The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-05-07 00:00:00

SELECTIONS.

SCENE IN THE THEATRE, HOBART TOWN.—Mrs.
Clarke has adopted an excellent method of preventing
blackguardism in the boxes of her theatre, and it says
much-for the " lower orders," that it is found in no other
part of the house. On Monday evening, four drunken
blackguards, who had assumed the character (tnasquerad-
ing is all the fashion) of gentlemen, not only annoyed the
audience and literally stopped the performance by their
continued interruption, but carried their blackguardism
(we can find no other appropriate word) to the highest
pitch, by throwing a potato at Mrs. Clarke, when in the
middle of one of her finest songs. The spirited lessee then
being in the "costume" of Maehrath, the whip in
her hand, without a moment's delay, went round to the
box, and whipped the blackguaids out ! It was well done.
Murray's Austral Asiatic Review.
_ .

- -
CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE OF HINDOSTAN.—It iS
a problem to this moment, whether the character of a peo-
ple is formed by the government or influenced by the cha-
racter of the people. If the former proposition were ad-
mitted, the English would have slight cause for selfgratu-
lation ; for, considered in the gross, there is not a people
in the world who are so little distinguished by the virtues
which adorn the human race as the inhabitants of Hindos-
tan. They are not insensible to the natural affections,
nor are the examples they present of patience and resigns-
lion under calamity, and cha. ity in the bestowal of alms,
by any means tare : but the per contra exhibits a selfish-
ness, a sensuality ,a cowardice, a degree of avarice,cunning,
falsehood, malevolence, prejudice, inertness, and a host of
minor vices, with which it is needless to swell our
catalogue; still there are brilliant ins,ances of exceptions
to the ordinary rule. The charge of supineness does not
lie at the door of the pharasee—he is industrious and
energetic, and generous in the use he makes of his accumu-
lated wealth. Cowardice is not the characteristic of the
Rajpoot, nor can the educated class be accused of the in-
difference to truth or the indulgence of strong prejudice.
—Stocqueller's Hand-Book of India.
Na. MONTAGUE'S MURDER.—AS the sunlight died
away, and evening fell upon the wood, he entered it.
Moving here and there a bramble or a drooping bough
which stretched across his path, be slowly disappeared.
At intervals a narrow opening showed him passing on, or
the sharp cracking of some tender branch denoted where
he went : then he was seen or heard no more. Never
more beheld by mortal eye, or heard by mortal ear : one
man excepted. That man, parting the leaves and branches
on the other side, near where the path emerged again,
came leaping out soon afterwards. What bad he left
within the wood, that he sprang out of it, as if it were a
hell! The body of a murdered man. In one thick soli-
tary spot, it lay among the last year's leaves of oak and
beech, just as it had fallen headlong down. Sopping and
soaking in amongst the leaves that formed its pillow ;
oozing down into the boggy ground, as if to cover itself
from human sight; forcing its way between and through
the curling leaves, as if those senseless things rejected and
foreswore it, and were coiled up in abhorrence; went a
dark, dark stain that dyed and scented the whole summer
night from earth to heaven. The doer of this deed came
leaping from the wood so fiercely, that as he cast into the
air a shower of fragments of young boughs, torn away in
his paAssize, and fell with violence upon the grass. But
he quickly gained his feet again, and keeping underneath
a hedge afitl3 his body bent, went running on towards the
road. Tie road once reached, he fell into a rapid walk,
and set on 'tbwards London.—Marlin Chuzzletvit.

. ~

.

WHAT IS THE BEST VIEW FOR A SICK ROOM]?—
What is the best kind of view for a sick prisoner's win-
dows to command ? I have chosen the sea, and am satis-
fied with my choice. We should have the widest expanse
of land or water, for the sake of a sense of liberty, yet
more than for variety ; and also because then the inesti-
mable help of a telescope may be called in. Think of the
difference to us between seeing from our sofas the
width of a street, even if it be Sac,ville-street, Dub-
lin, or Portland-place, in London, and thirty miles of sea
view, with its long boundary of rocks, and the power of
sweeping our glance over half a count✓, by means of a
telescope! But the chief ground of preference of the sea
is less its space than its motion, and the perpetual shifting
of objects caused by it. There can be nothing in inland
scenery which can give the sense of life and motion and
connexion with the world like sea changes. The motion
of a waterfall is too continuous—too little varied, as the
breaking of the waves would be, if that were all the sea
could afford. The fitful action of a windmill, the waving
of trees, the everchanging aspects of mountains are good
and beautiful ; but there is something more life-like in the
going forth and return of ships, in the passage of fleets,
and in the never-ending variety of a fishery.—Essays by
an Invalid.

