The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-01-28 00:00:00

THE NIGER EXPEDITION

[We had prepared the following brief particulars of this
ill-fated expedition prior to the receipt of the Times of last
night, which contained Captain Trotter's official report ; but
as our own account contains several interesting facts not
mentioned by Captain Trotter, we present our readers with
both.]
We are happy to announce the arrival at this port, by the
Warree, last from Cameroons, in the Gulf of Guinea, of
Captain Trotter, commander of the African expedition, toge-
ther with two of his officers, namely, Mr. Stanger, surgeon
of the Albert, and the Rev. Mr. Schon, chaplain. Captain
Trotter set off. a few hours after landing, by railway, for the
metropolis, with a view to lay before the government, with-
out delay, the Lnfortunate result, up to the period of his leav-
ing the coast, of the efforts of himself and his companions to
explore that portion of Africa bordering on the Quorra. The
Warree, in which these gentlemen returned home, belongs
to our respected townsman, Robert Jamieson, Esq., and they
one and all express, in the strongest. terrns, their grateful.
sense of the great attention and valuable services of her com-
mander, Captain Beecroft, who appears to have had unlimited
instructions from the owner to render every possible assist-
ance to any part of the expedition that might fall within the
sphere of his operations.
We had not an opportunity of seeing Captain Trotter pre-
vious to his departure hence ; but have borrowed the follow 7
ing few but instructive particulars from a friend who con-
versed with him, and also from the lips of Dr. Stanger and
Mr. Schon, to whom that gentleman kindly introduced us:
They are valuable, inasmuch as they supply some additional
facts to the latest possible date, and go to correct some inac-
curacies that have appeared.
The furthest interior point reached by the expedition was
Egga, on the Brass river, one of the mouths of the Niger or
Quorra, and which is at no great distance from the coast.
After disease had broken out in two of the fleet, and its ra-.
vages had alarmingly spread, it became necessary for the pre-
servation of the survivors to return with all possible alacrity

to the sea-board. The Soudan, commanded by Lieutenant
Fishburn, was the first that came down the river, on Sunday,
the.l9th September. The Wilberforce sailed. on .the 21st—
two days afterwards. The Albert proceeded up to Egga on
the same day, and remained until the sth, when she too being
visited by the fatal epidemic, also returned to Fernando Po.
Captain Trotter and all the otficers—with the exception
named—being ill, the vessel was taken in charge by Mr.
physicaa of the fleet, and the managemert of the
engine was Undertaken by Dr. Stanger. Dr. M`William
escaped the disease while in the river, but had a severe at-

tack of it after reaching Fernando Po. He was, however,
convalescent, and has since proceeded-to the island of Ascen-

.J. 41,0.1•
The Soudan is laid up in ordinary in Clarence Cove, Fer-
nando
Po, to await the orders of the admiralty.
The Warree (in which Captain Trotter arrived at this port),
was towed by the Albert out of the Gulf a Guinea, as far
as the Island of St, Thomas, across the equator—which, by
giving him, a good offing, from the land on the north of the
gulf, and.which towed to the westward, enabled her with the
prevailing winds of the country to make a quick passage
home. The Albert, after parting company with the Warrees
was to return to Fernando Po, and proceed thence to Ascen-
sion, under Lieut. Fishburn, who had acting orders from
Capt. Trotter, head of the expedition. There she was also
to await the decision of the admiralty and the government,
as to the further prosecution or abandonment of the expedi-
tion,—the result of the representations of Capt. Trotter,
whose opinion will doubtless meet with marked attention.
We may add that the vessels and machinery were all in
excellent ()icier when Captain Trotter lett, and, we under-
stand, that they were found completely to answer the pur-
pose for which they were constructed and fitted up : the un-
fortunate result of the expedition being solely attributable to
the fatality of the climate to most European constitutions.
Dr. Stanger, a tall, portly young gentleman, appears to be
in his accustomed health, having suffered little or nothing
from his sojourn on the coast. The Rev. M. Schon, 'we
are sorry to say (though he was not affected by the fever),
has lost his accustomed healthy look—though we hope but

for a time—and appears to be 'somewhat debilitated. Both
gentlemen proceeded yesterday evening by the railway to
Birmingham.

ALBERT—
F. D. Nightingale. Assistant-surgeon
G. B. Harvey. .. Acting-master ...

