The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-05-13 00:00:00

THE " GREAT WESTERN" STEAM-SHIP

The steam-ship Great Western, commanded by Lieut.
Hosken, li.N., which arrived (as elsewhere stated) at this
port from New York on Wednesday morning, after a fine
run of 12 days and i hours, has—from her previous fame
as a fast and fortunate vessel, and this being her " first ap-
pearance" in Liverpool—already become an object of very
considerable interest, not only amongst nautical men, but
with the community generally ; and as she will next week—
when, after the unavoidable confusion of landing a large
number of passengers, all is put in order on board—be open
to the inspection of the public, some account of her dimen-
sions, power, and accommodations may be acceptable, more
particularly as her proprietors purpose that she shall make
the transatlantic voyage alternately between Liverpool and
New York, and Bristol and the same port in the United
States.
We visited the vessel yesterday, and, in company with
some friends, were politely shown through every part of her
by the first officer, Mr. Mathew, Captain Hoskin being
elsewhere engaged at the time.
The Great Western was built about four years ago at
Bristol, of the best materials, and is certainly a very fine and
portly looking ship. She has four masts—an unusual rig—
and these not being very taunt, there being a topmast only to
the foremast, give her the appearance, as she lies at the quay
wall, and when her large hull is not fully seen, of two or more
vessels in a line. This is, however, a matter of taste, and at the
same time affords an advantage in a steamer, inasmuch as
four masts do not require for the same spread of sail to be so
taunt as two or three ; and steamers, to use a nautical phrase,
do not like lofty set sails." She has a bow, nearly as
sharp as a wedge; good gradual bearings throughout, and

a corresponding rtiti. The figure head is a bust of Old Nep-
tune, bearing a trident, and classically supported by dolphins.
Her stern is round with carved work in alto, and though we
consider the square form the handsomer of the two, we are
willing to admit that the round stern admits of greater
strength in wing-framing, and the question here, too, resolves
itself into a mere matter of taste, though we should have
been glad to observe, in place of the continuation of the stern
carving, some imitation of quarter galleries. Our Liverpool-
built ships have always been admitted to have fine sterns ;
but taking the Great Western as a whole, with the bulk-beam
and general equipments, we readily admit (and we entertain
no feeling of jealousy on the ground of her not being built
at our port) that she is a very fine vessel in the several requi-
sites that please a seaman's eye. She has, moreover, proved
herself a sea-boat, and is put together, with abundance of
material, in the most approved manner.
The following are the dimensions, power of engines, &c. :
Length of keel
„ over all 236 „
Beam between the paddle houses . 35 „
Breadth, including paddle houses . 57 „
Tonnage
Steam engines . 450 horse-power.
The cabins and decks are most spacious and comfortable,
experience in passenger traffic having dictated considerable
alterations and improvements after they were originally con-
structed. The PRINCIPAL SALOON, or dining-room, is a
gorgeous apartment, 75 feet in length by about 19 in width.
It is in the florid style of Louis XIV., richly empanelled with
bold foliated mouldings, and has a chaste and elegant appear-
ance. It is divided into numerous compartments, in oblong
vertical panels, each alternate one at the side forming a door
in the adjoining state or sleeping rooms. The ground work—
both on the stiles and roof—is painted in delicate tints, prin-
cipally French white, and the mouldings in projection are
gilded. The whole of the numerous main panels are filled in
with exquisite and finely-coloured paintings in oil, chiefly by
Paris, a celebrated artist; and the subjects are varied and
beautiful, embracing those scenes of gallantry and love that
pervaded the voluptuous, but refined and romantic, age to
which they refer, from the peer to the peasant. The atti-
tudes of the figures are admirably spirited and characteristic,
and the colouring is soft and brilliant, without beinc, gaudy.
At the bottom of most of these pictures are emblematical
designs, conveying a moral to the piece, some grave, and
some correspondingly quaint. The saloon is lighted from
the top and also from stern windows. The tables are of
oak, and the legs of them of cast iron, representing dolphins.
There are numerous mirrors, that give additional effect.
The STATE-ROOMS here, as in the fore-cabin and other
parts of the ship, are large and commodious, being well
aired and fitted out with all that can administer to comfort,
and not a little that conduces to ornament. The sides and
ceilings are ornamented in the same style as the saloon.
Adjoining, and further forward, there is a handsome RE-
TIRING RCrOM FOR LADIES, fitted up in the same style.
though in a somewhat plainer manner. On the opposite side
is the STEWARDS' STORE-ROOM OR PANTRY, a large but
compact square apartment, with counters or tables, with
drawers, all round. This is fitted up in the usual ingenious
style of similar rooms in our sea-going steam-ships, the mas-
sive beams of the roof being clustered like a cave of crystal
and precious metal, with an infinite variety of wine and other
glasses, dish-covers, polished tea-kettles, &c. From this a
large window opens into the saloon. forming, as it were, the
bar of a first-rate inn, at which the languishing or thirsty
lieges, no doubt, make frequent calls, either themselves, or
through the waiters.

