The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-07-09 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL. STANDARI).

PORTUGAL.—There are few things more remarkable in
diplomatic history than the long connexion of Portugal
with England. It arose natnrally from the commerce of
the two nations—Portugal, already the most adventurous
of nations, and England growing in commercial enter-
prise. The advantages were mutual. In the year 136 i,
se have a Portuguese treaty stipulating for protection to
the Portuguese traders in England. In 1382, a royal or-
der of Richard 11. permits the Portuguese ambassador to
bring his baggage into England free of duty—perhaps one
of th earliest instances which marked the progress of ci-
vilisation, and which has since been generally adopted
throughout all civilised nations. A decree of Henry IV.,
in 1405, exonerates the Portuguese resident in England,
and their shits, from heing made responsible for the debts
contracted by their ambassadors. In 1656 the important
privilege was conceded to the English in Portugal, of be-
ing exempted from the native jurisdiction, and being tried
by a judge appointed by England. This, in our days,
might be an inadmissible privilege ; but two centuries
ago, in the disturbed condition of the Portuguese laws and
general society, it might have been necessary for the sim-
ple protection of the strangers.—Blacktvood's Magazine.
A DINNER WITH THE RAJAH OF BHURTPORE.—The
Rajah of Bhurtpore gave an entertainment to the European
residents of Agra, while we were there. He had some
large tents pitched near the fort, handsomely carpeted,
and hung with a most singular collection of handsome
glass lustres, gilt chandeliers, tin candlesticks, valuable
paintings, and twopenny prints, mixed together in most
heterogeneous confusion. He evidently thought them all
very fine and well matched. We sat down, in number
about two hundred, to a dinner in the European style,
which was really exceedingly well got up, excepting that
there was the same mixture of the best and commonest
description of articles as was exhibited in the adornment
of the tents. Sore of the plates and dishes were of the
richest china, while others were of the meanest blue
crockery, and handsome ivory mounted table cutlery were
mixed up with the vilest black-handled imitation of knives
and forks I ever saw. In the centre of the table was an
immense nie, to ascertain the contents of which much
curiosity prevailed. At last it was cut open by some one
near, when out flew about twenty little birds, which bad
been concealed under this mountain of paste. The rajah
seemed much tickled at the -'urprise depicted in the coun-
tenances of those around, and laughed till his fat sides
shook again. It was, however, no effort of the obese po-
tentate's own invention; hardly any native entertainment
ever taking place without some dish of the kind. There
was plenty of wine of all sorts, champazne corks were
flying in every direction, and altogether the banquet was
on the most liberal scale.—Greenzvood's Campaign in
Afghanistan.
CRIME IN THE MANUFACTURING DISTRICTS.—The
great source of demoralization, destitution, and crime in
the manufacturing districts arises from the sudden con-
gregation of human beings in such fearful multitudes to-
gether, that all the usual alleviations of human suffering,
modes of providing for human indigence, entirely fail.
We wonder at the rapid increase of crime in the menu-
! facturing districts, forgetting that a squalid mass of two
or three hundred thousand human beings are constantly
precipitated to the bottom of society in a few counties, in
such circumstances of destitution that recklessness and
crime arise naturally, it may almost be said unavoidably,
amongst them. And it is in the midst of such gigantic
causes of evil—of causes arising from the extraordinary
and unparalleled influx of mankind into the manufactur-
ing districts during the last forty years, which can bear a
comparison to nothing but the collection of the host with
hicb Napoleon invaded Russia, or Timour and Genghis
Khan desolated Asia—that we are gravely told that it is
to be arrested by education and moral training; by infant
schools and shortened hours of labour; by multiplication
of ministers and solitary irnp-isonment ! All these are
very good things • each in its way is calculated to do a
certain amount Of good ; and their united action upon
the whole will doubtless, in process of time, produce some
impression upon the aspect of society, even in the densely
peopled manufacturing districts. As to their producing
any immediate effect, or in any sensible degree arresting
the prodigious amount of misery, destitution, and crime
which pervades them, you might as well have tried, by the
schoolmaster, to arrest the horrors of the Moscow retreat.
—Causes of the Increase of Crime, in Blackwood's itlaq.
MANNERS IN IRELAND IN 1760.—There was some-
thing very impressive in the manner in which the aristo-
cracy of that day presented themselves upon occasions of
pomp and ceremony among the people. Favourite actors
were not more attentive to costume, nor were theatrical
processions arranged more carefully than the " exits and
entrances" of the gentlemen of Munster, when they as-
sembled at the assizes. The town was their stage—the
whole public their auditory ; and they dressed and deco-
rated with an anxiety not less than professional, to pro-
duce effect. Nor was this ostentation impolitic. By the
high bearing of the gentry, a sense of their superiority was
impressed upon the people • and passions were frequently
overawed and kept in check by a stately carriage, which,
had they broken out in popular violence, would have been
will very great difficulty resisted. The times, too, de-
manded, on the part of every gentleman, a train attendant,
on which he could place reliance for needful defence, no
less than for purposes of show. He lived surrounded by
a population where law was had in little esteem. Its lie-
tors, the constabulary of the time, were not well qualified
to add to the majesty of its terrors—to grace its pumps, or
to enforce its ordinances. The military, narrowly limited
in numbers, and widely dispersed, could do little more
than retain the towns, and occasionally make demonstra-
tions of strength, to overawe a turbulent district. Every
landed proprietor was thus taught to feel that he must
find protection in his stout heart and practised arm, and
in the services of his faithful retainers. Thus each gentle-
man, according to his property and degree, had a train
more or less numerous, constituting, whatever he chose to
ca 1 it, what was substantially his body-guard. The sys-
tem or fashion might be described as general throughout
the country. The gentleman had his followers—the poor
man of influence had his faction. All had something to
look to for protection, different from, and often opposed
to, the laws which all professed to live under.—The Ne-
villes of Garretslown, in Dublin University Magazine.