DISEASES IN INDIA.—The diseases most common to
India are fever, dysentery, liver complaints, and cholera
morbus. These annually sweep away their tens of thou-
sands, the latter disease baffling the skill of the most emi-
nent physicians, and leaving even the theory of its cause
enveloped in doubt and uncercainty. But there are a
multitude of other diseases peculiar to the country, though
less fatal in their general results. Elephantiasis, or the
swelling of the leg, is common to,‘ the
i natives in every pro-
vince. In the hilly districts, goitre s very prevalent, and
ophthalmia afflicts myriads in the upper provinces, where
the soil is sandy and the people careless of their persons.
Leprosy is often seen in its most hideous form ; and rheu-
matism counts its victims amongst its thinly clad, and ex-
posed poor during the rainy season. Piles, ulcers, infla-
mations, and a peculiar eruption, popularly called prickly
heat, are extremely prevalent, particularly amongst Euro-
peans, whose habits of life are less regulated by climate
than consists with a proper regard to health and longevity.
Influenza and disease of the lungs sometimes make de-
mands upon the leech's skill, but they do not present
themselves in the formidable guise which distinguishes
their appearance in more northerly regions ; neither do
hooping-cough, the measles or other complaints. afflictin-
fants so severely as the same maladies in England. Still,
the mortality amongst the newly-born is considerable,
in some measure from convulsions, teething, fever, &c ,
but more commonly from the ignorance of midwives, and
the carelessness, if nothing worse of native nurses. Small-
pox was a terrible scourge to the population of Hindos-
tan : but its ravages are now diminishing, thanks to the
philanthrophic exertions of the medical officers in the
East-India Company's service, who have zealously labour-
ed to introduce vaccination.—Stocqueller's Hand-Book
of India.
FRUITS OF PROTESTANT MISSIONARY EXERTIONS
IN IRELAND.—Let any one who wishes to know what
may be done by judicious exertions to increase the num-
ber of our Protestant population, inquire what has been
done in Mr. Preston's interesting colony in the county of
Kildare. Of the heroic enterprise of Mr. Nangle at
Achill our readers are sufficiently aware, and of the as-
tonishing fact, that in that extreme part of popish Ire-
land the labours of the missionary have been blessed to
so extraordinary a degree, that an additional church has
been lately required for the accommodation of the increa-
sing converts. And there has been just put into our
hands a report from the Dangle Colony, in an extreme
part of the county of Kerry, -from which we make the
following extract :—" The number of converts in Dingle,
in January 1843, was 310 individuals. The number of
converts in Dingle, in March, 1844, was 330 individuals ;
73 families. Attendance at the school in Dingle now,
children 180 ; on Sunday, adults 130. At Keelmelchedar
there are converts 80. Children at Keelmelchedar school
41. At Dunerlin, converts 50. Children of Dunerlin at
school 28." Such is the work which is now going on in
every part of this country, and to which "a heavy blow
and great discouragement" has been given by a system of
policy which strengthens the hands of an unscriptural
priesthood by legislative encouragement and temporal aid,
exactly in proportion as that authority is fading before
the progress of truth and knowledge ! God says of
popery, "It shall decrease." " No," says the British
legislature, "it shall increase." God says, "The circle
of light shall gain upon the circle of darkness." " No,"
says the British parliament, "the circle of darkness shall
gain upon the circle of light." Is there any other lan-
guage in which, with our convictions, we could convey an
adequate idea of the perverse policy by which the domina-
tion of a tottering superstition is maintained, and the
labours of evangelical men marred or counteracted in
Ireland ?—Dublin University Magazine.