Over the main saloon is the Music SALOON, or corridore,
or, in more homely phrase, the " fore cuddy," of nearly the
same extent as the saloon, but more open, being under a
quarter-deck recently constructed. This may be called the
." free and easy" of the ship. It is plainly painted in oak
graining; the floor is level with, or rather forms part of, the
main deck ; there is here a piano, with ample space for two
country dances ; and as there is no carpet, and " smoking is
allowed," while the whole is under cover, it is a favourite
resort for the passengers, who can here enjoy themselves in
all weathers. _ _

The FORE CABIN is apparently quite as commodious as
the after one. though not so highly ornamented. Here the
berths, or sleeping rooms are also equal in size and accom-
modation, the choice of selection for passengers being left to
themselves—the whole eating and associating together in the
Saloon. The whole number of sleeping-berths is, we learn,
123—for passengers alone.. Excellent accommodations are
also provided for the officers and crew on each side of the
upper decks, the principal portion of them having, as in
the Halifax and other steam ships, separate:rooms of their
own. _ _ _

The COOK Houses are well worthy of inspection, as show-
ing how much be accomplished to cook for a large number
of persons in a small space, and that too in a perfect or
cleanly manner. There is a large ice-house in the middle of
the main deck. Here the provisions are kept perfectly fresh
during the longest average voyage—thus rendering it unne-
cessary to slaughter any animal on board.
The ENGINES of the Great Western appear to be fine, as
they undoubtedly are stupendous pieces of machinery. We
have already said that they are of 450 horse-power. The
frame-work is in the Gothic style, similar to many of equal
or larger size we have seen by our talented townsmen, Messrs.
Fawcett and Preston. There is a clock and a " tell-tale"
attached, by which the revolutions of the paddle wheels can
be at any time accurately timed.
The subsidiary arrangements in the vessel throughout are
equally good ; but with all that we have said in her behalf,
(and we must first admit that we have seen her under un-
favourable circumstances,) we shall not say that we have not
produced at our own port as fine a vessel, and as fine engines.
The style of the accommodations is to be measured by the
standard-of taste •, which, in the public mind, is frequently
precarious and fickle. It were almost invidious to institute
any comparison, but we cannot help expressing our opinion
of the equal excellence, as ships, of the Oriental and the
Hindostan, built at this port. The Halifax mail packets are
superb ships ; and with respect to cabin elegancies and cost
of decoration, several of the Glasgow steam-ships beat them
all. So much—lest our Bristol friends should become, after
the success of their deserved favourite, too proud of them-
selves. We could not, however, say less than we have done
of the Great Western. Besides, she is a stranger amongst
us, and, as the poet says, " stranger is a holy name." But
we by no means, we think, exaggerate in pronouncing her to
be a fine, wholesome, and genuinely British ship; and we
hail her appearance at our port as an event that, in the rapid
progress of steam navigation, will, we trust, be of mutual
advantage to Liverpool, as well as to the port from which
she hails.

STEAM !-STEAM !

BY JAMES SCOTT WALKER

This changeable world and this changeable clime
Will to vapour resolve themselves, surely, in time;
For nothing can now be accomplished, 't would seem,
But by the new-fashioned appliance of STEAM.
The wheel and the distaff, that matron or girl,
To spin all we wanted, at home wont to twirl,
To " jennies " have yielded, and ere long, I deem,
Our shirts will be made, our hose mended, by STEAM.

