The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-02-26 00:00:00

L e THE LIVERPOOL fI'ANDARD., PEZRUAMW M. N 6. The a►iahaptist, perhaps, does not wish to see the fount where he was first presented lest it should grate upon this holier reminiscences of the brook or the horsepond. But even this is not confessed ; so that, after fishing on all sides, the only objection worth noticing is that of the lioeinians relative to the Trinity. The religious scruples or a unitarian ! The delicacy 'of a costermonger! The aromatic perfume of a lamp lighter ! It is true that the members of this sect do not, as they say, believe in the Three Persons of the God head—and how they can believe in the bible, and not be lie this, we cannot comprehend—but what has their belief or unbelief to do with the wcirds of a ceremony initiatory of a contract which would not be more or less binding if the objectionable words were omitted? We Cannot discover the force of the alleged scruples. If Miss EnpnEmra ANABELLA SMITH be about to be wed to Mr. JostAs B. SNOOKs, did the form of the marriage ce remony ever prove the subject of discussion during their most interesting courtship ? If it did, then we protest against such people being married at. all, for most un questionably they would tear each other's eves out, about some matter equally unimportant, before the expiration of the first matrimonial fortnight. But, if the truth were known, it would appear that they never once thought of any objectionable words in the ceremony. They had anxieties, probably, but no scruples. The lady may have cherished some gentle misgivings relative to the per formance of JUSIAS' VOWS, but she had no fears as to the perfect innocence and, propriety of the ceremony it self. Neither of them ever dreamt that they were com promising their unitarian teuetsby hearing certain words uttered in their presence. But the worthy JOST AS is a conscientious man ! Grant ed; but he is also an unitarian ; anti, if desirous to ease . his conscience, what is to prevent him from distorting the meaning of the offensive words, and-explaining - away the construction of opposing texts, as his sect invariably do with the hostile passages of scripture ? We should like to know how a scrupulous unitarian would act in case of a legacy being left him in these words :—" In the name of the FATHER, SON, and HOLY GHOST, I give and he -queath to my nephew (so and so) the sum of five hundred pounds." Would he have any scruples about receiving the money ? Not he ; and yet he is overwhelmed with scruples in a matter of trifling importance, simply be cause it serves him as a cover for attacking the Church of England. However, these scruples are to be respected in future ; for Lord JOHN RUSSELL has brought in a bill to enable dissenters to be married in their own conventicles, or in private houses, by any priest or layman, by clown or cobbler, in any form or manner they please, between the hours of nine o'clock in the morning and three o'clock in tile afternoon. But we strongly suspect the dissenters will not thank him for the inquisitorial powers which the bill confers upon certain bull dogs, who are to watch the chapels, and be hereafter called registrars. Of these per sons we shall speak presently ; meanwhile let us wade through the bill. .Ist. After the Ist day of January next no clergyman - of the Church of England can be compelled to publish bans unless lie thinks proper to do so. The operation of this clause will be, that none but friends and favoured persons will have the honour of having their bans pub lished in the Church of England. 2d. Registrars are to be appointed in every parish and -district of England—this will be rare patronage !—to Whom all matrimonial candidates are to apply in the first instance. The registrar books them ; and, at the end of twenty-one days, he will give them a certificate that they have been booked, for which they are to pay one shilling. This certificate allows a clergyman of the Church of Eng land to marry them, upon payment of the ordinary fees. The same registrar is authorised to sell licenses for ma trimony, at a week's date, for £3—,exclusive of the stamp duty. 3d. •Marriages can only be celebrated, out of the Church of England, in such chapels as are licensed places at .public worship, and are registered for the special pur pose of celebrating marriages in the books of the district registrar. In these chapels they are prohibited from us ing the marriage rites of the Church of England. They may perform any ceremony they plegye--.--they may dance at sing—they may harangue each other or he dumb --they may sit with their hats on or sit upon their hats—all that the certified bridegroom is re quired by the bill ter Say to. thejAntihingbut certificated bride, before two witnesf.es , ,: ,- i.,,Ear,:y/44,• . t0r fey lawful wife." Marriages, hovieter, be 'celebrated in the office of the registrar, in any form lie pleases, only the words above quoted must be used. - • 4th. What we are about to state is the most comical of all the enactments, and the one which the dissenters will kick at most furiously. No marriage is allowed to be -celebrated, even in these chapels registered for the pur pose, except in the presence of the registrar and two witnesses. He must superintend the whole of the inte resting ceremony. The bride cannot be given away un less he be a witness of the transfer and consignment. "The union will not be complete unless lie declare it tobe so. Lord JOHN, the friend of the dissenters, will not allow his " dear friends" to marry or give in marriage 'according to their own fancy. He cannot. trust his scru pulous and conscientious friends. The registrar must be present, like a bailiff in possession of a house for debt. The dissenter, ambitious of marriage in his own chapel, must submit to be obtruded upon by the dog in office. The cur must be allowed to bark at the beggar. In short.the whole ceremony will be like those scenes pecu liarly Irish, where PAT marries JUDY through the inter cession of the priest, and with the consent of a police ' officer, under a threat of criminal prosecution, and the •fear of the gallows. If the dissenters approve of all this we are content. If they are grateful to Lord JOHN so are we. if they are satisfied with this bum•bailiff sort of matrimony we have no reason to be otherwise. They objected to Sir ROBERT PEEL'S measure of last session ; now they have one from their inestimable friend Lord JOll%, which, in our humble opinion, is a thousand times more objection able, if it be not positively insulting. On this ground alone it ought to be rejected. But that is their business, not ours. The difference between a marriage celebrated in a re gistered chapel, and one celebrated in the office of the .registrar, consists simply of the difference of cost. The one in the chapel is only to be charged one shilling—in, the office the price is ten shillings, and cheap enough too considering the wear and tear of carpets and other fur niture. It is, however, provided that in both places the time must be from nine to three—and not with closed • doors. We have left ourselves little room to offer any obser- ' Nations upon these the principal enactments of this pre cious bill. But some of them are so fraught with danger to the peace of families that we must give them a brief iaotice. It appears to - ,!s that the provisions of the bill are calculated to increase the number of clandestine mar , . riages. There is no publicity whatever made as to the ) i iii, , , intention of tha parties seeking matrimony. A man has ,Only to certify that he and his intended wife have lived the district of the registrar for a month—a convenient period at a fashionable watering-place—and he procures a person—the ldndlord of the inn of course--whom the registrar knows—who certifies that what the applicant states is true. This being done twenty-one days soon pass over, and the pair are wedded, without a friend or relative or the public knowing any thing of their inten tions. It is true that on paying a shilling, any person, . showing good reasons for examining the register will be allowed to examine it ; but in these matters the parent, f , , r nu'st interested, is the last person who is entrusted with at , h , the secret. Thousands of marriages are prevented by )11 1 the publication of bans, but by the new bill no publica- O R , tion of any kind is required. The commons may pass 5- 4 such an absurd measure as this, and a dangerous mea sure to boot, for it is like the politics of Loid JOHN ; but the lords, we trust, the conservators of public morals, ,will'extinguish it. Qiy l e,fii9 74 . 