether their
wives, daughters, or nieces had tasted any wine.
On Thursday, William Thomas Gallimore, a surgeon,
of Chesterfield, was found guilty of causing the death of
Mrs. Warwick, by ignorant treatment of her during par-
turition, and was sentenced to be imprisoned for six
months.

THE GREAT BRITAIN.—This magnificent vessel, on
Wednesday, safely passed the locks at Bristol, and was
taken in tow down the river to Kino"road, which place she
reached without any accident, amid the cheers of thou-
sands who lined the river all the way down.

THE JESUITS.—Among the rules suggested by the
Jesuits of a former day for bringing England to the
Roman religion without tumult," was the following :
" Nourish the differences of the preachers which are in
error, and let him so work that they -may often confer
and wrangle."
SINGULAR rASI OF MANSLAUGHTER.—At Leicester,
on Saturday week, Berresford, a man aged seventy-three,
was convicted of manslaughter, for shooting one of a num-
ber of boys who used to tease him, and who were actually
throwing a volley of stones at him when he fired. He was
sentenced to four months' imprisonment.
An extensive robbery of notes and eold took place at
Northwich, in Cheshire, on the 3d instant. The pro-
perty was stolen from the house of Mr. William Glover,
of Whitton-street, and amounts in the aggregate to £9OO,
consisting of £B7O in notes and bank post bills, and 30
sovereigns.

DARING ROBBERY OF £215 IN OPEN DAY.—Mr.
Vv Brownlow, a respectable corn dealer from Howden,
was robbed in Hull, on Tuesday week, of two hundred
and fifteen pounds, with which he was proceeding to the
corn market. The pocket, it seems was completely cut
from the waistcoat, together with the contents.
AFFRAY WITH POACHERS.—On Monday a sanguinary
conflict took place in,the preserves at Langley, near Lan-
chester, the property of the Earl of Durham, between six
of the watchers and five poachers—the latter armed with
bludgeons. Two of the watchers were most dreadfully
beaten.

The prospects of the Staffordshire iron trade are now of
a very cheering character.
At the last quarterly meeting
o iron masters, a reduction in price was made, but par-
ties engaged in the trade held out forformer prices, and it
is confidently expected that at the next quarterly meeting
not only will previous prices be maintained, but that an
advance will take place.

MURDER.—At the York Assizes, on Tuesday, William
Kendrew, a farm-labourer, aged 22, was found guilty of
the wilful murder of Mr. William Inchbald, at Dunsforth
by shooting him through the back. Mr. Justice Cole-
ridge, pronounced upon him the sentence of death. The
wretched man appeared wholly unmoved, and left the
bar in the most careless manner, exclaiming as he went
" Thank ye, if that be all." ,

SINGULAR CASE.—A good-looking woman, aged 23,
was tried, at York assizes, last week, for bigamy. It ap-
peared that she was married, five years ago, when only 18
years of age, to a man named Woodhead, who, at the com-
mencement of the present year, offered her for sale in the
public market, at Leeds. She was purchased by Wm.
Idle, to whom she was shortly afterwards married. The
first husband was in court. The jury found the prisoner
guilty, but strongly recommended her to mercy. She was
sentenced to be imprisoned oue month.

Mr. Bolestridge, of Nottingham, one cf the persons in-
jured by the late collision on the Midland Railway. died
on Tuesday. Another of the sufferers lies in a hopeless
state.

