The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-07-18 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

EXTRAORDINARY DISCLOSUREIMPORTANT
TO RAILWAY SHAREHOLDERS: • ,

At a time when an increased desire to invest in railway
undertakings is being manifested, the following important
disclosure, made in a petition presented to the House of
Lords, may not be without value. The petitioner stated
that he was a shareholder in the North Wales Railway.,
the act for which passed in 1845, since which two instal-
ments of 10 per cent. had been paid up. We give the
remainder of the facts in the reported words of Lord
Monteagle

" Soon after a change in the directly: n of the company took
place, and one of the first proceedings of the new directiOn was
to lend.the money of the North Wales Railway Company for
the purpose of completing another railway with which the
North Wales Railway had nothing to do. Many of the mem-
bers of the new direction were also directors of the London
and Richmond Company, and to this latter company, the mo-
ney of the North Wales Company was lent. But, as the North
Wales Railway Company were not empowered by law to-lend,
nor the London and Richmond Company to borrow, the course
taken was not to lend the money to the London and Richmond
Company in its corporate capacity, but to private individuals
• connected with the company on their notes of hand. After a
time the Richmond Railway-, was made, and sold to another
company. The directors of the North Wales Company, having
lent the money on insufficient security, and contrary to law,
nevertheless thought proper, when this took place, to repeat
the experiment, and they lent the money of the company to
two other individuals. A shareholder applied to inspect the
accounts, and-after some resistance he was allowed to have ac-
cess to them. Their lordships would hardly. believe in what
manner those accounts were kept. He held in his hand a copy
of the very account in question, and he found these entries,—
"Loan to A' for investment, £1,500." "Loan to B' for dit-
to, £1,200." "Loan to 'C' for ditto, ..?4,000 "Loan to D'
for ditto, £8,000." "Loan to E' for ditto, £3,000." "Loan
to F' for ditto. £1,003," " Loan to G' for ditto,. £1,000."
In fact, the account was a cypher which explained nothing.
The parties asked for an explanation as to who. were repre-
sented by the letters "A," "B," "C," "D," "E," " F," and
" G," but that was refused. These were the two main allega-
tions contained in this petition; namely, first, a misapplication
of the funds from the purposes for which they were intended
by Parliament, from the North Wales Railway Company to the
London and Richmond Railway Company; and secondly, the
manner in which the accounts were kept. The answer of the
directors to the latter charge related a most curious fact. T4ey
stated that this mode of keeping accounts,—namely, that of
putting forward an unintelligible account to be inspected by the
shareholders, and keeping a private ledger for their own use,
was the common course taken by other railway companies, and
they justified themselves by this most extraordinary plea.."

To us it really seems incredible that any other compa-
nies adopt a course such as these North Wales directors
declare that they do. If it is so, however, it would be
only prudent for every man, before investing bis money
in the stock of any of these new companies, to ascertain
where is the money which their shares represent.

CONDITION OF THE PAPAL STATES

(From the Rev. Hobart Seymour's Pilgrimage to Rome.)

IDOLATROUS WORSHIP,

At the top of this magnificent mass of white marble is the
front of the church : and it was on this spot I stood to witness
" the blessing of the most holy Bambino." It was one of those
sites once witnessed can never be effaced ; there on the mind it
must remain ineffably graven for ever. The elevation of this
spot was such as to command a view of a large portion of the
space and ascent of the Capitol ; and further below all the wide
place or street by which it is approached. together with the long
flight of steps ascending to the church : the whole were thronged
to excess. The masses of the people were wedged together as
closely as possible, presenting to the eye one compact body of
living things from the Capitol above, down the slope, to the
space below, and then up the marble steps to the church.
There could not be less than five thousand persons, every head
uncovered, and every face upturned, gazing intently upon this
scene in front of the church.
And such a scene I

There, at the height of an hundred and twenty-four steps
above the people—there stood the priests in their splendid
robes. On one side were arranged about forty monks : on the
other hand about as many more : and clothed in their sombre
dresses and waving their blazing torches in their hands, they
presented a scene of the most striking appearance. In the
midst were the more immediate officials, holding aloft their gi-
gantic torches : and in the centre of these again were the priests,
surrounding the High Priest, who held the little image—the
Bambino. in his hand. At least one hundred torches, each in
the hand of an ecclesiastic, glittered and flamed around. The
monks stood in their places; the ecclesiastics gathered together;
the incense was waved and enwrapped all for a moment in its
clouds and its perfume; the military band tilled the whole
place with a crash of music, and the soldiers of the guard pre-
sented arms, as the Chief Priest lifted the little image—slowly
lifting the Bambino, rising it above his head. In an instant, as
if the Eternal Jehovah was visibly present in the image, among
the vast multitude gazing from far beneath, every head was un-
covered before it, and every knee was bent to it, and almost
every living soul was prostrate before it. He raised it slowly a
second time; he raised in the same manner only more slowly
the third time; and the muttered words of prayer ascended from
the vast multitude, and told how deeply and universally rooted
among the people is this worship of the Bambino. I felt as if
my blood was frozen within me at so awful a spectacle.

