The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-05-23 00:00:00

TO ADVERTISERS. We beg respectfully to call the attention of Merchants, Brokers, Auctioneers, and others, to the important fact that the LIVERPOOL STANDARD IS NOW THE ONLY NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED WEEKLY ON TUESDAY, which can be read on that day by the thousands of Manufacturers and others attending THE TUESDAY'S MARKET IN MANCHESTER. The STANDARD is taken at all the Newsrooms and respectable Inns in that town and the surrounding manufacturing district. A SECOND EDMON is published at Half-past Two, in time for the North Mails, containing the MARKETS, and any news of importance that may arrive in the course of the morning. tiltaptiot &tanbarb. TUESDAY MORNING, MAY 23, 1848. THE intentions of Government, with respect to the Navigation Laws, are at length before the public ; and they are precisely such as might have been expected from such a set of reckless and conceited ineapables. Mr. Labouchere informs us that he proposes to deal with the laws in question "in a very large and comprehensive manner." Being under the necessity of doing something, and having no constructive skill to repair the few dilapidations which time may have wrought in the edifice, her Majesty's Whig Ministers, like other bungling workmen, mean to raze it to the ground, and to erect no other in its stead. The carrying trade of Great Britain with her colonies, and with foreign countries, is henceforth to be open to all the world; the native industry which it employs, to be sacrificed to the insolent demands of the manufacturing free-trader ; and the trade of the shipbuilder, the carpenter, the rigger, the sail maker, the roper, the blockmaker, and the various other artisans dependent upon a prosperous com mercial marine, to be transferred to the shores of the Baltic, or to the building ports of the United States. The policy of centuries, under which this powerful maritime country has grown to its present greatness, is to be swept away, root and branch, at the bidding of a set of political schoolboys and dreaming theorists ; without inquiry, or anything at least that deserves the name ; without any urgent demand from any influential portion of the nation; and without a single fact substantiated, or a state ment which can be depended upon, to justify a measure which long experience, and the evidence of nine-tenths of the thinking and well-informed portion of the community, declare to be utterly ruinous. We shall briefly refer to the leading features of the measure announced. In the first instance, Mr. Labouchere takes credit to Ministers for spa ring the coasting trade, and our shore and bank fisheries, from being handed over to the competi tion of the foreigner. Dutch and other foreign luggers and smacks, with foreign crews, are not to carry our coals, our slates, and our iron from port to port ; to fish in our rivers and bays ; or to run between Great Britain and Ireland. This source of employment—this nursery for our seamen—is kindly left to us untouched; but why? Because, says the honourable gentleman, the coasting trade is so peculiarly protected by its own nature, that he does not think foreigners could to any extent avail . themselves of it; and such being the case, " throwing it open would produce no very great amount of good." Mark the admission, ship owners of Liverpool! The "good" to flow from -this onslaught against the Navigation Laws is the introduction of foreign ships and crews to carry off the trade of Englishmen. For sparing your coast ing trade, you have, by his own admission, to thank her Majesty's Ministers for—nothing. With respect to their non-interference with the coast fisheries, you have equally little to be thankful inotiv r ainah - endintifatra - I 6 t etwyrat ifEniz??LiArj which it employs, as is shewn by the fact that, by the proposed measure, the foreigner is to be placed in precisely the same position, with respect to the deep-sea fisheries, now exclusively secured to the British shipowner and seaman. With this exception of the coasting trade, the character of the measure is sweeping. It is to be rendered unnecessary that a vessel, to enjoy all the privileges (!) of a British ship, should be British built. We are to build or buy them where we like ; and can demand at once for them a British register. We may have foreign vessels engaged in our coasting trade, or in any other trade, rigged abroad, repaired abroad, upon which not a single hour of native industry has been employed, the only stipulation being that they must be owned by British capital and sailed by the required propor tion of British seamen. And, with respect to the manning of British vessels, an important alteration is to be made. In consideration of their general faithfulness, it is pretended, but more likely in consideration of the lower wages which they may be induced to accept, Lascars and other Indian seamen are in future to be rated as British seamen, the result of which will be, that whereas by the existing law a ship's crew may consist of three fourths British and one-fourth foreigners or Las cars, we may in future man them with three fourths Lascars and one-fourth foreigners, to the total exclusion of the British-born seaman ! The remaining provisions, by which the long voyages and the colonial trade have been hitherto secured to our own marine, are to be abolished, with a reservation, only, to which we shall refer hereafter. The timber trade of North America — the produce of our East and West Indian colonies —the whole, in fact, of our present strictly pro tected trade—is to be thrown open to the shipping of the United States and of Europe. That large portion of partly protected trade, at present insured to us - by the stipulation in our Navigation Laws, that foreign produce can only be imported in Bri tish ships, or in ships belonging to the countries in which such produce is grown, is also to be handed over to the foreigner. The American ship owner can in future load tea and silks in China for a British port, sugar and coffee in Cuba in the Brazils, hides at Rio, palm oil in Africa , and wo ol at the Cape and Australia, whilst British vessels rot idly in foreign harbours, or crowd our docks at home with the broom at their mastheads. The cheap ships of Bremen can scour the Mediterra nean, and snatch their freights from our very grasp, _so long as British seamen retain their ab horrence of stinking tallow as a cheap substitute for junk and biscuit. Nor is the injury to be confined to the ship owner, the shipbuilding trades, and the merchant seaman. Great Britain is no longer to remain the principal depot for the produce of the world. The capitalist will no longer need our bonding system or our bonded warehouses. He can store his cargoes in any port of Europe, with full liberty to move them either to this country for consumption, . or to any country in which they may be wanted. So vast and sweeping are the changes upon which we are about, blindly and madly, to adventure ! It is not concealed that one great object of these changes is cheapness; low freights, cheap ships, and reduced wages of the British artisan and sailor. It is not any sudden necessity, under which we labour, of providing increased tonnage for an in creasing commerce, which prompts the interference of Government; for our existing marine is amply sufficient for our wants, and freights are barely, if at all, remunerative. The fact stands confessed by Mr. Labouchere himself, that the foreigner will be able to carry upon terms permanently lower than the British shipowner is able to do; for, in endea vouring to reconcile the British shipbuilder to corn . petition with the foreign shipbuilder, he says— " I will also advert to a circumstance which I think ought not to be left out of consideration, namely, that if we repeal the navigation laws, materials for shipbuilding will be brought to England at a far cheaper rate