92.70 Tile' House oT Commons , on Tuesday evening, endea -" ,e 9 Mired to convey a censure against o , r , ,tige.L odges, in a 7 e :',o! .. ' t : fo'r t iiijof' an impotent resolution. Ihe originators of y - ii-itasure are, of course, the popish patty who have made JOSEPH H mr, their cat's paw. on—the occa sion. ' But will it subserve their purpose ? No. If they wish to put down Orange Lodges in Ireland they must first suppress the tyraimy of the priests, and punish the whole race of beggars and incendiaries. The Orange s4stem is one of defence and self-preservation, and al it is to be regretted that such a mode of protec ,on is deemed necessary, still we cannot condemn it so ,ong as the evils which afflict Ireland in the shape of a pestilent priesthood, and a debauched and demoralized population, with whom crime is sport, are suffered to prevail. At any rate we are convinced that the resolution of the House of Commons will haVe no beneficial' effect upon either party. It may furnish grounds of triumph to the one, but it will mortify and irritate the other. It will embolden the orangemen to cling faster than ever to their clubs and combinations ; for in it they will see a determination on the part of the present government and their popish allies to crush, if they can, and utterly ex tirpate the protestant religion in Ireland. The attempt, we venture to predict,;will fail ; but the consequences will be dreadful. A small but instructive l amphlet has been placed in our hands, signed " An Edinburgh Burgess of 1786," which exposes a scheme of contemplated robbery, in which his majesty's ministers are rather seriously in volved. 'We do notmean to say that these 11°11°41 - able persons appear in a new character On the contrary, it is one in strict keeping with that which they have played ever since they entered office, and were: permit ted to make the reign of WILLIAM the FOURTH . the.most , unfortunate reign since the expulsion of the insane and despotic STUARTS. Unhappily for the nation, the whigs have been fat' many years the popular party. This 'popularity sprang 'from the concession which ignOrance invariably makes to false liberality. The -multitude pay respect.toyretensiona= to enlarged principles avowed—and to unbounded pro mises never intended to be redeemed. The mass of men have no means of putting the sincerity of professing pa triots to the test. They take their words as the indexes of their intentions. The loudest talker, and the vainest boaster, is presumed to be the greatest patriot, simply because he who runs the least rihk of being called upon to perform his promises, is the more likely to advocate a class of vulgar opinions which he well knows he has not the power to carry into effect. Levity in principle is, agreeable to the profane. His declarations, which cost no thing, are universally admired, and like the man _who throws handfulls of shillings among a crowd of beg gars, he is extolled for magnificence and charity which have no other seat but in his vanity and pride. We have an example of this in Sir JOHN CAM Hon- HOUSE. He lulled the sausage-grinders of Westmin ster into the notion that he hated flogging in the army and navy, that he was an intense hater of long parlia ments, and a standing army in time of peace, and al that sort of popular rubbish that goes down like good beer into the receptacle of intelligence, the stomach of a Westminster coal-porter. But no sooner was the said Sir CAM appointed Secretary of War under the Whig government than lie forgot all his principles—flogged on as his predecessors did—sent annual parliaments also to the halberts—sent universal suffrage to the knackers — trundled all former pledges to the auction-room, laughed at his early opinions, and consoled himself that quarter day made every amends for quackery and inconsistency. As Sir JOHN CAM HOBROUSE acted, all the whigs have acted. They have given us certain reforms which are questionable improvements; but they have given us nothing in the shape of reform or otherwise which has not been purchased at the expense of a job, entailing useless men, at exorbitant salaries, upon the country — extending patronage to the most frightful extent—creat ing emoluments for hungry friends under the pretext of enquiring into abuses, but, in reality, for no other pur pose than to render government influence as powerful as patrona - ge and pay can•make it. The whigs—the popular party-=the friends of the people have done this reckless of all sense of decency or shame ; and yet, degraded though they be, and generally execrated as they are by the people of England, they have contrived, by the aid of a popish rebel in Ireland, to hold their places arid promote their revolutionary de signs. How long they will be permitted to continue in this course depends upon the forbearanceand good nature of our countrymen. We mistake much, however, if the whigs do not speedily destroy themselves by their own acts. They have tampered:oo'. ;yialently pnblic credulity. .EXposure will; be their i nto ;.•.0.;,(16edS they have done in the dark will,fre,iexsilai,teclitille fae of 'day ; and , when the torn : from .their innumerable and flagitious jobs,,their hour 'of annihilation . will come. Would we had space to present a brief enumeration of these jobs I The 'various commissions have been to them a fruitful experiment—to the public a wanton waste of the national resources. The municipal bill has placed thousands of their needy creatures in office—made justices of insolvents, and, in some places, councillors of men who had been tried for felony. Four-fifths'of all the new councillors and borough magistrates are dissenters. The poor law bill has extended their patronage at the ex pense 'of the helpless and the miserable. It is now a crime to be a pauper in England. In Ireland, none who is mit a partisan - of their master rebel has the slightest chance of preferment. New offices have been created for popish attorneys. Every institution is unsettled, and lawyers flourish upon the wreck of reform. Even the sacred offices of the church and the universities are ran sacked for the sake of patronage. A Socinian bishop sits with a popish priest in a commission for directing and superintending national education. A Socinian doctor has been appointed a professor of theology in the University of Oxford. The Church of Scotland has been placed under the surveillance of three or four raw advocates and solicitors,without any pretensions to learn ing, intelligence, ,or independence. Even a high office in the College of St. Andrews has been jobbed away to a near relative of the Attorney-General. ln short, turn which way we will, we find the whigs aiming at supreme and permanent power by means of patronage, or rather by a corrupt and profligate abuse of patronage. The case of the corpotation of Edinburgh, and the dock estate of Leith, referred : t.O in the pamphlet which we noticed at the beginning of this article merits ex posure by itself. The municipal corporations of Scotland were reformed in 1833; but as far as Edinburgh is con cerned, the reformers ata.,ayowedly incompetent to carry on the affairs of that arity.-. They were involved by old pecuniary engagements, and having no self-sustaining credit; they have thought fit to . throw themselves upon the mercy of the government.: : I ; lnable to conduct their own affairs, they asked for and.received the assistance of Mr. Lanouctmag,. of the BOard of Trade, who has ex amined their books, in the style Of a . third rate account ant, and presented a report thereon, addressed to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. It would not surprise us to see the same gentleman commissioned to examine and adjust the affairs of the reformed corporation and the dock estate of Liverpool ! If so, bond-holders, look to your money ! - The debts of the city of Edinburgh amount to £402,000. Mr. LABOUCHERE proposes to fleece the creditors of one fourth part of this sum—rob them in the roost barefaced manner—and give them bonds far the remaining 75 per cent. bearing 3 per cent. interest ! The radicals of Edinburgh, in all justice, ought to be taxed to pay their lawful creditors. But,illr. LAI3OUCHERE is considerate— Edinburgh and Leith return the Whigs to parliament ! The dock estate of Leidi owes £236,000, and it is said that the trade of the port demands an extension of dock accommodation. There is no inadequacy of revenue to meet the interest of the debt. The difficulty is, how to extend the docks, and pay the interest of the old debt. Mr. LABOUCIIERE solves this difficulty in a trice. He pro poses to cancel one half of the debt, or £llB,OOO, at once, leaving the remainder to be cancelled at another opportunity in case of need. By this vile jub, for which there is no excuse whatever, the public are to be plun dered of £236,000 to serve the dirty purposes, and pro mote the foolish vagaries of the constituents of the Soli citor-General, At t orney-Genel al, and the Speaker of the ' House of Counnins. In the pamphlet - % hich is before us the whole job is - exposed in a most masterly wanner, and the propositions of Mr. LABOUCHERE proved to be little, better than fraud. rhe gist of the thing is this. The people of Edinburgh will not pay their just4ebts, and consequently the cre ditor's are to be defrauded by an act of parliament. The people of Leith imagine that new docks would increase their trade, which-is a mistake ; but they have got this foolish notion into their heads, and they are determined to have new docks. They have, however, no money to build docks with ; therefore the public must be robbed of £236,000. That is the whole story in as few words as possible. The interest of the three whig membars for Edinburgh