The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-12-05 00:00:00

Dec. 5, 1848.

literature. OAK-TREE WITH A CARRIAGE.WAY THROUGH IT.—
An anecdote is told of the late Duke of Portland, father
VARIETIES. of the present Duke, and grandfather of the late lamented
I Lord George Bentinck. His Grace, who was a celebrated
Mrs. Somerville, in her Physical Geography, says that 1
the honey bee was introduced into America not many man in his day, had a large party at dinner, and after the
cloth was removed, the wine having circulated with the
years ago, and is now spread over that continent.
One hundred and forty unpublished letters, addressed usual freedom, the company was somewhat elevated, when
_by
King William 111. to Henry de Lorraine. Prince of an immense oak, celebrated throughout the whole corm-
_
Vaudemont, were recently sold for something like 6s. 6d.
try, and the ruins of which are still to be seen at Welbeck,
became the subject of conversation. The duke offered to
a-piece. bet five hundred guineas that he could drive a carriage
The Musical World has a curious letter from R. Seim-
Man, from Leipsic, pointing out a canon attributed to
and six right through the heart of this magnificent repre-
Mozart, which is note for note the same as Non nobis sentative of England's forest glories. A gentleman took
him at his word, and the subject was dropped for the even-
Domine, said to be by Bird, asking if there be any evi-
ing. Next morning his Grace recollected, not with the
deuce in England proving the composition to be by Bird,
most pleasant feelings, the transactions of the preceding
either from the date of publication or otherwise.
The awful results of war are not confined to the bloody evening. The oak which he had virtually doomed to de-
scenes of the battle-field ; but disease—slow, consuming
struction with one of the finest ornaments of his estate,
and rather than devote it to ruin, he resolved to sacrifice
disease—more than any of the instruments of war, scat-
the five hundred guineas. Accordingly, he intimated the
ters death among those engaged in the trying fatigues and
design of immediately delivering a check to the gentle-
exposures of military duty. Of those who have died in man who had taken the bet, when he learned that nume-
active service of Mexico, the proportion of those cut rous bets on the same subject, amounting to a very consi-
douin by disease to those who fell on the battle-field is derable sum, had been made by other parties, in justice to
about five to one.—Gen. Taylor's Address.
! whom he considered that he was bound to attempt the feat.
RAFT LOAD OF MONKEYS.—We find the following
Accordingly, an archway, sufficient to admit a carriage,
story in La Democratic Pacifique :—" A state corvette,
was chalked out on the ample trunk of the tree; a tunnel
just returned from a cruise in the Indian seas, brims was excavated through the solid mass, and his Grace, on
news of a rather curious incident. At one of the islands the appointed day, in the presence of a large company of
a dozen monkeys were caught and brought on board. ladies and gentlemen, was actually driven in state in a
Their gambols were mightily relished by the crew. One
carriage drawn by six beautiful horses right through the
night, however, when the ship was out at sea, some of
oak. The remains of this giant of the forest, magnificent
the monkeys managed to get into the commandant's even in ruin, are still standing ; and, but for this foolish
cabin, scattering ink over official charts and papers, and frolic, the tree might have flourished for many ages to
perpetrating other mischiefs, so that he ordered them all come on the ducal domain of Welbeck.
to he flung into the sea. The sailors, however, were LAW IN RUSSIA.—In Alexander's reign the Jesuits
touch grieved at this, and on their remonstrance, the corn-
had made themselves all-powerful in some parts of Po-
on gave permission that a raft should be constructed land. A rich landholder and possessor of 6,000 peasants
on which the poor animals might be left with some chance at Poltzak, the Jesuit head-quarters, was so wrought on
of being drifted ashore. The sailors fitted the raft with a by the artful assiduities of the Society that he bequeathed
small raft and a sail, which they set easterly in the direc- his whole fortune to it at his death, with this stipulation
tion of the land. They placed on the frail skiff a store of
—that the Jesuits should bring up his only son and after- 1
biscuit and water, and then were obliged to abandon the wards give him whatever portion of the inheritance they
twelve prescripts to their fate. The crew, much moved, should choose. When the young man had reached the I
waved their hats, wished them a bon voyage, and watched age of twenty, the Jesuits had bestowed on him three
them out of sight. hundred peasants. He protested vehemently against their
THE CHEVALIER PAUL JONES.—The following adver- usurpation, and began a suit against the Society ; but his
tisement in the Times brings back to popular recollections father's will seemed clear and explicit, and after having
the name and the deeds of a faithless son to his country consumed all his little fortune, he found his claims dis-
When the latter was so pressed by foreign foes as to need owned by every tribunal in the empire, including even the
the aid of every arm she could call her own :—" The under- General Assembly of the Senate. In this seemingly hope-
signed, baying been appointed deputy public administra-
less extremity he applied to a certain attorney in St. Pe-
