The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-05-06 00:00:00

*mutat parliamtnt. HOUSE OF LORDS.—MoNDAy. Lord DENMAN said it was his intention to have proceeded with the second reading of the Baptists' Affirmation bill, but he bad been asked why he confined the measure to the Baptists, when its principle was equally applicable to every other sect of christians. This objection was so just, that he felt be could give no valid answer to it, and for the present, therefore, he would withdraw the bill, for the purpose of in troducing one which would include in its operation all chris tians having a conscientious objection to the taking of an oath. The bill was accordingly withdrawn. Lord BROUGHAM then moved that a message be sent to the House of Commons, requesting copies of the reports and of the evidence taken before the elections committees which, adjudicated on the petitions from Ipswich, Sudbury, and Great Marlow. It is probable that their lordships would be called upon to legislate in consequence of those reports, and it was therefore advisable that their attention should be turned to the subject as early as possible. The noble lord then condemned the present mode of trying election peti tions, which proved by the results that the decisions invaria bly went in accordance with the political feelings of the ma fority. He next adverted to a plan, suggested by the Duke of Wellington, who had asked him to throw it into the shape of a bill, and which if adopted would, he thought, have given an admirable tribunal for trying those petitions. The plan was this :—a tribunal should be formed, at the head of which should be one of the judges of the land, having no seat in either house of parliament. He would preside over the court, which would be a sort of jury composed of seven members of the House of Commons and five of the House of Lords ; and their verdict in any subsequent proceedings for the disfranchisement of any borough for bribery should be taken as conclusive of the facts. The noble and learned lord entered at great length into the advantages of his plan, as compared with the present system, and concluded by moving that the message should be sent. A conversation arose as to whether the House of Com mons would be likely to send an answer to a message which they might deem an interference with their privileges. It was suggested by the Lord Chancellor that it would be better not to risk the experiment, and Lord Canterbury, while warmly supporting the views taken by Lord Brougham, thought it would be unadvisable to risk sending the message to the House of Commons, more particularly as it would not tend to advance the object which his noble and learned friend wished to see carried out. The Earl of WICKLOW hoped that the noble and learned lord would again bring the motion forward, should any bill come before them fro m th e H ouse o f C ommons for the dis franchisement of any borough. Lord BROUGHASf then withdrew his motion, and the house adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS—MONDAY. Mr, T. DUNCOMBE presented the " national petition," which was brought into the body of the house before the Speaker took the chair. It was an enormous affair, and was obliged to be removed piecemeal by several of the messen gers, who were even in that way a considerable time in tak ing it away. The hon. member gave notice that he would an the following evening call the attention of the house to the matters contained in it. The house then resolved itself into a committee of the whole house upon the Income Tax Bill. The committee began with clause three, and made rapid progress in the course of the evening. Mr. HUME moved that the dividends on stock accruing in April should be exempted from the tax, as otherwise the fundholders would have to pay the income tax one quarter before it was collected from the rest of the community, The CHANCELLOR of the EYCHEQUER said if they were not to commence to tax the dividends until July, the result would be that they would be obliged to collect the tax from the fundholder three months after the expiration of the tax as applied to other classes. Upon a division, Mr. Hume's motion was negatived by a majority of 159 to 84. Mr. F. BARING moved a resolution to the effect that the income tax should not be levied on the dividends derived from the pnblic funds by foreigners residing abroad. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER opposed the mo tion, and said he thought it perfectly right that a foreigner deriving his income from this country should be liable to the tax. Mr. LABOUCHERE supported the motion of Mr. Baring - - - Six R. PEEL could not see why foreigners should beex empted from this tax, or why they should profit by the im provement of the funds in consequence of this tax being re sorted to, and yet be exempted from contributing his share of the very impost by which stability was given to his invest ment. Mr. HUME contended that it was a breach of faith to tax funds at all, but if the tax was to be laid on he could not by a distinction should be made between foreigners and sh men, and he could not, therefore, support the motion of Mr. Barine. Mr. J. A. SMITH supported the motion, on the ground at we should do nothing which would have the effect of irrupting the constant flow of capital into this country. r. ASTIRMAN thought the foreigner ought in justice br tixed as well as any other holder of the public funds. After a few observations from Mr. HAwEs. 1 4r. F. BARING replied, and the committee divided, when otion was negatived by a majority of 203 to 40. aviug got as far as the 88th clause of the bill, The other orders of the day were then disposed of, and the use adjourned. HOUSE OF LORDS.-TUESDAY Lord BROUGHAM presented a petition from the provisional council of the National Complete Suffrage Union, praying for nniversal suffrage, annual parliaments, vote by ballot, and that no qualification should be required for members elected tv sit in the House of Commons. As the petition was signed by 3,300,000 people, he hoped their lordships would not think he was asking too much when he proposed it should be read at length. 'rhe petition was accordingly read at the table. The report to the Queen's Prison Bill was brought up by the Earl of Su Arritsisumr, after which their lordships ad journed until Friday. II OUSE OF COMMON S.—Ty man AY question from Mr. HUME, as to whether as appointed as British consul at Texas, Sir R. PEEL -repireil, that he was appointed as consul at Texas, but that he was detained in London in order to give some explanations respecting the transactions at Hong-Kong. His salary would not commence until he departed for Texas. Mr. T. DUNCOMBE then called the attention of the house to the national petition, and expressed the thanks of the people for the respectful manner in which it had been re ceived. The hon. member put forward various precedents to show that the petitioners might be heard at the bar of the house in support of the allegations contained in their peti tion ; and then gave a sketch of the progress of parliamentary reform, which might be considered identical with the chartism of the present day, for in each case the principle was the same. It was not to be denied that the Reform Bill was a failure, and that the present House of Commons was even more disposed than the unreformed house to support class legislation. He feared that a large majority of the house would not assent to the allegations contained in the petition. For his own part, he did not agree to all of them, but still be was of opinion that the petitioners ought to be heard by counsel at the bar of the house. Mr. LEADER seconded the motion with much gratification, and contended for the sincerity of the petitioners in the ob jects wbicb they were endeavouring to carry out. Dr. BowRIN G said, that this petition was the most nu merously signed that had ever been presented to the house, and he believed that all its allegations might be sustained by evidence. Mr. FIRLDRN hoped that the olive branch would be held out to the people, and that they might be heard by counsel at the bar of the house. Sir J. EASTHOPE said, he had, on a former night, opposed the motion of Mr. S. Crawford, because be thought it pledged the house to what was termed " chartism." This, however, was a different motion; and though he differed from many of the allegations of the petition, still he dared not say to 3,000,000 of his fellow-subjects that they ought not to be heard at the bar of the house in support of their allegations. Sir J. GRAHAM admitted the distress under which the petitioners were struggling, but believing that the avowed political objects of the petitioners would lead to disastrous consequences, be felt bound to resist the motion, more par ticularly because, if carried, it could only lead to delusion. Mr. M ACA lILEY was strongly opposed to the charter, and ~ fore strongly opposed to the prayer of the petition. He illy agreed with some of the principles contained in the such as vote by ballot, and the abolition of a property Ation for Members of Parliament ; but he was opposed -sal suffrage, because he believed that its adoption ke the security of property. There were contained ion opinions which, if carried out, would not only xtir,ction of the national debt but would involve confiscation of property. If the petitioners ob means of what they asked for, little less than ab ,:ver, they would proceed, by means of universal • to universal spoliation, until the projects of ameliora /led in total ruin, and perhaps the erection of a military r),n, on the wreck of our liberal institutions. r. RnEeccic would not judge of the working classes of 4 country by the trashy document before the house, nor by e conduct of the demagogue who drew it up ; but he would udge of them by their patience under suffering, and by the c o mparison which his travels in all parts of the world en ab l ed nim to draw between the people of England and those of - nuntries. He should vote for the motion of the hon. ..tier for Finsbury, because be supported the charter, and because he b e li-- • -ore granted the representatives of -..ieved if it • - b— the People would be chosen from the wealthy, the educated, and the influential classes of the community. He could not envy Mr- Macauley the estimate he formed of the people of England; for hia ow n p art he had a better opinion of them. a nd did not think that entrusting them with power would burlead to the rapi ne anticipated by the hon. member for Edin gh. Lord F. EGIRTON opposed the prayer of the petition, and said he thought Mr. Macauley had not been used with perfect fairness by Mr. Roebuck. Mr. HANvEs said Mr. Roebuck had relieved him from all culty as to his Vote, for he had said that the vote on this 'ion was to be considered as a vote for or against the r, and to the charter he could not give his support, for opposed to any au°. u indefinite extension of the suf was prayed for by the petitioners. He was not op gradual extensio n o f the suffrage, but in the pre f the education