The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-05-19 00:00:00

Varitaintittarp Vrortaingg• Lord Wu ARN not intended by the corn laws, he h& the papers, the words " during tr The Marquis of CLANRICARD the report e commlss thought that means the people of Irela I be taken benefit on the coon agitation for the The Duke of W duty by his Sover it by the agitators_ amonstst He would recomm He had be Ireland, but h attacks made The other orders of house adjourned. HOUSE OF C Sir R. PT ing respecting pat a check to the rt Mr. W. 0. STAN the cor aws, and nion that a filed du SE OF LORDS.--MONDAY o make a ed, as was resent session at when he stated that it was • --- stated eration in rteciin. most o the reprinting of ,ways in Ireland. He to give employment to would not only confer great ald tend to put an end to the epeat or 3N stated his resolution to do his 1 -ss whether he was classed or the ene mies of his country. ioble lords to purs ue the same assed amongst the enemies of n very good company in the ,e day we COUnLry • hen disposed of, and the OMMONS.—MoNDAY. at he had said on governmentn n on the part of to tation in Ireland. e adjourned debate on county members had He was of opi- Jeen far preferable to the t• constituents present system. Mr. EWART contended that bad indulged in mis-statements and fallacies, such as that a repeal of the corn laws would produce low wages and prices; but what was required was such an extension le of the nsume com merce of the country as ould enable the peop to co The count w ry, he bbelieved, was beginning to the half-and-half policy of Sir Robt. men to blot out consis- opponents of free trade more largely form a just opinion of Peel, who had done rnor tency from the code of po, Mr. P. ScaopE conside r, t taxes on consump tion as savouring of protec tion ; but yet, with our great es ta W blishments, we could not so far maintain the pr i nc iples of free trade as to repeal all the se taxes. e s thanadapt our financial system to the p urposes ofthe revenue in artic rathele r ofof pro tection, and more particularly in ma subsistence for the people. Colonel WOOD (of Brecon) avowed his belief that the corn laws were as beneficial to the manufacturer as to the agricul turist. At all events the landowner could not abandon his interest in the land so readily as the manufacturer could alter the direction in which he wished to e mploy his capital. The B r iti s h agriculturist labo ured under many restrictions : he was not allowed to brew his own beer without a heavy duty on his malt ; he was not permitted to grow tobacco, nor to make sugar from beetroot; he had not the advantage of free trade te an y more than the manufacturer. He contended that l an d owne rs were actuated by no other motives than the h good of the commun it y , for they we ll knew that prope rt y had Its duties as well as its rights. Mr. THORNELY said he had last autumn been in the ted States, and had urged on Mr. Tyler that, in return for the concessions made by Sir R. Peel in his tariff, America should adopt a more liberal policy towards England. That gentleman, however, declared that a bar almost insuperable wasth presented by our corn laws to an extended trade between l.h e two countries. A change in our policy would in all like the ;loci induce the Americans to adopt a similar course. 'r H. DOUGLAS considered a repeal of the corn laws as fatal a to the best interests of the empire, commercil, mann f awing, and agricultural, and he should therefore give his decided opposition to the motion. England was the best customer of England, and giving protection to the small farmer was in reality extending protection to the people. t Mr. Mcsrrz supported the motion, not because be thought he landowners were too highly protected, but because they protected themselves witho ut p rotecting others. Th e y had not protected the labour of the operative classes, and yet if there was to be any difference at all in legislation, the poor should have the preference according to all the principles of Christianity, and yet in the legislation of this country the leaning was always towards the rich. The slight improve ment in trade recently was to be attributed to ill-founded speculation upon the extension of our markets in China, whereas . in our woollen cloths we were undersold by Russia. With respect to the burdens on land, the malt tax had been put forward as one of those burdens. Was not this most preposterous, for the malt tax was surely said by the con sumer ? The landlords of this country received 50 millions annually, more than they ought to do, for their corn. This sum was not lost to the country. It did not go out of the country. But he would tell the house what it did do ; it went out of h o n e ockets of industry into the pockets of idle ness. The o. member contended that it was impossible to legislate successfully respecting corn unless they considered corn and currency together. Mr. Cogoes s aid, in supporting the corn laws, the land corn were inflicting scarcity of food on the people. I,Vould they say they had a right to do this ? They could not raise the price of corn except by making it scarce, and would they dare to avow that they would legislate for the purpose of producing a scarcity amongst the people ? He denied that the f armer s had ever derived any benefit from the corn laws, for corn never had obtaincd uniformity of price. The corn laws had, in fact, been one continued juggle, on the part of the l an downers, on the farmers. If such were not the case, bow came the landowners to assign as a reason for main taining the corn laws that they were necessary.to enable them to effect m arriage settlements, ez.c., from which the farmers derived n o benefit. Rents had been doubled since 1793, and if, in the same time, the food of the people had gradually deteriorated from bread to potatoes, it followed that the corn laws had benefitted the landlords only. The whole patronage of the gov ernment had been given to those who called them selves f arm ers' friends hut the farmers themselves had been in no way benefitted.; The landowners in many counties declined to give leases, in order to keep their tenants under their co ntrol for political'purposes, and in all those cases the farming was decidedly 'lad. The longer the leases the It Was the system of farming throughout the 'singdom. was intended to carry the repealrepeal perfectly understood that they were to advocate free trade in every thing- He called upon Lord A s hley and other hon. members who were always the advocates of benevolence to support the present motion, or their i n fl uence wo uld be destroyed in the manufacturing dis tristi if th e y w ere found voting for Making food dear to the Pc4le. Mr. VitLigpts shortly replied. The h ouse t h e n divided, and the motion of Mr. Villiers WS/ negatived by a majority o f 381 to 125- The other orders o f the k• were then •Y • the house adjourned. a ,-- --- ... HOUSE OF LORDS.—TrESDAY. Lord BaouonAm moved the second reading of the Towns bend Peerage Bill, and in so doing stated all the facts of the case, which will be found in our report, and said there could n o longer exist a doubt but that Lord Leicester wes a spurio . us issue, more particularly when he stated to their lordships that Lady Townsbend bad authorised him to say that she had always protested against the whole proceedine's tending to place h er c hild re n in the position of legitimate Children of the Marquis Townshend. OTTENHAM Sal Lord C 'd that evidence certainly left no doubt as to the facts of the ease, but still they would by agreeing to this bill be establishing a precedent for many, very many cases, which would hereafter come before them ; because man y unc les would be apt to perceive the convenience of thus ques ti on ing the legitinaacy of their brother's children. He thought great evil mightwou from such asp recedent. as that proposed. There be cases of legitiacy turning " very nice points of evidence, and moreover evidence of this hi n d m ight be one into on the petition enter re.lative, al though the parties might b e again living tog in perfect amity. There was no present grievance calling for the im mediate i n t er position of the legislature, and he begged their lordships to remember in what a state they would leave tthis family lf they should pass this bill but it should be rejec ed by the Commons. The question of titles could not stand on better grounds than those of property ;. yet this was not to be a • judgment per legem term or per juilieiurn parztors, but an arbitrary act of the highest court of legislature, taking the. rights o f one man and giving: them to another. He moved that the bill be read a second time that day six months. . Lord 13nocosi am said, his noble friend's observations would have been very pertinent before this case occurred, ,but constituted no sufficient objection to a bill founded upeon Lord Lord KENTON wished to have the opinion of th Chancellor, and other noble and learned lords the subject. present, on Lord BaouGFiaat said, those noble and learned lords bad, on a previous occasion, given their assent to the pritleiPle of norality indirec ay were then disposed of, and thought no case was wade out for the measure. The Ear, L of Davos such a measure. Lord ug h it said, ths question was whether their lord ships thought it would be a greater evil to create a precedent of this nature, or to inc.fr a great public Qcandal, by tacitly. assenting to such proceedings as were disclosed and adrnitteu to be proved by the evidence. He could not C had never a balance b e tween such an alternative, and therefore had never given a more unqualified vote than he should in saying " content" to the meas ure. Lord CAMPBELL tho u g ht no danger could arise from the bill, and should therefore assent to it. The Earlof W IcKLow . thought there was no just reason now for p r o c eeding with the bill, as the evidence taken at the bar would be d Lord Li, perpetuated, and available at a future evidence,erio and was entirely said, he had carefully read been proved The therefore vote for the bill. house then divided : Contents s r • ..... • ' on-contents ........... Majority for the second . r eading . '' N:. The bill was then read a second t i m e, and journed. the house ad- HOUSE OF COMMONS. —TUESDAY- A select