and Leith must he consulted no matter who starves or is cheated. There was yesterday a public meeting at the Sessions'- house, over which the Mayor presided, for the purpose of considering the policy of petitioning for the repeal of the newspaper stamp duty. Mr. COGLAN, Mr. JAMES BRANCKER, and Mr. RATIMON E were the leading persons present. Now we should like to be informed what Mr. COGLAN and the other Worthies know, or can possibly know, of the bearings of this very complicated question. The Mayor, we regret to say, delivered a speech that was singularly stupid. His principal argument in favour of repeal was that magistrates could not be found to inflict the penalties against the violators of the stamplaWs. Why, Mr. Mayor ? Because certain magistrates support a bad administration that is in alliance with the radical, scamps and cheats,who violate the If a law must be repealed simply because the law is' broken, what security has any' than, for' the payment of - rent? It is easy for a rogue . to-say , I. wont'pay"--or, •‘I will cheat," but is .he to be protected because lie is perseveringly dishonest ? Such is the Mayor's .ariu ment. As for the repeal of the stamp duty we do not care one straw whickway it goes. If repealed the radical press will suffer most severely by competition. The new legion will eat the old legion up. If the conservatives be com pelled to measure swords with the cheap press, or the penny press, we know who will come off worse. Our whig contemporaries, we suspect, will not thank the Mayor, or those literary personages, Messrs. COGLAN, RATHBONE,,and LAWRENCE HEYWORTH. for by this time he was strapped to the plank. The assist ants withdrew their arms from his supaort; and one of them removing the black nightcap exposed the bare head of the old man and its fine white hairs, which the. cold north breeze agi tated. A general exclamation of pity burst forth; but the plank was descending—was then pushed forwardt-the,knife fell and terminated the existence of " as quietly brave a man." said one of the 'executioners afterwards, "as ever died!" Fieschi turned not his:head; but a tap on the shoulder from one of the executioners roused him, and he moved briskly to the scaffold. He mounted the first two steps slowly; but, recollecting himself, resumed the performance of his part, and finished it with gaiety. He was—unlike the rest—attended on the scaffold by his con fessor, the Abbe Grivet.* His Lee was more pale than at any previous moment„ while his fidgetty restlessness continued, ue ye rtheless, undiminished. After having exchanged a few words privately with his confessor, Fieschi bent his head towards him, and received a warm embrace. The priest then retired, and Fieschi, having obtained leave, addressed the spectators in a few incoherent words, the burden of which was—" That which I have stated before man I swear now before God. It was all true. I have saved my country! I have spoken the truth." This peroration over, he resumed his part. Rushing to the plank, he wished to precipitate his fate ; but the - adroit persons in whose hands he found himself left him no time to complain of delay. hi an instant he was pushed under and enclosed iu the grove through which the axe falls. T hat fatal im p lement, still dropping blood, descended upon him, and he ceased to live, in exactly four minutes from the time at which he and his victims descended from the vehicles in which they had-been brought to the place of execution. The remains of Fieschi were then placed in the basket. Do zens of pails of water welts then poured on the scaffold by the horrid men who had assisted in the tragedy, and afterwards on the pavement beneath, which was for a considerable space de luged with blood. The remains of the executed men were then carried off under an escort. The troops withdrew, the crowd began to disperse, the carpent ers to take down the guillotine and its scaffold (those precisely used in the execution of King Louis Philip's father, and of the the thousand others guillotined during the first revolution), and in twenty minutes nearly all who'had witnessed the scene of death had withdrawn. Those who had desired to be spectators, and who had been kept back by the soldiers, rushed forward in thousands to see all that could be seen, and at this titue .1 retired. I returned again, for a particular reason, about twelve o'clock. A group of men, wo men, and boys, were still on the spot. The guillotine and scaf fold' were by this time mounted on waggons, in the Faubouro, Just . outside the barrier, objects of horror and curiosity. The . ..executioner and his principal assistants. were yet at hrealfast in theeoaret, before the doom of which the gUillotine, &c., still reniaitied. have arrived at,tlre,end of my revolting narrative, and am glad of it. haVe seen three fellow -bein g s— t hree g uilt y men - if you before' my eyes. The nature of the impres sion produced upon me personally by the scene is of no conse quence, but it would be instructive to learn its effects upon the public mind. ,Was it. desired by the country, although sanc tioned and direetKl by the law? Will it have terminated trea son, and plots, and conspiracies, and have deterred from the perpetration of murder and regicide for ever? Will it have re stored popularity to the king, and removed that (but two well founded) dread of assassivatiou in which his majesty has noto riously lived during now four or five years ? Will it have ren dered preciiutiop .superfluous'? • Will it, in short, have proVed one jot inure than that men are mortal? If nut, it will have signally failed in its great purpose. Fieschi wrote a great number of letters between. .the'periods at which he was condemned and executed. Some of these were in answer to 4adies Who wrote to inns for the-purpose of obtain ing his autograph! Pepin is supposed to have made disclosures and was urged at the last Moineut to.say more but this he de clinedkiing. These it is • said Will be laid before the public. The body of Pepin was given up to his friends for interment ; those of Morey aud - Fieschi . Were Sent- the surgeons fur dissec on. . * This respectable clergyman had a difficult penitent to ma nage in Fiesehi; i ‘vho"--;-half savage, half superstitious—carried with hint to the scaffold, it is to be feared, much of the natural ferocity his life had develOped.• He' was eternally raving about M. Lavocat during'the cutting of his hair, and while the other preparations for his death were proceeding in the Luxembourg. " I leave my head to M.. Lavocat;"• he cried out repeatedly, " I call you. all to witnes4 toy bequest. I bequeath toy head to M. Lavocat, my si,ul to God, and my body to the earth." Finding, that M. hadnot arrived, he cried out "where is M. La vocat? If he come not I shall die one of the d—d." The Abbe Grivet ran overto hith ihstautly;reproved hint gently, and hold ing a - cracifii to his' lips, Fiesclikissed it, fervently. THE LIVER THEATRE. The principal attraction at the Liver during the present week has been the laughable jets d'esprit of " The Jewess," parodied for the double purpose of burlesquing the original drama, and of caricaturing the authors of me . ungenerous but successful stratagem which prevented the production of that play at this theatre. The public is fully aware of the shabby p roc eedings resorted to in order to effect that object; and the fact is equally notorious that the actors and actresses engaged, but not per initted to appear at the „Liver, are actually hired to exhibit themselves in the Theatre-royal in the identical costumes which they would . . have - worn had their first contract been fulfilled. Well knowing' these 'Ciicumstanees, the audiences who have witnessed the performances of the travestie were.predisposi , d to point its satire, and therefore may be said to have given a more rapid flight to every arrow - . taketa•from the author's quiver of ridicule. Of the travestie little need be said. It is evidently a hasty composition, but the leading events of the .play are preserved, and some of the hits at the monopoly are cleverly introduced. The principal characters are those of ;Master Leopold Jones, cHanunond,) and Thwiy O'Forrest,- (Raymond.) The first, the' on of a Lord Mayor of London, is represeuted as an anti quated exquisite of former times; one of those un-idea'd things who appear to exist only for the purpose of ' c aricaturing immu nity ; in the hands o f Hammond, Leopold Jones is repre ,, ented sats4creaturet t w h r h o o ug c h a car, h neither c s y p ( e )f t a s c m t , a n n o r Ti t i l a t iT y k 0 , 7 0 ' even et. Throughout the piece Hammond never relaxes from the a.uto mat.on-like appearance he assumes iu the fit st scene, and he also perfectly understands the quiet humbur which causes laughter in others, while he himself preserves the must imperturbable graVity of countenance. Indeed the audience might reasonably doubt svirether.his Unpaid Joaes.cutild ur ever did laugh. In the closing scene the whole of the characters appear on the stage and sing a finale. The verse assigned to Thady O'Forrest is, we believe, to the following. effect : " sadly bother'd what to say,— But sure I'll speak out any way— - Leave without license 0 ; We got our turtle-soup, good truth, When Old Monopoly got wroth, And changed our soup to mutton-broth: Leave without license.o." The house has been crowded every night.