The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-12-16 00:00:00

manner

from a public speaker. He usually sits in a state Of ab-
straction—his arms folded, his head sunk on his breast,
his legs stretched out. He seems to be asleep ; but, in a

very few moments, he •shows that he has not been an in-
attentive observer of the debate. He suddenly stills up,
advances (sometimes with faltering steps, from his ad-
vanced age) to the table, and without preface or-prelimi-
nary statement, dashes at once at the real question in dis-

detects it, and the
perseverance of his pursuit, are remarkable proofs of the
un'mpaired vigour of his understanding. Even with all
the physical feebleness which might be expected at his
years, he entirely fills the House while he speaks. His
utterance is very indistinct; yet by a strong effort of the
will he makes himself clearly heard and understood, even
though to do so he may have to repeat whole portions of
:s. Not ,a point of the discourse escapes him ;
most vigorous debater often finds the weakness of
ment, however cleverly masked, suddenly de-
id exposed. Some of the short, terse, pointed
:s, fall with a force on the house the more remark-
__ . the contrast of the matter with the manner. The
speeches, as a whole, though always extremely brief in
comparison with those of more elaborate debaters, strike
the hearer with surprise for their sustained tone, the con-
sistency of their argument, and a kind of natural symme-
try, the necessary consequences of their being the sincere

The keenness with which

tected

us develop Trent of

strong mind and a de-

. .
ROTECTION.—Are you afraid of that word protection ?
m you, if you are ! No doubt it has been
lalously misrepresented by the cotton-monger-
, but it is a great word, and a wise word, if
boroughly understood. It does not mean that

corn shall be grown.in this country for your benefit or
that of any exclusive class—were it so, protection would
be wrong—but it means, that at all times there shall be
maintained in the country an amount of food, rared with-
fself, sufficient for the sustenance of the nation, in case
or some other external cause, should shut up all
And this, which is in fact protection for
just and wise security against famine, in
which the poor and rich are equally interested—is per-
verted by the chimney-stalk proprietors into a positive
national grievance. Why, the question lies in a nut shell.
Corn will not be grown in this country, unless you give it
an adequate market. Admit foreign corn, and you not
only put a stop to agricultural improvement in reclaiming
waste lan, by means of which production may be carried

other re ources

to an indefinite degree, but you also throw a vast quantity
of the land at present productive out of bearing. Sup-
pose, then, that next year, all protection being abolished,
the quantity of grain raised in the country is but equal to
half the demand of the population ; foreign corn, of
course, must come in to supply the dtficiency. We hall
not enlarge
.upon,the first argument which must occur to.
every t) ^r person—the argument oeing, that in such

,r and Virus Verdaunt walked away
a state of things, the foreigner, whoever he may be, -with
together from the -Hall of Clamour, communing as they
whom we are dealing, has it in his power to .demand and went upon the transactions of the day. Every thing was
exact any price he pleases fur his corn. What say the green about Verdaunt but his hair. Amyraldis dress (al-
Cobdenites in answer to this ? Oh, then, we shall though he bad not yet assumed the full costume of ancient
chat ge the foreigner a corresponding price for our cottons Ireland) exhibited the six colours, which it was the pre-
and our calicoes !' No gentlemen, that will not do. We rogative of the bards to wear ; being only one colour less
have no doubt this idea has entered into your calculations, than the number allowed to princes, so great was the
and that you hope, through a scarcity of home-grown bardic dignity in celtic times. The poet now exercised
corn, to realise an augmented profit on your produce—in his rainbow privilege by wearing a coat pert, a waistcoat
gu(es, pantaloons azure, cravat sable, buttons or and a
short to be the only gai ,ers in time of general distress,

but there is a flaw in your reasoning, too palpable to be
overlooked. The foreigner can do without calico, but
the British nation cannot do without bread. The wants
of the stomach are paramount—nothing can enter into
competition with them. The German, Pole, or French-
man, may. for a season, wear a ragged coat, or an inferior
shirt, or even dispense with the latter garment, if it so
pleases him; and yet suffer comparatively nothing. But
what are our population to do, if bread is not procurable
except at the enormous prices which, when you abolish
protection, you entitle the foreigner to charge ? Have
you the heart to respond, in the only imaginable answer
—it is a mere monosyllable—starve ?—Blacktcood.

shirt of chastened argent.
" Stonehenge told tremendously," said the Brehon.
" O'Connell will be frantic," replied the Bard.
" Where is he ?" said Verdaunt.
" Hare-hunting, in Kerry, I presume."
" Hare-hunting !—When he ought to be hunting the
miscreant Saxon, and chasing the antlered Norman from
the land !"