committee was appointed to inenire into the cir cumstances attending the singular occurrence that a bill had received the royal assent, although the amendments made in the said bill (the Scottish Widows' Fund Bill) by one house of parliament had not been considered or agreed to by the other. Mr. C. Banes moved for leave to bring in a bill to amend Lord Ashley's act of last session for regulating the employ• anent of young persons in mines and collieries. He did no pretend to impugn the purity of the motives of Lord Ashley but the excellence of his motives was no protection agains errorsin judgment. The Mines and Collieries Act was a injudicious and hasty measure, and bad been productive al rea dy of great distress in Scotland, by throwing man y per eons out of employment. He did not wish to interfere with the act so far as married females and young persons were concerned, but be wished so far to amend it as to permit widows :and . ; girls over eighteen years of age to return to under-ground labour. Lord ASHLRY contended that no ca,se bad been made out for the interference of the house. N% hy should a privilege not granted to England be extended to Scotland ? The re sults had already proved to be beneficial in the relief of women, young girls, and children from a m teedgdg ern " --<-,, and in which ployment, to which they were • they were succeeded by men and I} tion of the public. He had rece Scotland and elsewhere, intimating the Mines and Collieries Act was feelings of certain proprietors, who had people to a reluctant consent to aid act. He had no doubt but that caF' red under its operation, but the from want thosa unfortunat been worn out in their service beneficial measure repealed w in operation. He hoped the position, and, by so doing, at had its duties as well as its r' Mr. Hume, though he Lord Ashley for remo: suited to them, still though. hastily on the subject ; and in or that hasty legislation it was that Mr. forward his motion, in support of which case had been made out. Sir J. GRAHAM denied that the Ni: was the result of hasty legislation, been preceded by very extensive it several cases of hardship had part of the experiment in, the importance of preserving u, gradation was on all sides admitted, . maintain the act in order to ensure the ft. from its operation. Lord F. Eozicrox remarked with a view to civilisation and religion, tha wholly 11 seat satisfac- letters from ntition against the selfish ult fl e d their work on to that 0 had occur- lould preserve had energies king to have a use ;cot but a short time eative the pr that propert proposition of c fovril ents. is-fated too he evils of emeuy . truce had brought ought a strong es Act nd )int of fact it had Fie admitted that --t trying r. and as )11,0laden from de sary to fad hat it W ber;etits expec ;fly important xeitions shouia be made to elevate the female character, which was chiefly— TO MERCHANTS, BROKERS, AND OTHERS. the object of the law, and opposed the motion. Mr. C. BRUCE replied, and on a division his motion was. defeated by a majority of 137 to 23. The largely increased and most respectable circulation Sir C. NAPIER. brought the state of the naval lists under which the Tuesday's Edition of the LIVERPOOL the consideration of the house, and contended that a naval officer should be placed at the head of the Board of Ad- STANDARD has now obtained amongst the mercantile miralty. If the Government would not agree to his sug- hay in Manchester affords its proprietors the gratify gestion he would next press upon them the necessity of re sorting to the practice in the reign of Queen Anne of api ng power of urging this, amongst the other undeniable pointing a Lord High Admiral. Thi s m i g ht b e d one with claims which it possesses, upon the favor of that portion great satisfaction to the public in the person of Prince Albert, and he might have an experienced naval. officer to assist him of the mercantile community of Liverpool who desire to in the performance of the duties of the office. He also bring their advertisements before the notice of buyers in suggested that the older officers should retire earlier than die neighbouring manufacturing districts. In most of they now do, in order to make roc.m for the promotion of young men to be admirals and vie e-admirals, while more 4:gze surrounding towns of Lancashire the circulation of efficient for the duties than they could be at a later period of ;t h e STANDARD is steadily increasing. In Manchester, life. The gallant officer concluded by a motion in accord ance with the views he had stated. _ however, the centre of the manufacturing district, our Lord INGESTRE seconded the motion. Sir R. PEEL said he should be very sorry to lac down as a rule that no naval officer should be appointed as First Lord of the Admiralty ; still, on the other hand, he should be equally sorry to establish a rule restricting the sovereign in the choice of a person to fill that station to officers in the navy. H e hoped the house would support him in resisting a motion which would incur to the country an expenditure of 1:20,000. per annum. Lord J. RussELL said it was impossible that the House or Commons could with advantage place itself in the position of the executive. To agree to this motion would be to establish. a most inconvenient precedent, and he hoped, therefore, hit hon. and gallant friend would not press it to a division. Sir C. NAPIER declined to press his motion to a division z. and the other orders of the day being disposed of, the house: adjourned. publication of Tuesday—occurring upon the most im portant market day of the Cotton Trade, when its Exchange and Hotels are thronged with country manu facturers, spinners, and calico printers—is firmly es tablished in circulation, and is perused with increased and increasing interest. Under these encouraging circumstances, we trust to receive an increased measure of support from the mer chants and brokers of the town generally ; and it affords us great pleasure to assure those of our friends amongst those classes, who have hitherto bestowed their adver tising favours liberally upon us, of our increased ability to do justice to the interests committed to their care. THE CORN LAWS. THE DIVISION ON MR. VILLIERS' MOTION FOR REPEAL. The following statement exhibits the distribution of the votes on the question—" That this house will resolve itself into a committee for the purpose of considering the duties affecting the importation of foreign corn, with a view to their immediate abolition." Ayes, 125; Noes, 381; Majority against it, 256. FOR THE MOTION OF REPEAL. rbt Eibtrpoot &tanbarb. ENGLAND Counties Boroughs ........ • • • • .. • WALES. Counties Boroughs SCOTLAND Counties 2 . Boroughs l5 IRELAND. '— 17 4 Counties . Boroughs. . • . • Total for the motion ...... AGAINST THE MOTION. ENGLAND. Counties ... Boroughs... Universities Counties . Boroughs. WALES. - 288 16 5 SCOTLAND Counties Boroughs • Counties ~ Boroughs. University FRIDAY 310RAING, MAY 19, 1843. We have always maintained—because we know the party—that the agitation, got up professedly against the educatioNal clauses of the Factory Bill, was, in reality, directed against those clauses which restrict the hours of infant labour. That the great portion of dissenting millowners care one straw about the con sciences (!) of the poor little creatures who toil in their factories is, to any one acquainted with the social con dition of the manufacturing districts, about as pre posterous a notion as can well be conceived. Why, we doubt whether one in ten of the millowners know even the persons of their own workpeople ! And as for any extraordinary care for their moral welfare, or their peculiar religious opinions, we are quite satisfied that the state of repair of the least important wheel or shaft which drives their spindles or power-looms, is looked to with infinitely more anxiety than the health, moral or physical, of the human beings whose hands tend its revolutions. The increase or decrease of the payments noted in the wage-book is an object of tender interest ; but the increase or decrease of the sum of happiness of those employed does not, we fear, enter into the contemplation of two out of three of the very philanthropic people who are just now professing such anxious solicitude for—their religious liberties ! The religious liberties of factory children (1)—of the poor slaves of the loom or the spindle, who have scarcely a knowledge that there is a God, who made them and who died for them ! That we have not been in error as to the real nature of this opposition to Sir James Graham's measure, notwithstanding the sectarian cant in which it has been clothed, will not be greatly doubted by our readers, after the perusal of the following, which fell from the lips of an eminent Leaguer and Quaker, at a meeting of millowners, held in London last week : " He had heard much of the agitation about the factory question. He could say it did not prevail in his district. He recollected a person connected with those who desired legislative interference with factory labour visited it, and called a meeting upon the subject. The room in which it was held was, however, not half filled, and the lecturer himself was laughed at. He begged to say there was not that agita tion in the manufacturing districts which the accounts in the London journals would lead many to believe there was. At one meeting at Manchester the chairman was a porter on the railway. In his neighbourhood they did not want any tinkering legislative interference. Legislative interference in the matter had hitherto been Injurious, and it was looked upon as no better than political quackery. He thought that the majority of either house of parliament were among the very last fitted to bring forward any sensible plan for the settlement of a question on which they were necessarily ignorant. He was opposed to a ten hours' bill, and believed all legislation on this subject was wrong." This gentleman does not want any " tinkering legis lative interference" between the employer and his wretched and demoralised slaves ! This exemplary Quaker, so emphatic in his appeals to Scripture when denunciating the iniquity of the corn laws, esteems " all legislation wrong" which goes to prevent greedy capitalists working children of tender years for fourteen