THE ADORATION OF THE CROSS

The Cardinal and his assistants left the altar, and placed the
cross on a cushion, on the floor of the chapel, a few paces from
the steps of the altar, and retired.
And here the ceremony commenced indeed. Two or three
Cardinals approached the Pope, they stripped off his splendid
robes, they removed his glittering mitre, they took off his em
broidered shoes, they laid aside his spangled gloves, till he stood
before his throne without one emblem of his royal or papal of-
fice. There stood the old man bareheaded and bare-footed, and
stripped till he seemed to retain little else than a loose white
dressing-gown, the dress of a monk of Camaldoli. There he
stood, not alone, as if the act were a voluntary humiliation, but
in the hands of the Cardinals, who, intending to help him and
uphold him, seemed to be his guards to force and compel him.
There the old man, no longer looking like a Pope, descended
from the throne and seemed like one led away to be punished,
or to do penance. I could not help thinking the old man was,
in a great measure an unwilling actor in this scene ; there was
much uneasiness in his manner; there was dissatisfaction in
his face; and his whole appearance was that of a man who was
obliged to act against his conscience, in complying with a cus-
tom of the Church. _ _ _ _ _

Having conducted the Pope to the end of the chapel, they
turned and faced the cross, which lay on the floor near the steps
of the altar. There they made him kneel and adore it. They
raised him, and conducting him some two or three paces nearer,
they again made him kneel a second time and adore the cross.
Then again they raised him, and leading him nearer still, they
again the third time made him kneel and adore the cross.
Here at the cross they raised him, and then again he knelt,
then rose again and then knelt again. Prostrate before it—on
knees and hands, he kissed it, and, according to custom, left an
hundred scudi of gold as an offering beside it. He was after-
wards conducted to his throne and robed, while the most ex-
quisite music from the choir accompanied the whole ceremony.
When this is completed by the Pope, the same act is per-
formed by each of the Cardinals, all without shoes, adoring and
kissing the cross. These are followed by the bishops, heads of
orders, &c., all adoring it in like manner, and all making to it
an offering of money.
The Deacons then spread the cloth on the altar, light the can-
dles, and reverently place the cross, no longer on the floor, but
on the altar amidst the candlesticks.
Such is—THE ADORATION OF THE CROSS :—An act of wor-
ship that moved me intensely, infinitely more than anything I
had witnessed at Rome. It was an act the most solemn and
impressive, and bore every characteristic of IDOLATRY.

AN ECCLESIASTIC NONPLUSSED.

I went, accompanied by many others, into the grotto of sub-
terranean chapels, which constitute the vaults on which St.
Peter's is built. We were conducted by the Sacristan to the
altar, which is said to contain the bodies of the two martyred
Apostles. It is directly under the great high altar of the upper
church ; and there in the darkness of that subterranean chapel,
these two Apostles were said to sleep their sleep of death. The
Sacristan with much reverence called our attention to the spot,
and I asked him whether it was indeed certain—whether, inas-
much as learned antiquarians have doubted, and even denied it,
it had ever been clearly ascertained by ocular search, that the
remains of St. Peter and St. Paul were indeed deposited there.
He replied that there was no doubt of the fact, and that they
certainly were there. My wife reminded him that the heads of
St. Peter and St. Paul were said to be in the church of St. John
of Lateran, and that we had seen them exhibited there in pub-
lic ; and she asked how they could also be in St. Peter's. He
replied that it was indeed very true, that the heads of the Apos-
tles were at St. John's, but that the bodies were at St. Peters.
My wife again reminded him, that in some other churches we
had seen the arms and legs of these Apostles; and suggested
that they could not, without unnatural multiplication be also in
St. Peter's. He replied that it was very true that the arms and
legs, &c., were in other churches; but that the bodies were cer-
tainly at St. Peter's where we now stood. I then took occasion
myself to ask, whether the whole bodies, without the heads,
arms, and legs, were there, for that I had seen some of the ribs,
shoulders, vertebra', were exhibited in other churches. He an-
swered still that the bodies were beneath the altar, beside which
we were then standing. I suggested to him that there could
only be some parts or portions of the bodies, as other parts and
portions were claimed elsewhere. He admitted in reply that
such was the case, and that it was not the bodies, but only
some fractions of the bodies, that were buried beneath St.
Peter's I I then again asked whether it was possible to see
them, and whether any one had searched and found them,—an
easy matter it really contained in that altar, and an easy way
of confuting all gainsayers. I placed my hand on the altar and
repeated my question, in a manner free from mere scepticism
or irreverence ; and he replied that, though they had searched
for them yet they had never found them, because they were bu-
ried so deep—too deep to find them. They were "motto pro-
rondo," very deep in the earth ! I thought the difficulty of
finding them could be more easily solved, by supposing their
absence,—that they had never been there. This conversation
passed in the presence of at least a dozen persons, and it shows
how very slender are the claims to authenticity, on the part of
some of their most valued relics.

