The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-08-13 00:00:00

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ELOQUENCE.—At a meeting of journt ymen tailors at
Cambridge, relative to a strike at St Ives, one of the
speakers sa'd :—" What he asked for is justice, immortal
and immaculate, which, though all the guilty globe should
blaze, would rise above the blazing pile, with not one
downy feather ruffled by its fierceness."
A FINELY-TURNED. COMPLIMENT.—AS R lady of the
Fortescue family, who possessed great personal beauty,
was walking along a narrow lane, she perceived just be-
hind her a hawker of earthenware. driving an ass with
two paniers, laden with his stock-in-trade. To give the
animal and his master room to pass, the lady suddenly
stepped aside, which so frightened the donkey that he ran
away, and had not proceeded far when he fell, and a great
The lady in her turn

part of the crockery was
became alarmed lest the man should load her with
if not offer to insult ner, hut he merely exclaimed, '
ver mind, madam, Balaaw's ass was frightened by an
angel !"

abuse,
" Ne-

CALIF9RNiAN GOLD.—In the " Voyage Round the
World," by Captain George Shelvocke, begun Feb. 1719,
he says of California (Harris's Collection, vol. i. p. 233),
" The soil about Puerto, Seguro, and veh likely in most
of the valleys, is a rich black mould, which, as you turn
it fresh up to the sun, appears as if intermingled with gold
dust; some of which we endeavoured to purify and wash
from the dirt; but though we were a little prejudiced
against the thoughts that it could he possible that this
metal should be so promiscuously and un vernally mingled
with common earth, yet we endeavoured to cleanse and
wash the earth from some of it; and the more we did,
the more it appeared like gold. In order to be further
satisfied, I brought away some of it, which we lost in our
confusion in China." How an accident prevented the
discovery, more than a century hack of the golden harvest
now gathering in California !—Notes and Queries.
A SCENE FROM THE OLD FRENCH REVOLUTION.—We
met in an old collection which has just fallen into our hands,

tween Senlis and Pont-Maxence is a public-house, well
known for the probity of the owners. St. Just baited
there one day with his suite, and ordered dinner to be
"We have nothing but eggs and bread," said

served

the landlord. "And that turkey that I see, for whom is
it intended ?" " For a person who occupies the first
floor, and who has already paid for it," was the reply.
"No matter, I must have it." " Permit me, citizen, to
ask his consent, as it no longer belongs to me." " Well,
then, tell him that a representative of the people wants
it." The landlord proceeded to ask the permission of his
guest, but the answer was a refusal. St. Just left instantly,
proceeded to the next post, ordered the gendarmerie to'
ride to the public-house, and arrest the 'whole of the
occupants of the first floor. His orders were immediately
obeyed. In two hours after they were guillotined l—lm
partial de Rouen.
ANECDOTE OF DR. CHALIKERS.—WhiIe very busily

udy, a man entered, whc

wation of an un-
expected interruption, by telling him that he called under
great distress of mind. " Sit down, sir ; be good enough
to be seated," said Dr. Chalmers, turning eagerly and full
of interest from his writing-table. The visitor explained
to him that he was troubled with doubts about the Divine
origin of the Christian religion ; and being kindly ques-
tioned as to what these were, he gave, among others, what
is said in the Bible about Melchizedek being without
father and without mother, &c. Patiently and anxiously
Dr. Chalmers sought to clear away each successive diffi-
culty as it was stated. Expressing himself as if greatly
relieved in mind, and imagining that he had gained his
end, " Doctor," said the visitor, " I am in great want of a
little money at present, and perhaps you could help me
in that way." At once the object of his visit was seen.
A perfect tornado of indignation burst upon the deceiver,
driving him in very quick retreat from the study to the
street-door, these words escaping among others—" Not a
penny, sir ! not a penny ! It's too bad ! it's too bad !
And to haul in your hypocrisy upon the shoulders of
Melchizedek !"—Second volume of " Chalmers' Life."
THE LATE SIR ROBERT PEEL.—Posterity, in forming,
its judgment, cannot ignore striking and singular traits in
the public life of Sir Robert Peel. His portrait cannot
be painted in one point of view. His character cannot
be dashed off with the broad lines and brilliant colours of
eulogy, or the luminous purity of his motives contrasted
with deep Rembrandt shadows of suspicion or condemna-
tion. He was many-sided, a political philosopher, not so
much in distillations of wisdom, or in concrete policy, as