or fifteen hours per day in the heated atmosphere of their factories ! It is " tinkering legislation" to say to a millowner—You shall not work the eyes, the bones, the sinews, the blood, and the very souls of infants into cotton cloth ! It is " wrong " (!) that these Liberal gentlemen should not be permitted to buy and sell little children, and build more factories and more villa s out of the gains of a traffic so inhuman ! To the credit of the millowners and others, before whom this speech was delivered, we observe that it was received with pretty general disgust—so unequivo cally expressed, indeed, that any gentleman less sensi tive than the utterer, must inevitably have felt the unenviable nature of his position. " Mr. Kay was surprised at such language. He must say that factory legislation had done a good deal of good, and those who bore in mind that 13, 14, and 15 hours' work daily had been endured by those employed in factories, would admit this." (Hear, hear.) " Mr. Walker also deprecated • the remarks. Surely it was too much to call that tinkering legislation, which sought to promote the eternal welfare of the factory children." ( Hear.) " Mr. J. Milne, of Oldham, had never heard a speech from hie friend with more pain than the one he had just ad dressed to them. He did not expect such a speech from him." Pretty decisive condemnation this, when it is con sidered that the utterers of it are millowners. And yet, it is to the leading of such men as this asserter of the right of employers to work their infant labourers without restriction as to time, that men of religious professions, and many, no doubt, of religious conviction, are content to commit themselves ! The plea of conscience it is, forsooth, which is set up ! The real question at issue is, whether the children of our working classes are to be sacrificed, body and soul, here and hereafter, to manufacturing cupidity ! We observe that a correspondent of the London Times, remarking upon the recent seizure of goods belonging to Messrs. Baring Brothers and Co., sug gests that considering " the serious loss experienced by our manufacturers from the bonding of foreign goods, and their exportation hence in our ships to South America and our colonies," the goods com prised in the shipment in question, previous to their being given up by the Customs' authorities, " should be stamped United States manufacture,' as a guard against their being purchased abroad as of English make." And he adds, that " the grand evil of foreign goods exported in bond from this country, and pur porting to be of British fabrics, has been long and seriously felt." We have no fault to make with this suggestion ; but, we may ask, would it not he well for British ma nufacturers and traders themselves to commence a sys tem of honesty with respect to the brands and de scription of their goods ? It is scarcely possible to pass along our own streets without seeing the most palpable deceit attempted to be practised, by the ven dors of all descriptions of commodities; and, were an uninformed person to judge from marks and descrip tions merely, he would inevitably arrive at the con clusion that nothing that is English is fit to wear or eat ! Our boot and shoemakers are selling French boots and shoes—made in Northampton ; our hatters Parisian hats, made not a hundred miles from Oldham or Stockport; our drapers French silks, which have not even the advantage of having been smuggled ; French gloves which no contrabandist has imported ; and French ribbons, the bulk of which Coventry has the questionable credit of having fabricated We call this ' a very disreputable system—very unworthy of a Bri tish tradesman, and very prejudicial to our character as a manufacturing people—inasmuch as it is an in direct confession that our boasted productions are in ferior to those of other nations, and such as we do not condescend to use ourselves ! But we are told that the imitation, by foreigners, of our dishonest example, and the branding of their goods with English brands, "has long been felt as a great evil." In some descriptions of goods, no doubt, this may be the case. We doubt whether, in cotton goods —plain cottons, at least, such as those referred to—the reputation of being " English " would be a recom mendation. If it is for the purpose of securing for such goods the advantages of our colonial markets, that such a course is adopted, we admit the evil—the fraud'upon the colonial revenues being a portion of it. But is it a fact, we ask, that the American manu facturers can, upon any thing approachin g to equal terms, compete with us in these markets? Can the manufacturers of Lowell, sending their goods by the . circuitous route of Great Britain, undersell us in South America, or the East or West Indies ? It would ap pear that they can ; and we ask, with all proper deference, whether, if such be the fact, it does not Present to us a new feature in the anti. corn-law con troversy which is raging around us ? With a system of free trade in corn and sugar we can expect, of course, no exemption in favour of our goods from the duties levied in our colonies upon the goods of other producing countries. The United States manufacturer will no longer have occasion to send his goods round by Great Britain, in order to procure their admission into a British colonial market. How, then, are British manufacturers to be the better enabled to meet their opponents in these markets, un less it be that cheap bread and cheap sugar are very in timately connected with CIIEAP LABOUR? It may serve the purpose of our anti-monopolists to protest that no such connexion exists—that they have no such operation in view. They may juggle a few dupes by their protestations; but we defy them to convince any reasoning men of their sincerity ! LET THEM TRY. Our contemporary of the Manchester Guardian, if no other champion step forward, will, no doubt, be able to reconcile this matter to his own perfect satis faction, if not to that of the rest of the world. We observe that, in his last publication, he has got hold of what he conceives to be a convincing proof that cheap corn and cheap labour are not at all connected with each other. The proof in question consists in the fact that, the price of bread being low at present, a certain firm in Bolton—Messrs. Hornby and Co.—are ad vancing their rate of wages. Ergo, maintains the Guardian, the price of food has nothing to do with the price of labour. In the abstract, we certainly never said that it had. Cheap bread, the result of productive harvests, we have always conceived to be more likely to advance than to reduce the price of labour. But cheapness of bread, produced by any policy which is calculated to increase the supply of labourers,—cheap ness of food, produced by the destruction or diminution of agricultural employments,—will not only reduce the price of labour, but is intended so to do ; and what is more, the Guardian is perfectly aware of the fact We do not feel ourselves impelled to inflict upon our readers any lengthy remark upon the five-act per formance—(tragedy, comedy, or farce ? we know not which)—concluded on Monday night in the House of Commons. A dull subject would no doubt provoke a dull comment; and the somewhat dreary weather, with which we have been visited for the past few days, has not, we should imagine, enamoured our readers, any more than ourselves, with that description of mental food, which is calculated to produce nausea instead of invigorating and elevating the spirits. A running commentary upon the snap pish impertinencies of Mr. Cobden ; an attempt to precipitate the solid matter, contained in a frothy oration from that very superficial person, Mr. C. P. Villiers, or to whip into liveliness the heavy mo notony of a speech from Mr. Joseph Brotherton, might be tolerated at a time when the mind or the temper required a sedative ; but with our present somewhat depressed atmosphere, and animal and men tal energies, we shall spare ourselves and our readers the probable consequences of the infliction. We do this the more readily because of the convic tion, which it is impossible to shut out, that the cause of the League is quite an impracticable one within the walls of either house of Parliament. Unlike all other ultimately successful party movements, the Anti-Corn law movement evidently makes no progress in the legislature. True it is that the division on the present occasion shesys a minority of 125 in favour of the mo tion of the member for Wolverhampton, or rather ostensibly in its favour. True it is, also, that the number in the minority last year was only 90. But it is acknowledged that of this 125 a considerable num ber, like Lord Howick and Mr. E. Buller, would to morrow vote for a fixed duty, and repudiate, as strongly as any ministerialist, the wild project of total repeal and we challenge all the wise people of the Anti-Mono poly Association, or the League itself, to point to the accession to the League party in the House of Com mons, of one member, whose opinion is worth a rush upon this or any other great question ! The Anti- Corn-law question may be decided by agitation and clamour out of doors ; it can never be decided, against England and her domestic agriculture, by dispassionate argument within the walls of Parliament. Upon one trifling episode, which enlivened the dull ness of Monday night's debate, we may remark. That most amusing and consistent person—Mr. Thos. Milner Gibson—we observe, by the reported proceed ings, took occasion to remonstrate (!) with the gallant member for Liverpool— Sir Howard Douglas—for presuming to speak and vote against the motion before the house, when his constituents, to the number of 36,000, had petitioned for total repeal ! It would have been very rash, we admit, if Sir Howard Douglas had slighted, as Mr. Gibson accused him of doing, the opi nions of so large a portion of the bona fide inhabitants of the borough which he represents. But we can in form the hon. gentleman that the member for Liverpool did no such thing. Sir Howard preferred the legitimately expressed, and repeatedly expressed, opinions of this community, to those of the busy and factious clique, who got up the petition in question, with its fictitious and trumpery signatures ; and this was " the head and front of his offending." Old