KINDNESS IN CONVERSATION.—There is no way in
which men can do good to others, with so little expense and
trouble, as by kindness in conversation. " Words" it is
sometimes said, "cost nothing." At any rate, kind words 1
cost no more than those which are harsh and piercing. But
kind words are oftenmore valued than the mostcostlygifts—
and they are always regarded among the best tokens ofdesire
to make others happy. We should think that kind words
would be very common, they are so cheap; but there are
many who have a large assortment of other language
except kindness. They have bitter words, and witty
words, and learned words in abundance ; but their
stock of kind words is small. The churl himself,
one might suppose, would not grudge a little kindness
in his language, however closely he clings to his
money ; but there are persons who draw out their kind-
ness with more reluctance than they draw their purses.
Some use granting words because they are of morose
disposition., Their language as well as their manners.
show an unfeeling heart.—Ot!hers use rough words out of
an affection of frankness. They may be severe in their
1 remarks—but then they claim that they are open and in-
dependent, and will not be trammelled. They are no
flatterers, they say—and this they think excuse enough
for all the cutting speech which they employ. Others
wish to be thought witty—and they will with equal indif-
ference wound the feelings of friend or foe, to show their
smartness. Some are envious, and cannot bear to speak
kindly of others, or to them, because they do not wish to
add to their happiness. Others are so ill-bred that they
take delight in using unkind words, when their intentions
are good, and their feelings are warm. Their words are
rougher than their hearts—they will make sacrifices of
ease and property to promote comfort, while they will not
deign to employ the terms of courtesy and kindness. Of
those, the Scots have an expressive proverb, that " their
bark is worse than their bite." Many a man would be
loved for his liberal deeds, if his tongue, by his harshness,
did not repeal affection. And he often wonders why his
friends care so little for him, when from others they receive
not half so many favours. Some are caustic and severe
in their language, for the sake of showing their acute-
ness and discrimination. They would rend in pieces a
cloth of gold, detect a defective thread which had escaped
the less keen observations of others. They are always on
the watch to spy out some fault in character, or in disposi-
tion, which others overlook, that they may appear to have
uncommon discrimination and rare skill in criticism. If
the happiness of others is not motive enough to their influ-
ence on ourselves, the habit of using them will at length
conform our feelings to our language, We shall become
kind, not only in our speech, but in our manners, and in
our hearts. On the other hand, to make use of carping,
harsh, and bitter words, seldom fails to sour the disposi-
tion and to injure the temper.
SERGEANT TALFOURD.—Thomas Noon Talfourd is a
native of Reading. Ilis mother was the daughter of
Mr. Thomas Noon, who was for thirty years the minis-
, ter of the Independent congregation there. Accordingly
he was instructed in their strict tenets, and his early edu-
, cation was obtained at their school at Mill Hill; but
being removed to the public school under Dr. Valpy, he
1 there acquired a love of Shakspeare and the drama—for-
bidden ground to his native sect—and soon adopted the
less rigid doctrines of the Church of England. At the
same time he acquired those ardent political feelings,
which, tempered by time, he has always since maintained.
His poetical talent was developed early. In the year
1811, while still at school, he published a volume entitled
' Poems on various subjects.' The subjects are interest-
ing, as evincing the character of his thoughts at this early
period. One of them, entitled ' On the Education of the
Poor,' and another, ' The Union and Brotherhood of
Mankind,' obtained for him the acquaintance of Joseph
Fox, distinguished for his zeal in the cause of education,
and his new friend introduced him by letter to Lord (then
Mr. Henry) Brougham. He was received by that dis-
tinguished individual with the utmost kindness, and en-
couraged to work his way at the bar through literature.
Following this judicious advice, he engaged himself in
1813, to Mr. Chitty for a period of four years. The
literary career of the young lawyer began with an essay
published in the ' Pamphleteer,' early in 1812, entitled
' An appeal to the Protstant Dissenters of Great Britain
on behalf of the Catholics.' This essay was eloquently
written, and breathed a spirit of liberality, such as is
denominated, ' Christian. Talfourd was then under
eighteen. A Critical Examination of some objections
taken by Cobbett to the Unitarian Relief Bill, was a very
successful attempt to grapple with a writer of such sin-
gular power. ' Observations on the Punishment of the
Pillory,' and ' An Appeal against the Act for regulating
Royal Marriages,' took the side of humanity against bar-
barous custom and mistaken notions of national policy.
An ' Attempt to Estimate the Poetical Talent of the
Present Age,' written in 1815, is chiefly remarkable as
testifying his high appreciation of the poetry of Words-
worth, (at a period when such testimony was sufficient to
ensure almost universal ridicule), and scarcely less so for
the courage with which it denounced the gloomy exagge-
rations of Lord Byron, who was then in the full blaze of
his popularity. Hazlitt's ' Spirit of the Age' was not
published till ten years afterwards. Mr. Talfourd was
probably the very first who publicly declared, on critical
grounds, that William Wordsworth was a true poet. * *
In 1817, Talfourd started as aSpecLalPclehaidtteyr.i.o During
orvmg.
his period of study be had assistedr.
luminous work on the Criminal Laws. The chief quar-
ters in which he carried on his literary labours, were now
in the " Retrospective Review,' and the ' Encyclopaedia
Metropolitan.' The articles on ' Homer, on the reek
Tragedians,' and ' Greek Lyric Poets, in the latter were
written by him. He began his connection with the'_ New
Monthly' in 1820, and continued to furnish the dramatic
criticisms, besides other papers, in that magazine
for
twelve years. He subsequently wrote in the Edinburgh
Review' and ' London Magazine,' and published in 1826
a Memoir of Mrs. Radcliffe, prefixed to her posthumous
work of ' Gaston de Blondeville.' Mr. Talfourd was
called to the bar by the Society of the Middle Temple in
1821, and joined the Oxford Circuit apd Berkshire Ses-
sions. In 1822 he married Rachel, daughter of John
Powell Rutt. Esq., a name well known to political re-
formers. The gradual extension of his professional en-
gagements through the circuit, induced him to retire from
the sessions at the expiration of twelve years, when he
1
was called to the degree of Sergeant—the very
in which he wrote his tragedy of ' lon.' New Horne'e " N
Spirit of the Age." same year