" Stonehenge swill gall him to the quick(—He never

had an eye for: a grievance."
" Never—but what shall we have next ?—The public
appetite was never so keen ;—it must be fed, or we may
give up the game."
" A. thought struck me last night," said Amyrald, " I
sometimes fancy I any wiser dreaming than waking. Sir
Thomas Browne says, he had the same peculiarity.* But
to the point—you know how much the strength and splen-
dow of our ancestors consisted in the profusion of hair
they wore in their glybbes, and moustaches, or crom-

TAE THEATRES IN M Exlco.—A Mexican correspon-
dent of the Times, after stating that the National Thea-
tre in Mexico is far superior for elegance or comfort to
all similar buildings in any capital town in England, says
" The building, of which the theatre forms a part, con-
tains a cafe, hotel, restaurant, billiards, and card-rooms.

It presents to the Calle Bergara a very handsome front,
within which are found txo patios, or squares, with gal-
leries running along each, and communicating with the re-
ception-rooms. The patios are covered with glass, and
are ornamented by a profusion of natural flowers, and a
few orange trees, which have a charming effect. They
form at night a kind of crush-room, through which all
Mexican belles most pass to and from the boxes, and they
are consequently crowded with young men pretending to
taste or fashion. The boxes of the upper tiers are admi-
rably arranged. A slight division, in a waving line, not
breast high in any part, separates one from the other, so
that there is a free circulation of air through all. They
are cut down in front so low that the whole person of the
occupier is seen from every part of the house, and lades
have not to complain, as in Paris and London, of being
shut up in cases in which their heads and shoulders are
only visible, and all the elegance of the general toilette
concealed. A Mexican lady sits enthroned in her box, as
on an elevated 'platform, presenting the whole of her
graceful person and brilliant costume to the admiration of
her friends. A sl,ght rail, a few inches high, conceals
only her feet, and secures her from falling over into the
pit; but enough is understood, especially on gala nights,
to prove that a Mexican architect has been the first to
discover that beautiful women, seen to full advantage, are
more ornamental in an open box than silk curtains or
mouldings of white and gold. The boxes being private
property are furnished according to the taste of the own-
ers; some are very handsomely fitted up, and the form of
the house is so well arranged, that from every seat not
only are the performances seen and heard, but from every
chair in every box the whole of the other patios are visible.
Attached to each box is a retiring room, or cuarto. Be-
tween the acts the cuartos are filled with smoking cote-
ries, in which it must be owned the ladies, with their paper
or straw cigarettes, are most indefatigable. As these
cuartos, are in darkness visible, only one candle, or dull
limp,,beinifound, it is amusing as you pass to see them
suddenly lighted up with so many flashing fires like glow-
worms, and to hear the chatter of the performers, who
contrive to talk and smoke with unceasing rapidity. The
theatre is a kind of:borne for all Mexican families ; very
few receive company, an balls and parties are but of rare
occurrence; so that nearly all.the people of rank pass the
evenings in their boxes, not, as in Italy, to enjoy the visits
of their friends, but to sit in silent and solitary dignity—
alone with their glory."

meals 1"

" Of course—are we not reviving those heroic and hir-
sute ornaments for that reason ?"
" Well—and you know, too, how much the growth and
beauty of the hair depends upon the use of various un-
guents, more particularly upon the fat of mighty bears."
" No doubt." _ _

"6 Now, are you acquainted with the:works of:the:illus-
trious geographer, Ortelius ?"
" I never heard of them."

" Well, Ortelius published a map and a geographical
memoir of Ireland, at Antwerp, in 1572, and he states
there expressly, that in no part of the earth had he seen
so many bears."

" What became of them ?—I intend to put that ques-
tion to our Saxon invaders. I shall ask the Norman ban-
ditti what became of them? They robbed us of our bears
as they stripped us of our monuments. They saw that
from the abundance of our bears'•grease, we derived the
matchless vigour of our locks, and that to those locks we
owed our strength in fight, and our wisdom in council.
They exterminated our bears with the same deep and ma-
lignant policy, which they have uniformly pursued towards
Ireland, and, let others pursue what course they may, I
am determined to make the country resound from the
centre to the sea, with the cry of—' Restore your bears.' "
" But do you think it feasible to restore them?"—asked
Verdaunt, with considerably simplicity.
" Dull soul !" cried Amyrald—" of course I do not.
No more than I think the restoration of Stonehenge, or
—(to tell you the truth)—the restoration of other things
feasible. A grievance capable of being redressed is no
grievance." _ _

" I don't think much of your bear question," said Ver-
daunt, after some pause, and bursting with envy of his
companion's superior fertility of invention.
" What would you think of offering a reward for a fine,
fresh, plausible, thumping grievance, that no human be-
ing in Ireland—although groaning under it for a thousand
years—ever before heard, thought, or dreamed of? I
don't think the bear-restoration question will be easily
surpassed, but I have no objection to advertising for a
better, if a better is to be found. What shall the .piize
be?—a copy of my poems?"

SEMPER Intm.—The Times Commissioner has proved
O'Connell to be a " middle man."—We always thought
him between a knave and a mountebank.—Punch.