generals, like the mem ber for Liverpool, are not to be caught by Mr. Milner Gibson's chaff, or that of any other anti-monopolist. The extra-branch of the legislature, to whose sittings in Palace-yard we briefly called attention in our last, met on Tuesday ; and, amongst other doings, pro pounded their plans for carrying the " total and un conditional repeal of the Corn-laws." The nature of these may be best arrived at from the following reso lution : " RESOLVED, That this Conference recommends the League forthwith to commence a registration of the electors of the kingdom, in order to lie prepared, at the earliest possible period, to call upon the Queen's advisers, through the constitutional means of a humble (qy. dictatorial) memorial to her Majesty, to dissolve the present Parliament, and thus afford to the electors of the kingdom an opportunity of revising their late decision upon the question of the Corn-law." Their subsequent steps are best described in the language of the arch-agitator, Mr. Cobden, himself. " If the members of the League did their duty in their several localities, in registering their friends as electors" —the payment of their rates is, we suppose, a part of the scheme—" they might have a dissolution of Par liament in less than twelve months! If they got a sufficient number of electors registered, and addressed the Queen, a minority (in Parliament) could do one thing for them—they could, by obstructing the business of the House, compel the Prime Minister to dissolve Parliament." (!) A pretty comprehensive scheme this ; but there are one or two things required to en sure its successful accomplishment, upon which Mr. Cobden calculates a little too confidently. There is an assumption that the great body of the community may not, in the mean time, get tired of t t ir antics of his confederacy of mountebanks ; there is an assumption that the classes sought to be juggled may not, in the mean time, acquire sufficient clairvoyance (if we may, in speaking of such a body as the League, use the jargon of a kindred quackery), to see through the de ception; and there is the question to be solved whether the legislature itself, hacked as it will be by the right minded portion of the people, will submit to have the public business "obstructed" by any factious minority of its members. The forms of Parliament are no doubt sufficiently expan s i ve , at present, to permit of such an operation b e i ng successfully accomplished, when its object is merely to prolong a debate for ano ther night or another week ; but such an " obstruc tion" as may be required to coerce the Crown and the Government to dissolve Parliament, is a different affair altogether, and may not be so very safe an achieve ment. Besides, we suspect that some of the gentlemen of the League minority may not be quite so anxious to go before their constituents as the Bobadil of Stock port supposes ! Whatever may be the degree of feasibility, how ever, attendant upon this latest new scheme of the philosophers, the duty of Conservatives is evident. The efforts of the faction must he met. The registra tion, both in the counties and in boroughs, must be looked to at once, with all the anxiety and vigilance which would he displayed were the emergency one of less remote probabilities. We trust we need not urge this duty upon the " good men and true" of this Con servative town! In connexion with the appeal which we have made from time to time to Conservatives to throw off the lethargy with which they have hitherto regarded the agitation of the League, we are happy to see that the agricultural body are at length about to assume a de fensive posture, and have provided themselves with an organ—The British Lion—which is prepared to meet their opponents, and contest their cause their EXISTENCE, we might say—foot to foot. With every consideration for the existing Conservative organs, the seditious inroads now making by the League into the agricultural districts of the country, fully justify the establishment of a journal devoting itself entirely to the task of tracking and exposing every falsehood which issues from the ferti!e workshop of that body; and we wish our new contemporary every success in his proposed duty. The following is a specimen of the nervous style of our contemporary : " We consider it peculiarly incumbent on the landowners, farmers, and every peraon connected with the agricultural in terest, resolutely to prepare for the approaching struggle. Our enemies have actively marshalled their multitudinous forces, and sedulously collect the sinews of war in various districts of the country. They received during this year of Anti-Corn-law agitation, upwards of SIXTY THOUSAND POUNDS !!! Such sum has been expended, forsooth, in adopting every scheme, and promoting every object for which the Leaguers —as Cobden lately remarked—are banded toge ther, viz. " a total, immediate, and unconditional repeal of the Corn-laws," or, in other words, the abolition of every regulation, whereby any protection is afforded to British agriculture. " No doubt can be entertained respecting the desperate attempt which the Anti-Corn-law League are making for the accomplishment of their baneful and destructive machin ations. They have been congregating, for several months, large assemblages of the people in this metropolis, and throughout the country, whilst their itinerant lecturers daily promulgate the most fallacious statements among reckless, ignorant, and unreflecting audiences. Besides, other parties have been engaged to write, and newspapers are extrava gantly remunerated for inserting discontented and inflamma tory communications, in furtherance of the schemes devised by members and partisans of the Anti-Corn-law League. Nothing but an abolition of every measure, which gives the slightest protection to farmers and landowners, or, in more appropriate language, the destruction of British agriculture itself, will satisfy these factious individuals. If suffered to accomplish their perilous designs, would not the most fatal consequences and greatest ruin unquestionably befal the landowners of England, whose privileges must be thereby seriously abridged, and properties inevitably destroyed? " Under such circumstances, we consider the landed in terest imperiously required, in self-defence, to adopt such measures as will protect their rights, and counteract the ap palling evils projected by their opponents. Never was there such a❑ important crisis. Every rank and class of society should UNITE, in order to maintain the agricultural power and prosperity of England. Is not domestic agriculture the sheet-anchor of our national prosperity and tranquillity ? Nay, more, was not the cultivation of the soil likewise the foundation of our greatness? Would not our condition, then, appear paltry, debased, and contemptible, if every species of protection were abolished ? Would not the inhabitants of this once agricultural England—raised to the highest rank among the nations of the world—be obligated to depend upon foreign countries for the products which are now obtained from our own soil at home ? In periods of peace, would not such a system cripple and depress British landowners, farmers, and husbandmen ? whilst in times of war, would it not reduce this country to servile dependence on the whims and caprices of antagonist nations, for the actual supplies whereon to subsist? " Whilst noticing these topics, we cannot more appositely introduce some observations propounded by Mr. Van Buren, late President of America. Considering the encouragement of agriculture, as the best means for promoting the strength and wealth of a great nation, he thus eloquently addressed the Congress :--` Especially have we reason to rejoice in the exuberant harvests, which have lavishly recompensed well directed industry, and given to it that sure reward which is vainly sought in visionary speculations. I cannot indeed view without peculiar satisfaction the evidence af f orded by the past season, of the benefits that spring from the steady devotion of the husbandman to his honourable pursuit. No means of individual comfort is more certain, and no source of national prosperity is so sure. Nothing can compensate a people for a dependence upon others for the bread they eat; and that cheerful abundance, on which the happiness of every one so much depends, is to be looked for nowhere with such sure reliance as in the industry of the agriculturists and the bounties of the earth.' Ought not such remarks, emanating from this distinguished foreigner, to make a suitable impression in favour of encouragement and pro tection to our domestic agriculture? " However, we cannot conclude the present observations without invoking the Peerage, the Gentry, and the Farmers of England immediately to apply themselves, with vigour and determination, for the purpose of preserving their existent rights and properties. Unless active measures of co-opera tion be speedily adopted, will not our opponents proceed un checked in their ominous machinations? Must not disas trous effects ensue, if these " bold, bad men" unfortunately succeed, by their audacious wickedness, in annihilating the resources of agriculturists, but, infinitely worse, were they to abolish British ;riculture itself? Ought not, the Landed Interest, therefore, to arouse from torpor and inaction? Disregarding the slanders of their enemies, and contemning the apathy of certain lukewarm persons, ought they not boldly to resolve to pursue a course which, if duly devised, must prove not only beneficial to themselves, their families, and their posterity, but also peculiarly advantageous to the peace, welfare, and happiness of these realms ?" LOCAL NEWS. The races at Aintree, for this year, take place on the 18th July and the 21st September. ESTER.—Visitors to Chester this season, in want of a comfortable hotel, should go to the Nag's Head Inn. There they will find the best accommodation and cheer. The London Assurance Corporation is having a fire engine of the best and newest construction, built by Messrs. Aler ryweather, the great fire engine builders, of London, ex pressly for the township of Birke n h ea d, an d h un d red of 'Wir ral. We understand it will take two months yet to complete it. THE FACTORY EDUCATION BILL.