Other men were impressib:

in impressim,.... ___—_, by pre-
judice, passion, interests ; he could only be moved by
tangible realities, by facts. To study him, you must
study the time in which he lived ; which acted upon him,
but which was still more re-acted upon. A superficial

judgment. for or against, will not satisfy posterity ; nor
a pretended impartiality—a mere balancing. It was the
singular fate of the late Sir Robert Peel to have been at
war, during his life, with all parties and principles in
alternation. He exhausted alike the hatred of his
friends and the eulogy of his foes. He convicted all his
contemporaries of blindness, insincerity, or inconsistency.
Himself charged with inconsistency, he still more signally
caused the inconsistency of others. There was not a
public man, or a public writer, whom he did not compel
to think and say of him at one time the absolute reverse
of what he had said at another. Tories, Whigs, Radicals,
Churchmen, and Dissenters, idolaters of protection, and
fanatics of free-trade, all were alike wrong in their con-
ception of this many-phased character. Each was in
turn wrecked by trusting to only one aspect of this politi-
cal revolving light.—Fraser's Magazine.
A NEW VERSION OF AN OLD TALE.—If we had not
the best warranty for the following amusing circumstance
we should almost fear to find it placed among those apos
cryphal anecdotes which are endurable because they are
" characteristic." We can, however, vouch for its per-
fect truth :—" The reader is familiar with the story of

Mazeppa, and i
splendid theatre, Astley's. A few hours since, a sailor,
evidently of the man-of-war breed, paid a visit to the
theatre and occupied a seat in the pit. He watched the
course of the story with attention. He sympathised with
the true love of the Hetman and the fayre young
ladye ;' he lamented the interruption it experienced, and
couid not at all perceive the justice of the proceeding
by which the Palatine doomed Mazeppa to be lashed to
the back of a wild horse in the desert. In deference,
however, to the presence of a large audience, Jack for a long
time witnessed the whole proceeding with calmness, if not
with patience. At length his indignation rose to a high
and ungovernable pitch. Seeing Mazeppa, as he sup-
posed. exhausted with his long gallop over the steppes, he
bounded from the pit and endeavoured to make his way
over the orchestra in order to put an end to such tyranni-
cal treatment on the stage. He invoked his eyes and
limbs to bear witness that he would not allow a gentle-
man to be so dealt with. He hadn't deserved it, and he
(Jack) would be —no matter what—if it should con-
tinue. The musicians in the orchestra remonstrated with
the tar, and endeavoured to persuade him that the whole
was a sham—a mere make pretence. That wouldn't do
for Jack : he had the use of his senses as well as other
people, and he saw what was going on ; and shiver his
timbers if he'd stand it at any price. The musicians,
however, were too much for the honest man-of-war's man.
Unlike Mr. T. P. Cooke, who scatters a whole army of
opponents single-handed, Jack succumbed to the united
orchestral force, not, however, without expressing a
hearty wish that he had his messmate, Big Tom, by his
side, he'd soon let them feel whether a British sailor
would sit quietly by and see such a thorough gentleman
as Mazeppa ill used. At length the blue jacket was in-
duced to waive his interference and silently await the re-
sult. Great, then, was his delight to find that justice was
at length done to Mazeppa, and his true love restored to
him, with all honours and rejoicings. He would now
have given a week's grog to have been allowed to jump
on the stage, and congratulate the worthy gentleman on
his ultimate triumph; but as this was as much out of
rule as his proposed vi et armis interference, he con-
tented himself with giving three cheers for the triumph
of justice, and making the best of his way home to re-
count the whole matter to his old friend Big Tom. We
need not say that the whole affair created the greatest
amusement amongst a crowded auditory ; and it is very
much to Mr. Batty's credit that he and his officers treated
the poor fellow's unintentional interruption with kindness
and consideration.—United Service Gazette.

of Mr. Baity's

®.

THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.
(From the Dublin University Magazine for August.)

When Dover shall have been united with Calais, by the
realisation of this project, and when the various line Snow
in progress and contemplated on the Continent shall be
completed, London will be connected by continuous lines
of telegraphic communication with Brussels. Berlin, Ham-
burg, Lubeck, Bremen, Dantzig, Leipsic, Dresden,
Prague, Vienna, Trieste, Munich, Augsburg!), Stuttgard,
and the towns along the right bank of the Rhine, from
Cologne to Basle; also.with Amsterdam, the Hague, Rot-
terdam, Antwerp, and every part of Belgium ; also with
Boulogne, Lisle, Valenciennes, Paris, Strasburg, Bor-
deaux, Lyons, Marseilles, and all the intermediate towns.
On the arrival of the Indian mail at Marseilles the lead-
ing journals of Llndon, at a cost which would appear fa
bulous, have obtained their despatches by means of special
couriers riding express from Marseilles to Boulogne, and
by express steamers from Boulogne to Folkestone. All
this will he changed. The agent of the Times at Mar-
seilles will receive from the Alexandrian steamer the des-
patches ready perforated on the ribbon of paper (a pro-.
cess which may be executed before their arrival), he will
take it to the telegraph office, where it will be attached to
the instrument, and will be transmitted direct to London
at the rate of twenty thousand words per hour on each
wire. Two wires will, therefore, transmit three columns
of fly, Times in eight minutes ! !

