The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-02-26 00:00:00

SKETCHES IN PARLIAMENT.—No. I (For the Liverpool Standard,) DEBATE ON LORD MORPETH'S IRISH REGIS- TRATION BILL.-MONDAY, FEB. 22 The " obstruction" of Lord Stanley's bill, for reforming the present corrupt system of registering voters in Ireland, commenced this evening in the House of Commons, and the gallery and the space below the bar, was filled at an early hour An unusual degree of excitement w•as raised by the announcement, which - had been pretty generally circulated by the ministerial party, that upon the issue of this evening's debate would depend the fate of Lord Melbourne's govern- With their usual adroitness, the ministry had suc- ceeded in gaining, for their own measure, precedence over that of the member for North Lancashire ; and should they fail in procuring a majority for its second reading, it was deemed scarcely probable that they would attempt any fur- ther serious impediment to his lordship's bill, the second reading of which is fixed for Wednesday. The Speaker had taken the chair, and some preliminary business had been disposed of before I succeeded in getting into the house Amongst others, the petition from Liver. pool, signed by 27,00 G of the inhabitants, had been already presented by Lord Stanley. From the usual sources of in- formation, I find, however, that the petition in question, far as regards the number of the signatures attached to it is nothing compared with what the O'Connellite ministry can produce upon any Irish question. One retition had been previously presented, in favour of the ministerial bill, from Dublin, signed by 200,000 persons ! and two from Cork signed by 78,000 each ! ! The " hereditary bondsmen " will, some of these days no doubt, be mustering their full corn- plement of seven millions of signatures to a petition for repeal, which would perhaps be a document quite as genuine as those from either of the places in question. The coup-d' ceuil, presented by the house, when, the order of the day having been moved for the second reading of Lord Morpeth's bill, the noble member for North Lancashire, arose to move that it be read that day six months, was ex tremely imposing. The ministerial and the cross benches were moderately filled ; but the attendance of members on the opposition side of the house was overwhelming. There is little in the interior of the House of Commons itself to excite interest. The associations attached to those walls, which have re-echoed the stirring eloquence of the leading spirits of the last generation—of Pitt and Fox, of Burke and Chatham—no longer exist. Yet it is impossible to gaze upon such an assemblage as that which was last night met together within the walls of the present House of Commons, without feeling proud of our native land, and of her noble institu- At one moment the eye would rest upon the lofty features of a descendant of the old nobility of the land—of one whose sires had fought at Cressy or at Agincourt—whose name had descended in the page of history, from the wars of the rival houses of York and Lancaster, to rise again in undying lustre in the present age ; at another upon the more homely and less distinguished face of one whom his talents, his industry, his enterprise, or his gallantry had contributed to place in the senate of his native country. In either case the object of contemplation is almost equally gratifying. In the one we are made to feel that the " aspiring blood" of England's ancient chivalry will not " sink in the ground;'' and in the other by the working of our glorous constitution, the prize of a noble ambition is still attainable by the hum blest of our fellow subjects. I will not attempt to follow in detail the arguments, or to aaracterise in its general features, the splendid effect of par liamentary eloquence, with which Lord Stanley occupied the attention of the house for a period of nearly three hours. Although upon a question necessarily filled with statistical details, and to he handled only with sober and somewhat dry reasoning, the interest which it excited in the able hands of the noble lord never flagged for a moment. One after ano ther, the misrepresentations which ministerial ingenuity and mendacity have endeavoured for the last six months to attach to the measure, brought forward by his lordship last session, were stripped from it by his trenchant and keen eloquence, and their authors held up by his relentless gripe to the mockery of the house and of mankind ; whilst, at the same time, every sophism, which the utmost stretch of ministerial cunning has endeavoured to hang around their own com peting measure, was torn from it by the force of irresistible argument, or chased away by playful, yet cutting satire. Not a shred of concealment was allowed to cover the features or the limbs of the changeling, which the impure hand of cor ruption is endeavouring to substitute for the present de nounced and demoralising system. The " spirits blue, white, and Grey," by whose art it was to be clothed in gaudy and enticing colours, shrunk from beneath the waving of the enchanter's wand, and left their charge—" monstrum, hor ribile, ingens informe"—to emerge to the contemplation of the world in his naked and impure shape ; whilst the darker spirit which animates the great prompter of the ministerial puppets, for a moment, seemed to desert his impenetrable front, as at the magic touch of omnipotent truth, another kindred spirit of old " fled howling; and with him fled the shades of night." A great portion of your readers have already enjoyed oppor tunities of listening to Lord Stanley, and of estimating his talent as an orator, beyond the walls of parliament ; but it is indispensably necessary to listen to him within, to be enabled to form a just idea of his transcendant powers. As a debater his lordship is admitted to be without an equal in the present day ; and it is almost impossible to imagine that on any pre vious occasion he can have excelled his display of last night. However difficult it may be to particularize any portion of an address—which was forcible and effective throughout—as being more than ordinarily striking, yet there were undoubt edly such portions, which in the delivery gained additional force from the manner of the speaker and the evidence which it afforded of their being prompted by the circumstances and the position of the moment. Amongst these I may mention his calm and clear display of the close analogy between those parts of the ministerial bill which affect the registration and the clauses so vehemently opposed in his own measure of last session. When collating these similarities and reminding the occupants of the ministerial benches of their former recorded opinions in opposition to them, as disfranchising and as op pressive to the people of Ireland, the excruciating satire con veyed by his speaking features, as he glanced his eye from one to another of his late fierce denouncers, was calculated to increase the crushing severity of his language, and even Lord Alorpeth himself, the jaded and servile tool of a shameless and tyrant master, appeared to wince under the merited cas tigation which it inflicted. The most effective passage, however, was that in which the speaker exposed the analogy between the appropriation clause of the Melbourne ministry and the £5 qualification " tacked" to the present bill as a definition of the franchise, which he showed to have been adopted in order to secure the measure from the possibility of being passed into a law, and by this means to perpetuate the iniquitous alliance by which ministers are at present " propped" up in their unstable seats. It is difficult, indeed, to conceive how any of the ministerial party could escape the conclusion, so full of hu miliating recollections, to which his lordship reluctantly dragged them ; or get rid of the degrading consciousness that by giving their support to so palpable and transparent a trick as the measure before them, they were in reality pandering to dishonest and mendacious legislation, and doing their puny utmost to uphold one of the most fertile systems of fraud and collusion which ever was permitted to blacken the face of a civilized and Christian country. Most deeply do I regret my inability to convey within the limits of this imperfect sketch even a tolerable idea of its most prominent subject. In part, however, that object can be effected by a careful perusal and study of the entire ad dress of the noble lord ; and to such a perusal I would earnestly invite those of your readers who desire information of the ectire details and principles of a question, the decision of which is, in all :probability, destined to be productive of such important results to the social welfare, and, perhaps, to the peace, of the empire. The noble lord was succeeded in the debate—it would be a mockery to say that he was replied to—by one of the most feeble and shallow of his party, Mr. C. Wood, the member This gen- for Halifax, and brother-in-law of Lord Howick tleman, or rather these two gentlemen, it will be remem bered, enacted together during the last session the character of a parliamentary see-saw ; and of Mr. Wood himself I may candidly express my regret that his person has so far out grown his mind as to render indecorous the innocent recrea tion afforded by a plank or a hobby horse, for which he is so eminently qualified. That his rambling and faltering vindi cation of his own consistency was listened to by any portion of the house can be attributed solely to a curiosity entertained as to the why and how far he is disposed to jump round during the present session ; and this feeling was fully gratified. The mental optics of Mr. Wood have, by some strange process, arrived at the discovery that the bill of Lord Morpeth, so far as the registration clauses are concerned, is identical with that of Lord Stanley which he himself supported last session, and the noble Secretary for Ireland as vehemently opposed— a conclusion highly flattering no doubt to the consistency (!) of the latter ; and, with respect to the tack of a five pound qualification, Mr. Wood is prepared to consider the propriety of altering the amount in committee. Does the poor young man imagine that the ministry, or their master, will ever allow him the opportunity of making the attempt ? The glimmer of even his feeble intellect, however, has not been without its use. A straw thrown up will serve to shew the direction of the wind ; and the present oscillation of the member for Halifax is a sufficient indication that the passing of Lord Morpeth's bill in its present shape, even through the House of Commons, is a hopeless impossibility. I must pass over the intervening speakers, (although to one of them, Mr. Litt on , it i s an i n j us tice to do so,) and p roceed to f the concludi ng speec h o f t h e n i g h t , th a t of Lord Morpeth. Of this r emar k a bl y i nefficient effusion t h e re ports of the daily Papers have conveyed a fair and just idea; and I will inco