The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-02-03 00:00:00

The extraordinary mildness of the weather has led to
results of a singular character as affects the vegetable
kingdom. The shrubs have begun to put forth their foli-
age, and in some sheltered places the pear trees are in
blossom. The cuckoo has been heard, and most of the
birds are in full song.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES.—It will be seen by an adver-
tisement that the Hon. W. H. Dawnay has withdrawn
from the representation of the county of Rutland, on ac-
count (as he observes) of his being " unable to gainsay
the startling details in Sir R. Peel's explanations," and
yet being unwilling to act contrary to the principles upon
which he was elected to the House of Commons. The
belief,is that Viscount Campden will again offer himself for
that county ; and it is even said that he will not be op-
posed. The Marquis of Exeter's eldest son (Lord Burgh-
ley) will not be of age till the 30th of April.—Stamford
Mercury.
It is said in the highest circles, that the most illustrious
personage in the kingdom has, with her own fair hand,
written a kind and condescending letter to a Whig noble-
man, expressive of regret that any objection had arisen to
his :holding office, when on a late occasion the task of
forming an administration had been confided to Lord
John Russell. This gracious act must console the noble-
man in question for the repugnance of a certain noble
earl to his appointment, and is very gratifying to his lord-
ship's friends.—Daily News.—[Office, or power and pelf,
my lord, would have " Consoled " you much better than
"a kind and condescending letter."]
HYSTERICS INDUCED BY SYMPATHY. —At a recent
inquest, a wife, giving evidence touching her husband's
death, seemed about to faint, and the summoning officer
and others hastened to her support. The coroner said
she would be better if left to herself ; and his advice hav-
ing been followed, she gave her evidence without anything
like overpowering emotion, until towards its conclusion,
a juror expressing sympathy for her situation she became
hysterical, and in that state was led out of the room.
The coroner then said that sympathy invariably produced
such an effect, whilst apparent harshness or indifference
towards persons in the witness's situation seemed to
string their nerves, and enable them to perform painful
duties, for which commiseration would unfit them.
TROTTING MATCH.—ATROCIOUS CRUELTY.—A few
days ago, at Leeds, a wager was laid between Mr. John
Hutchinson, pipe-maker, and Mr. Proctor Hall, solicitor,
that Hutchinson's pony should trot 120 miles in 24 hours.
Hutchinson staked £2O that he should : Mr. hall £lO
that be could not. A butcher officiated as jockey. The
start took place on the Skipton road, at nine o'clock on
the Thursday morning, and the poor beast kept well up
to his task until four o'clock the following afternoon,
when he manifested symptoms of distress. Thirty miles,
however, remained unaccomplished, and stimulants were
administered, which so far re-animated the dying animal,
that he again started, and completed the undertaking, but
died on the Sunday afterwards.
HORRIBLE AFFAIR.—At Greenwich police•office, last
week, Anna Maria Richardson, daughter of the late as-
sistant to Professor Airy, of the Royal Observatory, at
Greenwich, was brought up under the following circum-
stances. The father of the girl has a wife and nine chil-
dren, and formerly held a situation at a salary of £240 a-
year, but was discharged in consequence of some disgust-
ing circumstances which have come to light. Suffice it
to say, that his daughter left home and occupied lodgings
which had been engaged for her by her father, where she
was delivered of a male child on the 15th of September,
and which she says died on the 25th of the same month.
After its death the father bought a coffin, in which he
placed the body of the child, and buried it in a garden,
where it was found by a labourer who was making a cess-
pool. The child is supposed to have been poisoned ; at
any rate, there is sufficient evidence to show that Richard-
son, who has absconded, was a party concerned in con-
cealing the birth. The prisoner was remanded.
EFFECTS OF THE HIGH TIDE.—The highest tide in the
memory of any one was that in the Bristol Channel on
Thursday, and did much damage. At Weston super
Mare, the beautiful new esplanade, erected a few years
since at great cost, and repaired only last season at a very
large outlay, has been all but completely destroyed. It
has been always considered safe from the encroachments
of the sea, but the high tide of Thursday overtopped it,
threw down its walls, and washed away a considerable
portion of the embankment. It will cost some hundreds
of pounds to repair it. The lower esplanade was more
fortunate, and successfully resisted the power of the
waves. A boat belonging to the place was washed on
shore, and her bottom beaten in, and another vessel was
injured. The surrounding neighbourhood is also much
flooded. At Kingston Seymour, a wall which was
erected to keep out the sea from overflowing the pasture
lands was thrown down, and about 40 sheep destroyed.
The Bristol arid Exeter Railway, near Highbridge, is
under water for full two miles, and the first and second
up trains were detained in consequence for a considera-
able time. It is said that below Bridgewater the damage
has been even more considerable.
BRITISH SAILORS ON BOARD OF AMERICAN SHIPS.
—A correspondent of the London Times who signs him-
self " Sailor," remarks that it behoves brother Jonathan
to be acquainted with the following fact :—That although
Great Britain's hardy sons do now contribute some three-
fourths of the crews of the United States' navy—pro-
bably, also, of their merchant vessels—there is not one
man amongst them who will be the traitor to his country
to " trip an anchor " or " trim a sail," much less " light
a match," on board that craft which shall dare to insult
or attack his own glorious ensign. Nor can it be too ge-
nerally known that last year, when America agitated the
same Oregon qu -stion, and the intelligence became ir-
culated in the east, several of her men-of-war, then at an-
chor at Singapore-roadst were unable to put, to sea in con-
sequence of the majority of their crews, who were En-
glishmen, going aft to a man, and demanding of the cap-
tains and officers an assurance that they should not be re-
quired, by word or deed, to work their vessels against
their country. Upon this assurance, and this only, have
those vessels ever been able to move from their untoward
fix ; and they, as well as others, floating under the spang-
led-banner, will, most undoubtedly, become placed in the
same unenviable position, should Mr. Polk and his friends
dare to move their pioneers one inch upon the neutral
ground of Oregon."
ADVENTURE OF A HORSE.—Many of our readers will
recollect of the story of the British sailor, who, falling
from the topmast of a Dutch war vessel, happened to
alight on the deck on his feet unhurt, and, turning the
quid of tobacco in his mouth, and shrugging up his trou-
sers, looked coolly around him and asked the astonished
foreigners " If any of them cou'd do the like of that ?"
The following is a sort of parallel to it :—On Thursday,
while a cart at Coal-hill, Leith, was about to be emptied
of its contents into a vessel, and being backed for that
purpose, the protecting chain gave way and cart and
horse fell over the quay-side, a height of about fifteen feet
to the vessel below. Being entangled, however, by the
rigging in their progress they were for a time suspended '
in mid-air, until the horse was extricated and laid on the
ship's deck. By this time a crowd had collected, and
great was the laudable anxiety manifested to know how
far the animal had been injured. For a long time he lay
immoveable on the deck, and various were the surmises
as to his fate. To the satisfaction of all, however, he at
last got upon his feet and looked around him—as the sai-
lor did. As he could not be got upon the quay he was
unceremoniously turned over the ship's side into the wa-
ter, where, being taken in tow by a boat, he swam up to
the slip where the railway improvements are going on,
and being there mounted by his driver, he shook his tail,
and, to the amusement of the numerous on-lookers, pas-
sed along the stone bridge, like Tam o'Shanter's mare at
a round gallop, as if nothing had happened !—Edinburgh
Paper.
THE HOUSE AND ITS AVENUES ON TUESDAY EVE-
NING.—No event has recently excited such intense and
general interest in the metropolis, as the anticipated
statement of Sir Robert Peel on Tuesday night, develop-
ing his measures for the abandonment of the " protective
system." As early as one o'clock, " strangers" wbo
had obtained orders of admission to the gallery of the
House of Commons, began to assemble at the doors ;
and, by two o'clock, there were four times as many ap-
plicants, holding members' orders, as could be accommo-
dated in the house. Long before four, the lobbies and
passages leading to the House of Commons, as well as
the street between Great George-street and Westminster
Abbey, were crowded with well-dressed persons. Many
of the members who were recognised, and known to be
opponents of the Corn-laws, were warmly cheered; and
the Duke of Wellington, in passing along Palace-yard,
on his way to the House of Lords, came in for a full
share of popular applause. On the doors being opened,
a few minutes before four, there was a tremendous rush
to the Strangers' Gallery, which was speedily filled. The
interior of the house presented a spectacle widely differ-
ent from its usual dull and quiet appearance at so early an

