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

THE THEATRES

THEATRE IZOYAL.—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. NV. 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 liichard, 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 Grandf'ather'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 Norals,
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 inimitable.—Mrs. Honey takes her
benefit to-night, en, no doubt, " a demonstration" will
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_
Macan. Mrs. Raymond played her original character of
Jenny Jinks with much vivacity and archness. Mr. Higgie,
in the different dramas, wan 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.

ANIPHITHEATRE.—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 ("dal. 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"
ti the old and young branches of the great family of man who
honour this establishment with their presence.

THE MANCHESTER GUARDIAN VERSUS THE
PORT OF 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 had 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 chewing 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 6d. 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. more 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, 6d. per firkin
Belfast port charges........
Liverpool port charges..

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 that
we can possibly know of our contemporary's particular case
is, that his 20s. Bd. represented to be " paid on " includes
some charge (freight from the interior, cooperage of firkins,
or buyer's commission) which has no earthly connexion with
the point in dispute—viz., the comparative cheapness of the
two routes for the conveyance of goods between Belfast and
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 town, he
will acknowledge that he has been misled. We shall see
whether he will do this, and judge of his motives accordingly.