tor of Admiral the Chevalier J. Paul Jones, the first corn- tersburgh, famous for his fertility of mind in matters of
modore of the American navy, Member of the Order of cunning and chicanery. After having perused the will
the Cincinnati, Chevalier of the French Military Order and the documents connected with the suit, the lawyer
of Merit, Knight of the Russian Order of St. Ann, &c., said to his client, " Your business is done; if you will
and who died in Paris, in 1792, hereby gives notice to the promise me ten thousand rubles, I will undertake to pro-
heirs of the said Chevalier Paul Jones to transmit their cure an Imperial ukase reinstating you in possession of all
claims for ju addication, that they may participate in the your father's property." The young man readily agreed
late decision of Congress, and approved by the President to the bargain, and in eight days afterwards he was m
in-
of the United States, granting 50,000 dollars to the heir, ter of his patrimony. The decision which led to this sin-
of the said Chevalier Jones. The undersigned is also gular result rested solely on the interpretation of the
authorised to receive the claims of the heirs of the officers, Orase, they shall give him whatever they choose, which
Zcc., of the first American squadron of 1779, consisting of plainly meant, as the lawyer maintained, that the young
the ships of war Bon Homme Richard, Alliance, and man was entitled to such portion as the Jesuits chose—
Pallas, commanded by the said Chevalier Jones, that i. e., to that which they chose and retained for themselves.
they may particip to in the bill before Congress for The Emperor admitted this curious explanation ; the son
200,000 dollars, should that bill also become a law. All became master of 5,700 peasants; and the Jesuits were
claims, attested by documents, to be directed, prepaid, to obliged to content themselves with the three hundred they
the undersigned, on or before March 1, 1849. , had bestowed on their ward in the first instance.
• THE REMNANT OF THE " GRAND ARMEE."—Did tne A HIGHLAND FLOOD.—That stream (the Findhorn)
tears of exiles fertilise, Siberia would be a teeming land. which was so calm, and bright, and sunny, when the ot-
Since its first subjugation by Ivan the Terrible, how many ters floated down its current in a still summer's morning,
a Russian magnate, lord of thousands of serfs, owner of was a fierce and terrible enemy in its anger ; and, for a
Millions of rubles, proud of his position, and confident great part of the year, the dread of its uncertainty and
of imperial favour, has suddenly found himself travelling danger was a formidable cause for the preservation of that
eastward under escort, banished and a beggar. How profound solitude of the forest which so long made it the
luny mournful trains of minor offenders have plodded sanctuary of deer, roe, and every kind of wild game. The
their weary way across the Uralian chain, guarded by rapidity with which the river comes down the impassable
barbarian Bashkirs, to labour in the mines of Nerchinsk, height to which it rises in an incredibly short time, its in-
or to lead a peasant's toilsome life on the margin certitude and fury, would render it an object of care to
of the Frozen Sea. From those vast and ice-bound re- bold forders and boatmen ; but with the peasants of the
gions, escape can rarely be accomplished. But at inter- " laich," unaccustomed, like the Highlanders, to wrestle
vals, during the last five-and-thirty years, bearded and with a mountain torrent, and, excepting in rare instances,
toil-worn men of martial aspect have crossed the German unable to swim or manage a coble, it inspires a dread, al-
frontier, and astonished those they accosted by wild tales most amounting to awe, and none except ourselves ventured
of suffering, and ignorance of the most notorious events. to keep a boat above the fishing-station of Slui. Pent within
Some have inquired for Napoleon, and wept when they a channel of rocks from fifty to a hundred and eighty feet
learned he was a captive, or dead. Circumstances of cur- in height, the rise of the water is rapidly exaggerated by
rent history, known to each child and peasant, were to the incapability of diffusion ; and the length of its course
them a mystery and a marvel. These strange wanderers, sometimes concealing beyond the horizon the storms by
'escaped from long bondage in Siberia, were amongst the which it is swelled at its source, its floods then descend
last survivors of that countless host led northwards by a with unexpected violence. Frequently when, excepting a
Corsican's ambition, and whose funeral pile was lighted in low wreath upon Beann-Drinechain, the sun is shining in
Moscow's city.—Blackwood's Magazine. a cloudless sky, and the water scarce ripples over the
MAN'S Foon.—What do men really live upon ? The glittering ford, a deep hollow sound—a dull approaching
answers will be various enough. The Guacho, who in the oar may be heard in the gorges of the river; and almost
Wide pampas of Buenos Ayres, managing his half wild eford the wading fisherman can gain the shore, a bank of
horse with incredible dexterity, throws the lasso or bolas water, loaded with trees, and rocks, and wreck, will come
to catch the ostrich, the guanaco, or the wild bull, con- down three—four—five feet abreast—sweeping all before it
tunes daily from ten to twelve pounds of meat, and re- in a thunder of foam and ruin. In ordinary cases, after
gards it as a high feast day when in any hacienda he gains i,‘,,, d „,„ nf ~.;„ +l,. ~...„,, ~,:ii ,;,,‘ +m,,,,+„
~... „,..,” ~,,