—A crowded meeting of the Evangelical Dissenters was held in Great George's street Chapel last night, for the purpose of expressing their decided objection to the Factories Education Bill in its present state. Dr. Raffles presided, and the chief speaker was Mr. Thomas Blackburn. AN ORIGINAL.—The following notice was handed the other day to Mr. Palmer, special high constable of the hun dred of Wirral :—" to magestrets gentlemen, this to Imforme you that J T— Contaberl of the T— of did 31 De cember padrowl the Roads From Peter Nichol's to Woodchurch With Districte Constabel til A leate houre of the Nite beaing Informed the Whas Two Bad Carectors Lurking in the Roads." DEATH OF MRS. DR. RAFFLES.—We regret to state that the death of this lady, wife of the celebrated Independent preacher, of Liverpool, took place at New Brighton, whither she had gone for the benefit of her health, on Tuesday last. She had been labouring under disease of the heart for some time past, but no fatal result was anticipated from it by her friends, to whom her death was awfully sudden.—[We take this paragraph from the Morning Herald of yesterday ; but, as we understand from our reporter that the Doctor was present at the anti-education meeting last night, the state ment of the death of his lady must, we presume, be in correct.] Tux PRINCE'S PARK.—At the dinner at the Town-hall, on Wednesday week, the M a y or , i n proposing the health of M r. Richard V. Yates, paid that gentleman a very handsome compliment on the public spirit which he had shown in form, at his own exp ense , so handso me an ornament to the town as the Prince 's Park. The sentiments expressed by the Mayor were very cordially received by the company, and Mr. Yates, in returning thanks, expressed himself highly gratified with the notice which his worship and the company had taken of his new enterprise, and he said he trusted that it would afford his fellow -townsmen all the pleasure and re creation which the company anticipated from it. ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF A MATE ON BOARD inquest was held yesterday, before Mr. Statham, the Deputy Coroner of the borough, on view of the body of George Benjamin Ward. The deceased who was 23 years of age, was second mate of the barque Mysore, now lying in the Prince's-dock, taking in cargo. On Wednesday morning the deceased was down in the hold superintending the stowing of the goods, which were taken in at the main hatchway, and lowered by a winch. The men above had slung a large case containing a marble tomb-stone, when at once it fell down upon the deceased. Several men who were in the hold ran to him immediately, and found that his head was completely flattened, and that he was otherwise much injured. He gave one moan, and died instantly. The weight of the case was about six or seven hundred weight. It appeared from other . evidence th a t th e pac k age f e ll i n consequence o f the pulls o f the winch having either slipped, or remained up without falling in the wheel, so that the man who had hold of the tackle fall (which was wound round the upper barrel of the winch as a break) could not hold in such a weight, and it went down by . the ru n . Th e manner of lowering the case was that usually adopted in vessels, but one of the witnesses considered that it would have been safer to lower such a weight by the han dles of the wi nc h, t h e machine being at the same time pro perly attended to, so that the package would be slowly lowered. Two of the witnesses stated that the winch had safely lowered heavier packages on the same morning and on the previous day, and that it appeared to be a good winch and in good order. It came out from the mate, however, that the m an w h o had held the rope to lower the case had , by mistake, taken his lowering turn round the upper barrel of the winch in the wrong way, so as to reverse the motion of the barrel, and render the pulls of no effect in stopping it. A great deal of evidence was gone into, arid the ship visited, to ascertai n th e fact, which was satisfactorily shown to the jury to be the case. The man himself fixed a string round two round pieces of wood, to show the manner in which he had taken his turn of the tackle fall, showing that he had evidently fallen into the mistake stated, and hence the acci dent. Some of the stone was inscribed with an epitaph. The coroner summed up, pointing out the law as affecting the case, and the jury returned a verdict of " Accidental death." AMPHITHEATRE.—The late Mr. Ducrow's company and stud are attracting very fair houses at the Amphitheatre. There are some excellent equestrians amongst those engaged. Le Petit Ducrow is a clever little fellow ; his style partakes of that of the late Maestro in fearless agility and graceful riding. Mr. Rockwell, an amusing " droll," who often caused much laughter here when attached to the America❑ company, is engaged for a few nights. A very good piece, called the " High Nettled Racer," has been brought out. " George and the Dragon" is about to be produced for Mrs. Hillier's benefit. SINGING.—We perceive that Mr. F. Shrivall, who has for the last two seasons occupied, with much credit to himself and gratification to the audiences, the position of tenore at the Theatre-Royal, announces his intention of devoting his talents to giving instruction in singing. We believe several pupils are under his tuition at present, and when it is gene rally known that he is prepared to impart instruction in a science in which he is so well qualified, there is no doubt he will be able to number a large class. Those who wish to become proficients in the art divine cannot do better than place themselves under him ; his private testimonials of ability are very strong ; and all who have heard him sing in public will admit his claims for support. At present in Li verpool there are very few good teachers, and Mr. Shrivall's entei ing into the lists as a candidate for patronage will be, no doubt, hailed with satisfaction. ROWLEY'S PATENT CENTRIFUGAL PUMP.—Several ex periments with one of these pumps have been made at the Canal Basin during the present week, at one of which we were present. The machine is extremely compact, being only 12 inches in diameter, and 5 in width, but was capable, when worked by three men, of lifting about 60 gallons of water per minute, or of projecting a stream from a branch of a three•quarter inch bore to a distance of from 10 to 75 fset. There are no valves in the machine, it being worked by an eccentric groove, nor is any air box required, as the lift ing of the water is so contimious as to cause one stream of undiminished force throughout. The cost of these pumps is, we !cam, from £24 to £25; and of a fire-engine on the same principle (the rotatory), to be worked by twelve men, complete, with tanks, &c., about £lOO. One of these en gines, the manufacturers, Messrs. John Coatman and Son, of Manchester, will warrant to throw a stream to a height of 160 feet—a height that almost doubles that which the ordi nary fire-extinguishing engines in this town can attain. Messrs. Coatman and Son are now manufacturing one of this description for the Manchester establishment of the West of England Fire Insurance Company. The pumps similar to that now exhibiting arc intended to be applied, as well as in cases of fire, to ships' pumps, not having that lia bility to choke that the common valve pumps have, and pos sessing the advantage of the power of projecting water with sufficient force to wash the decks effectually, thus doing away with the ordinary mode of washing decks with buckets. SUICIDE OF A FEMALE.—An inquisition was held yester day before Mr. Statham, the deputy coroner, on view of the body of Jane Lucas, a m arr i e d f ema l e , age d 3s years, and the case excited considerable interest in the court. The fol lowing are the principal portions of the evidence. Elizabeth Halsall, a child of ten years old, who lived with her sisters, bonnet-makers, in Limekiln-lane, said she knew the de ceased, who lived et the opposite house. On Tuesday after noon last, deceased sent one of her little girls for her. She went, and deceased asked her what her sisters cleaned bon nets with,—to which she replied, " oxalic acid." Deceased then said she wanted to clean her little boy's hat, and her own bonnet, and gave her twopence, telling her to get some of the stuff at the druggist's for her. Witness had been in the habit of going for it for her sisters, and she went to Mr. Dean's, druggist, and being known at the shop, was served by the young man, who wrote " poison" on the paper. She gave it to the deceased.—James Lucas, husband of the de ceased, (who appeared to b e muc h affected,) said he was a file manufacturer, and his wife (the deceased) also kept a small provision shop. He s aw h er b etween f i ve and six o'clock on Tuesday afternoon last, and she was then much excited. She might have had a little drink, but was not much excited from that cause. They owed a quarter's rent, and the landlord had put the officers into the house some days previously, but had withdrawn them on an arrangement being made. He gave up some property as security. They returned again on Friday, and agreed to take the fixtures for the rent, and that he should take away his furniture and stock. They came again. The house was taken in deceased's name, who said she had no objection to their taking them if they would wait till dark, but they wished to take them there and then. Deceased then told the landlord's wife, who was with them, that if they took them out she would not live to see them. Witness then went out to get a settlement made through the assistance of his brother-in-law, and was absent about half-an-hour. On his return he was told by his little daughter that the deceased had taken poison, which had been brought to her by a little girl. He went to Mr. Dean's, and that gentleman went with him to several places for a medical man to attend deceased, and finally found Mr. Ackerly, who went with him, but on reaching the house where deceased was, they found her dead. Witness stated that deceased was not much addicted to drink, though he had known her to be intoxicated a little occasionally. She was liable to be very passionate, and when in that state was fre quen tl y i ncapa b le of judging for herself. Wh en in that state she had frequently attempted to do him bodily harm ; and when she recovered herself would acknowledge that she did not know what she was doing. lie was afraid of her destroying herself, and had taken such steps as he thought advisable to pre vent it.