INDISCRIMINATING HUMANITY OF MEDICAL MEN.
—Dr. Anthony Petit, reproached upon a certain occasion
by the Queen, Marie Antoinette, for not appearing at. Ver-
sailles, as had been expected, replied, " Madam, if I came
not to Versailles yesterday, it was because I was detained
with a peasant's wife in her confinement and in imminent
danger of losing her life. Your Majesty errs, moreover,
in supposing that I neglect the Dauphin for the poor; I
have hitherto t,e-ited the child with greater care and at-
tent on than if he had been the son of one of your Ma-
jesty's grooms."—ll. Arago, Binge de Bail/y.

THE AMERICAN CODE OF HONONR.—The American
system of duelling is quite different from ours, and far
more consistent arnl ra-ional : they never think of apolo-
gies on the ground, or firing in the air, or seperating after
a harmless interchange of shots, which, in England,
throw an air of absui,:ity over most proceedings of the
kind. In America they " mean business," not child's
play, when they fight duels, and never seperate till one is
killed or wounded. The usual plan is to fire at ten paces.
and to advance one pace each snot till the desired effect
is produced (the newspapers gave an account ,if a duel
where the parties fired six times each). The challenged
has the choice of weapons ; and pistols, muskets, or
rifles are usually selected. Not long since a well-known
individual, who, I see, figured as second in an affair that
took place abou a month ago, challenged another man
who had objected to his vote at an election for
personation ( which, of course, involved a charge of
perjury,) to walk arm-in-arm from the top of the
Capitol with him. As this was declined, his next
proposal was to sit upon a keg of powder, and apply a match.
However, in this country, these were considered rather
strong measures; and through the media ion of pacific
friends, it was at length amicably arranged that they
should fight with muskets at five paces. Each piece was
loaded with three balls, and of course both parties were
nearly blown to pieces; the challenger, however, unfortu-
nately recovered, and is now ready for fresh atrocities.
Of course such a case as this is rare; but I think I am
right in stating that a bloodless duel is almost unknown.
—Godley's Letters.
PROPOSED ENCOURAGEMENT TO CULTIVATE WASTES
IN IRELAND.—Adjoining mountains and bogs, where the
poorest class of the population generally reside, and where
there is abundance of ground attached rent free to each
farm, and capable of being rendered profitable at a very
little expense—in fact, without any other outlay than the
labour required to open drains, and level it—we see
scarcely any efforts made at improvement. A Scotchman,
or an Englishman, would consider the possession of the
land rent-free for three or five years. according to the dif-
ficulty of the undertaking, as a sufficient recompence for
his trouble; although his time is much more valuable, on
account of the higher rate of wages paid him. But an
Irishman will consider a twenty-one years' lease as too
short a tenure, to justify him in expending the time which
he wastes in gossiping with his neighbours, or sunning
himself at the backs of the ditches, in the profitable em-
ployment of adding to what ought to be, if he had in-
dustry, his already too small hotting. Here is a case in
which we conceive legislation might operate much good.
If every man who reclaimed ground which did not before
pay rent, was guaranteed its possession by law for ten
years after the first crop, at a nominal rent of one shilling
the acre, it might be an inducement to the tenant to la-
bour: it could be no loss to the landlord, as, if still left
in a state of nature it would be useleqi to him, and after
the expiration of the time guaranteed the tenan. as remu-
neration for his trouble, the benefit would be his exclu-
sively. In the case of a tenant-at-will, an arrangement
could easily be effected, by which the tenant, if removed
from the farm before the expiration of the stipulated
term, might receive a just and reasonable compensation
for the improvements which he had effected, or an allow-
ance for the loss of the crops which, had he remained, be
would still have been entitled to: and thus, without any
government outlay, encouragement would be given for the
reclamation of that part of the Irish waste lands which
would be worth the trouble or expense of cultivation.—
Blackwood.

