The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-05-13 00:00:00

fniptriat Varlittintitt. HOUSE OF LORDS—MoNDAY 1.11 , 1, Earl Da GREY announced that IVIr. Biddulph had been dismissed from the magistracy of Ireland. The Marquis of NORMAN BY condemned the delay which had taken place, and moved for the correspondence which had taken place upon the subject of Mr. Biddulph's removal, together with the dates of that correspondence. Earl DR (IRBY said that the moment the subject was brought under his notice, he had caused the necessary steps to be taken. He had no objection to the production of the correspondence. The Marquis of NORMANDY then proceeded to put a ques tion to the Marquis of Londonderry, respecting certain charges which he had made upon a former evening against the magistrates of Sunderland. The noble marquis had charged them with having used their power as magistrates for the furtherance of party purposes, by refusing licenses for public-houses to all conservative applicants, and he now read resolutions agreed to by the magistrates denying the charge, and he, therefore, called upon the noble marquis to say whe ther he would have the candour to withdraw a charge, the making of which proved him to be unfitted to hold the office to which he had recently been appointed, that of lord lieutenant of the county of Durham. The Marquis of LONDONDERRY examined the documents read by the Marquis of Normanby, and denied that they were sufficiently explicit to justify his withdrawing the charge. He commented on the personality with which the noble marquis had attacked him, and looked upon that attack as an assault upon the government through so humble an individual as himself. He could not help attributing this attack upon him to the fact, that he was the only individual who had raised the standard against the influence and domi nation of whiggery in the county of Durham. The Duke of WELLINGTON defended the appointment of the Marquis of Londonderry to the lord-lieutenancy of the county of Durham as one of the most proper that could have been made. The motion was then agreed to, and their lordships ad journed. HOUSE OF COMMONS.-MONDAY Mr. Rommel( moved the resumption of the adjourned de bate on the motion for the appointment of a committee of privileges for the purpose of inquiring into certain alleged compromises which had been entered into respecting some election petitions. Major BERESFORD hoped that the house would agree to the appointment of the committee, and that the inquiry would be a searching one. It was true, as was said by the hen. !member for Bath, that " rumours were abroad," and those rumours went the length of saying that members were re turned to that house without a proper qualification, and that their conduct in the house was s omet i mes governe d by private ill feeling rather than by feelings of patriotism. Mr. WYNN thought the hon. member for Bath ought to bring forward a specific charge in each particular case, and then each case might be inquired into upon its own merits alone. Mr. WARD said, that after what had already taken place lipon this subject, the house was bound to grant the inquiry. fie had no party feeling to gratify, his only object being to see a system destroyed which was itself destroying the mo rality of the country. Sir R. Nous said, that this could not be considered as a party question, inasmuch as an equal number of gentlemen on each side of the house were implicated. Still, he could not understand how Mr. Roebuck was to proceed. Did he intend that the parties should criminate themselves, or did he mean to obtain the evidence of informers ? The latter would be the practice of the Old Bailey. He would suppose, however, that some hon. members of the house were examined before the committee, and that they refused to answer—what would be the result ? They could not be compelled to an swer ; and believing, therefore, that the appointment of the committee could lead to no beneficial termination, he would oppose the motion. The house was about to divide, when Lord PALMERSTON was surprised that her Majesty's Go vernment had not expressed its opinion upon a subject of such importance. For his own part he could not support the motion. Election petitions were investigated at the ex pense of the parties, and there was no breach of the privileges of the house if they chose to suspend the proceedings whenever they thought proper. If a committee were appointed to in quire into cases of bribery, with a view to such a bill as that formerly proposed by Lord J. Rnssell, there might be a stop put to that wholesale system of bribery which had exerted itself to such a shameful extent during the last general elec tion. However reluctant he might be to vote for the adoption of the ballot, he would do so should Government refuse its assistance to a proper remedy. Sir R. PEEL said that even though the Government should refuse its assent to any particular measure which might be proposed to remedy the evil, the noble lord would hardly be justified on that account in voting for the ballot, which he virtually admitted was bad in principle. He would himself oppose the ballot, because he thought it would lead to an increase of bribery. With respect to the motion of Mr. Roebuck, he thought it too indefinite to be acceded to. There could be no doubt but that such compromises had taken place, and that, in fact, the practice of making them was of old existence, and had not hitherto been thought to involve the parties in criminality. A great deal of course, depended upon the circumstances of each case ; and Mr. Roebuck should have made his charges in a more definite shape ; in which cue, if they involved a breach of the priviliges of the house, it would be for its own honour bound to enter upon the inquiry. Lord J. RUSSELL was of opinion that Mr. Roebuck should have introduced a hill upon the subject similar to the one he had himself introduced last year, and which was sent up to the House of Lords. If the government would give him its support he would again frame such a measure, and he had no doubt of its effecting the object. He would prefer, however, that Sir R. Peel would himself introduce such a measure on his own responsibility. Sir R. PEEL said that the noble lord had more time than he bad to frame such a measure ; in doing which, however, be would be happy to lend him every assistance in his power. Mr. HUME hoped Mr. Roebuck's motion would be acceded to, with a view to the thorough investigation of the system. Mr. LINDSAY supported the motion for inquiry; as did also Mr. MUNTZ and Mr. PLUNIPTD.E. Lord STANLEY took precisely the same view of the motion as that taken by Sir lt. Peel, and said the allegations in the motion of Mr. Roebuck were too vague and uncertain to be acted upon. He would go any just lengths to punish bribery, and put a stop to it, but he thought that this object would be better effected by an act of parliament than by a committee of inquiry. M. gsTim 'Omitted that the - charges were not sufficiently distinct, but be hoped they might not on th.t account be de prived of the opportunity of getting at facts upon which to found some effective measure calculated to meet the assent of both houses of parliament. Mr. Rozaucic said his object was not to make personal at tacks, but to brand the system. He would, however, make his motion distinct and specific, and would, to-morrow move for a bill of indemnity for all witnesses to be examined, with out which his committee would be useless. That bill might receive the sanction of both houses within the week, and then they could go properly to work. A proposition to exempt Lewes from the inquiry led to some discussion, but the proposition was ultimately aban doned. Mr. ROEBUCK altered his motion so as to meet the objec tion of Sir It. Peel, and it was then agreed to without a di _,_. The report of the income tax bill committee was then brought up. Mr. B. Wool) moved a clause to the effect that a man pos sessed of landed property, and who was also in business, might be allowed to deduct his losses by trade from his in come by his land, and that he should only be called upon to pa the tax upon the balance. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER opposed;the clause as ealetdated to open a wide door to fraud. After some discussion the clause was negatived by a ma jority of 110 to 66. Mr. GILL moved several clauses with a view to capitalise all incomes not derived from landed or funded property, and to charge five per cent, on such capital, as the groundwork of the income-tax. On a division the clauses were lost by a majority of 183 to 36. Sir R. INi:it's drew attention to his former suggestion, that the first £l5O of income should in all cases be exempted from the tax. Sir R. PEEL said that he would take a future opportunity of showing the right hon. ba ronet t h at, if he agreed to his motion, it would abstract so large a portion of the revenue to be derived from the tax that it would not be safe to adopt it. The bill was then ordered to be engrossed, and to be read a third time on Friday. _ The house then prOceeded to the other orders ofithe day HOUSE OF LORDS.-TUESDAY Lord BROUGHAM moved the second reailing of his bill for the prevention of bribery, by giving power to committees to give indemnity to witnesses examined before them. On the understanding that the discussion should be taken on the motion for going into committee, the bill was read a second time. Lord FFOItD of Chudleigh withdrew his motion re specting Catholic soldiers in India, after which their lord ships adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS.—TUESDAY. Mr. P. How Ann moved a new writ for the borough of Nottingham, in the room of Sir G. Larpent, who had ac cepted the Chiltern Hundreds. Itotoucx submitted to the house that the allegations which he had made, and into which an inquiry was to be ans.tituted, were sufficient to warrant the suspension of the Mr. v i .G otisosr spoke in favour of the issue of the writ. Attu was of opinion that, under the circumstances, the writ sbi,ould not be i s sued. Sir R. ritim a • house havin we re i sai d it would be somewhat inconsistent if the after I mmediately to issue a writ for a new election, g so recently determined that an inquiry should 0 the c i rcumstances connected with the last e ta le k ct e i p o l n a . lace nit Sir R. I.NGLIS coil ing the writ. ld see no sufficient grounds for suspend- Mr. WYNN was of a suggestion thrown out by li r . vi , , , different oninion but approved of a committee should be instrc; ood, to the effect that the ham first. d to take the case of Notting- After some discussion, Mr, p u his motion to a division. • ovrard d ec lined to press Mr. RognucK then gave notice that he would e in troduce a bill to indemnify witnesses examined befor e the com mittee . RUSSELL gave notice, thhilaittoon Friday he Lord J . Prevent bribery at would move fur leave to bring i n a .. ring ele mr cti it o.ns.EDI NGT ON moved for leave to b n a bill t o ' i prevent Sudbury from sen di ng memb ers to Parliamenthenceforth. I hon. gentleman entered i nto a detail of The th e transactions at t he last election, whi c h he contended established so fully t he corrupt character of the constituen cy to render it unfit to retain the pri,;, e of that borough as of sending representatives to the House of Commons. - nded the motion. Sir J. G L A D ltz o m oic sec c o rosn, tended that only one class of voters Col. Ri; were at all tainted with bribery. in Sudbury, the weave The motion was then a greed to. On the order of the day being read for the house resolvi ng . into committee upon t he ne w tari ff , Sir B. PEEL then rose to mov e the order of the day for the He Customs' Acts. had at least enabled committee on the regretted the delay in but i t the consideration of the tariff; parties affected to make such rep r esen t a tions as they deemed necessary for the protection of t h eir interests. Those repre sentations, when reasonable, had r eceived the attention of • government, however small the political influence of the par ties urging th em : w h ere representati ons ha d b ee n made without reaso n , no po li t i ca l i n fl ue nce ha d p r evailed with the government to giv e wa y t o t h em . The great objects of him self and his coll eagues h a d b een to a bolish Prohibition, by on raw reducing prohibitory d u ti es ; an d t o r educe the dut i es By these materials, and on materials partly manufacture d. . , . n means he hoped to diminish the general expense of livin, 1 ' le would this country ; not, indeed, that any individual erne be so cheapened as to afford any great relief, but that, on t h e aggregate of consumption, the relief would be considerable ; and therefore it was that the government bad made its redtic tions on a great variety of articles, so as to give to almost every one of those classes which might inevitably suffer from one or more of the reductions, a compensation upon others. For instance, the reduction of the duty on various kinds of seed might, by letting in a supply from abroad, impair the profits of particular dealers ; but the benefit thereby con ferred upon agriculture in general would be an important one. Again, in respect of furniture -woods, the high duties had greatly discouraged the industry of cabinet-makers here, • and induced importations of foreign furniture. He trusted that the reduction of duty would establish an export trade in that manufacture, and lead to the extensive use of ma hogany in some branches of ship-building to which it was pecu liarly applicable. Next, as to foreign ores ; for example, cop per. At present that metal was smelted abroad, and cop per could there be sold, and applied to the sheathing of vessels and to othe r purposes, at rates muc h b e l ow t h ose at which the same objects could be executed in England, not withstanding our coal and our manufacturing advantages. Spermaceti and other whale oils were important articles in our manufactures, and it was now proposed to reduce the duties upon them, because whale oil had been 100 per cent. dearer in this country than in the United States, which had manufactures extensively consuming this article and success fully competing with ours. He reminded the house of Mr. Deacon flume's dictum, that this country having; plenty of untaxed iron and plenty of untaxed coal, wanted only plenty of untaxed wood to give ample employment to her industry; and this was the principle on which government now pro posed the reduction in the duties on timber. He now came to articles of foreign manufacture, on which it was contem plated so to reduce duties that they should in no case exceed the maximum of 20 per cent. It was said that such a reduc tion, unless accompanied with a repeal of the corn laws, was a great injustice to the British operative. But, in fact, there had been, as the amount of duties in this very week evinced, a very great reduction in the duties on grain. Salt provi sions, too, which had been hitherto under a total prohibition, would, under the new system, be admitted at a duty of about a penny a pound. So, as to live animals, about which he trusted he should be able to make a fully satisfactory expla nation. So likewise as to fish, particularly the fish in which the poor were most interested—namely, herrings. The Irish peasant now paid 20s. per barrel; henceforth he would get that barrel from Norway for 10s. ; or would procure her rings off his own coast, by means of that improved craft which the reduced duty on timber would enable him to obtain there. The duties were also to be reduced on the im portation of potatoes, rice, and hops ; on the last of which articles the reduction of duty would be from £8 Ils. to £4 10s. He trusted, therefore, that a full disposition had been proved on the part of government to lower the prices of those articles of food which are principally consumed by the poor. He exposed the error commonly prevalent about the comparative cheapness of living in the great manufactur ing towns of the continent, where, although food was indeed produced cheaply, the workman had always to buy it dear, by reason of the octroi duties payable at the gates of every city. He then argued as to the straw-plait and other manu factures, that under the present extent of smuggling as in. &Iced by high duties, there was in actual practice no pro tection at all. Now, he came to the great question touching the importation of live cattle. He had been strongly pressed to defer to the apprehensions entertained on this subject ; but he believed it to be a groundless panic. Advertisements had been published for supplying English towns through a firm at Hamburgh with meat at 3d. a pound, and people had been frightened by those offers into selling their cattle at a sacrifice. If they had waited to inquire, they would have found that no such firm existed at Hamburgh, and that meat in that city itself was at 6d. a pound. He would not say that there would be no reduction in the price of meat—there would be some; and some there ought to be, for the price of meat in England was now too high. The influx of cattle from Scotland and Ireland by steam, within the last 15 years had been immense; yet the price of meat had still gone on increasing. All this, it must be remembered, went to swell the navy estimates. The meat consumed by Green wich Hospital alone cost £4,000 more in 1841 than in 1835. The chief objection made against the intended admission of cattle was, that the duty was proposed to be uniform per head, on the fat as well as the lean. Now, the admission of the lean cattle was of course an advantage to the grazier, whose business was to buy them for fatting ; and so far there was a clear benefit to• one important class of agriculturists, which benefit would be diminished if lean cattle of a large size were made to bear a heavier duty than lean cattle of a small size. But now as to the fat cattle. The great protec tion on fat cattle was not amount of duty, but the length and roughness of the voyage : no fat ox could ever across the Bay of Biscay. France, however, was nearer, and the agricul turists feared an influx from her shores. But France, for many years, instead of exporting cattle, had, on the balance, been importing them, and the price of all sorts of meat had been rising throughout that country. He showed that the danger was equally chimerical of importation from Belgium, Holland, Germany, and the Prussian League. England bad another security in the quality of her meat. So great was its superiority, that he did not despair of seeing England an exporter of that article. He was asked, why not impose the duty by weight instead of per bead ; He would answer fairly that he wished to have meat somewhat cheaper in London; but still the increase of our population, and the scarcity of continental stock, gave a complete security against any great diminution of price. We are exporting horses even now ; and he saw no reason why we should not hereafter export other cattle likewise. On the whole, the fullest communica tion and consideration had strongly confirmed the govern ment in their intentions as to the duty upon cattle. He would not revive the discussion on the corn question ; that he considered decided by parliament ; but at the proper time he was prepared to state the reasons why the government did not consider the general principles of free trade (which they fully admitted) as applicable to the present state of the su gar and timber questions. They had endeavoured to act in the spirit of Mr. Huskisson, and to do as much general good, with as little individual hardship, as possible. Even for in dividuals, they trusted the measure would provide compensa tion ; and they believed that for the people at large the bene fit would be extensive. He regretted that other nations had not entered into their views, and he had reserved some sub jects for arrangement with them ; but let them take what course they might, it would still be our interest to buy cheap and sell dear. The day would come when those nations also would see their interest; their perseverance in high duties would be met by that inevitable corrective—the smuggler; and the example of England, contrasted with that of states pursuing opposite principles, could hardly fail of ultimate effect, and of reciprocal benefit. Mr. LABOUCHBRE said that the right hon. baronet had, for the most part, addressed his observations to his own friends rather than to his political opponents, no doubt justly thinking that it was from the former that he was most likely to meet the most serious objection. For his own part, he approved of the proposition of the government, which was consistent with the principles of those which the late govern ment would have proposed had they remained in office. He must say, however, that the right hon. baronet had dealt with the corn-laws in a very different spirit from that with which he had dealt with the tariff; and without denying that there was much that was valuable in the latter, he had no hesitation in asserting that the measures of the late government would have proved more beneficial, because of the bold ground which they proposed to take with respect to the corn-laws and sugar duties. Mr. D'IsnAELI contended that the whits had no claim to the paternity of the principles of free trade. Mr. HUME said that he was told five-and-twenty years ago that he would destroy the country if his free-trade prin ciples were acted upon, and yet those very principles were now being carried out by Sir R. Peel. ITe was delighted to find that free-trade principles were to be the order of the day, and that the right hon. baronet was turning his majo rity in the house to so good an account as he seemed to be doing in carrying his new tariff through Parliament. Mr. GLADSTONE denied that the late Government could fairly claim the paternity of those commercial changes; but he thought it was a waste of the public time to be entering into disquisitions of this kind instead of endeavouring to carry out a measure which all parties believed to be beneficial. Mr. E. B. ROCHE said, that, when be looked to the de tails of the tariff, he felt bound to say that he believed it would be productive