The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-11-12 00:00:00

THE LIVERPO

COUNTY PALATINE OF LANCASTER.—The County
Palatine of which the sovereignty is in the Queen as Duke
of Lancaster, has an Equity-court of its own, which sits
alternately at Lancaster, Liverpool, and Preston, and
which, for some years past, if an Equity barrister had pre-
sided in it, would probably, from its comparative cheap-
ness and great local convenience to the suitors, have been
called upon to despatch a large portion of the business
which has been transmitted, at a vast expense, from those
populous manufacturing regions to London. The Vice
Chancellorship of this Court having lately become vacant
by the death of Lord Granville Somerset, the Chancellor
of the Duchy, has availed himself of the opportunity for
endeavouring to make the jurisdiction practically usefu
to the wide circle it extends over, by selecting Mr. Twissl
a leading man of the Equity Bar, to be Vice-Chancellor
of the Court, and Councillor of the Duchy.
GENEROSITY OF CORNISH FISHERMEN.—In the
early part of last month the French sloop St. Louis, of
Cherbourg, Louis Basin, master, having been dismasted off
the Wolf Rock, was driven on shore near Por hleven,
where she became a total wreck. The few stores saved,
with the hull, were subsequently sold for payment of sal-
vage. Our object in revertinc, to this subject is to record
the praiseworthy and disinterested act of the salvo-s,
fishermen of Porthleven' who, after the sum awarded them
for their services had been paid to them, finding the
property belonged solely to the captain, and it was not
insured, generously took to Mr. Cudlip, merchant, the
full mount they had received, with the exception of 10
men's shares out of 103, but which was made up by other
persons, and requested him to present it in full to the cap-
tain, expressing their regret for his misfortune. The
poor Frenchman begged MN Cudlip gratefully to acknow-
ledge for him the generous act. We hope the example
set by these poor fishermen will be extensively followed,
and thus, in some measure, alleviate the miseries of ship-
wreck.— Western Lumina? y.

A CHANCELLOR'S ARRANGEMENT.—Lord Thurlow
upon the point of giving a clergyman a living, stated to
him, that he must desire he would continue the same cu- ,
rate who had been there in the time of his predecessor,
and whom he believed to be a deserving man. The cler-
gyman represented that his intended arrangements were
such that he could not do so. '• Very well," replied Lord
Thurlow, "as you will not take him for your curate, I
will make him the rector." And he did so.
Tarn► MARCH OF INTELLECT.—A gentleman of the
Temple received his laundress's weekly account the other
day, made out in the style of spelling and hand-writing
peculiar to the sisters of the suds. But there was one
charge of one shilling and sixpence for "skewering the
stars!" which defied even his practised comprehension.
After wondering for some time how such a work could
have been performed, and still more wondering that it
should have been done particularly at his expense, the
debtor sent for Mrs. Pearlash, when the preceding proved
to be 'for scouring the stairs !"—Charnbtres Journal.
EGYPTIAN ORIGIN OF THE ARCH.—The researches
of modern travellers, particularly those of Sir Gardiner
Wilkinson, prove that the brick arch was known in Egypt
in the reign of Amenoiph 1, 1540 years 8.C., and the
stone arch in the time of IPsameticus 11, 600 years B.C.
"The most remarkable," says Sir Gardiner Wilkinson,
" are the door-ways surrounding the tanks of Assasief,
which are composed of two or more concentric semicir-
cles of brick, as well constructed as at the present day,
and all the bricks radiate to a common centre." Mr.
Hoskins is of opinion that arches were constructed long
anterior to the time of the Piolemies; for in the pyramids
of Ghebel Birkel and Dunkalie, which are of more ancient
date, both round and pointed stone arches were disco-
vered.