W. C. Willie .... Mate
Albion Lodge .... Second engineer
John Peeler Arm ourer
George P0we11.... Cooper
John Burgess .... Sailmaker's crew
James Robertson . Stoker
John Fuge
George Symes.... Caulker
Robert Wiliward .. Purser's steward
Lewis J. Wolfe .. Seamen's schoolmaster

WILBERFORCE-

CytusWakeham Purser.
Kneebone A. B. .
Rablin..
Fitzgerald

SOUDAN—
Bird Allen
W. B. Marshall.. Acting-surgeon
H. Coleman ..... Assistant-surgeon
N. Waters
W. Levinge.... . Captain's steward .....
James Thomas .. Carpenter's crew
Christopher Bigley Stoker . .........
William Kingdon . Seamen's schoolmaster

Died in the Wil-
berforce.
October 18, 1841
October 7,1841
Sept. 6,1841
Sept. 11, 1811
Sept. 14,1841
Sept. 17, 1841
Sept. 27, 1841
October 17, 1811
October 22, 1841
Sept. 27, 1841 ;
died in the
Soudan.

October 25,1841
Sept. 21,1841

!Sept. 22,1841

Sept. 21,1841
October 2,1841
October 12,184 I;
died in the
Albert.
H. D. TROTTER, Capta;.n.

THE THEATRES

THEATRE ROYAL.—This theatre opens on Monday under
the management of the new lessees, Messrs. Hammond and
Anderson : there are not two gentlemen more likely to make
it answer, for their own benefit and the public amusement.
Mr. \V. J. Hammond is a decided favourite with the play-

goers, and brings into the field acknoWledged activity, perse-
verance, and ability ; he is one of those indefatigable men
who, like Richard, will " die with harness at his back." •It
is said, in the theatrical circles, that the " go-a-head" system
will be pursued, so that the public will have no reason to
withhold from them its countenance and support. Several
new faces will be introduced on Monday. Mr. Brooke is
highly spoken of—he is not altogether a stranger, having,
when a boy, played "Young Norval" at this theatre. Miss
Julia Bennett has been favourably mentioned to us.. Mr.
Holl, we are very glad to find, still remains in the com-
pany, as also Mr. Baker. " Hamlet" will ,be produced in
very good style, and doubtless draw a crowded house. Now
comes the answer to the long-agitated question, is a half
price beneficial or not ?
ROYAL LIVER.—Mrs. Honey has been delighting the
frequenters of this theatre during the week. She has ap-
peared in the old drama of the " Spirit of the Rhine;" also
in "My Grandfather's Will," and The Runaway." Mrs.
Honey is a delightful actress—a sweet singer—a handsome
woman—a really clever creature. She appears to us to pos-
sess the gaiety of a Nesbitt, the archness of a Keeley, and
the grace and ability of a Vestris. In " The Runaway," a
drama in which she personates five different characters, her
powers as a ballad singer are tested. In the part of Norah,
an Irish servant girl, she warbled snatches of Irish ditties,
throwing into them such exquisite touches of pathos and
humour, that it was not surprising to hear the applause that
was bestowed so heartily upon her.. Her Irish jig was a per-
fect gem, and was tumultuously encored. The neatness of
her step, her gracefulness, and perfect abandonment to the
spirit of the dance, were inirnitable.—Mrs. Honey takes her
benefit to-night, en, no doubt, " a demonstration". sill I
be made to prove her talents are appreciated.—" My Beauti-
ful-Rhine" has been encored every night. "The Runaway"
was extremely well played. We particularly noticed Miss
Gordon as Prue Prim, a young Quakeress. She threw into
it much archness and simplicity, singing—of course on the
sly—the ballad of " Meet me by Moonlight" very prettily.
Mr. Tilbury's Squire Chasewell was very clever.—On Wed-
nesday " Charles O'Malley" was revived, in which Mr.
Raymond elicited great laughter, as of old, as Miss Judy
Muffin. Mrs. Raymond played her original character of
Jenny Jinks with much vivacity and archness. Mr. Higgie,
in the different dramas, wsa gay as usual as Howard,
Pretty man, and Jack Loveall. We ought not to omit no-
ticing the clever way in which Miss Dyer. played Deborah,
in "•My Grandfather's Will." In the old chamber, when
Albina persuades her the spirit of the baron is approaching,
her terror was capitally pourtrayed. We have observed that
all the characters she undertakes are done with great care.—
On Tuesday night the holiday-makers crammed this house
to suffocation.

AMPHITHEATRE.—This theatre has been crowded every
evening. On Tuesday night there was a very great house.
The new melo-drama of " Cromwell" is well got up, and
goes off with eclat. The Tableaux, particularly the final
one, are splendid. Mr. Howard plays Cromwell very judi-
ciously ; Mr. Henry Beverley, as Cockle, keeps the audience
upon the broad grin with his quaintness and humour. On
Tuesday we were greatly diverted in :witnessing an act of
royal condescension on the part of the " merry monarch,"
who finding the scene closing rather too quickly upon his
glory, actively obstructed its progress. ' Mr. Broadfoot
made a most undignified monarch, he ranted, stormed, and
attitudenized marvelously. This piece seems likely to have
a good run. The scenes in the circle are very diverting ; the
agility of the equestrians, the grace of Mr. Widdicomb, and
the drolleries of the clowns, provide food for surprise, ad-
miration, and mirth, apparently " without any abatement"
t..) the old and young branches of the great family of man who
honour this establishment with their presence.