THE JESUITS.—Wide as the poles apart must ever be
the Jesuits and all bible societies. But against thrones as
well as bibles are hurled the Jesuits' denunciations, for
" the whole school of theologians and ecclesiastical law-
yers," say they, " maintain, and it is a thing most cer
tain, and a matter of faith, that every Christian prince, if
he has manifestly departed from the Catholic religion, and
has wished to turn others from it, is immediately divested
of all power and dignity, and all his subjects are free from
every obligation of the oath of allegiance, and they may
and they must drive such a man from the sovereignty of
Christian men as an apostate; a heretic, a deserter of the
Lord, an alien and enemy to his country." And all this
was written in direct application to our Queen, and then
she is told, from the same authority, that she has no na-
tural right to the throne, as she and we suppose she has,
but that in fact she has usurped it, the free will and ordi-
nation of the people giving the only right to it. When a
king was assassinated, " splendid boldness of soul," cried
a Jesuit, " memorable exploit." And yet a nobleman, a
few weeks since, publicly asserted that the Jesuits were
lovers of order, and stedfast supporters of thrones; he
should read the Jesuit Mariana's works, and especially the
chapter which treats of the speediest and safest way of
getting rid of an adversary. " What matters it," he asks,
" whether you kill by the sword or by poison ? especially
as treachery and fraud are conceded in the faculty of ac-
tion." Like all ascetics the Jesuits speak contemptuously
of women ; others had done this before their time, and
enough had been said to satisfy any women-haters on this
matter ; but the founder of the Jesuits woald not be sa-
tisfied till he had drawn this comparison between women
and the devil,. " our enemy the devil imitates the nature
and manner of woman, as to her weakness and froward..
ness, for as a woman quarrelling with her husband, &c.,
thus the devil." And yet this is the man who is said to
have received thirty visits from the Virgin, and of whom
" a council of Spanish ecclesiastics of Tarragona declared
that " the Holy Virgin in the sanctuary of Montserrat,
conceived to the sacred Ignatius, and having embraced
him in her bosom, opened and imparted to him the bowels
of her mercy ; and in such a manner, being enveloped in
the womb, she cherished him, and fed him with the food
of heaven, and filled him with her divine spirit."'—," The
letu
• tts,PP Bentley's Miscellany..

etntral littgretianv.

Out of 62,000 persons apprehended by,the London-po-
lice last year, 28,000 had no occupation. .
During the last eighteen years, the streets of London
have increased 200 miles in length, nearly's mile a month.
The metropolis was visited by a severe storm of thunder
and lightning on Friday.
A vessel arrived in the Thames from Canton has brought
the somewhat remarkable importation of -140,000 Chinese
insects, for the purposes of natural history.
The London bankers are discounting commercial= paper
1 per cent. below the minimum fixed by the Bank of
England.
Two children, aged seven and eight, were drowned in
the Severn, near Worcester, last week, whilst amusing
themselves with a fisherman's boat.

The Secretary of State has given orders to the commis-
sioners of the metropolitan police to have alLthe,coastables
taught the sword exercise.

A poor woman died last week at Ipswich, from the ner-
vous shock occasioned by a bee stinging her while she was
superintending a swarming.
The Commissioners of Woods and Forests have ordered
several hundred chairs to be placed in the London parks,
for the accommodation of the public.

The Admiralty Court have decided that government is
to pay for the brig which the " Birkeneead" steam-frigate
ran down in the channel. The frigate was short manned.
A committee has been appinted at Hull to take mea-
sures for the preservation of the public health, in the
event of the town being visited by cholera.
On Saturday last, a young man, preparing to sail from
Dundee to London, was fined ss. for smoking a cigar at
the harbour, after being warned that- it. was contrary to
law.

ARSON.—At Buckingham assizes, on Friday, James
Johnson. farm servant, was sentenced to transportation
for life for setting fire to some farm buildings of his em-
ployer.
On Friday, the bodies of two persons, a male and fe-
male, were found about two feet below the earth in a cel-
lar in Whitefriars, London. The bodies were lying close
to each other.

James Weybury and William Willoughby, railway ser-
vants, were tried at Abingdon, on Saturday, on a charge
of manslaughter, it being alleged that, by the removal of
a horse-box, they caused the late fearful collision on the
Great Western Railway. They were acquitted.
It is in contemplation to establish two more camps si-
milar to that on Kersal Moor—one in Yorkshire, and the
other on the southern or western coast. The troops are
to be regularly drilled, and will have all the appliances for
a campaign, easily movable at an hour's notice.
In a garden at Durham. there is now growing a plant of
" Victoria" rhubarb, which measures about sixteen yards
in circumference, while the stem is above six feet in height ;
and the whole of the plant is estimated to weigh fourteen
stones.

In a garden at Loughborough there is now a currant
tree, on a bough of which are growing both red and white
currants, though no artificial means have been employed
to cause this singular difference in the fruit of the same
tree. _ _

A collier, named Blythe, has been committed for trial
at Bilston, for the wilful murder of his wife. Whilst in a
passion, the prisoner struck the deceased first in the faces
then threw her down, jumped upon and kicked her several
times in the lower part of the person.
IN HEAVEN OR IN PURGATORY ?—We are at a loss to
reconcile the confident assertion of Dr. Wiseman, that
Archbishop Affre was, with St. George and St. Alban,
looking down from heaven upon the consecration of St.
George's Church, with the fact that at that very time
Prayers were offered in all the Churches of France, for the
deliverance of his soul from purgatory.