EFFECT OF SCRIPTURAL EDUCATION.—The following
most touching incident wls related by the Dean of Cork,
with a view to the practical illustration of this part of the
national system :—" About four years ago an un-odly
Protestant, from a neighbouring parish, sent his child to
his (the Dean of Cork) scriptural school, about three
miles from Bandon. After some time the father told the
master not to teach the child the Scriptures, as he wished
th,st he should devote his whole time to arithmetic. When
the parent found that his request would not be acceded
to, he sent his child to a hedge-school. Finding that the
child did not improve in arithmetic, he sent him back;
and it pleased God that, besides advancing in the other
branches of education, he made such a happy progress in
the Scriptures. that they were spiritually blest to his soul.
It so happened, after a short time, that the child, by a
fall from a cart, had a limb fractured, which he survived
only thirty hours, having died at a lodging-house in Ban-
don. Believing death to be near. he sent for his father,
that father who had once directed that he should not read
the Scriptures, and said to him, 'Father, the Scriptures
I was taught at school were blest to my soul. lam now
dying happy, fur I know I am going to my Saviour; but,
father, I have a parting request, which is, that you will
daily read the Scriptures, with prayer to God to bless
them to your salvation ; for remember, father, calling our-
selves Christians. and saying we believe in Christ, will not
save us. No. We must have that faith in Christ, which
is wrought by the Holy Spirit in our souls, and which
alone can convert us, and bring us to heaven.' The poor
father was so overpowered by the dying request of his
child, that his opposition to scriptural education gave
way ; and the evening of the funeral be sent one pound
to the school, as a testimony of his gra!itude that his
child had been taught the word of God there, and died in
such a happy state. Now, would any Christian person say
that the request the father of that child had once made
should not have been acceded to ? Surely not."—DtiLlin
University Magazine.