THE MANCHESTER
OF GUARDIAN VERSUS THE
PORT LIVERPOOL.

We exposed, in our publication of last Friday, a somewhat
dishonest attempt of the Manchester Guardian to represent
the facilities afforded by the port of Fleetwood, for the con-
veyance of merchandise between the north of Ireland and
Manchester, as superior to those offered by our own port ;
and shewed, we believe to the satisfaction of most men who
are at all conversant with such.matters, that the documents
upon which our contemporary based his conclusion were
entirely fallacious. Whilst doing this, we certainly never
expected to induce so shifty an opponent as the Guardian
to confess that he bad been misled by his own or other peo-
ple's ignorance; and we are therefore not surprised to find
him on Wednesday returning to the charge, with a degree of
assurance which convinces us that it is quite beyond our
power to advance anything sufficient to shake his happy
state of confidence in his own infallibility.
By way of shewing our readers the kind of personage with
whom we have to do, we give here the Guardian's quibbling
reply to our observations upon his mare's nest:—
" We inserted simply," writes the Guardian, " an accurate
copy of two freight notes which were handed to us by one of
the most extensive and respectable grocers in the town,
showing that the freight "—freight and carriage to Man-
chester our contemporary, we presume, means to say,— " of
22 per cwt. 2 quarters of butter, from Belfast by way of
Fleetwood, was only more by Gd. than the charge for 15 cwt.
1 quarter, by way of Liverpool ; and this is a fact which.it
was surely desirable for the importers in this town of Irish
produce to be informed of. We assumed the money paid
on,' in each case, to signify the freight from Belfast to Li-
verpool, with all dock and port charges,'—meaning, of
course, charges in Liverpool, as well as any at Belfast. The
Standard assures us,—we would rather he had proved,—
that it is not so ; that the 20s. Bd. paid on at Liverpool is
nearly 10s. mote than such freight and charges would amount
to by steam-boat between the two ports.' Does he mean to
include at the two ports, also? If he says he does, then
pray, good Standard, what is the cause of the difference?
Surely you, who are upon the spot, might have more easily
supplied the particulars of the charges upon such a ship.
ment, than we who are thirty miles inland. All that it
materially concerned our townsmen to be informed of was,
that the charge for the conveyance of Irish produce from
Belfast by way of Fleetwood was some 50 per cent less than
by way of Liverpool. If the Standard can give any satis-
factory explanation of this fact—if it can show that, for any
reason whatever, a freight by way of Liverpool is worth the
difference, or even worth any difference, in price, it may_ ;be
proper for him to do.so ; but if he cannot, we presume, our
Manchester importers of Irish produce will prefer that line
of conveyance which serves them most cheaply."
We can do no more in reply to this feeble stuff than, to
repeat the substance of what we stated when we originally
noticed the Guardian's statement. The words " paid on
in a freight-note may mean anything. The sum "20s. 8d..,"
in this instance alleged to be " paid on," is nearly 10s. more
than the highest rate of freight and port charges of the quan-
tity of goods specified to have been conveyed from Belfast to
Liverpool. Our contemporary raises upon this some pitiful
quibbles, and requires proof. We will endeavour to satisfy
him on all points. We have procured from the two agents
of the steam-packets plying between Liverpool and Belfast,
the exact charges upon 15 cwt. 1 qr. of butter, which would
be the weight of about 20 firkins ; and that it would be as
follows, viz. : s. d.
Freight, Gd. per firkin lO 0
Belfast port charges 0 6
Liverpool port charges 0 5

10 11
or nearly 10s. less (as we stated) than the sum stated in, the
freight-note alluded to by the Guardian to be " paid on,"
and which includes all the charges usually comprehended
under that mystic form of words. It includes too the charges
at the two ports.
Our contemporary challenges us to explain how the dis-
crepancy arises between our amount and his 20s. Bd., which
he says that we, living on the spot, are better able to do
than he. Really, however, this is sheer absurdity. All
chatth
we can possibly know of our contemporary's particular
is, that his 20s. Bd. represented to be " paid to i+inclUdes
some charge (freight from the interior, cooperage of firitins,
or buyer's commission) which has no earthly connexion:with
the point in dispute—viz., the comparative cheapness of thead
two routes for the conveyance of goods between Belfast
Liverpool.
In conclusion, we shall only add, that if our contemporary
has been animated by no unworthy spirit in the representa-
tion which he has made to the disadvantage of our towh, he
will acknowledge that be has been misled. We shall see
whether he will do this, and judge of his motives accordingly.