—Elizabeth Rimmer, a respectable elderly fe male, who lived next door, said the deceased for the last fortnight had been greatly troubled in her mind in conse quence of the conduct of the bailiffs; her feelings, she said, were quite overturned by it, and she frequently spoke of self destruction. Deceased had told her they had promised to come on Monday and settle, as agreed upon, for the fixtures, but they did not come, and she became dreadfully troubled and excited, saying that she (witness) must see her die. Witness remonstrated with her, but her mind was unsettled at the idea of the bailiffs coining and taking her furniture. On Tuesday they did come, and she requested the principal one to go up stairs, which she prevailed upon hint to do. She saw deceased again same afternoon, and she was still much troubled. Shortly afterwards deceased eame into her house, and on seeing her in the passage, she sent the washerwoman who was working in the house and knew deceased, saying it was Mrs. Lucas. That person went to her, and shortly after cried out to witness to come, as deceased was dying. Witness went into her front parlour and found deceased on the sofa dying. She died almost instantly. Witness had never seen her incapable from liquor of attending to her busi ness or her shop. In her opinion her trouble during the last fortnight was so great as to put her sometimes out of her mind.--Mr. Ackerley, surgeon, said he was called to attend her, but on reaching the house found her quite dead. On a post-mortem examination, he found from the inflamed and softened state of the membranes of the stomach, &c., ~nd also from an analysis of its contents, that a large quantity of oxalic acid had beets taken, and had caused death. Ile also found about half an ounce of laudnurn in the deceased's bedroom in a wine glass: Mr. Dean's assistant said he had sold the poison to the little girl whom he knew as having frequently bought it before for her sister's to clean bonnets with. He had no suspicion that it was for any other pur pose. Mr. Dean was not in at the time. The coroner said that no blame whatever could, under the circumstances, be attached to Mr. Dean, or the young man. A daughter of the deceased, aged 15, said that on Tuesday evening between five and six, she saw deceased put something into her mouth like salts, apparently in little white lumps. She afterwards went up stairs to the room over the shop, and returned soon after, when she seemed as if she was throwing up in her apron. Witness asked her if she would have a cup of tea, and she could not speak, but went out, and witness never saw her again alive. Police-officer, Heydon found in the room above stairs a small quantity of oxalic acid in the cloth that covered the table, also a tea-spoon in which there was also some, and which appeared wet, as if recently used.—The coroner summed up the principal parts of the evidence, leaving the jury to decide the main question, namely, whether the deceased, when she took the poison, was in a deranged state of mind ?—The jury immediately returned a verdict, to the effect, that the deceased had destroyed her self by taking oxalic acid, while labouring under temporary derangement of mind. —The quantity of the poison sold was half an ounce ; and as very little of it was found in the house, the deceased had taken nearly the whole—a dose so great, that its effects were fatal in a very short time. IRELAND - 51 Total against the m0ti0n........ 381 The following whigs voted in the majority on this ques Lion : Baring, F. T. Hatton, Captain Villiers Cavendish, C. C. (Youghal) Heathcote, G. J. (Rutland. Cavendish, G. H. (Derby- shire) shire) Howard, Lord (Shaftesbury Colborne, W. N. R. Howard, P. H. (Carlisle) Curteis, H. B. Labouchere, H. Dawson, T. V. Lemon, Sir C. Drax, J. S. W. S. E. O'Brien, W. S. Ebrington, Viscount O'Conor Don. Esmonde, Sir T. Ogle, J. C. H. French, F. Redington, T. N. Gill, T. Russell, Lord J. The following members voted in the minority on Monday last, who did not vote last year upon this question : Barnard, E. G. Jervis, J. Berkeley, C. Langston, J. H. Browne, W. (Kerry) Layard, Capt. Buller, C. Macauley, T. B. Buller, E. Maule, Fox Chapman, B. Morison, Gen. Christie, W. D. Pochell, Capt. Clive, E. B. Ponsonby, J. G. Collett, J. (Athlone) Ponsonby, Hon. C. F. Corbally, M. E. (Poole) Craig, W. G. Pulsford, R. Crawford, W. S. Rice, E. R. Dalmeny, Lord Roche, Sir D. Dashwood, G. H. Roebuck, J. A. D'Eyncourt, C. T. Ross, D. R. Ellice, E. Russell, Lord E. Ellice, E. (St. Andrew's) Scott, R. Fleetwood, Sir P. H. Scrope, G. P. Forster, M. Seale, Sir J. H. Fox, C. R. Smith, V. Gisborne, T. Standish, C. Grey, Sir G. Stanton, W. H. Grosvenor, Lord R. Townely, J. Hay ter, W. G. Tufnell, H. Holland, H. Turner, E. Howick, Viscount Vivian, J. H. Hume, J. FORMER DIVISION ON THE CORN LAWS 1843, March 14.—" That a committee be appointed to in quire whether there were any peculiar burdens affecting the landed interest." (Mr. Ward.) —Ayes, 133; Noes, 232. 1842, March 14.—A similar motion to the above. (Mr. Ward.) —Ayes, 115 ; Noes, 230. Feb. 16.—An amendment, opposed to a sliding scale, but in favour of a fixed duty. (Lord J. Russell.)—Ayes, 226 ; Noes, 349. March 9.—For the second reading of Sir R. Peel's Corn Importation Bill.—Ayes, 234; Noes, 176. Feb. 24.—" That all duties on corn, grain, &c., do cease and determine." (Mr. Villiers.)—Ayes, 90 ; Noes, 393. 1840, May 26.—" That this house will resolve itself into committee to take into consideration the duties on foreign corn." (Mr. Villiers.)—Ayes, 177 ; Noes, 300. 1839, March 18.—Similar motion to the above. (Mr. Vil- liers.)—Ayes, 196; Noes, 342. 1838, March 15.—Ditto. (Mr. Villiers.)—Ayes, 95 ; Noes 300. 1837, March 16.—T0 admit foreign corn into Great Britain at a fixed duty.—Ayes, 89; Noes, 223. * By an inaccuracy in the votes this number slightly varies from the numbers declared by the tellers in the house (125.) THE "DUCHESS OF SUSSEX." As the fact is becoming a matter of general discussion that, in the event of the death of the King of Hanover and of the Crown Prince, his son, the question of the title of Sir Augus tus D'Este to the throne of that kingdom will create some controversy, the following letter from her Royal Highness (the Countess of Ameland) to Sir S. J. Dillon, will not be uninteresting. It is dated 89 long since as December 16, 1811. -61 My Dear Sir,—l wished to have answered your last letter, but having mislaid your first, I did not know how to direct to you. I am sure you must believe that lam de lighted with your pamphlet ; but I must confess I do not think you have stated the fact quite exactly, when you say (page 25) ' that the question is at rest between me and the Duke of Sussex, because the connexion has not only been declared illegal by the sentence of the Ecclesiastical Court, but has been dissolved by consent—that I have agreed to abandon all claims to his name.' &c. Now, my dear sir, bad I believed the sentence of the Ecclesiastical Court to be any thing but a stretch of power, my girl would not have been born. Lord Thurlow told me my marriage was good abroad —religion taught me it was good at home, and not one decree of any powerful enemy could make me believe otherwise, nor ever will. By refusing me a subsistence they have forced me to take a name—not the Duke of Sussex's—but they have n ot made me believe I have no right to his. My children and myself were to starve, or I was to obey, and I obeyed; but lam not convinced. Therefore, pray don't call this 'an act of mutual consent,' or say, a the question is at rest.' The moment my son wishes it, I am ready to declare that it was debt, imprisonment, arrestation, necessity, (force like this, in short,) which obliged me to seem to give up my claims, an d not my conviction of their fallacy. When the banns were published in the most frequented church in London, and where all the town goes, is not that a permission asked ? And why were they not forbid ? I believe my marriage at Rome good ; and I shall never feel ' the question at rest' till this is acknowledged. Prince Augustus is now sent to Jersey, as Lieutenant D'Este in the 7th Fusiliers. Before he went he told his father he had no objection to go under any name they chose to make him take; but that he knew what he wa s, and the time, he trusted, would come, when himself ustice do * ne to * his * mother an* sister, and his owrnidbirsteg.'j' We have been informed that a letter from Mr. Colquhoun i nis been received by the Glasgow deputation, stating that at an official interview he bad been informed that her Majesty's commissioner was instructed to announce to the General assembly the measure which Government has in contempla tion, and which must, of course, be in conformity with the views enunciated in the House of Lords by Lord Aberdeen. —Glasgow Herald. - - - CUSTOM -HOUSE FRAUDS.—In the Court of Exchequer, on :Monday, an information was tried at the suit of the cus toms department against Messrs. Chas. Cauty and Co. ex tensive silk importers at NA'atling- street, London, who were charged with receiving two cases of silk on the 3d July, 1840, and three other cases on the 14th August, 1840, without pay ment of the full amount of duty. After evidence had been gone into on the part of the Crown, and for the defendants, the jury returned a verdict for the Crown, with single da mages of £2OOO. This is, in effect, for the Crown, of 41111000, as the damages are trebled by statute. TEIE REPEAL AGITATION.— Minister's declarations re specting repeal of the Irish union were the subject of an adjourned meeting of the Dublin Repeal Association on Thursday, and of much heated language; Mr. O'Connell called Sir Robert Peel an " audacious miscreant ' he thanked the paltry whigs, the Marquis of Lansdowne and Spring Lice. (Loud laughter.) Then there was that most paltry, despicable, and contemptible politician—the News paper Henry Brougham—(protracted groans)—treacherous to his friends, flattering and servile to his enemies. He was disgraceful to the law ; he had talent of a high order, but his mean and contemptible selfishness carried him beyond all bounds of honour or decency—no road was too filthy for him to advance to power. He was rejoiced that such a despicable man was the enemy of the Irish people. ADJOURNMENT V.