The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-05-20 00:00:00

WHITE SLAVERY IN ENGLAND. CHILDREN% EMPLOYMENT COMMISSION In our last we gave some preliminary quotations from tub report of the " Child en's Employment Commission," and we now proceed with some further extracts, the first class of which shall be on AGARLY EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN.'" We take our extracts promiscuously from pp. 12 to 16. ley are from the evidence of masters, of workmen, and of THE b children themselves. Joseph Ellison, Esq., of Birkenshaw, near Birstal, says, " I have been practically acquainted with colliers all my life. I know it as a fact that a c ollier now living has taken a child of his own, who was only three years old, into a pit to ' hurry,' and when th e child was exhausted it was carried home, stripped, and put to bed." John Ibbertson, collier, of the same place, says, been forty-five years in the pits. I knew a man called J ose ph C aw threy, who sent a child in at four years old ; and there are many who . go to thrust at that time, and many go at five and six ; but it is soon enough for them to go at n i n e o r ten. Th e sooner they go in, the sooner their constitutions are mashed up " I have James Ibbetson, collier at Mrs. Harrison's pit, Gomersal, sa y s , " There are three hurriers here in the pit ; two are girls ; they are my sisters ; they hurry for me. The oldest is 124 ; the youngest is between eight and nine. She has been working ever since she was six years old. They have both hurried tcge.ther since she was six years old. Some times when I have got my ' stint' I come out, as I have done to-day, and leave them to fill and hurry." Matthew Lindley, collier, Barnsley, says " children are s brought to the pit at the age of six years, and are of their beds at four o'clock, and between that and me in at VL'a.a :ommissioner for the Halifax the children begin to work in _ ages, In one case a child ..aicen into the pit by his father at three years das made to follow him to the workings, there to Andle, and when exiiathted with fatigue was cradled .:. coals until his return at night." It is added that )f thirty children at present at work in six pits in this t, seventeen are between five and nine years of age." 3., at Mr. Roscoe's, Rochdale, states that " He is years old ; that he has been six years in the pits, and a began to go when he was little more than four years the sub- s at the same early Esq., sub-commissioner for Lancashire —" Of the adult mining population of convinced that a very large proportion k as early'as the sixth or seventh year " Some are so young they go in their cided—' e extracts will, we think, suffice under this head, but )ot leave it without drawing attention to the infamous so common in some parts of the district, of appren super infants to this most degrading servitude. The of the practice may be gathered from the following S. Scriven, sub-commissioner for Halifax district, says great number of hurriers are apprenticed by the Board of Lrdians from the age of eight years upwards until twenty , paying with them a sovereign, to be expended, at the :retion of the master, for clothes, who likewise receives their hard earnings, as a compensation for board, lodg- and instruction in'the art mid mystery of hurrying and _ ~.u . thrsting. Many of the colliers take two or three at a time, supporting themselves and families out of their labour ; as soon as either of them is old enough he is made a getter, and is then worth from 10s. to 15s. a week. Thomas Moorhouse, collier boy, says " I don't know how old I am ; father is dead ; I am a chance child ; mother is dead also ; I don't know how long she has been dead; 'tis better nor three years; I began to hurry when I was nine years old for Mr. Greenwood ; I was apprenticed to him till I should be twenty-one ; my mother apprenticed me ; I lived with Greenwood; I don t know how long it was, but it was a goodish while ; he was bound to find me in victuals and drink and clothes; I never had enough; he gave me some old clothes to wear, which he bought at the rag shop; the overseers gave him a sovereign to buy clothes with, but he never laid it out ; I ran away from him, because he toe, my indentures, for he served me very bad ; he stuck a pick into me twice in my bottom: [Here (says the sub commissioner) I made the boy strip, and found a large cica trix likely to have been occasioned by such an instrument, which must have passed through the gluter murcles, and have stopped only short of the hip joint ; there were twenty other wounds, occasioned by hurrying in low workings, upon and around the spinous processes of the vertebrae from the sacrum upwards.] He used to hit me with the belt, and maul or sledge, and fling coals at me ; he served me so bad that I left him, and went about to see if I could get a job; I used to sleep in the cabins upon the pit's bank, and in the old pits that had done working; I laid upon the shale all night ; I used to get what I could to eat; I ate for a long time the candles that I found in the pits that the colliers left over night ; I had nothing else to eat ; the rest of the hurriers did not know where I was; when I got out in the morning I looked about for work and begged of the people a bit ; I got to Bradford after a while, and had a job there for a month while a collier's lad was poorly ; when he came back I was obliged to leave." Joseph Ellison, Esq., Birkenshaw, says that the fact is notorious that when the colliers are in need of hurriers they apply to the poor law guardians for pauper children. " I have been," he says, " a guardian myself, and know it to be a fact. They cannot get them elsewhere, on account of the severity of the labour and treatment hurriers experience, and which makes parents prefer any other sort of exployment for their children." Thomas Rayner, Esq., surgeon, Birstall, says " I am a Union. for the t owns hip of G ome r sa l, i n the Dewsbury Union. When I first attended the board meetings I was sur prised to find so many applications from miners for appren tices from the union workhouse. The answer was 'Go to the house and select for yourself, and we will bind you the one you select.' In some cases children- have been selected at seven and eight years, because they were strong and healthy. Upon inquiry I found no questions had been asked as to the age; atid if in a few months the man found the boy was net strong enough (without reference to his age) he brings him back. One instance occurred only on the 24th of December, last Thursday, and the boy is again in the union workhouse, only seven yens of age." _ - J. C. Symons, Esq., sub-commissioner, also refers to "a very gross case of the unduly early employment of a work house child, named Thomas Townend, who was apprenticed to a collier at Thornhill, working in a thin pit before he was quite five years old." HISTORICAL NOTICES OF THE PRINCIPAL BUILDINGS DESTROYED AT HAMBURGH. CHURC )F ST. MICHAEL.—The Church of St. a destroyed, was' a noble and stately 1751, and after five years' labour h the exception of the spire, which It was built by the celebrated regarded by all travellers as the capaole of accommodating 2,000 steeple was said to be 456 feet, han that of St. Paul's in London; Lutheran persuasion, and was liarly adapted, for astronomi- lin, and I moreove S, OR HOUSE OF CORRECTION.—This by a senator, of the name of Peter atended for criminals of the worst de- ADM IRALTY.—The public Admiralty was built in ci the code of excellent maritime rules established in t was erected by the Burgeose of the town to regu ,lommerce, which was then beginning to grow es nd to prevent the damages occasioned to merchants nen, who then infested the ports and seas there- MACH OF ST. NI CROLAS.—The inhabitants in the the 16th century, augmented greatly in the guar !en the gate of the Schaarthorn to the Guase- Up to this period they had only small chapels caselves ; but in 1602, the church of St. Nicholas and, subsequently, in 1605, the smaller chapel of Michael, on the site of the old Ziegel-feld, or Tilefiild. 'HE HOUSE OF CORRECTION, OR WERE-ONO ZUCll us.—This building was principally for the reception of lor criminals, bankrupts, and beggars. It was constructed 611, but it was burnt in 1666. In 1670 it was again re- Lt-1842 again finds it in ashes. 'HE POST-OFFICE. — This building is also among those troyed. The Portuguese Jews who came to the city in B were the first who improved this part of the government iinistration, and were the first who caused the establish it of the imperial post at Hamburgh. THE OR EXCHANGE.—The present bourse, as We find i n the " Histoire de Hambourg," was began to be built in the same year that a comet appeared to the inhabi tants of the town—according to an old Hamburgh chroni ler. It was constructed in a spot contiguous to the Senate- house ;the merchants had theretofore met in the street, and 'n an uncovered place, but in 1577 the community of cloth merchants thought fit to construct another, better fitted for their transactions. This, in 1669, was again enlarged, and existed as it was to be seen till within the last week. T HE BANic.—The Bank of Harnburgh, long regarded as one of the safest in Europe, is also rmong the buildings de stroYed. The merchants of the city have long derived great h,tiefit from this s p ec ie bank, which was founded in 1 6 19. t Whet her any b u lli on h a s been destroyed, we cannot, as yet, for dail y use was alwa deposited in the cellars of the bank, i; ti c t il "d with it ys on bars. Nothin in its tansactions was paid cuutt t ed bu . lik" , O r Pure silver and gold, r and it never dis- _ . .. A mong other space more partiular'. t _Public building s of note, which we have not d the House for in Artillery-street. o rpha l is o a n n oice, ia St. , Peter's Church, an The Borsensaal, or aucti on - ro a o r m mou w r a y s over the Exchange, an d goods quarter th e ere daily brought there to be sold from every ofworld. The hotels were rich fur shed, and fitted up for every fashionable and luxuriou ly s pur- been destroyed, .Je old town, whi c h has thus are but sected with canals as to reie z — b u i s e a Dre. _, e is so inter sected by ; these canals were chiefly filled by the almost all the warehouses forms on the north side of the town t° th y m he Alster, and for parties of pleasure. On the s n o a fine basin . chiefly The Alster vhich the firs appears to have madeuvteh aide of this basin, used he spacious walk planted . with trees, r i a 'riere ravages, in .