The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-04-18 00:00:00

A STRANGE TREE.—Trees of a very droll form chiefly
drew my attention here. The trunk bulged out in the
middle like a barrel, to nearly twice the diameter at the
ground, or of that of the first springing of the branches
above. These were small in proportion to their girth, and
the whole tree looked very odd. These trees were all so
alike in general form, that I was convinced this was their
character, and not a lusus naturie. A still more remark-
able specimen of this tree was found by Mr. Kennedy. in
the apex of a basaltic peak.—Mitchell's Expedition into
Tropical Australia.
TRUE RELIGION NOT A CAUSE OF INSANITY.—An im-
portant distinction is to be drawn between these deranged
affections of the mind resulting from the influence of false
religion upon the understanding, and the healthy effect of
legitimate Christianity upon the feelings and actions of
man. During the course of our experience, we have never
seen a case of insanity which could be clearly traced to
true religion—we mean, the religion as inculcated by the
great author of Christianity—the religion which teaches
" peace and good will towards men "—which
advocates
the noble sentiments of love and charity—which inculcates
the feeling of " preferring others to ourselves "—the reli-
gion which represents love, mercy, and forgiveness as the
pre-eminent attributes of the Godhead—the religion whose
tendency is to induce us to take lowly views of ourselves,
to humble human pride, to produce a cheerful, serene,
and happy state of mind—the religion which enables us to
bear with fortitude " the whips and scorns of time, the
oppressor's wrong, and the proud man's contumely."
We cannot believe that such a religion can be otherwise
than sanitary in its effects on the human mind.—Journal
of Psychological Medicine.
KENNINGTON-COMMON.—An open area, called Ken-
nington, was, 30 or 40 years ago, quite out of town, the
streets of London now extend beyond its limits, and
altogether include it within the great aggregation of
cities, boroughs, and villages which are known by the
general name of London. Kennington is a space where
the surface, often trampled on and closely cropped by the
usual occupants of a common, displays a very scanty and
stunted herbage, without a tree or shrub to break its
monotony. The entire space does not exceed 20 acres,
its greatest length being from north to south; along the
whole extent of Sts boundary lines are houses of a re-
spectable character ; but somewhat beyond them are
swarms of poorer dwellings, the inhabitants of which
contributed a large contingent towards the crowds that
in the course of yesterday assembled within and around
the common. This locality is situate within a mile of
'Vauxhall-bridge, a mile and a half from Westminster,
arid `two tidied' frbrn Waterloo, Blackfriars, and Lon-
don bridges respectively, being on the south-e stern con-
fines of Lambeth; and within less than a mile of Cam.
berwell.

