The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-11-26 00:00:00

COURT OF QUEEN'S I3ENCH—Nov. 22 REARM& V. STOWELL - Lord Denman, however, intimated that they inclined to the opinion that the paper complained of contained no di rect charge against Mr. Hearne at all. COURT OF CHANCERY --TUESDAY BLUNDELL V. GLADSTONE. This was an appeal from the Vice-Chancellor, and also a re-hearing of the cause. The bill was filed by Thomas, the second son of Joseph Weld, of Lulworth Castle, in Dorset shire, for a declaration that he was entitled, under the will of the late Charles Robert Blundell, of Lace Blundell, to take the devised estates in preference to Edward Joseph Weld, his brother, and the eldest son of Joseph Weld. The question of the competency of the testator to make a will has been tried; and, on a verdict in favour of the will being obtained, the Vice-Chancellor made a decree in favour of the plaintiff, his honour entertaining no doubt that the testator meant to give the estates to Thomas, although he had used the name of Edward, and conceiving himself justified under the authority of " Miller v. Travers," 8 Bingham, in giving such an interpretation to the intentions of the testator, although there was an apparent inconsistency. His honour was, however, of opinion, that the words " second son' made the matter quite clear, and that the word " Edward" was merely a slip, the intention of the testator being to give the estates to Thomas, the second son, and the brother of Edward. The will was very short, and dated in November, 1834. In substance the testator left his estates in trust for the second son of Edward Weld, of Lulworth, for life, with remainder to his sons in tail male, and failing them, with remainder to the first and every other son of each brother, except an eldest brother of Edward Weld, with remainder to the second and every other son, except the eldest son of Lady Stourton, the sister of Edward Weld, and with other remainders, on condition that the persons entitled in posses sion should reside at Ince Hall, and take the name of Blun dell. The testator died in 1837, at which time Mr. Joseph Weld was living at Lulworth, having obtained a life-interest in the estate by a settlement from Mr. Thomas Weld, the cardinal, that settlement being made in 1829, when the car dinal became a priest. In this state of the cause a claim is raised by the heir-at-law of Mr. Blundell to take the estates, on the ground that the will is void from uncertainty of description of the person to take. The Solicitor-General, Mr. Richards, Mr. Fleming, and Mr. Parry appeared in support of this claim, and contended that as a part of the description of the testator would apply to Edward Joseph Weld, the eldest son, and a part to Tho mas, the second son, the court could not recognise the in consistency, and pronounce in favour of either. It was a clear established rule of the court, that evidence could not be given to show the intention of the testator ; that was to be collected from the language of the will. The only evidence that could be given was to prove who was the person desig nated, and no evidence of that kind could be offered in the present case, which would not partly apply to both the sons of Joseph Weld, for they had it established beyond question that Edward Joseph Weld, the eldest son of Joseph, was known to the testator by the name of Edward, and that, al though christened Edward Joseph, he always passed under the name of Edward, and in all but very formal legal docu ments signed himself Edward. It never was attempted in a court of equity or of common law to help the construction of a will by any other evidence than the description of the per son who was to take. In the case of " Beaumont v. Fell," which was recognised as the best and highest authority on the question, that doctrine was expre ss ly ma i nta i ne d , and it was remarkable that in the judgment in that case considera ble doubt was expressed of the propriety of the decision in " Miller v. Travers," on which the Vice-Chancellor mainly relied, when he decided in favour of the plaintiff. The same doctrine was held in ",Hishcock v. Hishcock," in Holmes Custance," 12 Vesey, where it was declared that no con jecture could be allowed, and in " Hampshire v. Pearse," 2 Vesey, sen. The learned counsel also cited " Doe dern of Ashford v. Bower, 3 Barn. and Adol., and Mr. Wigram's work on wills, and maintained th a t f rom a ll t h ese cases, it was cle ar that the court could not for Edward read Thomas, nor for the second son of Joseph Weld, read Edward. Under these circumstances the bequest was void, and the heir-at-law must succeed. They concluded by putting in, as evidence rejected b y the Vice-Chancello r , two former wills of the tes tator, dated in 1821 and 1824, by which they proved that the testator knew well the name of Joseph Weld's sons. At four o'clock the argument was postponed till the next day. The arguments in tVihi'sEotDos o.NedwE2AreYso.mod. Mr. Tinney appeared to-day the pl a i n tiff, an d stated, that his client claimed under description of the second son of Edward Weld, of Lulworth, Esq., on the ground that the testator had made a palpaTteanstake in calling his father property e rt via s not a very diffi- Edward instead of Joseph. dispute had been cult one, and probably, if the XlO,OOO a-year, very small, instead of amounting as it di y d in the Court would not have been troubled'atto e same l engt h . That the testator really meant the plaintiff was ob vious , for Edward Weld, second son of Edward Weld! of Lulworth, was the person in reference to whom all the strict limitations in this will had been created. The question was urely one of construction, and there being no Edward Weld, the elder brother of the plaintiff, who was carefully excluded it it was plain who was meant. It was quite clear that the tes: tator intended to establish a second family, beginning W i th the second son of the present possessor of Lulworth as a prcepositus. This was an ambiguity which the Court would permit the admission of extrinsic evidence for the purpose of removing. 2 Moo., 304 ; 2 Yo. and Golly., 72. Mr. Tinney having concluded his address, a long discussion took place as to the admission of evidence to prove that the testator in 1836 had made inquiries of Mr. Gladstone re specting the family at Lulworth, and that he had declared he had never seen the second son of Edward Weld. Sir W. Follett objeeted to this, inasmuch as it referred to a period subsequent to the date of the will. The Lord Chancellor reserved his judgment, and at his rising adjourned the further hearing until the sittings after term. The Queen, in her capacity of guardian of the Duke of Cornwall, has been pleased to nominate Thomas Pemberton, Esq., of the chancery bar, Attorney-General of the Duchy. This was an action of libel, brought by the senior priest of St. Patrick's, lioman Catholic Chapel, at Manchester, against the defendant, who is a clergyman of the Established Church. The case came on for trial at the Liverpool assi zes, and a verdict was returned for the plaintiff, damages, 40s. The publication complained of was in the form of a written statement which Mr. Stowell read at a meeting which was convened for the purpose of petitioning the legislature not to renew the grant to Maynooth College. The paper con tained a short narrative, in which it was represented that a policeman seeing a man of the name of O'Hara going upon his hands and knees upon the public road, asked him the object of such a proceeding. O'Hara, who was a Catholic, answered that he was doing penance for his sins. The po liceman asked if he could not atone for his sins in any other way, to which O'Hara answered that he could not, and that his priest, whom he stated to be Mr. Hearne, would not give him the sacrament unless he had performed the penance ; that he had done the penance four days already, and when he should have done it nine days more he should go to Mr. Hearne and ask him for the sacrament. The declaration having set out this passage, alleged that the statement was published for the purpose of bringing the plaintiff into dis credit, and to diminish the respect which he already enjoyed, and of vexing, harrassing, and oppressing him in his cha racter as a Catholic priest, and lowering him in the estima tion of society atlarge, and of his own friends, and of impeding him in the performance of his duty as a Catholic priest. At the trial, a priest named Wood, and Dr. Mur doch, the Catholic Bishop of Glasgow, deposed that no private priest had the power to impose such penances as a necessary preliminary to the administration of the sacrament, and that a priest who enjoined such a performance was liable to be suspended from his office. The learned judge who tried the cause told the jury the question for their decision was whether the paper was calculated to injure Mr. Hearne in his character as a man and a priest, by representing him t) have done what would have degraded him as a man, and what was so great a breach of his duty as a priest that it would, if he had done it, subject him to be deprived of his benefice by his bishop. If the jury thought the imputation whieh had been suggested was made in the sense which had been also suggested, it must follow that the publication was a libel, for which the plaintiff was entitled to receive damages in compensation for the injury which he had suffered. A rule nisi had been obtained calling upon the plaintiff to show cause why the verdict should not be set aside and a new trial granted, upon the ground of misdirection by the learned judge, or why the judgment should not in any event be ar rested upon the ground that the alleged libel, as set out in the declaration, did not, in fact, contain any direct charge or imputation upon Mr. Hearne at