The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-05-20 00:00:00

, £34,609,230 £27,719,854
The amount of capital, on which the several rates of legacy
duty was paid in Great Britain, in 1841, was £41,476,521;
in Ireland, £2,487,262 ; and the total amount since 1797 was
£1,163,284,207 ; of which the three principal amounts were
.E 568,412,956 at £1 per cent. duty, £293,855,817 at £3 per
cent. duty, and £124,851,536 at £lO per cent. duty.
HOW TO ASCERTAIN THE GROWTH OF CABBAGE.—
James Boardman, a tailor, residing at Little Hulton, was
summoned for refusing to give up a coat, the property of
Richard Markland, a farmer. As soon as the case was an-
nounced the tailor stepped forth in " awful majesty" to make
his statement, and the court was in consequence, somewhat
puzzled to know who was the complainant. The mystery,
however, was soon unravelled, and it appeared that the com-
plainant, who never parts with six pennyworth of copper
without counting it, had taken a coat to be made by defend-
ant, and had made a bargain that 6s. 6d. should be the price
of making. On the day appointed the coat was in readiness,
and " the fit" was considered to be good ; but complainant
had taken the precaution to weigh the cloth and trimmings
before they were placed in defendant's possession, and on ar-
riving at his home, and re-weighing his cloth he found that
he was a pound and a quarter deficient, amounting, as he
said, to nearly a yard of cloth ! The coat was therefore
taken back again and thrown down, with a feeling of indig-
nation, and the tailor has, according to his own account, re-
tained it to clear his own character. The defendant said it
was a very " mysterious" affair ; that he never knew an in-
stance of cloth being weighed before the tailor had it, except
on one occasion, previously, and exhibited what he called
" tailors' fruits," but what are more significantly designated
" cabbage," to make up the deficiency. The magistrates
had no power to adjudicate upon it ; but they very ingeni-
ously advised complainant to " try the fit" of the coat, and
the moment he had obtained possession of it, ordered him to
keep it. The tailor wished to claim " the fruits" as his
rights, but these also complainant got possession of, yet,
notwithstanding all, was not a gainer, as, on the case being
dismissed, he had to pay 3s. 6d. costs.—Bolton Chronicle.
FIREPROOF MILL.—A factory has recently been erected in
Duke-street, by R. F. Alexander and Co., of such a con-
struction as to secure it against the effects of fire. The
premises of these gentlemen having been on more than one
occasion nearly totally consumed by fire, they determined to
be independent of a fire establishment, and resolved to erect
a mill which, as far as art can go, should be fireproof. It is
a building of 209 feet in length, by 35 in breadth, built of
stone, and four stories high. The lower storey is built to the
street, of droved ashler, and the next, which may be called
the street fiat, the other being partially.sunk, is composed of
rock or frosted work, with an archway at each end, more like
the entrance to a baronial residence than the entrance to a
thread mill. The upper flats are fronted in rather an unique
style, being what is technically called " debbed ashler," a
style of work almost unknown in this country. To be inde-
pendent of insurance offices and fire-engines, the joists are of
cast iron, on which arches are to be raised to support a floor
of a fireproof composition, and the roof is to be of the same
material, the water flowing from the roof to be retained in a
cistern to be used for the water closets. We have very seldom
indeed seen a building which reflected greater credit on the
builder than this ; and much as we have seen of the handi-
work of Mr. Thomas Binnie, we suspect this will eclipse all
of them.—Glasgow Guardian.
THE CREOLE NEGROES.—The New York Express con-
tains the following letter from New Providence, furnishing
the intelligence that the negroes of the Creole had been for-
mally set at liberty :—" Nassau, New Providence, April 16,
1842.—A special session of the Admiralty Court convened
this day to hear the charge of piracy against the 17 negroes
imprisoned from the Creole. The Attorney-General made
his motion for delay of trial, on the ground that it was im-
possible to obtain the necessary evidence here, and offered
for the perusal of the Court a number of affidavits of the
captain, mate, and crew and passengers of the Creole, show-
ing that sufficient evidence could be procured from the United
States, if time was allowed. After an examination of the
testimony offered, the Court replied, that were the captain,
crew, and passengers, as set forth in the affidavits, here pre-
sent to testify in this case, they should consider them as not
entitled to belief or credit, and should charge the jury to
that effect ; and that no evidence could be procured to con-
vict the prisoners at the bar, for they were perfectly justified
in the course pursued on board the Creole, and were now
about to be set free. The Chief Justice then addressed the
negroes something in this style :—` It has pleased God to set
you free from the bonds of slavery ; may you hereafter live
the lives of good and faithful subjects of her Majesty's go-
vernment.' They were then set at liberty by proclamation."
RAILILOADS IN FaANcit.—The Chamber of Peers assem-
bled on Monday, in their committee-rooms, for the purpose
of electing a committee to report on the railroad bill, brought
up from the Chamber of Deputies. This bill contains—first,
' a general classification of the lines intended to be constructed ;
second, a second system of execution which imposes on the
departments traversed by those railroads the payment of
two-thirds of the value of the ground to be purchased. It
likewise enacts that the government shall pay the remaining
third, together with the expense of embankment, the execu-
tions of works of art and stations, leaving the cost of fixing
the rails and the materiel to the charge of the companies who
shall undertake to complete them. 3. The allocation of
funds amounting together to the sum of 126,000,000 f., appli-
cable to the following sections :
From Stratsburg to Hommartin
Dijon to Chalons....
Marseilles to Avignon
Orleans to Tours
Orleans to Vierzon
Paris to Lille..
For sundry expenses

11,500,000
11,000,000
30,000,000
17,000,000
12,000,000
43,000,000
1,500,000

126,000,000
The entire plan consists of seven vast lines of the first order,
setting out from Paris, and leading-1. To the Belgian fron-
tier, through Lille and Valenciennes. 2. To England, by one
or several points on the coast, to be hereafter determined. 3.
To the German frontier, through Stratsburg. 4. To the
Mediterranean, through Lyons, Marseilles, and Cette. 5.
To the Spanish frontier, through Bordeaux and Bayonne.
6. To the Atlantic Ocean, by Nantes. 7. To the centre of
France, through Vierzon, with a prolongation to be hereafter
determined, with a branch to Bourges. And of two lines of
the second order from frontier to frontier directed-1. From
the Mediterranean to the Rhine, through Lyons, Dijon, and
Melhouse. 2. From the Mediterranean to the Atlantic
Ocean, through Bordeaux, Toulouse, and Cette.