than they now cost, and in that manner the shipbuilder will derive considerable advantage from the repeal of those laws." How can materials be brought cheaper unless it be because the foreigner has a cheaper ship, a cheaper crew, cheaper stores and provisions ; and will thus be enabled to absorb the British timber trade ? The reservation to which we have referred above, and which we are to regard as affording a remnant of protection to the shipowner, is a proviso that a power be reserved to her Majesty in Council to withhold the privileges to be given by the bill from any foreign countries who may refuse to accord to us reciprocal advantages. This is sheer mockery. There is not, we venture to say, a single maritime country, whose trade is worth our notice, that will be so insane as to throw away the opportunity of participating in the vast trade which we throw open to them. The foreigner is perfectly aware that our competition cannot deprive him of half a dozen cargoes a year. And what is the pretext offered by ministers for this . measure, and the evidence hywhich it is attempted to be supported ? First, a portion of our colonists, dis gusted with their treatment by the home govern ment, deprived of all the advantages formerly de rived from British connexion, claim to be relieved from the burdens of such connexion. The claim is reasonable enough, although we believe that it is based upon much misunderstanding, and that the irritated feeling which prompts it might be allayed with ease. We have only to treat our colonies with justice, and to legislate towards them in a paternal spirit, to bind them to us once more as valuable ap panages of the British Crown. By this concession, however, we strike away almost the last link of connexion with us. With respect to British Ame rica, in particular, by opening the navigation of the St. Lawrence to the shipping of the United States, we prepare the way for its certain and voluntary annexation by that republic, and should be acting wisely, perhaps, if we were at once to withdraw our viceroy and his staff, instead of allowing them to wait until they are kicked out. Our West Indian colonies, were they not already lost to us by our previous injurious legislation towards them, have now no British element left in them, except the cruel mockery of a resident British governor-gene ral. Our other colonies are no longer colonies ex cept in name—except in the cost which we incur for their maintenance and protection. We no longer offer them an advantage over the foreign producer in our markets, and we are now giving up to the world the advantages which they have hith erto afforded us in return. _ _ It is urged also that we have lately been incon venienced by those provisions of our Navigation Laws which prohibit the importation into this country of foreign produce from a European port. There was such inconvenience felt, we are aware ; and a modification of that prohibition would not, probably, have been objected to. But that this in convenience, arising from the operation of a portion of the Navigation Laws, affords any warrant for the destruction of the whole system we must deny. Again, it is urged that we are threatened with reta liation by Prussia, and invited to concession on the subject of these laws by the United States. It is not certain now, however, that Prussia is likely soon to be in a position to carry out her threat; and, with respect to the American invitation, it is re garded by our astute brother himself as something very like an attempt to coax a fool out of his house and property. May we direct the reader's atten tion to the following letter, which we quote as per tinent to the subject, although it appeared in our columns at the time ? " Washington, Dec. 21, 1847. " REPEAL OF THE NAVIGATION LAWS.—A corres pondence has taken place between the British Secretary for Foreign Affairs and our minister at that court, relative to the repeal of the Navigation Laws of Great Britain. Mr. Bancroft applied to Viscount Palmerston, early in November, to learn whether ministers would consent to establish with the United States a perfect system of reci procity, in making all vessels of either country fitting out from any port in the world, free to trade to any port of the other nation, whether home or colonial. Viscount Pal merston, after the lapse of some weeks, replied that, although her Majesty's ministers did not feel at liberty to advise her Majesty at once to make such a change in the commercial system as was asked by Mr. Bancroft, with out the sanction of Parliament, yet, as soon as that body should meet, a measure would be introduced which would embrace all the views put forth by Mr. Bancroft in his note. It is not doubted that Parliament will at once act favourably on the bill. The importance to the United States of such a measure cannot be exaggerated. The British colonial system has been a most grievous restric tion upon our commerce, and its annihilation, as promised by Viscount Palmerston, will open to our enterprising merchants the lucrative trade of the East and West In dies, and of the other British settlements, from which they have been hitherto debarred. This will be the great est stride yet taken by free trade, and it is not to be doubted that all Europe will follow the example of Great Britain. The liberal commercial treaty made by Hanover with the United States has been, in no small measure, instrumental in disposing the British Government to this wise measure. The Rhine provinces have recently imi tated the example of Hanover towards the United States ; *Pll..exervxbogesilPuk_Jlt..stgAsiiive.S.VirS WPOSoksgutCh-. il The repeal by Great Britain of the laws restricting the trade of the United States with her colonies will be far more beneficial to this country than any commercial treaty ever made by our Government." Undoubtedly, a large slice of "the lucrative trade of the East and West Indies and of the other Bri tish settlements" will suit our good brother very well, especially as, having himself no colonies, he has nothing to offer in return ; and heartily he will laugh at stupid, old, doting John Bull, when Sa turday's mail from England reaches the United States. We referred in our last to the kind of statistical evidence which had been got up at the Board of Trade, and produced in the committee of last ses sion upon this question, and which we predicted would be made use of to influence the decision of Parliament. It has so been used ; not, however, without being pretty well blown upon ; and we find also that great stress was laid by Mr. Labou chere upon the other evidence brought before the same committee, which, it will be remembered, made no report, and broke up without hearing the counter-evidence of the shipping interest. Let us see who the witnesses for the repeal of the Navi gation Laws were. We quote from Mr. Young's able letter on the subject : " By the party hostile to British Navigation were sum moned 24 witnesses, consisting of the two secretaries and the director of the statistical department of the Board of Trade, all distinguished advocates of free trade; one col lector of customs in London ; another collector of cus toms in Turk's Island; one gentleman who described himself as having been a merchant resident at different times in almost every part of the habitable globe, but who was merely the managing clerk of an Australian house ; another of extensive mercantile experience connected with a commercial firm, but who, when asked whether he was a partner, replied, ' I do not sign the firm ;'—a Bremen merchant ; a Swedish merchant, the Vice Consul, but who thought it necessary to protest against the authority of the committee; a calico and flax spinner, who turning mer chant, found it unprofitable and had retired ;—an owner of copper mines in South America, who had been resident there for twenty years ;—one South American merchant, chiefly conversant with the trade in copper ores ;—a smelter of copper ores, at Swansea, eager, for the benefit of the people of England, that free trade should triumph in the importatidn of the ore as well as the metal in cheap foreign ships for smeltin g in Wales, but jealous to the last degree of the consumers having the benefit of separating the metal from the dross at the mouth of the mine, and being spared the expense of the conveyance of the worth less dross across the ocean ;—a merchant of Hamburgh ; a manager of a public company established for the sale of lands in South Australia ;—A Canary Island merchant engaged in the importation of cochineal ;—one merchant resident in India ;—a German barrister ;—an American -captain ;—four gentlemen unconnected with commerce, who were examined only on incidental points arising in the inquiry ;—and though last not least, one naval officer of unquestionable respectability, hut having scanty claims to rank as an authority, specially selected from his known crotchetty opinions as to manning the navy, on which it may well be doubted whether any single naval officer of established naval reputation could be found to concur with him. Not a single head of any mercantile house of emi nence in London, Liverpool, or Glasgow was called to sus tain the grievous allegations of injury to British commerce from the operation of the Navigation Laws ; not a single admiral, lord of the Admiralty, or individual 'of station, experience, or authority, to prove that merchant sailors were unnecessary for manning her Majesty's navy, which astounding and novel declaration is left to the unsupported testimony of Captain Sir James Stirling alone !" What confidence can be placed in the representa tions of such a set of witnesses upon a question of such vast importance? Little indeed; and, from the indecent haste with which the bill is to be pushed through parliament, whilst a committee of inquiry is sitting in the Lords, we are led to sus pect strongly that ministers are afraid that their whole case will be blown to the winds by that com mittee's report. We have however exceeded our space, and shall probably have time to recur again to the subject. THE question is at length pressing urgently upon us—are her Majesty's Whig Ministers fit to be en trusted with the conduct of the affairs of this great nation at a crisis like the present ? We see around us, on every side, the elements of social disorder and of danger. Europe is convulsed to its centre ; and, in Italy and Germany, actual warfare is going on. In republican France, during the past week, the commencement of a reign of terror—a reign of the gullotine and the assassin's knife—has only been averted by a miracle, and for a time. The vol cano only slumbers, ready to burst forth at any moment, and to desolate half the civilized world. We have a vast colonial empire, .e, in a large portion of which the seeds of alienation have been sown, and the plant has already sprung up—a colonial empire which fatal and destructive legislation is fast ruining ;—and, at home, we have Ireland, dis tracted with seditious agitation, and ready to plunge headlong into a bloody and exterminating rebellion. We have our own labouring masses idle, starving, and imbibing the pernicious lessons of the dema gogue; manufactures prostrate, commerce almost suspended, credit and confidence lost, and bank ruptcy and insolvency striking down, day by day, the proudest, and lately esteemed most stable, struc tures of commercial greatness; and the considera tion is forced upon us—have we, at the helm of the State, men capable of bearing us safely through difficulties so vast, so complicated, so full of dan ger ? There can be but one answer—" No." How ever much we may differ as to the pilot to be chosen, the captain to command, and the crew to work the noble vessel safely out of the breakers upon which she is drifting, the opinion is well nigh universal that the Ministry of Lord John Russell are not the men. Their intellectual proportions are those of pigmies, when compared with the gigantic propor tions of the work which has to be done. They are the inhabitants of a new Lilliput, straining at a frail cord, to right and launch into deep water a stranded three-decker. We are not prepared to deny to Lord John and his colleagues the possession of a certain sort of cleverness. They can look the dignified, and mouthe and gesticulate with all the energy of men in earnest. They can worry and sting, like gnats on a sultry day ; but the world resolutely refuses to believe in them. They have no weight, no prestige, no influence. Brawling treason laughs in their faces and wriggles out of their grasp. The autho rity of the law in their hands is only a rush to restrain an elephant ; a hair sieve to dam up a tor rent. They sit complacently watching the growing storm, until it is ready to burst upon the land, and then pelt it with protocols and law papers. They are apt at poking their fingers into every body else's business; are oracularly wise as to how,other Governments should deal with passing events; are fertile in advice, and not over modest as to the par ties to whom it is offered ; but here their capabilities end. As a Government they are powerless for good. The suffering masses look not to them for relief; the merchant dreads their interference with his affairs ; the active intellect of the country scoffs at their feebleness and their petty selfishness; the demagogue defies them, and the foreigner despises them, whilst he endeavours to wile from them con cession after concession, fatal to the best interests of the country, over whose affairs, unfortunately, they hold, temporarily, a controlling power. Thus far, with the spectacle of their utter imbe cility before us, we have tolerated these men. The Conservative feeling of the nation has been shaken by past betrayals; and not knowing in whomto place confidence, or to adopt as its exponents and cham pions, party spirit has been in abeyance. The time has arrived when this forbearance and lethargy must be thrown off, if the-country is to be saved from anarchy. Not satisfied with seeing their efforts to repress sedition and to punish traitors in Ireland frustrated; not satisfied with the spectacle around them of prostrate commerce and almost universal suffering amongst the trading classes ; not satisfied with having earned the contempt both of friends and opponents, her Majesty's ministers, that at least it may be said that they are doing something for their salaries, have just started the vessel of state down hill, without a lock on the wheel to prevent it from being dashed to pieces at the bottom. Their boasted system of free trade has not produced its expected results, It has been fertile only in confusion and commercial distress; and its un happy authors, without the moral courage to con fess their error, or the wisdom required to trace the source of the existing evil and to remove it, are about to add to it by the sacrifice of one of the last elemenrs of our national greatness, which their rash hands have left hitherto not hopelessly da maged. They have sacrificed already at the shrine of cheapness, and at the cry of a selfish avarice, the native agriculture of Great Britain ; made bankrupt her colonies ; ruined her merchants and beggared her artisans ; and, at the same bidding, they are about to throw away her maritime supremacy. and to make a concluding holocaust of her shipowners, her shipbuilders, her carpenters, and her merchant seamen. Nor is this the worst feature of the crisis which r_ \ is approaching us. Already we see the commence ment of a formidable agitation which has for its• object extensive changes in the machinery of the the late Anti-Corn Law League are again in the field; and openly threaten to strip the Crown itself of its splendour and its prestige. Chartism defunct,. an able and equally unscrupulous set of leaders are exerting themselves to spread dissatisfaction among the masses, and to mislead