—Mrs..Raymond's benefit takes place On . Monday night. She is well known as an agreeable and exceedingly clever actress, and' on these grounds. has claims upon•the public which will, .no sloubt, be amply rewarded. tow t ILM9SVO edl • TAXI S ON KNOWLEDGE" Yesterday a public Meeting of the inhabirintsnf .thisAciwn Was held in the Sessions'-house, convened by the T.• MaVor, in accordance with a requisition presented to hint," 'About"23o persons were assembled. At one o'clock;the,hettr the,Mavor 'entered,. the court amidst loud cheers, arid took,the chair; was followed by Mr. Coglan, lilr. , ,Brown,.lNlr. E. Sreit, Mr. Hope, Dir. Rathbone, Mr. JaMes Branker, Mr., L. Hecworth, and several other gentlemen.' • The MAYOR then rose and said, that in consequence of a.re quisition which he had received, and whichhe would. hand Over to the Town-clerk to read to them; he had convened that meet ing to take into consideration the most important subject of which that requisition treated. The TOWN-CLERK then toad the requisition, to which were attached a number of signatures. The requisition prayed the Mayor to convene a meeting to petition for the repeal of the tax on newspapers, and all other taxes on knowledge. • The Mayon again rose. He could scarcely imagine any oc casion on which the proper applications of the inhabitants were presented to him, that he should not feel it his duty as well as his warm inclination to comply with them. that they might legally declare their opinions in public. (Cheers.) It', therefore, he made a general statement of his predisposition to comply with their requests, they would readily belie ee that on a subject like the presen', he not only had no hesitation, but he felt the greatest alacrity iu complying with their wishes. (Cheers.) Of course the gentlemen who had signed that requisition would come pre pared with resolutions for their adoption, and be prepared to advocate those resolutions. It would, therefore, ill become him to antieipatetheir opinions; but he might be permitted to say one word entire subject The first object of the legislature was to form laws which would have for their object the well being of society, and it was the first duty of society to obey thoshlaws. But, if in the course of their experience they found that those laws, however well intended, failed in their effect and became a dead letter, so that nu magistrate could c onvict—if trts:le . r t , b h ei u r t such a period arrived, it then became the dutyof then legisla ture to reconsider those laws, ir o, i 4 t teg a ltrip vie a view modification, modification, -or their total repeal. With respect 'to the laws on the - subject of unstamped be no doubt whatever that they could ' not - ,Pe.,carried into publications, there could effect. He did not mean .to defend those peraans:,whnillegally entered into the province of the ti the fair and legitimate trader shonfdbil..Put'on fairfbotieg with them. The inflictiou of Abe po;j'altoe' incurred bi the in fraction of those laws had been an-object of the greatest' 'kill to the magistrates. It was only the iv#o;ybefoiellio last that his excellent friend, Mr. Hall, and hiMself,,ware'Obliged to iuffict a penalty on an offender a gainst these laws for the site 'of illegal publications. The penalty was a very heavy one, and they had • mitigated into the lowest sum. But they found afterwards that even this heavy penalty Was insufficient to prevent the recur rence of the offence, for after the conviction they were told, what had very- properly beets withheld from them by thentlM7 neys before, that this was the second or third conviction fur the same offence, by the same individual. There could be no rea son to suppose that those persons who exclaimed against the licentiousness of those cheap publications, should not be de sirous to do all in their power to give the same field of refuting their licentiousness to the respectable prints. He, therefore, thought that the best interests of society would be consulted by a repeal of those laws. It would exert the abilities and talents of the people; and it would improve society. He scarcely anticipated arty difference of opinion on this subject; if such should arise, he was sure that the persons who proposed that meeting were too enlightened to prevent any expression of opi nion whether favourable or otherwise. ( bard cheering.) Mr. HOPE took some blame to himself fps not having been a party to the requisition; he had - .endeavoured all in his power to make up for that omission by offering to propose a resolution.—Por which, with the following resolutions ' see advertisement.] —There could be no doubt but that sound edu cation tended to security, to morality, and good order. He did not mean to confine education as applicable only to chil dren, but as applicable to all ages and conditions of men. For there appeared to him to be no greater mistake committed than to conclude that education should cease when child ea left school. To him it appeared that it ought to continue through every part of their lives. The education of children was ma.nly confined to books; but with reference to adults there was no way of promoting education but by means of the press, and there was no part of the press so likely to convey it as the news papers A newspaper conveyed information of events affecting the welfare of this and every country; it became thus interest ing to all ranks and conditions of men, and there was no one but must derive informatiou and instruction from it. It con veyed to the merchant information as to the market; to the con sumer it told the cost of the material; to the grower as to the value of his produce ; and to the artizan it told what was the value of his labour. By thus rnixiug itself up in the every day concerns of life, it possessed a must potent influence. For, as the great leviathan reviewer of the north had said, "the greiatest revolutions in the mural and physical world were brought. about by things of small moment, it was the worm whieh produced the choral rock on which the proudest. vessel might be wrecked." it was,l he added , " b y t he influence. of silent , means that the nation was rapidly pr o c eedin g f or the.bettor or the worse." That the press was a p owerful engine they Must allow—that it w..s ulwaultis.nnoiteteirunuedsetaihue e th n e gin us e e o u f f e c v ti il it t e h l y bneiticasitisaednthlie ;knife h t LONDON LATEST NEWS. City, Wednesday Evening, Half-past Secen o'clock. Some apprehensions are entertained for the safety of the Scorpion packet, with the Lisbon mail of the 10th ult., which sailed from the Portuguese capital on the 3lst, as we have dates here by vessels which left Lisbon as late as the Bth instant, and the boisterous state of the weather adds to the forebodings. 'We have an arrival from Sydney with advices to the 20th September. They contain sundry protests on the part of inern 7 hers of the council against the estimates for the year 1836. With this exception, the intelligence they convey is of no importance. The settlement of the consol account took place to-day, and passed over with very little notice. The quotation for Money is 914, and for the new Account 911 a. Exchequer Bills bear a premium of 19 to 21, and India Bonus are at 4 to 5. In the Foreign Market there has been a complete panic since our last, the bonds, which during last week were 48L suddenly falling after the close of Monday's business to 44, at which price they were done in the various coffee-houses contiguous to the Stock - Exchange. The reaction from this decline has been at 45, at which they closed this afternoon. There is sonic de gree of heaviness in the Portuguese Bonds, which are at 88 for the 5 per Cents., and 523 for the 3 per Cents. The general appearance of the trams-Atlantic Bonds has not been quite so good as for the last week or two. Columbian Bonds are 313 to 32k, Chilian are 49, and Mexican 351 to 361. The Northern Stocks are steady. Russian are 1111, Dutch 5 per Cents. 