It a Loudon merchant desire to dispatch an important
communication to his correspondent at Hamburg or Ber-
lin, he will be able to do so, sad to obtain an answer in
five minutes, provided the letter and answer do not exceed
a thousand words, and that his correspondent is ready
without delay to reply.
If the Foreign Secretary desire to send en important
despatch to the British minister at Vienna, he is obliged
at present to expedite it by a Queen's messenger travel-
ling express. He will then have only to get it perforated
on a ribbon of paper in characters known only to himself
and the ambassador, and for yard it to Vienna at the rate
of three hundred words per minute.
A project has been announced in the journals, which
might be justly regarded as the creature of some candi-
date for Bedlam, if after what we have stated as being
actually practised we would dare to pronounce anything
of the kind impracticable. The project we i.llude to is to
carry a telegraphic communication across the Atlantic!
It is proposed to encase a number of wires in a coating
which will not be affected by sea water, and to sink it i❑
the ocean ! One extremity of this electric cable is to be
fixed at New York or Boston, and the other, we presume,
at Galway !

On the occasion of the first meeting of the British Asso-
ciation held is Dublin, in 1836, Dr. Lardner, in a speech
delivered in the Rotunda, startled the public by a predic-
tion, that "the day was at hand when a railway across
Ireland, from Dublin to Galway, or some other western
port connected wish a line of Atlantic steamers, would
render Ireland one stage on a gnat highway, connecting
London with New York." It is a tact sufficiently curious,
that this prediction has been literally verified ; but what
would have been said at that time, had the doctor hinted
at the hare possibility of an electric wire crossing Ireland,
and forming part of one continuous wire uniting these
capitals, along which streams of intelligence, political,
commercial and social. would he constantly flowing.

ANIMALS IMITATING DEA7 II TO SAVE THEIR LIVES—
During a visit to Cumberland we found several hedgehogs
in Inglewood Forest. One of these, in order to destroy
it, we put in the pond. It swam about in a circular di-
rection for some time, and reached the shore. Atter put-
ting it into the water a second time, it remained motion-
less, and apparently dead, and we left it on the grass.
During the night, however, it walked away. The spider
will imitate death to save itself; and canaries have been
taught by some showmen to look as if they were dead.
The most curious case, however, was that of a fox in the
north. A farmer had discovered that he come along a
beam in the night to seizes his poultry. He accordingly
sawed the end of the beam nearly through, and in the
night the fox fell into a place whence he could not escape.
On going to him in the morning, the farmer found him
stiff. and, as he thought, lifeless. Taking him out of the
building he threw him on the dunghill ; but, in a short
time, Reynard opened his eyes, and, seeing that all was
safe and clear, galloped away to the mountains, showing
more cunning thanZthe man who ensnared him.—Preston
Chronicle.

THE HONEY BIRD.—Mr. Cumming, the author of
" Five Years of a Hunter's Life in the Interior of South-
ern Africa," gives an account of this bird, which invites
attention by unceasing chirpings and hum'nings, and then
invariably leads the hunter to a wild bee's nest, on reach-
ing which it hovers above the nest, pointing to it with its
bill, and then takes up its position in the neighbouring
tree, awaiting its share of the honey, which the traveller
obtains by stupefying the bees, by burning grass at the

entrance Of their do

tricks, and the pursuit in quest of honey frequently brings
the traveller into the presence of a grisly lion or a crouch-
ing panther. Mr. Cumming, when once recreating him.
self in quail shooting, was lured by the honey bird for a
mile through the glades adjoining the Linopudo river,
where, instead of finding honey he was brought face to
face with a crocodile of vast size, no part of his body
being visible above the water except his head. His
glancing eyes were anxiously directed toward eight or ten
large hull buffaloes, which. in seeking to quench their
thirst in the river, were crackling through the dry reeds
as they waded in the deep mud. Fortunately for the
buffaloes, the depth of the mud prevented their reaching
the stream, and thus the scaly monster was disappointed
of his prey.
THE GREAT WANT OF THE DAY.—There is a capital
story of the late Mr. Ducrow in Bentley!s Miscellany for
August. We shall never, in future years, read the list of
bills withdrawn to accelerate the close of the Parliamen-