them from inquiry into the real causes of their present fallen condition, by directing their attention to extension of the suffrage, vote by ballot, electoral districts, and other specu lative and theoretical reforms, (?) whose achieve ment to-morrow would have no more influence in raising them out of the deep abyss of suffering, into which they have been plunged, than. a- painted loaf would have in allaying the cravings of their hunger. And this agitation will grow and must grow; for drowning men catch at straws, and starving men are the materials upon which demagogues ope rate most readily, and out of which revolutions spring. We must give the working man employ ment and food, or he will become desperate and dangerous. The only hope for England in the present crisis is the prompt formation of a powerful constitutional party in Parliament, and throughout the kingdom ; a party which will not be deterred by the sneers of shallow sophists, or the jabbering of conceited politi cal economists, from raising the old watchwords of " ships, colonies, and commerce," and re-opening the question of protection to native industry. There is nothing quixotic in such an effort. There is a broad basis on which to raise such a con stitutional structure amongst those very working masses whom, by our lethargy, we are abandoning in their sufferings, and handing over to the delud ing and treacherous councils of a par t y which has ever been their worst enemy. The trading and middle classes—the great strength of the town constituencies—and the loyal yeomanry of the country, to a man, would be with us. These classes have felt where the spur goads them. They have watched the growth of the bubble—Free Trade—and its bursting. They have seen one powerful interest after another sacrificed—handed over to the foreigner—to prop up a griping manu facturing interest, and to enable the capitalist to swell his hoards ; and if calmly and resolutely appealed to as intelligent men, capable of under standing their own interest, and of weighing the hard dry facts of their position, divested of the empty jargon in which our politico-philosophers seek to conceal them, we do not fear but that they will come nobly to the rescue. Let us not be mistaken, however. We do not seek to fall back into reliance upon what is termed " the old country party'—the men of acres and game laws, petty sessions, and union bastiles. These men have been too long the mere blind fol lowers of the prestige of great names; the led horses of astute and designing statesmen. We must have men who have gone a little way with the spirit of the age, who have eyes and use them, who have experience, judgment, and discretion to guide them in unravelling the tangled cords in which we have permitted the industry of the nation to be bound down. We want men of intelligence and honesty,; men who can use the pruning knife as well as prop the tree : above all, men who will not convert politics into a trade for the advance menf of their own selfish interests. Such men there are to he found amongst our mercantile bodies, amongst the members of our aristocracy, and even amongst the more humble trading classes. We want no regularly apprenticed statesmen—no political prigs, who have hung on the skirts of party, and chattered and toadied until the world has taken it for granted that there is something in them. Our confidence should he placed only in known and tried men, whose ranks we ought to endeavour to recruit from amongst the intelligence and worth of the nation , irrespective of the tradi tionary claims of birth or of past party connexion. Nor shall we meet with any insurmountable difficulty in finding leaders for a party thus strengthened and, above all , united in a firm de termination to do justice and to exercise their com mon sense, irrespective of theory and philosophy. There are gems still in the mine as bright and pure as any which have been drawn out ; and great emergencies seldom fail to bring forward command ing minds. The able subaltern of a skirmishing party is overlooked, although he display the talent and bravery which make the general into a hero. The humble clerk, toiling at his desk, is often the achiever of the wealth which makes his employer millionaire. Let the constitutional spirit of the nation be once stirred up ; let petty differences amongst conservatives be got rid of, and a power ful and united party be formed in the country and in parliament; and we shall see ample statesmanlike ability developed, which has hitherto been only feebly displayed in desultory and abortive skirmishes, or totally obscured by the destructive nepotism of great and recognized party leaders. Give to such a party in parliament a commanding influence, in the support which they receive from the voice of public opinion out of doors, and its members will speak and act with a ten-fold confidence, and the nation may yet be preserved from the dangers with which it is at present menaced. THE LIVERPOOL FINANCIAL REFORM ASS°. CIATION.-LETTER OF LORD KINNAIRD. The Liverpool Association continues to increase, and derervedly so, in the number of its members, and its pe cuniary means. Without reference to party it takes up the great cause of reducing and equalizing the general taxation of the country, which has, from popular apathy been swelling out, even in time of peace, to a weight and mag nitude that absolutely crushes the enterprise and energy of every class, and especially of the commercial and the working community. Our merchants and traders have prepared a memorial to the Mayor, requesting him to call a public meeting, to petition parliament for a general re vision and retrenchment of taxation ; and it is understood that he is prepared to comply,—so that we may expect a legitimate monster" gathering on this all-important and absorbing subject. The example will, we doubt not, be followed in all great and even moderately sized towns, if not indeed in villages, for all are sufferers in proportion. The salaries of Government officials must be reduced ; all sinecures must be abolished; pensions unmerited withdrawn, and others reduced to merited proportions. Connected with this subject it is pleasing to find that some of the nobles of the land are wisely, for their own sakes, taking part with the people. Lord Kinnaird has addressed a long letter to Mr. A. H. Wylie, upon the 13 - .)- sect of the association alluded to. His Lordship, who has ever had commerce and the rights of industry at heart, does not go the full length aimed at by the associ ation, but he admits the accuracy of many of the princi ples sought to be brought into play, and expresses opinions with firmness and candour. He addresses him segf to the four objects in view, and first to " a general retrenchment of national expenditure." On this point he states that only about twenty-one millions of the re venue can be touched, and he questions the policy of any large reduction of our forces in the present disturbed state of Europe. He anticipates much, however, from the en quiry now entered into by the parliamentary committee. He does not think the navy can be materially reduced, but that there is no necessity for so large a standing army. With respect to our colonies, we ought when they received the twenty millions compensation, to have made a proviso that it should be devoted to improvements there, and not encourage the recepients to a baneful dependance on the mother country. He thinks great retrenchment' may be effected' in our diplomatic arrangements, and trusts' we shall cease to intermeddle too much with the politics of other countries. On the second head, the assessed taxes, he thinks that many articles are of luxury and fairly tax able, but a- fairly-apportioned house tax would be a-good substitute for window and other assessed taxes. He does not believe the abolition of the malt tax would be bene ficial to any - class. The revision of the whole excise and customs' taxes are, he conceives, well worthy of attention. On the other two heads—that taxes are imposts that in terfere with industry and should betransferred to direct tax ation, and " the equitable apportionment of all needful taxation" his lordship to a great sxtent:coneurs with the association. The property and income tax should be more equitably proportioned. The loss on the tea duties would be fully compensated for by the additional con sumption of sugar. The navigation laws required amendment, also the restrictive clauses in the Bank- Act of 1844. His lordship concludes by saying : " I hope your association will keep clear of the question of reform in the representation, although it requires very extensive alteration and extension; yet the two questions are quite distinct, as, even in its present defective state, the decided expression of the country's opinion in favour or against a measure, cannot remain long unheeded." COMMERCIAL. CRISIS.