•DIVISION. — The following is the des cription given in the " Notes and Proceedings in the House of Commons," of the extraordinary scene on Saturday morn ing :—" Saturday, May 13.—Motion made, and question proposed, 'that the debate he now adjourned ;' whereupon, motion made and question proposed, ' that this house do now adjourn'—motion, by leave, withdrawn. Question put,' that the debate be now adjourned ;' the house divided—ayes 91, noes 385. Original question again proposed ; debate arising motion made, and question put ' that the debate be now ad journed " the House divided—ayes 80, noes 273, Original question again proposed : debate arising; mo ti on ma d e an d question proposed, ' that the debate be now adjourned ;' w h er eupon motion was made, and question, ' that this House do now adjourn'—put and negatived. Question put, ' that the debate be now adjourned ;' the House divided—ayes 78, noes 172. Original question proposed ; debate arising : motion made, and question proposed, ' that the E cc l es i as t ica l Courts Bill be no w read'—motion by leave, withdrawn. Original question again proposed ; debate arising ; motion made, and question put, ' that the debate be now adjourned ;' the House divided—ayes 119, noes 74 ; debate further ad journed till Monday next'" FINE ARTS There is at present a collection of very fine pictures exhi biting at Mr. Lacey's, Bold-street, to which we beg to draw the attention of amateurs, not only from the excellence but the rarity of many of the specimens. There are two or three to which special notice ought to be given. There is a Raffaelle of extraordinary beauty and brilliance, representing the Virgin, Child, and St. John. This is a picture well known as // sonno di Gesu. The Virgin is exquisitely painted. This is a work of high class. There is also a Titian possessing great merit. There is also " The Laura," of Raffaelle, a brilliant and beautiful picture. A Carlo Dolci will also give great delight. There is a drawing by Raffaelle of the Battle between Constantine the Great and Maxentius, that will be greatly admired for its vigour, boldness, spirit, and execu tion. Besides these, there are works from the Dutch and Flemish schools. Two magnificent landscapes by Ruvsdael. A cu rious and elaborate Watteau, representing a Eal Masque - , in which hundreds of figures are introduced. " A Breeze," by Backhuysen, is a charming picture. " A Vandyke" will greatly please the admirers of this artist, as also a powerful Rembrandt. From the Spanish school there are several works of great merit, in which an Alonzo Cans and a Murillo are greatly distinguished. One by the latter ought to be looked at by every painter in this town with the most minute attention, as showing the mode adopted by Mu rillo in the working and handling of his subjects. This picture represents the Assumption of the Virgin, and is half finished. The Spanish school ha* a gravity and majesty about it that cannot fail to be admired by the man of taste. Its masters may not be so correct as the Roman school, but their knowledge of effect quite compensates for what they otherwise want. Amongst the mighty ones of the Spanish school may be reckoned Murillo, the painter of the work above alluded to. A word or two respecting him will not be out of place. The history of the Spanish school is as full of picturesque situations and animated recitals as the best romances, which we owe to the authors of our own country. Every master has a character proper to him, and every event in the life of the painter reveals one of the quali ties of his talents. Bartolomeo Esteban Murillo was born of a wealthy fa mily at Silas, a little village in Andalusia, in 1613. To his uncle he was indebted for the first notions of his art. In a journey he made to Madrid, Velasquez showed him the Escurial and the Royal Palaces, and obtained for him per mission to copy the works of Titian, Rubens, and Van Dyck ; he combined in his work the study of the beautiful and the antique ; and on returning to Seville, obedient to the good counsel of Velasquez, lie copied nature. Ills first works are his chefs d'a?uvre, and in the rest of his career the first traces of his early education may be found. The labours of Murillo are immense ; he has decorated nearly all the edifices at Se ville, and we find evidences of his genius at Cadiz, Cordova, Grenada, and Madrid. A little more correctness and noble ness in his style would have elevated Murillo to the very summit of that art, which he has, amongst others, rendered so celebrated. The picture of the " Death of Saint Clair," which he painted for the cloister of St. Francis, of Seville, is,so without question, the ter -piece o f M urillo : it was al his stion in th Gallery Ago ado at Paris, which possessed fifty-two pictures attributed to him. This gallery has lately been sold—several works from it are in this collection, which, taken altogether, has many more than common claims to the notice and attention of the connois seurs and collectors. RECONSTRUCTION OF TH F. CONSTEL LATIONS. NO but those that have bed experience of it h ave the least idea of the confusion which prevails in astronomical catalogues. A common globe will show that the bou n d ar i es of the con ' stel: latious are zig-zagged in a ll directions, and that sometimes a long strip from one constellation passes direct into the region occupied be another. This confusion is necessary to recon cile the irregular manner in which observers have registered their results, and the occasional misplacement of stars by er ror of calculation or by confounding one st ar with another, pg e is this notice that, Mr. F. Bailey, President of the Royal Astronomical Society, extensive attack u Mr . hear, meditates all _ , he will attempt system •, and Sir .1. Herschel has. already as far as the southern hemisphercisconcer ne d the utter eradication of the existing constellations. E ven • that would he hardly possible to remodel the supposingit northern hemisphere entirely, we like hope it might he introduce something plain and easy boun dariespracticable to no on e has so pod u d ggarloluziffri;irsre, vaissintlgie, and, surely, , -. right. to make the ; attempt, or so fair a pro , s i pec t, t a o s r b u ro n k i . t e t i n s ) Ano - - nearly all the catalogues which reformer (Mr. Bailey comparing, and reprinting have been given by constel a i those who formed 1 t ons. _ A thenceum. MEETING OF THE DOCK COMMITTEE. sent at the weekly meeting yesterday:—Messrs. ,00-den, The following members of the Dock CommitsteaenwaserebParier: man,) Barclay, Holt, Holmes,• Adon, " Bold, Bramley-Moore, Chilton, Ripley, Tobin, Evans. • ended N ile Sub-committee of Works presented their am ~ .. r ecoul• Smith. Nlolyneu. Y _ a port on the subject of the warehouses, eructedwhich "I' be rin mended that all the floors should be con on e . ‘ _ , e ciple of the brick arch, according to a model prepared D01,t.',.. Surveyor. Some discussion ensued on the proprine ) ia _i t V at mediately adopting the report, Mr. Evans contelaidd before an estimate of the entire expense should Sur veyo r be the committee. The Chairman said the the cost, according to the plan now submitted, the repor t wa ° square yard. On the motion of Mr. RIPLEY the confirmed. • structed On the motion of Mr. RIPLEY the Surveyor was in - • A ' lEUCtIng to inquire and report upon the best mode or cons fire-proof roof to the new warehouses. he 0 ,134°61 , - In compliance with a recommendation of t atemen.6 mittee, it was directed that all the reports and st recorded 3e6stisrnsapteer made upon the subject of the new warehouses be in the books of the committee. sub T m he itt S ecl ib- a co l m et ro ° ittee m te i r tt r e e e e f e o iv r e t c h i the Marine SEtildrceeyoßrr'est Trinity House, in reply to an application from the c°ll' thTi e° to place a floating beacon upon the end of corner of Hoyle Bank, and another at the end of Con I u ... ` t . , Bank. The Elder Brethren concurred in the proprietl_y_fa buoy w ith re g ard to Constable's Bank, as it would be tiP' t ; id dberepnartfogthate to the trade and navigation of the river Dee, and heY.",..sce direct one to be put down in that position. With rele:74. to the buoy on the north-west corner of Hoyle Balt,itea the nortoiLie,, peared to the Elder Brethren that its utility w ould b (O rel, en to the trad e of the port of Liverpool, and it would Tider the ,e Dodo appendage to it ; under these circumstances, Brethren had no objection to the Trustees of tl . a A puttin down and maintaining a buoy in that positio , " 4 the sanction of the Corporation of the Trinity House w' consequently given to the Dock Trustees so doing. , o r The own eCrrAr a expense. rece dent for us to seen uarAN.—That is, they all ow us to do it i" Mr. EvANs.—And they also get a p our mo T OB ney within their distances. Mr. IN thought the Trinity House very ababbY', tion Mr. RIPLEY observed, that as this was a recornmen°3 essari to from their own Marine Surveyor, it was hardly nec refer the subject back again. Mr. BRAMLEY-MOORE thought that a s the r•-- ft ro pi• Dock ‘.' the proposed buoy was out of the limits of the .irn tion 4 mittee, they had no power to place it th ere. wed 0 Mr. RIPLEY considered that the buoy should be P ge ' recommended. The expense would be a mere 'Agate t in guts. Mr. BRAMLEY-MOORE said the expense not " t ti h o ei z iltrb i u t o w y a s s : t . he principle it involved. . TOBIN —'fhey might as well ask us to maint3i° all Mr. Array said this refusal on the part 0t . the ''a rr-ri:billt House was doubly vexatious, when it was reconeci.s fro etiiil e ormous surplus funds they had accurnulated, derifelhoe shipping interest. The masters of the TrinitY "o l d gave splendid dinners to dukes and noblemen, and th in e ierro t s n a f iling excursions, all at the expense of the s hipPipg , - er net this and other ports, and now that a little impro, their was suggested they told the Dock Committee to do it at ' own expense. # O t Mr. BRAMLEY-NIOORE again said the question 00,,ier o to ne of expense, but one in which the committee ha l , t n ois o beyond the bounds of the port. If they a ccede u t ", g 0 .a.now,_ they might, at some future time, be called upon h If a mile further Mr. HOLMES mentioned that the North-west . Light's was out of the boundaries of the port. LIP Mr. Arms replied that that was under an act o f nitl‘ylrß.uTnoyn. Priii. went.the Tri' Tonle.