- ..g, or Young Ladies' Walk. sibeeti red the juwnas ourite promenade. has been continued along the this fa_ the basin, so as to join the ramparts, the whole e west aide of laid out as a public garden and promenade,. theuef which were being broad enough for three carriages all round r a al!e-way The house in which the fire is supposed to have originated4l'• was, as our readers are aware, that of a Jew cigar manufac turer, a branch of business which in Hamburgh has aia years increased to an astonishing extent. A recent travellteer observes, that this habit of tobacco -smoking was universal. The whole o f the male popula tion, boys of eight and ten years, as well as men, are const antl y armed with either a pip e or a cigar; and even handsome, we ll-dressed girls . , are seen luxuriating with a genuine Hava nna. This practice, it has been . said by the doctors of the tow n, has produFed, even within the memory of man, changes i n the constitution of theiinbabitants ; and these, the descend ants of the strong ancient Germans, have greatly degenerated by the use of this fernsti enervating weed. The number of J ews , o f w hi c h f ra ternity the supposec.; tihne cendiary Coh en i s one, who were res id en t in this part o town and tlamburgh in general, are estimated at 14,000, but this is supp ose d to b e dou b le the real num b er. In 1824 the bills of mortality estimated them at 4,000. As the steam-boats from the mouth of the Thames make their passage to flamburgh in between forty and fifty hours, and several of these have been delayed only by contrary winds, we may speedily expect arrivals and fuller accounts from Cuxhaven, and the city itself. INCREASE or ODD FELLOWS.—At a meeting of the Man •er Unity of Odd Fellows, held in that town last week, Amond stated that the accession to their numbers ,he last ten months had been about 28,000, and that )ciety now possessed between 230,000 and 240,000 during i members TRATIMONIAL To MX DUKE or BUCKINGHAM puckhighatashire festival was held an `'tied es day, at Aylesbury, bi the farmers of that county and other friends connected with agriculture, for the purpose of pre senting to his Grace the Duke of Buckingham, as a testi monial of their admiration of his public principles, and as a tribute of respect and gratitude for his services whilst Marquis of Chandos, as one of the representatives of his native county, a superb piece of plate. This costly and exquisitely executed record of respect and gratitude was on Tuesday afternoon conveyed from Messrs. Green and Ward's, the silversmiths, of Cockspur-street, to the George Inn, Aylesbury, where it was exhibited, in an ante-room, to a large number of the in habitants of the town and surrounding districts, from whom it elicited many strong expressions of respect and gratitude for his grace's private virtues and valuable public services. The stye in which the testimonial has been executed was very generally admired. It consists of a piece of plate, executed in silver-gilt, be ing of the value of £2OOO, and upwards. It is in height four feet seven inches, and weighs about 1800 ounces. Agricultu ral figures and emblems compose the devices ; the mottoes are " Chandos, Church and State," " Chandos and the Corn Laws," " Chandos and the £5O clause." The festival took place in a temporary building, erected in the rear of the George Inn, and contiguous to that hotel. The building was very tastefully fitted up with hangings of various-coloured cloth, festoons of laurel, and a rich variety of natural and artificial flowers ; the whole having a very pleasing effect. The table at which the chairman, his grace the Duke of Buckingham, and several of the principal guests sat, was a slightly raised dais, in the centre of one of the lon gitudinal sides of the building. Opposite the chairman was placed the testimonial, on a pedestal of about six feet in height. The following is the inscription which it bears : " The Chandos testimonial : presented by a very numerous body of farmers of Buckinghamshire, and other friends con nected with agriculture, to Richard Plantagenet, Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, K.G., G.C.H., on the 18th May, 1842, to record their admiration of public principles steadily maintained in unsettled times, and as a tribute of respect and gratitude for his services whilst Marquis of Chandos, as one of the representatives of his native county in parliament, where, for upwards of 20 years, he was the energetic, consis tent, and successful champion of the agricultural interest of the United Kingdom." A gallery to the left of the chairman was fitted up for the reception of ladies, a brilliant assemblage of whom entered the building shortly after the removal of the cloth. The Duke of Buckingham arrived at the Aylesbury station by a special train, which left the Euston-square terminus at one o'clock. A large concourse of the farmers and towns people had assembled to greet the duke upon his arrival, and as his grace stepped out of the carriage he was most enthu siastically cheered. The Earl of ORKNEY took his seat as chairman about half-past three o'clock. On his right were the Duke of Buckingham, Mr. R. Clayton, M.P., Colonel Boldero, M.P., I Mr. P. Williams, M.P., Colonel Hall, Colonel Vyse ; and on the left Lord De Lisle, Sir T. Fremantle, M.P., Mr. Joseph Neeld, M.P., Mr. John Neeld, M.P., Mr. Ferrand, M.P., &c. About 600 of the first gentlemen in the country sat down to dinner, and after the usual loyal toasts, the noble Chairman then rose, amidst loud cheering, to present the testimonial to the Duke of Buckingham. He said "My dear lord (addressing the Duke of Buckingham), I cannot say with what feelings of peculiar delight and satisfaction I have been permitted by the committee of the farmers and others of your grace's friends in this county this day to pre sent to you the piece of plate you now see before you. (Cheers.) Handsome as I trust you think it, it is, I assure you, far below our estimate of your past services. At the same time, we do trust that the list of subscribers by whom it is presented will be satisfactory. (Cheers.) Fortunately for me, it has not been left to my feeble powers to convey to your grace our idea of your public services and public cha racter ; that is contained in an address, drawn up with far greater powers of language than I can pretend to, and which I shall now have the pleasure of calling upon the ho norary secretary to read." (Cheers.) The address having been read by the Secretary, the noble CHAIRMAN then gave " Our guest the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos," which was drunk amidst tremendous and prolonged cheering. The noble DUKE then rose to return thanks, and was re ceived with enthusiastic plaudits. Upon the cheering sub siding, he addressed the company as follows :—My lord and gentlemen, if upon former occasions in this county, when surrounded by large assemblages of my friends, I have felt any difficulty in returning them thanks for the kindness they have at those time's evinced towards me, what must I now feel, my lord, when I look around this vast assemblage and see in this room the wealth, the power, the influence of the county; when I see around these tables some who in early days were the first to cheer me on in my cause of political life—(loud cheering) ;—when I see around these tables also those who have ever been consistent, firm, and active friends ; when I look back to the time, 24 years ago within four days of the time, when I first started as candidate for this county,-1 feel difficulty indeed in expressing all that my heart feels on this occasion. (Cheers.) Often as I have addressed you, often as I have received acts of kindness from you, I have not the power on this occasion to speak the sen timents of my heart. (Cheers.) The manner in which you have drunk my health, the kindness with which you have received the expressions of the eloquent address which has been read to me, that splendid and magnificent tribute of affectionate regard which I now see before me—(cheers)—all this, coupled together, forms in my mind a mass of grati tude I cannot reply to ; and with those feelings which ani mate my heart, and with an anxious desire to put on record the feelings which I entertain for this county, and those friends who have ever stood by me, I will, with your permis sion, my lord, place in your hands a reply in answer to the address, that, when I am gone, those sentiments may be in your lordship's recollection. His grace then read his reply. WHIG-RADICAL BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION (From the Scottish Standard.) " When rogues fall out," the proverb says, " honest men come by their own." In like manner, the cause of truth and justice is often much promoted by the disclosures of the par ties engaged in the commission of offences, be these disclo sures selfish or involuntary, unconscious or unpremeditated. Mr. Roebuck's movement has thrown a new light upon the history and practice of bribery. At first, it was supposed that the honourable member's principal object was to drag forth Sir John Cam Hobhouse and some other persons , al leged to have obtained seats in the present parliament by corrupt means—but the result has proved of a much more general and comprehensive character. Mr. Roebuck, in fact, has been indirectly instrumental in establishing the truth of what the conservatives have often asserted, that the whig-radical members have always practised bribery to an ex tent not less than that which they, with matchless hypocrisy, charged against their political opponents. We leave the cases of Sir John Hobhouse and others to the committee appointed under the auspices of Mr. Roe buck. There were certain confessions, however, which came out in the course of the discussion on Friday evening, which deserve to be noticed as peculiarly characteristic. We allude to the statements of Mr. Warburton, ex-M.P. for Bridport, who addressed a petition to the house, and of Mr. Dun combe, who made a speech—both of them splendidly illustra tive of whig purity and morality. Mr. Warburton is well known. While in the House of Commons, he was, or appeared to be, one of the most imma culate and incorruptible supporters of purity of election. No man was louder in his denunciations of corruption, or affected a higher tone in regard to the necessity of keeping the house free from such contaminating influences. It so happened, however, that when his conservative opponent at the last election petitioned the house against Mr. Warbur ton's return, on the ground of bribery and corruption, the hon. gentleman saw it prudent to retire from the seat before the committee could examine the truth of these disgraceful charges. It was universally understood that Mr. Warbur ton gave up his seat for Bridport because he knew the alle gations would be proved against him—an exposure from which any man would naturally shrink—in his case it would have been something like suicide to have braved the inquiry, Such being the facts, the transaction properly became the subject of comment; and, of course, as Mr. Warburton had never himself spared a n y m an in the like situation, his case was animadverted on with little ceremony. This seems to have given mortal offence to the tender feelings of the whig