1041, and Belgian 1034. It is, however, almost impossible to describe the increased speculation displayed by the Share Market, and in every de scription of railway shares the business done has been to an immense extent. Loudon and Birmingham Shares are 125 per share, Greenwich are 30 per share, Gravesend are 11 prem., Dover Shares are prem., Calcutta and Saugur are 1 prem., Stevenson's Brighton are 17i per share, Great - Western are 331 . per share, Birmingham and Derby Shares are 124 to 13, Bir mingham and Gloucester are 9, Preston and \Vyre (with £3 paid) are 12 per share, the Leeds and Manchester are at 114 12. Southampton, which shares were at a discount a few days back, are at 84 prem., and among the numerous others there is scarcely any one not bearing . a considerable premium. In fact, the attention of people here is entirely monopolized by the rail , road speculations, and, as will be seen by reference to the par liamentary reports, the members - of the legislature are likely to have their share of occupation with regard to them. • FIESCHI, MOREY, AND PEPIN.. iii:li.t.s : ', t , : h ti. e ti:l s t r •,:ij i t .e : e i: t . me ~camili:);;rtorotionidls The French grand national meld-drarno,'" Tlit;Trial of Fieschi and the other Heroes of the internal Machine Plot," has been succeeded by a . petite tragedy, " Tbe BxeJution of Fieschi, Morey, and 'Pepin." This jedival was given on Friday last, at eight o'clock in the morning, and is thus described by the Parisian correspondent of the illornilig Herald:— .. So early as two o'clock a piequet of Municipal Cites's, a pied, arrived at the Barrit':re St. Jacques. In halt an hour after wards a loud lumbering . noise announced the a pproach of the scaf f old and the guillotine, and in a few minutes they a ppe o a t i t •e i d t under the escort of some mounted Municipal Guards. al l :s ' i re sta pa n _ t Prepa rations for erectiu,g the scaffold and, gailloUne were immediate ly made; and as they and the workmen who accoiu,rtled - ittad lung been familiar tweach other; they.yiTifi minutes. A-fire was then kindled near to whiCh hivonucked its guardians and turner t.VeVO ) -• executioners. -After repeatedirials;, , l4 4 i-vket' ° I*eitaiii'ws the rali i niniiag. axe,hi I e i n r y - o - l a e ll e , x r t i ,e g r li i t in a e i l i l d t.s. in m g a i i, ) O i li d i t : l t j r i d n l i r • -•7 o :t r ‘) e c : auditor beat. In a few minutes emumence,iiLAie arrival o w f a i s h o e; i li t n h e;b4- o b t z:t o t i al g io u n a s idin T g h i e hp et a ttX uo o c ti r ,!' oo e lls ,.; l s: a i re P thi a , , l es tl dt7 u : tth r i d de uf all Spectators, '*io place, , By- half-past five o'clock all i6f4 the barrier be. orders were issued to interdict the.:l4lP'°"li that none who had -not reached the_ precincts of fore that time were allowed. t' arriv--r-ccw;or none 0 - those WhO had made their wav were .naacJi .I)elteY.,iiii, tin ,the". Whol e. ~1 the semicircle in the front of the, barrier, which I have itieutiened was filled with soldiers .aud Municipal quaills. L may safely say that one hundred thonsand spectators were thus prevented approaching within half a mile of • the,place ,of,exeeution,'end that not one thousand of those who had made th6ii way in it could catch a glimpse of that which was passing within. The scaffold on which the guillotine stood was extremely low,: not inure than five feet from the ground. The yieW frinat'withont the circle of soldiers was consequently extremely limited . .. 'Pie cisely as the clock struck eight, the first soldieerif the escort of , he condemned arrived at the place of execution.' The Melari• . .. , choly cortege had left the prisim of the Luxembourg at a quar ter to eight, proceeding for the harrier by precisely the same route traversed by Ney, le brace les braces, to the 81).4. on which he died; but front thence it turned to the right along the .Itue. d'Eufer until it reached the 13oulevard,. and then,' turtling to the left proceeded straight to the,Earriere at, Jacques. Ott former similar occasions I tied ,Seetili&i4iti l appy persons' about to suffer conveyed to the .§64roia Coreinon carts or hackney-coaches. The three, condeinned afteitipt of the 28th of J uly" were—for .what, reason ; Ino# not:---brought from their prison to the place of execution in as many vehicles, something like the van used in England far carrying prisoners, but on a smaller scale, termed here a paitier a scatide. • In each of these vehicles was one of the,concleinned,ra priest, a turnkey or two, and, I believe, an ,execationer's, agsistatit.., rought to observe, perhaps, that in. atiditieuAgr,v,Was..eo that . which con veyed Fiesehi the reporter:fortlWi!t;elie (,/e trAunaux. "Arrived on'the place , the first ve hicle was opened , .aud Pepin, Operated. Ile was paler than when I saw him in courtAM the faXclay - of his trial; but the then improved 'colleaeduess of his manner had increased to perfect confidence and self.possessiOP, •,,HO hall ,on his trials before . the council of war in 716U,,.44ct . befOre the Court of Peers recently', Manifested little ;Outage. , His air now was that of a man fully aware that lierttsAit?Out to die, and equally prepared to meet death with an.anhoodantl fercitude. He had n ever excited among the spectators:. when on trial a more hos tile feeling than .something contempt —perhaps for his want of resolution. His firmness , and yesignation, now produced feelings of coramisseration, to which_ the criine ef,whie.,ll he was convicted did not certainly entitle burn. lie wore ablack frock, coat, with the collar cut off down lqw eo . the shoal ers, , It was buttoned by a single button, acrosts,tbe,hrea . st; the sreeves hung loosely, for his hands were tied behind, Felon was followed from the vehicle in which he Arr,iyeit:hr confessor *and the turnkeys and executioners. ,A secorid vehicle 'drew and front it descended the unfortunate Morey nearly inanimate. He was assisted or lifted from the steps by the-" valets" of. the executioner, followed by his confessor, &c. He still wore a black silk nightcap, and was already in apparently dying state, but without the slightest indication , of fear tn,his counte nance. He was appareled something like ; Pepin., The third vehicle opened, and from it Fieschi, ,his confeSsor, and the other companions of this his last joureey, descended. He had the same air of impudent or insane bravado whieff, had appalled and shocked the beholder during his trial, Here he stood, by the side of Pepin and Morey, his teat victims, with a suit of impatient grin on his Satanic visage. Scarcely had the un happy triumvirate been thus ranged on earth far the .last time, than the preparations for the death of Pepin commenced. He and his companions knelt, as (lid their attending 'confessors, the other persons in the group uncovered, and the short prayer for the departing was recited. All rose. Pepin bent his bead to wards his confessor. A warm embrace ensued, and in au in stant he mounted the scaffold, with a slow and steady step. He spoke a few words—(" 1 die innocent" was their purport) — placed his foot on the ledge which is formed at the foot of the fatal plank—cast a glance upwards (some said at the axe, but others, more charitably, described it as in supplication)—in an instant he was strapped to the plank, which, turning on its pivot, descended to the horizontal—was pushed home—the groove to receive the neck was placed—the axe fell, and he ceased to live ! The whole proceeding took up less time than this brief narrative of it will be read in. The sound of the heavy fall of the instrument of death had not reverberated when the executioner's assistants were busy with the lifeless remains of the ill. fitted man. A large oblong basket was opened, into which one removed from the box into which it had fallen, the head, streaming with gore; four others unstra:Ted the body and placed it in the basket. The execu tioner wound up the axe- ,- -the blood dropping from it—to its point of elevation. While this first act of the tragedy was in performance, Fieschi, who had been speaking with rapidity and volubility to the per sons near him, kept his eyes averted from the scaffold. He turned half rouud to Morey at the noise made by the fall of the axe ; but already that unfortunate man was in time hands of the executioners, and slowly ascending to the scaffold. Fieschi again withdrew his regard. "Courage I" said cane of the assistant executioners to Morey on his reaching the last step of the ascent. "It is not my courage that fails me," observed he with his usual calmness; " it is my bodily strength—ley limbs." He still wore a black silk nightcap ;.over his shoulders hung his frock, fastened by a single button ucioss the breast. Some difficulty presenting itself to the attempt of one of, the assist ants to open it, he tote away the button. "Why do you de stroy my Coat " the pviswic,:,. These were his last %voids, • sometimes found in the hand of the assassin. (Cheers.) It was no argument that there might arise from it a c ontin g e n t evil; and for tiiinself, he ventured to convey his opinion in the words of a poet of the north— . e`• Here is freedom for all that will read. • Here is freedein - for all that will write • E • • None need be afeared that the truth shall be heaial But those who the truth would indite." (Cheers.) - It Was remarked by Paley that there was nothing- he found con fer a greater degreeof happiness on him than a daily perusal of the newspapers; and this remark perfectly coincided with his own feelings. It had been stated by Mr. Bulwer, in the HOUSQ. of Commons, that, in the year 1829, the number of . papers issued in Great Britain was only calculated at one for every thirty-six inhabitants. In Peusylvenia, in - which the popula Lion was only 1.200,000, the number of papers issued was-calcu lated to be one for every four inhabitants. In Liverpoid, they all knew, there were only nine papers; in Boston, 'in the United States, which was only one-third the size of Liverpool, there were eighty papers. In Calcutta there were ten weekly papers, besides two conducted entirely by the natives, and five daily papers. In the United States, with reference to the price