of great injury to Ireland. Mr. G. PALMER disapproved of the new tariff, and said that if he had stated on the hustings that these propositions were to be brought forward, and that he would support them, he would not have numbered 50 votes. He was opposed to the abrogation of that system of protection under which this country had acquired all its superiority. The hon. gentle man then complained that the Duke of Wellington and Sir R. Peel had more than once disappointed the confidence reposed in them by the country. Colonel SIBTHORP contended that the speech of Sir R. Peel was replete with ingenuity, subtlety, and fallacy. Major VIVIAN moved for any additional details which may have been supplied by Mr. Meek to the government, relative to the importation of agricultural produce, salt pro visions, &c., or any passage or passages which may have been suppressed. Lord WORSLEY seconded the motion. Mr. GLADSTONE said that there had been no suppression of information, though the name of a gentleman had been concealed at his own request, he having given information as to the prices of provisions at Hamburg. He objected to the motion, not only because no information was suppressed, but also because it rested with the government to judge what portion of such reports should be placed before parliament, with a view to the public service. Mr. M. Arrwoon supported the motion, because long ex perience had taught him that no reliance should be placed upon mere abstracts of reports. The whole of the materials upon which the government had formed its opinion should be communicated to the house. He thought if butchers' meat was now dear, the evil would remedy itself, as it had done upon former occasions, without the adoption of any such measures as the one now proposed. Sir It. PEEL said, that with respect to this motion there must have been a gross breach of confidence somewhere ; but, at all events, every information contained in Mr. Meek's report was fairly given, except a suggestion as to the mode of making contracts, which it would not be for the service of the public to communicate. Lord J. RUSSELL thought it would be wrong to communi cate the name of the party giving the communication, but be thought the statistical information ought not to be withheld, nor ought Mr. Meek's inferences, drawn from the prices at Hamburg. to be kept back. Sir G. GREY supported the motion for the production of the paper, and said its refusal would be a dangerous pre cedent, when that refusal was only supported by the asser tion that " we give you as much of it as we think useful for you." Lord STANLEY said the paper moved for was absolutely valueless, for the whole of the information contained in it was given. The only passages suppressed were the name of a gentleman who did not wish it to be known, and a sugges tion as to the mode in which his own departmenk—the Victu alling-office—should be conducted. If this information were to be given a most dangerous precedent would indeed be given. Mr. SHELL said it was a worse precedent to produce to the house a document as perfect which was now admitted not to be so. It was, to say the least of it, a suppressio vent, if not an assertio falsi. Mr. MUNTZ said he was inclined to think the document of some value from seeing so many ministers anxious to pre vent its production. Mr. W. CHRISTOPHER opposed the motion. Mr. M. J. O'CONNELL supported the motion. Mr. H. LAMBTON could not support a motion grounded upon a gross breach of confidence. He thought the house ought to know from whence the hon. member obtained his information, or else to negative the motion. Lord SANDON asked Dr. Bowring if the government had printed his reports without suppressing any portion of them ? Mr. MILES hoped that in order to satisfy the country the government would lay the documents before the house, but in reason s saying this he h a d no d ou bt whatever that they had already laid b e f ore t h e house every informat i on t h ey con t a i n ed. Mr. C. Woon said that in Dr. Bowring's reports parts had bee suppressed, but the fact of the suppression, with the which led to it, had been communicated to the house. of After a fe w words fro m Mr. F. SHAW, said that the party from whom he received the only pag e the d ocumen t h e possesse d was in no way connected with the e government—was guilty of no breach of confidence —and he believed it was obtained entirely through the careles sness of On a division, the motion depart ments. by s a ir m ß aj . o p ri E t: L of sa 2 id l9 h t :), :: : one of the heads of the government The house went into of Major Vivian was negatived committee pro forma", after which on ot W he Id proceed with the tariff on Fri day, and must postpone the third reading of the income tax the i ntroduction of his poor-law bill s until njt GRAHAMaft er postponedWhitsuntide. e r d o n r e d s e d r as of t evening hed a day, , amendment bill until five o'clock after which the house proceeded to the into the bri that --. HOUSE OF COMMONS.----w 1 ,, In the course of a conversation respern:snAY' ment of Mr. Roebuck's committee to inquireti' the appoint ment at the last election at Nottingham and oth Mr. T. DUNCOMBE gave notice that he would move each member appointed on the committee should declare before the Speaker that be had not been concerned in b ri b ery during the last o r any previous election. Sir J. GRAHAM then brought forward his bill to continue the poor law commission for a time to be limited, and for the further amendment of the laws relating to the poor in Eng land. The right hon. baronet said it was proposed by the bill that the poor law commission should be continued for five years, and that the Gilbert unions should be wholly abo lished, and the management of the poor throughout the coun try placed altogether under the operation of the bill. The principles of the Gilbert Act and the new poor law were so directly adverse to each other, that it would be absurd to allow both to continue in operation at the same time. There was nothing in the working of the new poor law calculated to lead to the impression that any doubt should exist as to its utility, particularly when the alternative was a return to the old system, with a revival of all the evils which had been so justly complained of. The Gilbert Act recognised the prin ciple of giving relief to the able-bodied labourer, which was wholly opposed to the principle of the new poor law, and the scattered localities in which it prevailed operated as a serious obstruction to the proper operation of the Poor Law Amendment Act. Although the leading principle of the Gilbert Act was to give relief to able-bodied labourers, yet it was a mistake to suppose that such relief was prohibited by the Poor Law Amendment Bill, for there were no less than seven specific exceptions to the rule against the exten sion of such relief. The boards of guardians also could give out-door relief without any intei ferance to the com missioners, and in point of fact out of upwards of a million of persons who had received relief during the last year, only 159,000 had been relieved in workhouses. It was intended to limit the number of assistant commis sioners to nine, and the expense of relieving the casual poor was to be charged to the unions and not to the parishes where they were relieved. The district schools for the education of the children of paupers were to have a circle of operation of not more than fifteen miles, and were to be under the super intendence of the Privy Council. The bill also went to mo dify the law of settlement, so that sick poor might be re lieved where they were resident; and it increased the penal enactments in cases of bastardy, so that the man upon whom a child was affiliated, and who refused to pay, and had no goods upon which execution might be levied, would be liable to three months' imprisonment. There was also a provision for lessening the distance which paupers might have to tra vel in large unions in order to obtain relief. The right hon. baronet concluded by moving for leave to bring in the bill. After a conversation, in which several hon. members took a share, Lord SANDON thought, that in large towns, some dis cre!ion ought to be vested in the local authorities. A dis cretion must be exercised by some party ; and he believed, and experience had proved, that in large towns that discretion could not be better exercised than by persons who, from the possession of property and community of feeling, were in terested in the comfort and welfare of the people. Although he (Lord Sandon) could not hope that they would be re lieved entirely from the control of the Poor Law Commis sioners in large towns, he hoped the power of the commis sioners would be in a great measure limited—that it would be restrained to some general power of supervision and re porting ; and that the commissioners would not be allowed to interfere with every measure taken by the boards of guar dians, and to counteract all their proceedings. He hoped the power vested in the commissioners would be consider ably modified. He was inclined to grant the commissioners as short a lease of power as possible; for such extraordinary powers were vested in them, that the country would regard with dissatisfaction any renewal of those powers, except for a very short period. Mr. S. CRAWFORD said, he would take the sense of the house against the second reading of the bill. In reply to a question from Gneral JOHNSTONE, Sir J. GRAHAM said, lie would move the second reading on Monday week or on Friday fortnight. After some further remarks from Mr. HARDY and others, leave was given to bring in the bill ; which Sir J. Graham accordingly introduced, and it was read a first time. Mr. C. BULLER gave notice that he would to-morrow present a petition from Henry Warburton, Esq., praying for inquiry into the circumstances attending the last Bridport election, and a compromise said to have been entered into respecting it. He gave notice that ou Friday he would make a motion in support of its prayer. The house then adjourned. . MUTINY ON THE HIGH SEAS. At the Thames-office, London, on Monday, Samuel Ogg, aged 30 ; Peter May bone, 38 ; Thomas Morgan, 22 ; James Ratree, 17; James Latoo, 4G; James Willin, 23; John Higgin, 50 • Frederick Diggin, 20 ; James Hongleton, 22 ; James Willis, 22; Charles Johnstone, 39, and Benjamin Present, forming part of the crew of the ship Ann Hall, of Liverpool, were charged with mutiny on the high seas, within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty of England. Mr. Pelham, the solicitor, attended for the prisoners. _ _ _ Francis Lugenby Horrad, the commander of the ship, was called and sworn. He stated that he was master of the Ann Hall, on a voyage from Liverpool for Charleston, in ballast. Although some symptoms of insubordination had previously appeared, nothing particular occurred until the 22d of Janu ary last. On that day a part of the crew, the larboard watch, were ordered to go over the side to scrub down the ship, to make ready for painting. This they refused to do, and they were then told if they would not scrub outside, they