The Ipswich Express mentions that on Friday last an
old woman living at Bradfield St. George, who was attend-
ing some bees that were swarming, was stung by one of
the insects on her right thumb. She entered her house,
sat down, and exclaimed " How bad I feel !" instantly
fainted, and expired half an hour afterwards.
PUSEYITE DESOLATION.—The Western Times states
that at Teignmoith a blight seems to have gone over the
pews, nothing seems to thrive but the altar, which is
overloaded with vases, and has all the appearance of a
sale shop for the gaherings of Roman antiquities.
A woman threw herself out of a train on the Bury St.
Edmund's Railway, near Witham. The train was at full
speed. She was carried, bruised and insensible, to the
workhouse, where she has since died. It was supposed
that she was insane.

The Banffshire Chronicle says that some time ago, a
boy at Portsoy got a hen's egg from some of his compa-
nions, and carried it about with him in his bosom. One
morning lately, he astonished his parents by exhibiting
to them a lively chicken, which he had thus hatched, and
which bids fair to become a fine fowl.
The horse trick will never become stale amongst persons
who do not take a newspaper. The Gateshead Observer
relates how, at the late Stagshawbank fair, a local preacher
was inveigled, under the old pretence of a quarrel, &c.,
to purchase a horse for £3O, which he was afterwards glad
to sell for £4.

LOUIS PHILIPPE'S FORTUNE.—The Quarterly Review
says that there is no trace of the ex-King having anything
in the American funds, and that all that his Majesty pos-
sesses out of France is £lO,OOO in the British funds,
yielding about £3OO a-year, and that the Queen has about
£5OO a-year in the Austrian funds, a legacy from an aunt,
one of the archduchesses.

FRUIT AND BLOSSOM.—There is, at the present time,
at Fryery, near Bath, a pear tree in full blossom, and it
has also a splendid crop of fruit on it. The tree is nearly
white with blossom. It is a fine large tree, near the
beautiful spring of mineral water which Mr. Brooks, of
Hinton Abbey, lately discovered. The tree has a great
many buds still breaking for blossom.
The Brighton Gazette anticipates a plentiful supply of
prime oysters for the future, a bed, apparently inexhaust-
ible, having been found in the Channel, many miles in
length. Parties at Shoreham are fitting out smacks for
the express purpose of engaging in the oyster trade; and
instead of oysters being sold at 3s. per hundred they will
not realize more than half that sum very shortly.

The Sheffield Iris, the oldest newspaper in Sheffield,
and formerly the property of the esteemed James Mont-
gomery, Esq., has just changed hands. As a commercial
undertaking, its ultra-radical principles have failed to make
it pay in the hands of its late proprietor, and it has now
become the property of the proprietors of the Sheffield
Times, who purpose to continue its publication on Thurs-
days.

FALSE IMPRISONMENT.—On Friday, in the Court of
Queen's Bench, Mrs. Elliot recovered from Mr. Topham,
a manufacturer, of Derbyshire, and Mr. Richardson, a
publisher, of Derby, £l5O damages for false imprison-
ment, they having given her into custody on a charge of
having stolen a sovereign when giving them change in her
capacity of waitress at a dining-house. The jury also
allowed her £2 17s. for money paid to a surgeon and an
attorney.
The Record states that two Protestant readers belong-
ing to the Reformation Society, who were distributing
their tracts to the visitors at the opening of St. George's
Roman Catholic chapel on yesterday se'nnight, were
attacked by the Romanists, who—" Fell upon them, and
kicked them in the most merciless manner; one of them
is laid up in bed, every rag of clothing was torn off him
and had not the police interfered he would have been
killed."

EXTRAORDINARY ROPE OF GALVANIZED IRON WIRE.
—Mr. Andrew Smith, of the wire-rope works, Mill-wall,
Poplar, has just completed one of the most extraordinary
ropes ever manufactured; the rope is for the Fowey Con-
sols Mine, is upwards of 567 fathoms (1300 yards) in
length, and weighs 4 tons 14 cwt. ! We understand it is
composed of the best and longest wire ever yet prepared,
and admirably adapted for the purposes for which it is
intended—the wire being in one entire length.
THE LONDON SHERIFFS ELECT.—Mr. Bousfield and
Mr. Mills, who were on Midsummer-day elected Sheriffs
for London, have declined to serve in the office. Mr.
Bousfield has paid the fine, upwards of £6OO. Mr. Mills,
it is said, disputed the validity of the fine, and will be
proceeded against by the City Solicitor for the amount.
A Common Hall will be held in a few days for the elec-
tion of two other persons to serve in the office. The
fines in such cases are appropriated to the improvement
of the city.

