The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-12-27 00:00:00

STATE OF TRADE

MANCRESTER.—During the week very little business bas
been done, as the buyers of printing cloths appear determined
not to give the current rates, although 27-inch power-loom
printers have receded full 3d. per piece in the last two or
three weeks. \Vide cloths still maintain their price, and
makers are working to order. Very large orders have been
given in anticipation of good news from the east by the next
overland mail. Domestic cloth is still in good demand ; in-
deed it is better to sell than for several years previously, and
most of the manufacturers of this article are working to order.
Water twist has been sold at ad. to 4d. per lb. less, hut this
cannot be quoted as the average price. Things are, upon the
whole, considering the season of the year, rather improving
than otherwise. The country trade continues flat, as very
few buyers have visited us this month. 27-inch power-loom
printers may be quoted as follows:-27-inch 66's 4s. 3d. to
4s. 9d. ; and 72's, 4s. 9d. to ss. 3d.—Manchester Advertiser,
of Saturday.

BLACKBURN.—There is a decided improvement in the
trade of this town, and it is with pleasure we add that the
working class have begun to reap the advantage of the im-
proved demand for cotton goods. The wages of the hand.
loom weaver have, within the last fortnight, been advanced
from 7to 10 per cent. The factory hands are much better
employed. Yarns are a shade higher than they were a fort-
Large orders at present prices have been offered,
refused by the spinners, who are expect-
Ices

and in many c

jiler Thepiece-market is almost cleared
or goods, and in many cases better prices have been obtained
Moulders and mechanics have more work, but blocl,

ing still

-print-

ing is almost extinct. The calico block printing at Accring-
ton, Churchparish, Oswaldwistle, &c., has a better appear..
ance, yet hands have not half-employment.—Manchester
Advertiser of Saturday.

MIDDLETON.—The silk weavers of this town and neigh-
bourhood are in most wretched and miserable circumstances,
more so than they have been for the last 30 years past ; there
are scores of whole families entirely without work. It is
calculated that not one-third of the weavers are employed,
and the others have not half work. The Rev. Air. Lawler,
minister of Tonge Church, has very properly been going
round to the weavers in his township, and he is intending to
lay the distressed state of the operatives before the committee
of the London Relief Fund. It is a dreadful fact that whole
families are starving for want of food. It is high time some-
thing be done for the hand-loom silk weavers of this town
and neighbourhood.-2lfanchester Advertiser of Saturday.

LEEDS.—It is satisfactory to be able to report, at this
usually dull season of the year, that there is a continued
improvement in the tone of our merchants and traders, and
tolerably steady demand for goods suitable to the Eastern
In other descriptions of cloths suitable for the
spring trade in the domestic markets, extensive purchases
have been made, considering the season, but the clothiers
still complain that the prices realized are not sufficiently
remunerative.—Leeds Intelligencer of Saturday.
HALIFAX MARKET.—The demand for manufactured goods
at this market on Saturday was chiefly confined to plain
pieces, and the transactions were by no means extensive,
though perhaps fully as large as might have been expected
for the season. The wool market was rather brisk, particu-
larly for half bred hog fleeces, which have been for some time
dull of sale, but for which the demand on Saturday led to the
realization of better prices.—Leeds Intelligencer of Saturday.
HUDDERSFIELD-MARKET.—There was an improved de-
mand for fancy goods and plain cloths at this market on Wed-
nesday last ; and more business might have been transacted,
if the manufacturers could have taken the prices offered by
the merchants, of whom there was a large number present.
This circumstance leads many of the clothiers to expect a
brisk demand for goods immediately after the close of the
is Intelligencer of Saturday.
_ MARKET.—As is generally the case at the
closing markets of the year, there was less than an average
attendance of merchants at this market on Thursday last.
Their purchases were proportionately small, being chiefly for
assortment in plaits clo►hs. The yarn-market was dull, and
the transactions present no feature for remark, prices re-
maining as last week. The wool-market was also inactive,
the demand which sprang up during the London wool sales
having again subsided, the staplers being unable to obtain
improved rates.—Leeds Intelligencer of Saturday.