THE EMPEROR ICANG-HE Ow QUACKS.,--It is difficult
to deceive us old men, because we have ourselves seen so
much. We meet with Tao-tsze (of the school of Lao.tsze
or Lao kien) who boast with the utmost effrontery of
having a secret for the enjoyment of long and happy life.
Wait for some time, and you will see them undergo the
fate of other men ; their teettrfall out, their hair whitens,
t eir strength decreases from day to day. You may be
sure from this, that they who pretend to possess similar
secrets have no other intention than to cheat. Do real
spirits, do true immortals condescend to descend upon
earth ? There are other impostors who keep themselves
standing for several successive years; and others who, in
the lower chambers, keep themselves for ever sitting.
But those who have learned to keep themselves erect
cannot remain seated a single moment, and those who
are always seated cannot keep themselves erect ; which
proves that their talent is pure quackery. <Lhave often
tried thetn,and I know all their tricks. There are many
things which appear easy at the first glance, .but which
cease to be so at last. When they relate to me any facts
of a surprising nature, I say, in a few days I will see and
examine them. I ascended the throne at eight years old,
and during the fifty years that I have managed the affairs
of the empire I have seen some of all sorts. Many quacks
have at first appeared to perform extraordinary feats; but
their shameful artifices have been discovered at last. I
do not trouble myself about publishing their impostures;
I wait tilt in the course of time they discover themselves.
In truth, there is no advantage in deceiving fora moment.
—Chinese Olio.

TIIE SOCIALIST SYSTEMS AND FREE SOCIETY CON-
TRASTED.—Nothing is more charming to the imagination
than the first general idea of some new community, where
all men are to be happy, every body active, benevolent,
reasonable. But the moment we leave this general idea,
enter upon particulars, and set about the arrangements
necessary for this universally comfortable state of things,
there is nothing in the world more tedious and oppressive.
Proposals for new political institutions are sufficiently
wearisome; but proposals for earthly elysiums, which are
to embrace the whole circle of human affairs, become in.
supportably dull. It is child's play, played with heavy
granite boulders. No ; if we were capable of being seduced
for a moment into the belief of some golden age ofequality,
where a parental government, presiding overall, should
secure the peace and prosperity of all, we should need no
other argument to recover us from the delusion than sim-
ply to read on, and learn how this parental government
intends to accomplish its purpose. When we find that,
in order to be relieved from domestic cares, we are to have
no home at all.; that our parental government, in order to
provide for our children, begins by taking them away from
us ; when we picture to ourselves the sort of wooden me_
lancholy figuresave must become, (something like the large
painted dolls in .a Dutch garden, stuck here and there with-
out choice or locomotion of their own,) we speedily lose all
inclination to enter upon this discipline of happiness. We
quit with haste this enchanted garden, which turns out to
be an enormous piece of clockwork, and embrace with re-
newed content the old state of personal freedom, albeit at-
tended with many personal inconveniences. Whilst read-
ing• of Utopian schemes, the idea has very vividly occurred
toos suppose that some such society as this, where land -
and wives, money and children, are all in common, had
been for a long time in existence, and that some clever
Utopian had caught an inkling of the old system so fami-
liar .to us, and had made the discovery that it would be
possible, without dissolving society, to have a wife of one's
own, a house of one's own, land and children of one's own.
Imagine, after an age of drowsy clockwork existence, one
of these philosophers starting the idea of a free society, of
a social• organization based upon individual rights and in-
dividual effort—where property should not only be pos-
sessed, but really enjoyed—where men should for the first
time stretch their limbs, and strain their faculties, and