CRICKET.—KENT V. ENGLAND.—This match com-
menced on Monday last, at Lord's, and did not terminate
until Wednesday. The great feature of the game was the
introduction of Hinckley, on the part of Kent, which was
most prosperous. As a bowler he is first.rate, having been
instrumental in taking six wickets in the first innings, and
in the second the whole ten succumbed to his powers.
The following is the result of the contest :—England, first
innings, 120; second ditto 74. Kent, first innings, 90;
second ditto' 40. England thus won by 55 runs.
THE SALE OF BREAD.—A bill is now before the House
of Commons, which is designed to regulate among other
things, the sale of bread. It is proposed to compel bak-
ers to mark, upon each loaf, its weight ; and if, within
thirty-six hours from the time of being baked, a loaf is
weighed in the presence of a magistrate, and found to be
deficient, the baker is to be liable to a fine of ss. for every
ounce so deficient. There are some other exceedingly
objectionable provisions in the bill ; but as there is not
the remotest chance of its being passed into law, it is not
worth while to allude to them.
LIFE POLICIES OF ASSURANCE.—A Bill has been
brought into the House of Commons for the purpose of
making life policies assignable at law. The Bill provides
that from and after the passing of the Act, life policies
may be assignable at law, and that the assignee of a
policy shall be entitled to recover from insurance compa-
nies. Memorandums of assignment are to be endorsed on
the policy of assurance, and the age of the person whose
life is to be insured is to be deemed that which is stated
in the policy. Policies of assurance are to be receivable
as evidence.

THE DITCHY OF LANCASTER.—The income, from all
sources, last year, was £69,735 15s. 10d. The principal
features of expenditure are thus made up :—Salaries to
the head officers of the duchy, £4,977 10s. ; salaries of
the new Stannary Courts, £1,157 10s. ; salaries to per-
sons employed in the collection of the revenue, £2,159
Bs. ; surveys and maps, £1,943 15s. ; repairs and perma-
nent improvements, £5,280 19s. 4d. ; payments to Prince
Albert, £41,728 2s. 6d. ; investment in the purchase of
beneficial interests, £2,013 ;—balance remaining in the
hands of the receiver-general, £7,493 17s.
A NEW SYSTEM OF CANVASSING.—Some idea of the
excitement produced in the neighbourhood of Swansea
during the late election may be formed when it is known
that it even invaded the sacred precincts of tb.e pulpit.
On Sunday night at Cadle Dissenting Chapel, the worthy
minister who officiated (Rev. Evan Morgan, Penydarran),
after dilating, like his great prototype before the Roman
Felix, upon " righteousness, temperance, and judgment
to come," in the plenitude of his holy(?) zeal, directed his
hearers' attention to passing events—tbe election of Co-
roner. After descanting upon the incomparably superior
merits and claims of his favourite, he ended by bursting
into a violent exclamation, " Russell' for ever, Russell for
ever," to the great astoniment and merriment of. his
wondering auditory.—klmford lourfia4.

