The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-02-15 00:00:00

MISCELLANEOUS

CONTROVERTED ELECTIONS.—The following is the list of
the members of the general committee of elections for the
present session :—Lord Granville Somerset, Sir George
Grey, Viscount Sandon, Mr. Loch, Mr. Wilson Patten,
and Sir William Somerville.

Lord Abino-er's health is greatly improved ; but his lord-
ship is still obliged to wear a shade over his right eye, of
which he has partially lost the sight. In the event of the
noble and learned baron's retirement from the bench, which,

however, is not expected at present, the attorney-general is
designated in professional circles as his probable successor.
OYSTER SHELL MANURE.—Pounded oyster shells have
been advantageously employed as a manure on light lands,
drilled in with turnip seed at the rate of forty bushels an
acre, and this quantity has, in Norfolk, been found equal to
eight tons of farm-yard dung an acre. They have also been
beneficially used for wheat; four hundred weight of oyster
shells and the same quantity of rape dust have proved of
equal efficacy.
IMPORTANT INTELLIGENCE.—WC are informed by the
Liverpool Chronicle that the 'Wigan scrutiny is going on in a
most satisfactory manner ; that an abundance of evidence
has been obtained, and that in a short time Messrs. Standish
and Grenfell will take their seats!—'We are very happy to
hear all this, and we hope that in a short time the two worthy
gentlemen will take their seats, by their own fire-sides, in a
comfortable manner ; for they have a very little chance of
being seated in the Commons as the representatives of
Wigan.— Wigan Gazelle.

EARLY DEATH TYPIFED BY A ROSE.—SO have I seen a
rose newly springing from the clefts of its blood, and, at first,
it was fair as the morning, and full with the dew of heaven,
as a lamb's fleece ; but when a ruder breath had forced open
its virgin modesty, and dismantled its too youthful and un-
ripe retirements, it began to put on darkness, and to decline
to softness and the symptoms of a sickly age ; it bowed the
head, and broke its stalk ; and at night, having lost some of
its leaves, and all its beauty, it fell, &c.—Bishop Taylor.

NEW COINAGE OF SOVEREIGNS.—We are enabled to
state, on the best authority, that all the sovereigns now in
circulation will be called in for the purpose of being newly
coined. The system of " plugging," and other nefarious
devices which have been resorted to, render this step on the
part of the Mint indispensably necessary. The new coinage
will be attended with very great expense. Some means, it
is expected, will be adopted to prevent the recurrence of the
dishonest practices which have proved so successful.
A party of sportsmen were a short time ago out iu the
forest of Othe, near Aix, in the Aube, when one of them,
who was unarmed, and beating for game at a considerable
distance from the rest, roused a wild boar. Though taken
by surprise he did not lose his presence of mind, but hal-
looed to his companions, and determined to keep the beast
in view until they came up. The boar, enraged by his shouts
sprung upon his disturber; but having a stout staff in his
hand, be struck the animal on the bead and stunned him.
He then kept his foe down with one hand, while with the
other he got a clasp-knife from his pocket, opened it with his
teeth, and, stabbing the boar repeatedly with it, killed him
before assistance arrived. The grisly game and its vanquish-
er were carried home in triumph.
THRASHING MACHINE.—A thrashing machine has re-
cently been constructed at Strathead, near Alford, by the
ingenious but unobtusive tenant, Mr. John Mackie. The
invention is, in many particulars, altogether new, and the
friction is so small, that a man, by applying one hand to cer-
tain parts of the machinery, can easily put the whole in mo-
tion. It is driven by water, a small quantity of which suf-
fices. It occupies but a small space in the barn, and per-
forms the work to a nicety. The small, but strong water-
wheel is on an improved and novel scale. This curious and
powerful little machine, at the expense of about £7, is the
admiration of all who have inspected it ; and, as one of su-
perior power could nut:be constructed on the same principle,
it is well worthy the notice of the public. The ingenious
method, too, of constructing the dam and water-fall, upon
ground nearly level, is not a little admired by the numerous
visitors.

