The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-04-26 00:00:00

THE LIVERPO

RETROG RADE PROGRESSION.—Irish children are proverbial
for their ingenious replies. The following is not a bad instance
of their ready wit. On a cold, frosty morning, ass unfortunate
spalpeen was late in his attendance at school, when he was se-
verely reproved by the master. " Faith. sir," said young Pat,
"it was no fault of mine at all, at all. The road was so slippy,
that every step I took farrerd was two backerd." " Oh, you
big blackguard, how can that be? If you- had walked that fa-
shion, you never could have got here by any means." "No
more I would, sir, and so I played the road a trick. I turned
my back on the school, and made believe I was going home
again !"
DAVID Il LIME AND HIS MOTHER.—HUMC, the historian,
received a religious education from his mother, and early in
life was the subject of strong and hopeful religious impressions;
but, as he approached manhood, they were effaced, and con-
firmed infidelity succeeded. Maternal partiality, alarmed at
first, came at length to look with less and less pain upon this
declension, and filial love and reverence seem to have been ab-
sorbed in the pride of philosophical scepticism; for Hume now
applied himself with unwearied, and unhappily, with successful
efforts, to sap the foundation of his mother's faith. Having suc-
ceeded in this dreadful work, he went abroad into foreign coun-
tries ; and as he was returning, an express met him in London,
with a letter from his mother, informing him that she was in a
deep decline, and could not long survive; she said she found
herself without any support in her distress; that he had taken
away that source of comfort upon which, in all cases of afflic-
tion, she used to rely, and that she now found her mind sinking
into despair ; she did not doubt that her son would afford her
some substitute for her religion ; and she conjured him to hasten
to her, or at least to send her a letter, containing such consola-
tions as philosophy can afford to a dying: mortal. Hume was
overwhelmed with anguish on receiving this letter, and hastened
to Scotland, travellin day and night.; but before he arrived
his mother expired. 'No permanent Impression seems, how-
ever, to have been made on bis mind by this most trying event;
and whatever remorse he might have felt at the moment, he
soon relapsed into his wonted obduracy of heart.—Silliman's
Travels in England. A. story like this requires no comment.
Thus it is that false philosophy restores the sting to death, and
gives again the victory to the grave !

RICH AND Pooa.—The higher can by no means say to the
lower with truth or propriety, "I have no need of thee ;" nor
can tie lower retort upon the higher, " I have no need of thee."
If the lower order occupy the ylace of the feet and hands, which
execute the purposes of the mind, the higher occupy the place
of the head, which is the seat .of counsel, and is necessary for
the direction and preservation of the whole social body. Here
we see how necessary both these classes are to the general
order, and to the diffusion of peace and happiness throughout
the whole. The higher classes must, on reflection, perceive
that they are indebted to the lower for all they enjoy. "The
king himself is served by the field." Those higher classes are
supported by the continual machine of labour, which is going
on among the inferior classes of society ; and were it to stop, it
would tend to the stagnation, instead of the steady flow, of
luxurious enjoyment among those higher classes. In vain
would they retain wealth, if there were no hands to be employed,
and, were no commodities of any kind presented to them, they
would live in a state of destitution, greater than the meanest of
their dependents, or they must apply themselves separately to
those arts, each of which, in order to produce, in perfection
what they value, is the business of a life. The pinnacles of the
proudest edifice rest on a basis that comes into immediate con-
tact with the surface of the earth, or is buried partly under it,
and is invisible; so, all the improvements of wealth, nay, all
the distinctions of royal grandeur, rest on the industry of the poor,
upon their silent, unperceived industry, working out of the view
and frequently out of the contemplation of those who are most
indebted to it. On the other hand, let not the poor say to the
rich, "we have no need of you." That wisdom which is ne-
cessary for the good of the whole, is found in persons of exalted
station. There is the mind that casts its eye over the whole
machine of society, discovers its abuses, and aims to correct
them ; the mind which watches over the execution of the law,
gives birth to splendid examples, and refines and embellishes
whatever it embraces. It comprehends the order of civil go-
vernment, and those principles whose operation harmonizes
all. 'These are founded on wisdom, deliberation, and experience,
and on the force with which public opinion arms those who are
placed in elevated stations. Each of these classes, then, is, in
its separate place, essential to the welfare of society; and the
whole has for its basis the industry of the poor. The rich, en-
joyin..e. with moderation that affluence which God has put into
their hands, without allowing their reason to be inflamed with
pride and sensuality, and every one enjoying the good things
of this life, at the same time preserving the power of meeting
the exigencies of others, much more contributes to the healthful
state of society, than the largest distribution of almsgiving,
were such an exhibition of enjoyment and wealth to cease; and
the poor, while only earning their bread "by the sweat of their
brow," lend themselves to the diffusion of happiness and com-
fort over the whole.—Robert Hall.