radical briber. He cannot endure that the epithets which he and his party so liberally bestowed upon others, should, under the same circumstances, be thrown back upon himself. But let a whig alone for attempting to outface his assailants; to prove black white is, to him, almost as easy as to prove that two and two make four. We are not greatly surprised, therefore, that Mr. Warburton, assuming the airs of an ill used man, a most calumniated whig, has memorialised the House of Commons, denying strongly that he was at all guilty of bribery. Still Mr. Warburton must grapple with the facts, and what does he admit ? He states that in 1826 he expended £2,000 in carrying his election for Bridport—on which occa sion he acknowledges that £lO a-head was given to each of his voters, as he says, according to the " custom " of the place. In 1830, he spent £2,600 in the same way—his colleague having expended a still larger sum. Mr. Warbur ton admits that he knew how a considerable portion of these sums was disposed of—for instance, £BOO in dinners, £2OO in processions, and £1,600 for breakfasts and legal expenses, the whole of which latter could not exceed £3OO. With these admissions on record, still Mr. Warburton declares he was totally innocent of any improper conduct—knew nothing of bribery, or any other form of corruption. The naivete - of such a confession, with such a conclusion, must have greatly astonished the house. But here it is plain that Mr. Warburton repeatedly bribed his way into the House of Commons ; this liberal and patriot did so by his own ac knowledgment. We cannot suppose—nobody will believe— that he was not perfectly aware of the real nature of the " head money" which he paid, and, therefore, Mr. Warbur ton stands self-convicted of the charge, which he seeks to escape. As for Mr. Thomas Slingsby Duncombe, as anything may be looked for at his hands, nothing need be said, except as it may affect the character of the house, of which he is so con spicuous a member. This gentleman, who rejoices in the most liberal principles, thought it necessary to disburden his mind in a fashion somewhat of the strangest. We find his statement condensed in the Times : " Unfortunately for me," he tells the house, " I was once a candidate for the pure and immaculate borough of Ponte fract. (Great laughter.) I spent £4,000 in Pontefract." (Half as much again as Mr. Warbu.ton at Bridport.) " I have no hesitation in saying that the money was expended in gross bribery, treating, and corruption Unfortunately, also, I stood five contested elections at Hert ford. . . And I may state, as lam now impugning the conduct of members of this house individually and collectively, that I left behind me at Hertford considerably above £30,000. (Great laughter.) went in protecting tenants from the landlords power, a great deal of it went in treating (laughter), and a great deal in bribery." ((treat laughter.) And now hark to the chuckle which the retrospect excites in Mr. Duncombe's mind. To hear Mr. Duncombe speak, one would think that he had no character to lose, or that he was glad to get rid of what he had—with such self-complacency does he seem to regard his own very complete and unsparing avowals. " I think, at all e w ve ct r ol lt icb s a , int :a o y f she, " I have proved that I cannot take this declaration, and I only want to see those nine Simon Pures And these are your immaculate patriots, your boasted re formers!i We know not whether the house was more edified greatly by the Spartan lations by th r e e an pretensions of Mr. Warburton or the Helot ready enough tive.—WithMr. Duncombe : both are sufficiently instruc marl, these examples before them, we shall be, indeed, ponents—but her eaP ed to find hereafter any further self-congratu are confessed to Whigso on the purity of their party. They are radicals.—lndeed, we the s grossest imputations on their op:. lieved—and with much t'ethe crimes charged against''" the tories" at least equally common to whigs and accusations from uspect it will be now generally be people must now feel in a saying, that of their own guilt, verify truth —that the whigs indulge in such the co ns • at evil doers are evil dreaders. The ing the homely and the acts of these mer iti° useful lesson as to their realrn to compare the professions to draw f rom th e contrast a nefited by the recent exp osure :%cter. S o f ar th e y h av e be ever injurious these may to the reputation of the persons ?rawmedia to the general respectability of th e house tely implicated, or mem bers. of which they are bill upon "the Kentucky The Louisville Advertiser says that House of Rrepresentatives have added to a ..._e,i.,,txcarriages and gold watches, a propositinnA o ries, such as whisky, tobacco, and hemp."'At s er han ky and to b acco luxuries ! One is an " unmitigated curse," and other "an intoler able nuisance." Hemp a luxury ! ,Whythle is an article of indisp ensible necessity as long as whisk y l tobacco are used. THE IVIURDEREIt GOOD _ lualon of the tr ial on Friday, Good, whose ex. Eva - Ordinary explanation of tue discovery of the trunk ausl fragments of the remains of the victim created so unusual a sensation in the mind of every individual in court, was re. moved to the cell in which Greenacre, Courvoisier, and other deeply-stained criminals of his class, had spent the brief pe riod from condemnation to execution. In his progress thither the culprit walked with a careless gait, exclaiming in the hearing of the turnkeys who accompanied him, " I have stated nothing but the truth. I have said all I know." On arriving in the condemned cell he sat down, apparently un nerved, and in a few minutes after the usual supper or prison allowance, gruel and bread, was taken to him, of which he ate with a keen appetite. He shortly after retired to rest, and slept soundly until three on Saturday morning, when he awoke, and asking some questions, merely as to the state of the weather, of the night-men or keepers in his cell, relapsed into a sound sleep, and did not awake until seven. He shortly afterwards got up, and was attended by the Rev. Mr. Carver, the ordinary, to whom he paid respectful attention. At a later period of the morning the cell of Good was visited by Mr. Cope, the governor, and the culprit, on seeing him, commenced exclaiming that he was an innocent man ; that the statement he had made to the court and jury the preced ing evening was perfectly correct ; that deceased had cut her throat, like Castlereagh, as he had mentioned ; and that the " match-man" had consented to conceal the body for a sove reign. This he continued to repeat several times, and, sup posing his version of the frightful affair would produce a fa vourable feeling towards him, he indulged in it most freely. The ordinary of the prisoner was unceasing in his atten tions, but Good, notwithstanding the exhortations of the rev. gentleman, declares his innocence of the murder. He has more than once expressed his regret that he had not when in court expressed his thanks to his counsel and solici tor for the manner in which they defended him. On Friday morning, before the trial, Mr. Bucknell, Good's solicitor, feeling the importance of the case he had to defend, waited on his client in his cell, and entreated him not on any account to say a word during or after the trial. The object of Mr. Bucknell was this—that according to the evidence set forth in the depositions there was not a single case on record where an individual was executed on circumstantial evidence so inconclusive as that against the prisoner ; and if, there fore, he only held his tongue, it was the intention of Mr. Bucknell, in the event of the prisoner being found guilty, to present a memorial to the crown for its clemency on his be half, on account, as has been before stated, of the inconclu siveness of the evidence as to the identity of the body. Mr. Alderman and Sheriff Magnay had an interview on Monday with the Secretary of State for the Home Depart ment, relative to the execution of the criminal. We under stand that it was deemed right, in his case, to abridge the time usually allowed between the sentence and execution, and Monday next, the 23d instant, is fixed as the period of his earthly existence, when his life will he sacrificed, as the penalty of his crime. On leaving the Home-office, the worthy Sheriff proceeded to Newgate, and, in company with the Ordinary, visited the convict, to whom he communicated the intelligence. Good, without appearing moved, affected a disbelief that the period fixed was so short, and intimated a suspicion that the Sheriff was practising on his courage by the representation he had made. Mr. Sheriff Magnay replied, that it was no part of his wish to make any such experiment, but that it was a part of his painful duty to communicate to persons in the criminal's situation the knowledge of the day on which the sentence of the law would be executed upon them. Good seemed convinced of the fact, but remained unmoved. He adheres to the statement made on hisitrial, notwithstanding the inconsistencies and contradictions with which it abounds ; and, judging from his present demeanour, it appears likely that he will pass out of the world with the same hardened indifference, both to his crime and to its con sequences, by which his conduct has been hitherto charac terised. On his being asked to state the address of the man who sold matches, and -vho, according to his statement, took such an active share in the awfill business, lie says that all he knows about him is that be lives somewhere near Brompton. It will be remembered that Greenacre told a similar story in many respects to this statement of Good's, as to the mode in which his victim came by her death, and that he subse quently gave several different versions of the story, and that only a few hours before his execution he gave another ac count of the alleged mode of death. It is expected, how ever, that Good will yet declare what the truth of the case really is, and as it is said that he has made an intimation to that effect to the chaplain, and also to Mr. Cope, the gover nor of Newgate. It was at the suggestion of the chief justice that the coun sel for the prosecution forbore to examine the prisoner's son as a witness against him. All that he would have been able to depose to was the fact that the blue bonnet belonged to the deceased, and that it was taken by the prisoner to Susannah Butcher's ; and as this was clearly proved by other testi mony, it was thought the painful spectacle of a child being produced as a witness against his father upon a trial of life and death might be spared. COURT OF EXCHEQUER (Sittings at Nisi Prius, at Guildhall, before Baron PARKE and a London Jury.) LAWSON V. MANGLES AND ANOTHER. This was an action by the assignees of Messrs. Shepherd and Drew, who were formerly proprietors of the Star Hotel, at Southampton, to recover £153, the balance of a