The poor weaver's visage is warped by despair,
For steam of his cuts, cuts him out of his share ;
His prosperous days he can never redeem,
For in plain cloth or checks, he's checked plainly by STEAK

The blacksmith, at anvil, looks more and more black.,
Outdone from an anchor e'en down to a tack ;
For in forging of iron, what aid so supreme,
As this hissing ironical, iron•pent STEAM !
The sawyer, who lately so boastingly talked
Of cutting up balks, is now cut up and baulked ;
A log that for days made the sweat from him stream,
In au hour is dissected by top-sawyer STEAM.

The old British sailor, who laughed to hear ever
Small craft could without sails or oars cross a river,
Is taken aback; for against wind and stream
Huge ships quickly cross the wide ocean by STEAM.

Our towns with tall chimneys are bristled all o'er,
Our docks thick with chimneys where masts peered before
For economy's sake, would of hope we 'd a gleam
Of steam soldiers, steam lawyers, steam doctors—all STEAM

The press—that famed engine to teach and amuse—
Though quick, was too sluggish to give all the news;
And books and newspapers, in many a ream,
Are speedily printed, and bound, too, by STEAM.

Steam now." rules the roast," and steam boils e'en the pot ;
Steam kettles, steam hearths, and steam kitchens we've got;
And coaches and carriages, needing no team,
Fly swiftly on railways and highways by STEAM.

The coachman begins for his living to fear,
And to think it were prudent to turn engineer,
And part with his tits, though with sorrow extreme,
For nags that eat coals, and run snorting by STEAM.

'Tis a paradox quite, and the world's admiration,
To be kept " in hot water " quite prospers the nation ;
And no foreign state will of war with us dream,
For their vap'ring, they know, we would spoil with our silt A M

In peace or in war, other means far above,
Steam helps to figh.t—aye, or even make love !
For if you would win the soft, favouring beam
Of Beauty's bright eye, you must get up the STEAM

Then hail to the agent so pleasing, yet dread.
That such wonderful changes around us can spread 1
All praise it,—and I, too, must go with the stream,-
Success to the hot, hissing potentate—STEAM !

Yet one aspiration I'd breathe from my heart—
May steam to the poor, too, its blessings impart !
And our safety-valve ne'er may we weight in extreme,
Lest our pride and our hopes be all " blown up" by STEAM
[Written by Steam.]

MANUSCRIPT RARITIES OF STRAWBERRY HILL--Of
other rarities, are a letter from Catherine Parr, the widow
of Henry the Eighth, written in the year she died, " to her
constant Thomas Seymour, Lord High Admiral of England,"
and signed, " Catherine, the Queen K.P.;" and a most cha-
racteristic letter from Oliver Cromwell to his wife, the day
after the battle of Dunbar. We cannot resist the tempta-
tion of transcribing it :—" For my beloved wife, Elizabeth
Cromwell, at the Cock-pit, theise :—My deerest,—l hive
not leisure to write much, but I could chide thee that in
many of thy letters thou writest to inee, that I should not be
uninindfull of thee and thy little ones. Truly, if I love you
p
not too well, I think I err not onn the othere much. Thou
respect.
e sec t
art deerer to me than any creature ; lett that suffice. The
Lord hath showed us an exceedinge triercye—whoo can tell
how great it is? My weake fayth bath been upheld—l have
beene in my inward man marvellously
assure thee I growe an oulde man, and feel infirmitys of age
imy bveehllaolur selY
in supported,
the p o r
marvellously stealing upon me—would my corruptions did as
latterted,
thou,]
p I
.
fast decrease ! Pray on n
The particulars of the late successe Harry Vane or Gil. Pick.
eringe will impart to thee. My love to all deear freindes.—
I rest thine, 0. Cromwell.—Dunbarr, the 4th of Sept. 1650."
—Ainsworth's Magazine,

THE ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY.

The following letter has been addressed to the London
Times:—

Berkele-h,
Sir,—ln consequence of my abseynceouse from London asB42 well
as not having seen the papers which contained it, I am only
this moment favoured with the reply of the Anti-Slavery So-
ciety, dated the 22d of April, to my former letter.
Although, sir, it is not my intention to continue a paper
war, or to reply to the somewhat voluminous matter con-
tained in the letter of the society now before me, neverthe-
less there are some few points which require a brief notice,
and to these I at once address myself.