should do it inside. At this period a seaman, named Juckman, who was then on the mizen topsail yard, seeing witness in an alter cation with the hands, sung out, ' Damn the ship,' with other offensive observations, which the witness repeated. On coming from aloft, he asked the man how he dared make use of such language aft ? to which Juckman replied, on board a mer chant ship he did not know aft from forward. Juckman then stooped down, and said he wished a flash of lightning would take the ship. He pulled the man up from the deck and asked him what he meant by such conduct, Juckman then struck him on the mouth with a stave. Witness immediately knocked down the man in self-defence, and a scuffle ensued. Juckman got away, and seized an iron belaying-pin, and was about to strike him, but the crew interfered and took him away. About twenty minutes past one the next morning, he went on deck and ordered the mate to get studding sails out. About five or six hours after, he looked from his bed-cabin and saw that the sails were not set. He called for the second mate, and asked him why he had not got the studding-sail booms run out ? The second mate answered that he had done all he could. Witness told him that he must get some one to do duty, and at the same time ordered him to pack up his things, take them into the cabin, and do duty as a seaman. About eight o'clock the same night witness went to the fore castle hatchway and ordered the second mate to come upon deck and do his duty. The second mate declared that he would not do his duty till he was reinstated. He ordered all the sails to be furled, and the topgallant and topsail yards to be sent down. Every soul on board refused to do it. Wit ness apprehending danger, then went to the catpenter's tool cheat, which was close by the cabin door, andtook oat his adze, and went below to the state-room. Whilst stowing away the adze some portion of the crew made fast the cabin door and detained him there. He took up the adze, cut down the door, and went upon deck. Mr. Broderip.—Did you take the adze with you ? Witness.—Yes, sir. The witness, in continuation, said that he proceeded to walk the deck with the adze on his shoulder for about twenty minutes. In turn ing the deck the carpenter, Samuel Ogg, seized hold of the adze and threw him down. The whole of the crew then came up, and while some assisted the carpenter in keeping him down, others pinioned his arms, and took him into the state cabin and laid him on his bed. This treatment continued during the remainder of the outward-bound voyage, and he was deprived of all command of the vessel or control over the crew, and was closely watched. On making Charleston the pilots came on board, to whom he appealed, and the case was made known to the British consul, and the Ameri can authorities, who interfered and investigated the matter. A portion of the crew were committed 0 gaol, previous to their being sent to England in a ship of war. The twelve men at the bar were sent home as passengers on the return They were committed for trial. voyage The Charleston Courier contains an account of the trial of the crew of the British ship Ann Hall, for mutiny. It will be recollected that early in February last the crew (twenty-two in number) of this vessel was committed to the gaol in Charleston, at the instance of the British consul, on the charge of mutiny on the high seas, they having seized and confined the master with hand-cuffs and a straight jacket, on the allegation of his intoxication or insanity. On the clearance of the Ann Hall, ten of these men were left behind in gaol. They were recently brought before the Hon. Jacob Axson, recorder of Charleston, on habeas corpus, to obtain their discharge ; and on Thursday last his honour delivered his opinion, discharging the prisoners, on the ground that in the absence of any treaty stipulation to that effect between this government and Great Britain, there was no authority to arrest or detain them as fugitives from justice.—Baltimore American. LONDON POLIOE.-UNION HALL SINGULAR MARRIAGE. — James Balls, late the driver of one of the Brixton stage-coaches, appeared upon his recog nizance, for the purpose of entering into bail for an assault, and threatening the life of his wife, a lady of considerable property, to whom he had recently been married. The complainant, a tall genteel-looking woman, was ac companied by a medical gentleman, one of her trustees, and two ladies. She stated that she was married to the defendant six months ago, at which time he was the driver of a Brixton coach, and that she lived on the line of road over which he was in the habit of driving backwards and forwards every day. That in six days after their marriage took place he left her, and only came occasionally to see her for the' purpose of demanding money ; and on those occasions if she refused his demand he would threaten her with personal violence, and has frequently thrown things at her. Mr. t ottin . kham.—Descilbevien he last threatened your life. _ Complainant.—On Thursday last he came to my house, and on entering the room where I was sitting, he exclaimed in a loud tone, " I want half a hundred pounds, and must have it." She told him that his conduct to her was so bad, and that she had already given him so much money, she had determined sot to give him any more, upon which he flew into a violent passion, took up the poker, and swore that he would murder her if she refused to give him what be came there for. Mr. Cottingham.—Where has be been living since he left Complainant. —I am totally ignorant as to that, or who his associates are What money have you given him since your marriage?— Upwards of £BOO, which he soon run through. Mr. Cottingham asked the defendant what he had to say in answer to the charge ? _ The defendant raid that he never threatened t) injure her ; that he had no such thought ; that when he got married to her, knowing she was a lady, he wanted to live comfortable as a gentleman, and accordingly thought they ought to ride in their carriage as well as other folks with plenty of money; that the £BOO she talked about giving him be had expended most part on a carriage and horses for their joint use ; that soon after their marriage she wanted to keep a tight hand over him, and treated him more like a poor dependent than a husband. He added that he did not like such goings on, and it was her fault that he was obliged to leave the house, and that his marriage with her was anythi ng b ut fortuna t e , for pre v i ous ly t o it he was in the receipt of six guineas a week, while he was driving one of his father's coaches, and since then his friends had turned their backs upon him. Mr. Cottingham, who was evidently surprised, asked the complainant whether she was aware the defendant was a coachman at the time she formed a matrimonial alliance with him ? _ _ The reply was, that she had known hi m th ree or f our t y o ea ß rs ri a x i t i o te n e . edently, seeing him of a day d r i v i ng up and down '-fliCOMplainant's trustee said that her father held a high situation in the East India House, and left her an ample for tune, which was luckily secured in such a manner that the defendant could not touch it. He added that, since the mar riage took place, the lady had led a most wretched life, in consequence of her having formed an alliance so much be neath her. Mr. Cottingham expressed his astonishment that a lady of birth and education should have entered into an alliance with the defendant; who, having entered into his own recognizance of £2OO, and found two sureties of £lOO each, was then discharged. EATING AND DRINKING. -It will rather take the reader by surprise to be told, that in a life of 65 years' duration, with a moderate daily allowance of mutton, for instance, he will have consumed a flock of 350 sheep, and that altogether for dinner alone; adding to his mutton a reasonable allowance of potatoes and vegetables, with a pint of wine daily for thirty years of this period, above thirty tons of solids and liquids must have passed through his stomach. " I'm a 'tickler friend to you," as the snuff said to the nose.—" I shall be glad to hear from you at all times," as the deaf man said to the trumpet.--" Let me collec t m y self," as the man said when he was blown up by the powd er mill.— Loaded with slugs," as the gardener said to the wallflower. DREADFUL RAILWAY ACCIDENT IN FRANCE. (From Galig_nani:! . Mes.9 . fnger of Monday.) ~ The Rive Gauche Versailles railway was yesterday - evening the scene of a deplorably fatal accident, by which many lives have been lost, and a great number of persons dreadfully maimed. This sad catastrophe took place near Menden ; the train which experienced the accident being that which started at half-past five o'clock from Versailles, and which, being crowded to excess with persons returning to town from the fete, rendered the event more calamitous than it would have been at any ordinary period. Our informant is a gentleman who was a passenger by the train, and who was happily in one of the carriages which escaped the collision. He de scribes the velocity with which the train was proceeding some minutes previous to the accident as extreme, so great as to have suggested in his mind the idea that the slightest obstacle on the road encountered by the wheels of the engine would be dangerous to excess. The thought had scarcely occurred to him when a frightful shock to the entire train, a fearful crash, mingled with horrible shrieks from the carriages in advance of that in which he sat, showed that some dreadful accident had occurred, but the doors of the carriages being locked at the exterior it was not until our informant and the other passengers in the carriage, and in those which were placed behind it, were able to make their egress by the win dows, that the frightful extent of the accident they had so providentially escaped became known to them. The scene which presented itself was truly appalling. It appeared that the engine had by some fatality got off the line, and ran up against the embankment, when, from the alarming rapidity with which the heavily-laden train was then running, six or seven of the carriages were literally dashed to pieces, and were lying in a mass of fragments piled in a broken mass upon the engine; numbers of the outside passengers had been thrown off by the shock, but of the unhappy sufferers who had taken their places in the interior, and who still survived, the fate was even more dreadful than those who had been killed ; for to make the calamity still more horrible, the fire of the en gine almost instantly extended to the broken mass which was above it, and several of the sufferers were actually burnt to death on the spot. Our informant describes the shrieks of the victims, whom it was impossible to aid, and more parti cularly of two unfortunateladies, who were vainly calling to the last for water, as inexpressibly dreadful. The agitation inseparable from such a moment, and the confusion which necessarily existed, rendered it impossible to obtain any ac count of the loss of life, or other particulars