THE GLOSSOP BURGLARY.—At the Derby assizes, on
Wednesday, George Swan, James Swan, and Samuel
Swan, (brothers,) were sentenced to transportation for
life, for a burglary at the house of Mr. Bennett, a respec-
table farmer, near Glossop, and stealing therefrom consi-
derably pr.,perty. The father and mother of the prisoners'
were also at the same time sentencsd to transportation for
ten years' for receiving the articles knowing them to have
been stolen.
The Unitarians of Hyde are now contemplating the
erection of a char el of more than uncommon magnificence;
and judging from present appearatwes in the way of do-
nations, . the plan will undoubtedly be fully realised.
The Messrs. Ashton. of Hyde, four brothers, have, it is
understood. aiven £lOOO each ; Mr. Thornley, of Godley,
£5OO, and Mr. Randle Hebbert £7_;oo, to say nothing of
smaller sums. It is intended to raise, by voluntary sub-
scriptions, the large sum of £lO,OOO.
WHAT NEXT ?—With the view of illustrating:, we ap-
prt bend, by an individual instance, Mr. Ferrand's view
of
our present position as that of a " nation of humbugs,"
there is exhibited by a respectable chymist, in the neigh-
bourhood of Temple...bar, in his shop window, a variety
of ugly, eumsy-looking metallic rings, by wearing which
we are eravely told that afflicted individuals are cured of,
and preserved from, "gout, rheumatism, tic-doloreux,
paralysis, head-ache, c-ficieney of nervous energy, stiff
joints, and persons subject to fits !"