of the people,habelie v ed a su dd en Ich as that sought f or , wouldlead to mischievous Jiff clue Cha be it, ngland, if entrusted people of ENI s denied that the r, would be likely to turn _ .respassin which they ~ er for Edinburgh. to p urpnws as o rPPosed by the the prayer of the petitioners they spoliatio n. By , rbe trance, and inciting the revolutionw ,apprehend. r heard with great regret the speech of m r. an d little thought that such a s p eech would have - ' -I from a met ro p olitan member. The descri p ti o of England given by the hon. member for Edin - ~ely frightful. Where were our army and a ? Were they cowardly , treachero us , and s e ? He denied that the question was "aye" avour of the charter. He was himself in favour in li ar/l ents, and could not therefore vote for the r ; but the question before the house was simply would or would not hear 3,000,000 of their fel at the bar of the house to point out the grievances We' , Mr. lb AKI aken fro under which they laboured. Ltd J. RUSSELL felt boundatodexhpisreassbhaotrtrheleioseamfoertitmhee hi, resp ec t f or th e p e titioners o doctrines contained in their petition. He for a mo ment t h at t h e grievances complained o i d n f by o not the believe d peti tioners would be i n th e slightest degree twould be remediedthe by acced ing to th e prayer of their pet i t i on, w hile signal for a general panic, and cause an i m mediate transfer of capital from this to other countries, and thus increase the distress so f orci b ly set forth in the pet i t i on . Thinking as he did that the question before the house was that de scribed by Mr. Roebuck, " a y e " or " n o," for or against_ the charter, h e s h ould give his vote against the motion of the hon. member for Finsbury. Sir R. PEEL said that, even if the question was not as to the policy of granting the charter, still be should oppose the motion for hearing the petitioners by their counsel or agents at the bar in support of these allegations. He thought it more honest to tell the petitioners at once that they could not be heard at the bar, rather than, by hearing them, to awaken hopes which must inevitably end in delusion. The petition was an impeachment of the whole constitution of the country ; and was he to be called upon to suspend all the business of the country to enter upon an inquiry like this, which must terminate in nothing ? It was far more honest to tell them at once that their prayer could not be listened to than to hear them first and then tell them that their arga. ments had made no impression upon his mind. To adopt the principle of universal suffrage would be to establish a democracy on the ruins of the mixed monarchy under which this country had, for 150 years, enjoyed more substantial happiness than had ever fallen to the lot of any other nation. 111 r. MUNTZ said he voted for the motion simply because it was one of inquiry, and he could not make up his mind to refuse inquiry when he heard of the state of suffering in which such an enormous number of his fellow-subjects were struggling. Mr, Osw.kLo said he would be no party to the delusion of hearing the petitioners at the bar of the house, when be knew such a proceeding could lead to no beneficial results. Mr. VILLIERS supported the motion of Mr. Duncombe. Lord CLEMENTS opposed the motion. Mr. O'CONNELL supported the motion, because be was an advocate for universal suffrage ; but he could not in any way identify himself with the petition. Mr. DUI , iCOMBE replied, after which the motion was nega tived by a majority of 287 to 49. The other orders of the day were then disposed of, and the house adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS.—WEDNESDAY. When the order of the day was moved for the second reading of the Church Patronage (Scotland) bill, Sir J. GRAHAM said, that, owing to the division which had heretofore prevailed in Scotland upon this question, govern ment had felt that it would be useless to bring forward any measure with a hope that it would lead to reconcilement of the differences which prevailed. Now, however, matters wore a different aspect, and, from the communications which had taken place between the government and influential par ties in Scotland, he had reason to hope that some healing measure might be now advantageously adopted. Under these circumstances he would ask the hon. member who had charge of the bill, to postpone its second reading, in order that government might have time to consider of the proper course to be pursued ; and if in a reasonable time govern ment should not be prepared with a measure, the bon. mem ber would, of course, be at liberty to proceed with his own. Mr. CAMPBELL said that, under these circumstances, he should postpone the second reading of his bill for six weeks. Mr. F. MAULS was opposed to the postponement, believ ing that the measure which the government intended to in troduce would be the same as had formerly been brought before the other house of parliament by Lord Aberdeen, upon which the opinion of the people and of the church of Scotland had been already unequivocally expressed. He should therefore move that the bill be then read a second time. Mr. PLUMPTRE supported the postponenient. After some discussion, in which Mr. Campbell, Mr. Coch rane, Mr. P. M. Stewart, and Mr. Wallace took part, Sir R. PEEL said that it was a most unprecedented thing to move the second reading of a bill after the hon. member whose bill it was announced his intention of postponing it, and in the present instance it was the more strange on the part of Mr. Fox M rule to attempt to force on legislation upon the subject, when it was recollected that lie had been for five years in office without attempting to do anything whatever to put an end to the dissensions which prevailed. After some further discussion the house divided, and the postponement of the bill was carried by a majority of 131 to 48. The Public-house bill was re-committed pro forma, with a view to introduce some amendments, after which it was ordered to be read a third time on Wednesday week. After some other bills had been disposed of, the house adjourned. PORTER'S PATENT ANCHOR The following properties peculiar to this anchor are fully verified by reports, founded on practical experience of its merits. It is impossible to foul it, either by hemp or chain cable; consequently a vessel may ride at single anchor as secure from fouling as if moored. It cants and takes hold more quickly than any other. It has extraordinary holding powers, whether the bottom be chalk, clay, sand, or mud, &c. It holds on to the shortest stay peak. It presents no upper fluke to injure either the vessel her self or others in shoal water ; and the risk and delay occa sioned by hooking the cables of other vessels in crowded an chorages are avoided. It is most convenient for stowage, as the flukes can easily be separated from the shank and passed into the hold ; it is therefore most convenient as a spare anchor. It can also be easily separated and transported in two boats, which is an advantage where it is of great weight. it produces the desired effect of ground tackle at much less weight. In consequence of the upper fluke coming down on the centre of the shank, the greater portion of the strain is re moved from the pivot, and transferred to that part of the shank on which the upper pea rests, thus dividing the re sistance more equally by bringing the leverage nearer to the ring ; the anchor is thereby enabled to bear strains and jerks which would be fatal to one of the ordinary construction. In consequence of the arms being made apart from the shank, with bars extending from pea to pea, the risk of an unsold weld at the crown is avoided ; and as that is the part where other anchors so often fail, this is considered to be an important advantage. CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY The annual meeting of the Church Missionary Society was held on Tuesday, in the great room at Exeter-hall, London. The Earl of Chichester took the chair, supported by the Bishop of Ripon, the Bishop of Chester, the Bishop of Nor. wich, and a large body of the clergy of the Church of Eng land. The body of the hall was quite filled. A large number of ladies was present. The noble Chairman commenced the business of the day by an address to the meeting upon the state and progress of the society. He regretted the present unsatisfactory position of their finances, but urged them to greater efforts and more zeal in the cause. There were some men, said the noble lord, who thought that the church itself should be the great missionary society, and whenever any intelligible and prac ticable plan was presented to them, which was better than that upon which they now acted, let them give it their candid and serious consideration. But let them not relax in their present efforts. (Hear.) Let them not look coldly on any institution which God had so highly blessed, and which they were, therefore, bound to love and cherish in preference to speculations of untenable improvement. It was the case with many reformers that they exaggerated the evils which they proposed to mend, and were disposed to abolish that which was, notwithstanding its defects, both useful and beautiful, without first providing something which was more useful and more beautiful, by which to replace it. Thus it was with many ecclesiastical and political reformers, who were disposed to despise existing institutions, because they were not quite perfect, and attempted to bring about a state of circumstances which never did and never could exist. There were few of us who were not liable to become dis affected towards any object which we loved, if we constantly heard it disparaged and defamed—few of us who were not sometimes tempted to drop the substance in order to catch at the shadow. (Hear.) He was induced to make these re marks because he had reason to believe that many members of the church were disaffected towards this society by the process to which he had alluded. Might God give them better judgment, and teach them to love and honour an in stitution which he had so signally blessed. (Cheers.) He trusted they would all give it their most cordial and uncom promising support, until God gave them some better instru ment for carrying on His purposes of love to this benighted world. (Cheers.) After some further remarks the noble earl concluded by calling upon the secretary to read the report. The secretary then read the report, which was of great length and of an ex ceedingly interesting character. The committee stated that during the past year a large and impor tant addition of episcopal patronage had been happily ex tended to the society. The Bishop of London having pnb licly expressed his opinion of the desirableness of connecting the Church Missionary Society more closely with the heads of the united church, and of the practicability of making an arrangement for that end which should leave the society at liberty to prosecute this work unimpeded and uninter rupted, communications on the subject took place soon after