Lary session without wishing for a Ducrow in the Cabinet.
A foreign rope-dancer had been engaged at Astley's, and
the newspapers and bills of the day announced that he
was to ascend on the tight-rope from the stage to the gal-
lery. The rope was fixed in the morning for practice.
Monsieur de Funambul appeared, felt the rope, tried its
tension, found fault with this, altered that ; one thing was
not right, another wrong ; in fact, the gentleman seemed
disinclined to the task. Ducrow stood by en robe de
chambre and slippers. His patience became exhausted.
" I say, monsieur, that appears a very difficult job."
" Mais oui." " Well, let's see if Andrew can do it."
With the word, Ducrow was on the rope, and in one mi-
nute more in the gallery and back, down the rope, on the
stage. The Frenchman looked aghast, nor did Ducrow's
parting observation tend to relieve his astonishment :
" There's a good deal of humbug about you, monsieur :
that's the way to do it." Would that we had in the Ca-
binet a minister whose special function it was to shew his
colleagues " the way to do it," and all nerve, alertness,
and skill required for his post !—Daily News.
A DINNER PARTY, AT WINDSOR PALACE. —M-
-, an officer of great intelligence, and associated in a
work of much interest connected with the ancient Scrip-
ture History of India, arrived a short time since in this
country, and his arrival, together with some observations
on the work in which he was engaged, appeared in the
London papers. A few days after he was surprised to
receive, at his hotel, through the Lord Chamberlain, an
invitation, or perhaps we should rather call it a command
to dine at the Palace at Windsor—an honour which sur-
prised him, as he was only just arrived from India, and
had never been presented at Court. He determined, of
course, to comply with the august and agreeable com-
mand, and proceeded to his tailor, who fitted him out in
the usual adornment befitting him for the high company
amongst whom he was about to appear. At the Castle he
presented himself on the appointed day, and was received
by the tall magnificent footmen in scarlet liveries, one or
two of whom stood on each landing, and, silent as
mutes, but more gorgeous, pointed their fingers in the
direction he was to take ; following up the grand stair-
case, the course this line of brilliant finger-posts pointed
out, he entered one ante-room, where he was received by
some high officer, and mutely directed to another, and at
length found himself in one where some gentlemen simi-
larly attired to himself were waiting in a group. He
presently recognized one of them, an eminent historian,
with whom he had been acquainted. Here they remained
conversing for a few minutes, when suddenly the folding
doors at one end of the room were thrown open, and,
preceded by the Grand Chamberlain, with his rod of
office, her Majesty, leaning on the arm of Prince Albert,
appeared, and without pausing to take any notice of her
guests, passed quite through the room in which they were,
and out through corresponding doors which led to the
dining or banquetting room on the other side, the com-
pany silently following. They took their seats, Prince
Albert next her Majesty, and the other guests down the
table, which was not large, as the dinner party was
a limited one. There was no general conversation—the
guests spoke in subdued tones to each other, her Majesty
spoke to none, and the Prince only let fall a few words
to some one near him, until at length the few words
gradually grew fewer. This, however, was not so
awkward as a silent dinner party might seem under other
circumstances, as the magnificent band of the Coldstream
Guards, in an adjoining apartment, were playing the
finest airs, and good music is any day better than indiffer-
ent conversation. Nevertheless it was' a chilling scene,
and as soup, fish, and flesh were handed round by the
" tall fellows" in crimson, some no doubt thought they
would prefer, as a general rule, less grandeur and more
cordiality. Dinner concluded, her Majesty remained a
short time, then arose, and again preceded by the officers
of state, returned to the drawing-room, as I suppose we
may call it ; never having spoken all the time to her
company. The Prince's mood, however, became more
hearty as soon as her Majesty had left, and he led in a
general and lively conversation on antiquarian subjects,
in which he displayed large reading and great intelligence.
While they were thus pleasantly and intellectually engaged,
it was announced that her Majesty expected their presence
to coffee, with her ladies in waiting. Here matters
again relapsed into the same splendid state silence as in
the early part of the dinner. Coffee was handed round,
and each guest mutely sipped his cup, regarding Majesty,
if one might speak so, from a distance. While M— was
wondering when the signal to depart would be given, the
Grand Chamberlain advanced, and informed him that her
Majesty had given orders that he should be presented, he
therefore came forward to where her Majesty was seated
in the same room, and with as much form as though he
had not met her at dinner, he knelt and touched with his
lips the hand that was offered, and this ceremony gone
through, again retired, fully expecting that this was an end
of a stately but somewhat stupid day. But it was not
so ;
for, a quarter of an hour subsequently, he was in-
formed that her Majesty, who retired to a kind of alcove or
recess, about as deep as an embayed window, wished to
converse with him ; he accordingly presented himself be-
fore his Sovereign, who, no longer in formal state, imme-
diately entered with vivacity and intelligence into conver-
sation on the particular andinteresting, and, in many re-
spects, learned subject in which he had been engaged,
sheaving in all her inquiries and observations a well-stored,
clear, and cultivated mind. When her Majesty had con-
versed for some time, and sufficiently informed herself,
she rose, and M— retired, and soon after he and the
other guests departed.—Bristol