of newspapers, a newspaper, as large as those usually printed, was only lid; in Great Britain, the price was 7d.; and it was very generally. known that more than one-half of this price was aditect tax on knoWledge. If the stamp duty were taken off, and the ditty do paper, he saw no reason why they should not have newspapers as cheap in Great Britain as in the United States. And with regard to the high price - on advertisements, the conseqtience was that four hundred papers in Great Britain duly published twice as many as twelve - daily papers in the United States. Another tax on knowledge must be briefly ads verted to. It was the duty imposed by the Postoffice. He was quite willing, as a commercial man, to state that he had no objection to take, on the price imposed for the transmission of notion in the price would *id to increase the revenue rather than letters, although he was of opinion that, in that respect, a dirni diminish it. The government charged the same price on be transmission of pamphlet s as it charged on letters. In the United States, the reports of all. public proceedings were per mitted to be sent.thtough.the post a distance of 150 miles for one halfpenny, and 200 miles for a penny. He had been in the habit of receiving the reports of different religious societies in the United States,, and generally he received thenefree through the kindness of the . American merchants; but, within the last• two mouths, a package had been delivered to:the Postoffice, for. which he was charged between 1.4.-and £3, - knowing its con tents, he did not release it, and. it remained in the Postoffice to' e nli g hten theelerke. -In the Unit ed States he should not have been charged more than as many shillings. Instead of there being latereveniii;'assvas noW the cese, from the transmission of paruphlets e if they were allowed tn gO through the Postoffice at a lower o.!ei6f Ptistagi;; it would ensaterially increase therevenne. -FranCe it WE(' dime scil •404q k iiinie further remarks, Mr. Hope concindKieitli mering thO•fi‘st resolution. Mr. Benwie seconded the resolution, which was put by the Chairman to the meeting, and carried unanimously. UT—JAMES. BILANCKAR reposed the second resolution; it was Marked for Mr. Hugh Hornby; Mr: Herlihy, however, Wei not present, andbad sent it to him, but had not. sent his speech along with it. He hail to congratulate the meeting on reaping._ the first freits of reform. T he y were there met for the first' time under a Mayor of their own choosing. (Cheers.) It had deprived him the pleasure of meeting theni in Clayton-squaree (a laugh,) but he resigned that gratification willingly to meet them before the present Mayo r, who was so worthy of the situ ation he held, (Cheers.) 'The Rev. JANES - I‘l ARTINEAU trusted, that its speaking against the tax on knowledge, he should not tax their patience. (Hear.) It would be idle at that time of day for him to offer any remarks on the advantages of printing In diffusing know ledge, but he would venture to call attention to a circumstance on which the value of the press mainly depended, and to prove that all the advantages that had been derived by modern Eu rope were owing to the cheapness - of publishing; and, in propor tion as they did away with cheapness in printing, they did away with the advantages which accrued from it. 'There was no physical impossibility in having t he p a p ers of the next day published without the aid of printing, provided there were clerks' enough engaged for the labour of writing them out, but instead of a paper costing 7d. they would have to pay 70s. for it. Print ing was nothing snore than speech addressed to the eye instead of the ear. He saw no reason why they should not have print ing rendered as cheap as talk, but they could never do this un less they had paper and ink as cheap as air. (Cheers.) He would ask if the quarter from which the demand came for high prices, whether the readers of the 4ge and . the Satirist, (and he might come nearer home,) had any right to call on the law to re strain the licentiousness of the press. If they were to have a law for repressing the licentiousness of the press, let them have a law which should operate equally fur the poor and the rich; not to encourage the licentiousness Of the rich and repress that of the poor. He concluded with seconding the resolution, which was carried unanimously. Mr, LAWRENCE HEYWoRTH rose to propose the third reso lution.. It' there were legislators who advocated the necessity of taxation. on knowledge, and who thought they conscientiously could do this, they must pity their weakness extremely ; but if,' On the contrary, they were persuaded that knowledge - conveyed' power to men, by which they might enjoy a greater share of. many comforts, then he would .say that those who opposed the abolition of that tax were excessively miminal in the eyes of all, and they could not but despise the man who had so little sympa thy with his fellow men. There had been some objections stated that the proprietors a newspapers, who were - large capitalists, would be sufferers in consequence of the change. He thought they were iu error, for they invariably found that where any, article had been cheapened to the public, that that article was greatly increased in its consumptiun and had always tended' to , the advantage of the producers. (Heal.) it had also a ten dency to keep out a spurious article. If there was a great duty on sugar or tea, they would soon find a spurious article intro-' duced ; but if those articles were. cheap, no one would purchase a spurious article for one that was good. And so it was with' regard to newspapers, no One would purchase a newspaper, if newspapers were cheap, which was not worth 'purchasing. He . concluded with moving the resolution. Mr. JOSEPH EWA ItT. rose to second the resolution. A very great change had coins over the spirit of the times and those who were a few years ago opposed to the diffusion of knowledge Were now its advocates.. He would, adduce the Liverpool Me chanics' Institution and the C . ommerciel Institution as ex amples. And he would ask any,man to pay only one visit to those institutions, and see the laudable manner in which the people were employed in studying the arts and sciences; and he was quite sure that individuals who might have gone there to scoff would be greatly - pleased. It had been stated that the dif 'fOsion of knowledge amongstetbe-weoples had sometimes the ef fact of making them dissatisfied with their situation. It was a remark of . deuius, that " the people were seldom wrong iu their • opinions, and in their judgment they were never mistaken." Give the people the opportunity of judging between right and wrong, and he was quite sure the remark of Junius would be. found. correct. The removal of ever: tax on knowledge would, he was sure, give the people a taste for information very differ ent from what their opponents thought—it would make theth reason more lightly. The improvetrient of their minds would give them a distaste for intemperance, it would render them ' more religious and more moral, and it would make.thein take a higher station in society in every way, and make them what 'their Maker intended them to be. TheCitettimeN put the resolution, which was unanimously adopted. • Mr. RATITBONE rose to propose the fourth resolution, and was received with loud cheering. He came to that meeting unprepared. to move a resolution, but at the same time not un prepared to advocate increased information and the diffu sion of knowledge. (Cheers.) He would congratulate them that they. were that day, fur the first time, assembled in public under the sanction of their Mayor, for the diffusion of that knowledge which would enable them to see whether lie had • acted right or wrong. (Cheers.) This, he thought, showed some courage in the righteousness of their cause, in the con viction that they were only wishing. well for the people; and they were striving as far as possible to enable the people, if they did wrong to detect them. One word about the f. 20,000 men tioned iu the resolution, "that it was inconsistent to give the people E'20,000," and why was it inconsistent? Only because;' it should be £200,000, which it ought to be, which was advanced for the education of the people. It ought to be the first object of the legislature to give to every place the . opportunities of obtaining general knowledge. They ought to have an univer sity in every town in England—schools In every town--infaut schools in every town, and in every ward of the town. (Loud cheering.) 