THE VALLEY OF IVlEXlCo.—Conceive yourself placed
on a mountain nearly two thousand feet above the valley,
and nine thousand above the level of the sea. A sky
above you of the most perfect azure, without a cloud, and
an atmosphere so transparently pure, that the remotest
objects at the distance of many leagues are as distinctly
visible as if at hand. The gigantic scale of every thing
first strikes you—you seem to be looking down upon a
world. No other mountain and valley view has such an
assemblage of features, because nowhere else are the
mountains at the same time so high, the valley so wide, or
filled with such variety of land and water. The plain be-
neath is exceedingly level, and for two hundred miles
around it extends a barrier of stupendous mountains, most
of which have been active volcanoes, and are now covered
some with snow, and some with forests. It is laced with
large bodies of water looking more like seas than lakes—it
is dotted with innumerable villages, and estates, and ulan-
tations ; eminences rise from it which, elsewhere, would
be called mountains, yet there, at your feet, they seem but
ant-hills on the plain ; and now, letting your eye follow
the rise of the mountains to the west, (near fifty miles
distant,) you look over the immediate summits that wall
the valley, to another and more distant range—and to
range beyond range, with valleys between each, until the
whole melts into a vapoury distance, blue as the cloudless
sky above you. I could have gazed for hours at this little
world while the sun and passing vapour chequered the
fields, and sailing off again, left the whole one bright mass
of verdure and water—bringing out clearly the domes of
the village churches studding the plain or leaning against
the first slopes of the mountains, w'th the huge lakes
looming larger in the rarefied atmosphere. Yet elle thing
was wanting. Over the immense expanse there seemed
scarce an evidence of life. There were no figures in the
picture. It lay torpid in the sunlight, like some deserted
region where nature was again beginning to assert her
empire—vast, solitary, and melancholy. There were no
sails—no steamers on the lakes, no smoke over the vil-
lages, no people at labour in the fields, no horsemen,
coaches, or travellers, but ourselves. The silence was al-
most supernatural; one expects to hear the echo of the
national strife that filled these plains with discord still
lingering among the hills. It was a picture of ' still life,'
inanimate in every feature, save where, on the distant
mountain sides, the fire of some poor coal-burner mingled
its blue wreath with the bluer sky, or the tinkle of the bell
of a solitary muleteer was beard from among the dark and
solemn pines.—Mexico as it was and as it is.
LORD ELLENBOROUGH.—No former Governor-Gene-
ral of India entered on his office—at all times the most
arduous under the British crown—under such unfavour-
able auspices, and with such a complicated accumulation
of diffiwlties to combat, as Lord Ellenborough ; few, if
any, of his predecessors have had their actions, their mo-
tives, and even their words, exposed to such an un-
sparing measure of malicious animadversion and willul
misconstruction ; yet none have passed so triumphantly
through the ordeal of experience. Many of his measures
may now be judged of by their fruits; and those of the
Calcutta press who were loudest in their cavils, compelled
to admit the success which has attended them, are re-
duced to aim their censures at the alleged magniloquence
of the Governor-General's proclamations : which, it
should always be remembered in England, are addressed
to a population accustomed to consider the bombast of a
Persian secretary as the ne plus ultra of human compo-
sition, and which are not, the-efore, to be judged by the
European standard of taste. Much of the hostility di-
rected against Lord Ellenborough, is, moreover, owing to
his resolute emancipation of himself from the bureau.
cracy of secretaries and members of council, who had
been accustomed to exercise controul as " viceroys over"
his predecessors, and who were dismayed at encountering
a man whose previously acquired knowledge of the coun-
try which he came to govern, enabled him to dispense with
the assistance and dictation of this red tape camarilla.
Loud were the complaints of these gentry at what they
called the despotism of the new Governor-General, on
finding themselves excluded from that participation in
state secrets in which they had long revelled, in a country
where so much advantage may be derived from knowing
beforehand what is coming at headquarters. But much
of the success of Lord Ellenborough's government may be
attributed to the secrecy with which his measures were
thus conceived, and the promptitude with which his per-
sonal activity and decision enabled him to carry them into
effect—success of which the merit is thus due to himself
alone, and to the liberty of action which he obtained by
shaking off at once the etiquettes which had hitherto
trammeled the Indian government. In July 1842 we
ventured to pronounce, that " on the course of Lord El-
lenborough's government will mainly depend the question
of the future stability, or gradual decline, of our Anglo-
Indian empire; and if, at the conclusion of his vice-
royalty, he has only so far succeeded as to restore our
foreign and domestic relations to the same state in which
they stood ten years since, be will merit to be banded
down to posterity by the side of Clive and Hastings."
The task has been nobly undertaken and gallantly carried
through; and though time alone can show how far the
present improved aspect of Indian affairs may be destined
to permanency. Lord Ellenborough is at least justly en-
titled to the merit of having wrought the change, as far as
it rests with one man to do so, by the firm and fearless
energy with which he addressed himself to the enterprise.
—lndian Affairs is Blackwood.