-UNFOUNDED RUMOURS. At a time like the present, when the commercial world is but just recovering from a season of disaster and suffer ing, it is lamentable to find that there are among us thoughtless people, whose idle tattle is continually pro ducing renewed distrust;. and pointing at, or insinuating, the names of fresh victims, often without the slightest ground beyond their own senseless conclusions. There can obviously be no security for commercial men—no revival of commercial activity—no confidence amongst capitalists—so long as such wanton practices are in dulged in. We know, however, that it is difficult to put a stop to them. From the press, however, we ought to expect better things; and, although generally, want of circum spection as to the promulgation of reports of an unfa vourable character, affecting individual houses, cannot with truth be alleged against our contemporaries, instances deviation from this wise and proper course do occasion cOntemporary last week, in . wl;ich a firm - wap - 51;ifetf f at; by name, as having suspended ; and although, as it hap pens, the firm in question no longer exists, the report was calculated to do serious injury upon the house which has succeeded to its business. Of course the report was promptly contradicted. In a Manchester paper, the Ex aminer of Saturday week, we find an instance of a diffe rent kind in the following paragraph : "We have information from Liverpool, this evening, of rather an unpleasant character. Rumours have been prevalent there, during the day, with reference to parties whose affairs are understood to be in such a position as to render a public announcement of difficulties not improbable within a few hours. We refrain, in the meantime, from mentioning." No names are mentioned here, certainly, although our contemporary, affecting a great degree of credit for concealing them, intimates that the names are in his possession ; but the paragraph is, on that very account, only calculated to produce the more extensive distrust. It is not one house, definitely pointed out, which is in difficulties, but more than one ; and every Manchester manufacturer, who has business transactions in. Liverpool, is left to surmise whether one or more of the particular houses, in whose stability he is interested , may be the tottering houses in question. Our contempo rary must by this time be convinced that he has been misinformed. 'Loral P.M:I9. The connection between the new North Docks and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal is now completed. On Wednesday, as James Halsall, a carter, was walk ing at the top of Seacombe Slip, he fell down dead, in a fit of apoplexy, the result of natural causes. Fort Anne Hotel, so beautifully situated at the entrance of Douglas harbour, and commanding an almost unri valled prospect, has been taken by parties from Liverpool, and will be opened immediately as an hotel. Mr. Brown, Sir Thomas Birch, and Mr. Cardwell, with a deputation from the Liverpool Operative Porters, had an interview with the Right Hon. H. Labouchere, ors Tuesday, at the office of the Board of Trade. On Tuesday Margaret Johnson died from the effects of poison taken whilst she was in a desponding mood, in consequence of her husband having left her, his circum stances being in a disordered state. Dr. Reynolds has been compelled to vacate the premises in Leeds-street, which he occupied as a dealer in pikes, &c. The sale of the articles had been latterly extremely languid. WOOLTON FLOWER Scow.—The first of these inter esting exhibitions for the season will take place on Thurs day. A splendid display of the products of the garden and conservatory is expected. It is stated that the Theatre-Royal will open on the 10th of July next, under the management of Mr. Simpson, with the new play of " The Wife's Secret," in which Mr. ana Mrs. Kean will act the principal parts. The railway from Southport to Waterloo will be opened on the Ist of July, and passengers can then go from Li verpool to Southport, including the omnibus stage, in one hour. The packet-ship Tuscarora was discharged, in the Waterloo Dock, in the short space of thirty-five working hours, by Messrs. Brown, Shipley, and Co.'s men. Her cargo consisted of 10,700 packages. The magistrates have lately been investigating certain charges against Mr. E. R. Highton, Governor of the Borough Gaol, and the result is that Mr. Highton has been allowed to send in his resignation. This he did on Tuesday. On Tuesday last, Mr. Cardwell entertained Sir Thos. Birch, M.P., Mr. J. Bramley-Moore, Mr. Ambrose Lace, Mr. Wm. Mann, Mr. Wm. Cubitt, and several other gentlemen engaged in parliamentary business connected with the local bills now pending, at his mansion in Whitehall-gardens. COLLISION ON THE MERSEY.—FLAMBEAU V. WIRRAL. —The trial in this case, which arose out of a collision between the above-named steamers on the Mersey a short time since, in which the Flambeau went down, was settled on Tuesday by the Lords of the Admiralty, who gave their decision in favour of the Flambeau. SUSPENSION OF A BANKRUPT'S CERTIFICATE.—At the Court of Bankruptcy, on Tuesday, Mr. Sergeant Ludlow suspended for six months granting a certificate to Richard Taylor, a bankrupt, who had given a warrant of attorney to one of his creditors, thereby giving a pre ference over the rest of his creditors. FIRE.—On Wednesday a fire broke out in the building shed of Mr. Pendleton, Joiner and builder, Whitfield street, Toxteth-park, and though every effort was used by the neighbours to extinguish it, scarcely a vestige of the place remained in three-quarters of an hour. In addition to the destruction of the shed and other property, the woodwork complete for nine houses was consumed. WOMAN DROWNED.—About half-past two o'clock on Saturday afternoon a middle-aged woman, named Betsy Davies, who kept a stall in the Fish Market, in Great Charlotte-street, leaped from one of the Birkenhead ferry steamers into the river. The tide was receding at the time, and she was rapidly drifted down. Two boats were put off to the rescue, but she soon sank to rise no more. SALES OF WOOL.—We are informed that the public sales of East India wool held here on the 18th instant, brought a large attendance of buyers ; the competition was spirited throughout, and the whole was disposed of at prices fully equal, and in some instances higher, than re cent sales made by private treaty, which is a complete contradiction of reports that appeared in:several of our contemporaries. In the Court of Bankruptcy, on Friday, Messrs. Henry and William Davies, the extensive sharebrokers, passed their final examination, to which there was no opposition, after a complimentary allusion by Mr. Sergeant Ludlow to their clear and intelligible balance sheet. FATAL FALLS.—In March, 1847, a man named Peter Murray was engaged in taking down a sign in Burroughs gardens, when he fell off the ladder. He was taken up insensible, and was never able to follow his employment. He died on Monday.