all. The Solicitor-General now appeared to show cause against the rule, and contended, that whatever technical defects might exist in the form of the declaration were cured by the fact of the verdict, which had been found for the plaintiff, in asmuch as the learned judge had expressly called upon the jury to consider whether the publicati on i n quest i on was made with a design to lower the plaintiff in the estimation of society, and whether it also had produced such a conse quence in fact. As the jury must have decided those ques tions in the affirmative (for they could not otherwise have found a verdict for the plaintiff), the objection to the want of completeness in the allegations of the declaration was cured by the fact of the finding. The jury having, therefore, in substance found that the paper imputed to the plaintiff a gross breach of his duty, for which he was liable to be sus pended, and which was, therefor,e, calculated to do him a most sefous injury in his sacred profession, he (the Solicitor General j did not see how the court could arrest the judg ment in the case. Mr. Hoggins and Mr. F. S. Murphy followed upon the same side, and contended that the question of libel or no libel was usually left to the jury in the same manner as had been done upon the present occasion, and that the charge of the learned judge who tried the case was, therefore, per fectly correct. Cresswell submitted that the rule for the new trial ought to be made absolute, or that in any event the judgment ought to be arrested, upon the ground that the declaration contained no tillegation whatever that Mr. Hearne had or dered the performance of the penance, or that his doing so, if he had done it, was in any degree contrary to his duty as a priest. With regard to all that had been said about the pre sumptions which were made by the jury, it was to be ob served, that the jury could neither presume nor find anything except that which was in issue, and that upon the present re cord there was no issue at all upon the matters which they were supposed to have presumed. If the propriety or impro priety of the conduct said to have been imputed to the priest had been put in issue, the plaintiff could have called wit nesses to prove that such penances were frequently imposed by other priests of the catholic church. It had been certainly proved that the effect of Mr. Hearne's having ordered the performance of the penance in question would be to cause him to be suspended. But such effect was a matter altogether beside the question which the jury were to decide, and formed no ingredient in the decision, as there was no allegation upon the record that the plaintiff had im puted to the defendant the commission of an act which would expose him to the censure of his own ecclesiastical superi ors. The object of Mr. Stowell was manifestly to show the superior purity and truth of the protestant over the catholic religion, and it would certainly be a most alarming doctrine to hold that such a statement was a libel, and that the months of all persons who might entertain the same views that Mr. Stowell did upon the subject of what he considered the superstition of the catholic church were to be stopped for the future. It was alleged in the declaration that the de fendant bad made the statement in question with a view to " impede" the plaintiff in the execution of his duty as a catholic priest ; but it would be an extraordinary doctrine to hold that this was an illegal purpose. There were thou sands of persons in this kingdom who considered it their duty to " impede " the catholic religion as much as they could, and some thousands of speeches had been made with that view in the metropolis during the last ten years. To hold that all these speeches were slanderous would be as extraordinary as it would be alarming, and he (Mr. Cress well) confidently anticipated that the court would never come to such a conclusion. With regard to the statement itself it might be observed that the man O'Hara did not even say that Mr. Hearne had ordered him to do the penance, but only that he (O'Hara) thought that unless he performed it the priest would not administer the sacrament to him. The penitent, for anything that appeared in the statement, might be either a maniac or a person labouringnnder the conscious ness of guilt, who inflicted penance upon himself, under some delusion as to what was the opinion of the priest upon the same subject. Mr. W. H. Watson followed on the same side. The Court, which sat till six, took time to consider their judgment. THEATRk44OYAL; LIVER POOL Under the Management of Mr. CLARKE, Sole Lenee Squeers The Lady As originally perfoi : na . ed by them in London. End of which, A Polish Pas de Deux, in Character, by Master and Miss C. Webster. To conclude with the Farce, called £lOO NOTE. THEATRE-ROYAL FOR THE BENEFIT OF MR Peregrine Job Thoruberry Tom Shuifieton Mr. Stuart Mr. Baker. Mary .. Mrs. Baker. DANCING, by Master and Miss WEBSTER The laughable Interlude, called WHERE DOES THE MONEY COME FROM? Gregory Mr. Baker. Fanchette Miss E. Honner. To conclude with the Farce of ANIMAL MAGNETISM. La Fleur Mr. W. J. Hammond. Doctor Mr. Baker. Lisette Mrs. Clarke. Tickets to be had of Mr. BAKER, 3, Cases-street. ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE, GREAT CHARLOTTE -STREET, LIVERPOOL Elm Eibtrpool gPtanbarb. FRIDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 26, 1841 When it has been objected to the advocates of a free trade in corn that the withdrawal of all protection from the agriculture of the country must inevitably throw a large portion of our corn lands out of cultivation, and vast numbers of our agricultural population out of employment, the objection has always been met, by the organs of the manufacturing interest, with the confident assurence that the increase of trade and con sequent demand for labour in the manufacturing dis tricts would at once provide employment for those whom the pursuits of agriculture could no longer support. We have ever strongly denied this conclusion. We have doubted, in the first place, whether the adop tion of the proposed measures of free trade will give any permanent increase to our existing commerce; and we have doubted still more, and we have additional reason now to doubt, whether, supposing such increase to arise, it would be to such an extent as to provide employment for more than the population at present embarked in manufacturing and trading pursuits. For the means of arriving at a solution of this question, we have looked anxiously for the publication of the population returns. The large increase which, under our existing commercial policy, has for years past been taking place in the population of the manu facturing districts has been pointed to, not only as showing the importance of adapting that policy, ex clusively or principally, to the maintenance of this mass of industry in comfort and security, but also as proving the capability of those districts to absorb the surplus labour of the remainder of the kingdom. But so long as the amount of this increase and its propor tion to the increase of the manufactured commodities produced was unascertained, no conclusive and safe argument could be founded upon it. Production had increased, and the labouring population employed in manufacturing pursuits had increased also; but the census alone could show whether this increase of pro duction and of population went hand in hand, or whether there was not another instrument—the powers of machinery —whose advance was fast outstripping, and was destined ultimately to arrest altogether, the progress of the demand for human labour. The census, however, is now before us, and we shall endeavour briefly to apply the data, with which it fur nishes us, to the elucidation of this important question. And first let us examine the evidence which the returns afford us with respect to the comparative growth of the trade and the population of Lancashire, which may fairly be considered a purely manufacturing county, as being the seat of almost the whole of our cotton manufacture. In 1831, the population of this county was 1,336,854; and at the census of the present year it had grown to 1,667,064, showing an increase of 244 per cent., whilst that of the entire kingdom was only 144. The additional increase must, of course, be attri buted to the migration which is constantly taking place from the agricultural into the manufacturing districts; and amounts to 10 per cent,—the difference between 244, the increase in Lancashire, and 144, the increase throughout the kingdom,—which the popula tion of this county has sustained during the past ten years by absorbing the surplus labour of other parts of the empire Now, we humbly suggest to the admirers of our manufacturing system, that there is little in this amount o warrant the anticipations which have been so pro minently and loudly put forward with respect to the capabilities of that system to provide employment for our increasing population. Nay, there is little to assure us that it will even continue to support the population already dependent upon it. During ten years of vastly increased production —ten years of stimulation—the manufactures of Lancashire have only been enabled to extend the means of employment beyond its native population, at the rate of one per cent. per annum; and we think the wildest dreamer amongst the anti-corn-law leaguers will scarcely con template, as the result of his favourite specific, a greater increased production of manufactured goods than has taken place since 1831. When we come, however, to the comparison of figures, the fallacy of these anticipations must be still more obvious. In 1831, as we have shown in former articles, the quantity of cotton consumed throughout the kingdom, computed in bags of an average weight