FREE-KIRKISM IN ENGLAND.—This body is declining.
They have just given up their college, and the two soi-
disant professors, like the ouvriers of Paris, are idle and
at large. Regent-square and-Woolwich Chapels belong
by trust-deed to the Established Church; but as yet the
Free Presbyterians occupy them.
How POOR'S RATES ARE INCREASED.—Robert Blake,
the man who cohabited with Hannah Parker. until she
murdered two of his children (for which crime she was
executed a short time ago at Newgate); was brought be-
fore the magistrates at the Birmingham police-office on
Thursday, charged with having deserted his wife and
child who have at times been- relieved by the parish au-
thorities of that borough since January, 1843. It ap-
peared from the evidence of a relieving-officer that he ap-
prehended Blake at Mr. Plurnmer's saw-mills, Golden-
lane, St. Luke's, on a warrant ordered by the guardians
of the poor of the parish of.J3irmingham, and that his
wife and children had received relief amounting to £llO
Os. 7d. He was convicted, and sentenced to two months'
imprisonment in the house of correction at Warwick,
with hard labour. This man's criminality has been very
expensive to the public.
DEATH FROM TAKING BELLADONNA SALVE:I,IVMM-
NALLY.—ConsiderabIe interest has been excited at Shef-
field by the circumstance of an old man named Thomas
Greaves, residing in Love-lane, who, being an out-patient
of the Infirmary, went to that institution on Tuesday for
his medicine, when he received from the porter-a box of
pills, a plaister, and a quantity of salve, composed' of the
extract of belladonna, the last of. which, according to the
statement of the porter, lie was instructed to spread on
the plaister. It seems, however, that from. some mis- nrmi
apprehension or other-on •the part of the•old, roan, he Th
took a small portion of the poisonous salve on Tuesday form
night, under the idea that it was an electuary, The con-
sequence was, that after enduring great agony; he expired ,-..•a"
the following day. There appeared to be- a want of
sufficient caution at the Infirmary, with regard to the
fixing of proper labels on the medicine dispensed. R-7
FIRE INSURANCES.—By a return just printed by order ;
of the House of Commons containing an account of the e. d.
sums paid for duty by the offices: for fire insurance, we find
.1* t
that, in the year 1847, the following sums were paid for
duty by the undermentioned offices.:—Alliance, £31,644 ;
Atlas, £32,779;. County, £50,001.; Globe, X 32,494; Impe- 4'3
rial, £44,831; Phoenix, £90,137; Royal Facchange £75,336; !•'?..
Sun, £180,482.; Liverpool, £12,658 ;,Liverpool Royal In-
surance, £10,229 ; Manchester, £1,1,373 ; Birmingham, n. 4
£10,207. The sums insured on farming stock, exempt .957°,,,
from duty were, at the Alliance,. £1,093,329; Atlas, FA'
£991,225 ; County. £7,231,552 ; Phoenix, £5,041,226; the E.°
Royal Exchange, £4,663,136; the Sun, £8,134,113; Li-
verpool, £59,350; Liverpool, (Royal,) £56,672; Man-
chester,
£396,292. It appears, too, from this return, :
that the insurances. in Ireland, of all descriptions, are ut-
terly trifling in comparison with those in England.
MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF A CONSERVATIVE ELECTOR. i tc7,J;
On Saturday week the dead body of Mr. John Mulcock, c't
fly proprietor, of Cheltenham, who had been missing since
Thursday, the day, of polling at the recent election con-
test, was found in a pool, in a lonely spot near the Pitville : :
Gardens. The water was quite shallow, the head being
iu 18 inches of water, and the feet on the bank. It was.
strongly suspected, therefore, that the unfortunate de-. :
ceased was dead before he came into the water, and it is
remarkable that he had been heard to declare that he _
should never survive the defeat of Mr. Gardner, his favo-. . .
rite candidate, and that he should be killed by the yel-
lows (Mr. Berkeley's supporters).—His wife deposed at • •
the inquest that her husband never threatened to commit
suicide—that he always came home when ill, and gist his
pecuniary circumstances were not in any way deranged. : fr 3
When he came home with the flys after the polling, he
was covered with dirt which had been thrown at him.—
Hereford Journal.
PROTESTANT SISTERS OF CHARITY—TRAINING IN- :
STITUTION FOR NURSES.—On Thursday, a meeting
was held at the Hanover-square Rooms, London, for the . '5
purpose of establishing a Training Institution for Nurses,
and the encouragement of acts of piety and charity upon
the system of the &airs de Charite. The Duke of
Cambridge was in the chair ' and amongst the persons :
present were Lord Nelson, the Earl of Harrowby, the :
Bishop of London, the Bishop of Norwich, and the Bishop _
of Salisbury. The Duke of Cambridge said it gave him
great pleasure to assist in the formation of the present
institution ; for as president of the German Hospital, in • •
which trained nurses were employed, he could speak
from experience of the great advantages of the system. . .
The plan was commenced some time ago by a German
clergyman, and the King of Prussia was now at the head • •
of a large establishment of the kind in Berlin. The
Bishop of London said that good nursing was of as much g
importance to the sick as good medicine; and how could tea,
they better supply that than by training women anxious
to devote their time to ministering to the wants of the
helpless, to provide temporal aid, while at the same time
they imparted spiritual consolation ? There was a very
flourishing Protestant institution of the kind on the banks
of the Rhine ; but it was their intention to take as a
model that in the Canton de Vaud, Switzerland,

THE IRON TRADE.—The second of the quarterly meet-
ings of the iron and coal masters of South Staffordshire
was held at Wolverhampton on Wednesday. The prin-
cipal firms were represented, but there was a marked
contrast between their dealings on this occasion and at
the last July meeting. Twelve months ago there were
more orders on the books than could be executed at £lO
a ton. On this occasion few orders were reported, and
prices low. Since the preliminary meeting, a few days
ago, there has not been any improvement which would
justify the masters in regaining any portion of the 30s. a
ton reduction which was then agreed to, and whatever
sales were made were at the reduced prices. There was
not, however, much business transacted, as the principal
sales and purchases are generally reserved for the meet-
ing at Birmingham on the next day. Throughout the
district there are a great number of men unemployed and
on half work, and the distress is very great amongst them.
At Birmingham on Thursday the meeting was numerously
attended by the chief masters and iron merchants in South.
Staffordshire, Wales and the metropolis. The prices re-
solved upon at Stewpony, and confirmed at Wolverham-
ton, were fully maintained. A considerable number of
extensive orders were taken, and the settling of accounts
is said to have passed off satisfactorily. Upon the whole,
the present aspect of the iron trade may be said to be
more cheering than was anticipated.
REQUIREMENTS FOR EMIGRATION.—EngIish people
are not generally aware of the very small cost at which a
young man or a young married couple can transfer their
fortunes to a region where a labourer will find his reward.
There are not many young men who cannot save five
pounds in two years with only denying themselves what
they can well do without, and that sum will pay for their
passage and keep from any port in Great Britain to Que-
bec. Twenty ponnds will do the same for a married cou-
ple with three or four children. From the Irish ports, and
with a merely sufficient scale of provisions, the expense is
considerably less. To Australia, of course, the expense is
much greater; but so, also, is the advantage. It is a very
common observation, that if by any_luck a working man
becomes posssessed of £5O or £lOO in this country, it
does him more harm than good, as be cannot invest it
profitably, and is therefore tempted to draw upon it till it
is gone. The lesser sum will take a married couple com-
fortably to New Zealand, or any Australian colony. Some
of the most painful incidents of rural life are those which
arise from the possession of such sums by bequest, or
whatever means. We feel assured that our labourers
would be more apt to save, if it were not for the fact that
those who do are seldom the better for it. Emigration
presents an adequate object. We hear already of emigra-
tion clubs in the Potteries and elsewhere. These are the
only land companies that will do their members any real
good. They will give him not only land but good wages.