In the first place, tben, you will permit me to observe that
I am amused at the nice and feverish feelings of " surprise"
assumed by the Anti-Slavery Society respecting the impro-
priety "of my having forwarded to them through their
secretary, and in reply to their printed and published
pamphlet, charges which they say affect their character as a
public body; that I should have published my letter in the
papers without waiting their sanction;" and further, "that
their surprise has been increased on finding that my name
West India committee to investigate the very
hich I so confidently expressed an opinion."

was on. tt.

In reply to this, I am constrained to tell the Anti-Slavery
Society, that while they reside in the house of glass, they
should not throw the first stone, for that they—the Anti-
Slavery Society, have been for a long period indulging, in
the widest sense of the word, in charges affecting the public
and private character of a larger body of persons than even
the extent of their society contained ! that they have been
placing in an invidious light, and unfairly maligning, the
great body of West India proprietors, not only throughout
the course of measures instituted by the West India body to
save their property from destruction, but absolutely as re-
garded their probable intention, their future views, their
honesty of purpose, their humanity, and their religion.
As relates to the fact of my being " a fit and proper person
to sit on the West India committee, having expressed the
sentiments I have," that is a matter with which the Anti-
Slavery Society have nothing whatever to do. Would they
complain of an hon. member of that committee if known to
be one of their patrons ? 1 think not. As a member of that
committee, as a British subject, as belonging to my class in
life, and as one of the people, all I desire is to see that a
fair and impartial statement of facts should go forth to the
public gaze—neither coloured, distorted, nor twisted to
party purposes, by any association whatever. Let there be
fair play and the world the judge. and I desire nothing fur-
ther. When abuses are proclaimed, it is my wont to court
investigation. Let the people have an opportunity of form-
ing their own opinion, unprejudiced by special pleading, and
there is ever the best hope of justice.
Your letter, sir, denies the truth of some of the statements
advanced by me as regards the situation of the negro in par-
ticular localities ; I content myself with a similar retort upon
your assertions in defence of the pamphlet in question ; it
would take up far more time than I am disposed to bestow
upon this correspondence to place on paper incontrovertible
facts well at my command. _ _

Desirous, at all times, to deal in courteous expressions,
you force me, sir, to disclaim, with some approach to con-
tempt, your charge of " being desirous to fix a stigma on the
character of the liberated negroes, who are unable to repel
my attacks." If I wield a cudgel, the head that gets into
the way receives the blow ; I am not to be turned from my
purpose by any clap-trap consideration. It may suit the in-
of the society to be at all times, whether right or
loud in favour of the negro, and so to raise a false

;y!npath

- I repeat, that 1 have proof that in many places the negroes
will only work for wages amounting to an inordinate bribe ;
their love of gold is not sufficient to induce them to work for
fair and moderate profit, and more—that they have refused
in some instances to cut the sugar canes when ripe, unless
at immeasurable gain, and that upon receiving a bribe, and
having been induced to gather the crop, they have then left
the produce to rot onthe threshold of thesugar-house, refus-
ing to make the canes available unless from furthet compli-
ance with their tyrannical ideas. Multitudinous proofs of
this most unhappy state of affairs are within my own know -
ledge, but I content myself with a short statement, consider-
ing that it suffices for the present.

Again, as regards the reports and returns made to this
country by the colonial agents of her Majesty's government,
and referred to by you. In those reports and returns the
grossest misstatements have been made, calculated to deceive
the government, and to induce her Majesty's ministers and
the people to a favourable opinion, that colonial affairs as re-
garded the negro and the planter were visibly progressing to-
wards improvement, when in reality nothing could be more
deplorable than the actual condition of that portion of the
British dominions.