of 3001b5., was 16,583 weekly. In 1840 the quantity had risen to 30,089, the increased production being thus 82 per cent., or in a ratio, upwards of three times that of the population employed in it in Lancashire ! In addition to this increase in the cotton manufacture, how ever, we must bear in mind that several branches in which the labouring population of the county is employed has sustained a similar, although not perhaps a proportion ate increase, by becoming concentrated, from other localities, to this, the heart and market of the manufac turing industry of the empire. The linen and silk manufactures are now extensively introduced into Lan cashire ; the dying and printing of mixed fabrics of woollen and cotton have also become important trades, and employ large numbers of the operative classes File manufacture of machinery of every description, forexport and for u se i n ot h er parts of England and Scotland, has sustained a large increase and afforded new sources of employment to a numerous body of mechanics, and when these and others are taken into consideration, and the proportion of labour which they have absorbed is deducted from the general increase of the population throughout the county, we are pretty confident that they will fully a ccount for all the increase which it has derived from extrinsic sources, by the Inigration of labourers, and establish the fact that the For the BENEFIT of Mr. and Mrs. KEEL EY, And the Last Night of their engagement, on which occasion. Mr. W. J. HAMMOND, Who is engaged for a limited period, will make his first appearance at this Theatre these eleven years. THIS present FRIDAY, N ovem b er 26 , w ill b e per f orme d the Local Barletta called , NICHOLAS NICKLEBY; / OR, DOINGS AT DO-THE-BOYS HALL. Smike (an orphan) Mrs. Keeley. John Browdie .... Mr. W. J. Hammond. Monsieur Mantilini Nicholas Nickleby Mr. H. I 011. Mr. Baker I Mrs. Squeers.. s. Clarke. After which, the Interlude of e INNKEEPER'S BRIDE. Mr. W. J. Hammond, Ellen Miss E. Honner. To which will be added, the petit Drama, called A LADY AND GENTLEMAN IN A PECULIARLI PE It PL EXING PREDICAMENT. -- ... Mrs. Keeley. I The Gentleman.. Mr. Keeley Billy 81ack.... (the Coiner of Conundrums).... Mr. Keeley, As originally performed by him at the Theatre Royal, Covent-Garden. - _ Montmorency.. Mr. H. Miss Arlington.. Mrs. Keeley AND MRS. BAKER. ON MONDAY next, the 29th instant, will be presented Colman's Comedy of JOHN BUJL. Mr. H. Hon Second Night of the highly-popular Domestic Drama, enti tled SUSAN HOPLY. An entire NEW BALLET; with ne l r 'SCENES IN THE ARENA. Last Three Nights of THE DEATI/GRASP. THIS present FRIDAY EVENING, the 26th, and TO -1 MORROW, (Saturday,) the 27th, will be acted an en tirely new Drama, entitled SUSAN HOPLEY ; OR, THE VICISSITUDES OF A SERVANT GIRL. Mr. Simpson Mr. H. Beverley. Susan Hopley Mrs. Emery. After which, a new Comic Ballet, called ELECTRICITY! OR, THE DOCTOR OUTWITTED. Doctor Bolus Mr. Lennox. Clodpole (the Simpkin) Mr. M`Gregor. NEW SCENES IN THE ARENA. The whole to conclude with the DEATH GRASP! OR, A FATHER'S CURSE. Adolphe de Floriville Mr. Howard. Caleb Winton Mr. H. Beverley. In the observations which we made in our last, in reply to a contemporary, on the subject of reform in the Corporation Schools, we treated the question as one of expediency—(for as such it is susceptible of be ing discussed)—a question of expediency, we shall say, with a religious aspect; we would continue to view it still in the same light. What a Christian parent, roaster, or statesman would do, with regard to those whose instruction is peculiarly committed to his csre, is not indeed a discretionary matter, hut one of very clear and positive duty. The question which we are discussing is, however, not exactly that,—but how it may be proper to act in a case where parties may be concerned over whom we cannot exercise force. Here there is room for the exhibition of a discretion, and we are not bound to act uniformly in the same way : our mode of proceeding may be essentially altered by cir cumstances. In Liverpool we have to deal with a case in which the great majority of the children are of Protestant pa rents, and a few comparatively are Roman Catholic; and it is asked whether, under all the circumstances, it would be advisable or expedient to relax the principle of scriptural education in behalf of the latter class ? It may be conceded that their exclusion from the school would be an evil, and that it would he desirable, if pos sible, to retain them in it. This may be granted ; but we may perceive a still greater evil on the other hand ; and our wisdom will consist in choosing the lesser of the two. If there be on the one side the possible de privation of some, of a certain amount of useful in formation, there is on the other the evil of a compro mise on a point of principle big with consequences which it is difficult to estimate in all their extent and weight. Schools of an eleernosynary foundation, and de signed for the benefit of the humbler classes of society, must necessarily, in their construction, be bound by rules different from others, and peculiar to themselves. They are not designed as colleges of learning; they are not instituted for the purpose of adding a few graces and ornaments to the mechanic mind—some perhaps useless accomplishments to p,trsons des tined, for the most :part, to earn their bread by the labour of their bodies ; they are e(dablished for imparting, during a brief period, such sound instruction as will show to the young the' way in which they should gd, and such as, when ()Id, it would be desirable they ;should not depart from• —in struction of a vital, essential character—touching the very root of the matter--•the heart and judgment in man, and preparing him to become a good subject and good citizen—to fear God and honour the king. This is the distinctive purpose, or certainly ought to he such, of a national or municipal school designed espe cially for the humbler classes of society. Then it fol lows as an indisputable truth that the instruction of such a school should be religious—drawn from the purest source--and enforced by the highest sanctions. On this head the controversy is at an end. It is no longer disputed, first, that the highest motives and most powerful sanctions to the performance of the moral and social duties ought to be let in upon the youthful mind ; and secondly, that it is the religion of the Bible, and that alone, which supplies them. Hence it follows that the school of which we speak ought to ie unequivocally and decidedly scriptural. Such being the recognized character of the institu ion, we are prepared to meet the proposition for a , artial exemption of the pupils from the obligations of s fundamental rule—to dispense with the authorita• ve teaching of holy writ in behalf of Roman Catholics And first, we observe that this would be a wide de- parture from the original purport and intent of the in stitution, which was not, as we have already observed, to impart some trifling portion of instruction in the __.... ... ......, various branches of human learning, or the less im portant appendages of vital wisdom ; and we are bound to inquire in the strictest manner, and be satisfied in every scruple, before we yield compliance to such a demand. We have already briefly considered the specific grounds on which the Roman Catholics prefer their request, and have shown that they are such as should rather confirm us in adhering unreservedly to the rule, than induce us to relax it ; because they rest upon as sumptions which directly impugn a fundamental prin ciple of our faith as Protestants. We are asked to recognise and countenance the doctrine of the Church of Rome of the insufficiency v Scripture as a guide and rule of faith without the tra- ditions and commentary of uninspired men ;—we are asked to cast a stigma upon our authorised version of the Bible, as if it were either imperfect or essentially incorrect ; and certainly, upon. such grounds, it is quite impossible that we should aiove. If such reasons Cotton manufacture, whilst sustaining the vast increase of 82 per cent. in ten years, has, in its power of afford ing the means of human employment, barely kept pace with the regular increase of its own native population ! We hear it said, however, by the organs of the free traders, " give us the privilege of exchanging our goods for provisions in the open markets of the world, and we will do far more than we have hitherto done in providing for the employment of the labouring com munity ; give us the means of competing, in cheapness of production, with the lightly taxed foreign manufac turer, and we will drive his commodities out of every foreign market." Be it so—(which, by the way, it never will be,)—concede for a moment that it is possi ble for us to displace a portion of the manufactures of other countries by our cheap commodities, yet to what extent can this take place ? Let us examine. From 1826-28 the consumption of cotton in Great Britain, as compared with that of the whole world besides, was as 100 to 76 ; in .1840 it still maintained the same pro portion, being as 100 to 751. That the adoption of any policy which can be devised will enable us to se cure any great quantity of this manufacture, now car ried on in foreign countries, we do not believe. The manufacturers themselves anticipate little more than supylying the continental markets with their yarns and with machine-made goods ; and how much of the la bour of our surplus population such an increase of our cotton trade will absorb, may be judged of from the comparatively unimportant extent to which an in creased production, during the past ten years, of 82 per cent—or more than the amount of the whole of the fo reign production—has absorbed that surplus labour. The irresistible