tavern bill, amounting to £653 lls. 11d., from Messrs. Mangles and Hutchings, who were the unsuccessful candidates at the last election for Southampton. _ _ Mr. Thesiger stated the plaintiff's case. Messrs. Shep herd and Drew, the bankrupts, entered into partnership in the Star Hotel, which had previously been known in South ampton as a conservative house, in the spring of last year. In the month of May it was known that there would be a general election, and the defendants, Messrs. Mangles and Hutchings, became candidates on what is called " the liberal interest." Committee-rooms were engaged at the Star by Mr. Sharpe, an attorney, the agent of the liberal candidates, and as the season for families visiting Southampton was then approaching, and the business of the house would neces sarily be interrupted by turning the best apartments into committee - rooms, Messrs. Shepherd and Drew thought it desirable to have a distinct understanding as to the sum to be paid for the committee-rooms, and £250 was the remuneration agreed upon for the accom modation afforded in this particular. The house was taken possession of by the committee on the 29th of May. There was a public breakfast at the nomination day, at which the noble lord who was lately Secretary for the Foreign De partment (Lord Palmerston) attended. There was also a dinner for thirty persons, at which fifty bottles of wine were drunk. Mr. Hutchings and Mr. Mangles were both occa sionally at the entertainments served up to their friends at the Star. On one occasion—on the day of the polling, one of the landlords, Mr. Drew, mentioned to Mr. Hutchings that he thought too much wine was being drunk by the elec tors ; to which Mr. Hutchings replied, " Let them want for nothing," or words to that effect ; but as the day advanced, and he found he was likely to be a beaten candidate, he de sired that no more should be given away. The wines were drunk, the feast was over, and so was the election. " So comes the reckoning when the banquet's o'er, — The dreadful reckoning,—and men smile no more ! " He asked for his bill, and promised it should be paid in a month. The bill, however, was not paid, and the refusal to pay it forced Messrs. Drew and Shepherd into the Gazette. They had reckoned on this payment to meet some pressing demands ; their creditors would not be induced to wait any longer, and in November last, Drew and Shepherd became bankrupts, mainly, as he was instructed, by reason of the debt. An action was brought, in the first instance, against Mr. Hutchins alone ; but he pleaded, in abatement, that the debt, if any, was incurred by him and Mr. Mangles jointly, and upon this the present action was brought against both the defendants. The bankrupts, the waiters, the barmaid, and several o th er witnesses were called to prove the plaintiff's' case. No direct authority appeared to have been given, either by Mr. Man gles or Mr. Hutchings, to furnish the voters with liquor ; but it appeared that, shortly before the election, a dinner was given upon the opening of the hotel by the new partners, and the defendants severally ordered a dozen of iced cham pagne, to be sent up and charged to the general election account. On the election day, when it was mentioned to the candidates that persons were calling for wine in their room who ought not to have been there, they desired the supply might be stopped. On the other hand, when Mr. Hutchings was asked to whom refreshments provided for him and his friends should be set down, he desired it to b e pu t t o the election account, which would be paid by him and Mr. Mangles. _ _ _ M. M. Hill (with whom was Mr. James) then addressed the jury for the defendants. He contended that there was no evidence of any authority to supply liquors and wines to the extent that was charged for in this bill. Baron Parke said it was tolerably clear that all the wine and liquors charged for had been consumed; and the only question was whether the defendants, or either of them, had acted in such a manner as to render themselves, or himself, The jury, without hesitation, returned a verdict for the plaintiffs for the full amount claimed, £153. Baron Lefroy has instituted legal proceedings against the Longford railroad shareholders for .i'3,700, which he paid to Mr. Vignoles for surveying the line, and for which the latter gentleman recovered a verdict against his lordship at the Liverpool assizes. FATAL ACCIDENT AT BAR➢IOUTII._It gives us great pain to state that, owing to a fatal accident, J. J. Williams, Esq., clerk of the peace for the county of Merioneth, has suddenly been deprived of life. We subjoin the particulars, as we have received them from our correspondent at Barmouth : On the evening of last Thursday, the sale of part of a vessel was to have taken place at Barmouth, and Mr. Williams had to attend to it. He left Dolgelley, where he resided, about noon, travelling in his own carriage, accompanied by Mr. Ellis Rees, of the Star Inn, and Mr. Richard Jones, auctioneer. On coming down the hill at Borthwen, within a short distance of Barmouth, the horse started off at a tre mendous rate, Mr. Williams vainly pulling at the reins to hold him in. Baying gone a short distance at this rapid rate, Mr. Williams and his two companions determined to jump out. Mr. Rees was the first to do this, and was consider ably, though not dangerously, hurt by the concussion. Mr, Jones had the presence of mind and prudence to get over the back of the carriage, and, clinging to it for an in stant, dropped down easily, without sustaining any injury. Mr. Williams got out at the side he was sitting at, but fell on his head against the rock on the side of the road. There he lay in a most deplorable state, a large quantity of blood flowing from his left ear, and his left leg having received a compound fracture a little above the ancle. He showed some signs of sensation, drank a little water that was given him, but never spoke a word after the fall. An easy chair was procured from Aberamffra House, just by the place where these melancholy circumstances occurred, and Mr. William Owen, of Barmouth, had Mr. Williams promptly conveyed to his (Mr. O.'s) house, where three medical gen tlemen immediately attended the unfortunate sufferer. He never once rallied, but continued in a state of insensibility, gradually sinking, untilthree o'clock the next morning, when he expired.—Shrewsbury Paper. o—drvtVesuretpori of this ex r mts e h 0 oe c i e sn n,t company.ot o l y for o bt u eo r nr rd r 0 e e wr a s d Ta ebfhori The BRISTOL AND EXETER RAILWAY. E FFECTS OF P AY l ni M o aa E ny N s T h, a O F ov ne I st e N h ee T n E s ie r t nc E uo s ru T i tr yo paperthe L a Ln works a . amount wanted was either to make by the company, or it was the £ 50 0,000 itself. Whichever, i however, was wanted, it has been all t en d ered, and from £30,000 to £40,000 more. When we compare thisconfi dence of the public in the undertaking, w i t h what very few years since, when their shares, havin g £lO pard as up, w ere offered for nothing, and a bonus to help them o the desponding holders' hands, we cannot but admire the cause of so goodly an effect. That cause was no other than the simple one of paying interest on calls. At the time this company first adopted it, at the earnest recom mendation of the present zealous secretary, the register was rotten—the directors were without means -of prosecuting the works—there was no just ground of hope that they should open the line to Bridgwater within seven years. Now, they have so highly respectable a proprietary that, within three days of the last call becoming due, upwards of £lOO,OOO were paid in. Their line to Bridgwat er is in active traffic. Th ey are receiving a fixed sum of £30,000 a-year, besides about £7,000 for their share of toll. In July next (if not bef ore ) they will open to Taunton. Their fixed rent and share o f toll, together, will then amount to at le ast £56,000 a- y e ar ; and the directors have at present at their i mmediate dis p o sal a cash balance of upwards of £200,00 0 , whi ch will p reclu de the necessity of any further call this year, e ven if their expen diture should amount to an average of 25, 000 a -month , the income, under the lease, being more than sufficient to pay all the interest, both upon paid-up calls and upon debentures. —.Railway Magazine. TITS LATE FIRE AT HAMBURG, (From the ,St and ar d.) Tha following letter from a pung lady in Hamburg to bap parents in this country, gives a most vivid picture of the dreadful scenes that accompanied and followed the late con flagration, and will well repay e perusal : Hamburg. May 9- " I know not, my dearest mother, whether my few hurried ill-written lines of Friday last penned in the midst of the most terrible anguish and trouble, and confided to the care of a passer-by, who was going to Altona, have ever reached you. At all events, before you receive this-, you will have heard of what a dreadful misfortune, and of what a heart rending spectacle, this poor city has been the theatre and the prey. Before continuing, however, or rather commencing, my sad recital, I must hasten to assure my dear papa. that his houses, in the Nieuw Jungfraustieg, have remained un touched; for, though I know they are insured, this news will certainly be agreeable to him, after hearing of the disasters which have reigned here—l may say, which still reign, and will for a long time. On Thusday morning, Ascension day, the sth instant, my sister, her husband, and I walked to the French church. Frederick, on taking away the breakfast, told us that since eight or nine o'clock a terrible lire had been raging in the Deutsch-strasse. Papa, who knows the dis tance between the Nieuw Jungfraustieg and the Deutsch strasse, will agree that we had no cause for alarm. In coming out of church, the servant said to Madame Parish (who, you are aware, lives in the country, and had come thence this morning direct) that she could not go to her town house in the carriage ; that twenty-two houses had already been to tally burnt—that, in fact, hers was in great danger, and that the fire was becoming more and more formidable. A few hours afterwards came the news that the house of Mr. Parish was no more, and that the flames were spreading every in stant. Towards four o'clock in the afternoon, from our attic windows, we witnessed the destruction of St. Nicholas's Church. It was terrible to see this beautiful building become the prey of the element, which was becoming more fearful the more ground it gained. My sister and her husband were to have gone to the Opera in the evening, but it was announced that, in consequence of the calamity, there would be no per formance. The spectacle became from hour to hour more shocking. The whole city now began to show the most lively alarm. The bells, the firing of cannon, the cries and confusion in the streets, all presaged a night of anguish and terror. Our