relative to the sufferers ; but these will, doubtless, reach us in the course of the day, Wp entertain a hope—a faint one—that they. may show this accident to be less dreadful in its results than we have described it, almost from the lips of the gentleman to whom we owe the information. But we have rather under than overstated his description, and his coolness and pre sence of mind lead us to fear that his narrative will be more than borne out when the full details are made public. We find the following accounts given in the Siecle and the National. They confirm, as far as their details go, the har rowing statement of our own informant ; but the true cause of the accident, as also the extent of loss of life, with other particulars, with which it is very desirable the public should be fully informed, seems to rest as yet upon mere surmise. We trust that autheptic and full particulars of the cause and extent of the disaster , will bp wade Jinown. poppealplpt upon such subjects is a certain mode of magnifying the effects of such disasters in the public mind. "The half-past five o'clock train was returning yesterday from Versailles, with about 18 waggons drawn by three en gines, when, between Bellevue and Meudon, the first engine broke down, in consequence of the breaking of one of the axletrees. The second engine consequently rushed upon it, crushed the stoker, and snSashed the engine to pieces, strew ing the fire along the railway. The fire caught the waggons, which had been newly painted. The conflagration became dreadful, and, to add to the horror of the accident, the doors of the waggons were all fastened, the keys being kept by the conduotours, so that the passengers could not get out to save themselves. The bodies of the victims were brought last night to the station at Paris, and laid in the waiting-room, but they presented only the appearance of a mishapen mass of burnt flesh and bones, so that not a single individual could be recognised. When assistance was sent to Meudon to collect the remains, it was found necessary to use forks, and poles, and shovels, or other tools, to move them, Many who were injured, but escaped with life, remained at Meudon ; some were brought to the Neckar Hospital, and others were taken to their homes, so that the number of the sufferers cannot as yet be ascertained; but the killed are va riously stated, some giving the loss of life so low as from 7 to 12, and others at between 30 and 40, and the wounded to be no fewer than 150. One of the directors of the railroad had an arm and a leg broken. Seven waggons were either entirely burnt or severeFy, damaged. Quo gentleman, who was in the first compartment of the waggon which immediately followed the engine, although he escaped without bodily hurt, was so affected by the shock that he lost the use of his mental facul, ties, and was wholly incapable of giving any account of what had occurred. Immediately on the intelligence of the disaster being made known the commissary of police at Meudon, the gendarmie, and a great number of private persons hastened to the spot, and rendered every possible assistance. Many of the sufferers were carried up to the palace, and others hu manely received into private houses. The burning heap re mained two hours before it could be extinguished." The National adds the following to the above :—" On going to examine into the cause of the accident, the two en gines were found one resting upon the other ; the tender of one of them had been completely turned round, and in the directly opposite position ; a little on one side was a waggon overturned, and half burnt ; at a short distance some of the rails were cut asunder, and others driven deep into the earth. The noise which preceded the accident was not that of the explosion of a bursting boiler, nor were there any traces of violent rupture in the bodies of the engines ; but it was as tonishing to find that the sentry-bo, of one of the watch-, men near at hand showed all the appearances of having been blown up." ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS. ( Fro m yesterday's London papers.) The subjoined particulars have a painful interest :—Two stokers, at first stupified by the smoke and then calcined by the fire, remained for a considerable time after they had ex pired standing at their post, grasping the tools they had been using. An old soldier, taken alive from the fire, with an arm broken, a deep wound in his side, and his head bleed ing from a cut, refused all aid, exclaiming, " Never mind me; I shall do well enough. lamin no pain, but go and save my son and my brother, who are in that waggon," pointing at the same time with his mutilated arm. A young woman snatched alive from the middle of the flames mi.'s' out for her husband, describing his dress, the colour of his coat, and adding that lie wore the riband of the Legion of ; Honour. At' the' same time he lay burnt to death at her feet, and a humane bystander recognising him by her de scription threw his handkerchief over the remains to save her from the horror of the sight. M. Guilland, a distinguished pupil of the Polytechnic School, succeeded in getting through the window of the door of the carriage in which he was, and was able to run about 50 paces from the scene of the disaster, and then dropped down dead. AM. Bertrand had his thigh severed from his body, and, as we are told, died yesterday morning, The wife of a physician, in the Rue de Regard, is also dead. A pupil of the Normal School has had a leg amputated, M. de Gaujal was, it is said, only slightly injured, but his wife had her shoulder broken, or, at least dislpcated. M. Pontois, the avocet, was found completely calcined, but he had previously sufficient presence of mind and strength to force his niece, aged 14, out of the window. She, however, had her shoulder broken by the fall. The prefect of a de partment adjoining that of the Seine, was among the burnt. Three law students were so fortunate as to save themselves by getting out of the window. Another person succeeded in like manner in saving his wife and himpelf. A shoemaker, of the rue de Sevres, shut up in a waggon, saw his fellow passengers perish. He was untouched, but expecting imme diate death, when the roof of the carriage fell in, and shel tered him from the flames until he was able to extricate him self from his perilous situation. A Prussian of extraordinary strength burst open the door which confined him, and saved his wife and himself. Among the bodies were those of a bride and a bridegroom. who'were married on Saturday. One pf the directors of the railroad stated yesterday that all the pas sengers in the first five carriages were either killed or injured ; consequently, as each carriage contained forty persons, the number of sufferers from death and mutilation must hare been 200, independent of those in the other carriages, who sustained more or less serious injury from this lamentable catastrophe. At ten at night a young man was seen running about Sevres calling for his father, mother, and sisters, all of whom had been destroyed by the flames. Sixteen persons, alive, but severely injured, were carried on Sunday up to the Chateau of Meudon. Of these, two died yesterday. Eleven sufferers were taken on Sunday evening into the Necker Hospital. Of these, the wife of a draper died yesterday, and her sister, who was with her, is in a hopeless state. A banker from Turin, who came to Paris with his wife and sis ter-in-law to pass a month, went to Versailles on Sunday, and as they have not since been seen or heard of, they have no doubt been included in this lamentable loss of life. So likewise it must be believed is Mlle. de Villevray, a lady who went to'Versailles on Sunday, and was to return by the six o'clock train, but this has not since appeared. These, how ever, are not all the afflictions we have to record. Admiral Dumont d'Urville, with his wife, his son (aged 14), and a naval officer to whom he was much attached, went to Ver sailles on Sunday, intending to return to Paris to dinner. No tidings of any one of the party have since been received, although the Minister of Marine sent an express to Versailles to make inquiries. No doubt of their fate can be entertained, and it said to have been confirmed by the finding of a letter upon a body which had been rendered irrecogniseable by the fire. We were last night assured that the total number amounted to SO; but it has been impossible to ascertain the number of those injured, but who are still living. It was stated yesterday, at the Chamber of Deputies; that the Duke de Montpensier left Versailles by the train, but alighted at Sevres, the station before where the accident happened. We have received the following account of the cause of this deplorable event. A few minutes after leaving the sta tion at Bellevue, M. Milhau, one of the inspectors who was on the second locomotive, perceived a slight sinking of the hind part of the engine before him, and immediately blew his whistle to warn Mr. George, the chief engineer, who was conducting the train. Mr. George, at once lightening the break, looked back to learn the cause of the signal. At the same instant the sixletree of iris locomotive broke, whether from any weakness in itself, or from some obstacle in the way, remains to be known, and the unhappy engineer was thrown to a distance of some yards, and killed instantane ously. M. Milhau was also thrown off by the concussion, and had one of his legs fractured, and a shoulder put out. Two other engineers, who were on duty upon the first en gine, were killed."