The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-08-06 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD,

ROBE:1T THOM, ESQ. INTERCOURSE WITH

CHINA.

The following article, highly and deservedly compli-
mentary to Mr. Robert Thom. consul at Ningpo, for
many years a resident in this town, appears in the Jour-
nal des Debuts of the 24th of June. It is understood to
he from the pen of Mr. Stanislas Julien, member of the
Institute, and Professor of Ancient Chinese in the Col-
lege of France, without question, the first European
Sinologue of the day.
" The Bibliotheque
.Royale (at Paris) has just had
transmitted. to it from Canton a work, which, if we are
not mistaken, bids fair to open up China to us in a way
far more efficacious than even the force of arms has done.
And this, by enabling the inhabitants of the Celestial
Empire to acquaint themselves, without any other assist-
ance than that which itself affords, with the ideas and
scientific attainments which prevail in Europe. The work
alluded to is a " Chinese and English Vocabulary, pub-
lished for the use of the Chinese. It is headed by a
preface in Chinese, written in a moderate and conciliatorytone, which the Emperor must have read with no less in-
terest than satisfaction, should it have been brought under
his notice. This last-named circumstance is by no means
improbable, as, according to the Hong Kong Gazette of
the 26th of October, 1843, a considerable number of copies
had been forwarded to the Court of Pekin ; and as in-
formation has been received, since their arrival, of many
of the high functionaries of that capital having read, and
having been delighted with the work. Hitherto the al-
most exclusive object of Sinologues has been to compile
dictionaries for the service of Europeans ; but the opening
of four new ports has given birth to new wants, and,
among its other consequences, has created a sort of neces-
sity for the publication of the vocabulary, which we have
now the pleasure of announcing. It was an idea at once
happy and bold, to aim at furnishing the Chinese with the
opportunity of acquiring,. through the medium of their
own language, an acquaintance with that of England.
But an immense difficulty had to be encountered, in at-
tempting to set forth to the eye the sounds of a foreign
tongue, the pronunciation of which is so arbitrary, by
employing for that purpose the signs of a language which
oh
tahse
rs no
which
alphabet.
need Tn
not
tbr iou me
npohm
eo
rvaetre
dt,h
nothing
so
tohhi sntga c
lessl e , an
was
required than the learning and experience of a man who
has had his abode in China for the last ten years, and to
whom the spoken language of the Chinese is as familiar
as his vernacular tongue. The author is Mr. Robert
Thorn, whose abilities are well known throughout Europe
—the gentleman who, in connection with the younger
Morrison, acted as interpreter to Sir Henry Pottinger
during his negociations with the Chinese Plenipoten-
tiaries ; and this, not only in arranging the terms of the
recent peace, but likewise in since discussing and settling
the articles of that commercial treaty which now throws
China open to European enterprise and activity. To him
the public was previously indebted for his edition of
lEsop's Fables in Chinese and English, and for an inter-
esting tale translated from the Chinese.
" The volume now before us presents, first of.all, a
paradigma, or specimen sheet, on which each letter of the
English alphabet, small and capital, written and printed,
is accompanied by its pronunciation in Chinese phonetic
signs, as well as in mandchou letters. The author then
instructs the Chinese in all those principles which are
necessary to be understood by them, in order to their
finding, in the conventional signs which he employs, the
pronunciation of the English words ; a thing which he
does almost as accurately as if he had availed himself of
the sounds of the French language to give expression to
them. In this publication„ which is merely the first part
of the work, all the words and all the phrases, are ar-
ranged according to an order the most methodical. Each
Chinese word is followed by. Chinese phonetic signs,
which give the pronunciation of the English synonyme
placed opposite. The second part will contain the rules
of English syntax. We may add that Mr. Thom has
published this work at his own expense ; and that he has
distributed copies gratuitously to foreigners who reside in
China, as well as to the native merchants of the new
ports, henceforward to be brought into constant inter-
course with Europeans, and requiring the assistance
which such a work affords."

GENERAL MISCELLANY.

On Friday last Lord Viscount Villiers was returned
without opposition for the borough of Cirencester.

- -
The carpet weavers in the employ of Mr. Lea, the
largest carpet weaver in Worcester, have turned out.
Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, Bart., at his audit, last
week, caused the liberal return of £lO per cent. to ba
made on the rents of all his tenantry.