ACUTENESS IN SAVAGE LIFE.—The acuteness of the
senses is proverbial in savage life. The bushy and pro-
jecting eyebrows, and the keen glance of the large black
eye, give a commanding character to the countenance of
the Australian native. Such of his mental faculties as the
meagre circumstances of his position have permitted to be
called into active exercise, exhibit a wonderful superiority ;
and his sagacity occasionally assumes that unerring cha-
racter which we impute to instinctive rather than reason-
ing guidance. An extraordinary instance of this kind is
recorded by Mr. Montgomery Martin, in his " Account of
New South Wales," relative to the discovery of a mur-
dered body of a colonist. The native was taicen to a cer-
tain fence, to which the suspicions of a neighbouring
settler had been directed, in what appeared to himself a
supernatural manner, and where it was subsequently
proved the murder had been committed. Some traces of
blood still remained, which were carefully smelled by the
black. He then went off to a pond in the vicinity, where
he collected and tasted some scum on the surface of the
water, and pronounced it to be " white man's fat." He
next proceeded into an adjoining thicket, and finally
pointed out a spot where some decayed brushwood was
collected. The body was found beneath the surface at
this place. The murderer, as he afterwards confessed, had
first thrown it into the pond, where he had left it for se-
veral days, and then buried it at the spot so unaccountably,
traced out by the acuteness of this Australian native.—
Westgarth's Australia Felix.
PARIS BEFORE THE REVOLUTION. —The eye of a
stranger could have observed very little alteration in the
demeanour of the populace ; and even in the salons, there
was no strong surmise of any coming event of importance.
In the capital of France one looks for a revolution as
quietly as the people of England await the advent of " the
coming man." The event is always prophesied—some-
times apparently upon the eve of being fulfilled; but the
failures are so numerous as to prevent inordinate disap-
pointment. In the Chamber there were some growlings
about the Reform banquet, and the usual vague threats if
any attempt should be made to coerce the liberties of the
people; but these demonstrations had been so often re-
peated, that nobody had faith in any serious or critical re-
sult. Little Thiers, to be sure, blustered; and Odillon
Barrot assumed pompous airs, and tried to look like a
Roman citizen, at our small patriotic cosmopolitan re-
unions ; but I never could believe that either of them was
thoroughly in earnest. We all know the game that is
played in Britain, where the doors of the ministerial cabi-
net are constructed on the principle of a Dutch clock.
When it is fair weather, the ambitious figure of Lord John
Russell is seen mounting guard on the outside—when it
threatens to blow, the small sentry retires, and makes
way for the Tamworth grenadier. Just so was it in Paris.
Guizot, if wheeled from his perch, was expected to be re-
placed by the smarter and more enterprising Thiers, and
slumbrous Duchatel by the broad-chested and beetle-
browed Barrot. At the same time, I could not altogether
shut.my eyes to the more active state of the press. Ido
not mean to aver that the mere political articles exhibited
more than their usual vigour; but throughout the whole
literature of the day there ran an under-current of revolu-
tionary feeling which betokened wonderful unanimity.
Less than usual was said about Marengo, Austerlitz, or
even the three glorious days of July. The minds of men
were directed further back, to a period when the Republic
was all in all, when France stood isolated among the na-
tions, great in crime, and druuken with her new-won
freedom. The lapse of half a century is enough to throw
a sort of halo around the memory of the veriest villain and
assassin. We have seen Dick Turpin and Jack Sheppard
exhumed from their graves to be made the heroes of mo-
dern romance ; and the same alchemy was now applied to
the honoured ashes of Anacharsis Clootz, and other pa-
triots of the Reign of Terror.—Blackwood's Magazine.
WINES FROM AUSTRALIA.—The luxuriant growth of
the vine, both in New South Wales and South Australia,
has occasioned some interesting speculation with reference
to the production of wine in these colonies. The consi-
derable German emigration which has taken place to
South Australia will assist this anticipated branch of future
commerce. The cultivation of vines and fruit has pro-
ceeded to some extent in the Sydney district, where the
manufacture and even the export of wine has been already
commenced. Some of the produce of the Messrs. M'Ar-
thur's vineyard was sold at Calcutta in March, 1846, being
the first appearance, as remarked by the local press, of
that new Australian export in that market. According to
official returns for the year 1845, there were 648 acres of
vineyard throughout New South Wales, including thirty-
seven acres for the Port Philip district; the produce of
wine amounted to 54,996 gallons, and of brandy to 1433
gallons : 214 gallons of wine had been manufactured dur-
ing that year at Port Philip. The wholesale price of
grapes in the Melbourne market for the last two seasons
has been about 3d. per pound. Much additional ground,
however, has latterly been laid out in vineyard, and the
abundance of the supply will probably within several
years reduce the price to Id. per pound, at which rate the
manufacture of wine may be expected to commence on an
extensive scale. Probably above eighty acres of land are
now planted with vines throughout the Port Philip dis-
trict ; but these plants, in common with the stock of fruit
trees, are still in general extremely young, and yield bat
moderate crops. The wines of the Sydney district have
usually been hitherto of a light or Rhenish character. We
have still to learn the results of Port Philip manufacture.
In the mean time I am anxious to caution my fellow-
colonists against the common practice of applying to these
new descriptions of wine the old and standard names of
the produce of the other hemisphere. All the clitreivnee
in flavour in the case of the former is ever liable to be
judged as all inferiority. New South Wales port or
Australian sherry will never pass muster at the festive
boards of the mother country. Under a totally distinct
nomenclature, our Australian manufacture will stand upon
its own independent merits, instead of vainly struggling
for a position under the adopted title of European wines.
—Westgartles Australia Felix.

TRUE FRATERNITY.—We are not of those who think
the pulpit should never be used for comments upon pass-
• ing events. On the contrary, we feel that sound policy
can never be so effectively enunciated as by the preacher
of God's word. Dr.- Peile, the head master of Repton
School, a week or two ago, for instance, took the oppor-
tunity of a sermon he was preaching at Burton-on-Trent
to make a comment upon the French revolution, which
we dare say produced no little effect : -" St. Paul "—the
preacher had observed—" in urging the wealthier com-
munity of Christians in Corinth to contribute to the relief
of their poorer brethren in Judea, tells them he meant not
that other men should be eased, and they be burthened ;
but on an equalizing principle, that what at that time
they could spare should go to make up the deficiency of
the other party, and so what these in their turn might have
to spare should come in aid of some possible deficiency of
theirs—that there inight be equality; alternate bearing,
that is of each others' burdens, and so fOlfilment of the
law of Christ, that perfect law of liberty, that law of
Love." He then proceeded,—" Liberty, Equality, Fra-
ternity—what mean these words, as wehear them once more
perverted by an unhappy nation, which fears not God,
neither regards its own past experience of men ! What
but revolution, anarchy, equal participation in unblushing
robbery and wrong ? But, stand we fast in that only true
liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free; love we as
brethren, honouring all men, whilst yet above all (because
for the sake of all), we honour and obey them that have
the rule over us in Church and State ; and what then is
our equality, but the one hope of our calling, our one
Lord, one faith, one baptism ? What is our liberty but
that, no longer priest-ridden, but in the assertion of a
personal conscience priests rather ourselves of God and of
Christ, we yet use not our liberty for a cloak of licentious-
ness, but as the servants of God ? What our fraternity,
but our incorporation into that great ecclesiastical and
evangelical we, of which the apostle is speaking alike, when
to the Thessalonians he write, we which are alive, and re-
main until the coming of the Lord; and when to the Ro-
mans he says that through our Lord Jesus Christ we have
received grace and apostleship—i.e., a Divine commission
from hint whose baptised soldiers we are—to bring all na-
tions (how much more, all orders and degrees of men of
our own country) to what he emphatically calls the obe-
dience of Christian faith ? Beware, then, brethren—l say
still with the same apostle—beware lest any man make
a spoil of you through philosophy and vain deceit, after
the tradition of men, after the imperfect teaching of bye-
gone ages of the world, and not after Christ. Liberty,
equality, fraternity, in Clw;st—they are faith, hope,
charity or.love, these.tbree abiding .paces, the Christian
character.