apprehensions, alas ! were but too faithfully realised. It was not, however, till night had spread her sad wings over the scene that we could perceive the whole extent of the destruction which menaced the whole city. The hea vens became as red as blood—the devouring flames, increased more and more by an impetuous wind, rose to a gigantic height. At seven o'clock Madame came to us in a wretched state. She told us that her sisters at Holzdamm (who were further from the fire than we, the flames having taken the direction of Dreckwall and Blieichen) had sent all their valuables to her, so great was the fear they were in. We could hardly avoid smiling ; for we thought incredible that the fire could possibly reach Holzdamm. At ten Madame went home, and ray sister retired to bed towards eleven, but afterwards received a visit from some gentlemen, who came to say that serious measures were about to be taken, by blow ing up some houses which were likely to cause the fire to spread further. At half-past twelve o'clock I went to bed myself; but the noise of the explosions, the rumbling of the carriages and carts, the cries, the large flakes of fire which every instant were driven impetuously by the wind across my windows, threatening to set fire to our house, the excessive light of the conflagration, the whistling of the wind, and, as you will easily think, the idea that the lives of per sons in whom we were interested were in continual danger, not to mention the conviction of the numberless misfortunes that were happening, prevented all sleep. The windows trembled with the redoubled concussions of the explosions, and the whole house seemed as if it would be annihilated. In such a state I could not close an eye ; visions and dreams, but, above all, still sadder realities presented themselves to my imagination continually. Before 3 o'clock had struck, I found myself again with my sister, who, like me, had been kept awake by the dreadful noise caused by the blowing up of the Rathhans. At this moment an order of the police was announced to us to wet the roof of our house, and to cause the water to flow in the gutters. Frederick had flown to the assistance of his brothers. We were therefore alone, and mounting on the roof, scarcely dressed, were soon throwing over it pails of water, and our neighbours were doing the same. We prepared ourselves for the worst, threw on our clothes, the confusion increased, and we could not remain. We packed up in sheets and in boxes some of our effects. With the ap pearance of day our fears increased. It was a spectacle as sublime as it was fearful to view the sun, clear and brilliant, rising in all its splendour over the Lombards'-bridge, and on the city side to see nothing but a single mass of flames. It was not, however, a moment for contemplation, but for action ; for the worst was to come. We called for the coachman to carry away the things we had packed; but how ridiculous to think we had any longer servants at our dis posal ! The city, or the passengers, had become masters of the coachmen, of my brother-in-law, and his mother, and not a man was to be got to carry away our effects for love or money; our horses were harnessed to the fire-engines, and the greatest confusion prevailed. Now succeeded hours which I cannot describe to you. The old Jungfraustieg began to be endangered. The Alster, before our windows, was covered with barges full of burning furniture; the old Jungfraustieg was heaped also with goods on fire. On the promenade even of the new Jungfraustieg, 1 do not speak too largely when I say there were thousands of cars full of furniture, of merchandise, and of people who were saving themselves. Two carts were burning before our house. With our own hands we helped to extinguish the flames. A woman was on fire before our eyes ; fortunately I per ceived it in time to save her. The horses became unmanage able, and fell down with fright almost into the Alster. A tremendous shower of ashes and of flakes of fire nearly suffo cated us, and obstructed our sight. The wind blew with great violence, and the dust was frightful. The fire had now gained St. Peter's. The people thought the Day of Judg ment was come. They wept, they screamed, they knew not what to do at the sight of so much misery. The horses, without drivers, were dragging the carts about in disorder over the Esplanade. Soldiers escorted from the city the dead and the dying, and the prisoners who had been plun dering. At last, after the greatest efforts, we obtained carts and horses to transport our goods, but the exhausted horses as well as men refused to work. With bread in our hands we ourselves fed them. Whole families fell down and fainted before our doors. Along all the walls, and out of the Dam thor and other gates, nothing was to be seen but one specta cle of misery —a camp of unfortunates in bivouac, groaning, exhausted, famishing. I saw some who had become de ranged ; mothers with infants at breasts which had no nou rishment for them. Fautenilles of gold and satin adorned the ramparts, and the poor exhausted firemen were reposing on them. An Englishman, Mr. Skinner, who acted as chief --- engineer, came into Madame 's house, whither we had retired on Friday evening ; he had eaten nothing for nearly 40 hours, and devoured what we were able to give him, for provisions were beginning to be scarce, and we knew not where to procure more. He told us that if the wind should not (Mange in a few hours, the Jungfraustieg and the Esplan ade would be swallowed up by the fire, and that the whole city was in imminent danger, for that half the people were intoxicated. The club-house would have been blown up if the wind had not changed. My brother-in-law would not quit his house till the last moment. We were on the Es planade ; Madame an d h er s i s t ers h a d gone to her country house. Our house was nearly empty ; we had our selves stripped it of everything that was most valuable, and carried whatever we could carry. How we had the strength to do it I know not. Our women servants worked like horses ; but since some hours we have not been permitted to remain at the Jungfraustieg. Although the direction of the wind having changed, the flames and the gunpowder have spared the club-houses, they have revenged themselves on the poor Holzdamm, the fire continuing to rage with ve hemence, and the city becoming more and more in revolt. One family has been hunted in this manner from four different places. There being no longer any certainty of safety on the Esplanade, at ten o'clock in th e evening we set off for the country ; but the next morning early we returned to town. I believe Madame has at least 25 people in her house. She says the siege of Hamburg was nothing in comparison. The rights of property have ceased. After raging nearly 100 hours, the fire stopped at the Steine thor. Fears were entertained for St. George. The new Ex change has been saved, though surrounded by the conflagra tion. I cannot describe the confusion that prevails every where. All the gentlemen are patrolling like soldiers, for in no quarter is one in safety. The S—'s were fortunately in the country. Their house in town was saved by the efforts of the firemen ; but has been pillaged by the mob. Almost all the furniture was saved. I have seen Madame Schwartz since these terrible occurrences, and she has related to me bow touching it was to see the firemen exert their last efforts to save her house, saying, that having been built by so worthy a man, that house at least should not be burnt, for they knew and loved the good senator, and held his memory in great respect. Many of our friends' houses are destroyed —all our tradespeople burnt out. All the old Jungfraustieg is down. Streit's Hotel was blown up. Poor Mr. Streit was still in the house when it was done. He was behind a door, and has been much injured, though still living. Frederick's sister-in-law, during one of the terrible nights, gave birth to a child in our travelling carriage, in which she had taken refuge. Many women were t a k en t h e same way in the open fields. The dying breathed their last sigh in the streets and highways. Words cannot tell the miseries we have witnessed. At present we only think of doing all the good we can—of saving and cherishing. But the lower orders now think they may do what they like. They take possession of all the houses that have escaped ; they transport thither the goods they have saved, and establish their shops in them. In this manner our house has become the dwelling of a tailor and his family. But that is not all. The master of an oyster cellar, finding the situation a favourable one, has brought thither all his merchandise also. Do not think 1 have ex aggerated the miseries I have spoken of; no pen or words can depict the reality. It is, perhaps, not generally known that the medallion (or Queen's head), if cut off the new postage envelopes, and placed on a letter, will not pass free through the post-office. We have seen several letters, which had been taxed the un paid rate, and which had the envelope medallions pasted on them. One penny adhesive stamp will not prepay a letter to any of the British colonies, as many suppose ; for instance, to Canada, by packet, it would require 14 penny labels.— Northern Whig. A journeyman locksmith escaped from the late railway ac cident unhurt, but his mind was so affected by the shock, that, since his return to the workshop, his reason has de parted, and he has not uttered a single word. He works on continually, doing as much in one day as he formerly did in several.—Galignani's Messenger. THE NATIONAL CONVENTION.—The National Convention has been dissolved, and the members have returned to their constituencies, to prepare a memorial to the Queen in behalf of the charter, and praying her Majesty to cause it to be made the law of the land. NEW ROMAN CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL. —Nearly £50,000 has been subscribed for the purpose of erecting a new Roman Catholic cathedral, on a most magnificent scale, in York. The ground and buildings have already been purchased, and some of the latter have been pulled down. Upon the site chosen a monastery formerly stood. The ground, which ex tends from the Holy Trinity Church to the Bar, is to be laid out as a crescent, in the centre of which the cathedral is to be erected. Mr. Pugh has been selected as the architect, and the works are to be commenced immediately. OPENING OF THE ASSEMBLY, EDINBURGH. —The cere mony of opening the General Assembly, which at all times ought to be attended with some pomp and display, is this year, we believe, to be more than usually brilliant. The Marquis of Bute, her Majesty's Commissioner, with becom ing taste and spirit, and to give eclat to the meeting of our Na tional Church, has given orders, not only that the ceremony be conducted in a magnificent style, but that during the meeting of the Assembly the utmost liberality is to be shown to all the members. At Holyrood Palace all is bustle and activity preparatory to the arrival of the noble marquis. His grace's state carriage and eight beautiful horses arrived at the royal stables on Thursday last. The procession to-mor row, we hear, is to be very splendid. His grace's carriage, in which will be his grace, his chaplain, and his purse-bearer, is to be drawn by six horses, to be followed by one with four horses, in which are to be the pages and mace-bearer, after one with two horses, containing the ushers, and then his grace's private chariot. It is understood that the leveeoirstor be very num erous l y a t ten d e d ; an d we would suggest, order to give eff ec t t o t h e process i on, to the High Church , that th e noblemen and gentlemen who attend the levee in their car riages should form part of the cortege, and that the Lord Provost and Magistrates should appear at the levee in their robes, and pro cee d i n th e p rocess i on with his grace. Some thing of display ought t o b e a d o pted on such an occasio n • or, what w ou ld b e muc h b etter, to rev i ve the former pageantry ' of walking from th e M erc h an t' : H a ll to the Church.