COLONISATION -On Tuesday the " Society for the
Promotion of Colonisation" held their first meeting in
London. The Earl of Harrowby was in the chair ; and,
among the speakers on the occasion, were Lord Ashley,
Lord Monteagle, and Lord Farnham. The society is to
be self-sustaining : they are to select the parties wishing
to emigrate, and they are to promote their object by a
loan of money, on, as far as we can see, the guarantee of
poor-law unions and landlords with over-peopled estates,
the emigrants subsequently to refund the money ad-
vanced. " Before us," said Lord Harrowby, " were co-
lonies thirsting for population; around us were masses of
operatives dying for want of employment. The industry,
intelligence, and enterprise of the British people pre-
eminently qualified them for colonisation. The spirit of
independence and self-reliance of the Anglo-Saxon race,
their literature, our extent of seaboard, were all circum-
stances more favourable to colonisation than characterised
any other race. The greatest difficulty was the expense
of carrying out a systematic pjan of emigration ;—the
great golden bridge by which our impoverished thousands
could be conveyed from want to plenty could not easily
be constructed : but he thought the principle adopted by
that society met the requirements of the question, and
would be likely to render the system self-supporting. He
wished to see the younger sons of high families trans-
planting themselves and their families to our colonies, and
a better class of emigrants than had hitherto gone out
would follow in their wake. Then the resources of our
distant possessions would not be left to he accidentally de-
veloped, as heretofore; and the institutions of the parent
state, which were unrivalled in their vigour and stability,
would grow up, and bless and consolidate those rising
communities at the other extremity of the globe."

How TO MAKE A BUDGET.—ReCkon yoUr expenditure
half a million too low ; reckon your income half a million
too high ; the country thus gains one million. Then take
from the income of next year another half-million, and
add it to the incoa,e of this : the country will thus have
gained a million and a half. Then give up a half million
of projected outlay ; and you may take to yourself the
credit of having added two millions to the national income
—if you can get it.
THE COLD EARTH CURE.—The "cold earth" cure
seems destined to rival the "cold water cure." One day
last week, an old man from Shields, arrived at his native
place, High Coniscliffe, near Darlington, suffering very
much from paralysis! which had deprived him of the use
of one side. He said he was told to get himself buried
in
two feet deep his " native soil," and he would be cured.
The poor fellow, strong in faith, got a man to. dig a hole
by the Tees. side, into which he got and was. covered over
fcr a couple of hours, his head only being visible ! He
had not been long in his grave before he broke out into a
profuse perspiration. He complained of excruciating pain
in the side where before he had no feelingtat all, and after
his exhumation he declared himself better, could walk
nimbler, and had some feeling in his side. A correspon-
dent of the Durham Advertiser, who thinks the " cold
earth" cure " not to be laughed at," says, on the autho-
rity of an informant at Darlington, a Maltese physician
was, some forty years since, on a visit to the father of my
informant, who, in the course of conversation, asked him
what treatment was prescribed in an attack of filo plague,
to which the physician replied, in his imperfect English,
" We do take the peoples that are seized, and do bury
them in the ground till they do swear." Swear, doctor !
Swear did you say ! Whit can swearing have to do with
their cure You probably mean sweat instead of swear."
" Ah ! yes : sweat, that is the word ; we do bury them in
the ground till they do sweat."

: ti,1.1

THE STIFALFIELDS BALL.—Drury-lane Theatre pre.
sented on Friday a most splendid scene. Everything that
royal and noble patronage could bestow had been brought
to bear to reader the occasion worthy of its object, and it
is to be presumed that the Spitalfields School of Design
coloured testoons, which were arranged with great taste.
The band of M. Jullien attended, with its leader.
BACK FREIGHTS : COALS, SALT.—There are plenty of
back freights in the neighbourhood of Bristol. Newport
and Cardiff, the depots for coal for steam-ships, and from
each of which we believe about 500,000 tons per annum
are exported, are within a few hours' sail; or the vessel
may lie in the Bristol Docks and be loaded from barges
at two shillings per ton. Salt from the Worcestershire
works may be brought at a very moderate rate—we
understand at about two shillings per ton higher than at
Liverpool,—and then it must be remembered there are
neither dock or town dues on exports in Bristol, though
there are both in Liverpool. We are sorry to hear, how-
ever, that a vessel was recently compelled to go round to
Liverpool for a cargo of salt, there being no supply here.
We hope this will be remedied. The salt trade is a very
important one—it was the snaking of Liverpool. More
than 580,000 tons are exported per annum from that port.
—Bristol Mirror.