conclusion which we draw from a consideration of these facts and data, is, that no in crease of the cotton manufacture which can reasonably be anticipated to flow from the adoption of free trade measures, simply, can enable the manufacturers of Lancashire to draw off largely, if at all, the surplus population, which the repeal of the existing protection afforded to British agriculture will create in the farm ing districts throughout the country. The improve , ment and the extension of the powers of machinery have of themselves, for the past ten years, kept pace with the increased production of cotton goods, or so nearly to it, that we can scarcely draw the line of sepa ration. The Iron man has for the past ten years been able to intercept from his human competitor nearly the whole of the vast supply of labour which should have been derived from the large increase of production which we have witnessed; and who can say, in specu lating for the future, where his illimitable power is to be arrested ? Who can set bounds to the perfection or the increased adaptation of which this untiring and sleepless workman is susceptible ? Who shall say that the powers and the application of machinery to manufacturing purposes are not capable of being in creased in a ratio suflicient to shut out human labour from a participation in the largest increase of manufac turing production which the most sanguine amongst us dares to contemplate ? Let it not he said that we are endeavouring in these remarks to direct the attention of the suffering portion of our fellow countrymen in the manufacturing dis tricts to the use of machinery as the cause of their dis tress. We have no such unworthy and wicked object in view. We should loathe ourselves if we could de scend to the level,of anti-corn-law morality in arguing this or any other question. But we cannot, neverthe less, allow it to be discussed, separate from this, its most important feature. The subject of the increasing application of machinery in manufacturing pursuits must be looked in the face, steadily and earnestly; and the statesman who should presume to enter upon any great change of our present commercial system, with out fully considering its operation upon the interests of the labouring classes of our population, would, in our humble opinion, incur a responsibility of a fearful nature. disqualified, and refused. We are aware that neither Heathenism nor Popery has fettered the wing of poets ; and we would allow that a certain order of poetic me rit might not be incompatible with all the earthward propensities of tractarian philosophy ; but a pure Christianity has not restrained the human mind from ascending to the highest heaven of invention, and where it comes in competition with a corrupt one, we should feel ourselves by all means bound to " hold to the one and despise the other," for the sake as well of religion as of poetry. A perverted faith in religion leaves us no security for the proper use of poetic power. There is a sort of poetry in the mass as well as the church-going bell—in convent Blooms—hermits' cells, in hymns to the Virgin and prayers for the dead —in short, in many of the fanciful things of Popery; but we deprecate in this age the application of poetic fire to such purposes, and at Oxford the choice of a professor in whose mind we have cause to suspect a leaning to them. Our London contemporary assured us a short time since, that " many had grown weary and faint under the burthen of Protestantism, which is as to mere church matters a formulary of no belief, and therefore no support at all. They wanted a belief and a guid ance other than their own fallible judgment gathered from original documents" —and they have found what they wanted in Puseyism ! Well, we do hope that the masers who will have to choose the poetical professor at Ox:ord, or the majority of them, will prove that they are not of the number of these " faint and weary" professors, but amongst those who, having inherited the inestimede blessing of our glorious reformation •oin their fathers, are determined to hand it down— so far as lies in ,them—unimpaired to their children WEST INDIA MAIL QUESTION We are impelled, by a wish to do justice to the mass of evidence before us, to postpone, until Tuesday, our proposed estimate of the advantages, of a nautical description, possessed by the port of Liverpool, as the station for the West India Mail Packets; and in the mean time we take the opportunity to offer, although perhaps it is scarcely necessary, a few words in reply to the observations of the Liverpool Times upon our article of Friday last. Our contemporary is a little indiscreet in his thick -and-thin advocacy of the con duct of his Whig friends in the council, or he would never have ventured, in defiance of the universal sense of the town, to have insisted upon their zeal in behalf of local interests, as displayed by their conduct upon this question. The hands of our representative—Mr. Cresswell—were nol strengthened, we repeat, as they ought to have been, by the council, and as they would have been had the question before the committee been one of the same character as their pet warehousing selaeme. Their effort was a late one. To have done all the good which might have been done, it should have been made snuck earlier. It should have been backed, as it easily might have been, and as it was in other ports which put forward their claims, by the authority of a town's meeting, in order to have influenced the constitution of the committee itself, in which it must be admitted that the interests of Liverpool, and the manufacturing and commercial interests of the North of England mod of Scotland, were most inadequately represented; and we assert this, admitting fully the ability displayed by Mr. CresswelL in conducting the case of our port, and the great value of the evidence offered by Mr. Aiken, Mr. G. H. Lawrence, and Lieut. Lord, in its favour. For the fact that tials is the opinion of others besides our- selves and the people of Liverpool, we refer to a letter upon the subject which will ,be found in another column; and on Taesday we trust to be able to make out such a case in favour of our town as will .gatisfy all thinking men, (who are inclined to look at it without partisanship,) what ought to have been the ‘conduct of the ,council and of the public of Liverpool last year; with regard to this question; and, as wi.tll, how energetic ought to be their efforts now to repair, if possible, the evil consequences of their past neglect. be giveii Why the scriptural instruction of our school should be dispensed with, we must negative the re quest; we have made up our mind long since on these heads, and do not mean to stultify ourselves. It is rather too bad—it is, in fact, presumptuous bf the Romanist, who knows our sentiments, to ask us to do anything so inconsistent. His " reasons" were better kept to himself; we have long since weighed them in the balance and found them wanting ; we are quite persuaded of their futility. But it may be said, the cause, whatever it be, ought not to suffer from the injudiciousness of the advocate. Suppose that no reasons whatever were put forward for the indulgence solicited, but that it were suffered to rest simply on the allegation of a conscientious scru ple,—shall we not in this case, it may be asked, grant the exception in favour of conscience ? The answer is, that our institution is Scriptural, and cannot be changed in that vital respect, either for bad and insuf ficient reasons, or for none at all. If a member of Mr. Owen's Socialist community were to come forward and say, " Omit your Scriptural teaching with regard to my children ; I have a scruple on the subject ;" his request would be, of course, refused ; nor does the Roman Catholic, who begs the same favour in the same way, stand in a better position. We adhere, then, to our rule ; and now let us ask what is the inconvenience ? It is this, that we may perhaps deprive some Roman Catholics of the advan tage which they would derive from the merely secular instruction of our school. Observe, that Roman Catholics are not proscribed as such ; they are as free to enter our schools as any other class of persons, if they will only comply with their regulations; they pro scribe themselves.' But what do they lose in not ob taining their own terms ? They lose only that which we esteem a very secondary and minor object,—that knowledge without the guiding power which is then just as convertible to an evil as to a good purpose. Nor is this all ; there are many Roman Catholics who will break away from the tyranny of their priests and the assumptions of their church, and avail themselves of your Scriptural schools in defiance of them. This reduces the number of the etcluded and the amount of the supposed evil, already not a little diminished b the considerations to which we have adverted. I aught still remains, it is more than counterbalanced by the evils avoided on the other hand—evils whose extent we cannot foresee, nor fully estimate, because flowing from an abandonment, though partial, of an incon testible principle. It is better that a few Roman Catholics should foolishly deprive themselves of a little secular scholarship, than that their community in - - , . general should receive countenance or confirmation in errors of the most serious and important kind. There is shortly to be filled up in the University of Oxford a certain Professorship of Poetry, the election to which, we are informed, is to determine something more than who is the best poet, or who is best qualified to deliver lectures on the divine art. We never ex pected to find the name of that learned controversialist, Doctor Pusey, so intimately connected with the charms of verse, or the peculiar doctrines to which he has given a