y vv, 'A.', Jva a al., ...lc ou Call] WILL 11ZU Lweiluy Ur Luau), wet.
a variety in the shape of a morsel of pumpkin. The word
—it has risen nearly ten fathoms in its rocky gulf ; and
bread does not exist in his vocabulary. The Irishman,
Once upon this occasion it mounted fifteen feet in a quarter
on the other hand, regales himself in careless mirth on of an hour. When the dawn broke, it appeared sweeping
his " potatoes and point," after a day of painful labour, through the trees, which the evening before hung fifty
he who cannot help making a joke even of the name he. feet above its brink—a black roaring tempest loaded with
gives to his scanty meal. Meat is a strange idea to him, ruins and debris, from which were seen to rise at times the
and lie is happy indeed if four times a-year he can add a _L:,._ _i__,...,. ' - . . .. . . . _

~...__ _ Led of their bark,
herring to season the mealy tubers. 'the bunter of the couples of houses—a cart—a door—a cradle, hurrying and
prairies lays low the buffalo with sure bullet •; and its tilting through the foam and spray, like the scattered " float-
Juicy, fat-streaked hump, roasted between two hot stones, some" of a wreck.—Stuarts' Lays of the Deer Forest, 8(c.
is to him the greatest of delicacies. Meanwhile, the in-
A SHIP AMONG ICEBERGS.—It is impossible to convey
dustrious Chinese carries to market his carefully fattened a correct idea of the beauty, the magnificence, of some
rats, delicately arranged upon white sticks, certain to find of the scenes through which we passed. Thousands of
a good customer among the epicures of Pekin ; and in his the most grotesque, fanciful, and beautiful icebergs and
hot, smoky hut, fast buried beneath the snow and ice, icefields surrounded us on all sides, intersected by numer-
the Greenlander consumes his fat, which he has just car- ous serpentine canals, which glittered in the sun (for the
'red, rejoicing over the costly prize, from a stranded whale. weather was fine all the time we were in the straights) like
Here the black slave sucks the sugar-cane, and eats his
banana; there the African merchant fills his wallet w
sweet dates, his sole sustenance in the long desert jr
. .