RADFORD

RAILWAY TRAFFIC.—The following calculation of the
last weekly returns of 42 railways, 1,487 miles in length, will
be of interest :—Number of passengers on 28 railways,
218,546, consequently the total for the week must he about
500,000. The receipts for passengers on 41 railways,
54,1811. 6s; ditto for goods on 36 railways, 21,1571155. 10d;
total, 76,0391. Is. Ild. This is an average of 511. per mile
per week. The traffic, therefore, is certainly at the rate of
about four millions a year, carrying fifteen millions of
passengers.

THE COLLIERS' STRIKE.—The trial of the individuals
implicated in the affray in which Dawson lost his life, is to
take place before the High Court of Justiciary on Friday, the
30th current. Their names are William Gibson, oncast or
putter ; Robert Wood, collier ; James Graham, oncast or
labourer. The officers despatched to Iseland in search of
three of the principal ringleaders in the riot—one of whom
is strongly suspected to have fired the pistol at Dawson—
have returned without the smallest clue to their whereabouts ;
although they traversed nearly a dozen counties. It is not
improbable, therefore, that they may be still in Scotland ; as
the different police establishments throughout the country
have been furnished with a very accurate description of
their persons, it will be strange if they elude detection.—Ayr
Observer.

Mr. Dickenson, an extensive paper-maker, living near
Watford, and having paper-mills on the river Collie, resorts
to the following expedient to ascertain with what quantity of
paper he may contract to supply his customers. On the
hills in the neighbourhood of his mills he has fixed a guage,
buried in the ground a little depth below the surface. By
consulting this guage, he is enabled to compute the amount
of rain which finds its way into the earth during the winter
season, and which must be again emitted before it can be
decreased by evaporation. Experience has proved to him,
that, with this index, he can precisely ascertain the influx of
tributary water which the river Colne, whereby his mills are
worked, will receive. This statement was made at the In-
stitution of Civil Engineers by Mr. Clutterbuck, and sub-
stantiated by Mr. Dickenson himself.
THE DUKE OF RUTLAND ON THE CORN LAW.—The
Duke of Rutland has addressed a letter to the Leicester
Journal, in explanation of the observations his grace made
at the late anniversary of the Leicestershire Agricultural
Association ; " upon which, " to use the duke's words,
" whole pages of fictitious arguments and inferences have been
based." The following are the material passages of the
Duke of Rutland's letter:—" In alluding to the new corn
duties, lam reported to have said that I had several letters
in my possession written by intelligent farmers, and showing
that even the present modified scale might be reduced by
some shillings a quarter.' Now what 1 did say, or, at least,
what I intended to say, and what I firmly believe I was un-
derstood to say by the very numerous company on that day
assembled; was that while the measures now in operation
were in progress through parliament I had received several
letters from intelligent farmers, containing scales of duties of
their own, each of which was several shillings a quarter under
the former duties ; which gave me the impression that the
growers themselves were prepared for some alteration.' This
is widely different from several shillings per quarter lower
than the present modified scale.' * * * *
With regard to any intention on the part of the executive to
reduce still further the duties which protect agricultural pro-
duce, of which intention my misrepresented expressions are
said to have been ominous,' I can only assert, that lam as
ignorant as lam utterly incredulous of it. My object at the
Leicester Agricultural meeting was to give all the information
which I have been able to collect, for the purpose of prevent-
ing and of allaying any unfounded alarms. I stated my in-
, ability to give an opinion as to the results of the new tariff
in these early days of its operation, and I expressed an ear-
nest hope that the occupiers of land would continue to give
employment, and to afford protection and kindness to their
labourers, rather than make any change in the condition of
the latter class, under circumstances of depression, which I
hsve every reason to hope would prove temporary and fleet-
ing. To these sentiments I most conscientiously adhere;
and I am convinced that those, at least, who know me, will
give me credit for an anxious disposition to share in all the
difficulties which may be brought unexpectedly upon my
tenantry, if I should be deceived as to the fleeting nature of
that depression."
RAILWAYS.—We take the following statement regarding
the length of railways in this country, and the capital ex-
pended in their formation, from a pamphlet recently published
by Pelham Richardson, entitled, Railways, their Uses and
Managements :—The number of miles of railroad amount to
1,8601, at a cost of £58,149.159, being, on an average, about
£31,246 per mile. With 12 acres of land to a mile, there
will be 22,332 acres of land formed into new roads, which, at
£4OO an acre, would have paid £8,932,800. If we suppose
100,000 cubic yards of earthwork per mile, this would give
186,100 cubic yards of earth moved in their construction, and
if we allow the cost per mile to be Is., £9,305,000 will have
been expended in manual labour ; but the probability is, that
the earthwork averages nearer 150,000 cubic yards a mile,
and at Is. per cubic yard for moving it, would give 273,150,000
cubic yards, and £13,957,500. Suppose the weight of the
rails to average 261bs. per yard, some being lighter and some
heavier, reaching to 751b5., and, taking off sets and stations,
to make all the lines as having a double set of rails, and al-
low the average cost to be £lO 10s. per ton, 13,105,440 yards
of railway would give 327,536 tons of rails, costing £3,439,218,
besides sleepers, blocks, chairs and pins, turnplates, &c.
There are also the viaducts, bridges, stations, and works of
all descriptions, warehouses, inclined planes, &c. All these
materials and labour are, with the exception of some of the
timber, home produce. The number of locomotive engines
may equal in number, perhaps, 970, which, with their tenders,
must have cost at least £145,500 ; and when we look at this