title, brought under discussion as a criterion to determine the merit of a candidate for the chair of poetry; but so it is. The learned doctor has espoused the cause of a Mr. Williams, and being so recom mended, there can be no manner of doubt that Mr. Williams is a Puseyite—a Puseyite not only in poetry, but in divinity, body, and soul. Now, Mr. Williams is opposed by Mr. Garbett, who is no Puseyite, and the consequence is, that in the contested election for the vacant Chair of Poetry, Oxford will be polled on the question of Tractarian High-Churchism ! The conse quence is inevitable; Dr. Pusey's patronage has settled the point. The London Morning Post—a journal notoriously Puseyitical--deprecates the idea of the election being connected with theological controversy : " Such an object," he says, " has the least possible con nection with either poetry or philosophy, or candour or common sense. The Oxford Masters of Arts are not, we imagine, the most promising men in the world,upon whom to practise such an experiment as that of attempting to in duce them to dismiss all that is poetical from their minds when engaged in the selection of a University Professor of Poetry." We would infer from this, that Puseyism is not altogether so potent in the University as some have supposed, and that the Puseyite candidate is alarmed lest the election should turn upon the extent to which that peculiar system of doctrine may prevail therein. We sincerely hope that the fact may turn out so, and that the Puseyite will be well beaten. But why does the Post say that the Masters, in viewing the contest in any degree of connection with the famous controversy, should " dismiss all that is poetical from their minds ?" Is Puseyism so very anti-poetical that Poetry cannot breathe the same atmosphere with it ? or whence this anxiety to discon nect the two? We differ from •the Post in thinking that the Masters ought not to make Puseyism an ingredient in the determination of their choice of can didates; we think they ought, and that the party con victed of Puseyism ought by all means to be deemed LOCAL NEWS. Mr. Thomas H. H. Davies, third son of the Rev. Robert bavies, minister of St. David's Church, obtained, on Friday last, his diploma, as a member of the Royal College of Sur- ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S CHURCH.—On ' Wednesday even ing, at St. Bartholomew's Church, Naylor-street, after an admirable sermon by the Rev. Huth M`Neile, the sum of £l5. 3s. was collected for the purpose of lighting and warm ing the church. CAUTION TO THE PUBLIC.—We have been requested to caution the public against a set of impostors who are going about getting subscriptions, under the false pretence of being work-people that have been thrown out of the employ of Messrs. Copley, Barrow, and Co., and Messrs. William Pooley and Co., in consequence of the late fire in Jeriey street, Manchester. The names which they show, of a subscription from those houses, to a considerable amount, have been ascertained to be forgeries. TO E WARRINGTON MURDER.—A chimney -sweep named Clough was secured at St. Helens on Wednesday evening last, by police-officers Nos. 371 and 76, on account of his having publicly stated, that on the night of the 13th instant he saw Gill, the man who has been apprehended on suspicion of this murder, dragging a woman down Holay-lane, about half-past twelve o'clock, and afterwards twice heard cries of " Murder ! " He afterwards saw Gill take the woman into a field which adjoins the one in which the body of the de ceased woman was found the next morning, but can relate nothing which might have occurred afterwards. Mr. Su perintendent Storey, of the St. Helens division, questioned Clough upon the subject, and after making arrangements for his appearance at Warrington when required, he was dis charged. ISt. HELENS PETTY SESSIONS.—The monthly court of petty sessions was held on Tuesday last, before T. Edwards, S. Taylor, and C. Orrell, Esqrs. There were only two cases of any importance to come before the court, one of which was a private examination by the magistrates into a case of violent assault by a young man upon a female servant in the employ of Mr. Bateson, of the Sutton Plate Glass Company's works, which resulted in a penalty of £:5 being imposed upon the defendant. The other case was an information laid by Mr. James, clerk to the directors of the St. Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway, against Mr. John Darcy, late of the firm of Darcy and Kurtz, alkali-manufacturers, for a tres pass on its railway ; but on the application of Mr. Silvester Marsh, who appeared for the defendant, it was remanded until next session. MR. THOMAS CLOUGH.-It is our painful duty to record the death of our accomplished townsman, Mr. Thomas Clough, professor of music, and organist of St. Nicholas's Church. Though he had only attained 33 years of age, he earned for himself the highest place in this part of England, as a master-of the organ ; and was inferior to none as a suc cessful instructer both in the theory and practice of musical science. At the early age of 8, he was a performer on that instrument, from which, in maturer years, he drew the brilliant expression of a cultivated taste and chastened ima gination. He combined with these endowments the rare talent of instructing others in such a manner as secured the perfection of his pupils, and won for himself their confidence and esteem. During the last 6 years he conducted the mu sical services at St. Nicholas's Church, with an ability and devotional spirit which will long be remembered by the clergy and congregation there. At the same time, none will regret his early departure more than his numerous acquaint ance in private life, his many pupils, and the general circle of professional friends. THEATRE ROYAL.—A most charming and natural de velopment of woman's love and kind heartedness is Mrs. Keeley's Lucille, in the drama of that name, performed here on Tuesday night. Mrs. Keeley is a mistress of her art. Her ecstasy on discovering that St. Cyr had obtained his sight—her parting from him--her reading his letter—and her final recognition of her lover, are all instances of her con summate skill. Mr. Stuart's St. Cyr we have always con sidered a very capital impersonation. He must have watched the actions of the blind very closely so truthfully to delineate a person labouring under that sad affliction. The last scene he did not render so striking as on former occasions. Where were the cloak, cap, and shade, which so well concealed the form of the well-loved Eugene? Lucille could not have failed to recognise at once one whose image is so deeply im printed on her memory. Miss Ellen Tree's Blind Boy, and Miss Kelly in a similar character, were exquisite impersona tions. Mr. Stuart's St. Cyr may rank with them in merit. Mr. Lynne played Andre very judiciously. Mr. Gray did the old soldier with much humour. The farce of " A Lady and Gentleman in a Peculiarly Perplexing Predicament" is a laughable farce. It has gone off with much success. The Keeley's are inimitable in it as the Lady and Gentleman. Mrs. Keeley's Gertrude, in "The Loan of a Lover," is as much superior to Madame Vestris-Mathews's as a Bude light is to a farthing rush candle, while Keeley's Peter Spyk is equally superior to Charles Mathews's. Mrs. Keeley's singing the songs in the farce are alone worth hearing. "The Yeoman's Daughter," "Dr. Dilworth," "Nell Gwynne," and the New Farce have constituted the week's amusement. To-night Mr. W. J. Hammond makes his first appearance at this theatre these eleven years. We are glad to find an old favourite once more amongst the " legitimates." On Mon day Mr. and Mrs. Baker take their benefit. To-night the Keeleys make their appeal. AMPHITHEATRE.—This week a new spectacle called " The Fall of Canton" has been successfully produced. We can not say more of this piece than that it is a gorgeous affair : the scenery and dresses are splendid; the combats numer ous, and that there is two or three well-managed conflagra tions. A ballet called the " Assemblage of the Nations," is intended as a complimentary piece de circonstance to con gratulate Britannia on the birth of a Prince. The scene represents a British fleetat anchor, and is beautifully painted. At the back of the stage is Britannia; at the sides, on pedestals, are ranged figures representing the four quarters of the globe. Groups enter first, of Scotch, then of Irish, then of Welch, lastly of English—each group in appropriate cos tume—go through a national dance, and conclude by laying their national emblems at the feet of Britannia; then comes a principal dancer of each nation, who performs a pas seul. The dancing is very good, especially that of a very little girl, who takes the Irish under her patronage. The pas seuls being over, there is another general dance, and the Nations again receive their emblems from the hands of Britannia ; the ballet concludes with a most splendid display of fire-work, in which the initials of the Queen and P. W. are conspicuous. This performance has been received throughout with much applause. The scenes in the circle were excellent. The ring performances are better than usual, and Mr. Wells and the Clown are received with shouts of applause. Master Kite's performance on the tight rope left us little to wish for in this department. The performances during the week have con cluded with " Black Forest; or, the King and the De serter," in which H. Beverley 'played Frederick of Prussia capitally, as also Mr. Howard, the Deserter. Mrs. Carman's melo-drama of the "Death Grasp" has been played with success at Manchester. It is having a run also here. Too long a time is spent between the pieces and the various acts, the audience get impatient, and are needlessly kept out late ; this must be amended SUDDEN DEATHS.