The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-08-06 00:00:00

manded for a week

INCREASE OF OUR NATIONAL ESTABLl_____—.
The shape in which this habit of super-addition most

MENTS

appeals to the senses and becomes most ludicrous, is the
material of our armaments. We have a stock of guns,
shot, shells. powder, hall-cartridges, rockets, anchors,

the most lavish possible consumption for at least three
years. Yet, besides deterioration by time, no man would
venture to say how much of this vast magazine of de-
struction has not been superseded by improvements ; so
that if we had to prepare for war in good earnest, we
should probably have to add new material to our old. At

present, if a man proposes an improvement in the musket,
he is told he must adapt it to the existing 65 millions of
ball cartridges ; and if he thinks he has found out a better
cartridge or ball, he is told they must be large enough to
fit the existing muskets. Had gun cotton, been found a
safe and effective agent, it would have superseded some
170,000 barrels of gunpowder. The fire in the Tower
saved us from the necessity of keeping a hundred thousand
obsolete muskets ; but nothing is more likely than that
our present store will be equally out of date by the time
it is wanted. As for our navy, it is becoming almost too
tragical an affair to be talked about. We have added
three-decker to three-decker and steam-frigate to steam-
frigate, till all that can be said is that we possess the
largest accumulation of rotten wood and rusty iron in the
world. It has been our ambition not merely to do every-
thing as if we did that alone, but to do everything on a
grand scale because we do other things on a grand scale.
—Times.

BALLOON ASCENT ON HORSEBACK.—VauxhaII Gardens
were attended by a large concourse of people on Wednes-
day to witness Mr. Green make an ascent on horseback.
A particularly small pony, not larger than an ordinary-
sized Newfoundland dog, and weighing no more than
2001 b., was introduced to view, and several men were soon
employed in the operation of strapping him down to the
slender framework, which had been fixed under the hoop
of the balloon. This work was superintended by Mr.
Green• himself, who evidently did not much relish the
experiment in which he had embarked. The feet of the
little animal were inserted into sockets cut expressly for
the purpose, and fixed therein by leathern straps attached
to his fetlocks. A handkerchief was then tied over his
eyes, whilst his head was rendered motionless by a nape
on either side, fastened to the cords which held the balloon.
Whilst this process was going on the spectators took an
opportunity of expressing their opinions upon the exhibi-
tion, and the general impression appeared to be, that the
act, if not absolutely cruel, was supremely ridiculous.
Everything being arranged, and the pony being, as was
supposed, well secured, the " veteran' mounted his
charger—a feat which he performed by bestriding the
animal like a Colossus—and, placing his feet upon the
bags of ballast on either side, the balloon rose and imme-
diately afterwards the pony gave a plunge, which rendered
the position of the aeronaut more perilous than he had
anticipated. Mr. Green, however, patted his back, and
thus restored him to better humour; and in a few moments
the man, pony, and balloon were lost to view.
THE IMPORTANCE OF SANITARY REGULATIONS.—
That a free supply of light and air is essential to human
existence, all the experience of sanitary reformers proves.
The agricultural labourer, having an abundant supply of
light and air, will live longer, and enjoy better health
than the metropolitan working man, now amply fed, but
robbed of air and sun. The metropolitan out-door la-
bourer will live longer than the better fed and clothed
tradesman who spends the greater part of his life in a
close, dark dwelling. From an analysis of the 60,000
deaths from consumption, which annually take place in
England and Wales, the conclusion has been arrived at,
that tradesmen are nearly twice as liable to consumption
as the gentry, owing chiefly to the hot, close, ill-ventilated
rksthe
day ; that in-door labourers are more subject to consump-
tion
wothhps, in whichaonthosewh thofe formerollow pass
their
employments manyploy of hours
ments out of
doors, though exposed to all the inclemencies of the
in -door
worse food, clothing, and lodging ; and that o f -
weather, and earning
labourers, those engaged in workshops are more subject
less wages, and having consequently
to consumption
precautionary do for health may measures will be illus-
trated by reference to the small pox. In Denmark,
through strict laws relating to vaccination, mortality
than those employed at home ! What
from small pox has been scarcely known since 1800. In
Bavaria, as long ago as 1820, this disease was determi-
nated. Yet in England, through care for the liberty of
the subject (?), during the three years ending 1840, the
average annual deaths from small pox was TWELVE
THOUSAND I—Ths Builder.