I reiterate the iact, unpalatable though it may be to the
Anti-Slavery Society, that though much may have been done
for the negro population, still, as the hand of reformation
should ever be tempered with justice as well as mercy, much
yet remains to be dune for the proprietors of colonial land ;
for, up to the present hour, the fair and just interest of the
proprietor seems to have been lost sight of in the dazzling
light which has illumined the great triumph of emancipation.
The Anti-Slavery Society appears to have been, and seems
still to be, blinded to all charity, and to every other interest
save the one they have materially assisted to victory. Flushed
with the conquest achieved, and arrived at the end which
seemed once to be the object of their league, like many other
societfes in the history of the political world, they are verg-
ing from use to abuse, and seem to be so in love with the
sword, and so loth to quit the scene of their conquest, that
they can neither disband nor turn their minds to more peace-
ful occupations.
Declining to continue this correspondence, and claiming
to have been sufficiently explicit in fact for the purpose I had
in vie

, while at the same time, Sir, I desire no particular
courtesy or favour at the hands of the Anti-Slavery Society,
whom I once assisted when I thought them right, but whom
I now oppose because I deem them wrong,
I have the honour to be your most obedient humble servant,
GRANTLEY F. BERKELEY.
To the Secretary of the Anti-Slavery Society in London,

27, New Broad-street

GUANO

(From a Correspondent of the Manchester Guardian.)

This article, which has been used as a manure in Peru
from time immemorial, has only been known in this country
a year or two : the origin of its introduction is curious, and
of commercial enterl

shows the er►erg

five year

ne tour or
go, a mercantile house at Liverpool wrote to their

agent at Valparaiso, desiring him to endeavour to make a
contract for nitrate of soda; which they said was becoming
exceedingly valuable, and commanding an extensive sale in
England, as manure. In reply to this communication the
agent wrote, saying,—" I am surprised at what you say about
nitrate of soda, as a manure : we think little of it here, for
such a purpose; but I will send you something which is con-
sidered ten times as good in this country." This was Guano,
of which he sent about four bags as a sample. When it ar-
rived in England, it was distributed in small quantities to
various persons, and, as far as I can learn, was everywhere
found exceedingly valuable. The following are some of the
results : _ _ . . .

••••,,.."I.Q •
Mr. Smith, of Gunton Park, Norfolk, sowed it at the
rate of 2001 b to the acre ; and on the same field, on an equal
space of land. 15 bushels of bone dust: both wereirilled into
the ground with seed wheat. The bone dust gave 41 quar-
ters per acre ; the Guano, 6 quarters, 2 bushels, and 11 pecks.
Mr. Westcar, of Burwood, Surrey, had but a few pounds'
weight, which he applied to five rods of earth ; dunged the
remainder of the field with the best farm-yard manure, at
the rate of 18 loads to the acre, drilled in barley ; five tods
of the dunged part of the field gave 35 bushels of barley ; the
five rods manured with Guano gave 39 bushels.
Mr. George Harriot, North Waltham, Basingstoke, sowed
the small quantity he received with some barley, on the Ist
of May, without ashes or charcoal. The weather was very
dry when the Guano was used. The barley came up three
days sooner than elsewhere ; it was much more luxuriant
during all the season ; and, as far as he could ascertain from
the small quantity, the produce, as compared with that of an
equal breadth of land not sowed with Guano, was rather
more than half as much more corn, and double the quantity
of straw. If the barley had been sowed earlier, he thinks it
would have done more good. He also sowed some with
turnips and on either side of these he used some bone dust,
mixed with moist ashes, as the season was very dry ; the
moist ashes mixed with the bones caused the seed sowed with
them to come up a fortnight earlier than that sowed with
Guano ; but, even with this disadvantage, when the rain
came, the vegetation caused by the latter was so rapid as to
leave the part manured with the bone dust far behind.

Mr. Love, of Shoreham Sevenoaks, mixed 14 lb. of Guano
with two bushels of ashes. Although the weather was very
dry, he could perceive a marked difference in the growth of
the plants (turnips?) a few days after they made their appear-
ance. Encouraged by his success, he mixed 28 lb. with 15
bushels of ashes, and applied it for turnips by sowing broad-
cast, and harrowing in lightly. As the weather was showery,
the seed soon vegetated, and the plants were more luxuriant
than (grew away from) those manured with dung. In both
cases, he applied it at the rate of 2 cwt. to the acre.
Mr. John Crane Nott, of Hallow, Worcestershire, applied
it to his hop grounds, and, in order to give it a fair trial, put
a pint to every alternate hill in every row. The effect was
most extraordinary : those hills on which the Guano was ap-
plied were most luxuriant, while the adjoining ones, not so
manured, were sickly and weak. Mr. Nott's neighbour, Mr.
Winnel, of Braces Leigh, speaks most favourably of the trial
he made upon artificial grasses and hops, on both of which it
had a most beneficial effect. Mr. Nott thinks Guano, at a
moderate price, will be the most valuable manure ever known.