—TWO inquests were held before the borough coroner on Wednesday, on view of the bodies of two men who had met their deaths in an awfully sudden manner. The first was on that of Robert Dixon, a seaman, aged 39 years. Thomas Williams deposed that he was a seaman, and that he boarded and lodged in the house of Mr. William Connor; in Argyle -street. The deceased came to lodge there on Sunday night last. About half-past ten o'clock on Tues day night witness came to bed. The deceased was in bed at the time. They slept in the same room together, but not in the same bed. Between the hours of four and five o'clock on Wednesday morning, witness was awakened by hearing a noise. He then felt in the bed which the deceased occupied, and which was next to his own, but found it empty. Imme diately after he heard some struggling for about five minutes, and then all was quiet again. He took no further noti ce , an d fell asleep. About eigt eight o'clock in the morning he awoke and found the deceased lying on his back on the floor. He spoke to him, but having received no answer, he put his hand on his breast and felt it quite cold. He then found that he was dead. A surgeon was called to him, but it was o f no avail. Witness had never heard him complain of any thing being the matter with him. He belonged to Carlisle. The jury found a verdict to the effect that he had died by the vi sitation of God. The next inquest was held on view of the body of John Connolly, a boatman, aged 38 years. Mary Connolly deposed that she lived in a cellar under No. 11, Brick-street, and that the deceased was her husband. About nine o'clock on Tuesday night last the deceased and herself went to bed. He was then in his usual health ? but for some time past he had complained of a pain in his breast, and par ticularly so after he had been drinking, which, occasionally, he was in the habit of doing freely. About five o'clock the next morning (Wednesday), she was awakened by hearing the deceased snoring !n a loud manner. She spoke to him, and called him by his name, but he made no answer. She then got out of bed, procured a light, and found that he was apparently dying. She ran down stairs to call one of the neighbours, but before she returned, the deceased was dead. The jury found a verdict similar to that in the foregoing case. CHARGE OF AssAuvr.—lnspector Forrest, of the police force, appeared before Francis Haywood, Esq., and William Dixon, Esq., at the police -court on Tuesday, to answer a charge of having assaulted Hugh Murphy, engineer, of No. 12, WlCee-street. The compl a i nan t stated that, on Satur day evening last, he was passing along Burlington-street, when he was accosted by the defendant in a very brutal way. He gave not the slightest provocation, but was walking quietly along, when the defendant advanced up to him and knocked him down with his stick.—Mrs. Gardner was next called, and stated that she went to the door of her shop and saw the complainant on the ground, and the inspector beat ing him in a most brutal manner with his stick. She was so shocked at his violence that she went to him and remon strated with him. His blows were, however, continued with great violence, and she endeavoured to push him away. He still persisted, and she threatened to call a policeman, for as he wore a cloak she did not know that he was a policeman. He threw open his cloak and showed his uniform, saying, "lam a policeman." She replied, " More shame for you; it is pretty work when the police behave this way." He im mediately turned upon her, threatened her with his stick, and used much violent gesticulation. He afterwards went into the shop, and behaved very ill, " quivering " his stick over her, and knocking everything down, so that it took several young women to pick up after him. Mrs. Gardner further averred that the defendant was in drink. These statements were corroborated by a person who is connected with the shop alluded to. The defendant said, that at half past seven o'clock on Saturday night, he was going along Scotland-road, when he saw the complainant following a lady, whose name he had ascertained was Dudley. He had followed close to her, annoying her and insulting her till she was obliged to seek refuge in a shop. He (witness) went to him, seeing that he was waiting at the shop door, and requested him to more on, asking hi m if h e were not ashamed of himself to insult a female in that way. The complainant did not move on, upon which be (defendant) told him he would not permit a repetition of suet behaviour, and that if he persisted he would take him and put hire into bridewell for disorderly conduct. The complainant immediately seized his stick, and broke it, and he (defendant) in return, struck him. A scuffle ensued between them, when the complainant exclaimed, " What right have you to interfere ? The lady who is in the shop is my wife." He immediately went into the shop and asked the lady if that were true. A crowd had gathered about the door by this time. The lady said she was not Isis wife, but he had insulted her. Mrs. Gardner begged the lady not to say that he had insulted her, for if she did they would pull the shop down. He (defendant) was then attacked by several persons ; the females all sur. rounded him, and thrust pins into his posteriors, and in the end he lost a new wig, which cost him three guineas ; and in that manner he was expelled. (Laughter.) The defendant called two respectable young gentlemen (Charles Hague and another) as witnesses. They both stated that they saw Murphy insulting a respectable-looking young woman, in Scotland -road, and that she appeared much annoyed by his pertinacity, and at length took refuge in a shop, They saw the defendant go up to him, and remonstrate with him. They could not say who struck the first blow. The stick got broken by some means, and then the parties closed with each other. The complainant then said, the lady was his own wife, and the inspector had no right to interfere. The inspector took the ,cenaplainant into the shop, and asked her if she was his wife, and she replied that she was not. The young woman was not present, and the magistrates thinking it was essential to the ends of justice that she should appear, adjourned the case to yesterday at two o'clock. - -Yesterday the case was again called ; but as it appeared from the evi dence of several police-officers that Mrs. Dudley, though she had promised to attend, was net present, ate in could not immediately be f oun d, s he having left the h she lived. A clue had, however, been found to her new abode, and the magistrate ordered a summons to be issued for her appearance on Saturday, lath= lie case will be dis posed of. INTERESTING TO APPRENTICES."At the polled &hitt yesterday, before Messrs. Houghton and Bolton, an appren tice to Mr. Hulse, baker, was committed for seven days to neglecting his work and general disobedience; but it did no transpire whether or not a premium had been paid with th , indentures. THE CHAs . c.—The Cheshire hounds will meet this day (Friday,) the 26th instant, at Booth's Obelisk ; to-morrow (Saturday,) the 27th, at Withington ; Monday, the 29th at Hartford Bridge ; Wednesday, the Ist of December, a Duddon Heath; Thursday, the 2d, at Duddon Heath Saturday, the 4th, at Mere Hall,—at half-past ten o'clock , Sir W. Massey Stanley's hounds will meet to-morrow, al Sutton. TAM CYSHANTER.—It will be seen, by an advertisemen in our paper of this day, that Mr. Anderson's figures havt been safely removed to the lower end of Ranelagh.street where they will be more in the way ; and we have no doubi but they will be well attended. Four men have been apprehended at Manchester who have for some time carried on an extensive system of fraud on grocers. They were caught just as they were about starting for Liverpool to embark for America with the produce of their plunder. • THE LATE ROBBERY NEAR KENDAL.—Christopher lon, who was apprehended at Lancaster, on suspicion of having committed the above robbery, underwent an examination at the Town Hall, Kendal, on Saturday last, the 20th instant, when he was committed to take his trial at the next assizes, and was that day conveyed to Appleby Castle. THE CENSUS. —Most of our contemporaries have com mitted an error in giving a statistical account of the popula tion of the counties. It would be inferred that the popula tion given was that of 1811, whilst, through a mistake origi nating in the London Journals, it is that of 1831. The par ticulars of both were correctly given in the STANDARD of Tuesday. A HINT TO OUR CONSERVATIVE FRIENDS.—TO entitle a freeholder or copyholder to lip next year registered as a voter for any Riding, &c., he must be in the actual posses sion of his qualifying property on the last day of January next, at the very latest. It is, therefore, highly important that all conveyances and other deeds of assurance should be completed before the 31st day of January, 1812. REMAINS OF THE RED DEER.—In excavating a drain about ten or twelve feet below the surface of the grounp at Birkenhead, and while cutting through what appeared to be an old peat bog, filled entirely with mouldered leaves and shells of the acorn, the skeleton of a stag, the antlers of one of the red deer, and several skulls of the same tribe, were discovered in a perfect state of preservation. These remains are in the possession of Mr. Cole, architect, Hamilton -street, Birkenhead, who, will be glad to show them to any gentle mail interested in antiquarian researches. ST. BRIDE'S NATIONAL SCHOOLS.