the last anniversary between the right hon. the preside n t o f the society and the Bishop of London, with the concurrence of his grace the Archbishop of Canterbury. The result of these communications was the adoption of the additional regulations. On being apprised of the adoption of these re gulations his grace accepted the office of vice-president of the society. The following prelates had also joined the society as vice-presidents, viz.:—The Archbishop of York, and the Bishops of London, Bath and Wells, Chichester, Lincoln, Peterborough, Sodor and Man, Hereford, Gloucester and Bristol, and New Zealand. With respect to missionary la bours, the report states that in Western Africa between six and seven thousand Africans, from upwards or forty tribes, regularly assembled for public worship. Of these upwards of thirteen hundred were communicants, and several thou sands of the children were brought up in the nurture and ad monition of the Lord in the society's schools. From Sierra Leone mission £B7 15s. sd. had been received, of which £43 had been contributed by liberated Africans. In advert ing to the Eastern African mission, the report stated that there was existing a desire to possess copies of the Scriptures both in the Amadhi and Ethiopic languages, and that the four Gospels and St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans had been translated in.the Galla languages. Owing to the financial embarrassments of the society, the committee had been compelled to contract the operations of the Mediterranean mission. In North India the exertions of the society's agents had been very successful, and they had been ot Tin nevelly, in South India. Their exertions in Bombay, Cey lon, Cotta, Nellore, at New Zealand, British Guiana, Tri nidad, Jamaica, and in North-west America, had also been most auspicious. As to the finances, the receipts for the past year amounted to £90,821, and the expenditure to £llO,BOB, showing an excess of expenditure over income of £19,987. It had been recommended that the expenditure of the current year should not be more than £85,000, and with this view the committee hadtaken steps for discontinuing the society's operations in Jamaica, Trinidad, and Malta. The reading of the report occupied nearly two hours. It was adopted, on the motion ot the Bishop of Ripon, se conded by the Rev. J. Cumming. CONVERSIONS IN LIVERPOOL (From the Dublin Statesman.) Our friends in Liverpool, we find, are not sleeping on their posts. Five individuals, as the report has it, renounced the errors of the Apostate Church, on Tuesday last, in St. Si mon's, Gloucester-street. and were received into our com munion, with a suitable form of recantation, by the Rev. J. B. Connor. Against the rank snd sex of these converts calumny can do but little. We know too well the character of Mr. Connor and his clerical associates in this work to douht fo r one momen t the sincere conviction and fullinfor mation of the persons whom they have admitted into our church. One of the converts was an English gentleman of respectability, according to the phrase of the world—that is, of known family and sufficient fortune ; another was one o f our___Ovn countrymen; th e rema i n d er were females. at Te s h t i r s a p n r g o e ceedi t i proceeding infatuation which shows, prevailed by aver very agreeable amongst s instance, om e of thatour divine truth, or stop o c lergy in En a e l l ti a e r a id t in favour of . exploded forms and ceremo nies of gross error . nearly popery, did not retard the progress of feared the reactionof Pu up the way altogether against the renun ciatione .honestly confess that we often Papists, who, disgusted with on the minds of inquiring Protestants, might be tempted '. t e effect tans absurdities of professed truth and liberty of conscience give up the search after Puseyisni did produce thisutterly hopeless. That know; that it was . and ap pealed to by popish priests and bishops, in order to increase pamphlets . fully and strengthen this effect, the letters passing away, and the 11 is s ome little degree. To de monstrate. But the infatuation ranks of error are diminishing nothing more than the faithful overturn a n popery altogethersimultaneous e w x e h r ib e q i n tuio i re of true piety, practical this ag e s c country. t o r are o anything think that the la as well as theoretic, by our ministerns 'While this affair informs us that our clergymen in England negligentlrish itin ministers e e r n s c i o n ur unsuccessful amongst the Roman Catholic!.but ofl a m re ur n s ot converts admitted. into our body on Tuesday n l e , of the five Irishman, be it observed. We know well the tyranny was an sedition here —its power to prevent any outward a n n Y d of P e i: - declaration in favour of truth.. .Hence a number eblic who are enlightened and conscientiously separated from thosetii Church of Rome are compelled by domestic persecutions toe remove to another country, to enjoy in open liberty th e blessings of protestantism. It is painful to think that in this way our ministers should not be permitted to see the fruit of their labours; but it must be to them most consolatory to know that their labours are by no means. TO CORRESPONDENTS A correspondent—who seems, by-the-bye, to have designed his communication for the Albion—informs us that the name of her Majesty, " Alexandrina Victoria," may be anagrammatized as follows, viz. :—" I ran ,to a radical vixen." Not very complimentary this to her Majesty, and scarcely reconcilable with the anagram which may he made from the name Victoria alone, which has been ren dered Chi Orla—born for the citizen. An " English Sailor's" observations ought to have been sent some weeks since. The poetry of " J. C." does not possess sufficient merit for insertion in the columns of the STANDARD. " Mesmer" will perceive that we have altered the signature of his letter. We have done so in order to say that we shall be glad to hear from him again. The promised letter of the gentleman who has recently adopted the signature of " Pensatore" is anxiously looked for, and we have no doubt, from our experience of his communications, that it will be well worthy of perusal, especially on such a subject, and in reply to such a writer as those alluded to. " MR. POPJOY'S LIFE IN LIVERPOOL. "— We are happy to announce to our readers, that this distinguished stranger is about to furnish us with a series of sketches under the above title, in which he purposes expressing, unreservedly, his opinion of men and manners in Liverpool. EIR Etinrpoal &tanbarb. FRIDAY MORNING, MAY 6, 1842 The Manchester Guardian of Wednesday, in noticing the proposed motion of Dr. Bowring for a repeal of the duty on cotton, expresses a hope " that the extra ordinary and most unaccountable apathy, which has recently been displayed upon this subject, in Manches ter and its neighbourhood, will at length be laid aside ;" and adds, " if the present most promising opportunity of getting rid of this most impolitic and obnoxious tax be now lost, the trade will probably be burdened with the impost for many years to come." We are sincerely glad to see the Manchester Guardian taking up, in earnest, the advocacy of a repeal of this most " impolitic and obnoxious tax," against which we have frequently protested, whilst our contemporary was immersed in the "extraordinary and most unac countable apathy" respecting it, which he now bewails. We must confess, however, our serious fears, that, by the very apathy in question in time past, and not by the omission of any " present opportunity" of agitating for its repeal, we shall, in all likelihood, be condemned to endure it awhile longer; for whilst the manufactu ring interest and their organs have been busily en gaged in the task of rendering office to the Whig-radi cal party a bed of roses, and, more recently, whilst di recting their energies exclusively to the repeal of the corn laws, the produce of the duty on cotton has in creased so as to form a very important item in the re venue. In 1840—we have not a later return at hand— its amount had reached £648,935; and we have little expectation, however impolitic in our opinion it may be to tax a raw material of this description, that go vernment will be induced, at such a time as the pre sent, to strike this large sum from the national in come, when the demand for its remission has never been earnestly put forward by the class which its pres sure most affects. We are quite prepared, however, to second, by all the assistance in our power, any effort which may be made by the manufacturing interest to procure a relief which must be so beneficial to our native industry. But we almost incline to the opinion, which has been expressed by some authorities well entitled to be heard upon the subject, that a total repeal is not to be de sired unless we can, by some regulations, preserve the machinery, which the existence of a duty affords, for ascertaining accurately the amount of our imports of the article. Upon this subject Mr. JOHN BURN, the author of "The Commercial Glance," expressed himself so long ago as in 1837, in a letter to the Man chester Chamber of Commerce, in the following terms : " The duty Lupon cotton] is four -pence per cwt. upon the produce of British Colonies, and two shillings and eleven pence upon all others. lam inclined to think that it would be injurious to take off the whole duty. The four-pence per cwt. could not have been imposed for the purpose of bene fitting the revenue, but merely to enable government to as certain the quantity imported from our colonies; and I am of opinion, that without such a knowledge of the quantity imported, the trade would be subject to greater fluctuations, arising from speculations on the quantities imported and stock in hand. it would, therefore, be worth while to con sider whether a duty sufficient to pay expenses would not be more for the interest of the trade than an entire repeal." With respect to no other branch of our manufactures do we possess such accurate statistical i.lata as the cot ton manufacture; and we repeat, that unless we could by other means preserve this accuracy, however much we dislike the continuance of unproductive duties upon any article, we should prefer a nominal duty upon cot ton to an entire repeal, with the uncertainty as to im ports and stock on hand and the consequent gambling in the article by which it must be accompanied. Sir George Stephen —a gentleman well known to that unfortunate class of our fellow-subjects who con stitute the West India body, if not to the world at large —has just published, in the columns of the London Times, his views as to the measures to be adopted in the present disastrous state of West Indian affairs. Well would it have been for the people of Great Bri tain ; well would it have been for our colonial interests ; well would it have been for the cause of freedom and for the permanent happiness of the African race—the especial objects of the philanthropy of gentlemen of his class—if the crude theories of Sir George Stephen and his fellows had on all past occasions been treated as our metropolitan contemporary has treated the pro position before us, by subjecting it to charge as an or dinary advertisement ! Traders in pseudo philanthro pic projects, to be carried out at other people's expense, had they been thus taxed, might possibly have been more careful than they have hitherto been with respect to the ultimate tendency of the pet projects which they have submitted to the world. The object of Sir George Stephen, in the communi cation at present under our notice, is to suggest a scheme for the immigration of labourers into our West Indian possessions, " for the consideration of the West Indians, on the one hand, and of the anti-slavery body on the other—a scheme which seems to promise fa vourably for the views of both parties."' 