beautiful piece of machinery, and see that power, equal to 70
and SO horses, is embowelled in so small a compass, fitted
with a delicacy and neatness more resembling a wateh than
could have been expected from a draft of such power, we
must admit that some capital may fairly have been sulk in
the invention, construction, and perfection of such a piece of
mechanism. Again, there are the carriages of all classes,
giving employment to an immense variety of persons, and
which must have cost not less than £2,000,000, besides trucks,
horse carriages, sheep and cattle pens, &c. These machines
carry yearly upwards of 15,000,000 persons, besides goods,
coals, stock, horses, carriages, letters, and parcels; and
through these means, whatever railway exists, distance is re-
duced at least one-half, the cost of travelling much reduced,
and the comfort increased a thousand fold."
BLASPHEMOUS PUBLICATIONS.—The, case of the man
Patterson came on before Mr. Twyford, the police magis-
trate at Bow-street, on Saturday, when a considerable show
of prosecution was apparent. Mr. Chambers the barrister
was there, and to aid him in his severe task he had the assis-
tance of the clerk to the solicitor to the Treasury, for the
principal, Mr. Maule, was of course too busy to attend to
the conservation of public morals, being, doubtlessly, en-
gaged to spend his Christmas in the country. However,
" the lawyers were ranged, a terrible show," and a heap of
summonses were read, on both sides of the court (as it is
understood in Ireiand, the inside and the out), but no de-
fendant appeared to respond to the invitation. Mr. Cham-
bers therefore rose, and, without the slightest reference to
his brief, proceeded to reply seriatim to the observations
which we felt it our duty tc make in the course of last week.
He answered these as in duty bound—that is to say, he pro-
fessed a great deal of anxiety on the part of government to
repress the nuisance of which we have so loudly complained;
he said " he was very anxious the law should be put in
force," and that " it was not the intention of government
to extend any leniency towards the parties," as government
was " determined to suppress anything which might be in-
jurious to the feelings of society. The public, as well as
ourselves, will he gratified to learn that these are the senti-
ments of the Home-office, however late in the day may be
their expression. But, setting aside intentions (whose merit
is proverbially recorded), we are better pleased to recognise
the admission of certain facts—viz., that the offences alleged
against the man Patterson are punishable by two separate
acts, and we are only sorry, first, that the law authorities
should have been so long in finding them out ; and, second-
ly, that they should be so ineffective in their application ;
for it seems that a 40s. penalty is the only responsibility in-
curred by the commission of the offence with which the man
Patterson stands charged, repeated so many times over as
the objectionable placards happen to vary in terms. But
Mr. Chambers's speech shed a ray of light upon the future.
He said :—" It might become the consideration of those who
made laws on a jiiture occasion, to extend the limits of the
power of magistrates." We trust that this hypothetical ob-
servation of the government prosecutor is tantamount to an
assurance that a law is in preparation for the more effectual
suppression of offences of this nature than has hitherto been
the case. Of one thing we can assure him, that whatever
steps are taken towards this end must be taken in corneal.—
, !ifonsing Lierahl.