—The Sie'cle also publishes a letter from M. Anbeeuf, mayor of Meudon, dated at eight o'clock yes terday morning, in which, after relating the general features of the accident as given above, and, by other accounts, adds : " The spectacle was most horrible when the burning away of the panels of the vehicles exposed the results pf the fire inside, Masses of disfigured bodies, soave still palpitating, trunks without• members, and members reduced to cinders. One woman escaped as by a miracle, after seeing her mother and two children consumed by her side. Another mother was snatching her child from the flames, but clasped only a headless body. In a few minutes all the houses in the neigh bourhood were spontaneously converted into hospitals, and their inhabitants, with laudable zeal, made every exertion for the relief of the sufferers. Litters and conveyances of all kinds were promptly brought down. A company of en gineer soldiers hurried to- the spot with fire-engines, but water was wanting. At every instant bodies were rescued from the burning heap, but they were for the most part so much burnt as for it to be impossible to indentify th s en th i e . The ground was strewed with watches and money. A wind blew with great force, the fire could not be got under o till about ten o'clock, and then it was found that at least GO persons were either dead or in imminent dang er, besides un accountable numbers more or less seriously injured. The di rectors of the railroad displayed an activity worthy of all praise, having sent several carriages from Paris to convey back the victims, While lam writing, the authorities of Versailles and the directors arc on the spot clearing away all the remains, and sending them in carriages either to Versailles or Paris. The corpses were not, as has been falsely stated, precipitately interred during the night, but were taken into one of the halls of the Chateau de Meudon, where the relations and friends of the deceased might inspect them." The Gazette des Tribunaux states that 73 persons have been ascertained to be killed, and that the number of those who have been injured, but are still living, are much more considerable. This journal also notices that a family of eleven persons, from the rue de la Poterie, went to Versailles on Sunday, and not one of them are returned ; so that they are concluded to have been killed There is no nobility like that of a great heart, for it never stoops to artifice, nor is it wanting in good offices where they are seasonable. DISASTROUS FIRE AT HAMBURGH, Letters have arrived in London and this town giving ac counts of a most disastrous fire w hi c h b ro k e ou t a t II am at an early hour on the morning of the sth instant, and which having destroyed many of the principal streets, churches prisons, and public buildings, was still burning up to the dates of the latest advices. It appears that the fire commenced about two o'clock on . the morning of Thursday, th e sth M ay, at a c i gar s h op in the lower end of the Deichstrasse, whence it extended with great fury : so that before eight o'clock, no less than sixteen houses were destroyed, and several lives lost. At this junc ture, it appears, the fire might have been stayed by the de struction of one or two more houses. This, however, the Senate refused to authorise. The result was that the lire spread with amazing rapidity into the Reding's. markt, where it consumed all the warehouses. Extending thence on all sides by twelve o'clock, no less than sixty houses were des troyed, in the very heart and business parts of the town. The progress of the conflagration, and some incidents that occurred, are well described in the following extract from a letter received yesterday by a highly respectable house in this town : `• The wind then shifted, which caused a fresh ignition in another direction. The splendid spire of St. Nicholas's Church caught at three p.m., and fell at a quarter to five ; while all the business part of the city was on fire ; all, or nearly all, the warehouses were blazing before night ; with the old Exchange, Senate-house, and Bank. During the night the fire did not spread much, as it was nearly calm ; but, about two this morning, (Friday, the 6th instant,) it re kindled. The fire companies then commenced blowing houses up with gunpowder, but too late, as the wind freshened and kept veering. They then got several cannon, and levelled a great many buildings, but without the least effect. At six, this morning, the Belvidere Hotel was in such danger that the proprietor packed up every thing and got all into boats. I, however, held in with two young Englishmen till ten, when we were obliged to start and carry our own luggage to this place. which was not very comfortable in such tremen dous heat ; we were fortunate enough to get two men to carry the trunks, in which we had great trouble, as every man,.. horse, and vehicle of every kind was engaged iu removing property at their own price. I saw one rascal refuse to take 50 dollars to take one load in his cart about half a mile, and afterwards get 60 dollars. have been in the city nearly all the day, after I deposited my traps here, and am sorry to say that above half the city is in ashes. The wind is blowing hard, so that it is impossible to say when or where it will stop. Two-thirds of the city, with pearly all the wealth of it, must go. It did not get quite to the shipping, nor is there any chance now of it doing so, as the wind blows from that quarter. I have not slept since three o'clock yesterday morning, but have been assisting those I saw in greatest distress to save their property, or part of it. I carried a poor woman's bed this evening nearly a quarter of a mile for her ; the most dis tressing spectacle you can imagine, could not come halt up to the misery of the thousands who are placed in the fields with the little of their furniture they have carried, as they hope, out of the reach of the flames. The most awfully grand sight I ever beheld was the burning of St. Nicholas's Tower; it was 600 feet high, of splendid structure, built of wood about 200 feet at the top, (if I am rightly informed,) and coppered. I watched it from the first appearance of fire in it until it fell. The New Exchange was standing at three P.m. (6th May.) I don't think it will go, as the fire near it had burned out. The Belvidere was standing then, but sur rounded with fire; its situation so near the Alsten was in its favour, but the whole of those beautiful buildings north-west of it, round those waters with the Tiers, and an immense quantity of furniture placed there for safety, are destroyed." The fire continued throughout the night of the 6th and morning of the 7th, favoured by a strong west wind. The New Exchange escaped, but the Custom-house, Belvidere Hotel, and many other hotels and buildings were destroyed. The church of St, Teter, a fiee old lmildiug, caught fire early in the morning, and by eight &clock was consumed. The prisons had all fallen in the general calamity, and most of the prisoners bad been conveyed on board a vessel lying in the port. Many hotels and houses have been blown up in the hope of stopping the flames, but little or no effect was produced. The disaster at length came to be estimated, not by the number of houses which had fallen, but in the number of streets destroyed. The loss in goods, buildings, furni ture, &c., was beyond any powers of estimate. The distress was excessive, hundreds of families having been driven des titute into the fields. It appeared impossible to say where the destruction would cease ; and reports were rife that the whole or a considerable portion of the calamity had originated with incendiaries. Until further advises are received, we shall not know how this fearful conflagration terminated. The following is an extract from a letter written on the night of Saturday, the 7th instant " lila am now writing, it is burning and raging with as great fury as ever. Nobody knows when and where it will stop, perhaps not till the Ham Gate. It is calculated there is upwards of seven millions sterling of property already de stroyed, and the insurance offices have given notice that they can pay nobody, and every one is trying to save what he can; the whole town is in motion, hundreds and thousands of families without a house or home to go to. As yet, we are safe in our part of the town, if the wind do not shift, and carry the streams of fire down with it; but that is not the only thing we have to fear, as there are bands of robbers going about not only'robbing and plundering, but even try itlg to set the town on fire in other places. It has been tried to be set on fire jn two streets behind, but fortunately the villians were caught in the act. in that case, I don't know whether I am safe or not; every one in my street are packing up all their effects to be in readiness the moment it breaks out down here." ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS. (Prom the London Papers of yesterday.) Upon the arrival of the news of the almost total destruc tion of the city of Hamburgh yesterday in London, nothing could exceed the deep feelings of regret which were exhibited by the members of the commercial world; for hundreds of persons residing in England are great sufferers by this most deplorable calamity. One body particularly are sufferers to an enormous extent ;—we allude to the London fire. offices, which, from the spirit which has hitherto characterised their business have effected insurances to an immense amount throughout almost every country in Europe, more especially in the Hanseatic towns, from their immediate connex i on with England. The-offices which will more particularly feel the pressure of this deplorable calamity are the Sun, the Royal Exchange, and Phoenix. The several other insurance com panies will also feel the effect of the conflagration, but not to the extent of those already mentioned : the gross loss to these companies is supposed to amount to nearly £1,000,000 ster ling. The Phoenix Fire Company, it was currently reported in the city yesterday , had insurances amounting to from £300,000 to £500,000, and situated in those portions of the city which have become a mass of blackened ruins. From the private accounts furnished to the fire-offices by their agents and cor respondents, it appears that the first discovery of the fire which has laid this flourishing city in ruins, was made about half-past 12 o'clock on the morning of Thursday last, in a house in Deutschstrasse, but in consequence of not a vestige of this place being now to be found no exact information could be obtained. The buildings here were exceedingly old, and in a great measure composed of wood, being stocked with 4 quantity of rags, the combustible nature of which greatly ac eelerated the progress of the fiery element, and from the want of that coolness and energy which is generally displayed by the London firemen the flames were allowed to obtain a com plete mastery of the old, narrow, and ill-constructed build ings before anything like an attempt was made to arrest their progress. Thus by one o'clock nearly twenty buildings were destroyed, consisting principally of warehouses filled with various descriptions of merchandise. Amongst them was what may be termed a distillery, which created a terriffic body of fire, spreading ruin and consternation on all sides. To add to this terrible visitation the inhabitants were busily engaged in bringing out their furniture, when becoming para lysed with fear, they suffered their household property to re main in the street, which in a short time became blocked up, and thereby afforded a ready communication for the fire to the houses on the opposite side, and thus rendered the diffe rent streets totally impassible. As the fire progressed it be. came impossible for any person to approach within a conside rable distance in consequence of the overpowering heat, smoke, and dust which rushed tlfrough the narrow avenues, and was carried far beyond what could have been anticipated by the strong south-eastern wind which prevailed at the time. When the fire was found to have assumed so alarming an attitude, the Senate was informed of the event. The members im mediately assembled in the Senate-house, and adopted those measures which the exigency of the catastrophe demanded. The whole of the of the fire-engines were drawn out; but owin g to their miserable size, they not being superior to th e parochial engines of the metropolis, they were of little use, and totally inadequate to repress the element with which they had to contend ; and upon the fire reaching the Hopfenmarkt, orders were issued to pull