—lf we must do it, let it be called'` '''' ( rtb er r communication Aft erso m efurther l d with decided th Trinitya that a - ';3 0 s r' tbel' upon the subject. list The Harbour Masters' Sub-committee reported t 4 , s , to could not recommend the use of wood instead of %tor e recommended, and it was adopted, signalise tntte the condition of the docks. The same ,11 e tc written. fi r e vil' i 1 that o,i t ter , stones over the house-doors of the South Harbou r ',NO " Master of andthe Mastersof King's Queen'sHarbour a Dock,"st Master blaster shnnld o f he " South Kings pock, ch The . North Harbour Master reported a tritlia ,00° took place on the evening of the 14th instant, in the ' the flat Sarah. fi , et ter The CHAIRMAN ° 6 wished the committee to state itt they would I d " i v en the model of the frigate at the hea_ ho tit stairs, to the intended exhibition at the Collegiat° , lion , . 3 . ( Cries of " Yes, yes." ) 1„,. It , Mr. ARCLAY Ti pilot J.'. ey must send down a (Laughter.) . u ie i t The CHAIRMAN said, this model was wanted beca;tbi was one of the articles which had been saved at the tiro Exchange The was burnt down. On t hip e plication was then granted. the s " te representation of Mr. BgAmt,l,:y -Mooss , , ro d t () of the crossings to the several dock bridges was r,c'e the Sury • Surveyor; after which the committee separteo• BIRKENHEAD COMMISSIONERS' °f t his On Tuesday evening last the adjourned me etin g th body was h e ld i n th e Co m mis s ioners' room, a„ t i ,;„,rs.'' f , ' f f hall; present, J. D. Case, Esq., chairman , .--- nr Jackson, J. H. Green, Wm. Cole, Alex. Kerr, 100-s; John Laird, D. M`Nicol, Wm. Horner, C. n fl' e ' t ottia' Thos. Gilberston, J. R. Pim, Jas. Parker, c• Stansfield, J. D. Appleton. ( Afr. l4 lo On the chairman taking his seat, the Law-clerk ionersoa laby) stated that it had been usual for the connn is ir s eat h s o e their last month of office to amend the imPr °/ ,. e , of t : s tei lighting and watching rates, by adding the na ai ii i cse,,,' en' parties who had become liable to be rated sin ee - ight had been laid, in order that as many as possible wroossropt franchised, so as to vote at the election of new c ° , ve• ers, but to do that it was necessary the Board th e iroP,` ° 4 io% some such resolution as the following :—" bfrpoig ment and ligating and watching rates be ame n ,' h , to u e to the rates the names o f suc h p ers ons who o u g rated to them." rd. gear/ This resolution was at once adopted by the "'Air. f , Mr. MALLABY then referred to a letter fro°, Inc an d Cole, which was read by the chairman at the ,8 1,,,,ere , ,,; e d respecting an action he had ag • I • cuul l ' l n °/9'4. 0 3° which was tried at the last Chester am f st o t /ssize d s i ;: ti n s si b 'n e n fo T l ! I , 3 j e , that it would be better to refrain subject at present, as the matter r m s a a l 7 res ent , ' nee ° t i tle court above, a rule nisi havingbee h w n a a v g e ra b n e t e P e l d i e o , P f icr e He had hoped the motion would last day of term, but it had not, and must, tb re f et r t leci oia stand over till the next, When the m atter " s bee o ss should be able to show, notwithstanding what }lad act can' to the contrary, that the defence set up to tha t be eirc lie not only the proper course to adopt, but under all the be stances of the case, the only one which could be P c ," it houg, be said this with every respect for Mr. Cole, - the ` te as e ' might not succeed in obtaining his money t i l er ,do sought, yet he would no doubt obtain it in arm in g Mr. Mallaby then referred to the subject of de","h-o.e lasted ties of the Law-Cierk, and fixing his salary t r ' t - ter ° which he said he was anxious should ' be don e ; O rr ,' is• the new board would do it as soon as convenie%e col lest at present were in a very unsatisfactory state , ' ease sioners being afraid of taking legal advice in rnsrlY •torf they should incur detailed expenditure. The CHAIRMAN read a letter from r. CudiePq ci claimin g com p ensa ti on f or an ill ega l distraint en - his by the market looke. c irc a . e . Mr. MALLABY said he had inquired int° t ; ' o 3 ° stances of the case, and the claim set up was th ria tedr posterous one ever heard of. the On the suggestion of Mr. HORNER, however' was referred to the Market Comtnittce. Adjourned to the sth June. . n t Dal., U. AMERICAN MANUFACTURES.—SOMC eXCitenin• ef caused in London, by the seizure of a nuw ber ho o us e American cotton manufactures at the custom-..-„to on the alleged ground that I b purporting that they were or English manufacture' 00' b• " Stark Mills, Manchester." Many very have been - made in some of the the y London ore p a : a e rrle ' P tui Pt 'll sag aci oo o 6 o the od jest of the shippers in affixing this surreptitious l II _ c lowill f a o m re o i ngst others, that they intended to pass o ff thc ore , thesegn .countries, as being of English lua nui3c eb s 6g6 ctli wise conjectures are, however, only so mu. p erfe, thrown awaythe mark is, we have no tloub"'„! bu` believegenuine. There are no n Stark Mills' in this ton' s to be there is an establishment of that nar n r „ 1 : su j n os called Manchester, situated in New flarnPSiurrihe goods in que s ti on ere, no doubt, the produce 1 1 . 9 tir e :ar of one n that establishm en t. There are in all no ls' t ter 6 Manchesters in the United States.—Maches' fir7l e • ! • fsn the psr ° ' A SURVIVOR OF THE -14TEI.—A letter appes— 1 t he . Ile' of Monday, dated Camp Deesa, March 2, Si /M c ; 44t h culars of the safety of one member of the c ill•l t t e he lel_t d e e r itb, g .. im T e h n is t.Thefol a lowin are the chief featur s v o gre ol eo „ Ti n, c , _to morning strange man came into ei. .-h ; or on hair, and almost naked, his face burnt very roa f e the (1 0 r ot out to be Lance-Sergeant Philip Edwards, °i e laug,, h t t p e s i l ?, 44th Regiment, who escaped at the gen. 15 ra o "cs tiir Gundamuck, Affghanistan, and after travelling in to ot o a southerly direction by the sun, he found his W a h Y e 440, tlis here, not knowing where he was. He saYs t ..",,,11 th isv ol 6 were all drunk, and could make no resistance, "" Peers, nearly o P u o nl Y d s e d threwthe e on se , s pot. ii t be to , away b w: l y i et their arms leg and awnedr eChnetodosva' te en - 0 ,0 m e a adreyoff. They kept together eight months an. oe of,i e ci yelling. ' as they could not agree about the yelling. They lived 1(1 fin d ' a lif e direc t ' e( 1 i cij os on any grain they cou . r _d to bate , goats now and then, but sometimes were 0bi1f,`.....11, ,ti,t grass and herbs. The Affghans treated them v o `i i t °L i ' s o( entering Scinde the natives used to hunt th e T scot e A " l osa; m ul_ages and set dogs on them. This man' is — _,„, e rrie";goe'r i iid . was in the 3d Buffs, but exchanged with a 7. to s lot n ' him eis a fine soldier-looking fellow ; some of " a °, I w ee% when in the Buffa. We have given him Ibv i e ft er olia/ the men have gi ven him nearly 30 - 6. lie h" 4 " - h. Av°,.ete" Bombay, and is going to England to join tbe I' t t . te es t i t' 0' the large he skirted the small villages , 15° ' n- t lla ; 1 1 1 with much kindness and occasionally wthitellbgacicu-:obhobatiti..%ssPt;; the villagers sometinmes seizing him by t a r s a l: , Feringee, and spitting in his face ; he i 8 I l io ut Ilf ° 0 1 ( t h el-worn—as might be expected ; he has ~l ad y3 e ° l co l .'" ' pay due to him, and may, perhaps, by hlms ~tif tbe WO pit° government and others, be enabled to set — a y Or fortably in some little way in England, which "' for his last two years of misery. Al f) .o.4l'ooAl'irit i°_, s_ CII , URCH EXTENSION TIIROUGII TIIg 1"-:,,,t fi t ' c itiO SOCIETY. -1-lad there been some years since ,_'_, 0 1 .. ,, e re w l .l.L c i hurch which there is now, —that perfortro..";l;ich;;;Ofe t i i i • o i there is now—that faithfulness of doctrinvee, 00%1'00 i5..10 form despite many exceptions, then I ,eljecharcit 0 in' have been so large a body in opposition to ter t" e o eoi rle ae' ll i; stead i ( f found in her pale, promoting , re d i e tt o bie, ~i interrupting it. (Hear, hear.) I'S b c .,,,, , s orI ) .0.0 0 , ten person does not carry the ministration of i_i e il lite il P e se a tholized minister, we must expect the people ' require, we must expect the tolaeci.sing o f s t' to. g(?; and where the people have nothe hi e ' w ill b e ~ii I C `A...lle'o are unauthorized. (Hear.) Now I willof OAcallol°lll. andtt c_ise of the chapelry of Colne, in the t hat u there re ir)ei i f ee,.. r i 5, 5 03.5 1 ) i r o e 3, 1 , y. I regret to say, that such cases may be r k r . 10 ' l , O ,n,. ~hundreds in that county and in Yorks") r ii e ne rsot , per' itis6 the chapelry of Colne contained 15,5(i:rev. tt o :` . o tb. there was a single church and clergYm'" there'd f 3:00 0 , 11 1 rce lv sons not being compact together, but about totes, `, p 0P 13 ,1 town and the rest scattered over district (,),_ to tlia; An fi'e miles in extent. What could the church D* o . o oll o e * 0: 0 lation, since it could hold no more than t3o°,lPover tb 0 sti' there was no church at all for those scattere . 0 , u cli j .i.er o e know how m w a e n(Flear ) try o district. t things unaccredited persons should warntenriecd, j_1,01;,00,, and find' dit ' l ' 5 0 ,IP strumentali could ygl a_l blamet o tohrennli: .1 ill 1.:00 they:,; blame them. (Hear, hear.) Now, let t ve , i s Sec' 0 Can we, wonder that her ; 0 ,t,." pt : , the state of theparish h b altered bY ", r gyrr ie , c 1 ) 0. 0 tv. \ P I% he s r e there ts thee ( " le e e n i ( e ) ;v .I. e lii i rcl i l o /e' l c i sIA ; and for one church there ar_ lol , a je, , 0 ,n i i es, and one school licensed for worshiP . 1004_ tait „ 0 i tiding ; an d each clergyman, instead .0 1 1 0 4_ tier Persons—not to minister to, for that Na il l 'Pot to ° art s . think of with regret and sorrow —he has "`”,-. 1.,, 0 0 ,, it l i; c e. within the reach f a laborious man, 3,877 r a t tio - charge.—Speeek of the Bishop qf C lie (oral Aid Society's Meeting.