A CHA,.NGE-Thi THE, ECLIPTIC OF THS ABTA

We take the following article from the New York Daily
Mail of the 30th ult. It is stated to be the production of an
eminent scientific gentleman connected with Yale. College.
The statements are made with all seriousness and gravity :

" There is certainly sorotitraordinary change going on
in the solar system. Wh .r the result will be
dissolution of the present harmonious arrangement, is
course known only to Him who instituted the laws which
govern the courses of the stars. For some time my atten-
tion has been directed to the rapidly developing phenomena,
and I have been assisted in my observations by ge(ntlemen
eminent for their scientific attainments. And within a few
days I have bad placed in my hands a paper from the cele-
brated astronomer, Banff, of Berlin, detailing his own dis-
caveries, and indicating that the subject is beginning to ex-
cite intense interest among the scientific of Europe.
" It is evident that the inclination of the earth's axis with
the ecliptic is changing. There is now a neater approach to
a coincidence of the equator and ecliptic than has ever before
been known. Since the autumnal equinox the obliquity in
the earth's course has sensibly diminished ; and if no counte-
racting influence intervenes, there will soon be a perCeptible
change in the seasons and in the relative lengths of day and
night.

speedy

The change is so great already, that many intricate calcu-
lations for the present year will be found inaccurate. Some
of the important calculations of the Nautical Almanac will be
soon found perplexing to the mariner as he takes his obser-
vations. And some of these heretofore highly useful ~abler ;
in the American Almanac, founded on the bearings of soma
of the fixed stars as well as planets, will prove entirely nn-
safe, if the progress of the change continue. An experienced
and intelligent shipmaster, a day or two since, casually ob-
served to me, that on a recent voyage from the East Indies,
when he had sailed about six degrees to the north of the
equator—the region from which the North Star is usually
first seen after crossing the line, the haze rendering it invisi-
ble while nearer the horizon—he was astonished and per-
plexed in his observations. The unusual variation of his
chronometer from the time indicated by stellar observation
led him to doubt the accuracy of his former faithful guide.
Should these changes continue, a variation in the latitude
of the North Star will soon be apparent to the most casual
observer ; at these points of time, April 15, June 16, August
28, and December 24, when all tree timekeepers should agree
with the sun, the chronometer will be found essentially va-
rying; and many other very important results will be deve-
loped. An attentive end accurate observer in the high
latitudes, even at the next solstice, cannot fail to recognise
various astonishing phenomena.
But the changes going on in regard to the earth are less
remarkable perhaps than those which are affecting some of
the other planets. The poles of Venus, to all appearance,
are now elevated full 35 degrees, and she seems to be chang-
ing from her former clear radiance to a colour approaching
that of Mars ; the change in this particular, however,ois as
yet slight, barely perceptible, under close observation, to the
naked eye. By the aid of a powerful glass there may be
perceived what appear to be waves of fire rolling over her
disc. This appearance I have watched with much interest ;
it commenced some months since, on the southern limb,
and gradually advanced over the whole breadth, till the pla-
net was completely enveloped. The motion of this planet in
her orbit, too, seems to be retarded, as though she were
under the influence of some new power of attraction.
Herschel has the appearance of having greatly diminished
in size, and has failed to reach a given point of its orbit at
the usual time ; and in short, seems to have broken the bonds
which have connected it to the solar system, and commenced
its course as a member of some remote celestial retinue.

Saturn also is assuming an unwonted aspect. To all ap.
pearance. there is a mighty conflagration going on in the
hitherto dark line which divides her rings. To such an ex-
tent has it already attained, that in one or two places the
whole breadth has assumed the appearance of ragged ranges,
glowing as if they were red hot iron, and throwing a lurid re-
flection upon the adjacent portions of the ring.
The changes seem also to extend beyond our system. The
beautiful star Betelgnese, in the constellation Orion, has va-
ried to such an extent from, the vernal to the autumnal equi-
nox of the present year, that its distance may be ascertained.
It seems to be approaching the solar bounds."

ERUPTION OF MOUNT ETNA.

( Extract of a letter, dated Palermo, December 1.)