THE BOY JONES.—This youth who acquired notoriety by
his visits to Buckingham Palace, and whose mysterious ab-
duction was noticed in the public journals some months
since, having subsequently contrived to return to his parents,
was in the early part of January placed in a comfortable
situation, under a written agreement for twelve months,
with Mr. W. Elgar, a respectable tobacconist at No. 17,
Tothill-street, Westminster, and the boy always expressed
himself to be well satisfied. On Friday week, however, the
boy left his master's service, and was not heard of until
the Monday following, when the father ascertained that the
boy had been decoyed away by a man of the name of James,
and placed on board her Majesty's ship Warspite, about to
sail for America. It remains to be discovered what motive
actuated those who have induced him to leave his home.
THE WHIG LEGACY.—An official document laid before
Parliament. gives a striking illustration of the quality of whig
finance, and as strikingly illustrates the nature of the " le-
gacy" which Lord John Russell boasts of having left to Sir
Robert Peel. The return alluded to relates to the income
and expenditure of the country. Reader, behold and ad-
mire. For the year ended on the sth of January, 1841, the
excess of the public expenditure over the income was no less
than £2,101,369 2s. id.: the net income having been
£48,084,359 18s. 4d., and the expenditure £50,185,729 Os. sd.
But this is not all. The whigs have made an addition of be-
tween twenty and thirty millions to the national debt, one
way and another ; they have caused a large increase in the
floating debt; and have lent out to commissioners, for the
feeding of whig jobs, large sums of money, which will not
come back for many, many years to come, if they ever come
back. Heavy sums have also been expended in India,
China, Egypt, and Syria, not yet brought to book.
A JUNGLE SCENE.—As they penetrated deeper into the
woods, the gloom became more intense, and the deep silence
of solitude more imposing. It almost inspired them with a
feeling of awe. Not a bird, not even an insect, was heard.
It appeared as if no living thing had ever disturbed the soli-
tude of the primeval forest. And yet there were occasional
traces of life. The tall rank grass, which grew up to the
height of ten or twelve feet, was in many places trampled
down by the wandering herds of wild elephants ; several
recent footmarks of tigers might be traced along the sandy
path ; and once or twice a jungle-dog was seen Ito glide across
the road, with the drooping tail and stealthy pace which
indicate the prowling savage. Here and there an occasional
opening in the tree tops varied the monotony of the scene,
exhibiting a gorgeous view of the mountains. Their stupen-
dous crags, hanging woods, and sparkling waterfalls, backed
by a sky of deeper blue than even Italy can boast, formed
a striking contrast to the sombre gloom of the forest, ar►d
made the panting travellers sigh for the fresh mountain-
breezes which they had so lately left.—Old Forest Ranger,
by Captain Campbell.
NOBLE WILLS.--The Duke of Cleveland, has left nothing
in his will, which he had it in his power to alienate, to the
conservative heir of his honours. The new Duke has only
the entailed estates, which may be worth about £50,000 per
annum. In these are included the great bulk of the Shrop-
shire property and Raby Castle, in Durham, with the domains
immediately adjoining that princely seat. But the main
territory in Durham, being one of the very finest possessions
in England, and comprising the northern banks of the Tees
for nearly thirty miles, has been severed from the dukedom,
and divided among the younger branches of the family.
Newton House, and the whole of the Yorkshire manors in
that vicinity, worth £lO,OOO a-year, and to be left to the
Duchess. The duke's two younger sons are left £40,000
a-year between them. The Earl of Westmoreland has
made a still more singular disposition of his property. The
new earl takes nothing with his titles but Apethorp, and the
entailed estates adjoining that vast but dilapidated Castle in
Northamptonshire. The unentailed lands in that county,
the whole Somersetshire estate, the mansion in Grosvenor-
square, with all the personality, including the furniture and
pictures at Apethorp itself, nay, even, it is asserted, the dia-
monds of the present earl's mother (Miss Child, the sole
heiress of the great banker), are left to the old lord's daugh-
ter by his second marriage, the Lady Georgiana Fane. No
notice whatever is taken in this will of the daughter by his
first marriage, the Countess of Jersey—who probably ex-
pected at least to have her mother's jewels. Lady Georgi-
ana becomes thus a great heiress—probably the second in
the country.