down the houses. Here, however, timidity was aparent, for instead of a wide breach being effected, not more than one or two buildings were razed, and in some cases they were only pertially destroyed. It soon beceme evident that the whole of the houses in this place, which were exceedingly large and handsome buildings, and used as hotels, were marked for destruction. Here the flames burst out in various parts, and it became evident that the destruction of the church of St. Nicholas was inevitable. The fire now extended in different directions, and by six o'clock upwards of 300 buildings were destroyed. Each succeeding hour added to the calamity, and by the time the accounts were sent off nearly the whole of the principal buildings and churches were reduced to a mass of ruins, in additien to which from 2,000 to 3,000 houses were levelled to the ground. To add to this dreadful destruction of property, an awful loss of human life has taken place. The number who have fallen victims has been estimated at from 150 to 200. A cor rect account, however, it is impossible to obtain, as numbers of hodies, from the intensity of the flames, became reduced to ashes, and it will for some time be impossible io acertain the real loss of life, In the course of yesterday afternoon the cheering intelli gence was received by the above-named insorance-offices, by means of a Hull steamer, which left Cuxhaven late on Sunday evening, that the ffre had been mastered, and in the course of the afternoon several surveyors were sent to make a sur vey of the property destroyed. LADIES, READ I—Women often lose the man they love, and who loves them. By mere wantonness or coquetry they reject, and then repent ;—they should be careful not to take this step hastily, for a proud, high-minded, gifted man, will seldom ask a woman twice. A FRENC II MURDERER.—Dujardin, the gendarme station ed at Camhrai, who, on the 27th December last, shot through the heart and killed the widow Thezin, to whom he had been engaged to be married, and afterwards attempted to commit suicide was, on Friday last, brought to trial before the Court of Assizes for the department of the Nord. The facts of the marriage having been fully agreed upon, the contract signed, and the publication of the banns having been made with the assent of the family of the widow, who had agreed that Du jardin should have the guardianship of her two children by her former husband, and also of his having killed his in tended in the manner already mentioned, and then attempted to destroy himself, were fully proved, and, indeed, admitted by Dujardin himself. But, in his defence, he stated, that as the day of marriage approached, the relations of Madame Thezin interfered to prevent it, an d en d eavoured to fill her mind with prejudice against him. On Christmas Day she was so depressed, he said, by the opp os iti on to h er w i s h es, t h at she declared her resolution to dest ro y h erse lf. H e , as h e as serted, resisted this determination till the 27th, when, after having dined and sent her children hack to school, she renewed her melancholy prop osa l s, and at length declared that her re solution was fixed, adding that if he really loved her, he would die with her. Upon this he went to his barracks and got two pistols, one . belongi ng t o t h e serv i ce, an d t h e ot h er a pocket pistol. these they went up to her chamber, where, after writing the lett er o f a di eu t o hi s li eu t enan t, recom mending to his care the orphan of the widow, and his own horse, they embr ace d eac h ot h er f or th e l ast t i me, an d eac h taking a pistol, lev e ll e d a t th e b reas t o f th e o th er an d fi re d. His own ball told, and Madame Thezin dropped down dead. Her tire, however, missed, and thereupon he attempted to destroy himself, but did not succeed. Dujardin's account was, in many points, contradicted. M. Ducange, the notary, who had drawn up the marriage contract, deposed that on the 21st of December, Madame Thezin desired him to annul the contract, for she was determined not to marry again, as her heart was not engaged. Dujardin also admitted that on the 22d he rec e i ve d a letter from her, desiring him not to come to her house again, as she could not love him, and everything was at an end between them ; but this he attri buted to the influence of her brother, who was against the marriage. This the brother, who appeared as a witness, positively denied. The trial lasted till half-past eleven at night, when the jury returned a verdict of guilty of murder, but without premeditation, and with extenuating circum stances ; upon which the court sentenced the prisoner to hard labour at the hulks for 20 years. Dujardin has appealed to the Court of Cessation. ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS THE Subscribers to this Establishment, and the Public, are respectfully informed the FIRST GRAND OPENING FETE OF THE SEASON will take place ON MONDAY NEXT, MAY 16, with the Novel and Extraordinary Exhibitions, and PICTORIAL MODEL OF ROME, the once proud Mistress of the World ; comprising, amongst its most striking features, the Ancient Bridge and Castle of St. Angelo, the Vatican, and Pontifical Palace, the Capital di St. Spirito, and the vast and marvellous 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 those festive occasions also that the celebra ted Girandola, or great FIRE WORKS of ST. ANGELO, are displayed from the summit of the Castle, beyond all com parison the grandest display of Pyrotechnic Art ever invented, being a fac simile of this GORGEOUS FESTIVAL. With these will be given Cascades of Fire Fountains of Stars and tremendous Flights of Rockets, forming a scene of the most inconceivable magnificence ever attempted out of Italy. 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. TO CORRESPONDENTS ." Veritas" arrived too late even for perusal We only decline the letter of " A. B. C." on account of the improper spirit in which the writer expresses himself. We are not aware inwhat respect the paragraph in the STANDARD. on the subject of the late accident on the Bir kenhead and Chester Railway, is incorrect, and we have not either of the papers in which the report of the coroner's inquest appeared. " W. C." must write more legibly. However much we may agree with the sentiments of " NV. A. H.," his letter is couched in language too offen sive for admission into our columns. Ebe Etberpoot gilanbarti. FRIDAY MORNING, MAY 13, 1842 . At length the views of Sir Robert Peel's government, with respect to the Nor Poor-law, are before us; and, although we can scarcely go the length of our me tropolitan contemporaries—the Times and Morning Herald—in reprobation of the spirit in which they are conceived, we cannot but admit that sincere and great disappointment is the feeling with which they have filled our mind. Relaxations in the stringent working of the measure there are, indeed, a few, and those not immaterial ones. The tyranny of Somerset-house is not in future to lord it with such bitter and uncontrolled severity as has been its wont. But the principle— and it is against that which we have ever contended — upon which the authority of that unconstitutional power is based—the centralizing principle—is insisted upon by Sir James Graham with a determination as fixed as Whiggery itself could display—a determination which leaves us little to hope with respect to the mode in which the powers of the Home Office, in his hands, will be used to check the harsh and unbending system as administered by the utilitarian trio over whom the Home Secretary is the only authoritative, controlling power. For six years more the poor of England are to be subject to the tender mercies of this oppressive sys tem; for ever, would it not be better to admit ?—for if the arguments of Sir James Graham are valid for the continuation of the commission for six or three years, even, they are good for its permanent establish ment. It is distinctly admitted by the Right Hon. Baronet that uniformity of management is not the object to attain which the commission is necessary. On the contrary it is boasted now that such uniformity is not even attempted,—that it is the study of this cen tral power to accommodate the working of the system to the circumstances of every locality ;—and by this admission, we contend is swept away at once those specious arguments with respect to uniformity which we always regarded as the only plausible excuse for consigning the powers, which ought to belong to boards of guardians, to the overriding controul of the three commissioners. The existence of this unconstitutional body we may, therefore, now conclude, so far as the present Govern ment is concerned, is to be perpetual. The dietaries— the regulations by which the poor of England are to be fed and managed—are still to be dictated under the hands and seals of the Somerset House authorities. The workhouse test, slightly modified only, is still to Ibe applied to our suffering and deserving poor. The separation of man and wife—of parents and children --is still to be enforced. The union of parishes, and the erection of pauper prisons over the land are still to be persisted in. *We are to have, moreover, a system of general education, combined with pauperism, con ducted upon the "universal" principle, as to religion; and we have only to thank a conservative government for the paltry boon of a few remissions in a system of tyranny which was fast growing too hideous and de basing to be tolerated in the bosom of a free country. We shall return to this subject on an early occasion —when, perhaps, we may be able to examine it with less emotion than we now feel. At present, we must confess, our disappointment and regrets are too poignant to allow us to treat it with proper calmness and delibe ration. The judgment delivered by Mr. Knight Bruce in the Vice-Chancellor's Court, (which we reported in our last publication,) laying down the system of education to be pursued in the schools of Bury St. Edmunds, is too important to be passed over with the brief no tice which we were then able to bestow upon it. In every point that judgment must be held as deciding the law of the question at issue between the Conservative and " Liberal " parties in the Corporation of Liver pool; and it is therefore desirable that the require ments of that law should, in every future discussion of the proceedings, and of the system itself, of the Education Committee, be clearly understood, and, if possible, acted upon. The parity of the cases of the schools of Bury St. Edmunds, and those of the corporation of Liverpoo: is perfect. In both cases there is a fund to which all classes of the community have an equal right—that of Bury St. Edmunds derived from charitable bequests, the sale of church plate, &c., and that of Liverpool from the dues of the town and the rents of the corpo ration. In both cases a surplus portion of that fund is appropriated to the purposes of education—to the education of all classes of the community, who have an equal right to the funds by which it is provided. The question then at issue, in both cases, is with re