strive, and emulate, and endure, and encounter difficul-
ties, and have friendships. What a commotion there
would be:! How would the younger sort, rebelling against
the old rotten machine in which they had been incarce-
rated, form themselves into emigrating bands, and start
forth to try upon some new soil their great experiment of
a free life ! How would they welcome toil in all its seve-
rity—how willingly practise abstinence, and suffer priva-
tion, for the sake of the bold rights which these would pur-
chase!—how willingly take upon themselves the responsi-
bility of their own fate to enjoy a fortune of their own
shaping! Hope herself would start from the earth where
she had been so long buried, and waving her rekindled
torch, lead on to the old race of life!—Blackwood.
THE ZODIAC.—When, and how, and by whom the
zodiac, as it is now exhibited in all our celestial maps, and
all our annual almanacs, was invented, no effort of learn-
ing has yet been able to discover. Its origin is undoubt-
edly fabulous, connected with the whole system of the
mythology of Greece, with the twelve labours of Hercules,
the expedition of the Argonauts to Colchis, for the golden
fleece ; the genealogy of Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto,
their common parent Saturn, and the final solution of the
whole system, in the allegorical impersonation of heaven
and earth. Here astronomy and astrology, idolatry, and
superstition, agriculture and navigation, all march hand
in hand, turning history into romance, religion into false-
hood; the cultivation of the earth, and the navigation of
the seas into fradulent imposture. By what magical in-
cantation, the belief of this system could be imposed upon
whole nations of men, imagination can scarcely conceive.
An imaginary belt is cast round the portion of the heavens
within which the solar system revolves. This belt is
divided into 12 partitions, each embracing 30 degrees of
the spherical circumference. Within each of these par-
titions clusters of stars, as they are visible in the sky, are
gathered as into one community ; and over each of them
the figure of an earthly animal is stamped, covering the
whole constellation, but bearing no sort of resemblance to
it. The very positions and attitudes of the animals are
painted on the celestial atlas ; names are given to all the
brightest stars ; and now, at least 3000 years after this
uncouth fiction was first palmed upon the credulity of
mankind, we find it imposed upon us still, and we cannot
learn to recognise the bright stars of heaven in the path
of the sun, without painting them to the mind's eye, on
the horns of a reposing ram, in the eve of a raging bull,
on the foreheads of a pair of twin children, and in the
fantastic and incoherent imagery of animals, .wild and
tame, of earth, air, fire, and water, jumbled together, as
if to resolve the created universe into its primitive ele-
mental chaos. Nor is this wild and scarcely conceivable
confusion yet exhausted. When the worship of idols had
thus insinuated itself into communion with the study of
astronomy, the population of the zodiac was extended over
the whole firmament. The chief of the gods, Jupiter, and
even the inferior idol Olympus, were invested with the
prerogative of placing favourite mortals to seats of honour
in the heavens ; and thus, not only Hercules and Per-
seus, but Adonis and Narcissus and Daphne, and Niobe
and her daughters, and multitudes of others, not more
meritorious, rose to be dignitaries in the skies, till not
only the hair of Berenice became a constellation, but the
infamous Antinous a star of resplendent magnitude. To
crown this infatuation of besotted learning, modern astro-
nomers, impelled by usurping vanity or base adulation,
have assumed the presumption of placing among the stars
I not only the shield of Sobiesky, and the crown of the
Prussian Frederick, with the sceptre of Brandenburg; but
have cast to the hunting dogs the rotten heart of Charles
the First. The printing press, the electrical apparatus,
and the air pump, may be better entitled to this symbol
of immortality ; but their intrusion upon this already
overcharged canvass only adds to its unnatural complica-
tion, and encumbers the study with superatnnrary diffi-
culties anti obstructions."