—It will be seen by the advertisement in another column that our excellent Bishop is to preach at St. Bride's Church next Sunday mor ning and evening in aid of the funds of these schools, in which there are at present nearly 600 children receiving in struction. This extra collection, we understand, is required to discharge the expenses of fitting up, painting, and com pleting the school-rooms, and to settle the balance remaining due to the treasurer. The advices from Lancashire are not of a cheering cha racter. Messrs. T. and H. Crofts, of Liverpool, who are concerned in the soap trade, have failed, and their liabilities are supposed to amount to £45,000. The acceptances of Messrs. Gisborne and Wilson, calico printers, of Manches ter, a firm of some importance, have been refused. The London money-market has been in no wise influenced by these occurrences, and it is expected in some quarters that the Manchester house will satisfy all its creditors.—Times. BAD HORSMANSHIP AND COOL BRUTALITY.—On Sunday afternoon, Mr. Dowson, a foreign gentleman, requiring a horse for the service of his lady, proceeded to the livery stables of Messrs. Anderson and Brown, Mount-pleasant, where he was in the habit of hiring horses. A fine spirited and valuable horse, which had been a favourite hunter of the late Sir Thomas Stanley, was shown to him and approved. His servant, mounted it and set off home before his master. It was observed by several individuals on the way, that the man was a bad horseman, and more than one apprehended mischief. At length, in St. Anne -street, the horse, having gradually become more impatient of the mismanagement to which he was subjected, darted against a shandry, the shaft of which broke off and entered the chest of the horse. Though the poor animal had the large splinter of the shaft sticking in his breast, the brutal fellow who rode him con tinued to urge him forward as it' nothing had happened. At length he was observed by police-officer 188, who seeing the condition of the horse, stopped him, and dragged the man from his back. The fellow, with thoughtless inhumanity, seized the splinter and tore it from the wound. The blood spouted forth as from a pump. Mr. Dawson at that moment came, and discharged the fellow from his service on the spot. Officer 188 led the horse by the bridle with the intention of taking him to Mr. Bunnell's veterinary surgery. He had not proceeded far, however, when he stopped, staggered, and after reeling for a short time, fell. He struggled convulsively for some minutes, and then expired. The value of the horse would not be less than £5O. It had been hunted only the week before, and came in first of the field. FATAL ACCIDENT AT THE MOUTH OF THE Rivca.--We regret to learn that an accident, attended with very serious consequences, took place on Monday afternoon, in the Vic toria Channel. A small boat, such as those which usually cruise about for employment from inward bound vessels, was out on this errand on the day in question, when, from some cause which we have not heard fully explained, it upset', and the crew, consisting of four hands, were precipitated into the water. One of them succeeded in keeping himself afloat by means of two oars till he was picked up by another boat, which fortunately happened to be near. Of the other three, two sunk, and have not yet been recovered, and the third died immediately on being taken out. An inqtrest was held on Wednesday on view of the body of this man, whose name was Owen Pritchard, when George Garlic, one of his com panions, deposed—that he was a boatman, that he lived in Lumber-street, and that he knew the deceased very well. About eleven o'clock on Monday morning last, the deceased, witness, and two other men went out in a small boat as far as the Formby lightship, to look for a vessel. They had been out some time, and at length were proceeding towards Liver pool. It was blowing very fresh on their return, but they had a fair wind. While they were coming along, a sea struck the boat and upset her, in consequence of which they were all thrown into the water. A man of the name of Edward Newby was close to witness in the water, and in about a quarter of an hour he sunk. Witness did not observe the deceased and the other man after the boat had upset. A boat came to their assistance, and witness was taken out of the water. Just as he got into the boat he saw a man in the act of sinking, and one of the men who had 'picked him up seized hold of the drowning individual, whom witness then recognised to be the deceased. He was taken into the boat, and appeared to be dead. Such means were used by the men in the boat as lay in the boat to bring him round, but they were of no avail, animation having been quite extinct. Nei ther of the other two men who perished eould be found. The deceased was brought to Liverpool, and carried home by somc boatmen. He was 33 years of age. The jnry returned a verdict to the effect that the deceased had died in the man ner described. The other two bodies have not yet been re covered, but the name of one of them has been ascertained to be Edward Newby. RELIEF OF THE POOR AT MANCHESTER.—The distress which was known to exist amongst the poorer classes of this populous and extensive district has excited the attention of the clergy generally, and it is now decided that sermons be preached in the different chu rc h es f or th e immediate relief of the suffering poor. The first sermon for the above object was preached on Sunday morning last. at Christ Church, Salford, by the Rev. Hugh Stowell, M.A., when the collec tion amounted to upwards of £240, and we understand that other sermons are to follow in quick succession. We most sincerely hope that so worthy an example may be generally followed. SUPPOSED MURDER AT WARRINGTON.—A day or t wo ago we gave some p ar ti cu l ars o f an inquiry before the coro ner, at Warrington, respecting the death of a young woman, named Moulds, a dressmaker. It will be recollected that the deceased was found suffocated in a ditch, on Sunday the 14th instant. At the time of the inquest some suspicion attached to a man named Gill, who had been seen with the deceased on the Saturday night, but the jury did not find any verdict inculpating him. A subsequent inquiry, however, took place before the magistrates, on Saturday, the result of which was his commitment to Kirkdale, to take his trial, on the charge of wilful murder, at the next assizes for the county. We have received a report of the evidence adduced before the magistrates, but it is not necessary to publish it, as, for the most part, it was a mere repetition of that taken before th e coroner. The additional facts which bore against the pri soner were that he was seen near the spot where th e woman was found about the time when it is supposed the murder took place, and that the footsteps near the spot corresponded with the shoes of the prisoner. A book belonging to the woman was found at the prisoner's lodgings. It was also stated that cries were heard near the spot about the time of the murder. The prisoner is a native of Worc es t ers hi re, and served his apprenticeship to Mr. William Whitley, iron founder, of Warrington. He is in the 27th y ear of his age, and has been some time married to a young woman, a native of Northwich, in Cheshire. He has one child living. THE LATE CAPTAIN TOWNLEY.—This ga ll ant seaman, who died in this city, on the 3rd instant, afte r an ill ness of three days, commanded her Majesty's nail-packet Merlin, belonging to the Liverpool and Irish station, on which service he had commanded government packets, under the Post-office and Admiralty, for more than seventeen years. Mr. Town ley's perfect knowledge of navigating through the intricate difficulties of the River Mersey, his firm and manly conduct in all cases of emergency, more particularly when in com mand of the Avon, on her voyage to Liverpool from Kings town, during the great storm of January, 1839 (when lie re ceived several injuries on the head, with loss of blood, which considerably impaired his constitution), added to his well known gentlemanly bearing, had secured for him the character of a most efficient, trustworthy, and gallant officer, whose professional services must ever he considered a serious public loss. His fatal illness was contracted in the late storm of tho 17th of October, during which he was lashed for 24 hours to a wet deck, and thus lost his life, as he had spent it, in the service of his country.—Dublin Paper. RADICAL BRIBERY.—We have, on indubitable testimony, the awkward fact, that the expenses on behalf of the liberal candidate, in Pitt-street ward, at the last municipal election, amounted to upwards of £4O, while those incurred by the conservative committee did not exceed £9. And in what way have the immaculate liberals run up all this extra ex. pense? They never bribe, not they, innocent souls : they never treat. But what says the landlord of the Vine Tavern What vouchers has he to show for the correctness of his bill ? Why, TICKETS FOR DRINK, varying from 2d. to Bd. in value, and issued under the hand and seal of the com mittee, BESIDES ORDER S FOE . 200 BREAKFASTS. It is true, that with characteristic shabbineis, after contracting the debt, the liberals demur to the payment, and legal proceed ings have been adopted to enforce it. The tender of £25, however, with whi c h th ey have come forward as a compro mise, is a sufficient confession that a very considerable sum has been laid out beyond the necessary expenses of the elec tion. We were not wrong in giving it as our opinion, from the known character of the liberal party, that if it were at all suspected that the conservatives were dealing in bribery, great care would be taken that they should not have it all to themselves.