nclusive fatig ue your readers by entering into a detail o f i ts var ious attempts at reasoning. I doubt if any of your readers had hatl4reve: the gratification of seeing the celebrated have done Liston, perform in a tragedy. If they could how far they might arrive at a tolerably accurate notion be ado the suhsstnce of a sp eec h f rom L or d Morpeth could rned by th e by the dignit y of graces of utterance, or enhanced in interest Differing in these demeanouressentials possessed by the noble speaker. f rom th a t o f Lord St a nley, the speech of the Secretarytr Ireland is infinitely better in the perusal than it was ja hearing; and yet under these un equal circumstances I should be quite content to leave the question at issue to be decided by the result of the same at tentive perusal which I have requested for that of the noble lord. The speech of Lord Stanley leaves not a feature of the whole question unreviewed, is characterised by calm reason ing and logical deduction ; that of Lord Morpeth searches nothing, decides nothing ; is neither calm nor dignified ; abounds in the frippery of ornament, in personal invective, in dolorous attempts to be merry and satirical, and is altoge ther unsustained and artificial. In one part, and one alone —the concluding part of his address—is contained anything worthy of serious notice ; and even that portion was listened to by a majority of the house with evident repugnance. The passage to which I refer is the implied threat held out over the heads of the supporters of Lord Stanley's bill, of an outbreak in Ireland as the result of its being passed. How well and how briefly might an English conservative reply : " You fostered by your misrepresentations of the principle and operation of that bill the repugnance which you allege to exist in Ireland against it. You fostered the agitation of repeal as its alternative, from which you now affect to anti cipate danger to the constitution. You now sit upon those benches the acknowledged slaves of that very traitor who is, you presume to hint, prepared to precipitate a bloody rebel lion, and you shall not be suffered to shelter yourselves be hind your own wrong. If a necessity exists for the conces sion of such a measure as the present—if it can be shewn to be required by justice or to be beneficial to the interests of the United Kingdom—let it be conceded. But a British le gislature, mindful of the past, must not again grant to the threats of a ruffian, his priest•lcd millions, or his crawling and abject ministerial slaves, what they are not satisfied to yield to reason and to the demands of the constitution. " Once before, let it be remembered, such an unhappl• concession has been made, and mark its results. You, Lord Morpeth, and your unprincipled colleagues, are now, by this very bill, attempting to trample upon the last and the most important of those securities which were guaranteed to the people of Great Britain as its accompaniment, by endeavour ing to Nubstitute for the disfranchised forty-shilling free holders rf Ireland A FIVE-POUND PAUPER CONSTITUENCY ! Beware, my lord. lest England be driven to put forward HER claim for JUSTICE!" I am warned by my space to conclude, although it was my intention to have trespassed upon your readers with a further portion of the debate. I will, however, be enabled, 1 trust, to give you the remainder of my observations for your Tues day's publication. THE PROTECTOR SOCIETY. $` Neither a borrower nor a lender be.". P -HA M LET. We had proposed adding a few more observations to those we made last week on the legal doctrines propounded by this society, and by Mr. Bretherton, in his pamphlet ; but since then Lord John Russell's new registration bill for England has been read a second time, atd as it proposes to do away with the condition of paying the Queen's taxes altogether, and alters the time for the payment of rates, it is a fair pre sumption that the reformers have felt that the existing law is too much for them, and cannot be overleaped by any such contrivances as the Protector Society has attempted to make use of in Liverpool. Their champion, Mr. Bretherton, it is true, has been fighting their battle through forty-eight mortal pages ; but we have already shown that he fights shy of the question in front throughout. We have now done with his law, which being no better than a mere gossamer thread of sophistry from first to last, could not really endure a second attack, even the weakest, from the fortress of common sense. It may be well to notice, however, those general powers of reasoning, as well as argument, with which he has essayed to defend the cause. Desirous to put the Protectorites on the vantage ground of virtue and patriotism, he argues (p. 30) that it is an honour able act to " stimulate men to profit by the privileges which the constitution offers to their attainment." This being granted, we are to learn how the Protectorites apply the stimulus, or what is the sort of instrumentality they use for the purpose of stimulating ? The answer is, lending men money to pay their rates; that is the " stimulus," according to Mr. Bretherton. Why, we would call this not stimulating at all, but DOING that act for another which he ought to do himself. He is not stimulated to work ; his work is done for him. And this lending and borrowing system is what Mr. Bretherton champions, recommends, and eulogises as the most constitutional and patriotic proceeding possible. He disapproves of giving the poor man the money to pay his rates out and out; that he conceives would be ".bribing and corrupting him ;" nor would he have the poor man pawning or disposing of his goods in order to pay them ; that he con ceives would be allowing him to be too hard run. No, neither of these methods will do ; the Protector system of lending is the only thing. His words are these : " I conceive, and, I think, rightly, if there is any one mode of rendering assistance to the worthy, which can be held justifiable, it is by loan, when, by the undertaking to repay the amount advanced, the party incurs a responsibility, proportionate to the benefit received, and is not bribed, to seek a franchise he will make no sacrifice to possess, either directly, by a gift of the money to him, or indirectly, by his receiving the amount, and handing over some worthless chattel." There is a little of that obscurity which belongs to the sublime in the latter part of this sentence ; but we content ourselves with being able to perceive that the gentleman means to say, in plain language, that there is " nothing like" —not leather, but " lending." This is certainly something new. Some of our old moralists have laid it down, that for every shilling a man borrows he forfeits so much of his inde pendence, and becomes pro tanto the slave of the lender ; but the advocate of modern protectorism maintains that this is the very way to make him independent, and to raise up in the community an independent body of electors ! It would be unpardonable of us to waste time or space in refuting non sense like this ; besides, as we have already observed, the question is virtually given up by the introduction of a new registration bill, in which the payments at present found so inconvenient to " Reformers" are excused. The following notice of its details, from the able speech delivered by Sir E. Sugden on the occasion, may be interesting to our readers:— " The practice of registration would in future not be con fined to one particular part of the year, as now, but would ex tend, at the will of the registering barristers, over the whole year, interfering with quarter sessions, assizes, Parliament itself, and the other public business of the country. Nor was the claim to registration to rest, as heretofore, on the period of the payment of rates and taxes, but on the particu lar period of time at which the judge should think proper to give notice of his intention to register the voters of any par ticular district. The right of voting was, moreover, to be placed on an entirely different footing to that on which it was placed by the Reform Act, under the noble lord's newfan gled bill. The bill before the house contained a clause by which it was attempted to alter the franchise in England. It would have been well if the noble lord had done his work in a more manly, open manner; he, on the contrary, had at tempted to effect a great and radical change in the most skulking and secret manner, by leaving out certain words in the former franchise bill, and putting . in others having a di rectly contrary effect, though so insignificant as not to catch the eye. The 26th clause of the bill contained a provision, altering altogether the Reform Bill, the noble lord's " final measure"—(hear)—by rendering it no longer necessary to have paid the Queen's taxes in order to be entitled to be put upon the registry." MEETING OF THE DOCK COMMITTEE The usual weekly meeting of the Dock Committee was held yesterday. The 'following members were present : Messrs. Benn, Barclay, T. Holt, Holmes, Quayle, Booth, Mellor, Bulley, G. Holt, Tobin, Martin, Ripley, Smith, Middleton, and Aikin. Mr. Benn presided. On the recommendation of the Sub-committee of Works, a shed was ordered to be erected on the south side of Cla rence Graving Dock, for the accommodation of the fire en gine, at an estimated cost of £25 or £3O. The tender of Messrs. Logan and Co. for the supply of 300 fathoms of chain was accepted. On the recommendation of the Sub-committee for the Marine Surveyor's Department, the tender of Mr. John Brown, to erect the intended sea-mark at Grange for £250, was accepted. The Sub-committee further recommended that the telegraph station on Hilbre Island be re-built, un der the superintendence of the surveyor.—Ordered. Several repairs were ordered to be made to the upper and lower lighthouses at Hoylake, under the direction of Mr. Williams, of Hoylake; the land belonging to the trust to be at the same time enclosed with wooden palisadoes. The roof of Bidston lighthouse was also ordered to be re-slated. The captain of the Point of Ayr life-boat was ordered to be paid £3, and the crew £2 each, for saving the crew of the Ann, of Whitehaven, wrecked in December last. The Sub-committee, to whom the matter was referred last week, reported that the master of Prince's Dock had failed in his duty in not allowing three of the gatemen to go before the stipendiary magistrate, as requested; and recommended that he be admonished to be more attentive in future. After a few words from Mr. TOBIN, the master was called in, and the CHAIRMAN, addressing him, said the committee were of opinion he had not acted correctly with regard to the answer he had sent, when desired by the magistrate to send three gatemen to give evidence In a case before the court. The committee thought that, as a matter of course, he ought not only to have been more civil, but to have sent the men. It was necessary for the committee to support the police, and for their servants to do so likewise. if the policeman saw the crew of the Mary Hartley were not doing their duty, his instructions were to report it to his inspector, who thereupon took the necessary steps. He (the chairman) trusted that on all future occasions he (the dock-master) would be ready to support the police, and to give them all the assistance in his power, instead of standing aloof, as he had, and meeting them with a hostile feeling.