--Edin. Ottrg4 Standard. the yea. rN.EI At foundec 1, aud w ,es, at tt e Ackroyd, John Nuns, William :oilier lads at Bradford and Leeds, no pit at six." William Tidswell irs old." And Mr. T. Mackley, hat " he himself knew a child age of five years and ten ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS THE unfavourable state of the weather last eveniag pre. venting the Second Gala'of the Season taking place, the Subscribas and the Public are respectfully informed, that THIS EVENING the Entertainments so well received on Monday last will be repeated. THE PICTORIAL MODEL OF ROME Will be exhibited The Tableau of this once proud Mistress of the World comprises, amongst its most striking features, the Ancient Bridge and Castle of St. Angelo, the Vatican, and Pontifical Palace, the Capital di San Spirito, and the vast and mar vellous edifice of St. Peter's. This magnificent representation has been constructed from the most accurate Designs, by the most celebrated Artists of the day. The delineations are so strictly accurate, and the proportions so stupendous, as to offer a perfect realization of those Wonders of Architecture which still render the Eternal City the most interesting spot in the world. At dusk, this novel exhibition will be seen under the aspect which the scene presents during the rejoicing in cele bration of Il Giorno di San Pietro, when the whole vast Edifice of St. Peter's is Illuminated. and every detail of the glorious Architecture shines forth in lines of resplendent light. It is on such festive occasions that the celebrated Girandola, or great FIREWORKS of ST. ANGELO, are displayed from the summit of the Castle, beyond all com parison the grandest display of Pyrotechnic Art ever invented. A fac simile of this GORGEOUS FESTIVAL will be represented. Amidst tremendous FLIGHTS of ROCKETS, and CASCADES of FIRE FOUNTAINS and STARS, the whole of the Eternal City will appear as visible as by the broad light of day. Pyrotechnic Artist, SIGNOR SEMONA. N.B.—Every possible care has been taken in forming a first-rate MILITARY BAND, which, under the superin tendance of Mr. STUBBS, will perform during the Season. ADMITTANCE, ONE SHILLING. The THIRD GALA will be given on MONDAY next. TO CORRESPONDENTS "A Walton Farmer" had better address his communication, in the first instance, to some one more likely to afford hint the information he requires. We have no means of ob taining it. Elie Ltbtrpoat Itanbatt. FRIDAY MORNING, MAY 20, 1842. If we have been amazed, in past time, by the min gled mendacity and ignorance displayed by the Liver pool Times, his last publication has actually petrified us with astonishment ! The best of journalists may, oc casionally, blunder; dishonest journalists do, occasion ally, deal in misstatements—shrewdly concealed, how ever, amongst specious arguments and unimpeachable truths ; but our Tuesday's contemporary, with a lavish ness and profligacy unparalleled in the world of jour nalism, heaps misstatement upon misstatement, blun der upon blunder,—nay, absolutely runs riot in una dulterated folly, and palpable, glaring, inexcusable falsehood ! In an article entitled "The Working of the New Corn Bill," in which this measure of a Conservative government is sought to be mumbled to pieces by its rabid and toothless opponent, our contemporary re marks in the following style : " During the discussions on the New Corn Bill we were told by Sir Robert Peel and other advocates of the sliding scale, that large quantities of foreign corn would no longer be kept out of the market until the duty sank to a few shil lings a quarter, as it would not be worth while to incur the loss of interest of money and the expenses of bonding for the chance of such a reduction of duty as would be attainable under the new scale. The fact that there are at the present moment eight hundred theusand quarters of foreign wheat in bond in this country, and that, of all the quantity that was in bond when the 13s. duty came into operation, there has not been as much liberated as would furnish the population of Liverpool with one morning's breakfast, is a sufficient an swer to this assertion." Now, at the very moment when this brazen assertion was made, that there had not been as much corn libe rated in Great Britain "as would furnish the popula tion of Liverpool with one morning's breakfast," the new duties had been paid upon the following quantities in Liverpool alone,—viz., in the week ending May sth, upon 9,470 quarters of wheat and 28,272 barrels of flour; and, in the week ending May 12th, upon 9,251 quarters of wheat and 23,619 barrels of flour : in all, during the fortnight, upon 19,721 quarters of wheat and 51,891 barrels of flour ! We have not at hand the necessary data for ascertaining the amount paid in other ports throughout the kingdom ; but it will be admitted that 20,000 quarters and 51,000 barrels, the quantity paid upon in Liverpool, would form a tolera ble breakfast for the population of that town ! It would be wasteful to throw away upon the stolid in tellect of our contemporary the satisfactory reasons which exist, to account for the circumstance that a greater quantity has not been paid upon. It may be desirable, however, that he should know that nearly the entire consumption of this port and neighbour hood, since the new law came into operation, has been taken from bond—a fact which is clear from the returns to the corn inspectors during the past week having in cluded sales of British wheat to the trifling amount of 889 quarters only ! Our contemporary continues—(we give the whole of this article as an editorial curiosity)—to reason upon the facts (!) in the paragraph just quoted, as fol lows : " So far from a fluctuation of nineteen shillings a quarter in the duty not being sufficient to induce holders of foreign wheat to keep out of the market, a fluctuation which cannot be equal to more than eleven shillings under any circum cumstances, which is not generally expected to be more than seven, is found to be quite sufficient to produce that effect. Had we had a fixed duty of eight or ten shillings, there would have been no inducement to postpone the payment of duty on the grain now in bond, and had the whole, or a con siderable part of it, been liberated, it would have checked the advance of prices, at the same time that it would have fur nished nearly half a million to the treasury. The evil does not, however, end here, for if prices should go up in this country, they will go up at least as much on the continent, so that by keeping the present stock of bonded corn out of the market, the law is adding several shillings a quarter to the price of all the grain that may be bought abroad during the next three months." The first sentence above we would be obliged to any kind friend or to the writer himself (if capable) to ren der for us into intelligible English. We have at pre sent only a confused notion of its meaning, and there fore pass it by. The next sentence we take to imply, in substance, that had we now an Ss. or 10s. duty, the whole of the stock of foreign grain in the country would have been at once liberated and thrown upon the market—depressing prices and " contributing nearly half-a-million to the treasury." Now this, we must maintain, does not at all follow. Had we a fixed duty, at present, no more grain would be liberated than was required for consumption ! Corn-dealers are not such perfect madmen as our contemporary supposes; for, had it even been their inclination to throw their entire stock upon the market, they could do that without paying the duty. In fact, the entire stock is so far in the market at present that a very trifling advance upon the prices of this week would induce them to enter it at the present rate of duty ! The law therefore is not either "keeping the present stock of bonded corn out of the market," or "adding several shillings a quarter to the price of all the grain that may be bought abroad during the next three months." Our contemporary proceeds : " The following fact, which may be relied upon, shows how fallacious the present mode of taking the averages is as a test of the price at which good grain is selling. The Li verpool average for the last week was only 465. 9d. owing to the inferior quality of the Irish and English wheat sold here, but it is within our own knowledge that some thousand quarters of free foreign wheat were sold in Liverpool last week at from 10s. 9d. to lls. the 701b5., that is, at from 775. to 795. per quarter. The real average of the week was thus much nearer 70s. than 465. 9d., but as foreign grain does not count in the returns, it goes forth to the country that we are buying wheat at Liverpool at from five -and-twenty to thirty shillings less than the real price of good grain." And what, we ask, is the real value of this " fact which may be relied upon " to show " how fallacious the present mode of taking the averages is as a test of the price at which good grain is selling" ? Why, that the Liverpool average for the last week was only 465. 9d. ; and why ? Because the sale of only 889 quar ters of Irish wheat was returned to the inspector. It was never intended that any particular return from any particular 10101 was to be the test at which " good grain is selling," even in that town. If last week only low Irish wheat at 6s. to 7s. per 701bs. was returned to the inspector as sold, next week only prime samples of English at 9s. to 10s. may be returned, and the average will thus be adjusted. Again, what effect can the sale of 889 quarters have upon the general average of the kingdom ?