L STAN DAR D.

OPENING OF THE NEW SCHOOLS
CONNECTED WITH
ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH, TOXTETH-PARK

Tile schools were opened on Wednesday last, and though
the weather was unpropitious, the attendance of friends
was numerous. Shortly after twelve o'clock a number
of the influential members of the congregation assembled,
with their families. and several of the clergy, at the house
of the Rev. W. Hesketh, the incumbent; and about one
a procession of the children of the schools, followed by a
number of ladies and gentlemen, and headed by the band
of the Blue Coat School, moved towards the site of the
new schools, in Lark-lane. The buildings are arranged
in three divisions of nearly equal dimensions, under the
same roof, for boys, girls, and infants respectively ; and
have been most substantially built and suitably furnished
by Mr. Edward Roberts, of Washington-street. When
the children had taken their places in the lower school-
room, the Rev. W. Hesketh opened the meeting with
prayer, which was followed by appropriate collects, and
concluded by a fervent and impressive prayer prepared
for the occasion. This service being brought to a close,
the children sang th.: Hundredth Psalm, and the Rev.
Chairman addressed the company to the following effect :
—He expressed his deep and cordial gratification at the
generous and prompt contributions already given in the
neighbourhood towards the erection of the schools, and
the speedy manner in which they had been applied, little
more than twelve months having elapsed since the build-
ing, (now completed for use,) was first contemplated.
Their high object in view, inprnspective, was well known ;
their present object was not to establish schools where
none were before, but, in proportion to the enlargement
of the neighbourhood, to enlarge the previous school ac-
commodation,
and, upon the solid and unerring principles
of divine appointment, to carry out those texts of Scrip-
ture inscribed on the walls of the schools, and thereby to
mould the heart in obedience to their restraints and obli-
gations. This was the only system upon which God had
promised his blessing in his Holy Word—that children
being trained in his fear and love, might possess an eternal
•inheritance. With respect to the infant school, the only
new branch proposed in their system, he would not delay
them, as he was pledged to bring the subject (more ap-
propriately) before them on Sunday next. He thanked
all present for their contributions, and requested them to
unite with him in a vote of thanks to their kind friend and
neighbour, Mr. Beckwith, who had proved himself not
only a liberal benefactor, but a skilful architect and able
superintendent. In conclusion, he addressed the children
in an earnest and affectionate manner, urging them to
early attendance, diligence, and good conduct.
The rev. gentleman then proceeded to award prizes of
books to four of the children, two boys and two girls, who
had attended the school the longest period with diligence
and punctuality. The national anthem, " Lord of Heaven
and earth, and ocean," was then sung by the children,
who then passed in order to the upper, or girls' school-
room, where a substantial dinner of roast beef and plum
pudding was provided for them, and where they were
speedily joined by numbers of the company, who seemed
to derive as much gratification from the inspection of the
scene as the children did in the enjoyment of it. Thus,
though not till nearly four o'clock, terminated the inter-
esting and important ceremony of opening the Saint Mi-
chael's School—a festival which will be long remembered
by all, both young and old, who were engaged in it.