.
William Sim, Esq., of Drummond, Scotland, applied
10 bushels of bone-dust, 1 cwt. nitrate of soda, and 70 lbs of
Guano on equal portions of land, sowed in ridges. The Guano
has produced more luxuriance than either. (He does not say
upon what kind of crops.)
Mr. Skirving, nurseryman, Liverpool, sowed rye grass,
14th May, 1840 ; cut it, 2d August, 1841 ; manured with 3
cwt. of Guano, it produced— _ _

Tons. Cwt. Qrs. Lbs
Per acre of grass .. 14 15 0 26
Three cwt. nitrate soda.... 14 13 0 7
Twenty tons stable manure 13 2 3 12
No manure 7 0 3 24

SALUBRITY OF SIERRA LEONE.—During the 12 months
ending 31st December, 1841, nine European women (ladies
ncluded) died out of a total of thirteen then residing in the
colony ' • also the head of every department (the collector ex-
cepted); yet the last year was esteemed unusually healthy
by the colonists.) Captain Clarke, Ist West India regi-
ment, is private secretary to Colonel George Macdonald,
Governor of Sierra Leone, and clerk of the council.—Lime-
rick Chronicle.

MURDER OF MR. EWING, AT THE MOBILE THEATRE,
BY HIS WIFE, MISS HAMBLIN.-Mr. Ewing was an actor
of considerable talent in the United States, and his wife, in
conformity with a practice adopted by many married ladies
on the stage, performed under her maiden name. She is the
daughter of Mr. Hamblin, the proprietor of the Bowery
Theatre, New York, who under the dynasty of Mr. Oshaldis-
ton, at Covent-garden Theatre, went through his range of
Shaksperian characters with great eclat. "We copy," says
The Spirit of the Times, " tne following account of the
murder of Mr. Ewing from the New Orleans Picayune:—
" The Murder at the Mobile Theatre.—This terrible event—
the murder of a husband by the wife—has caused great excite-
ment at Mobile. Up to Saturday night the murderess had not
Ledgerbeen arrested. The gives full particulars. It appears
that Mr. Ewing and Miss Hamblin were married, and for a low,
time lived very unhappy. together. Recently, however, they'
agreed to separate, and It was the design of the latter to leave
Mobile on Sunday morning for St. Louis. Whether a quar-
rel occurred on the Friday previous to the perpetration of
this horrible act is not known ; but during the first act of the
play many of the audience remarked a peculiarity of conduct
in the parties towards each other on the stage. After the
falling of the curtain, the deceased proceeded to his dressing
room, where he wasfollowed by his wife. Some disputation,
it is said, occurred there, relative to the wardrobe, when a
conflict ensued in which the deceased lost his life. Three
wounds were inflicted, one of which grazed the arm ; the others
were in the body. The most fatal one was on the side, just
below the ribs. The .Ledger says, it is the opinion now that
the wound was not sufficient of itself to cause death so ra-
pidly as ensued, but it is supposed that its fatality was very
much aggravated by the falling of the deceased. The man-
nerlead
of Miss Hamblin after the conflict was such as to
to the supposition that the act, so far as death is concerned,wetli whether
the unpremeditated. She inquired several timessas
cer-
the deceased was much hurt, and not until there The
doors
tainty of his death did she attempt an estsPe;n one of the
were then closed upon her, but she leaped farood so escaped.
windows, about ten feet
.from the groun4,
_ageo
She was in her stage attire, (the dress of a P but had
thrown over it a coarse gown.

LITERARY

NOTICE.

Fraser's Magazine. Hickman, Ilegent-street, London

Nimrod opens the ball in his Life and Times—be crowds
in anecdote after anecdote in an amusing way . Doctor Ma-
ginn gives us the " Arming of Achilles