POLICEMEN IN TROUBLE--At Wandsworth Police-
csurt, James James, who was nine years in the M division
of metropolitan police, and afterwards chief officer of the
Banbury constabulary, was placed in the dock, before
Mr. Paynter, for a final examination, upon two distinct
charges of felony ; and Richard Tyns, described as a
watch-case maker, but who was fur sometime in the Lon-
don police, was also finally examined upon a charge of
endeavouring corruptly to obtain reward for the restora-
tion of the property stolen by the first-mentioned prisoner.
They were both committed for trial.
THE " NEW Movc."—Messrs. Cobden and Bright
were at Bradford on Friday week, on their tour te.rough
the West-Riding, for the purpose of influencing the next
election by the creation of a large number of Free Trade
electors. Cobden tempted the Bradford men by one of
his usually exaggerated statements. " Savings' Banks
(said he) only paid 3 per cent. at present ; but they could,
by purchasing cottage property, get 7 or 8 per cent. ; and
if they got free trade, it would increase 50 per cent." As
to the intentions of the League he was very explicit.
"They must," he said, "have 2000 more names on the
register before the 31st of January. Leeds would add
500; Huddersfield, 300; Halifax, :'00; they would being
300 over the Hills from Lancashire; and be could not
let Bradford off for less than 500."
Loss OF ANOTHER WEST INDIAN STEAMER.—By the
Avon, steamer, from the West Indies, the intelligence by
which is announced elsewhere, we have received the me-
lancholy news of the loss of the steamer Actseom belong-
ing to the West Indian Steam Ship Company, which ves-
sel was lost an the morning of Sunday, the 20th of Octo-
ber, about nine miles northward of Carthagena. She was
rounding the Punta Canoa, at eight o'clock in the morn-
ing, the Popa or high land within the city being S.S.E.
The Actaeon steering south, struck at 8.40 upon a sunken
rock, supposed to be the Negrillo, but which, according
to the chart, should have been nearer the land than the
ship then wy. Immediately she struck the captain, with
the view of lightening her, ordered the boilers to be blown
off, but without effect, till about thirty minutes afterwards.
A swell of the sea then lifted her off, when it soon became
evident that, in spite of every exertion, she could not be
kept long afloat. Sail was then made to force her on shore,
or into shallow water. Precisely, however, at twenty
minutes past eleven she went down in 6i fathoms. The
captain, officers, and crew, on this trying emergency, be-
haved with the most praiseworthy courage. Every one
was calm and collected, and the orders of the captain were
obeyed with readiness and punctuality.' He was the last
to leave the ill-fated vessel. All hands were safely got
into the boats, and steered for Carthagena, from which
they were about nine mi es distant. They landed in safety,
and were hospitably received by the authorities. As soon
as danger was apparent the mails were taken out, and
duly placed in one of the boats, in charge of the mail
officer. That gentleman, in his anxiety to do his duty,
lost the whole of his wardrobe and other effects. A small
quantity of stores was also secured. There were also
three passengers on board at the time of the disaster. It
was very fortunate that at the moment of the wreck taking
place the weather was moderate. An hour previously,
however, it had been blowing a gale. The Actaeon makes
the fourth vessel lost since the establishment of the Royal
Mail Steam Company, being a quarter of the number of
steam-ships it has afloat. They are—the Medina, the
Isis, the Solway (in which so many lives were sacrificed,)
and now this unfortunate vessel completes the number.
The Actaeon, however, was the smallest of the four, being
only 600 tons' burthen. Her value, exclusive of stores,
&c., was about £25,000. She plied between the various
islands for the intercolonial mails.
EASTER IN 1845.—There is a discrepancy between the
calendar and the calculations in the almanacs' with refer-
ence to Easter Sunday, next year. The instructions in
the player-book, given to find Eastar, say, that if the full
moon that comes next after the 21st of March, fall upon
a Sunday. Easter Sunday shall not be that Sunday, but
the one after it. Now, in 1845, the full moon that comes
next after the 21st of March, is on Sunday the 23d, at
some mi utes past eight iu the evening; and yet that
same Sunday, the 23d, is Easter Sunday, though, accord-
ing to the rules laid down, it sould be Sunday the 30th.
The short explanation of this may be thus given, from an
elaborate article in the Companion to the Almanac for
1845, where the curious on the subject will find it treated
at great length. One part of the reason of the discre-
pancy between the Easter of 1845 and that of the calen-
dar is, that " the British legislature misunderstood the
definition of Easter, used in the rules which they adopted,
thinking that it depended upon the full moon; whereas
it depends upon the fourteenth day of the moon, the day
of new moon being counted as the first. Now full moon
never happens before the fifteenth day of this reckoning.
The other part of the reason of this discrepancy is, that
the legislature supposed the moon of the calendar to be
the same as the moon of the heavens, which neither is
nor was intended to be the case : the moon of the calen-
dar being not only made to vary from the moon of the
heavens for conven;ence of calculation, but also to pre-
vent Easter Day from falling on the day of the Jewish
Passover. These two errors very often compensate one
another ; for though the fourteenth day is very often a
day behind the calendar full moon, yet the calendar moon
is also very often a day before the real moon ; so that the
fourteenth day of the calendar moon is frequently the day
of the real full moon. But they do not always do so ;
and it should never be matter of surprise, if Easter fall
on the Sunday of the full moon, whether real or calendar.
It is not correct to say that Easter is made to fall wrongly
in 1845 ; it falls where the legislators, who correctly
copied the rule of the Roman church, intended
it should fall, though they did not correctly give
the explanation of the rule they intended to use.
The last time that Easter Sunday fell on the day of
the full moon was in 1818, in which year both the festival
and the full moon were on the 22d of March, the earliest
possible day. It excited some stir, that the definition of
Easter, as contained in the act, should so palpably be
violated, and an Oxford clergyman publicly protested
against the observance of Easter on the (as be thought it)
wrong day." The calculation in the almanack completely
unfixes all the moveable feasts. Only one, instead of
two, Sundays are allotted after the Ephiphany; but 27,
instead of 26, Sundays announced after Trinity! Easter
rarely falls earlier than the 26th or 30th of March, and by
thus pushing it back a week earlier the greatest inconve-
nience may be experienced. How is this mistake to be
rectified? Are the almanacks as authoritative as the let-
ter of the church rubric?
ADVENTURES IN SEARCH OF THE BANK ROBBERS.--
Burgess and Elder, the perpetrators of the late Bank of
England robbery, it will be remembered, left England in
the steamer Britannia, bound for Halifax and Boston.
As it was uncertain to which of these places they would
go, Forrester, the police-officer, set off for Halifax first;
but finding no trace of them there, waited two days, until
the Britannia touched, on her homeward passage, at that
port. He met with the captain, and from him learned
that they had been passing by the name of Ellis, senior
and junior, uncle and nephew, and that they bad made
acquaintance with an American gentleman, resident at
Michigan, who had landed with them at Boston, the two
former having with them a very heavy portmanteau, to
which they seemed to attach much importance. There
boing no vessel to sail for Boston for some days, Forres-
ter instantly proceeded by land, a distance of 600 miles.
He there learned that the fugitives and their new friend
had proceeded to New York, whither he rapidly wont.
He had been advised to go to the Astor Hotel, one of the
best in the city, but finding an election crowd at the door,
he drove to another and another hotel, until he found one
whicn he thought likely, from not being so public. It is
usual to keep a list of visitors at these inns, and on cast-
ing his eyes upon the list at that hotel, he found the
names of Messrs. Ellis. He instantly procured a warrant
for their apprehension ; but on further inquiry found they
had left the city upwards of a fortnight. He then followed
them, tracing them with infinite pains up to the town of
Buffalo, about 500 miles from New York. He found they
had been there, under the name of Ellis, but had gone,
and he could obtain no information as to whither. The
Falls of Niagara are about 80 miles from this town, and
thither he went in hopes that they might have visited the
magnificent scene ; and hewas right in his conjecture, their
names being inserted in the visitors' book. They had
stayed two days at the Cataract Hotel, but no one knew
where they had gone. But they bad visited the Falls
without the incumbrance of luggage, so that the inference
was that they had returned to Buffalo. where they had
probably left the bulk of their plunder. Forrester ac-
cordingly returned to that town, but could gain no tidings
of them there. In this difficulty he resolved to proceed
in search of the American gentleman who had been in
their company to Michigan, and sailed for Detroit, (the
capital of the state, on board a steamer on Lake Erie.
The vessel encountered a terrific storm, and with great
difficulty returned. In a few days, however, he set out
again, and ultimately reached the gentleman's residence,
60 miles beyond Detroit. Here he obtained another war-
rant, as the first was unavailable in that state, and he had
some hopes of pouncing upon the fugitives. In this he
was disappointed, but learned from the American that the
parties had invested the money they had brought, imme-
diately on arriving at Boston, having first impudently
inquired of the British consul the character of the various
banks before they would deposit their property. He also
learned that they talked of going into Canada. The
journey from Buffalo to the residence of the American and
back exceeded 800 miles ; but with the information ob-
tained he set out for Boston, a further journey of 600 miles.
He there set on foot the inquiries which terminated in the
capture of both Elder and Burgess, in the manner already
detailed to the public.