,rees pee

Seams anc

threads of silver twining round ruined palaces of crystal

hey; and there the Siamese crams
ty of rice, from which an European

iimself wit
would shrir

a quantl-
, d als churches, columns, arches, and spires that I could
k annallea. ----- _

Ana wheresoever over

Proach and dem

magical
Ail IT litill, ppcaicu a uvau .......u, ...cu azititit CO trie
a different kind of food is set before us, and the " daily magical effect of the scene. A light but steady breeze
bread" offered in another form.— The Plant, a Biogra- urged her along, with considerable velocity, through a
Phy, by Schleiden. maze of ponds and canals, which, from the immense
PRINCE EDWARD'S ISLAND.—Prince Edward's Island, quantity of ice that surrounded them, were calm and
situated on the coast of 1, ova Scotia, contains about unruffled as the surface of a mill-pond. Not a sound
1,300,000 acres, and a population of about 50,000. The disturbed the delightful stillness of nature, save the
soil is generally fertile, light, easily worked, and adapted gentle rippling of the vessel's bow, as she sped on
for every agricultural purpose. It grows excellent crops her way, or the occasional puffing of a lazy whale,
of grain and potatoes. The quality of wheat grown is awakened from a nap by our unceremonious intrusion on
superior to that of New Brunswick. When the French his domains. Now and then, however, my reveries were
had the island, it was considered the granary of Quebec- disagreeably interrupted by the ship coming into sudden
The oats grown are better than the average produce of contact with large lumps of ice. This happened occa-
ngland. The island is long and narrow, and has many sionally when we arrived at the termination of one of
fine harbours. No part of it is twelve miles from the those natural canals through which we na.Q.,l - • -
Water, which is full of fish of various kinds. In many if yto force
Places carts may be taken down to the water's edge, and Tere som
filled with lobsters ; cod, mackerel, and herring abound 1 ring ;
all round the coast. The climate is extremely healthy ded wi.
and the country beautiful ; but the long winter is an

necessary to force our way into t

next. These con-
cussions were sometimes very severe, and even made the
,hip's bell ring ; but we heeded this little, as the vessel
s provi 1, huge blocks of timber on her bows,
1 is ' was besides built expressly for sail-

1 meal-time

them seas. It only became annoying at
hen a spoonful of soup would sometimes

make a little private excursion of its own, over the
shoulder of the owner instead of into his mouth. As

last compelled us to bore thrOugh it. The ship, however,
was never altogether detained, though much retarded. I
recollected, while thus surrounded, filling a bucket with
water from a pool of ice, to see whether it was fresh or
not, as Ihad been rather sceptical upon this point. It

was excellent, and

might almOst compete with the water
:pring of Crawley.—Ballatyne's Hud-

from the famous

son's Bay.

AN ENCOUNTER ON THE PRAIRIE.—No enemies
showed themselves as yet, and the hunters proceeded
quietly up the river, vast herds of buffaloes darkening the
plains around them, affording them more than abundance
of the choicest meat; but, to their credit be it spoken, no

laughter made by most of the White travellers
plains, who wantonly destroy these noble ani-

mals, not even for the excitement of sport, but in cold-
blooded and insane butchery. La Bonte had practice
enough to perfect him in the art, and before the buffalo
range was passed, he was ranked as a first-rate hunter.
One evening he had left the camp for meat, and was
approaching a band of cows for that purpose, crawling
towards them along the bed of a dry hollow in the prairie,
when he observed them suddenly jump away towards him,
and immediately after a score of mounted Indians appeared
in sight, whom, by, their dress, he at once knew to be
Pawnees and enemies. Thinking they might not discover
him, he crouched down in the ravine; but a noise behind
causing him to turn his head, he saw so

five or six
candar.xl

y creek, whil

more were riding on the bluffs. The cunning savages
had cut off his retreat to his mule, which he saw in the
possession of one of the Indians. His presence of mind,
however, did not desert him ; and seeing at once that to
remain where he was would be like being caught in a trap,
(as the Indians could advance to the edge of the bluff
and shoot him from above,) he made for the open prairie,

good fight

With a yell the 'II]

halted when they saw the sturdy tra.

Jper