'rhe people would support them if they were only instituted by the government. They sent about a million to government which was raised on taxes on knowledge, oe rather on the newspaper tax. What did this do? It pre vented a man from obtaining a knowledge of those laws for which he is to incur a penalty if he infringes diem. Our lovt. were unfortunately very voluminous, and even with the aid of the papers they could very little understand them—without that aid they could not be understood at all. And how could the magistrates be called on to convict a poor man for an offence he never heard of in his life? Yet the magistrate was bound to inflict a penalty. It was a cruel injostice, and therefore the tax on newspapers was not merely impolitic but it was illegal. It was unjust, because they had no right to require men to obey laws they did not understand, and of which they had no know ledge. With these remarks he begged to second the resolution. Alderman STUART had. much pleasure in seconding the reso lution which hid just been moved. The resolution was put by the chairman and carried unani mously. Mr. RetvooN proposed the fifth resolution, which Was se conded by Mr. MELLOR, and carried unanimously. • Mr. HENRY Boom rose to propose a petition for the adop tion of the meeting, founded on the resolutions which had been passed. He did not wonder at all at the unanimity which .prevailed at that meeting. It appeared to him that this tax on newspapers was one of those anomalies which, when it was --removed, the wonder would be how it bad ever - existed. There was something peculiar in this tax, when legislators had thought proper to say what should be received and what pre vented being publisbed.. .If, for instance, a cheap publication should be confined'to - persOnal abuse,' and •ro everything which excited the passions, and of nothing to improve the mini[, the legislature was u party to it—it would allow that publication. .But if, on the Other hand , the .people had a better taste and , thought it expedient that they should .know something of their representatives iti -piirliamentee.if they felt a desire to be in formed of the state of events passing in this country...and abroad, and of the spread of freedom throughout the ivorldiff [hey wished to knOW what. was going on its Poland, and what in RuSsia, then the leg,iSlature-; says, , "this intelligence - is too highly instructing,' we mast put, our veto on its publication.", Could• it be endured for one moment that such inconsistencies should be continued? He was itinight be said that this should be treated as a financial measure. It was precisely as if the Chancellor of the Exchequer were to say, "you may in troduce what inferior articles you like into the country, but if you introduce genuine articles we will tax you." It was im possible that this inconsistency could last. But it' it did last. they might be fairly to blame. It was a maxim of government "that no one was taxed without his consent," and they might take it for granted, that if they did not exert themselves to re move the tax, then the blame would rest with themselves. Ile concluded with moving the sixth resolution and petition. Mr. JAMES MULLENEUX seconded the resolution. It was the proviece of government to improve the public mind, and render the enaction of penal laws unnecessary, rather than to erect gibbets for the punishment of the transgression of those laws, and prevent their' recurrence by the severity of punishuients. Mr. PARNII. would suggest that the petition should be left for signature—they could obtain 50,000 signatures to it, rather than that it should be signed by the Mayor on behalf of the meeting, Mr. JA tees BRANCKER seconded this amendment. Mr. Boom would withdraw that part of the resolution rather than the amendment shonld be put. The CHAIRMAN then put the resolution as amended, and it was carried unanimously. • The CHAIR mAN was happy to tell them that the proceedings had terminated like Perkgate, all on one side. (A laugh.) At the sane time he hoped that none would imagine that there mailhail not been given the fullest opportunity for the expression difference of opinion. Mr. THONLAS SMITH rose tO pro ose that the thanks p of the meeting' should be given to the requisitionists who had origi meted that meeting. Mr. JAMES RIL;Y seconded the resolution, which was unani mously adopted.. Mr. B. SMITH, after so me lengthy o b se rvations, in which he o prietors were wrong in silliness thought that the newsp a p er fil l ; that a redaction of the stamp duty would injure their pro- pert', propo,ed the last resolution, which %%as carried 4 acela matiou. . . . . , . . The MAYOR begged to thank. thein, : very,ymiich for that ex pression of their satisfaction on this occasion, and for the kind nesS with which they bad . received the. general announcement of his public conduct. He triisted he should: always receive their approbation, and he did, assure them that he should always 'ittleay.ottr to deserve it., (uneers.) lie trusted that the mien imity which had prevailed during- that meeting, would commu nicate to the proprietors of. newspapers, and that they would show that they were. unanimous for the doing away of the tax -byinserting those resolutions gratis. it had been said that the 'press constituted the fourth orde r of the state ; if the proprietors 'Should decline to do this, all they could say was that they wer supporting the privileges of ; their order. (Laughter.) The proceedings of the meeting hadsnow terminated. The meeting then dispersed about three o'clock. LIVERPOuL POLICE. MONDAY. ' (Before Tuos. J A sms H 4LL, Esq.) AN INNOCENT Tata-Elizabeth Junes, Mary Wa tkins, a nd Ann Jackson, trois dames du pare, were brought up chFged . with annoy iug.a, gentleman in the neighbourhood of Wapping, on .his road home the night previous. The gentleman bei4 Unable to shake them. off. called the watch, who, on enforcing his mandate to "move was beautified by the three ladies with some delicate compliments of shack from the neighbo uring kennel. Not likingthis, be had placed them in, "safe custody:" Batcheldor said that Jones had been up before 40 times (1)-on similar charges, and, that,Watkins had been else . ,in his charge 32 times. The other la4o . be had not the honour of being ac quainted with.—The magistrate committed Jones and Watkins to Kiikdale for three calendar Months; and discharged Jackson with a severe reprimand. , TITES I DAY. • EMBEZZLEMENT.—Thomas Holmes, Joseph Ross, and John Stoddart, were brought up charged with embezzling a quantity of coffee, the property of Mr. Woodville, grocer, of Vauxhall-. road. Mr. Woqdviile said that Holmes was a porter in his em ployment, and Stoddart had formerly beehso, but had been dis-, char , ed. He sent his coffee to roast . in !awe quantities to • , Sharp and Asnton's, in Temple-couit. He had nut missed any coffee. Roberts, the constable, stated that iu consequence of information he bad received from ,Stoddart, who told him that he had been engaged with Holmes and .11uss in purloining cof fee, which they had taken from the,roastOs 'Several times, and conveyed to a Cellarbeloagin;.; to M.is: NViitiSter; in - prownlow , hill, he took HolMes into custody. He 'Charged - Holmes with this, but he had et.first denied it, but afterwards aCkuowledged • it, and.also implicated Ross, whOuito afterwards took into cus tody. Stoddart had come to him, and . voluntarily made this . confession, to •.him. • Mrs.. Mary Williams, of Vanihall-road,. deposed to, her husband purchasing shiri-e coffee of one of the .prisoners, - and Mrs. Ambrose, of Vauxhall-road, - deposed to being present when Mr: Williams bought 42.1b5. of coffee, at Htsi-RI-d..or Is. 9d. a pound,- of' Ross, for which_ he_ paid hips. Ils. 9d. Roberts said this was the quantity which Stoddart had confessed they had taken. -Mr. Whalley, grocer, of Vaux hall-road, deposed to purchasing about a dozen pounds of Ross,. in December last, fur Which he paid hiM IS. Bd. a pound. Mrs. Webster, of Brownlow.hill,.said she knew Stoddart, and that he had asked her to let him leave a bag containing coffee at her cellar till it was called for. Ile had not now left - any fog,. three months. JameS Chester, who works at Sharp and, Ashton's,' as a coffee-roaster, deposed to Holmes bringing . a quantity or coffee to roast on Saturday last. On coming for it be said it was a great weight, he would carry a part of it away at a time, and, he took about 'Bibs: of -it away. The coffee was worth about Is. 10d. a pound. Mr. Jones, on behalf of prisoner Ross, sub mitted that Ross had formerly been a grocer, and now sold goods on commission, and that he had sold this cOffee openly at a fair price, and had received his commission, not knowing that it was stolen. Ross said that :he knew Stoddart, and that he had asked him if he could sell him some coffee which he had to : dispose of, and for - which he would allow him cenamisSiou. He 'accordingly sold the coffee to Mr. Williams, and received 55.. commission for selling it. He did not know that it was stolen: The magistrate ordered Ross to be discharged, and the deposi tions for the commitment of the other two to be made out. • STEALING DUCKS.