hour. The seats below the bar, to which strangers are
admitted on the personal introduction of members, were
crowded by peers and other distinguished individuals :
and, on the front seat, immediately behind the Serjeant.
at-Arms, sat Prince Albert, with the Duke of Cambridge
and the Earl of Jersey. This was the first visit paid by
his Royal Highness to the house during its sitting; and
considerable speculation arose as to the motives of his
presence—whether it was attributable to mere curiosity
or to a desire, in an exalted quarter, to countenance the
ministerial measure. The members continued arriving
in rapid succession until half-past four o'clock, when the
house presented a striking and exciting scene—not only
the body of the house, but the side galleries also, being
completely crowded. Indeed, there has not been so full
an attendance of members for many years, even during
the debates of Sir Robert Peel's Corn-law Bill, in 1842,
or the no less important discussions on the tariff. Sir
Robert rose at a quarter to five o'clock, and the hum of
conversation which had resounded through the house was
instantly hushed. The right hon. baronet spoke in his
usual firm and manly tone : but his statement was re-
ceived with great coolness by the majority of members
on his own side, and he was indebted, almost entirely,
to the oppositionists for the cheers with which some of
his sentiments and declarations were greeted. At the
conclusion of Sir Robert's statement, many of the mem-
bers left the house; and those who remained relapsed
into their usual indifference during the brief discussion,
or conversation which subsequently took place.— Watch-
man. _ . _

NAVIGATION.—To the inhabitants of a " sea girt isle,"
like unto Great Britain, and indeed to every other mari-
time nation, every instance of valor or skill evinced by
those devoted to navigation is justly and honourably es-
teemed. The deed of Grace Darling was one of heroism
and benevolence ; and recently the affair of the schooner
" Whim," which has been navigated four thousand miles
by Captain Kerridge and only one man, all the hands on
board having died, with the exception of one other, who
was incapacitated. No such other instance of naval skill
and indefatigable exertion is known in the records of naval
history ; from their continued exposure to the atmosphere,
they were in hourly danger of an attack of Rheumatism,
which, had it occurred, their fate, and that of the ship and
cargo, would have been sealed. To guard against such a
calamity, we would recommend that all persons should be
provided with Blair's Gout and Rheumatic Pills, which
may be taken at any time without restraint of employment.