—The master then bowed and retired. The Sub-committee reported, that on examination there was no foundation whatever for the charges made against the master of George's Dock by Messrs. M'Arthur and Co. The receiver of dock dues at Runcorn reported that the receipts for the past month amounted to £6B 13s. 6d. The Cl'Ainawnisz stated, that Mr. Chapman being out of town, the motion of which he had given notice would be post poned till Thursday next. Mr. AIKIN gave notice, that when Mr. Chapman moved that re so l u ti on , h e s h ou ld add, by way of rider, som e thi ng to this effect—" And that a moderate rate of charge be made upon all vessels using the docks, coming coastwise." The committee then separated. The Queen of England possesses the special privilege that she can, by h er writ of protection, privilege a defendant from all personal and many real suits for one year at a time, and no longer, and in respect of his being engaged in her service out of the realm. The last that appears on the books is one granted by William the Third, in 1692, to Lord Cutts, to protect him from being outlawed by his tailor. In consequence of the Princess Augusta having died in testate, the whole of her effects, which have been ad ministered to in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury by their Royal Highnesses the Dukes of Sussex and Cam bridge, and sworn to be under £30,000., will be divided amongst the heirs at law, viz., the King of Hanover, the Dukes of Sussex and Cambridge, the Duchess of Gloucester, and the Princess Sophia, her late Royal Highness's brothers and sisters.consists principally of the furni ture,books, The p property late,ndpaintings at Frogmore, and the Princess's jewels, which are of considerable value. CORRESPONDENCE. MAYNOOTH COLLEGE A LETTER FROM TILE REV. HUGH M`NEILE, TO I. C. COLQUHOUN, ESQ, M.P. MY DEAR MR. COLQUHOUN, I feel assured that you will not deem any apology neces sary for this public address upon a subject with which your name now stands hopefully associated in the minds of all who set a true scriptural value upon the blessings of civil and religious liberty, and the preservation of our Protestant institutions, under the shielding protection of which those blessings are maintained. In the debate which arose in the House of Commons on Mr. Plumptre's motion against a continuance of the grant to Maynooth College, on the 23d of June last year, the cause of truth appears to have sustained some temporary damage by a doctrine laid down by the noble viscount her Majesty's Chief Secretary for Ireland, followed as it was by an impo sing, and at the time unanswered, statement from the right hon. and learned member for Tipperary. Lord Morpeth said (I quote from the Morning Chronicle of June 24, 1840) " There might be a general objection to the grant of pub lic money for the instruction and education of the Roman Catholic clergy,"— an important admission, opening a discussion of the general merits of the question ; but his lordship continued— " but taking the propriety of such a grant as admitted, then, with respect to the system carried on in the college, and the mode in which the grant. was administered, he contended that they were more subjects for the consideration of the man Catholic clergy, and the Roman Catholic authorities, than of the honouriible member for Kent. (Cheers.) So also with respect to the objection which was made to the books which were read, or the studies which were pursued there. (Cheers.) For himself he confessed that he was not compelled to enter into any argument as to the character of the books, or the extent of the studies pursued there, for he had felt that into these matters it was no part of his duty to inquire. (Opposition cheers.) " This extraordinary declaration from a minister of the crown was, it is true, rebuked afterwards with a becoming mixture of dignity and severity by Sir Robert Peel, but still it had its temporary effect upon the house, in limiting attention to the mere matter of the grant of money ; and formed, therefore, a most judicious prelude to the statement of Mr. Sheil, that the grant in question was a matter of contract entered into before the union, and ratified by an act of parliament. The right hon. gentleman said, `The case of Afavnooth rests on a clear contract entered into before the union, and ratified by act of parliament. I have been a good deal surprised that this act has never been quoted, at least has never been relied On as strongly as it ought to have been in this house. * * * Mr. Pitt felt that the ministers of Catholic Ireland ought not to be the conductors of French principles, or instruments of French machination, and, acccordingly, the College of Maynooth was founded and endowed under the 35th of George 111. That act recites the expediency of endowing a Catholic semi nary, and a grant of £B,OOO (after various provisions for the establishment and regulation of Maynooth) is made by that act of parliament. (Loud cheers.) The college having been thus endowed, another act]was passed in 1800, confirming the former act, and making further regulations. Thus Maynooth, before the union, became one of the national institutions of Ireland." This seemed to cut short all further discussion. And cer• tainly if the statement of the right hon. gentleman be correct, that the annual grant to Maynooth is a matter of contract, guaranteed by the act of union, (as his speech intimated most successfully without actually saying so,) and if the doctrine of the noble secretary be politically orthodox, that the state has no further duty to perform in the matter, but simply to make the grant, and leave the recipients of the public money to use it as they please ; if these things be so, it must be con fessed that the ground for discussion is much narrowed, if not wholly cut off. So several members previously prepared to support Mr. Plumptre's motion seemed to think, for they left the house before the division. But are these things so? This question must be brought to the test, in the debate which we all hope will arise upon your motion next week ; and my reasons for thus addressing you in the mean time are these. A general though vague impression exists in the country (arising out of the debate referred to) that the annual grant to Maynooth forms a part of a guarantee solemnly made to Ireland in the Act of Union. Upon many sincere supporters of that union, who deprecate all agitation of its repeal, in whole or in part, this impression is operating as a hindrance in the way of signing petitions to parliament against the continuance of the grant. And lam anxious to avail myself of your name for the wide and prompt dissemination of the fact that no such guarantee exists. 1. In the Act of Union there is NO MENTION made of Maynooth—NONE WHATEVER, OF ANY SORT ! This is not a matter of opinion. It is a matter of dry re ference to the statute. I have just now read the act with this object in view ; and I pledge myself to thousands of our poorer Protestant brethren who cannot command time for such references themselves, but who I am thankful to say will not hesitate to repose confidence in this assertion of mine—that the Act of Union makes no mention whatever of Maynooth College. The impression, therefore, so far as this point is concerned, so skilfully produced by Mr. Sheil's speech, is a false im pression; and _the apprehension arising therefrom in the matter of petitioning, is a needless apprehension. Neither is this all. 2. In the acts of the Irish parliament, previous to the union, by which Mr. Sheil said the College of Maynooth was founded and endowed, there is no mention whatever of any annual grant to Maynooth ! Mr. Sheil specified two acts—one passed in 1795 (the 35th of George III.) and the other in 1800. The act of 1795 is entitled, (I quote from a valuable compilation just published by James Lord, Esq.) " An act for the better education of persons professing the Popish or Roman Catholic religion." Preamble.—" Whereas, by the laws now in force in this kingdom, it is not lauful to endow any college or seminary for the education exclusively of persons professing the Roman Catholic religion, and it is now become expedient that a seminary should be established for that purpose ; be it there fore enacted, by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and tem poral, and commons in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that the Right Hon. John Viscount Fitzgibbon, Lord Chancellor of Ireland ; (Here follow twenty different names and then the statute proceeds) and the persons to be hereafter elected as bi this act is di rected, shall be trustees for the purpose of establishing, en dowing, and maintaining one acadamy for the education only of persons professing the Roman Catholic religion ; and that the said trustees shall have full power and authority to re- ceive subscriptions and donation's to enable them to establish and endow an academy for the education of persons profess ing the Roman Catholic religion, and to purchase and acquire lands, not exceeding the annual value of one thousand pounds, and to erect and maintain all such buildings as may be by the said trustees deemed necessary for the lodging and accommodation of the president, masters, professors, fellows and students, which shall from time to time be admitted into or reside in such academy." Here it is made lawful, which it was not before, to endow such a college, and the trustees named are invested with full power to raise subscriptions for the purpose ; but there is not a word here about a national annual grant. The 2d, 3d, 4th, sth, Gth, ith, Bth, and 9th sections refer entirely to the details of internal management, and the 10th and 11th sec tions are as follow : " 10. And whereas, by an act of parliament passed this session of parliament, intituled, An act for securing the payment of the annuities and the interest upon the principal sums therein provided for, towards the discharge of such principal sums, in such manner as therein is directed, and for enabling the officers of his Majesty's treasury to receive certain sums for a limited time, in manner therein mentioned, and for granting to his Majesty a certain sum of money out of the consolidated fund, and for applying a certain sum of money, therein mentioned, for the service of the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five,' a sum, not exceed .. ing two millions four hundred and forty-nine thousand six htindred pounds, sixteen shillings, and ninepence farthing is granted to his Majesty for the service of the present yenr ; be it enacted, that any sum or sums of money, not exceeding eight thousand pounds, part of the said sum