'We will not pause to ask what right the self-styled " anti-slavery body" have to obtrude themselves into the dictation, or direction even, of the means by which immigration is to be promoted into any free Britislecolony. Our intention is, at present, merely to lay before our read ers the nature of the scheme in question, and the ad missions by which, on the part of this anti-slavery leader, it is accompanied ; and we do not conceal the fact that the important nature of the latter is our prin cipal incentive to enter upon the task which we have. undertaken. And first then, with respect to the scheme itself, Sir George Stephen thus explains the motives to subserve which it is intended : "'lt is well understood that at the present moment the po sition of the West Indian colonies is most critical from the high price of negro labour; it is equally notorious that the anti-slavery party is intent upon the discovery of some prin ciple for the civilization of Africa of a less hazardous cha racter that that of which we are now lamenting the failure and its fatal consequences." To promote the objects of both, he continues : " I propose the encouragement of emigration from Africa to our colonies, subject to the following invariable condition : —that at the expiration of a limited term!the emigrants shall be conveyed back to their native country ; this must be ob ligatory both on them and on their employers, precisely in the same way as the Lascars were formerly sent back to In dia after navigating our homeward -bound Indiamen. I ioa nthoecopteondt thata. that I will t. " Whether the term of their col on i al residence be limited. a t o t p th re r s e e e n y t e d a i r s s e , u o s r s e ; x a t e l i n f d e e r d w t i o l icfihv s a n point one hand their absence from Africa must not be prolonged. till they have forgotten their native languag e andcounexions and on the other hand, that it must be 'sufficiently extended to enable them to acquire a knowledge of the arts, and a taste for the comforts, which they will find in civilized society. " I propose thus to maintain a constant flow of African. labour into our colonies, and an under-current of West In dian civilization into Africa ; for it is obvious that every re turning emigrant will carry back with him a report of wealth, of luxury,.and of freedom, that will stimulate h is neighbours either to the same emigratory adventure, or to pi•actise the same arts in their native country. When they learn that it is by the cultivation of their indigenous productions that such. enjoyments are acquired—when the uncivilized black man, naked, starved, and enslaved, is told by his own countrymen that across the water every black i • dressed, housed, and fed. better than a native chief, he will not be slow in inquiring. the cause, or in aspiring to the same improvement of his condition." There is certainly little in this proposition, so far, to• except against, unless it be that the "obligatory" part of the arrangement smacks somewhat more of slavery than we should have expected from this quondam anti- slavery oracle; that in practice it would be somewhat difficult an welt as oppressive to carry out, and es• pecially so towards the labourer himself. The diffi culty or the oppression in question, however, Sir George cannot perceive. "If I offer a benefit to a man," he argues, " I am entitled to make my own terms, so far as those terms involve no breach of law or morality ; and unquestionably it is a benefit to a barbarian to put him in the way of civilization." Why so might the slave trader say ; and herein lies the inconvenience of pursuing two different ends, (compatible enough, ultimately, and certain to follow each other,) at one and the same time, and by one and the same means. Provide for the oppressed African a free resort to the market for labour and the means of civilization in the West Indies, and the civilization of Africa, and the suppression of slavery, will follow in due time. But do not attempt to make the instrumentality in working out the latter compulsory upon the enjoyment of the former, or the realization of both must fail, and ought to fail, notwithstanding the wire-drawn arguments of the writer in defence of the virtual slavery which he offers, when he puts forth the following—for an anti-slavery advocate—startling doctrines : " If I limit his " (the barbarian's) " enjoyment of these advantages even to five years of his existence, I do much for him ; but if I restrict him no further than to say, that at the end of five years he shall return as a messenger of glad tidings to his countrymen, with liberty, after twelve months' absence on this patriotic mission, to re-emigrate to the colo nies, and establish himself there for life, surely there is nei• ther cruelty nor even hardship in the stipulation. Of the legality of such compulsion there can be no doubt ; for every country asserts and exercises the power of removing aliens from its soil at pleasure." But, with respect to the more difficult part of the project—the procuring of the emigrants required—let us see what is Sir George's plan ! In the first place he says—" Let every cargo of slaves emancipated by a Mixed Commission Court be offered the choice of mi gration, or of discharge at Sierra Leone." Upon this point we have again and again expressed our opinion, and are convinced that, even without the choice of being landed at Sierra Leone, such rescued slaves, upon Sir George's own showing—" If I offer benefit to a man I am entitled to make my own terms" —might, without the charge of injustice, be landed, at once, in one of our West Indian colonies. The second method proposed is to give the rights of a British sub ject (with, however, the obligation of returning to Africa) to every negro who shall set his foot within sight of the British flag. We must confess that we do not see much in this which is calculated to advance the object in view, and are scarcely satisfied as to its pro priety, especially when we remark how coolly Sir George Stephen talks of going to war to "assert the protection of our flag" in behalf of every runaway or captured African who may choose to claim right to it. The obligation of "a British subject" to return to Africa is pure fudge. The following from a pseudo humanity-monger is especially excellent :-- " I cannot but be aware of the thousand and one objections that are likely to be made by well-meaning but weak people, on the ground of undue influence over uneducated minds; I acknowledge that in this respect such objections seem to have reason on their side; the emigrants cannot know the full force and extent of their contract, for they know nothing of West Indian labour ; but I am not so squeamishly sentimental upon the subject of liberty as to enter into the force of this objection. In every contract that is made between man and man, one will, if possible, take advantage of another ; and the negro would be in no worse condition than the sailor just paid off from his ship." Nobody certainly ever thought that such people were " squeamishly " sensitive " upon the subject of liber ty,' however "sentimental " they may have been ! We must conclude this article, already, perhaps, too long, by recommending to some of the bigotted organs of the anti-slavery party (our own Mercury and Times included) the following admissions from one whose opinions they, at least, ought to respect : " I am convinced that the measure of emancipation not only extinguished, or ought to have extinguished, all previous hostility between these two influential bodies, but created a community of interest between them ; and if my anti-slavery friends now desire to put an end to French, Brazilian, and American slavery, they cannot pursue a wiser course than to render the sugar of free labour cheaper than the sugar of slavery. This cannot be done so long as the emancipated slaves of our colonies enjoy a monopoly of the labour market." Our anti-slavery organs seem of opinion that the en couragement of "the sugar of slavery" would be the wiser course ! Again, to those who oppose, as a vir tual reintroduction of slavery, every attempt to pro mote immigration into our tropical colonies, we would offer, as we have before, in substance, offered, the ad mirable reasoning made use of in the letter before " We know that the emigration of the negro will be from slavery in Africa to freedom in Jamaica; from starvation in Africa to plenty in Jamaica ; from ignorance in Africa to intelligence in Jamaica; and, above all,from the darkness of Paganism to the light of the Gospel. When the question of emancipation from our colonial slavery , was agitated, the argument upon which I always insisted in favour of our anti slavery right to interfere between the slave and his owner, was that the slave, ex necessitate status, was incapable in law to speak or act for himself; on the same principle, I contend that, while we are bound to give the uninformed African every possible opportunity and means of informing his own judgment upon the choice held out to him, still we are justi fied, and even bound, to exercise a tutorial care of him, in guiding his judgment to an election really conducive to his best interest. Upon the whole there is much that is impracticable, and much, too, that is even oppressive, in this project of Sir George Stephen. It is, however, highly worthy of notice, as being, at least, a step in the right direc tion, made by the hitherto most bigotted opponents of justice to the West India proprietor. The necessity of immigration is here acknowledged ; the advantage to the African of a measure to facilitate the transfer of his labour to the market of our colonies is also ac knowledged; and although a disposition still exists on the part of the anti-slavery people to meddle in the ar rangement of the machinery of such a measure, there can now remain, we submit, little difficulty on the part of the colonial office, mere theoretical objections being withdrawn, to legislate practically upon the subject. The smallest animal, the most diminutive insect even—a gnat or a bug—is not without its uses in creation; a blister and a drench have each their bene ficial effects upon the human frame ; and those bipeds of similar class, who alternately titillate and