The day before
.yesterday, passing along the Marina, or
public walk that skirts the exquisitely beautiful bay of Pa-
lermo, and casting my eye over the range of the Madonian
mountains, and beyond the picturesque hills of Termini, I
saw resting above the snowy ridge of hoary-headed old Etna
(which lies literally east of sunrise from here) a long line of
feathery whitish cloud, which, from its peculiar tree-like
shape, I knew at once to be smoke from the volcano. Ac-
cordingly, towards night, when the sun had dropped down
into the bay of Mondello, a deep-red lurid glare became dis-
tinctly visible at the foot of the column of smoke, and all the
world was then aware that the volcano was in active opera-
tion.

This has continued ever since, dimly discernible by day in
a pillar of cloud of that peculiar form which an eye, expe-
rienced in eruptions, instantly perceives to be the vapour from
a crater—and more conspicuous by night in a body of deep-
red fire, of the apparent size of an ordinary haycock, but
brightening and lessening fitfully with the swells and lulls of
the blast of the fiery furnace.

Telescopes have been much in requisition of nights, since
Tuesday, and many persons say they see the showers of red-
hot rocks rising and falling in the air above the crater, but I
myself have as yet seen nothing more than what I have de-
scribed above, and this much is as clearly visible to the
naked eye as is the outline of the Surrey hills from the
cockney mountain of Highgate.
The air-line distance of Mount Etna from Palermo (which
in the vulgar vernacular is commonly called the distance as
the crow flies) is above ninety English miles, and to any one
unfamiliar with the marvellous translucency of the Sicilian
atmosphere it might seem almost incredible that a mere
smoke in the air could be discerned a hundred miles off, yet
true it is that never when on board a steamer have I seen the
smoke out of its own chimney more plainly when the smut
was falling on my own very nose than I see from hence the
column rising out of old Vulcan's chimney on Mount Etna.
To-day I watched it, from the rocky heights of Belmonte,
for an hour or more before sunrise. At first, while quite
dark, only the fire was visible, like a great bonfire, or furze
burning on a mountain top, save that it was in colour of a
deeper red. But with the first faint touches of coming day
the smoke became gradually visible, and more and more dis-
tinctly marked, streaming along due north, till it stood over
the islets of Volcano and Lipari, where it brought up with a
round turn. as we tell the marines, and thence swept away
eastward to%%ards the further Calabria. As the rosy tints of
the rising sun came up behind the smoke or vapour (which,
by the way, is much more steam than smoke), it was illumi-
nated with the ruddy light, and assumed the gorgeous ap-
pearance of a prodigious blazing cloud, flaming in the fore-
head of the eastern sky, until it gradually faded into the light
of common day. At this time, too, the delicately pencilled
crescent of the waning moon became undistinguisbable from
the brightened light of the surrounding sky ; but the volcanic
vapour soon again became visible, stretching its fantastic but
exquisitely picturesque form along the horizon, in the tamer
character of cloud-like smoke, and much resembling the
cloud vomited forth from the funnel of a gigantic steamer.

As you may not be aware of the precise shape of a crater,
I think it is as well to tell you that it is exactly like the wash-
hand basin in the dressing cabin of the said steamer, when
the stopple at the bottom is pulled out to let off the water
you have used in washing. The basin itself resembles the
crater, oommonly so called, at the very bottom of which is
the huge funnel-shaped bottomless-pit, that spouts forth
smoke and steam, with hot stones, black mud, grey ashes,
and streams of many-coloured lava. The outer basin, com-

monly called the crater, or cup, as aforesaid, varies indiffer-
ent volcanoes, from a hundred yards to a quarter of a mile
deep. The depth of the fiery funnel itself, Empedocles (of
mortals) only knows, and he, though he threw back his slip-
per, by way of wishing the world good luck, never returned
to tell.