of two millions four hundred and forty-nine thousand six hundred pounds, sixteen shillings and ninepence farthing, shall and may be issued and paid by the commissioners of his Majesty's trea sury, or any three or more of them, towards establishing the said academy." " 11. And be it enacted, that all sum and sums of money from time to time issued and paid out of his Majesty's trea sury, on account of the said sum of eight thousand pounds, shall be paid to the trustees by this act constituted, or to any seven or more of them, and shall be accounted for before the commissioners of imprest accounts." Here out of the revenue granted for the service of that particular year, 1795, a sum not exceeding £BOOO. is voted towards the establishing of the College ; but neither here is there the most remote allusion to an annual grant : much less to any " clear contract," such as is alleged. The second Act specified by Mr. Sheil, passed in 1800, re cites the preambles of the Act just quoted, appoints visitors, changes the trustees, and makes other regulations in detail, but does not contain one syllable on the subject of an annual grant ! As a matter of fact, the sum originally voted in the year 1795 towards the establishing of the College, was voted again, year after year ; but if there be an Act of Parliament in exist ence pledging the nation to continue that vote, any more than any other item in the estimates ; it remains to be spe cified. The references given by the right hon. gentleman do not sustain his assertions. He may possibly be able to amend his references ; but till he does so, we must be ex cused for denying the existence of any contract in this matter. The Bth article of the Act of Union contains a clause, which perhaps may be claimed, as ratifying indirectly all that had previously been done for Maynooth ; but it is only by dislocating it from its context that it can be made to wear even the semblance of support for such a claim. The article is this— " That all laws in force at the time of the union, and all the courts of civil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction within the respective kingdoms, shall remain as now by law established within the same ; subject only to such alterations and regu lations from time to time as circumstances may appear to the Parliament of the United Kingdom to require." If there had been " a law in force at the time of the union" endowing Maynooth with an annual grant : or if Maynooth with a grant annually voted and inclusive of that grant, had been one of " the courts of civil or ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the kingdom " then the former clause of this article might be pleaded as, by a general reference, involving a contract : but even then, the latter clause expressly subjects the enact ment to the subsequent will of the imperial parliament. This is made more remarkable still by contrast with the sth article of the union, which contains really a " clear con tract " without any proviso for subsequent alterations. It is this— " That the Churches of England and Ireland, as now by law established, be united into one Protestant Episcopal Church. to be called The United Church of England and Ireland,' and that the doctrine, worship, discialine, and go vernment of the said united church shall be, and shall remain in fullforcelor ever, as the same are now by law established' for the Church of England : and that the continuance and preservation of the said united church, as the Established Church of England and Ireland, shall be deemed and taken to be an essential and • fundamental part of the union : and that, in like manner, the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government of the Church of Scotland, shall remain and be preserved, as the same are now established by law, and by the acts of the union of the two kingdoms of England and Scotland." How far the government of the united church has continued in full force its those dioceses which have been deprived of their bishops and handed over to the episcopal superintend ence of prelates who had already too much to attend to, is a question well deserving the consideration of gentlemen who manifest so much sensitiveness on the subject of good faith in contracts. The whole subject is fairly open to inquiry and discussion ; and it is to be hoped that the advice given last year by the Right Hon. Bart. the member for Tamworth will be cor dially taken and acted on. He said, "he thought it was the interest of those engaged in the education of Maynooth, to challenge inquiry. He would advise them by all means, for their own character, to conciliate the good will of Protestants. So far from being subjected to any injurious imputation for submitting to inquiry, he thought that those concerned in Maynooth ought to be the very first to challenge it." It may surely be added in all fairness, that after the heavy accusations, supported by documentary evidence derived from her own class books, which have been advanced against Maynooth, if those concerned in the system pursued there continue to resist inquiry, their resistance ought to confirm parliament in the determination to have the inquiry instituted —an inquiry, too, so conducted that it shall not be evasive or superficial, remembering always that as competent a know ledge of any system is required in those who examine, as in those who reply. I am, my dear sir, Very faithfully yours, HUGH M'NEILE Liverpool, 25th February, 1841 CHURCH PASTORAL AID SOCIETY, [The following letter has been handed to us, with a request to insert it in the columns of the STANDARD. As the annual meeting of the Liverpool Auxiliary takes place in the course of next month, we are anxious that the claims of this valuable society should be fairly laid before the public, and feel no hesitation in complying with the re quest of our respected correspondent.] TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. Sin,—The following letter, excepting the parts within the parentheses and the postscript, was forwarded to be inserted in the LePds Intelligeneer. Though a letter of the same date with mine, sent by Dr. Molesworth against the Church Pastoral Aid Society, has been twice inserted in that paper, no room has been found for my communication. I trust that your sense of justice to a most valuable but calumniated so ciety will induce you to admit into your paper the following remarks.—l am, sir, yours respectfully, TO THE ED. EDWARDS EDITOR OF THE LEEDS INTELLIGENCER, SlR,—With the Rev. W. Sinclair I fully sympathise in " the deepest reluctance to quit the retired and unobtrusive round of pastoral duties," &c., as expressed by hi m i n your . paper of Saturday last. And he—a resident clergyman in the parish of Leeds—deemed it proper to apologise for offer ing, through the medium of the Leeds Intelligencer, his just remarks on the proceedings of the meeting at the Music hall, in your town, on Monday the Ist instant, much more ought I to feel that an apology is due from me, for venturing to intrude on the notice of the readers of the Intelligencer, any observations in addition to those of Mr. Sinclair—seeing that I am unconnected with the parish of Leeds, or the dio cese in which that parish is situated. But since others than those ecclesiastically connected with Leeds or the diocese of Ripon officiated at that meeting, I may, I trust, be excused for presuming to offer the following remarks. It is to a part of the proceedings at the meeting in ques tion, that I advert—the attack made, and, as it appears to me, gratuitously and unjustly made, on the CHURCH Pasto ral Aid Society ; and that under cover of meeting to advo cate and aid " the Society for the employment of additional Curates in populous Places." It occurs to me that the objections, as far as I am ac quainted with the objections to the Pastoral Aid Society, as urged by its opponents, may be brought within a narrow limit, and met on the ground so vauntingly occupied by the objectors themselves. _ 1. It is objected to the Pastoral Aid Society that it em ploys, or rather pays, lay persons, who are engaged as reli gious instructors, though by the appointment and under the direction of the clergy of the parishes in which the lay agents are employed. The truly venerable and extensively useful " Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts" employs and pays lay persons as catechists, who are religious instruc tors in our colonial parishes and dioceses. The National Society also sanctions, and in some instances pays, national schoolmasters and schoolmistresses who are but lay persons, and are religious instructors in our parishes. The lay cate chists in our colonies, and the national schoolmasters and schoolmistresses in our parishes, are not more by the ap pointment and under the control and direction of the clergy in the respective parishes, than the lay agents paid by the Pastoral Aid Society ; and if the objection to the lay agency of the latter society be valid, why is it not equally valid in the case of the two other societies? (is it replied that the laymen paid by the Pastoral Aid Society are under no epis copal jurisdiction, I reply that they are as much under epis copal jurisdiction as the national schoolmasters and school mistresses in any parish (Leeds or Rochdale to wit), unless the latter are licensed by the bishops of the dioceses respec tively. And are they so licensed, according to the 64th 'canon ? What episcopal authority or sanction had the Vicar of Rochdale or Canon Parkinson to attend a public religious meeting in the diocese of Ripon? Is it replied that the Vicar of Leeds had invited them ? The Vicar of Leeds, without the sanction of his Bishop, cannot strictly authorise any clergyman out of the diocese to officiate in ANY CHURCH at Leeds, much less authorise and sanction strange clergy men, or any clergymen, to officiate at a religious meeting, such as that held in the Music-hall—an unconsecrated, un licensed building.) 