blister, nauseate and excite the council, are, as the report in our cofumns this day will bear witness, effecting, indi rectly, a far greater good than by their utmost direct efforts they would be able to accomplish. To the fac tious obstruction offered to every Conservative mea sure, by the frenzied minority in our local legislature, we owe, if not the firm and decided maintenance of principle by the Conservative majority, at least the opportunity thus, from time to time, presented of vindi cating the conduct of that body from the aspersions with which malevolent slanderers would otherwise be enabled to fill the public ear. In returning our thanks, therefore, to the Conservatives of the council for the noble stand which they are making upon the educa tion question and other important subjects, we cannot pass over the opportunity of recording our mite of ap probation to the Earle's and Bolton's of the council — nay, we will even include that very small being Mr. R. V. Yates—for their exertions in procuring, for us and the public, the gratifying information that all is sound and staunch and true in the condition of our friends, if even we cannot thank them for having contributed to the production of that condition. The very soreness and frenzy exhibited by the ob structives, whenever such questions as that of educa tion in the Corporation Schools come before them—the contortions of an Earle, the puritanical pleadings of a Yates, the vul gar i ns olence of a B olton—are satisfac tory assurance to the public that the course pursued with respect to them is the proper and constitutional course. When we hear a howl of radical spleen we know that Conservatism has trod upon some Radical grubber of abandoned bones-;--that some hungry maw has been driven from its feast of corruption—that some jobber has been choked off a contemplated inroad upon the public pocket. When the Hedge sparrows and Bats of Radicalism chirp in agitated concert with the owls and larger birds of the order, we know that a Conservative broom is sweeping the crumbs, as well as the feast, out of their reach. When a voice, between a snuffle and a whine, reaches us from the shady recesses of the Dingle, we know that some keyhole c onsp i racy has been b a ffled. When the sma ll battery of the cynic philosopher of Abercromby square is levelled in defence of the prescriptive right of Popery to ban and anathematize, we know that the ruling body in the council is manfully standing by the religious principles of the majority of the commu nity. We see and hear all these signs in the debate of Wednesday, and we therefore once more congratulate our Conservative friends that their local representatives are doing their duty. The public have a right, too, to thank the minority of the council for amusement as well as instruction. It is amusing to see an insolent slanderer made to eat his words, and taught that the manners and the lan guage of a taproom are not such as can be tolerated in a legislative assembly ; and for this gratifying sight we ought to record our especial thanks to Mr. Thomas Bolton. It is amusing and instructive as well, to contrast the manners of Conservative gentlemen, re turned by the sound majority of the constituency, with those of the rump of Radicalism, stolen or pitchforked amongst that body, and waiting to be pitchforked out at the next annual cleansing ; and for this we have to thank the great, or rather the small bulk of the Radical minority, for whose various vulgarities upon this occa sion we must refer our readers to the full report in our columns LOCAL. NEWS We perceive from a Glasgow paper that the Rev. Hugh Crichton of the Scotch Secession Church, Mount-pleasant, in this town, has had the degree of D.D. conferred upon him by the University of Glasgow. THE NIGER EXPEDITION. - A letter has been received in this town, dated Ascension, March 9, from which we take the following extract :—The Albert left the Fernando Po on the 18th of December. We called at Prince's, St. Thomas's, and Anabona, and arrived here on the 28th of January. Dr. V6gel, the botanist, died at Fernando Po on the 17th of De cember. lam going in the Wilberforce to Fernando Po to join the Soudan, and go up the river again. We will sail to morrow. I believe the Albert is coming home. THEFT FROM A Sitor.—Two girls, Jane Jones and Jane Roberts, were yesterday charged at the police-court with stealing a pair of stays. About nine o'clock, the prisoners went into the shop of Mr. Hayes, Park-lane, and looked at some stays, which they said would not suit them. On their going out the person in attendance observed that Roberts looked rather bulky, and, on detaining her, he found the stays in her apron. They were worth 3s. 6d. Both pri soners were committed for trial at the sessions. TESTIMONIAL OF ESTEEM.—On Saturday last, a party of gentlemen sat down to an excellent dinner at the Monk's Ferry Hotel, when a piece of plate, as a token of esteem, was presented to John Dixon, Esq., civil engineer, who has just left the situation on the Chester and Birkenhead Rail way, which he has filled with great satisfaction since its opening. The plate consists of an octagon-shaped tea-kettle, engraved in compartments, in the style of the time of Queen Elizabeth, supported on a richly-pierced piedal stand, in the centre of which is a lamp for burning spirit of wine. On one side is the following inscription :—" This well-merited tribute of respect, presented to John Dixon, Esq., civil engineer, by the contractors, officers, and servants generally, of the Chester and Birkenhead Railway, as an humble token of their regard for him as a master and admiration as a man. April 30th, 1842." And in a shield on the obverse side are engraved the arms of Mr. Dixon. FRENCH LANGUAGE AND THE HARP.—There never was a period when elegant acquirements were more valued, and, we may add, valuable, than at the present day. On exten sive information and high accomplishment may be said to depend success in life ; for whether a person be rich in the gifts of fortune or otherwise, his or her position in society must depend mainly on those qualities which the world has been taught so highly to value. This direction of the general taste into the right channel is becoming every day more and more determinate, and hence high cultivation is becoming still more essential. Amongst the accomplishments which are at once useful and ornamental, are those indicated at the head of this paragraph, the language of France being abso lutely necessary, while a knowledge of the harp may be looked upon as one of the most elegant acquirements of which a lady can become possessed. It is no disparagement to the piano to say, that it is the more general instrument, but, for that very reason, to play well on the harp is the greater dis tinction. In connexion with a subject of so much interest to those classes to whom high accomplishments are absolute necessaries we have great pleasure in mentioning the name of Professor Barre De Ballicourt, who teaches the harp on the method adopted by the celebrated Bochsa. Mr. De Ballicourt's capability as an instructor in French is highly spoken of. Mn. POPJOY ON MANNERS !—We are requested by Mr. Popjoy to notice the indecent practice, so common amongst our juvenile dandies, of sticking their hands, whilst prome nading Lord-street and Bold-street, into the back pockets of their coats, and protruding in the face of modest people that unsightly portion of the body which all civilized nations have concurred, in devising fashions, to conceal. The laps of a modern coat were meant to hang down, not to be drawn aside, as if for the express purpose of showing how like a human being can make himself to a barn door fowl in moult ing time, or a pigeon which has lost its tail in a trap. Insert your hands, young gentlemen, in your waistcoat pockets, or breeches pockets, if you like; but do permit Or skirts of your coats to serve the purposes for which they vised, viz., to cover that part of the body which, although " the seat of honour," is not, certainly, a spectacle of grace and beauty ! CHARLESTON LAW AED BRITISH LAW.•—Several sea men of the British ship Ann Hall, who were committed to prison at Charleston, in February last, at the instance of the British consul, for having seized and confined the master with hand-cuffs and a strait jacket, under pretence that he was intoxicated or insane, were recently brought before the Hon. Jacob Axson, Recorder of Charleston, on a writ of habeas corpus to obtain their discharge. His Honour de livered his opinion, discharging the prisoners, on the ground that in the absence of any treaty stipulation to that effect be tween this country and Great Britain, there was no autho rity to arrest or retain them as fugitives from justice. If such is Charleston law, it is very much like British law, as exemplified in the case of the slaves of the Creole. If Ame rican courts have no right to detain British subjects for crimes committed on board of British vessels, then by parity of reasoning, British courts have no right to detain Ameri can subjects for crimes committed on board American ves sels.—New York Journal of Commerce, April 11. FRIGHTFUL ACCIDENT ON THE CHESTER AND BIRKEN HEAD RAILWAY.—On Tuesday evening on one of the last trains quitting Chester, the number of inside places was found too few to accommodate all the persons applying for tickets on the line. Several, in consequence, mounted to the top. The train proceeded, and all went on safely till within a short distance of Sutton, when one of the most tragical events occurred which we have had to record in connexion with railroad travelling. On the outside of one of the car riages was a party of young men, one of whom, in some man ner elevated himself so that his head came in contact with one of the bridges, before he could perceive the danger; and in an instant his skull was dashed to pieces, and his blood was spattered on his fellow-passengers. He was killed on the spot. An inquest was held on view of the body yester day, before Mr. Churton, the coroner for South Cheshire, when the following rather extraordinary verdict was returned : " Died from accident, but of what nature there was no evi dence to show." We certainly anticipated a heavy deodand on the carriage from what we have heard of the circumstances. Several persons were present at the inquiry who witnessed the accident, but for some reason they were not called. The deceased was a solicitor of the name of Thistleton, in prac tice in this town, and was, we are credibly informed, per fectly sober all the time. ANOTHER DISCOVERY BY THE " LIVERPOOL TIMES." — The stream of inane twaddle which ordinarily dribbles from the pen of our enlightened contemporary, the Liverpool Times, has this week been obstructed by the fume into which our remarks of Friday appear to have thrown him, or by the cruel necessity of displaying to his readers that he is able to retort upon an opponent without the necessity of resorting to the kennel for his weapons. Whatever be the cause, however, the effect has been most singular. Having no leisure to be stow upon any sublunary affairs besides our unworthy selves and his own unhappy temper, he has been compelled to draw upon imagination for matter to dole out to the numerous ad mirers of his profundity ; and, amongst other marvellous dis coveries, has produced the following, which will be news to those mere terrestrial beings who have not the sublimated perceptions enjoyed by the inhabitants of the seventh heaven, amongst whom our contemporary has evidently been sojourn ing. Under the heading of " The income Tax," the Times remarks :—" This delightful measure progresses (as the Americans say), if not very fast. at least quite fast enough. All its most grinding clauses have .been agreed to, with the single exception of that which compelled a man engaged iu two businesses, one profitable and the other losing, to pay on the profits of the one, without any allowance for the losses of the other. With much difficulty ministers - have been in duced to give up this point, and to allow persons so situated to pay on the average gains (if there are any) of the two bu sinesses. Several other proposed amendments, and amongst them one moved by Mr. Roebuck, for the purpose of making the per centage paid by persons in trade lighter than that paid by owners of realized property, have been rejected by large majorities."