—On Saturday week an old man named John Evans, living in a court in Smithfield-street, slipped down whilst going up the court and broke his thigh, from the effects of which he did next day. TAKING POISON BY ACCIDENT.—Last week a poor old woman who earned her livelihood by cleaning offices, found a small parcel under the fire-grate in one of the offices which she was in the habit of cleaning, and suppo sing the contents were Epsom Salts she took them home and swallowed them as a dose of medicine. It °unfortu nately happened that the contents of the paper were oxalic acid, and not Epsom salts, and the consequence was, that the poor old creature was poisoned. The paper in which the oxalic acid was wrapped was marked " Poison," but it appears the old woman could not read. THE REV. DR. M'Neren.—Last Sunday, 14th instant, the Rev. Dr. M'Neile, of Liverpool, preached two ser mons in this town in the morning, at Trinity Church, and in the evening at Great St. Mary's. The sermon in the evening was a continuation of that in the morning ; both were preached from the 15th chapter of Ist epistle to the Corinthians, that in the morning from part of the 4th verse—" And that he rose again on the third day, accord ing to the scriptures ;" that in the evening from part of the 55th verse —" 0 grave, where is thy victory ?" Crowded congregations attended to hear this eminent preacher.— Cambridge Chronicle. MRS. PARKE'S LAST GRAND CLUB SUBSCRIPTION. — W e once more beg to call the attention of our readers to the distribution of this spendid property, which is posi tively fixed to take place at Exeter-hall on the 29th inst. As:we before-mentioned, this scheme will be the final dis posal of the celebrated Bowyer Gallery, and containing as it does, some of the most superb works of art in this country, cannot fail to attract the attention of those who lay any claim to refined taste. The tickets are one guinea, for which the subscriber has a chance of an allot ment of the value of one guinea and a-half up to 3,100 guineas. There are several pictorial cabinets, of the value of one, two, and three hundred pounds. Immedi ate application for shares should be made to the agents, whose names appear in the first column of our front page. THE NEW tANDING-STAGE.—At the meeting of the Dock Committee the chairman stated that as a wish had be3n expressed by the committee that the landing-stage should remain where it now is, and not be removed further to the north, he had had several interviews- with Mr. Cubitt on the subject, and the result was, that Mr. Cu bitt considered it might remain where it was, seeing that there were now three places for the bridges. He said if the committee passed a resolution authorizing him to moor the landing-stage at the south end, he would do so, and undertake that the stage could be removed at any time at a day's notice to the northern point, and without the expense and trouble of taking the bridges of the stage. After some conversation, the chairman was re quested to write to Mr. Cabitt, with the view of obtaining his opinion in writing. NEW HOISTING Powers.—A machine, of a very singu lar construction, invented by Mr. W. G. Armstrong, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, has; within the last few days, been put in operation at the Albert Dock, for the purpose of raising goods from the quay into the warehouses above. The moving power is the pressure of the water supplied from the mains of the Green-lane water-works, and, by the action of this power, nearly two tons of goods can be hoisted up on a sliding stage in a few seconds to the highest floor of the building. The engine works with great precision and delicacy, both in lifting and lowering, and its movements are very easily controlled. We per ceive, by a paragraph from the Newcastle Journal, that an engine upon the same principle, but for a different purpose, and more closely resembling a steam-engine, has been recently put in operetion at Newcastle. THE NEW CHURCH AT SEACOMBE.—The Reverend Dr. Byrth, rector of Wallasey,. has circulated amongst the subscribers towards the erection of St. Paul's Church, Seacombe, a statement of the treasurer's account, and tenders his cordial thanks for their generous liberality. He says :—" The church container 450 sittings, one half of which are entirely free ; and on the other portion a moderate rent has been placed , upwards the minister's stipend. The division of the pew is not only a numeri cal, but a real, equality. Those that are free are in situation as advantageous, and in structure and appear ance as commodious and respectable, as those upon which aecharge has been affixed. Thus only has it been at tempted to avoid all unnecessary distinction between the worshippers in the house of God, where " the rich and the-poor meet together;" but an approximation has been made as far as possible, to the principle which seems in volved in the very idea of a National Church, namely, that a place of worship should be provided, free of ex pense, for every member of the community. In the present incumbent, the Rev. E. Roberts, the district possesses an able and zealous minister of the Gospel of Christ, and a no less devoted member of our Apostolical Church." The list of subscriptionsurnounts to £3,114. The sum of £lOOO has been invested as an endowment fund, and stands as a Great Western bond. To meet the sums now owing there is a deficiency of £157, and £25 has been subscribed for the erection of a spire, which it is proposed to add to the church. MR. HA'WKSLEY'S LETTER ON THE WATER QUES TION.—Mr. Hawksley has addressed a long letter to the Journal, complainine of misrepresentations and inaccu ells own AriPQ in aTD'inagepter,?s - " hitherto made to ascertain the yield of the Li verpool wells, have not, he states, been completed, and the permanent supply is not ascertained. Liverpool re quires—" 1. A peculiar supply for the extinction of fires. —2. A supply for watering streets, flushing sewers, cleansing courts, &c.-3. A supply for shipping.-4. A supply for cranes and hoists.-5..i supply for public baths and washhouses." He enters upon each of these heads, showing the supply required for each ; the gross total being 892,000 gallons per day for domestic use, while he believed it was probable that only 300,000 could be supplied for this purpose. The question at issue re lates not to the gross yield obtainable at any particular period, and under temporary conditions, but to the avail able quantity permanently distributable to the inhabi tants at the time when their wants are the largest and their resources the smallest." In a postscript the writer says—" The discussions now going on relate to a differ ence of opinion as to the aggregate yield of six stations, a difference amounting in the whole to only a few hun dred thousand gallons per day; although the ultimate decision must have reference to a source from which it is proposed to derive a supply of at least sixteen million gallons per day—a quantity which, however apparently large, is certainly not more than is due to the present necessities and growing importance of the borough of Liverpool. Manchester has taken powers to obtain a supply of 30 million gallons per day ; Glasgow 22 millions, and actually delivers 101 millions e Gorbals (a small por tion of Glasgow) 2e- millions ; Lambeth (half the size of Liverpool) 7 millions; Bristol (one-third the size of Li verpool) 4 millions." ROSCOE CLUB.