THE LATE ACCIDENT ON THE PARIS AND VERSAILLES
RAILWAY.—The Saint Germaine and Versailles Company
has taken fresh measures for adding to the precautions al-
ready observed in the service of the railroad. The number
of locomotives hitherto in use has been forty-five with six
wheels, and six with four. The council has decided on sup-
pressing the latter, until the doubt which has been raised as
to their safety shall be cleared up. The company has written
to Marshal Soult, requesting him to authorise the bead en-
gineer to enter into communication with the committee of
artillery, "to examine, in unison with them, into the best
means of adding, if possible, fresh improvements into the
various objects used on the line, particularly the axletrees of
locomotives." A new steam-whistle of a peculiar kind has
been added to all the engines, to give information to the con-
ductors when to tighten the breaks in order to stop the
trains, or diminish their speed. Goods and luggage, which
hitherto were attached to the end of the train, are, for the
future to be placed between the waggons and the tenders.
Although the private regulations of the company, for fixing
the rate of speed, may be considered as efficient, as 9,064,364
persons have been carried on the line, since its opening, with-
out any case of death or severe injury having occurred, yet,
as a prudential measure, a diminution in the rate of going has
been prescribed. The most watchful attention has been com-
manded for the breaks, and the maariel in general, and the
strictest care has been ordered to be paid to keeping it in
perfect condition. In the present state of excitement it may
be well to observe that there have been conveyed on the Bel-
gian lines, from May, 1835, to December, 1841, 11,702,676
travellers, and that, out of this great number, only two per-
sons have perished in an actual railroad accident. The dis-
tance passed over in Belgium was, in 1840. 295,296 leagues,
and in 1841, 362,157, making a total of 637,433 leagues. On
the St. Germain and Versailles line the number, in 1840, was
126,746 leagues, and in 1841, 154,863, giving 282,609 leagues
in all. This gives for the companies in the two countries a
distance of nearly 1,000,000 of leagues for the two years, and
a transport of passengers almost amounting to 21,000,000,
since the opening of the lines.
A VERY AWKWARD MISTAKE.—We find the following
story in the Siecle :—" Early in the morning of the day fixed
upon for the removal of the body of M. Humann from the
ministry of finance to the church of the Madeleine, M. Gan-
nall, the embalmer, called and desired to see the minister.
The valet de cbambre in attendance replied that it was much
too early, but M. Gannal persisting, and adding that he had
been sent for, and that the business on which he came would
admit of no delay, was shown into a bed-room, the valet
withdrawing as soon as M. Gannal entered. This gentleman
approached the bed, and, having prepared his pa
apratus,
raised the sheet, and was on the point of applying his lancet
to the carotid artery, for the purpose of injecting the pre-
serving liquid, when the minister, who was not the dead M.
Humann, but the living M. Lacave Laplagne, opened his
eyes, and, seeing the operator before him, armed, as he sup-
posed, for his destruction, cried out repeatedly—' Au secours !
a l'assassin I' The cry brought several persons to the spot,
but before they could enter the room, M. Gannal had rushed
into the corridor, exclaiming, `The minister has come to life.'
The affair is easily explained. M. Gannal bad been sent for
mcomuirsrtrie.r
to embalm the body of M. Humann, and when he asked to
see the minister, the valet, not knowing the object of his
visit, naturally owed him into the bed-room of M. Lacave
Laplagne, who had already taken up his residence at the
Y
We extract the following frightful narration from the
17 and 18
nae Lyons:.-"
the parents objected years of age, belongingtion, formed'
which were near relationship, M. Larochette, between 35 and 40
an to a family of wealth and considera-
tion,
ant:attachment to his niece, Mdlle. 8., between
ject of unitin
Larodach -
ddformally demanded her in marriage ; but
to the alliance on many grounds, amongst
g theiriothip, disparity of years, and a pro-
Cluny, near Macon, daughter to another person. On the
16th instant, M.
in re went to the house of M. 8., at
the fair of Sologny, but More. B. He was gone to
daughter, Mdlle. 11. M. B. was at breakfast with her
given him to partake of the Larochette declined the invitation
1:21e,
, until one of
subject of his proposals. on tut, and at once entered on the
from both mother and daughter,
furiated, and seizing a knife, stabbed
tee vin an indirect refusal
Larochette became in-
places, and mortally wounded her and her Mdlle. B. in several
to her rescue. Mdlle. D., also, in atterrnmother, who went
received a severe wound. The cries of disitensgsil
t they were
u called n t
irnp otshee,
servants and some men from the vineyards,
kept at bay by the desperation of the assassin
them stunned him by a blow on the head from a large stone
which be was
which he threw at him. While thus laid senseless-- --one
I mlarra
for. M Larochette, since his arrest, has
secured, disarmed, and delivered over to a party 0" ge
who had been sent M. rest, has
but has refused to answer any questions.
her dlaughter are both dead. Mdlle. D. still
beenmn
i e. perfectly
l . and
survives, but is in great danger.