—The whole of this statement, with the excep tion of the last paragraph, at the time when it was penned was sheer imagination. The " delightful measure" in ques tion had not progressed fast, and did not begin to progress fast until Monday night, too late for the Times, with all his peculiar sources of information, to be aware of the fact. The " grinding clause," which " compelled a man engaged in two businesses, one profitable and the other losing, to pay on the profits of the one, without any allowance for the losses of the other," had not " with much difficulty been given up" by the ministry ; and that simply because no such clause ever existed in the bill. It was never proposed by this measure that persons having more than one business or pro fession should pay upon more than their " average gains ;" and hence the injustice of the requirement, upon which we remarked last week, that a man having a business which would come under Schedule D, and properly under any other schedules, is not allowed to set his gains from one against his losses in the other. With respect to this, which is doubt less the point at which our sublimated contemporary was aiming, it will be seen, by the debate on Monday, that, in reply to a question from 111 r. B. Wood, by whom it was first brought before the especial notice of the house, Sir Robert Peel intimated, that although he had, according to his pro mise, " taken the subject into consideration, he was bound to say that he did not think that he could accede to the pro position of the honourable member." So much for the pro fundity anti accuracy of the Liverpool Times! TILE EGREMONT STEAM-FACKET COMPANY.-1R the Vice-Chancellor's Court a motion was made on Tuesday on behalf of Laycock and others, iron merchants of this town, to dissolve an injunction which had been issued against them last January, (on the motion of Mr. Vincent, an attorney in London,) restraining them from contracting any debts or liabilities, or entering into any engagements in the name or on account of the Egretnont Steam-packet Company. The material circumstances detailed in the case were given fully in the evidence in a recent trial at the last assizes in this town, brought by Messrs. Page and Grantham against Mr. Vincent. The bill in Chancery, filed by Mr. Vincent, prayed for the injunction above stated, and also for the dissolution of the company and the winding up of its affairs in the usual manner. After hearing counsel, his honour said, it was plain, upon the face of the affidavit upon which the injunc tion had been granted, that pains had been taken to show as stinted a knowledge as possible of the affairs of the company. It was important that parties applying for an injunction should state all the circumstances within their knowledge, in order that the court might have an opportunity of judging whether the injunction should he granted ex parte or on notice. In this case he thought the plaintiff should have stated two notices which he had received in July and Octo ber, 1841, which were set forth in the answer of the defend ants, but of which not one word appeared in the plaintiff's affidavit; and it would have been but fair to the defendants that those notices should have been stated ; for if they had been stated, his honour would not have granted the injunc tion ex parte. It appear ed to him esse ntial to the cause of justice, and especially to that delicate species of j us ti ce w hi c h related to the granting of injunctions, that the case should be fully stated to the co urt. In the present instance this had not been done, and be was bound by that ru l e , b y w hi c h h e had, ever since he had administered this branch of the juris diction of the court, acted, and by which he should always act,—he was bound, he repeated, to say that the injunction must be dissolved with costs. FORGED WILLS.-011 Tuesday Mr. Rushton was occu pied, in the Police Court, with hearing some further evidence as to the forged wills of John Kenney and Robert Wilson, both mariners; but the prisoners in both cases were remanded. COTTON.—A large import of this staple commodity is ex pected to arrive this month. We perceive, from our usual circular, that not less than twenty vessels arrived with this article yesterday. WASHINGTON IRVING.—This gentleman was one of the passengers by the Independence, from New York to this port, which arrived here on Tuesday morning, but he land ed at Waterford and proceeded to Bristol by steam, and from thence.to London, and has thus frustrated the inten tions of his fliends and admirers as to the honours intended to be shown him in this town. A PASSENGER DROWNED AT SEA.—We are requested to state, that George B. Bedford, supposed to belong to sane part of the South of England, was a passenger in the ship Susquehanna, on her recent voyage from Philadelphia to Li verpool, and that when she was about ten days out he fell overboard and was drowned. STEALING FROM A CART.—A man named Thomas Wil liams was yesterday charged, before Mr. Rushton, with hav ing stolen a loaf of sugar, the property of Richard Taylor and Sons, from a cart containing a quantity of the article, as it was passing along York-street. He made off with it, but was overtaken in Pitt-street, and given into custody. The prisoner said he had only taken it as a lark. He was commit. ted for trial. ST. SAVIOUR'S CHURCH.—We understand that, in the course of next month, trbazaar will be held for the purpose of obtaining funds towards liquidating the debt on St. Saviour's Church ; and that the Town Council have granted the use of the Exhibition-rooms for that purpose. CAUTION.—HAWKING ARTICLES OF BASE COIN METAL FOR COIN.—At the Police-court yesterday, a young man was charged with selling to a gentleman a small chain and a seal attached, for gold, and for which he received 10s. Tl•cy afterwards turned out to be merely brass. The prisoner d no hawker's license, and was committed to prison fot month as an unlicensed pedlar. SHORT WEIGHTS.—CAUTION TO BUTCHERS, PROVIS ON DEALERS AND OTHERS.—Yesterday, about thirty butch ers, provision dealers, and others, were brought by summons before John Shaw Leigh, Esq., the Mayor, in the Sessions house, to answer charges preferred against them respectively by Mr. Atkinson, inspector of weights and measures, for having defective scales, or short weights, in their places of business. They were all fined in various penalties of ls., ls. 6d., 25., 55., and 205., together with costs, and the Mayor, in imposing them, strongly reprehended the practice, by which the poor especially were defrauded to a great ex tent ; and he cautioned them to adopt a different course of dealing for the future, intimating that their conduct would be strictly watched by the proper officers. Several of them pleaded various excuses, some alleging that they had never used the short weights seized on their premises • others that the defectiye state of their scales was counterbalanced by penny pieces, bits of iron, &c., invariably put into the light scale ; others, that they were ltogether ignorant of the defi ciency, and so forth, but his worship over ruled the defences set up in every instance, proportioning the fines, -as far as possible, to the several g rades of offence. We had prepared a list of the offenders , but forbear publishing it, in hopes that the present exposure will put a stop to such a fraudu lent practice. ST. MARTIN'S CHURCH.—We understand that a proposi tion will be submitted to the Town Council to-morrow, by the Church Expenditure Committee, for a reduction in the rents of the pews of St. Martin's Church.—[Alluding to this proposition, Popjoy says that the definition of Puseyism in Liverpool is, high church and low rents.] We beg to call the attention of our readers to an adver tisement in our columns of this day, announcing the time of the anniversary sermons and meetings of the Church Missionary Society in Liverpool. We understand that ener getic exertions have been lately made elsewhere to make up the deficiency in the society's funds—a deficiency in a great measure caused by the annually increasing extent of the so ciety missions—and we trust this town will not be backward in this good work, and that the approaching anniversary will bear testimony to the growing liberality of Liverpool towards this invaluable society. EXTRAORDINARY ESCAPE OF A CRIED•--On Monday morning last, a son of police-officer Moran (who attends daily on the magistrates at the Police-court), of a little more than three years old, was left by himself for a short time in a room on the second floor of his father's house, in Richardson's buildings, Park-lane ; and seeing some children playing in the street, he by some means got up to the window, probably on to a table, and overbalancing himself, fell down upon the flags in the street below. A crowd immediately gathered, thinking be could not long survive the shock, the height being 14 or 15 feet. Strange to say, however, not even a scratch or a bruise was to be found upon him, and he has since been in his usual health, and has attended school as usual ! The ship Shannon, Capt. Harrison, from Mobile, arrived here late last night,.and from one of the passengers we have learned that she spoke the following vessels : April 23. British Queeii,, from Liverpool to Miramachi, in lat. 41 10 N., long. 49 20 W. 26. Caledonia steamer, from Liverpool to Halifax and Boston, in lat. 44 59, long. 33 45. 28. Witton Castle, from London to Prince Edward's Island, in lat. 46 35 long. 27 30. _ , _ _ May 1. Glengarry, from Savannah to Liverpool, in lat. 49 32, long. 18 25. 