Cast finbles%

Now loading, and warranted first vessel or fo 'fejt freight,
and any engagement to that effect will be given.
For BATAVIA,
/4/%4' The splendid Liverpool-built barque
j 1,4 F; - RANGER,
JOHN M'MILLAN, Commander,
(Who is well acquainted with the trade ;)
A 1 for eleven years ; 304 tons ; coppered ; and well known
as a remarkably fast sailer.—For terms of freight or pas-
sage, her accommodations being very superior, apply on
board, west side Prince's Dock, or to
W. and J. TYRER.

Now loading, and will meet with quick despatch.
For CALCUTTA,
The very fine Liverpool-built Ship
4401 DUKE OF WELLINGTON,
JAMES HAE.GREAVES. Commander,

(Who is well acquainted in the trade ;)
A 1 at Lloyd's for 12 years ; 424 tons ; newly coppered ;
bas just completed her second voyage ; is a remarkably
fast sailer, and will be found in all respects a most desira-
ble conveyance for goods and passengers, having splendid
.poop accommodations.—For terms, &c. apply to Messrs.
GLADSTONE and Co., or to J. J. STARKEY.

wWill have quick despatch.
rss For CALCUTTA,
• r. 11?!. The fine new Barque MANCHESTER,
4-41 THOMAS HALL, Commander ;
Classed at Lloyd's A 1 for eight years • 313 tons register ;
and coppered ; has first-rate accommodations for passen-
gers.—For terms of freight or passage apply to Messrs.
BARTON, IRLAM, and HIGGINSON, or to
W. N. MOORE and BROTHER,
4, India-buildings.