THE " CHRONICLE" AND THE STARVING POOR.—Some
radical of Wigan, who is almost as correct in his information
as Murphy is about the weather, has sent a long yarn to the
Chronicle, stating that, " by a most iniquitous law," the
operatives of this town are " half of the whole number un-
employed ; the other half with only partial work, at starva-
tion wages." We know that numbers are out of employment,
and also that many of the operatives are badly paid ; but we
fearlessly deny the statement of the Chronicle, although it
charges us with " brazen effrontery," because we dared to
contradict the radical falsehoods which are sent, for fallaci-
ous purposes, to the Liverpool and Manchester papers. We
like to hear the pretty expressions of our contemporary,
about the brawny muscles of an English operative being em-
ployed in sweeping the streets ; but we think his compliment
to us would have been far more appropriately paid to the
mill-owners, who contracted with the whig poor law commis-
sioners to send the brawny fellows by wholesale from the
agricultural districts, in order that they might be comfortably
sweated down in factories ! The vile aspersions on the relief
committee are as utterly unfounded as they are unjust. The
base attempts made to check the stream of philanthropy, and
turn the hearts of the poor against their benefactors, are
worthy of the source from whence they spring. We know
that great distress has existed, and does still exist in our bo-
rough ; none regret it more than ourselves, and none are
more ready to alleviate it than the conservatives, who, we
trust, will never withdraw the hand of charity in consequence
of the foul attacks of radical calumniators.—Wigan Gazette.

VOL A L'AMERICAINE.—A hearty old farmer's wife, re-
siding in the vicinity of Choisy le Roi, had just come out, on
Saturday, from the Bank of France, where she had received
a sum of 800 f., when she was accosted by two individuals who,
by means of that stratagem so often exposed, and which, one
would think, was now thoroughly. " blown upon," succeeded
in dragging her into a cabaret, where they exchanged her mo-
ney for a padlocked leathern bag, containing a rouleau of sous
instead of double Napoleons ! The two fellows then made
some excuse to go out, and of course never returned. The
poor dupe had no other remedy than to apply to the com-
missary of police. One of the thieves was captured on the
same evening under circumstances of a very curious nature.
An inspector of police perceived two individuals in close con-
versation with a countryman, and suspected that they wanted
to rob him. He followed them, and saw them enter with
their dupe into the shop of a wine-seller in the rue Notre
Dame des Victoires. After waiting a little time the inspector
desired the man of the house to inform the stranger that one
of his countrymen was below. On his appearing, the inspec-
tor warned him of the trick which he suspected the two
sharpers were about to play upon him, and requested him to
change his money with them without hesitation, and to come
out at the same time as they did. On the two sharpers and
their victim descending the stairs, one of them was instantly
collared by the inspector, the other escaped. On being taken
to the police station, he was recognised as an old thief, and
moreover as one of the fellows who had stolen the 800 f. be-
longing to the farmer's wife. He was accordingly com-
mitted to " durance vile."—Gazette de Tribunaux.

SPAIN AS IT is.—The Augsburph Gazette of the ,lth inst.
contains the following piquant article upon men and things
in Spain at this time :—" Three men at this present moment
govern Spain—Linage, Marliani, and Aston. Espartero
sleeps the greater part of the day or plays at cards in bed.
Ile is of a weak and delicate constitution. Linage, Marliani,
and Aston are intimate with one another, and the two former,
goaded on by the latter, are the declared enemies of France.
Linage, because he thought himself offended by the sending
of an officer to the head-quarters of Espartero by General
Sonit, for the purpose of accompanying the head-quarters as
a French Commissioner. Marliani is offended because the
French Government refused him his exequatur as Consul-
General at Paris. Aston, as an Englishman, is animated
by the spirit of Lord Palmerston. Marliani, the most active
of these three men, is of Italian origin : he has been inti-
mate, on the one hand, with the Court of Spain, and on the
other with Zea Bermudez, and also with Mendizahal; and
thus may be seen to possess a sort of chamelion nature and
spirit of boldness and audacity. The predominant features
in the Spanish character are indifference and indolence ; and
indifference and indolence have ruined Don Carlos. The
double nature of the Spanish laisser aller is very clearly visi-
ble in the work of Prince Lichnowsky. Espartero, on his
own side, is the very incarnation of coldness and indolence—.
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