2. It is objected to the Church Pastoral Aid Society, that it presumes to decide whether the recommendation of such a clergyman as is to be paid by the society, be satisfactory or not to the society ; and this decision is committed not to laymen, but to clrFgvmcn. Now, if the objection to a body or committee of clergy men such as the Pastoral Aid Society employs as its com mittee, to judge of the propriety of the appointment of a candidate for a curacy, be valid ; it must be at least equally valid against a lay patron, or lay trustees (as at Leeds) of a church living, who judge and determine on the fitness of a clerical candidate for that living : and yet such an exercise of judgment in the latter case is never denounced or objected to, as being unecclesiastical, or as invading the " episcopal authority." And they who, for the sake of obtaining a curacy, would disdain to submit their recommendation to the e xamination and deci s i on o f a b o d y o f c lergy men , suc h as the Church Pastoral Aid Committee, would not probably hesitate, for the sake of obtaining a church living, to submit their recommendation or qualification to be judged and de cided by a single layman, or several laymen, as trustees and patrons —e. q., the lay trustees as patrons of Leeds vicarage, or the lay trustees of the Haberdashers' Company's chap laincy. To possess a legal right or authority to present any clergyman to a living by a lay patron or patrons, is a distinct thing from examining and deciding on the fitness of such a clergyman for that livin g : and it is against this latter prero gative as exercised by the Pastoral Aid Clerical Committee, that the objection of the opponents of this society is directed ; though, without any objecti on' the same prerogative is exer cised by lay patrons of church livings. To assert that in the late rejection of Mr. Briarley Brown the " CHURCH Pastoral Aid Society" interfered with ep . pal authority or judgment, exhibits some degree of ignorance or bad faith. For, in this case, the Lord Bishop of Chester in countersigning the testimonium, previously signed on behalf of Mr. Briarley Brown by the clergymen in the Ches ter diocese, did not recommend Mr. Brown, or express any opinion as to his qualification, but simply testified that the clergy who had signed the testimonium, were such clergymen in his lordship's diocese as they had subscribed themselves to be. This, and no more, is the object of every episcopal countersignature to the testimonium on behalf of a candidate either for holy orders, or for a curacy. What then becomes of the objection, that in this or any similar case, the society supersedes the " authority" or " judgment of the bishops ?" (Would Dr. Hook or Dr. Molesworth give a title to a can didate for holy orders, or a curacy to an ordained clergyman, on the simple testimonium signed by three clergymen and countersigned by the bishop, without a prior enquiry and de cision as to the fitness of the candidate? And have these antecedent enquiries and decision any more episcopal authority than the antecedent enquiry and decision made by the Pastoral Aid Society ? The veto exercised by the society supersedes no " episcopal authority ;" interferes with no " episcopal judgment ;" it is a salutary veto to guard the funds of a charitable institution from being appropriated to pay and support such persons as would cause damage to the church by withdrawing from its ministry.) 3. It is objected to the CHURCH Pastoral Aid Society that it is not ecclesiastically constituted ; and, therefore, is not a church society. What in the view of th e o bj ectors may le gitimately constitute a " clArch society," being, as far as I am aware, undefined by the objectors themselves, renders an answer to their objection somewhat more difficult. They will scarcely maintain, I supp ose , t h at the united concurrence or patronage of the Archbishops, Bishops, and Clergy of the Church of Christ in this realm, will be sufficient to constitute legitimately a CHURCH Society ; since, as it appears to me, the whole clerical body of the three orders have no authority (apart from royal authority) t o ma k e or direct to be made, public collections of money in the respec tive parishes, in aid of any societies, even when those societies are incorporated by royal authority ; o r , accor di ng to t h e twelfth canon, to ' make rules, orders, or const i tut i ons i n causes ecclesiastical without the king's authority." Are all the " five societies," so strenuously advocated by the oppo nents of the CHURCH Pastoral Aid Society, constituted by the required authority, any more than the CHURCH Pastoral Aid Society, or the CHURCH Missionary Society? If not, what becomes of the ground of objection to " the Pastoral Aid Society, that it is not a Church Society." And here I may, I hope , be permitted to express my igno rance of the " ecclesiastical authority" (o r " episcopal autho rity") by which such a meeting for religious purposes and worship* as that which was convened an d h eld at the Music Hall, at Leeds, on the Ist of February. It was not autho rized by the rules or canons of the church, or by any statute of the realm, but rather comes under the prohibition both of the twelfth canon, and of the penal statute of 52d Geo. 111, c. 155. It would seem somewhat more candid and consistent to abstain from charging the Church P astoral Aid Soc i ety with ecclesiastical irregularity, at a meeting not very regularly convened and conducted, if the a bove -mentioned canon or statute have any meaning and applicati on to such a meet i ng. 1 forbear comment i ng on the extreme modesty with which individual clergymen indirectly, but publicly, impugn the conduct of their respective and excellent diocesans, for sup porting the Pastoral Aid Society. (But I would just enquire whether such indirect attacks on the bishops made by pres byters at public meetings and printed pamphlets, are calcu lated to support " episcopal authority," or to produce respect for the episcopal office? If the clerical supporters, and I have the honour to be one of the supporters of the Church Pastoral Aid Society, are ecclesiastically irregular in support ing that society, it is the province of their ecclesiastical su periors to correct them : to the directions and authority of thoge superiors, officially gi ven, they will, I d ou bt not, y i e ld obedience ; while they may hesitate to recognize authority, or yield to the opinions, of two presbyters—the vicar of Leeds, and the vicar of Rochdale.) My hope and prayer is, that all impediments may be * " Prayers having been offered." —Leeds Intelligenter, p. 7, Feb. Wt. speedily removed, that now seem to prevent the union of both societies, and of lall kindred societies within the pale of Christ's Apostolical Church in this realm. But such meet ings as that held at Leeds on the Ist instant, are not calcu lated to effect such a union.—l am, sir, yours truly, __ _ EDWARD EDWA.RDE. 115'exham, 11th Feb., 1841 POSTSCRIPT. To the above objections an implied charge is added, that the Church Pastoral Aid Society is not CATHOLIC. It is quite as much so as its junior sister—" The Society for the employment of additional Curates," unless this latter society comprises the Universal Church of Christ. But if by the alleged uncatholicity be meant that the Pastoral Aid Society does not pay men for substituting the puerilities and absur dities of the Romish Catholic Church, for the Holy Scrip tures, and the scriptural doctrines of the Church of Christ as established in this realm—to the charge, the society will, I trust, be able to plead guilty. Or if by uncatholicity it he meant that the Pastoral Aid Society has, in making or with holding its grants, a regard to the value of the livingf as well as to the population—to this charge also the society will plead guilty. I know that an application was some time ago made to the Church Pastoral Aid Society for a grant in part of pay ment to a lay reader in a parish containing a population of eleven thousand souls. But a grant was refused, because the incumbent received £6OO a year from his living, though, out of that sum, he paid a liberal stipend to his curate, and diligently shared all the duties with his curate adhering to his parochial duties. But, " the Society for employment of additional Curates" is somewhat more liberal, though perhaps not more just, than the " Pastoral Aid Society ": for, the former, I perceive, by a resolution passed at the 'Music Hall meeting, maintains six curates in the parish of Leeds ; though the income of the in cumbent is £1,300 a-year from the living, to provide for the religious instruction of his parishioners ; and though there are many other churches built and endowed in the parish, by the munificence of individuals. No doubt, under even these circumstances, the vicar of Leeds feels himself justified in receiving, and the committee of the " Society for the em ployment of additional Curates " feel justified in appropria ting, for such a purpose, part of the fund of a charitable in stitution—though a fund partly formed by the contributions of clergymen who are scarcely able to provide for their own families. To all the foregoing remarks it may be replied, that to prove that one society is wrong, does not prove that the other is right. True. But it may remind the objectors of the old adage that " they who live in glass houses should be careful how they throw stones "; or of the more appropriate admo nition of our blessed Saviour,--Mat. vii. 3-5. In reference to the lay agency paid for, but the agents nei ther appointed nor directed, by the " Pastoral Aid Society," lam not prepared to condemn or to justify the payment for lay agency : though in doing this, the society does no more than what is done by other approved church societies. But I am inclined to think that if the grants appropriated to nay lay persons, were devoted to employ regularly ordained cler gymen —more good •vould be promoted, and an impediment would be removed, which impediment has prevented many excellent, conscientious men clerical and lay—supporting the " Pastoral Aid Society," a society of incalculable value. I am, sir, late incumbent of Marsden, in the diocese of Ripon, ED. EDWARDS. Wrexham, Feb. 22, 1841. t "The stipends of the 270 incumbents assisted by the so ciety e. Pastoral Aid Society) average only £263 a year— one half of the cases having no glebe or parsonage houses."— Rm.'. B. Marsden at t Pneeting at Bradford, EXPORTATION OF BRITISH MACHINERY TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. SIR,-It is satisfactory to learn that the important subject of the exportation of machinery is now introduced into par liament, although brought forward by Machine Machine, by petitioning for the removal of all restrictions ; yet the investigation .and discussion must be beneficial, as it will elucidate one important fact, that, the removal of all duty and restriction on the exportation of British invention may benefit machine makers for a short time, but the measure will inevitably ruin the cotton and woollen manufacturers of Great Britain, and bring certain misery and want on many thousands of our countrymen. It is an undeniable fact, that, the great commercial pre-eminence of this country arises solely from the astonishing invention and great superiority of machinery adding such unbounded facility to our manu factures. It is that alone that has enabled us to compete with foreigners, notwithstanding their advantages of cheaper food, lower wages, and fewer taxes. An exemption from all restriction will consequently give to foreigners an unfair and undue preference over the honest and industrious work ing classes of Great Britain. There is recently a lamentable deficiency of orders from the United States and many of the European States ; the reason is too evident : the rapid ex tension of manufactories for cotton and woollen goods in the United States, France, Saxony, Belgium, Switzerland, and other countries. The manufactories are entirely indebted to the promptitude they have been supplied with all our new inventions in machinery, which has lead to their establish ment, and which is operating against our great liberality. The advocates for unrestricted exportation of British ma chinery urge it principally on the ground that restriction produces smuggling. Granted that it. does to some degree, is that a reason that other countries should be almost over whelmed with our machinery. But it is ascertained the greater proportion of our fine mechanism has passed the customs under the name of tools, and by other evasive means, entirely owing to the undefined and inoperative acts of par liament. It is surely an excess of free trade liberality that would bestow on other nations the fruits and benefits of British in vention, thereby depriving of employment a large portion of our fellow-subjects.