It is said that the visit of Louis Philippe, in September,
has been arranged for the express purpose of his Majesty
being sponsor to the royal infant now expected.
On Monday week the first stone of a new Church at
Heaton Norris, Stockport, was laid by Wilbraham Eger-
ton, Esq.
A fearful gale occurred off Jersey, on the Ist instant.
A sloop, with eighteen persons on board, was driven on
to a sunken rock, and fourteen of them perished.
The supply of gooseberries in the south has been so
large that they have been scarcely worth the trouble of
gathering ; and in some parts of Kent, cherries on the
trees were offered under one half-penny per pound.
COACH ACCIDENT.—On Thursday last the Stirling and
Edinburgh coach was upset at a sharp turn of the road,
when one gentleman was killed and several others in-
jured.
Chamber's Journal has increased since the alteration in
its form from somewhat under 60,000, which was the
amount laterly printed of the old series, to above 90,000
being an addition of more than one-half.
SUICIDE OF A CLERGYMAN.—On Friday week the Rev.
G. Harris, minister of one of the city of London churches,
committed suicide at Gravesend by cutting bis throat with
a razor. The reverend gentleman had been in a despond-
ing state of mind for some time.
COMPETITION !—The Forth and Clyde Canal Company
are now carrying passengers from Glasgow to Edinburgh
for ls. in the steerage, and ls. 6d. in the cabin. If it was
not for the Canal Company, what would the fares to Edin-
burgh by railway be?
DIABOLICAL.—A Durham Journal states, that, a few
mornings ago, at Waldridge colliery, near Chester-le-street,
some heartless ruffian fired a gun, heavily loaded, through
the window-shutters of a house occupied by John Walker,
a deputy, by which he and his wife were severely injured
whilst asleep in bed.
SINGULAR DEATH.—A fine young man, named Hart,
residing at Homerton, whilst at his work on Friday week
trod on a nail, which entered the heel of his foot. He
thought little of it, and continued his work till the follow-
ing Monday, when he was seized with lock-jaw, and died
in great suffering two days after.
MURDER IN NOTTINGHAM.—A woman, named Bar-
ton, is in custody, at Nottingham, charged with having
poisoned her husband. It appears that she has repeat-
edly threatened him with both poison and steel, and, one
day last week, purchased a pennyworth of arsenic, which
she is supposed to have administered to him, as he died
in great agony.

RAISING THE WIND.—A person inserted in " the
leading journal of Europe" an advertisement for which he
paid 9s. At the foot thereof was appended—" Parties
wishing an answer to their application will please to enclose
a postage stamp." Within a week he received no less
than 219 letters with postage stamps enclosed, which not
only paid for advertising but gave a bonus of 9s. 3d. in his
favour. It is said that hundreds of persons resort to this
novel mode of raising the wind."
ANTICIPATED DISSOLUTION OF THE ANTI-CORN-
LAW LEAGUE.—The League newspaper, of Saturday
week, in an article upon the projected Free Trade Club,
says—" The League now in full vigour may, nevertheless,
make its will, and bequeath to the club this legacy of use-
fulness." The whole article is written in a most de-
sponding tone, and bears evidence that the great guns, the
Cobdens, Moores, Aclands, and Brights, find that the age
of league gullibility and the " day of the dupes" are near
at an end.

CATCHING FOXES BY WHOLESALE.—For a consider-
able time past, the estate of Mr. Charles Richards, of
Venvin Lelant, has been infested with foxes, and his
poultry, &c. have been carried off by them—even at mid-
day. A trap was set, and one morning poor Reynard's
leg and tail were found in it. On Monday a conduit in
one of the fields on the estate was opened, and 21 feet
deep and 600 feet in, six young foxes were discovered—one
minus a leg and tail. They were all destroyed except
one.—West Briton.

On Friday night, in the House of Commons, a new
writ was moved for the borough of Dudley, in the room
of Mr. Hawkes, who has accepted the Chiltern Hundreds.
Mr. Benbow, a retired solicitor, of London, has come
forward on the conservative interest, and the radicals have
issued an address in which they state that Sir G. Lar-
pent will come forward. The nomination is fixed for to-
morrow (Wednesday), and the polling the following day.
At the last election the numbers were—for Mr. Hawkes
(conservative), 436 ; for Mr. Smith (whig), 189.
PENSIONS.—The following are the pensions granted
during the year ending 20th June :—Dame Maria Bell,
£lOO a-year, in consideration of the services rendered to
science by her late husband, Sir Charles Bell ; Miss Ann
Drummond, in consideration of the public services of
her brother, the lamented Edward Drummond, Esq., as-
sassinated by Macnaughten, £2OO a-year ; Robert Brown,
Esq., the botanist, £2OO a-year ; Dame Florentia Sale,
wife of the the hero of Jelallabad, £5OO a-year ; and Sir
William Rowan Hamilton, the Astronomer Royal for
Ireland, £2OO a-year. Making altogether £1,200 per
annum.

MANSLAUGHTER.—On Friday week a woman named
White died at Doynton, near Bath, in consequence of in-
juries inflicted on her by ber husband. On Wednesday
the parties attended Bath Market, as usual, and on their
return both of them were intoxicated. It seems that some
altercation took place between them on the road, which
ended in the blows which are supposed to have caused the
woman's death. The deceased was a comely-looking wo.
man, about 38 years of age : and the prisoner a tall gaunt
man, of rather a forbidding aspect, against whom a ver-
dict of manslaughter was returned at the coroner's in-
quest.

INCENDIARISM IN SUFFOLK.—The Grand Jury of
the county of Suffolk at the recent assizes made a pre.
sentment on the subject of the recent incendiary fires in
the county, in which they state—" We present the follow_
ing as an analysis of the cases which have come before us,
of which therkappear to be 17 committed by children or
young persolPtinder the age of 20, and 15 by persons
above that age—namely, 4 arising from inadequate em-
ployment, 12 fiom malicious feeling towards individuals,
11 from actual mischief and without any premeditated or
criminal intention, one only by a party travelling about
the country as a vagrant, and 4 for which we cannot dis-
cover any sense or motive whatever.