—'Thomas Fairhurst, Mary Fairhurst, and Eliza Fairhurst, their daughter, a most wretched looking trio, ; Were brought up charged by Edward M,Curmick with stealing . eleven dead ducks, and some fowls. from his stand in St. John's Market; on Saturday night. He had put the ducks on a tray, and spread a cloth over them at eleven o'clock on Saturday night, and on Monday morning they were guue. .Faireloug,h, the market constable, said that in Consequence of information he had received he went to the house of the prisoners, and there found the elder prisoners lying on the bed, druhk and asleep iu the house he. found a tray and a cloth; which belonged to complainant, there was a duck partly eaten on the table. The daughter of the prisoner then told hint that she, along with other two girls, had stolen the tray, and tbut she had sold some of the ducks to a woman who lived to the street. A female hete deposed that she had bought two of the ducks which were pro duced of the child for 10d. It wasas much as they were worth, as they were tainted. The complainant holding one of the ducks up by the leg, said that was a duck for, which he court .have got Is. 6d. in the market if it had net been so ill-used. The magistrate ordered the informatiuns for their i cumuntment to be taken. • EXCISE INFOGNATJONS. t-Titan M`Grath was summoned under au information, laid by the excise, charging hint with having smuggled two quarts ofwhiskey in Receinber last. John Jones,doek constable, deposed that on the 3d of December last hl stopped - -the - prisoner - on his way from the dock-; he found a bladder containing spirits concealed in his hat, amid also another under his arm wrapped up ie,a,poeket-handkerChief. He took him into custody, and next morning took hint before the cus toms. TwO of the cuttont's officers deposed to the quantity of whisk'ey contained iu the bladders, arid that the prisoner had a mull family. He bad borne a good character, and was em ployed on board one of the steamers. The prisoner said he took it on shore for a friend to oblige him, and was discovered. Flo weti'd ;levet do's. again. The magistrates m i tig a t ed the penalty to xp, and intimated that they should reeutnmend the board of customs still further to mitigate it to £F. • Neil ItPLoglin was suinniolied on an information laid by the• custuin-house charging him with smuggling two kegs of whiskey in a large box, on the ,9th of. November last. The kegs were packed in the box, which was entered in the manifest of the steamer, of which defendaut WasAireman, as butter. Phillip Manning, a carter, deposed to being hired to cart the box, which he was to give to IVl`Loglin. One or tlie"tiffiters of the custom house deposed to the two kegs containing, seven gallons and two qllattO-dt - vhiskey. Tbe-defietrilaut denied thatthe box was for . .him; there was no direction en it for him. Ile had a large fa-. wily. The magistrate said the defendant had got a notion into his head that he did' not come within the letter of the act, be cause there was no direction on the box for him. The witnesses had, however, sworn that it was for hint. They should mitigate the. penalty to £25. and' should recommend the board of cus toms to further mitigate it to 1:10, and that only un accouut of. fits ItErge WEDNESDAY. Asit t_t olb mat appeared to lay a coniplaint against. John Benjamin Seiner, a Prusiien; master of the Juliu, fur violently assaulting him and throwing a pipe in his face. Air ; Volbrecht stated that lie was sat in a pirldic-musa on Friday night last when the defendant, amongst others, was present. 'the conversation turned about the manufacture of rent; (complainant) said he hid been on a sugar plantation in Ja 7 indica, and had seen it made, and that it was made from refuse sugar and low wines. • The defendaut.contradieted him, and as: serted that rum was made from polfthirsf He, complainant, then said that he had been engaged in its' Matfufacture, and knew all ;Aunt it, and whoever said rum was -Made front pate toes told a falsity. He had hardly got the words out uf his mouth when defendant threw a pipe in his face, and then struck him a violent blow on the temples, which rendered him insensi ble. The tha . gistrate said he had used vet y provoking language, which, iu deciding on the case, he must take into consideration. 'Captain Sellier, m defence, said, I be von Prussan, and he (defendant) : behave ver bad; I ask him vat he know about rums ? Dev don't make rums so in Prussia. And den he call de King of Prussia von dam hlael:goard. The magistrate— But what do you say to striking him ? Defendant— Me strike him ! Ino strike him at all till he ti ow a pipe in my face, and I got de mark now where it hit me. The magistrate said be should hind hint over in his own recognizance to keep tbe peace Ma sr zit H UGHES'S CONCEILT.— Mtister' H ughes, the Cam brian Harpist, gives his farewell Concert on Wednesday next, at the Music Hall, Bold-street. The Baud of the 77th Regi ment will lend their assistance. The Concert is patronized by the Mayor of Liverpool. MewrinG oe THE. E L ECTOR* OF ST. ANN'S WARD.--O n Tuiterlay evening last a public meeting of the electors of this ward was held at Mr. Holden's, in Ricinnond-row, Mr, Parker in the chair, fur the purpose of nominating a tit person to. fill the office of assessor for the ward. Mr. Grocott was proposed and seconded, and unanimously adopted, as a tit person to fill the.office on behalf of the conservatives. It was afterwards-re solved, that this resolution of the meeting should be published . in the LIVERPOOL STANDARD, and that the conservative elec tors of the ward should be called on to support Mr. Grucott, Mr. Grocott was soon after announced, and was received with cheers, and shortly returned his acknowledgments for the honor conferred upon him in selecting hint as a fit person to represent their interests, and - he trusted that, if elected, he should, by his conduct, merit their approbation. . BURGLARY.—On Monday night last the house of Mr. Well wood Maxwell„itt Great George -street, was broken into by cut ting out one of the patinels of the front door. The thieves had left a joiner's chisel on, the premises, ,and, from the marks on the door, it was evident the entrance had been effected by this instrument. They succeeded in carryiug off a Considerable quantity of plate, and it appeared from the remnants that, the thieves had regaled themselves before .leaving the,.house on the eatables they could find. Mr. Maxwell, faucied Le heard a noise about two o'clock in the morning,...but did net get up, • thinking that a lap dug in the house would :give, - an alarm if there was anything.- st , reward of ..£.5. ha.s..istete,offertal Par the app , rehensjon of the offenders. SPRING Asstzes.—Northern Circuit, Lord Denman and Mr. Baron Parke... Yorkshire—Feb., s'j,, a t York. Durham— !iMarcir 12, at Durham. --Northumbetlatitareh 16, at New- • castle. ' Cumberland—March 19, at Carlisle. Westmoreland March 24, at Appleby...• r Laucashire _Plural) --Mar c h . 26, at Lancaster; (South) — March, 30, at Liverpool. - • . . PETITION ,IN FAVOUR OF THE LtpeNseo VicTuaeeiztvi— . It will tie seen its another column of our paper that the retail wine and - spirit dealers..of : this tows] have set on fooi a petition to parliament to have Lord AlthorVs oppressive 'act of 50 per cent. repealed in the present session. The petition is pieced at our office, and in the other placers stated itsthe advertisement , and as Mr. Divett has given notice to move, on the 10th of March, for a committee of the whose house upon the subject,— we wish all friendly to the abolition of this, unpopular nteasure to come forward speedily and annex their names. .. , MEETING OF CONSERVATIVII ELEcToys OF FITTITREET WARD.—On Wednesday evening a meeting o f the e fectois of this ward was held at Fernvhough's 1104., Doktt-street , fur the purpose of nominating an assessor for the ward M agai ns iair. Int the ap proaching election. r. T. M. Gladstone was in the c opening the business of like the actions of,chil-. the ineetAng,asthe eis . au . n . mis aduded to the proceedings of the Town Council : . woh—t ie l y 11(11,er resteil n till' dress who had got a new toy. to,play 7he tirst step e . , these cooncillors they had pulled it to pieces. had been to pull their toy to pieces by tnrowing out Mr. Paster. By continuing such c onduct they would find themselves losing, by degrees, that extent of, public favuu , r w Li c h had returned, them. He had seers Mr. (minim. anu he Lad signified his as sent to be put in nourinatiou for the ward; he was a man in ever y way worthy,of their , suffrages. 'l2hey did an t w i s h t o te teru two assessor s, or to tan out party feeling is] ~i . i ly. way, but t h e y wished to have one man Us their favour for the purpose of representing them at the polling booth that they migistecuret fairness arid impartiality when the day of clectit'es came. • Mr. Thomas Toulmin was theta . - , Mr. tolbusin, and se comic(' by Mr. Ramsay, as • Pfr°l•H's,ed 4 person to represen t the ward, ancbwhich w : as m) ,t ill ' t all lt i urt T i l t s l i ; P a i g 'e r r eed to. Mr. Bennet then proposed, anti Mr. (Ili ru seconded, "that. the/ should use every exertion t o secure the rstorn ot Mr, louliniu," which wasw also carried nem. co n . Aft er sAyMe ' :businest• teselutions, it as moved by M r . R o bi nson an d s e c O n d te t L' V M r ; C o ll i tirn, "that the president of this association be autlicriwri-twarquiesce in the nomination of an auditor on their behalf at_ theaneeting' to - be held on Friday, at the Golden Lion and that this meeting use every exertion to secure the election of one .of two a.S Vol case might be who might be nominated," which was untedi ranusly carried. The husiuess. being concluded tha Meeting then seinteati3d.