"On entering the gate of Athens, the scene which presents
itself is extraordinary and painful. The flimsy walls of the mo-
dern town include within their extensive circuit one vast heap
of mean and undistinguished ruins. Scarcely a tenth of the
houses remain standing. Athens was the scene of one of the
most terrible and prolonged conflicts in the revolutionary war,
when the Greeks were besieged in the Acropolis by the Turks,
,who had possession of the town. This was utterly destroyed
between the fire of the besieged and their assailants; in the
Acropolis the Erectheitm was greatly injured; and the entrance
to the Parthenon is even now choked up with the cannon-balls
and broken shells which were thrown into it during the siege.
So complete is the desolation which was then produced, that
though, under the Turks, Athens contained about five thousand
inhabitants, it cannot now muster above three hundred at the
utmost. * * * * In the revolutionary war, the lofty and
commanding fortress of Palamede, which overhangs Naupha,
remained in the possession of the Turks some time after the
town below had been wrested from them. Grivas, with a chosen
band of followers, surprised it one night by a bold and well-con-
ducted assault, and threw the Turks headlong from the battle•
ments. Instead, however, of delivering the fortress into the
hands of the government, or holding it under them, he retained
it for his own purposes, and defended it equally against Turk
and Greek. Whenever it happened that he was in want of mo-
ney—an exigency of almost daily occurrence, he pointed the
cannon of the fort upon the town, and sent down word that, un-
less an adequate number of dollars were returned by the mes-
senger, he should immediately commence firing. The charac-
ter of the man was well known, and the dollars wore regularly
sent. Nearly the same trick is playing now in every part of
Greece. The needy chiefs each seize the castle or fort which
lies most within their reach, and refuse to surrender it to the
officers appointed by government, alleging that they are keep-
ing it for Prince Otho. In this way Giavella has lately taken
possession of Patras. While the chiefs are occupied in these
irregular pastimes it must not be imagined that the soldiery are
idle. On the contrary, they profit by, and improve upon, the
lesson which is read them. They receive no pay from govern-
ment, for government has not a piastre in its coffers; and as an
authority which does not pay its troops can never control them,
they give themselves up to every species of military license.
They pillage, they ravish, they murder; and there is scarcely
a single one of all the abhorred crimes and cruelties of war, of
which Greece is not at this moment the theatre and the victim."
—Scenes in tireece.

LOVE PROCLAIMED.
(FROM THE' GREEK.)

Love I proclaim—the vagrant child,
Who, even now, at dawn of day,
Stole from his bed, and flew away.
Ile's won't to weep, as though he smiled;
For ever prattling, swift and daring;
Laughs with wide mouth and wrinkled nose ;
Vl'ing'd on the back, and always bearing
A quiver rattling as he goes :
Unknown the author of his birth—
For Air, 'tis certain ne'er begot
The saucy boy : and as for Earth
And Sea, both swear they own him not :
To all, and everywhere a foe.
But you must look, and keep good watch,
Lest he should still around him throw
Fresh nets, unwary souls to catch.
Stay !—while I yet ani speaking, lo !
There, there he sits, like one forbidden--
And did you hope Us 'seripe me so--
In Lesbia's eyes, you truant, hidden ?