2. Elizabeth, from Charleston to Liverpool, in lat. 50, long. 15. - 5. Acadia, at 5 a.m., off Bardsey. DEATH FROM APOPLEXY ON BOARD A STEAM PACKET. An inquest was yesterday held before Mr. Curry, the borough coroner, on view of the body of William Fisher, who was by trade a rigger. The deceased had been to Bel fast, which he left on Tuesday afternoon, coming as a pas senger by the .Falcon steamer. On the arrival of the vessel at this port on Wednesday morning, at two o'clock, he was found lying dead on a coal bunker on board. A post mortem examination of the body was made, and the surgeon ga* it as his opinion that he had died from sanguinous apoplexy. There were no marks of violence, and the jury returned a verdict to the effect that the deceased died from natural causes—namely apoplexy. A CHILD OVERLAIN.—An inquest was held yesterday, before Mr. Curry, touching the death of Martha Ann M. Mitchell, an infant. The deceased had been taken to bed with her parents, who live in Virgil-street, and on Wednes day morning was found dead in bed, having, it appeared, been overlain. The jury returned a verdict of " Accidental death." DEATH BY DROWNlNG.—Yesterday an inquest was held before Mr. Curry, hovough coroner, on view of the body of James Sherratt. The deceased, who was 37 years of age, was returning home on Tuesday night from the races, at Chester, and took passage across the Mersey by the Ellen borough Woodside steam-boat. On the arrival of the packet at George's Pier, about ten o'clock, while he was stepping on shore, being a little intoxicated, he fell into the water. A boat-hook was immediately handed to him, but he could not avail himself of it, and sunk almost instantly. The body was got out in a few minutes, and conveyed to the receiving house, where the usual means were resorted to to restore animation, but without avail. The jury returned a verdict of " Accidental death." The deceased was the son of Mrs. Etty Taylor, of St. John's Market, by her first husband. Mn. WEISS' CONCERT.—Mr. Weiss' Concert took place last evening at Lasselle's Room, at which we had an oppor tunity of hearing Mr. Willoughby Weiss, the new Basso, who made his first appearance before his townsmen. We_ had heard the most flattering opinions of this gentleman's powers, and we may say that, instead of being disappointed, our expectations have been more than realized. Mr. Weiss studied for a short time under Sir George Smart; he then placed himself under Mr. Balfe, with whom he has been for the last six months in Paris. We quoted the opinions of the Paris papers on the debutant's singing ; and, when now we give our own, we may safely say that our town may be; proud of the young artist. His voice is really a true bass— in compass it exceeds two octaves—his intonation isperfect— his execution brilliant, if we may use the tetra, in the management of any voice so ponderous. •His power is ex traordinary, while his tones are full, sonorous, andlllear ; in fact, the musical world have received a great, a very great ac quisition, and if he has health, and strength, and perseveres, we may at some day not far distant name him as the first bass singer that England has produced for years. Mr. Weiss is but 22 years old. We have scarcely met with so much promise of excellence with such a chance of fulfilment. Mr. Balfe may pride himself upon his pupil. In the first part of the concert Mr. Balfe and Mr. Weiss sang Balfe's duet from Falstaff, which has been so much extolled in London and Paris. It was encored enthusiastically. " Bello Ardir," sang also by Mr. Weiss, gave great delight ; as did the air from the Stabat Mater ;"—this was loudly encored. Madame Balfe sang a fine aria of her husband's "La Speranga." Mr. Balfe gave from M.S. a new ballad, but we cannot say much of its merits.—lt was encored. The composer sang a very graceful ballad, entitled " The Blighted Flower "—this was encored. Mr. Dodd sang Lee's ballad of " Woman Love ye Best "—it was honoured with an encore. Mrs. and Miss St. Albin played a de lightful duett of Czerney's on two piano-fortes. This ap peared to give great satisfaction. Mrs. St. Albin played afterwards the air from " Giovanni " (arranged by Thal berg) with her usual grace, execution, and skill. We hear too little of this' admirable pianist. Altogether we may pronounce this concert to have been a most excellent one, and every one present seemed to be delighted. The room was comfortably full. We noticed that members of all the leading families in the town were present, and appeared to take much pleasure in Mr. Weiss's success. Mr. Weiss appears next in . Dublin with Miss Adelaide Kemble and party. Mr. 1. N. Wigney's library was sold on Wednesday in 1 lots, and fetched the enormous sum of £5 10s. We under stand Mr. Wigney said, " he did not spend his money of such trash as books."—Brighton Gazette. PAISLEY RACES.—The Paisley race committee have an nounced, that, in consequence of the great commercial and manufacturing distress now felt, there will be no meeting this year in Paisley. PAISLEY. — Messrs. Hastie, Oswald, and Johnston, mem bers of parliament, have remitted to the provost of Paisley £l,OOB ss. 4d. which they received from gentlemen in Cal cutta, Madras, and Bombay, in aid of the fund for the relief of the distressed operatives of Paisley. The Earl of Wicklow will be honoured with the riband of the order of St. Patrick, vacant by the death of Lord Shan non. The Earl of Bandon will succeed Lord Shannon as lord lieutenant of the county of Cork. A respite has been received by the Governor of Chester Castle, from the Home Secretary, deferring the execution of Robert Sandys, who was left for execution for having poisoned his child at Stockport, during her Majesty's pleasure. THE LAW OF COPYRIGHT.—A HINT FOR LORD MAHON. —The New York papers contain an advertisement, intimat ing that, on April the sth, " an extra quadruple Brother Jonathan" (which, for the information of the world, is a Yan kee newspaper somewhat larger than the double Herald) " will be published at the price of 23 cents. (ls.), for the pur pose of giving in a complete form the whole of Sir E. L. Bul wer's last new novel, Zanoni.' " The American public are informed that " this will also be a rare opportunity for per sons wishing to forward their country friends the latest and most popular novel of the day, as the postage can be only from 3to 4 cents to any part of the union. ' So here is Bulwer's last new work selling in England for Ll lb. 6d., and pub lished in New York at Is. ! BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY.—On Wednes day the annual meeting of this society took place at Exeter hall, Lord Bexley in the chair; and amongst those present were the Earl of Harrowby, the Marquis of Cholmondeley, the Earl of Chichester, Lord Glenelg, Lord Sandon , Lord Teignmouth, the Bishops of Chester, Chichester, Peter borough, Winchester, and Norwich, Sir T. D. Acland, the Dean of Salisbury, Sz.e. The noble Chairman having briefly addressed the meeting, called upon the secretary to read the report of the proceedings of the last year, from which it appeared that the total amount received during the year, applicable to the general objects of the society, including subscriptions, dona tions, legacies, dividends on stock, a nd contribution s o f auxiliary societies, w as £44,045 lls. 5d., which compared with the receipts of the former year, shows an i ncrease of £1,300 17s. Th e amount received fromthet il e s t a o l et oftotal amountßibles a nd Testaments was £ 50,204 14s. 10 d., and from all sources z£95,095 4s. Bd. The number of copies issued by the society from the same depository 'B4 r44 s was .) a and from the depOts abroad 231,007. Total ' during' 815 551 and the total issues the year, , , number of copies issued since the commencement of the society 14,038,934. amounts to TOWN COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS. The periodical meeting of the Wednesday, in the Town-hall. Town Council was held ort The MAYOR presided. FINANCE COMMITTEE Mr. RADCLIFFE, jun. read the proceedings of this com mittee. It appeared that there had been a further payment by the corp Oration on account of the purchase of the Birk enhead property to Mr. Leonard Addison (of the Liverpool Standard-office), of £4476, to Mr. John Lowe, as trustee of William Leonard Lace, £904 ; to Mr. John Addison of £904 ; and to Dr. Grind►od, £4,000. The proceed ings also comprised an application from the surveyor for additional assistance in his office. _ Mr. G.H. LAWRENCE, in moving the confirmation of the proceedings, said there was nothing in them to which he need draw the ,particular attention of the council, unless it was the application of the surveyor for additional assistance in his office. In that application he concurred, not without some reluctance, however, because he felt the full force of the objection to adding to the burdens of the corporation ; but he had come to the conclusion that the application was just, and he asked the council to concur in it, not for the purpose of conferring a favour upon the surveyor, or of re lieving him in the duties which he discharged so well, and so much to the satisfaction of the council, but in order to do justice to the corporate estate itself, and to facilitate those several plans of improvement which the council was pledged to carry into effect. During the last six months he had had many opportunities of seeing the interior of the surveyor's office, and he knew that the great pressure of business there was inseparable from the increase of the town, and the im portance of the corporate estate. He thought the surveyor was considerably under handed at the present moment, although he devoted the whole of his time to his duties, and the subordinates in the office did the same. They were there from nine till seven; yet an increase in the staff was requi site. There were in the office three persons, besides the surveyor, receiving salaries of £l5 a year, and he had had the assistance of Mr. Parry, who had been out of his time since July, and who had received no salary whatever from the council. He (Mr. L.) proposed then that a salary of £lOO a year be granted to Mr: Parry, and that the surveyor should have permission, when he could find an eligible per son, to engage a n a dditi ona l c l er k, a t a sa l a ry of £l5O per annum. Less assistance than that, if the pressure of busi ness continued as it was, would not be sufficient ; but it would be well understood, that if the pressure were removed, the person whom it was now contemplated to add to the office, would be the first person to be discharged. With these remarks he begged to move the confirmation of the proceedings. Mr. HOUGHTON seconded the motion. Mr. BRIGHT inquired whether it was proposed that Mr. Parry should receive salary from July last ? Mr. G. H. LAWRENCE replied he had not proposed that; but it would be for the council to say what they wished in that respect. Mr. LLOYD said that with regard to the assistance now required in the surveyor's office, he shoUld only be doing his duty to the council, as well as to the public, by stating what had taken place in a committee where the assistance of the surveyor and