—Yours, &c., L. Newcastle-on-7'yne, Feb. 24. THE EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS AT THE POST-OFFICE GALLERY. Some very beautiful paintings have been added to the gal lery this last two or three days, which we now take an op portunity of describing. We recommend our readers to visit this very excellent collection : they will be greatly de lighted. The first work of art we shall notice is numbered 10. " The Transporting the Holy Casa de Loretto This very remarkable picture was obtained by Rosasphina, a Bolognese painter, from a convent in Tuscany, who sold it to Prince Beauharnois. It was then purchased by Lucien Bonaparte, who sold it to the Queen of Etruria. She left it to her son, the Duke of Lucca. It has just been resold to a foreign potentate for 2000 guineas. The subject of the pic ture is the Virgin and Infant Christ being transported to Lo rctto, attended by angels. St. John and two saints are look ing up with rapture and reverence on the miracle. This picture bears about it all the remarkable style, touch, and tone of the Caracci School. In the figure of St John it is espzcially exhibited, as the drapery is precisely the same as that of the cap of the boy in the " Curing the Blind," and that on the man's head who is leaning over the end of the bier in that of " Raising the Widow's Son." The folds are broad and massy. The fleshing is natural and of a clear tone, and the limbs are finely proportioned. The head of St. John is replete with intellect. The figure is in a kneeling The centre figure represents one of the Saints who is invested with sacerdotal garments. The head is expres sive of sanctity and veneration. The attitude is graceful and dignified. The folds of the white garment are beautifully ar- posture ranged. The white is very pure, and the light thrown upon it is very clear. The figure to the right represents another Saint in a dark robe. The face is in profile, and is a fine study. The hands in all thefigures are charmingly expressed. There is a lovely cherub at St. John's feet, who is handling some jewels and chains in a golden salver. This little crea ture has a most exquisite expression of face. The landscape is of a blueish cast. At the top of the picture is the Virgin with the Saviour in her arms seated on a chest, surrounded by clouds and cherubims. The glory is very brilliant. This fine picture will only remain on view a month. It will b greatly admired for its excellent colouring 1 executio❑ 17. " Virgin and Child"—Paris Bordone coloured, rich picture.—Bordone was a pupil of Titian 22. " Holy Family"—Parnzegiano. A very delicious pic ture, equal almost to Raphael. The Holy Family is repre sented in the wilderness, with a friar holding an open book or missal. These figures doubtless are portraits, and this strange anachronism has been introduced t o suit the fancy of those for whom the picture was originally painted. The dra pery and fleshings are most exquisite. The purity and bright ness of the tones are astonishing. The arm and hand of the Virgin are very graceful : the fingers are remarkable for their length and symmetry. The depth of the background forci bly brings out the beautiful colours of the figures. Their arrangement is also most graceful. This pure and chaste work of art will be highly admired by all who have an eye to beauty in design and delicacy of colour.—Francisco Mazzu oil, commonly called Parmegiano, was born at Parma 1503, and died 1540, aged 37. The Italians, who highly admired him, styled this artist Parmegianino (darling little Parmegi ano). He was, it is believed, the scholar of Correggio, and closely studied his works. Parmegiano is celebrated for his correctness of design, and the harmonious softness of his colouring. Without being an imitator of Correggio, he is almost his equal. It is to be regretted that a painter en dowed with such talent should have been so early cut off. His works are now very rare. A deeply- PARISIAN IMPIETY.—The blasphemous and shocking titles selected for dramatic productions within a few years have already been referred to in your correspondence, but I have not seen it remarked that the new favourite dance at the fancy and masked balls at the Theatre de la Renaisance tran scends all that preceded it. Th e t i t l e o f t hi s d ance i s G a l op infernal du dernier Judgment ! The costumes of the dancers and their postures are copied from Michael Angelo's picture of "The Last Judgment !"—Correspondent of Me Times. IMPORTANT TO CARRIERS.—The following case came be fore the Justice of Peace Court of Edinburgh on Monday, the 15th instant :—A h amper was b oo k e d b y M essrs . Ra ines of Leith Walk at Mr. Taylor's, the Leith carriers' quarters, on the 17th October, for Messrs. Jefferiss and Co., Medical hall, Dalkeith, which hamper should have been conveyed to Dalkeith that evening, but through negligence it did not ar rive at its destinatio n un til t h e 2 1st O cto b er , caus i ng injury to Messrs. Jefferiss's business and disappointment to their customers. The carrier pleaded, in excuse, that he was en gaged in taking goods from the steam-boats on the first day, and on the third day (the Sunday intervening) his man for got it. The Justices found him liable in the amount of pro fit on the good, 25s per cent., and expenses. THE LATE TRAGICAL OCCURRENCE AT MITCIIAM. — The prisoner, whose name, it appears, is Thomas Moss, not Potts, as was stated in the former account of the proceedings, was on Wednesday brought before Mr. Elyard, at his resi dence at Streath am , f or fi na l exam i nat i on u pon the capital charge of shooti ng a t E mma M oss , hi s w ife, with intent to murder her. Th e un f or t unate woman was brought from Mitcham in a fly. Her face was blackened all over from the effects of the gunpowder, and it is feared that her eyes are very seriously injured. The prisoner, the moment he saw his wife brought into the room, turned his head away. He never looked up nor uttered a word during the inquiry, and appeared to be almost in a state of insensibility. Emma Moss was then sworn. She deposed, that on Tuesday even ing last she had been to chapel, and was returning home about 9 o'clock, when near her own house she met the pri soner, who said, " Emma, is that you ?" She joined him, and asked him if he had been to herfathees, and he replied he had not, and by this time they had got to her mother's house, and just as she raised the latch to go in, the prisoner put a pistol under her bonnet, close to her face, and fired it off. The prisoner had left her about a month before, and she had not seen him till that evening. They had no anzry words, and nothing more occurred than she bad stated before the prisoner shot her. The prisoner was fully committed, u p on the charge of feloniously shooting at his wife with intent to murder her. LIVERPOOL SAILORS' HOME Yesterday an adjourned meeting of shipowners, merchants, and others interested in the welfare a the British seaman, was held in the Underwriters' Committee Room, Exchange Buildings, for the p urpose o f ta ki ng the steps preliminary to establishing a " Sailors' Home" in Liverpool. Sir JOHN SALUSBURY, chairman of the provisional committee, pre sided. The CHAIRMAN said it gave him very great satisfaction to meet on this occasion so many influentia merchants of the town—a circumstance which, he trusted, might lead to the expectation that the objects for which they had met would be fully carried out. It must be universally allowed that if a Sailor's Home were established it could not fail hav ing a very important ecart upon his general condi tion of life, by elevating him from that degraded con dition in which he was too often found. (Hear, hear.) They were aware by the circular which had Leen issued that a meeting had been held in that room on the 15th instant, when, in consequence of the attendance being small, it was deemed expedient to adjourn till to-day. The interval had afforded him an opportunity of writing to Capt. Henry Hope, of the royal navy, who took a deep interest in the welfare of the London Society, and he, in his reply, mentioned that his friend Capt. Elliot had been in communication with Mr. Tomlinson [of this town], and that it was his intention to attend the present meeting; but he (the chairman) did not see him present. It might appear presumptuous in him (the chairman) taking a prominent part on this question, as ne was, perhaps, the only individual present who was neither directly nor indirectly connected with the mercantile and shipping interests of this town, and some apology might there fore be necessary from him. his experience in committees generally had taught him that the merchants of the town were so fully occupied in their several avocations, that it was quite incompatible with their business to devote much time to other objects. He had, however, always found them most ready and willing to promote every haritable institution with their money; and the least that any private gentlemen like himself could do in return for their generosity was to devote as much of their time and energy as they could in promoting their wishes, by seeing that their kind benevolence was pro perly applied. If therefore he could render himself of ser vice in this respect, it would afford him the highest gratifica tion to be so usefully employed. (Hear.) The Chairman concluded by reading the correspondence between Captain Hope and himself. Mr. ROWETT enquired whether there was any definite plan for raising money ? Mr. WATsoNreplied, that could be done only by raising subscriptions Mr. TYRER said the first resolution bad been placed in his hands. From the great interest he had always felt in the esta- blishment of such an institution as a Sailor's Home, he had pleasure in moving the resolution. He had seen a great deal of the vice and fraud with which the poor sailor had to contend, and he believed that this proposed institution would be tha means of removing at least a part of it. He was not sanguine enough to imagine that it would remove even that in a short time, but nevertheless it would, immediately effect much good. When we considered how unacquainted with the world the poor sailor was, it was their duty to give him the benefit of all the experience which they had had. (Hear.) The poor sailor was taken