The height of Etna is the best ascertained of any lofty
mountain in the world. Cacciatore, the present Astronomer
Royal at Palermo, and our countrymen, Sir John Herschell
and Captain Smyth, the celebrated trigonometrical surveyor,
by processes entirely independent of and unknown to each
other, all fixed it at 10,874 feet English, not differing a fathom
in the three computations. So exact a coincidence, in a case
in which several compensations had to be allowed for, must
necessarily have been partly accidental; but, as Dr. Wollas-
ton said of it, the accident was one upon which no three fools
could by any possibility have stumbled. It is worth ob-
serving that Etna, which is more than twice as high as Vesu-
vius (about twice and a half), has not half so large a cone of
clinkers and ashes at the top, nor is its crater any thing like
so large or deep as that of Vesuvius, which latter is in fact
quite a model volcano, as if made for show. Generally, in
volcanos, the height of the cone and depth of the crater are
in the inre;ve ratio of the whole height of the mountains to

which they belong. It would seem as if the expansive forces
within the volcano, having a greater vertical height to work
through before they reach the surface, either do not eject the
scoriae and ashes so far, or in so great quantity, or perhaps
both these circumstances combine to render the hollow co-
nial cup at the top small in diameter and shallow in depth in
proportion as the general elevation of each volcanic mountain
is greater.
The present great eruption of Etna (it is at this moment
flaming away with undiminished brilliancy and grandeur) is
the first that has been visible at Palermo since 1822. In-
telligence travels slowly in Sicily, and we have not had any
authentic advices from the scene of action. The weather is
indescribably delicious, like a May of the best quality in
England. Sitting on the rocks, the cold hour before sunrise
this morning was perfectly pleasant. The flowers and many
fruit trees are in full blom, and the newly-dropped lambkins
are frisking in the fields. E. J.
P.S. I have just seen a letter from Riposto, within fifteen
miles of the crater. The burly-burly began its pother on
Sunday night. The smoke that afternoon, and the drying up
of the springs, betokened that Enceladus was getting fidgetty ;
and in the dead of the night the mountain heaved and quivered
like the midships of a three-decker, when she pours her first
broadside into the ribs of the enemy. A roar succeeded
louder than a thousand train of artillery, and myriads of red
rocky fragments shot up to the heavens. No lava had yet
begun to flow. Many persons here saw, or thought they saw,
it floating down the flanks of the mountain to-day ; but, as 1
do not tax my imagination for my facts, on this head I can
at present tell nothing. But you may—
WithT
Whereo
sf
sunny
pnn
onc
eyyt
ssc speed
ee
hs oneo golden
df
ruegetteakismshitsehoeisiclr
nye
wleorliteriwing,
•
d
bl
And still delighted shepherds si
istnEa,g,ltayntl'
Etna's
ese c:rs aheel
evening
nignst
tremblingneges
flame! string,
ONS\i'rTc(hi)miein l
niraigednight glories widely shed
In grand—yet soul-subduing dread—
Or hide in clouds his towering head
From young Aucura's purple shame!

FERTILITY
mouth, we had the Scioto river frequently in sight on our
op Onio.----From Piketon onward to Ports.
right, having crossed it in a ferry-boat, which took over the
the stage, bv a line suspended
and two
the stream, and a
frame-work with two sheaves and two running ropes, which,
under the guidance of the boatman, caused the boat to be
carried across withoutosrs or steam, but merely by the force
of the current, as at Wheeling, though by a more simple and
country, or the beauty of the landscape.
less expensive process even than that. Nothing could exceed
the fertility of the
The bottom lands of the valley were completely overflowed,
and the whole plain, as we looked down upon it from the
sides of the overhanging hills along which we passed, looked
likportion of Egypt, during the inundation of the Nile.
As
that country, so in this, the river leaves, when it sub-
sides,like a rich layer of alluvial soil, which renders manure
wholly unnecessary, and none is therefore used. Yet, such
is its fertility, that in no part even of the new states of the
west, does corn ever grow to such a height, and in such
exuberance, as here. Fields of corn, with the stalks rising to
a height of 18 feet, are common all over the valley; and in
some particular spots, it has been known to reach the extra-
ordinary height of 23 feet ! A single gallon of corn is deemed
sufficient to plant an acre ; and an hundred bushels is the
usual return ! Wheat also, in the drier lands, produces 3U,
40, and 50 bushels per acre ; the average in England being
only 26; and as this is the great corn and timber country of
the west, the logs and cabins of settlers, and saw mills worked
by water, for grinding corn and sawing timber, are here
abundant. Certainly, except on the banks of the Nile, Ido
not remember ever to have seen such appearances of extreme
fertility as here in this lovely valley of Seieto.---tettekittri.
AtZ4t'S Asierica, Third cries.