his staff was much required. He alluded to the Courts of Law Committee. The subject of the assist ance required by the surveyor had been mooted in that com mittee, and he then thought it his duty to state a rumour which prevailed generally in the town that the assistants in the surveyor's office did not devote their whole attention to their duty to the public, but that they engaged in private .pursuits. He knew it himself indeed ; for it had come to his own knowledge more than once. (Hear, hear.) The office was one where the fullest assistance ought to be given, and it was not for the consideration of an additional £l5O a year that a large estate like that ought to suffer. (Hear.) He entertained the greatest respect for the surveyor, and he admitted that the fullest assistance ought to he afforded to that gentleman in his department, and he added that the committee of which he was a member bad been kept waiting for plans from the surveyor's office since last No ember, and that they had been as yet unfurnished. (Hear.) Ile should follow up these observations by an amendment, that the pro ceedings be not confirmed, so far as they relate to the giving of additional assistance to the surveyor; and he intimated his intention of further moving that a committee be appointed for the purpose of inquiring into that and other departments in which the council had reason to expect that the whole of the time of the assistants was not devoted to the public service. • Mr. d. H. LAWRENCE said the corporation had a per fect right to the services of these men from nine in the morn ing till seven in the evenings, but he did not know whether they could prevent them from making anything in the time beyond that. All their services, however, between nine and seven belonged to the corporation, and he understood that they were given. He had heard that one, and only one, Mr. Kilpin, might make something beyond his salary, in his own time, but Mr. Robinson did not. And after all, what was their salary ? It was only £l5O a year—a sum so trifling that how could they expect a clerk to live respectably out of it ? Mr. BIRKETT.—Then increase it. Mr. G. H. LAWRENCE, in continuation, said he had no objection to the proposed committee, but he trusted the council would grant the assistance requiste for the service of the estate. Do not let them throw an imputation on the sur veyor by refusing it. Mr. LLOYD threw no imputation whatever upon the sur veyor. If there was talent in the office he wished it to be paid, but at the same time he wished it to be given to the corporation, who were entitled to it. The statement he had made now had not been made without calling the surveyor before the committee, and he then stated to the committee that he had his suspicions. The. MAYOR believed the surveyor himself had been allowed to furnish the plans of a public buiding, but he had not been permitted to receive any remuneration. Mr. PLATT thought the case, as made out by Mr. Lloyd, was one of the very best arguments for increasing the salary of the clerks in the surveyor's office. It they devoted their services to the corporation from nine in the morning until seven at night it was as much as any reasonable man could expect. Mr. G. H. LAWRENCE suggested that the inquiry should be referred to the Finance Committee, but that temporary assistance should be granted as it really was required. Mr. HODGSON said the chairman of the Finance Commit tee had not shown why the corporation were not entitled to all the time of their servants, because they paid every per son for their services. , He agreed with Mr. Lloyd that it was important that all doubt be removed on this subject ; but he could not agree with the chairman of the Finance Committee that the services of the persons to be employed by the sur veyor, so long as those services were not superabundant, ought to be given to any private purposes whatsoever, be cause they were entitled, not merely to the services of stated hours, but to such an exertion of mind as would not allow them to do any duty but that to the corporation, because the corporation could afford to keep them fully occupied. But if the corporation were in a bankrupt state, either of feeling or money, and could not afford to pay them for their services, they must let them work for others, but the corporation were not in that condition : whatever remuneration was proper and fitting they were enabled to give to the full extent, and in return they called for the full dedication of the services of their servants to them. The Improvement Committee the other day were called upon as to some property without an adequate report from the surveyor. He did not blame the surveyor for this; and if his time was so occupied that the committee could not have the benefit of his assistance, the council must see that adequate means were supplied to him, but at the same time all the persons in the office must give the whole of their services to the corporation. He thought, after the statement made by Mr. Lloyd, that it would be well for the Finance Committee to make themselves thoroughly acquainted with the fact as to whether the clerks in the de partment devoted their time to the discharge of the necessary business or not. Mr. Aldernnin EVANS said that all who were versed in the modern lijstory of this country would recollect a remark made by Sher Man at the time of the mutiny at the Nore. He ob sq. vett" this is no time tor going into disputes about what .atight hereafter to be done, but we should save the fleet." Now it was quite obvious whether they had the whole time of the gentlemen in the surveyor's office or not, that even if they had it, they required extra aid under the present pres sure. It was, therefore, the duty of the council instantly to order temporary assistance, and then leave Mr. Lloyd and other gentlemen who had any cause of complaint to institute their inquiries. He was aware of the pressure upon the sur veyor, because one of the committee, to which he had the ho nour to belong, had for the last nine months been asking for plans for the new market in Gill-street ; but he had access constantly to the surveyor's office, where every diligence was, at least outwardly, shown ; and he had not the slightest doubt that let what would occur, with regard to the whole time of the 'assistants, 'they could not dispense with the aid the chairman of the Finance Committee had asked. Mr. Alderman EARLE said that Mr. Hodgson's remarks might cause some misconception ; if they went before the public without explanation it might appear as if the Im provement Committee had been called upon to decide upon purchasing property without having had a valuation of it. This was not the case. Mr. G. H. CANVRENCE agaid suggested that the matter should be referred to the Finance Committee, the proceed ings in the meantime to be confirmed. Mr. MELLOR agreed with Mr. Lloyd. He thought it preposterous to engage further assistance until they knew whether the present servants were not sufficient to perform the necessory duty, and whether they could not discharge that duty efficiently if they devoted their whole time. lie seconded Mr. Lloyd's amendment. Mr. HENRY LAWRENCE thought it desirable that their servants should devote the whole of their time to the services of the corporation, and not be eking out their income by the doing of other work. M. LLOYD said the surveyor, in the presence of the com mittee, had distinctly stated that he had his suspicions —that he had a difficulty in getting work from some, and that he had not the same satisfaction from those in his office that he considered himself entitled to receive. Mr. PROCTER thought, under these circumstances, that Mr. Lloyd had done no more than his duty in bringing the subject before the council. (Hear, hear.) _ The TOWN-CLERR begged 'to be allowed to make an ob servation upon this question. It seemed 3o him that the council had not looked at the question fairly raised upon the demand of the-surveyor himself for assistance. All the dis cussion that had taken place had applied to the regul a ti on of the clerks or assistants in the Surveyor's office ; but here was a demand made by one of the officers of the corporation for assistance. He thought there was not an officer of the corporation whose duties were so well established as those of the surveyor ; and there could be no question at all that if there were any of them wh o di sc h arged his duty effectively and most efficiently it was the surveyor to i he corporation. Mr. HODGSON really must say, with great deference to the Town-Clerk, th a t i t was out of order for him to proceed thus. The Town- c l er k h ad not been asked to give his opinion on the question. Mr. JOHN SMITH said there was no legal question before the council. The TowN-cLERK. said he was aware that there was no legal questi on b efore the council, but at the same time he thought that some courtesy ought to be paid to one officer when he spoke for the services of another. Ile thought also that the councillor who made the objection seemed to have forgotten the fact that he (the Town-clerk) did not stand there merely as a servant or as an ordinary officer of the corporation, but as a person whose office was recognised in the charter; and, therefore, he had in that respect a right to bring forward his views before the council, independent of any legal capacity upon his part. Such was the notion he entertained of his office—such was the notion he had endea voured to carry out, and such was the notion of the most re spectable solicitors of the town—that he was a material part of the corporation ; that he was a kind of steward of the cor poration, and that he had a right to bring forward, beyond what belonged to him in his legal capac it y , that which apper tained to he good administration of the estate. He re gretted to be obliged to allude to this point, but he would still suggest that the question before the council on this occasion was not immediately as to the management of the assistants or clerks of the surveyor, but that it was a consi deration of the request which the surveyor bad himself made for additional assistance in his department. Mr. Alderman BARCLAY, with all due deference to the Town-clerk, thought him decidedly wrong in the law he had laid down for himself. He looked on his duties in the coun cil as arduous and responsible, but unless the question were one of law, or that he was called on to give an opinion, he had no right to speak. Upon a question of the present kind, the Town-clerk had no more right to give his opinion than any man out of the council chamber. Mr. HoDGSO ventured as a personal friend of the Town clerk's to make the observation he had made, because it could not be supposed that he had any other than a very kind feel ing towards that gentleman. The Town-clerk had, however, no vote in the council, and was not an acknowledged party there except for consultation and advice, and when he gave an opinion without being asked for it, he was trying to influ nce the council without right or authority.