advantage of by every one in one shape or other. Mr. Tyrer concluded by moving the first resolution, which was to the effect " That a Sailor's Home be erected, which should have for its object the providing of sailors with a comfortable and well-regulated home, where they might be lodged and provided for at a reasonable charge ; medical advice furnished; encouragement given to deposit their wages at interest, and opportunities afforded of avoid ing vice and extortion, of which they were now too often the ictirns, and the means afforded of improving their moral istruction, according to the condition by providin Church of En Mr. C. S. I put it was ca ItKER seconded the resolution, and on being Mr. DUTTON said that after the able remarks of' Mr. Tyrer, there was little left for him to say in moving the second resolution. They were all agreed upon the necessity for such an institution as a Sailor's home." It was one which could not fail to be very valuable to such an useful body of men as the mariners of this nation. Let Liverpool not be backward in giving a good example in this respect to other ports : let Liverpool show, not only in theory, as she was about to do by a code of laws and regulations, but by the activity and exertion she could bring into exercise what she could do ; and let Liverpool sailors be a pattern to all others for good conduct in their profession, and for all matters relating to their social welfare. (Applause.) Mr. Dutton then moved the resolution, which provided for the government of the institution being in a president, vice president, and chaplain [of the Church of England] &c. Mr. RONVETT said he should not like to hold up his hand for the building of an institution, until he knew from where the funds for that purpose were to be obtained? Many gentlemen in the room were of the same opinion. His own motion was that the " Home" should be a self-supporting one, seeing that the one in London had not answered so well. Mr. 'MAYNARD observed that one of the rules would pro vide for a charge being made upon each. Mr. ROWETT observed that they were now actually voting for building an institution without having first provided the means. Mr. TYAER did not think that funds would be wanting. Mr. RowETT, in continuation, said the Sailor's Home in London had worked very badly. It commenced gratuitously, and its operations had shown that without some other prin ciple decay would be the result. It was established in the year 1827; and he held in his hand the report for 1838. The Cu kiumAN apprehended that there was some irregu larity in proceeding with this discussion, as the resxution bad not been seconded. Mr. ROWETT, in consideration, said that in the report of the London Sailor's Home for 1838, great cries were made for more means to work it. They had no means of working it but by voluntary subscriptions, and it had been found that when we came before the public so often for any object they were tired. Mr. TYRER.—So they might say of any other institution. Mr. ROWETT admitted that, if the institution was worked on the same plan. He thought the Sailor's Home should be a self-supporting institution. It was certainly a very easy matter to talk about erecting a building for the purpose, but the question where the money was to come from, was some what more difficult to solve. Mr. TOMLINSON wished to put Mr. Rowett right with re gard to the working of the London institution, and he would read from the report of the committee for 1840. During the first year of its existence only 500 sailors passed through the institution, but during last year (1840) there had been no less than 2183 ; and a great advance in steady and decorous principles had been made amongst the sailors. He men tioned this fact to spew that the remarks of Mr. Rowett did not apply. The amount raised by subscription was .£3100._ Mr. ROWETT said he had read from the report of 1838, the only one in his possession. A large building had been erected at great cost, with comparatively little use, and the funds for which mi good in other ways He should say ad then let a building be erected congreg ate the sailors AIKEN thought they were getting on a little too fast. He did not see how they could with propriety speak of having a building until they saw whether they could obtain the re quisite funds. The meeting last week was adjourned upon his motion, for the purpose of inducing a larger attendance, and from that larger attendance to form a committee for the purpose of getting up a public meeting under the auspices of the Mayor, to raise funds to as great an extent as possible. When that public meeting had been held, and a committee formed, that committee should act according to the extent of the means they might be able to raise. He was at a loss to know, having taken a considerable share in the attempts to get up a Sailors' Home for several years, why he had been overlooked and dropped on the present occasion ? He was in clined to attribute it to the fact, that he had ventured to suggest a more practical manner of forming a moral and religious es tablishment for the benefit of the sailor. He presumedlthat the cause why he was not consulted had arisen from the fact that in the last public meeting he suggested that they should guard arinst those dangers which had caused the breaking up of previous attempts. His suggestion was this, that they must, in the first instance, shew a great temporal benefit to the sailor himself, and then found, upon that that moral and religious instruction which he had before stated and now re peated, he was as anxious to give to the sailor as any indi. vidual present. But he wished to take the most practical means for bringing about that end ; he wished to shew the sailor that by having an establishment where his wages might be paid, where he might have a bank in which to deposit his earnings, and from which he might draw £1 or £2 to suit his conveniencelor meet his wants, he would have more time on shore, and,to which, at the end of another voyage, he might add £5 or £lO more. From that moment his character would change, and he would become more attentive to moral con duct and religion. He (Mr. Aikin) believed that according to the working of the present mode, neither the shipowner nor the captain knew what sort of crew they had on board, whether they were sailors or lubbers, till they got off Holy head. But think if the character of the sailor were improved, the shipowner would be glad to pay him £3 per month, and the lubber 305., instead of paying both £2, as at present. If a sailor was a good hand and character, he would at once get from him (Mr. Aikin) and other shipowners £3 per month ; and when one sailor was found so well paid. the example of improvement would speedily be followed. But if they proposed to make this an almost exclusively religious establishment, he feared it might be very unjustly be called by the sailor " A Psalm singing Shop," and avoided on that account. On the other hand, he was satisfied that if they began by extending to the sailor the great temporal advan tages which such an institution was capable of affording, they would thereby lead him into moral habits, and established in him by an institution generally of a moral character. Mr. Aikin, in conclusion, repeated the proposition with which he set out. Mr. ROWETT said there was an institution in this town called the Shipmasters' Association, the object of which was the benefit of sailors, more particularly those of a lower cha racter. To begin with the lowest class of sailors, would, in his opinion, be beginning at the wrong end; therefore the shipmasters were adopted as a means to get at the sailors. Having got the shipmasters into a body, it was easy to bring the sailors into a body. With £5OO. or £lOOO. therefore, he believed such an institution might be carried on to a larger extent than.that in London, without erecting a building. Mr. COTESWORTH said it was not from ill will that Mr. Aikin had not been consulted : there had been no time for it since the last meeting, as he had been out of town. The resolution now proposed would give all that Mr. Aikin wanted, inasmuch as it provided for all that was desirable by the sailor, and moreover for giving him religious instruction. He (Mr. Cotesworth) could not conceive how they were to start upon the principle of making morality the basis of reli gion. That would not do: they must begin with religion. The question of getting temporary provision for seamen in the town, had been tried, and without effect. Let them have an institution something similar to that in London, and he had the fullest confidence that it would soon be found ne cessary to enlarge the building, if not to erect a new one. Mr. AIKIN repeated, that the !meeting last week had been adjourned for the purpose of the committee getting up a public meeting, and to take other measures to secure the establishment of a Sailors' Home. He was therefore rather surprised to see that purpose departed from, and resolutions brought forward, pledging them to do something before they had a penny to begin with. Mr. Aikin then explained that he had never hinted at religion being based on morality ; and moved as an amendment, that the meeting do that for they were convened, and for which they had been adjourned, namely, to choose a committee to get up a public meeting, and to take measures for raising funds. Mr. TYRER thought that object could be accomplished without another meeting. Mr. COTESWORTH said, it was desirable this meeting should avow the principle on which they had acted : with out it, the proposed committee could do nothing. Mr. TYRER remarked, that unless gentlemen knew the principle of the institution, they would not subscribe. Mr. HENDERSON observed, that the end proposed by both parties appeared to be the same, and he saw no great differ ence in the means. As Mr. Aikin had suggested the ap pointment of a committee, he could see no difficulty in at taching to it the objects of the proposed institution. Mr. COTESWORTfI said, that one reason for corning for ward in the present manner was, the loss of time which had occurred. Already three years had expired in the conside ration of the project, and no one seemed willing to make up his mind. The first resolution embraced all that Mr. Aikin required, inasmuch as it provided for the appointment of a committee of management, and it was for those present to say whether they approved of it. If the institution were to be administered without regard to the religious instruction of the seamen, he for one would have nothing to do with it, an d man y gentlemen would separate from it upon the same ground,_ a- Mr. HENDERSON mentioned that Mr. Aikintsretr i r e was to embarking in the affair without knowing funds were to come from. Mr. Aisnr repeated his proposition Mr. HENDERSON was free to admit; that those gentlemen who subscribed the funds should elect the committee. The Rev. G. MAY YARD at some length shewed that the principle of the proposed institution, as far as co ligious instruction, would be strictly Church of I Mr. PHIPPS said that, as they must often all depend upon the public for support, they ought to begin as Mr. Aikin had erned r. gland. suggested Mr. WATSON said there was no question the religious instruction to be given should the Church of England ; but be held that the pew would have to find the money should appoint the Comm Mr. HENDERSON saw no objection to of the established church. Mr. WATSON said the assurance of ti would satisfy everybody, that there was tempt to establish the institution withou _ Mr. AIKIN had never hinted at or dreamed of anyt sectarian; and he thought that if seats were the sailor in the floating church, he ought to g he wanted was to ge) practically about the matte After some observations from Mr. RowETT, Mr SON, Mr. HARBORD, and Mr. BOOKER, the wor in the first resolution was altered into " establis Mr. AuciN then moved his resolution follows ) there erected vbich wa " That a committee be appointed to prepare resolution for a public meeting, and to take other measures the establishment of a Sailor's Home in Liverpool. Mr. BOOKER seconded the resolution. The CHAIRMAN on putting it, declared it to have been carried unanimously. The other resolutions were consequently withdrawn. Mr. HEN DERSON.