—On Saturday, a special meeting of the members was held at the Royal Institution, Colquitt street. Mr. H. R. Sandbach presided. Mr. Leighton, the secretary, read a report from the Council, and from this it appeared that there had been a falling off of the members in the last quarter, ascribed to the deficiency of accommodation, and that, from preliminary inquiries which have been made, the council consider it most desirable that the club shouldbel emoved to more suitable and corn modious premises. The annual gross rent now paid amounts to £270; some premises offered, in a more central situa tion, and which were in every way more convenient, might be had for a rent not exceeding £350 per annum. Removal, &c., was estimated to entail a cost of £6OO, and this capital it was proposed to raise by the accept ance loans of £5, at ten per cent. interest, from such of the members as might be disposed to ad vance that sum. The average number of members for the last three quarters approaches to 700, but such has been the decrease that there are not at present more than 607. On the motion of Mr. Tinne, seconded by Mr. J. R. Jeffery, it was resolved to remove, as early as possible, to more eligible premises near the Exchange, and to raise the required capital in the mode suggested. The unpleasant fact transpired that the institution had lost considerably by the coffee-room ; but it was stated that effectual measures had recently been taken to render the department self-supporting, and that, what with the experience acquired, and the thorough revision in the entire management, which was now completed, the future prospects of the club were never more hopeful. It being one of the principal reasons for the projected removal, to secure the means of developing the higher objectsior which the institution was raised, we sin cerely trust that the important class for whose benefit it was established will, by giving it their strenuous support, pe cuniary and personal, do what in them lies to render it capable of achieving its original design of increasing the physical comforts, supplying the social wants, and above all, forwarding the moral and intellectual improvement of its members. ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.—The opening pyrotechnic gala at these favourite grounds came off on Thursday evening last, and, though we regret the weather was notso favour able as might have been wished, the attendance was great, and sufficiently marked with enthusiasm to give the scene represented the character of " a decided bit." In a great maritime port like Liverpool, where the influx of foreign ers—more particularly Americans—is to be taken as the great addenda!to the patronage bestowed on public amuse ments, it requires some degree of judgment to select for representation a subject suited to all. New York admir ably fills all requirements, not alone from the magnificence of the city, but from the beauty of the panoramic scenery with which it is surrounded. The view is taken from near Chatham-street, and thus commands all the ancient and picturesque portion of the city, the East River and the Hudson, Long Island, Jersey, &c. In the painting there is a distinctness of delineation and breadth of colour ing, with a judicious introduction of light and shade, but the artist (Mr. Fenton) has been more peculiarly successful in catching at one glance, without disturbing the general effect, all the important buildings of the city. General opinion, which does much for ultimate success , pronounces the painting excellent, while " Brother Jonathan,' being more than delighted to point out to his European friends each attractive feature, says much for the accuracy with which it is pourtrayed. The pyrotechnic works by Mr. J. Atkins, were, in colou r and desi g n, splendid. The Gardens are now in excellent order, and the late refresh ing rains have given to vegetation additional beauty ; in deed, there is not out of London any resort more worthy of a visit; and we think we will be borne out by the public in awarding to the proprietors that meed of appro bation that is the dessert of spirited enterprise—and wishing that the ensuing season, like those past, will command that support that has prompted them to seek rather public praise than pecuniary profit—to giee, with increased patronage * increased attractions. THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. Nay 23, 184 S. MECHANICS' INSTITUTION.—At the last anithal meet" ing of this institution, the directors were requested to con sider the practicability of throwing open the Evefiing School to all who chose to attend, at charges varying,fron! three shillings to ss. per quarter. The reasons assignee for this proposal were, that it was very difficult for the, class of adult mechanics to pay the yearly subscription 0j twenty-one shillings in one sum, and that they often bee to pay for a year, but were unable, in consequence of cji:.; cumstances affecting their employments, to attend the . MIL time for which they had paid. The directors have con sulted the wants and convenience of the working classes: and at the same time retained to them all the privilege s membership, by making the yearly subscription of one guinea payable in quarterly sums, by those who attend the Evening School. We perceive, also, that two yes interesting lectures are announced, one by Mr. Pepper ,° , London, on Light and Polarized Light, in the course o! which a great many experiments will be introduced, a n ° another by Mr. Melville, of London, on Invertebrat e( ' Animals, to be illustrated by living specimens collected on our own shores. LIVERPOOL ANTS THE HEALTH BILL.—On Tharsdalf in the House of Commons, on the discussion of the Health of Towns Bill, on clause 1 (excluding London P a Westminster from the operation of the act, and extending it to all other parts of England and to Wales) having been put, Mr. Cardwell, in whose name stood a motion for the,, insertion of a clause to except Liverpool from the act, P l -" c i to allow any superintending iuspector to report upon, a° to superintend the mode in which the local sanatory Acts are carried out, and to include it under the act on a Pe ll Lion from the Town Council to that effect) suggested the government that the great town which he had the h°,l nour to represent, possessing, as it did, several local s e " for drainage, sewerage, and water-works, should be r!:; garded in the same light as London, which was exempt from the provisions of the bill.- and that no extension °' those provisions to Liverpool should take place until° special inquiry had been made into the state of the town' and into the way in which the present sanatory regula tions were conducted,—The Attorney-General was under stood to say that as to Liverpool, a preliminary inquill might be instituted, and a special report presented to tbeg house, on which they could act as regarded the town ° 1 Liverpool, but there was no analogy between the cirennl" stances which effected it and London and Westminste r, because the very complicated arrangements existing in th e latter had no parallel in the few local acts which had bed passed for Liverpool.—Mr. Cardwell remarked that the town of Liverpool possessed a sanatory act, framed on the model recommended in former commissions, which W 0 much more efficient than that at present before the house; inasmuch as it had been passed with a regard to local Or; cumstances, and was not a mere general bill.—Viscou r " Morpeth thought the reply of the Attorney-General quite sufficient to satisfy the honourable member for verpool. There was at present a commission of inane*/ into the special circumstances connected with London , but no such inquiry existed as to Liverpool. BIRKENHEAD DOCK COMPLETION BILLS.