SHIPS' ENTRIES AND CLEARANCES.—The East India
and China Association have just published the statement
of British ships which have entered inwards and cleared
outwards, from and to places within the limits of the
Company's charter, during the six months ending the
30th June, 1847 and 1848. The figures for London show
a decrease in the vessels entered inwards of 69, and 24,130
tonnage. The Liverpool return exhibits a decrease of
three vessels, but an increase of 4,906 tonnage. There is
a decrease also at Bristol and Hull, but the principal de-
cline is in the Clyde. More favourable results are shown
by the clearances outwards. All the ports have increased
except Liverpool, Bristol. and Hull. London has in-
creased 43 vessels, and 17,391 tonnage. The Liverpool
decrease is only two vessels, with 432 tonnage; and the
Bristol and Hull decrease six vessels, with 16,352 ton-
nage. The points for which the greatest number of ves-
sels have left, are Bombay, Ceylon, New South Wales,
Mauritius, Arabia, and the Cape of Good Hope.
CLEVER TRICK SPOILED.—On Saturday, a country-
looking man bustled up to a heap of potato baskets in
Smithfield market, and, placing his hand on one of them,
said to the bystanders, " Here give us a hand with this."
The request was at once complied with, and the man
walked off with the half-load of potatoes on his back. The
owner, who had seen the whole proceeding, was for the
moment astounded at the cool audacity of the fellow ; but
he quickly followed, and accosted the man with " Holloa!
where are you taking those to ?" "To David Matley's
cart," was the prompt reply. " But they are not David
Matley's." " Indeed ! Which are his then ?" asked the
innocent and surprised porter. A moment's investigation
revealed that another basket from the same lot had been
furtively abstracted, and the man was given into custody.
On the same morning he was brought up at the Borough
Court. His name was Edward Coates, and he stated that
he belonged to Stockport. His defence was that he had
mistaken the potatoes for David Matley's ; but this was
proved to be a falsehood, and he was sent to gaol for one
month. Manchester Examiner.

THE ORANGEMEN OF LONDON .—The Orangemen of
the Woolwich, Greenwich, and London District cele-
brated the anniversary of the Battles of the Boyne and
Aughrim, by dining together on the 12th instant, at the
Crown Inn, Trafalgar-road, Greenwich. The District
Master from London presided, and related various inte-
resting details from the late meeting of the Grand Lodge
in Manchester. Letters were read from the Earl of
Enniskillen, the Earl of Roden, Lord Kenyon, Colonel
Sir W. Verner, the Grand Master, the Grand Chaplain,
and various others. The health of " The Queen, and
long may she reign in peace and happiness," " The
Queen Dowager," " Prince Albert," " The Orangemen
of Ireland," " The land we live in," " Our friends all
the world over," and a number of other truly loyal toasts,
were drunk with great enthusiasm, and many important
statements made respecting the operations of the body all
over the country, and in various parts of the world. One
fact was worthy of note—that every Orangeman may be
looked upon as a special constable in a time of need.
THE CHARTIST TRlALS.—Ernest Jones was on Mon-
day found guilty of attending an illegal meeting at Bon-
ner's Fields on the 4th of June, and with riot. Fussell
was sentenced to two years' imprisonment, and required
to keep the peace for five years ; Williams, two years' im-
prisonment, and keep the peace for three years ; Sharpe,
two years' imprisonment for sedition, three months' for
unlawfully assembling, and to keep the peace for three
years ; Vernon, a similar sentence ; Looney, two years'
imprisonment for sedition, two months' for unlawfully
assembling, 'and the same amount bf sureties as the other
defendants, (his own recognizance in £lOO, and two others
in £5O) to keep the peace for two years. When the sen-
tence was passed, Looney laughed, and said "Very well--
that will do." Jones was sentenced to be imprisoned for
two years, and find two sureties in £l5O, and his own re-
cognizance in £2OO, for his future good conduct. When
the sentence was pronounced, he said, " I wish your lord-
ship good night, and may you sleep with the motto of the
Charter round your neck, and no surrender." In answer
to inquiries as to where the defendants would be confined,
Chief-Justice Wilde said in the New House of Correction
for Middlesex.

---A;4;;(ItiTDER ON SEA BATLIERS.—A few days ago, as
one of the fishermen of Hunstanton, Norfolk, was era-,
ployed catching crabs near the shore of that watering
place, he observed something of a most formidable size
approaching him in the water. The tide was receding,
and the man, who was without companions, was within
fifty yards of the shore, but much above the waist in the
sea, when, nothing daunted, he struck a severe blow at
his new acquaintance, which be soon discovered to be a
shark. A regular combat ensued, the man aiming heavy
blows at the head of the fish, and the latter fighting with
his tail, with which he 'struck the fisherman two or three
times severely on the chest. The man, fortunately for
himself, never lost his footing, his presence of mind, or
his strength, and ultimately succeeded in capturing the
monster. The tide continuing to ebb, the shark was left
on the dry sands, where the old man was seen standing
with much satisfaction, over his captured enemy. The
shark measured nine feet in length, and was presumed to
weigh about 30 stone. The spot on which it was first
seen was close to the place frequented by bathers, a ma.
chine having on that day frequently conveyed parties
there.