—for it is that which the act purposes to arrive at. The general average last week was 595. Bd., which is a fair average for the price of even fo reign grain, in Liverpool or elsewhere. That circum stance, however, our contemporary prudently sup presses, as he suppresses as well the fact that whilst the best foreign wheat (not, however, to the amount of " some thousands of quarters") has been sold at 10s. 9d. to I is. per 701b5., inferior Baltic has not been saleable at more than 6s, to 75.---the price of the infe- rior Irish, upon which the inspector's average is founded. Our readers, we dare say, will be ready to exclaim-- "Enough, enough !" We ourselves are tired of treat ing seriously such irredeemably mendacious and absurd trash as is the whole of the article from which we have quoted. When we see, however, the public judgment upon the merits of a great measure, which ought to have a fair trial and an honest report, even from its opponents, misled by the statements of a journalist who obviously can neither comprehend it nor adhere to the truth in speaking of it, we are compelled to ex pose his ignorance and his dishonesty. Will no kind contemporary take him off our hands ? We are heart ily sick of him, and should imagine that his own party are not over-enamoured of his bungling advocacy. The Manchester Guardian—semper mutabile !—after six weeks' apparent alienation from the Anti-Corn-Law League, has returned at length to the support of that factious body. Whilst the league itself is commencing a fresh career of seditious agitation, and, so far as in it lies, preparing the stage, the "properties," and per formers (who are to be the " famishing millions") for the enactment of, what it very plainly tells us is to be, " a national tragedy," the Guardian steps forward to denounce untried, and upon false premises, the new system of corn laws; and to throw in a furtive pallia tion of the mischievous and almost treasonable course resolved upon by its more rabid and daring allies. " Every day's observation," writes the Guardian, " ren ders it more and more evident that the new edition of the sliding scale which has just come into operation will serve, at any rate for the present, almost as well as the old one for juggling the farmer and injuring the manufacturer, by pre venting a regular and steady trade in grain. Sir Robert Peel, in his late speech on the reduction of the import duties, took great credit to himself and his colleagues for having reduced, in a very material degree, the price of the necessaries of life ;' in proof of which reduction, he referred to the alteration he had made on the duty on wheat. At the time he was speak ing, the six weeks' average, which regulates the duty, was 595. 3d. ; and, if the old law had been then in operation, the duty payable on foreign wheat would have been 275. Sd. ; whereas by the new law it was only 13s. per quarter. Now here was an apparent reduction of 14s. Bd. on every quarter of wheat imported into this country, but, so far as the con sumer is concerned, a real reduction of not one farthing." We cannot set down any portion of this loose rea soning, or, rather, these assertions of the Guardian to ignorance, such as that displayed by a flimsy writer upon the same subject, noticed above. Our Manches ter contemporary may fairly be taken as one of the most able and well-informed of the opponents of the corn laws; and, therefore, when we find him tripping, we are fully justified in concluding that the cause it self, and not the advocate, has broken down from in trinsic weakness. The consumer, our contemporary says, has not de rived from the alteration in the corn law " a real re duction of one farthing. Does the Guardian mean to assert that if the old scale had existed, unaltered, the price of wheat would have been what it is at the pre sent moment ? If he does, we can tell him that he was never more mistaken. From the ascertained insufficiency of the stock of free wheat in Great Britain, it is mo rally certain that, under the old law, the average would have been just now, if not at the summit of the scale, at least rapidly approaching it. The stock in the mar ket would just now have been withheld from the con sumer, except at nearly famine prices ; and, with har vest approaching, the revenue and the farmer would both have been " juggled" by a large importation at a nominal rate of duty. The consumer, therefore, has been benefitrd thus far, that ruinously high prices have been averted; and it is only owing to the limited stocks of home-grown wheat remaining in the farmer's hands, together with more than average prices abroad, that an actual reduction has not taken place. Prices, too, it is well known, have, since the passing of the act, accom modated themselves so far to the rate of duty antici pated that no material change could reasonably be looked for upon its coming into operation. Our contemporary proceeds— " From the London papers of yesterday, we learn that in Mark-lane an advance of 2s. per quarter had taken place on English wheat, and that the holders of foreign corn, of which there is a considerable quantity in bond, are holding it back in expectation of such a rise in the averages as will reduce the duty to Bs. per quarter." Admitting, for argment's sake, the correctness of this statement—admitting that circumstances may warrant such an anticipation, on the part of holders—still the improvement of the new over the old system is obvi ous, To procure a reduction of the present duty of 13s. to Ss.—the point fixed upon by the most sanguine of the Mark-lane speculators—the average, at present 595. Bd., must reach 645. To procure the introduc tion of wheat at lOs. Bd. even, under the old system, the average must have been 705., whilst speculation for a further rise to 71s. was invited by a further re mission of 4s. in the duty, for the one shilling advance in price ! Upon the Guardian's own showing, there fore, the consumer is here benefitted between six and seven shillings a quarter. In addition, however, to the superiority here shown, it must be borne in mind that such a rise as is con templated by the Mark-lane dealers can never take place except from strong inducing circumstances, other than the combination of capitalists for selfish advan tage. At the present moment, if grain could be pur chased abroad to leave a profit upon a fixed duty of Bs. or 10s. per quarter, a demand for consumption with a slight advance in price would at once procure its re release from bond at the existing duty, in preference to the risk, on the part of holders, of waiting for lowered duties. There is not now the same inducement, which existed under the old law, to invite combination ; there is no rapid jumping from a high duty to nominal rates ; and as experience has already shown, in an advancing market even, the consumer will always be sufficiently supplied. In conclusion the Guardian informs us, on the au thority of a statement in the London Times, that " the highest price of white wheat of the first quality in Paris is now 435. 6d. the quarter, the highest price of simi lar wheat in London being 70s. per quarter ; " and re marks that it is not likely that the agitation of the Anti- Corn-law League will cease while the sliding scale thus tends to maintain the price of wheat in England sixty per cent. above what it is in France." We object both the statement and the argument founded upon it. We doubt much that wheat of such quality can be pur chased in Paris for 435. 6d. If it can, however, de ducting the Parisian city dues, it can he sold much lower than this in French ports ; and it is certainly not a 13s. duty which prevents its profitable importation into Great Britain. In drawing the attention of our readers to the ap proaching meetings of the Liverpool and West Lan cashire Church Missionary Association, whose annual report will be found in our advertising columns, there are one or two passages in that document upon which we feel impelled to offer a few observations. Deeply gratifying it must be to the Christian public of Great Britain—and we trust not otherwise to the public of Liverpool—to learn that the labours of this association are being abundantly rewarded ; that its sphere of use fulness is being largely extended ; that, day by day, not individuals only, not tribes even, but nations are supplicating the privilege of coming within the reach of its benificent arms; and deeply pained will that pub lic be to learn that the duty and the will of the asso ciation to concede the privilege affectionately suppli cated, are crippled by the want of the pecuniary means to support its efforts in the good work. " So inadequate," observe the committee of the Branch Society in their report, " was the supply to meet the demands, that the expenditure of the past year exceeded its income £19,000. Not that the re ceipts of the society were less in the last than in the preceding year,—on the contrary, they were somewhat ex penses of the m i ss i ons, i n more ; but the growing consequence of enlarged success, have outrun the libe rality of our friends at home. In this way the society has incurred a considerable debt in the past year." It is painful to contemplate such a state of things, and the result t o w hi c h i t must lead, if permitted t o con tinue. We trust, however, to the Christian spirit of Englishmen and of English women —ever foremost in works of beneficence—that such a result, which we shrink from contemplating, will yet be averted. Cha rity amongst us—and that is charity which distributes the bread of life to all w h o h unger for it is not dead, but sleepeth." By the people of Liverpool the appeal ab out to b e made to them will, we trust, not be made in vain. Last year we find, by the same report, that the amount re- teived by the Liverpool Branch was £2174 10s. lid. —a falling off, as compared with the receipts of the preceding year, of about £7O. We venture, however, to express our earnest hope that, with the circumstances of the parent society before them, our fellow-townsmen will now make an effort worthy of them and worthy of the cause in which their aid is solicited. LATE INTELLIGENCE FROM SOUTH AUSTRALIA We have just received a file of papers from South Austra lia, coming down to the comparatively late date of the 21st December. Their contents are of considerable interest. The protracted proceedings in the case of the " Vile de Bourdeaux" had been brought to a close. The jury, when the case came to a trial, having returned a verdict establish ing the principal charges, the learned judge pronounced sen tence of forfeiture. This vessel, though French, and without British registry, had been engaged in inter-colonial traffic, contrary to the navigation laws. The loss of property in volved in this decision, said to be about £6,000, had occa sioned much mortification to the parties connected with her; and they were venting their spleen against the co lonial authorities, especially the Hon. William Smillie, Advocate-General, whose merits in general, and especially his