—The liamentary Committee on these bills resumed on Mondt Lord Charles Wellesley in the chair. Our locannena' were present. The opposition of the coasting trade 7 1 5 proceeeed with, and it appeared from Mr. Caninh chairman of the Coasters' Association, that there was 0° sufficient beaching ground at Woodside, but if the vr°l, were completed as proposed that would not be eneug, Others gave similar evidence. A claim was put in Wr. Pollard and Mr. Hosker to the land attached to tile ge frontages in the Pool, down to low-water mark—adr's to the crown—but this was opposed, and the claim 0 " A gone into. It was stated by Sir John Rennie and other!! that to make the works efficient £580,373 would r a required. One witness stated that if the inner pool Wit made, he doubted the possibility of keeping the onte pool clear by sluicing, and dredging would be very col: Mr. Gordon, professor of civil engineering, of Glasg ° 4s thought the contemplated outlay on the outer w°', l . would be useless without the completion of the in tl i o works. Mr. Barnett, who represented bondholder s _., the amount of £30,000 or £40,000, said they had °7 l l, given to understand that there was a possibility of O l i o' gamation with the Liverpool Docks, which they ri°., t , much prefer to the works being carried on by the 8351 ance of Government and subscriptions. They We l° t d ed sale or an amalgamation with Liverpool. It WEIS st a n d _ that the " Home port clause" would be withdrawn , ~°0 that the promoters proposed to except all vessels !r ev , wharfage rates up t 0 ,200 tons—so that so far as theL lv o i l pool Dock petition goes the opposition ceases. Thursday the committee again met. Mr. Barnett Plat posed an adjournment should be consented to, 5 ° ool' negociations might be entered into with the LiverP ta ol Dock Trustees, which he believed might result in 1 11 ,i , I ier s. advantage. He applied on behalf of the bondb °l we d Mr. Webster said the question could not be ente rt ! r ties by the committee. After the bills were passed the P' o . rec a might negociate. After some conversation, it was 3 ; s daY that the committee should stand adjourned until 1" the 39th instant. POLICE INTELLIGENCE. MAD , DOGS.—The Mayor having issued his users Pei; clamation, requiring all dogs to be confined, fi fte g W i t sons were summoned on Thursday for perrnilcie, curs to go at large. All sorts of excuses were in most of the cases the defendants were fined °White, 9 ' FRAUD BY A RAILWAY SERVANT.--JObilii.Westall carter in the employ of the London and c ourt t° Railway Company, was committed at the F°" -- 2 - 9 . 9a. to take his trial for altering a freight note freill 3s. 9d. .„; op% f "". s ' tons were charged with infractions of the previ sl ts• i nternir the sanatory act in the mode of conductingbe The act requires that two. feet six inches of earth sh II • placed on every coffin immediately after interme nt, to " 1a main undisturbed until the grave is wanted s again' o o some cases the offence was proved; but Mr. Kuiebe, said that the act was of peculiar construction; an" be lieving that the defendants had sinned from ignorancet'are dismissed the cases, and warned them to complY , D tS with the exact conditions of the law. The de fenea promised obedience, and departed. REMOVING NIGHT-SOIL AT AN IMPROPER On Thursday a policeman represented to Mr. Bu s " - r• that the inhabitants of Burgess-street and the neigh s ll o - hood had been annoyed by the men in Mr. Rose e.„, removingployment night-soil, and, in so doing , all° iata a liquid manure to flow down the street, the efllT‘ tra te from which was extremely unpleasant. The niag,lea- f oia enquired the hour at which the men were employ , was told 11 o'clock. This, he said, was too soon' ha d person from Mr. Rose's establishment said theY e EX) authority from the parish committee to contra" Pc coV early as 11 o'clock. Mr. Rushton said he should re lot the order, and fine Mr. Rose, unless there was a bY e f - the to provide for this ; he confessed himself ignorant o existence of such law. an Va" SHAMEFUL STREET ROBBERY.—A young rn„- Michael Dowdie was brought before Mr. ,t tu 'itosv", charged with having stolen a watch from Mr. NV r"'bboa ' lands, a music teacher. The prosecutor is almos, s olve and on Tuesday evening last, he was going throuPtreet; cross streets, with a view to get into Great Howar?o, It was dark and rainy, and he lost his way. Coral 6 11 length, to the end of a street out. of which there .`c,,,a exit, the prisoner and another man came up to liwbres' asked him where he wished to go ? He said to The' Howard-street, that he might reach the pier-head• arioa,„' took each hold of an arm, and led him along 0.10 'streets till near the canal bridge, when the prisone r tosi . the other held him, snatched his watch and ran He was committed for trial at the sessions. ii rSOr ROBBERY OF A BANKRUPT'S STOCK.-0 11 wh Abraham Turbott, William Prescott, and James -'le'eall, were charged with an extensive robbery on the Prooe,'; lately used by Messrs. Stockdale, soap-boilers , 1 31 " c 1 100 6 4' 0 street. Police-officers Lloyd and Bates went, on morning, to a yard in theaboye street, and , in ; i f 6 1 `i; there, found some cisterns, lined with lead, a I)°x o o ' e p six pound weights, large screws, beams, and brag- 'lke bagging, and a great quantity of other articles. o f dap then went to Hornby-street, and, in the 1149115 ,/,es prisoner Prescott, who had charge of the ()le n "; voo" o cl and night, found under his bed a basket, contain des,, and candles, a large table which had been used as a " to an office stand ; also a quantity of bags simila r t s found in Blackstock-street stable. At Turbot s orl e a other art_cles of a similar description were fonil l , h tsi J e j, Hartley's house, Thistle-court, Shore-place , %'coveftbs - candles, and testing instruments, were b oo o c. In all, from £BO to £lOO worth of property 11",."benft‘feli covered, but a much larger quantity had been o f v. l ie r; Turbott was also charged with stealing a quan tl 4° l o' rome, and offering to, sell it to Mr. Casey, s"J o iein 'but- Mr.. Casey, suspecting it to have been tained the property and gave haformation to and was thus the means of bringing all the ea r` l o s laot , tice. It appears that the property is now ~,ve „ s p d aYl Borough Bank, and it was to be sold on The prisoners were committed for trial. 10 THE STONELEIGH ABBEY CASE BEFORE elit'decite: POOL POLICE-COURT.—On Friday forenoo n , neat e;bicr went into Mr. Rushton's court in a state or. q. ra te, melt, and desired a hearing from' the mag's'ciespia was granted after some immediate business was/10es it, b a He inquired for the reporter of the Londonqe eceita in finding that paper employed no reporter in '',, p ear, e i , sent for the correspondent of the paper , virlit., 9 bee/aV e i, short time. The latter was immediately „ d eiooe ( tained." Soon after the gentleman introducevoit aged man to Mr. Rushton, who made a an th en was taken down in writing. The gentlenianora Poor 0; e if said, that his name was Jones, that he was tha t solicitor, and that he had arrived in Liverpoo,„, at ° n ing with a person who was able to rebut tnerso,'Jetio,' charges brought against Lord Leigh, and thaVarisw 6 teik:', now ir court.—Mr. Rushton said he had no tlie ta re; in the case, which begun in another court ; , a ea cier o:, nients made by the person alluded o were o' d e , leave no doubt of their truth. Het then rea d deP°Og i i tion of that person. It was to the effect s t . a irig i! t ...e fl o e name was William Billinge, aged 52, re ,7 0 ., brittol t ' i3 e hill, and at present a mason employed en,'„ s yas a F t,ll B ,er erecting in Wavertree-road ; that in 181 4 IT er josel i ' e e leigh Abbey with his father and his bro t .l., i iiiinge s i6, f ' t et former of whom was the only Matthew„-r!,5 or 1 a 1e1 a ,,4 knew ; his father died at Stockport, in I,vtdaec4,, was buried near that town. Deponenty,,r.4.--31',0(,11„g proving that his father was alive after tio!- so f o r ; che n ill e thanked the magistrate for hearing the ease aid In of -le latter said it was the duty of every one_ the truth, repeating his conviction 0.t„:",; by 1‘ ri31111 1 :1 statements made. The man was identan f o r. ~a b oi:6 C ‘l ton's own son, an engineer, who was seijoci ex add s had seen the accounts in the nevvs pa p n er e s, spape r i s tbe L i - 0 send a letter to Lord Leigh when a w coun t S e to him came to hand, containing an 8 .. e,„ be k ° o r' written by Mr. Jones, to whom he va°)'.:, e os. re sso c ite having succeeded in finding out this.n. 04 1 _ 4 e$ quence Mr. Jones came here, r o 'f gr" arrived at the mason's house 1 . 13 0 044 '