spect to the kind of education which it is incumbent upon those who have the disposal of such funds to provide for the community's use. " If there be any education," says the new Vice- "it must clearly be accompanied by in struction in religion ; for, without religion, education would be a byeword and a complete mockery." And again—" I can very well understand the argument, that no part of the funds of the charity ought to be applied to the purposes of education ; that is perfectly intelligible ; but it would be worse than mockery to say that there should be education without religious instruc- Chancellor, Lion." Here then we find it distinctly laid down that any education provided for the public use from sources similar to those referred to must be a religious educa- tion. But of what description ? it may be asked. The system in use in these very schools was, like that in our own corporation schools, to a certain extent, of a religious character. It embraced the daily reading of the scriptural extracts prepared for the use of the Irish national schools, and the authorised version of the scriptures, or " such part thereof as the trustees shall think proper." It approximated, moreover, more nearly to our ideas of a scriptural education than the system of the late Education Committee, for it provided that "no other religious instruction besides the Select Extracts and the authorised version of the Bible"—no Douay version—no breviaries or missals—" should be introduced into the schools." And yet this cutting down of religion into shreds— this substitution of an unreal, unsubstantial, cold ab straction for the vital and lifelike presence of religious teaching—is not what the law requires to fulfil its in terpretation of that which ought to be entwined with any system of education provided for public use from public funds. Such a system is defective—to use the expression of the Vice-Chancellor--" not because it does not provide for religious instruction, according to the doctrines and practice of the Church of England; but because it does not provide at all, for what he can call religious instruction !" The law s ays there must be " exposition of the scrip tures " — that "religio n can not be taught without interpretation" ! There must too be "a standard" somewhere ; and it is urged by the Vice-Chancellor—" what standard can the court have, or with propriety adopt, other than the established religion of the country ?" The education, then, must he a religions education ; it must be a scriptural edu cation ; and, more than that, it must he education in the scriptures as interpreted by the Church of Eng land. To no other system will the law give its sanc tion ; and upon this system, if appealed to, the law will insist. But even further than this (and the point is worthy of the serious attention of the Education Committee) the law will go ; and in its anxiety for the efficient working of the system which it prescribes, it requires. that " the masters and mistresses " of such schools "must be members of the Church of England." For " suppose the schoolmaster to be a conscientious ana baptist—what then ? Is there to be no exposition of the scriptures ? If there were to be, then the parties must look out for some gentleman professing all the tolerated religions in the country. A master, not be lieving in the doctrine of the Trinity, may be called on to interpret such portions of the scripture as relate to that doctrine, and he may do that which is too general with regard to the Bible, namely, skip those parts which present the difficulty." And again—without a stand ard of teaching anti a test with respect to teachers, " the varieties of religions taught would be as infinite as the changes of dissent are perpetual !" In every similar school, therefore, the religious teaching must be not only in the tenets of the Church of England, but the law insists that it must be under the direction of masters and mistresses belonging to that church. The concluding remarks of the Vice-Chancellor in giving this judgment are very striking, and not a little startling. The case before us, it must be borne in mind,' was ultimately disposed of by agreement of all parties in favour of a modified system, to be conducted by Church of England teachers and upon Church of England principles—of a system, in fact, closely re sembling that adopted in our own town by the present Education Committee. "In my opinion," says Mr. Knight Bruce, " every party in the town is equally entitled to the benefit of the charity,"—(as in Liverpool, it is justly contended that the surplus income of the Corporation Estate should be so expended as to con duce to the advantage of all classes and parties in the community ;)—" and I only sanction this scheme, on the clear understanding at the bar, that all parties agree to it in its present modified shape." The children of Dissenters were not entitled, of right, to any remission of the attendances at the Church of England services and teachings, which was permitted under the agree ment, which, for the sake of peace, he was unwilling to disturb. " Had not all parties agreed," he con tinues,—and we would here earnestly call the attention of those gentlemen in the council, and particularly of Mr. G. H. Lawrence, Mr. Alderman Turner, and others, who favour a further relaxation of the present system, to let in the children of Ro man Catholics and Dissenters, to the significant lan guage made use of,—" had not all parties agreed, I should have entertained great difficulty in directing education at all ; but I think they have exercised a sound discretion in giving a portion of the town the benefits of education, restricted in the way directed, rather than in withholding all benefit of education from the community of Bury." The fact is here distinctly before us, and before those who contend for a further dilution of the principle of scriptural education to pro pitiate popery and dissent, that even our present modi fied system is only tolerated by the law ; that we have no choice, legally, between a strict Church of England system of education in our schools and no education derived from any public funds. The present sys tem, even, would, in all probability, be upset upon an application to a court of law; and with certainty this would be the case, if a more lax and "liberal" sys- tern—we- presume we must term it—were permitted to he introduced. Unquestionably education, even of a portion of its humbler classes, must be a benefit to any community. We wish, as earnestly as the most "liberal" of the council, to extend as widely as we can to the industri ous population of Liverpool that benefit. 'We cannot, however, on principle, consent to the introduction of any system of education which is not based upon a faithful teaching of the truths of Scripture ; and we here put it to those who are more disposed to bend upon this point than we are, that in real fact the law itself will not sanction such a departure from the prin ciple of scriptural, or even Church of England educa tion. Every obstacle thrown in the way of the modi fied system at present in operation, by friends or by opponents, is in reality an obstacle thrown in the way of any education being offered by the Corporate Estate to our destitute fellow-townsmen ; for, weaken the present system by the adoption of ad captandum re laxations of the religious teaching which is combined with it, and the law will step in and say that you shall either adhere strictly to all its requirements, or resign the duty of education altogether. Surely there is no party in the council, or in the , borough, who can contemplate with satisfaction a re sult so fraught with evil as would be the breaking up of our schools, and the abandonment of our rising generation to absolute ignorance ! And yet such, we repeat, must be the result of a continued obstruction of the working of the present system. We leave the subject here to the serious consideration of both par ties in the council. Our amusing and sweet-tempered friend of the Times, we are happy to observe, has at length arrived at the useful knowledge of his own exceeding liability to blunder. " Aliquando dorrnitat bonus Hornerus." Even the sage of Castle-street nods sometimes, and confuses his wondering readers, although he may not exactly " shake Olympus," or even disturb the gra vity with which the statue of Britannia turns her back upon " the flags " of our Exchange and " the lads " thereof. We must give the world the benefit of our contem porary's confession. Referring to the statements in a paragraph, which we sheaved last week contained al most as many blunders as lines, our humbled philoso pher remarks— " There was one mistake in our paragraph we allow, for We took it for granted, after the clear demonstration given of the injustice which might be inflicted by the operation of the schedules, and after Sir ROBERT Nees admission in the following paragraph," (which by the way contains no admission at all as we read it,) " that this attempt to extort the tax on income, from men not possessed of an income. would have been abandoned ; but in this it seems we were mistaken." ONE mistake—excellent sage ! And what, pray, might be that one mistake ? Why this, says the ." We took it for granted" (!) that a certain proposition in the Income-tax Bill " would be Jaban doned." Sublime of journalists ! You took for Times :—' granted that a thing would be, and wrote that it had been. You drew upon your own small stock of dis cernment, and foisted your bad bill upon the world as sterling coin. Carry out this excellent principle of journalism, and we shall have the Times some of these days " taking it for granted " that the equestrian sta tue of George the Third in Monument-place has trot ted down to the Times-office to make a call ; and be furnished with an imaginary report of an imaginary conversation of the monarch (or his steed) with its imaginative editor ! But is it t rue t h at the Times only committed one mistake in the paragraph in question ? The " lit era scripta Inanet," and the can therefore examine again. The income-tax, wrote the Times, " progresses, if not very fast, at least fast enough." At the time that this was written, it had not progressed at all, fast or even " fast enough." It only " progressed " on the Mon day night, about the time when our contemporary go es to press; and he was here only—taking it for granted ! Again : " All its most grinding clauses have been agreed to, with the single exception of that which compelled a man engaged in two businesses, one pro fitable and the other losing, to pay on the profits of the one without any allowance for the losses of the other." The passing of " all the most grinding clauses" is here again "taken for granted." Yet up to the con c l us i on of Monday night--after ou r contem porary had gone to p re ss, and perhap s to s l eep (if such a sage ever sleeps)—the House had only got to the 88th clause of a bill which contains one hundred and eighty-eight clauses ! profitable and the other losing," our contemporary Again : with respect to the "two b us i nesses , one