admirable management of the prosecution are highly commended by the provincial press. We feel confident the decision is one that will gratify British shipowners, as it puts an end to some disgraceful attempts to infringe on the privileges of British vessels, but are not equally cer tain that our jealous neighbours—the French, who see every thing through a false medium, may not find a fresh pretext for complaint against us. The papers announce the arrival of the Rev. Mr. Rain ing, a clergyman sent by the Church of Scotland, and the return of his excellency the governor, after an absence of about three weeks to the Murray. The accounts from the colony seem to be favourable, ALDERMAN EVANS AND OURSELVES The sketch of Alderman Evans in " Our Portrait Gallery" on Tuesday last has, we regret to say, been received by the gentleman in question as a much more serious production than, we are sure, the writer of it ever intended that it should be considered. One portion of it, in particular, has been construed as meant to impeach his character as a man of honour and a gentleman, and we have been applied to by the worthy alderman himself, and subsequently by a gentleman as his friend, for a retractation of the alleged impeachment. Such a demand being made, through the medium of a man of honour, there could on our part be no hesitation as to the course to be pursued. However much we might have re gretted the obnoxious allusion made, we must, unless con vinced that it was unfounded, have risked any consequences, legal or personal, to which it might lead. We have, however, received the assurance of Mr. .A.ldermanTvanis friend that the circumstance to which we alluded, merely however as matter of report, and in a playful spirit, is entirely unwar ranted by facts; and we are therefore bound, in gentlemanly feeling, to express our sorrow that it should have been alluded to in our columns in such a way al to pain a mind sensitively alive, as that of every gentleman must be, to the imputation which it conveyed. THE LIVERPOOL TIMES v. THE HALIFAX MAIL STEAMER BRITANNIA A contemporary, the blundering Liverpool Times, in a notice of the recent passages of the Great Western and Bri tannia transatlantic steamers, informs the little world in which he moves, that, whilst the Great Western made the passage from New York in 12 days and 8 hours, the Bri tannia " left Boston on the afternoon of the Ist, and Halifax on the 3rd instant, and reached the Mersey late last night" (Monday), —thus making the passage from Boston appear to have been performed in something less than 16 days, with only the ordinary stoppage at Halifax. The whole paragraph is a tissue of blunders. The Britannia did not leave Halifax on the 3rd, but on the night of the sth inst. She did not arrive in the Mersey on Monday, but on Sunday night. Her entire passage from Boston was therefore made in 15 days (not 16 days, as our contemporary's version would imply), and, deducting 53 hours' detention at Halifax (not noticed by the Liverpool Times), may fairly be placed in competition with the excellent passage of the Great Western. The passage from Halifax was made, not in 13 days, as stated by the same sage, but in 10 days and 3 hours ! We should not have noticed this blundering tale but for the circumstance that it is copied into the London Tinzes of yesterday, and is thus calculated to obtain circulation, and do harm to the reputation of our excellent mail steamers. Our contemporary, we dare say, will urge that he copied the paragraph in question from the Albion of Monday last. When adopting the Albion's errors, however, (which, by the-bye, were corrected by a statement in the same publica tion,) our contemporary might have altered the date of the paragraph. " Last night," when the Albion wrote, was Sunday night. Has our contemporary forgot that his day of shining is Tuesday ? LOCAL NEWS The Rev. H. M'NelLE.—The Rev. Hugh APNeile, with his amiable family, left Paris on the 10th instant, and he is now sojourning with a near relative at Jersey. We under stand that he will arrive in Liverpool about the end of the first week in June. LECTURES ON THE CREED OF POPE PIUS.-Dr. O'Sulli van's lecture on the eleventh article in the creed of Pope Pius the Fourth will be delivered this evening, (Friday.) No doubt the splendid eloquence of the reverend gentleman will attract a numerous auditory. The last lecture of the series will be delivered on Friday, the 10th of June, by the Rev. Hugh M`Neile. The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and the Countess De Grey and suite left St. James's-square, London, on Wednes day afternoon on their way to this port, from which they will embark on board a government steamer to-morrow evening for Dublin. BODY OF A CHILD FOUND.—Yesterday morning the body of a female child was found amongst some night soil that had been discharged from a court in Standish-street. It is not stated whether it appeared to have been born alive. An inquest will be held this day. SUDDEN DEATll. — Yesterday morning a young woman named Mary reury, servant with Mrs. Gray, Harmony-court, Clayton-street, was found dead in bed. She had returned on the previous night in good spirits and apparently in good health. The cause of death cannot be assigned until a post mortem examination has taken place prior to the inquest this day. INCENDIARISM. - -Within the last few days the Messrs. Adamson, proprietors of the patent slip at Woodside, have been favoured with an epistie, signed " Captain Single," threatening to burn their property unless they choose to com ply with the tyrannical wishes of those who are opposed to the introduction of machinery. In order to prevent the threats of the anonymous villain, or villains, from being put into effect, a party of police are constantly on the watch, and the premises are so well guarded, that any attempt to carry the threat into execution is almost certain to be frustrated. CHARGE OF EMBEZZLEMENT.—A young man, named Gaskell, was, yesterday, placed before Mr. Rushton, on a charge of having embezzled certain sums of money, the pro perty of his employer. Mr. Moreton, a solicitor, said that he had employed the prisoner as a clerk ; that he was authorised to collect ren t s f rom a num b er of his tenants in various parts of the town, and that he left his service about twelve mouths ago, leaving no account of his receipts for the previous week, or paying over the same. Several witnesses were called, tenants of the complainant, who deposed to having paid the prisoner in April, 1841, several small sums, for weekly rent then due, and receipts for which the prisoner had given them in their respective rent books. The prisoner stated that he had handed in an account of all the sums he had received, in the week alluded to, before he left the town for London, and had paid the amount over to a man named Clegg, who was also employed by Mr. Moreton, with direc tions to hand them over to the head clerk, Mr. Con nor. Mr. Rushton called for Clegg, and required the account referred to by the prisoner to be handed in, but the complainant stated that Clegg would not come unless he were compelled. Mr. Rushton on being told that he was in the Court of Passage, sent an officer for him, and he was brought into court after some delay. On being sworn, he stated that the prisoner had handed him no money, hut had given him an account, which he handed over to Mr. Connor, for the week alluded to ; but admitted that both he and Mr. Moreton knew that the prisoner had returned to this town, and had been in the employ of Mr. Jones, in the same line, for the last ten months. The prisoner had always paid up to the last farthing before. Connor was then called to produce the account, which he did. It was in the pri soner's own handwriting, contained all the names of the parties, with the sums they had respectively paid (as stated in evidence) with the exception of one, who it appeared had paid 4s. It also contained a memorandum at the foot, in Connor's writing, acknowledging the payment, and stating that 2s. 6d. was found in prisoner's drawer in the office, ac cording to his statement to Clegg. Mr. Moreton wished the prisoner to be committed for the 4s. not in the amount. Mr. v l c m t e h n i t m h u a had d b e e r e s n u c b h r o t u e s g t h i m t a o g n a y i s t T h h i m e c , Rushton said he should not commit hi m. A serious charge o b m u p t la n i o na j n u t r ' y s o w f o e u m ld b c e o z n z confidential clerk had received the account, and bad found the money in the drawer correct. The complainant had de nied that any account had been handed in, or money paid. He knew, moreover, that • the prisoner had been in the town for ten months, and had not had him apprehended till now. As to the 45., he might possibly have paid no reliance could be placed on such testimony as that given. His opinion was, that if anything were due, the matter re solved itself into a debt, and it was most improper, after the lapse of a year, to magnify it into a criminal charge. lie then discharged the prisoner. DEFECT IN THE NEW POOR LAW.—PROSECUTION FOR DISOBEYING A MAGISTRATE'S ORDER.—A case of con siderable novelty was brought before the Recorder, at the sessions, on Wednesday,—arising out of the refusal of a man to make certain payments to the parish funds, and which he could not be compelled to do by the new poor law, under the circumstances. It appears that in May, 1841, an order was made by the board of guardians, on a man. named John O'Donnell, for the payment of a periodical sum for the sup port of his illegitimate child which was in the workhouse. He continued to pay for about eight months, and then re fused, stating that he had taken the advice of his attorney, and fou n d tat he could not be made to pay. Before stating this, however, i.e had vim up the beerhouse which he had previously kept and gone into lodgings ; and though it was well known that he was well able to pay, (as he made a good living out of some leases of houses in Marybone which he held,) he was not tangible under the new poor law, as i t , provisions only empowe • r the justices to take the g oo d s, or attach the wages of the party,—neither of which the man had, as he had neither house nor situation. 'When thus put at defiance, they found that there was still an act extant, by which any one could be indicted for a misdem eanour f or dis obeying a magistrate's order. The board of g uar di ans , therefore, had him indicted, and the case was disposed of on Wednesday evening. The defendant pleaded guilty, and. begged to be liberated , pro misi ng to - pay up all arrears, and to obey the order in future. The Recorder said that if he would do so, he s hould suspend judgment, so that if he did not continue to obey the order, he might be brought up for sentence. This, we believe, is the first case of prosecution in t hi s t o wn under the act for disobeying a magistrate's order.