—I presume it is understood in that re solution, that the institution should be upon the principle of the Established Church ? Mr. Anas.—Certainly, it is so understood.--Mi then moved the following list of gentlemen as the corn :0 secure mittee : Sir J. S. P. Salusbury, Messrs. Josiah Booker, James Aikin, Richard Harbord, Charles Cotesworth, C. S. Parker, William Potter, J. N. Wood, Wm. Watson, James Tyrer, H. C. Chapman, C. L. Phipps, and Wm. John Tomlinson. The meeting then separated. SECOND EDITION. Standard Offiee, Three o'clock LIVERPOOL CORN EXCHANGE.—This DAY. (From Messrs. R. MAKIN sr SONS' Circular.) The arrivals into this port during the last three days, fur nish a tolerable supply of Wheat, a few parcels of Barley and Flour, and a fair quantity of Oatmeal, with a larger ac cession of Oatmeal than for some time past; which being almost wholly from Ireland, we have very little to report coastwise, and no Grain or Flour vessels fresh in from abroad. 's market until to- Although from the close of last Tuesday day, the proceedings in any branch of the corn trade were very unimportant, holders appeared to show no disposition to submit to lower terms, and prices therefore unvaried .nerally remained Excepting on Rye reduced to 19s 9d per quarter, duties continue unaltered Having a slender attendance of buyers at day's market, •er, rather exceeded the general aspect of the trade was in no respect lively select samples of Baltic Red Wheat hov the rates paid on Tuesday ; but all other descriptions of fo reign, upon a limited sale, were somewhat easier to purchase, and in partial instances a trivial abatement was conceded. — In English Wheat, of which scarcely any appeared to-day, we have no change to note ; but Irish, being more plentiful, was very difficult to sell, and Id. to 2d. per 701bs. cheaper. English, Irish, and Foreign free Flour, upon a moderate demand, maintained late prices; but the activity displayed last week in States Flour, under lock, having materially sub sided, the sale of 1000 barrels only have transfered since Tuesday, at 265. Of tine English Malting Barley little remains unsold, and such retained its previous value.—ln Malt, Beans, and Pease we have no change to note. From the increased supply of Oats, and the absence of any extensive country buyers this morning, few transactions oc curred, and prices were the turn lower.—Oatmeal, upon a moderate inquiry supported our late quotations. ARRIVALS OF CORN, From the 23d to the 25th Feb. 1841, inelusi CANADA , nsic Wheat Barley Malt . Oats . Rye . . Beans Pease . Shelled Barley . Qrs Indian Corn Qrs Rapeseed Qrs Oatmeal .. . . Loads' 4545 80 Flom . Sacks I 970 Ditto . Brls. Qrs. 1 10415 1 592 Into Runcorn, Ireland and Coastwise, Wheal qrs.; Oats, 500 qrs. ; Oatmeal, 2657 loads ; Beans, EXPORTS.—Foreign. Barley, qrs.; Oats, 45 qrs qrs. ; Flour, 42 brls.—lreland. Wheat, 187 qrs —Coastwise. Wheat, 69 qrs. ; Barley, 62 q Beans, qrs. ; Pease, qrs.; Oatmeal, sacks 146 barrels Malt, I Ids.; Flour, 75 Average prices of Grain, for the week ending Wheat.. 615.10 d. I Barley 325. 0,1. Oats.. 21s.iac I Beans.. 3g3. 2d. Pease .. 395. Feb. 19, Rye:. 355. 7cl Aggregate average of the six weeks. Wheat.. 61s. Id. I Barley.. 325. 4d. I Oats.. 21s. Bd. I Rye . Beans.. 3gs. ad. I Pease.. 3gs. sd. Duty on Foreign Grain, &c. this week Wheat 255.8 d: I Barley 13s. 1I I od. Oats .... 15s. 3d. Rye.. 19s. gd Beans,l Is. nd. Pease.. Ils. Od. Ind. Cornl3s.lod. Flourlss.s4d Liverpool Averages, week ending 23rd February, 1841. Wheat. I Barley. Oats. 1 Beans. I Pease. 1231 1661 595. Id. 1 Os. Od. 21s. Bd. Os. Od. Os. Od LIVERPOOL COTTON MARKET,—FRIDAY, 3 r.ai. We have a fair demand for Cotton to-day, and 5,000 bales have been sold at yesterday's prices, with a steady market.— The sales of the week are 31,790 bales, comprising 10,600 to speculators, and 100 bales for export. SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26 -Wind N.W Annivnn.—Pilot, Gordon, from Demerara—Calista, ---., from Honduras—Royal Adelaide, Dublin—Genoa, Hill, from Isle of Man—Liverpool. Calver ; Betsey Ann Deas, Cunningham, and Dundee, Craig, from Dundee —Ruby, Tomkins ; Tiger, Boyle, and Amethyst, Campbell, from Glagow—Sir Perigrine, , from Westport—Jamaica, Martin, from Greenock—Deralty, Stewart, from Sligo—Maria, Brice, from Newport—and Northumberland, Spence, from Dublin. Royal Adelaide, (mail steamer,) from Dublin at this port, with passengers by the Alice, Anwyl, from Barbados for this port, which struck on Blackwater Bank on Wednesday morning, and got off again making water. The Alice intended proceeding for this port, if not very leaky ; left Barbados 20th January Albert, (steaM tug,) from Holyhead at this port, with tea from the Mary Elizabeth lllam, Morphew, hence at Barbados Nancy, -, and Mayflower, , hence at St Michael's Ace of Trumps, Lidstone, hence at ditto, with loss of foretopmast and mainboom Splendid, Laird, hence for Jamaica, at Waterford Bahamian, Stroyan, hence for Calcutta, off Tuskar, 22d instant Mischief, Downes, sailed from Ancona for Corfu 11th Feb. Rapid, Smith, for Demerara, has put back TELEGRAPH OFFICE The signals cannot pass beyond Hilbre Island for thick weather, at 9 a.m. Off the port, at 10 15 a.m., 2 barques, 1 brig, and 2 schooners This town was inundated last week by a horde of wild men from the mountains, all sent a journey of fifty miles by their careful Pastor to " get ticketslfrom the Doctor" for hearing the Bible read ! The poor people had resolutely refused to give up listening to the Word of God until their infallible guide succeeded in convincing them that " the Bible was composed by Luther !! !"—Kerry Post. The miners engaged in sinking a shaft on the land of T. J. have at ratiord, Esq. near ratricro of nearly three years, found a vein of coal - atthe extraordi nary depth of 1,350 feet from the surface of the earth. We are authorised to contradict a statement that has ap peared in this and several other papers, that Lord Cardigan had assigned over his property, and paid heavy charges respecting it, such statement being wholly devoid of truth, and without foundation.—Morning Post. The re-appointment of the select committee of last year has caused some stir among the banking interest. Delegates from the various banks, consequently, are expected in town, and head-quarters have been engaged, where deliberations may take place, and unity of action be secured. — Times. LIFE INSURANCES, &c.—Mr. Godson has just placed on the notice books of the House of Commons, intimation of his intention to promote a very useful inquiry, namely, to propose the appointment of a select committee to investi gate " the present state of the companies for effecting as surances on lives and for granting annuities ;"—a measure imperatively called for, by the gross frauds and heartless in fliction to which certain companies have recently made so many victims. THE CONSERVATIVE PRESS.—The malignity with which the Conservative press is pursued by the " Liberals" cannot be better exemplified than in the recent attempt to crush ourselves aad the Shropshire Conservative. In four years no fewer than seven criminal informations have been intended for us by one party, whilst in the case of our above named Tory contemporary. ANOTHER application would have been made to the court on Friday se'nnight, had not the first been refused, the party applying for it, having publicly dcelared that he had FIVE others which he should also endeavour to obtain rules for. If this does not prove the extent to which the " Liberals" (!) would go. in their lave for their political opponents, nothing will.—Stockport Advertiser. -The comissiollers fc ing the census CENSUS OF 1841.- are actively engaged in their prep.,. this important inquit v. It will be taken throughout the I ted Kingdom in one day, viz., on the first July. The plat to divide the poor-law unions of England into en" districts, which are required to be clearly cide with boundaries already known, and in no int. exceed 200 houses. In thinly populated parts less t. houses will form a district : sd that an active man may every house, between sunrise and sunset on a summer's U. For each of these districts an enumerator will be appointee, who will act under the direction of a district registrar of births and deaths ; the whole to be superintended by the superintendent registrar of the union. It appears act, that none of t.:-.? -egistrars can act as enumeratorsb,'Other duties being assigned to them. From these arrangements,y th much it is evident that the census is intended to be taken to ofGreat Britain. foundation of this portion of the statistics greater care and accuracy than heretofore, and become the , CHEAP LIVING IN nRITTANY. — Th. of their kind. bounti fully supplied, and the provisions are excellent ,oond; veal six sous; Beef of first-rate quality, five SOUS p e e - r i markets are Poultry remarkably mutton, four sous, sometim e c h s iek fi cheap, and particularly finheir;t Ls, twenty sous a couple; - e five to forty sous a couple •, three francs each; small capoons, a trifle dearer; . 1 full-grown fowls, from t superlatively good, and remarkably ones less. The fish is to four sous a :—soles, from threepair; mackarel, reasonable sous ea ch ; turbots, thirty sous to three from two to three size ; John Dory. a franc, and thirty francs, according to turkeys, three, and red mullet, two, four sous each. Servants sous ; wages vary from three to four, and five pounds a year, ac cording to their acquirements. A single man may live like a prince upon sixty pounds a year at L'Orient, and so he may at Quimper ; but this is on a brand scale : he could live ropectably on forty ; and a married couple could enjoy every luxury with a rental of a hundred a vear..-The Sportmeo in Prance. ory ar defined to coin-