MORE CRUEL EFFECTS OF THE NEW

POOR-LAW.

In the Times,of Saturday last, we find recorded two
painful cases of suicide, arising, in all human probability,
from the rigour of this new, and, we fear not to add, un-
constitutional and unchristian law,—the victims (both re-
spectable in their stations) being driven to desperation by
dread of the Union Workhouse ! The first case was that
of an aged farm labourer, William Haynes, of Ruislip,
who had, through life, borne an irreproachable character
by all who knew or had employed him. An inquest was
held on view of the body, at Eastcot, in the parish of
Ruislip, on Thursday last, before Mr. Wakley, M.P., and
a jury of respectable farmers and inhabitants. The de-
ceased was nearly seventy years of age, and had a wife
nearly as old, to whom he was affectionately attatched.
He was found on the previous Sunday in a ditch, near the
cottage which he inhabited, dead, but not quite cold,—he
having cut his throat with a razor,—at first, it appears,
ineffectually, and afterwards enlarged the wound with a
penknife, so that he had bled to death. The razor was
found under his arm, covered with blood, and the pen-
knife was still sticking in the perforation. It was stated
that " he -was a very good man, and had an aged wife; also
that he had latterly been rather feeble and poorly ; that he
had subscribed to a benefit club for forty years, and had
for some weeks received Gs. weekly from it, but that this
would in twelve months be reduced to 3s. a week for life,
but that the funds had become so much reduced by mat-
practices of the officers in charge of them, that it was pro-
bable the sem: ty would be broken up, so that he would
receive nothing !" This disgraceful conduct of the par-
ties (upon which the coroner strongly remarked, expressing
his regret that the opulent inhabitants did not look after
those clubs) pray.ed upon his spirits, and nearly broke his
heart, as he had long often denied lamseifa Sunday's dinner
to meet his payments, in order to secure himself and aged
partner some little provision in old age and decrepitude.
He had been attended latterly by a doctor, who directed
him to have half-a. pound of butcher's meat a-day ; and
he got, on that account, from the parish, an allowance,
not of the quantity prescribed, but only 31b. a-week, the
half-pound for Sunday (the poor man's holiday) being
omitted, "according to the custom there:" another ex-
ample of the considerate mercies of the new poor law !
About seven weeks ago, the deceased called on Mr.
Jenkins, a retired London tradesman, who resided at
Eastcot, and occasionally employed him, consider-
ing him "an excellent person." Mr. J., seeing him
dejected, said to him, " Why have not you called
upon me lately?" He replied, " I was going sir, but
didn't like—didn't like to impose on his good nature."
Witness told him not to be afraid of that; there should
always besomething for him when he called. He thanked
witness, and said that he had been to several places to get
work, without succeeding ; and that he was afraid that he
and the old woman would be starved to death this winter;
and that he-should have perished of want this winter if
he (witness) had not relieved him. Witness said, " Well,
at all events, should it come to the worst, you could go
into the house," meaning the union workhouse ; to which
deceased sharply said, " No, I would rather starve to
death." He repeated this, and very firmly, and then
added, that as for the farmers, they were as bad off as the
workmen ; that there was plenty of work wanting to be
done, but no money to pay the men, and that the poor
farmers were eaten up by game, tithes, and taxes.
One of the jurymen here stated, that a farmer, not far
off, was obliged to pay a boy 3s. to keep the game off his
corn land. Several others of the jury remarked that the
game had become a dreadful evil against them.
The witness (in continuation) stated, that he again
advised, if deceased could not procure work, and the club
failed, that he should go into the union. " No," deceased
replied, " I would rather suffer a dozen deaths than go
there, and be separated from my poor old woman in our
old age." Witness did not doubt that deceased would
have destroyed himself last winter if he had not assisted
him, and that, from knowing him well, his habits and
Iris character, he firmly, and in his conscience, believed,
that it was his dread of ultimately being compelled to go
to the union-house that had caused him to commit suicide.
He had not the slightest doubt of it.
The coroner stated that, with the exception of the short
allowance of meat, the parish officers had administered
the law as it stood. There was no proof of insanity, but
after having paid so long to the club, hearing that the
funds were nearly exhausted, and dreading the workhouse,
he had adopted the dreadful alternative of putting a period
to his existence. The jury returned a verdict to the
effect, that he had destroyed himself, but that there was
no evidence to enable them to determine his state
of mind. Several of them stated that they had no
doubt but that finding the club about to break up, the
fear of being obliged to go into the Union-house
was the cause of the act.
The second case was disclosed at an inquest held
before the same coroner, on Friday last, on the body
of Mary Allaways, aged 63, a poor needlewoman,
I whose body presented a dreadfully emaciated ap-
pearance. She was last seen alive by the landlady
of the house in which she lodged on Tuesday evening,
whe t her manner appeared strange, and on going up
stairs she broke a piece of bread from a loaf she had with
her, and said, " Only taste it; it is so very sweet.
Next day she was found in the bed quite dead. A cup
with some liquid was found near the window, and on the
table a letter, which stated that she was much troubled
in mind from being unable to procure work, and owing
seven weeks' rent. It further stated, that the only thing
in the world she possessed was a watch, which she im-
agined to be worth £lO. She bequeathed the proceeds of
its sale to liquidate her debts, and the remainder to go to-
wards her funeral; but if it did not raise sufficient for the
latter purpose, her body was to be sent to the workhouse
for interment by the parish. It then added her earnest
wish that she should have one friend to follow her to the
grave, and a hope that her poverty would not be made
known ; concluding with the words, " God bless you all ; I
am- very much excited, and my pen is very bad." Deceased
was an extremely well-behaved woman, and had been well
educated. They always imagined she had some trifling
income that helped to support her, but since her death
they had found such was not the case, and that she sup-
ported herself by her needle. She had latterly appeared
very desponding, which she stated arose from her inabi-
lity to procure work and the poor wages she received for
it. She had once or twice adverted lately to the double
suicide at Kilmarnock, and said she would rather follow
that example than apply for relief. She had some friends,
who occasionally gave her food. but she seldom had any
other meals but breakfast and tea. The surgeoa said,
the body was wretchedly emaciated, and the deceased had
all the appearance of having been completely starved.
The coroner remarked, that this was an exceedingly pain-
ful case, and he feared he should have a great many more
similar cases whilst poverty was treated as a crime. It
was evident from the letter that she was a well-educated
and highminded woman, but it was wholly impossible for
them to judge of the misery she felt when she contem-
plated the degraded manner in which she would be treated
if she made her distresses known. The jury returned a
verdict, "That the deceased destroyed herself by taking
oxalic acid, but in what state of mind she was at the time
there was no evidence to show."

Mae. CLARKE'S BENEFIT.—It will be seen that Mrs.
Clarke takes her benefit at the Theatre-Royal, on Mon-
day next.
AN AMERICAN EX?LANATION.—A shopkeeper in
New York, who pretended to sell his goods very low, made
a practice of telling the purchasers that he lost money by
every article he sold. " I wonder much," said one of his
customers, "that you continue in so bad a line id busi-
ness." " Oh," replied the shopkeeper, " I couldn't
stand it, only I do so much of it.