TOM PINCH IN HIS HAPPY RETIREMENT.—What
sounds are these that fall so grandly on the ear! What
darkened room is this ! And that mild figure seated at
an organ, who is he ? Ab Tom, dear Tom, old friend !
Thy head is prematurely grey, though Time has passed
between thee and our old association, Tom. But in those
sounds with which it is thy wont to bear the twilight com-
pany, the music of thy heart speaks out: the story of thy
life relates itself. Tny life is tranquil, calm, and happy,
Tom. In the soft strain which ever and again comes
stealing hack upon the ear, the memory of thine old love
may find a voice perhaps; but it is a pleasant, softened,
whispering memory, like that in which we sometimes hold
the dead, and does not pain or grieve thee, God be
thanked ! Touch the notes lightly, Tom, as lightly as
thou wilt, but never will thine hand fall half so lightly on
that Instrument as on the head of thine old tyrant brought
down very, very low; and never w• 11 it make as hollow a
response to any touch of thine, as he does always. For a
drunken, begging, squalid-letter-writing man, called
Pecksniff, with a shrewish datighTe-, haunts thee, Tom;
and when he makes appeals to the for cash, reminds thee
that he built thy fortunes better than his own ; and when
he spends it, entertains the ale-house company, will tales
of thine ingratitude and his munificence towards thee once
upon a time; and then he Miens his elbows worn in holes,
and puts his soleless shoes up, on a bench, and begs his
auditors look there; while thou art comfortably housed
and clothed. All known to thee, and }et all borne with,
Tom ! So. with a smile upon thy face, thou passest gen-
tly to another measure; to a quicker and more joyful one;
and little feet are used to dance about thee at the sound;
and bright young eyes to glance up into thine. And
there is one sight creature, Tom—her child ; not Ruth's
—whom thine eyes follow in the romp and dance : who,
wondering sometimes to see thee look so thoughtful, runs
to climb up on thy knee, and put her cheek to thine :
who loves thee, Tom, above the test, if that can be : and
falling sick once, chose thee for her nurse: and never
knew impatience, Tom, when Thou wert by her side.
Thou glidest now, into a graver air : an air devoted to old
friends and byegone times; and in thy lingering touch
upon the keys, and the rich swelling of the mellow har-
mony, they rise befere thee. The spirit of that old man
dead, who delighted to anticipate thy wants, and never
ceased to honour thee, is there, among the rest : repeat-
ing, with a face composed and calm, the words he said to
thee upon his bed, and blessing thee! And coming from
a garden, Tom : bestrewn with flowers by children'a
bands : thy sister little Ruth, as light of foot and heart as
in old days, sits down beside thee. From the Present,
and the Past, with which she is so tenderly entwined in
all thy thoughts, thy strain soars onward to the Future.
As it resounds within thee and without, thy kindling face
looks on ber with a Love and Trust, that knows it cannot
die. The noble music, rolling round her in a cloud of
melody, shuts out the grosser prospect of an earthly part-
ing, and uplifts her, Tom, to Heaven!—Martin Chuz-
zlewit.

AN IRISH SHERIFF IN 1760.—" You must know, sir,"
said the old gentleman, Mr. Chamberlain, to the stranger
who afforded him a convenient opportunity of relating his
knowledge, " You must know that one of the Maras was
foster brother to Mr. Prittyman of Gayville, and had be-
side the strongest faction in the country. The petition
was ready to be sent up to Dublin Castle, and all the pri-
soners had to do was to get a long day from the time of
the sentence. Well, it was dark in the evening when the
jury came in with the verdict. You could not see a fea-
ture in any man's face. But there was not much thought
about the thing for awhile. Every one knew the fellows
must be brought in gu Ity. The judge, Judge Crofton,
put on the black cap, and Sir Thomas Brazier, the sheriff,
standing at his side—he passed sentence of death, and
Mara says, firm enough, though his voice was not quite
stout, ' A long day, my lord.'—Not a word for a while
from the judge. He made Sir Thomas Brazier sit at his
side on the bench. You never saw in your life anything
like the court-house. A kind of unknown terror seemed
to be creeping in the dimness through people's hearts,
and the place was so silent that the whispering of the
judge and the sheriff, although the meaning of their words
could not be made out, could be heard—we all heard it
through the whole court. At last the judge speaks up,
and speaks to the prisoners. They were to be taken from
the dock to the prison, where their bolts were to be
stricken off, and they were to be taken thence without a
pause to the place of execution, where they were to die.
Oh ! sir, death is dreadful enough in its mildest form—
hut such a form as that. If there was terror in the si-
lence of the court, what was it to the shout of horror when
this terrible sentence was given. But Brazier was ready
for every thing. He had sixty liverymen that year; he
had all the constables, such as they were, of the county.
They took off the men from the dock, in a faint, and be-
fore an hour they were dead. To be sure they were des-
perate villains, highwaymen, and murderers : and this I
must say, the gang they commanded has disappeared from
the country ; but all wont do for Brazier. if he was to
live as long as his grandfather, who followed the hounds
when he was eighty-six years of age, and lived to an hun-
dred, that one night would never be forgotten or forgiven
to him.—The Nevilles of Garretetown, in Dublin Uni-
versity Magazine.