--Courier. THE FINE ARTS. —The subscription books for the receipt of names to the Postoffice Gallery fund for the encourage ment of the fine arts are now open. We sincerely hope that the public will come forward to support the undertaking this year. Last year the sum received was much under the amount of other periods. We have been told, and we have no reason to doubt our authority—that the artists do not ex ert themselves so much as they might in procuring subscri bers. We assure th em th a t un l ess t h ey are " up and do ing ", a still greater falling off will be found. Times are bad, and though men may admire pictures—they love money better. HIGHW last,AY ROBBERY id AT ST, HELENS.—On Tuesda night about mnight, a pig drover, named Johny M'Cale, was attacked by three men, and robbed of all the money he had in his possession, which, fortunately, however, was not a very large amount. At the time of the attack, M`Cale was intoxicated, having been drinking at a public t house at a place called Blackbrook, distant about a mile and a half from St. Helens, in company with a party of colliers, some of whom are suspected of being the robbers. He was proceeding to his lodgings, and had got about two hundred yards from the public-house, when three men pounced upon him, and cut out his trousers pockets, containing about 175., with which they decamped. Information of the robbery was taken to the police office, St. Helens, on Wednesd a y morn ing, when police-serjeant Lloyd (N o. 309), and police-con stable Green (No. 446), were speedily engaged in investiga ting the affair, and during the day three or four parties were taken into custody on suspicion. INl'Cale identifies a man named Tunstall, who has been apprehended, as one of the parties who made the attack on him. engineer MEETING O MERCHANTS, SHIPOWNERS,' sic MR. GAGE S PLANS •• A meeting was heldort Wednesday, at twelve o'clock,' at the rooms of the Ship mas t ers ' A ssoc i a ti on, f or the purpose of inspecting the plans of Mr. Gage relative to the forma of a new dock or docks, and to a more economical andld vantageous method of layin g o u t cer t a i n ava ilable land of the Dock Estate. The meeting was attended by a number nt, leading mer c h an t s , s hi powners, and others i nteres t e d in the' subject to be considered. In consequence of the interest et.: cited by the subject, Mr. Gage had been invited to attend for the purpose of explaining to the meeting the plans which he has submitted to the Dock Committee. At twelve o'clock W. Rowett, Esq. was invited to take the chair, Mr. Chapman having declined to do so. Mr. Gage be d in the mean time taken his place, with his plans at the table. The CHAIRMAN briefly introduced the subject to the meeting observing that the Shipmasters' Association deemed it a privilege that Mr. Gage had so readily consented to come forward and explain his views. Mr. GAGE proceeded to explain his views to the assembly- As Mr. Gage's discourse was principally a commentary on the plans which he introduced to notice, it will be diffi cu lt to give a clear o r compre h ens i ve view of' his meaning. Th e plans, which may be called the illustrations of his address, which was necessarily very desultory, are wanting to its per fect illustration. The first document introduced was an ingeniously constructed diagram' exhibiting, by means of fluxilineel. curves, a view o f th e proportionate progressive increase of tonnage in Liverpool and London. This showed the actual amount of extraordinary increase, and the extraordinary ratio of increase at certain periods. The lines in this diagram show that London started above Liverpool in its tonnage , and that for a number of years their increase was nearby Ps' rallel—say from 1700 to 1780 ; from 1790 to 1800 a conside rable rise is perceptible ; but from 1800 and upwards the curvature is of a different character alto other, the freque nt abrupt tend enc i es upwar d b e i ng most remarkable, till within close upon the present period, when the line of Liverpool's still rising, while that of London is falling. Mr. Gage said lie introduced this diagram for the purpose of showing the necessity of providing for the future. They might naturallY look forward to an increase of tonnage in the same ratio as formerly, and if it did come, what was to bccome of their trade? It was the necessities of this, and the difficulties which presented themselves, which caused him to investigat e the subject. O n , glancing at the docks he observed, as any person might observe, that they were extended over a very wide space ; that they were in fact scattered. This had, no doubt, arisen from their having been formed as they wer e wanted. The time had come, however, when there was an absolute necessity for the general design, some desig n whereby the space at command should be laid out to the very be.a advantage. Some of the gentlemen to whom he bad submitted these designs had acknowledged that they were good, but said, " The time is gone by—the die is cast—the docks are made, and we cannot alter them." In reply to this, he (Mr. Gage) said, " If your hands are tied up as re gards the past, why dont you begin when you can ?" (Hear.) It was proper for those who had the power to adopt the plans which would give the greatest quantity of loading and dis charging room. As he did not wish to rest on mere opi nions, he had taken surveys at given periods, which be would now submit. Mr. GAGE now opened a sheet containing plans of the Prince's, Victoria, and Waterloo Docks, with the positions, &c. of the vessels actually in them on the 28th of May, 1840. The vessels which were on that day in such positions that the business of discharging and loading could not go on, were coloured grey ; those which were idle were coloured brown' By far the larger proportion of vessels were shown to bay/ been idle. Mr. GAGE next unfolded a sheet containing representa tions of the King's, Queen's, and various other docks, with the vessels at work and those idle represented in like man ner. He observed that many gentlemen present had proba bly observed in his pamphlet an assertion that the King s Dock was the worst constructed dock in Liverpool, but that the new dock, projected according to Mr. Hartley's plan, would be worse than the King's Dock. The fault in the King's Dock was that it had too much width. Mr. Gage here referred to the representations of the King's Dock, with the position of the vessels therein on a given day, and showed not only the number unemployed, but the difficulties which those employed would, when they had completed their busi ness, have in getting out through the great crowd of ship ping, clear of the dock. With the intended dock all these mischiefs would be infinitely increased, not merely on acs count of its shape, but of sundry other errors in its construc tion. This would be a central dock, and they were assured that the central docks were all full while the others were com paratively empty. This was because of the proximity of the central docks to the warehouses. Now, if the projected dock were built in that shape, and were kept constantly full, as they were assured it would be, it would follow that two thirds of the vessels in it would be constantly idle. This it was plain would be a loss in exactly the same ratio to the community. He had brought forward these statements , however, simply to prove that the existing plan was not geed for the despatch of business. Mr. GAGE next produced a sheet containing Mr. Hart ley's plan, with the Salthouse, Canning, and Graving Docks, and a plan of his own. Both occupied the same space, laid out in different ways, the different results arising entirely from the different arrangements. In Mr. Hartley's dock Mr. Gage showed all the vessels which were, on the 28th May, 1840, in the Prince's, and showed the number which would be idle. He said there was an objection alone which, in the opinion of all nautical men and those connected with the dock affairs, was fatal. This was that, for the Canning, Salthouse, and the New Dock, there was to the basin but one entrance. Taking the largest of the vessels in the dock in his compasses, he showed that if such a vessel was enter ing the New Dock, she would, when brought round and hauling in, completely for the time being, block up the en trance and exit for all other vessels to and from the other two docks. Mr. Gage proceeded to point out other incon veniences, and to allude to the expense of constructing new docks for the Graving Docks. He also submitted another plan in which the space was laid out in a different way. The principal features in Mr. Gage's plan may be briefly stated to be, first, the economising of the outward•quay space, and next, the projection of piers or jetties, so as to increase con siderably the line or quay space. These jetties are very in geniously disposed. In the plan last alluded to Mr. Ga g e stated that he had acquired an increase of one acre and three quarters of water, 926 yards or 63 per cent. lineal nuaY 'P ace ' and a considerable quantity of increased warehouse room. The Dock Committee, Mr. GAGE said, had these plans before them, and th e o bj ect i on which they made was, that they both includ e d th e S a l t h ouse Dock, which they were de termined to k eep . H e was therefore requested to draw a plan confining hi mse lf to t h e space intended for the new d oc k. Mr. JOSEPH BROOKS YATES here asked Mr. Gage if the plans had been seen by the Dock Committee before they applied to parliament. Mr. GAGE said, he showed his plans to Mr. Hartley, by desire of Mr. Evans, before the bill was applied for. Mr. Evans observed to him, that he would get plenty of support ers, if it were merely to oppose his (Mr. Evans) views re specting dock warehouses. Mr. Gage disavowed any hos tility to the measure for building dock warehouses. He proceeded to say that he followed the instructions of the Dock Committee, and produced a plan in which he gained 740 yards, or 88 per cent. of lineal quay room, 11 acres of water, and much additional warehouse room. Mr. Gage exhibited the plan. The entrance to the dock was in front, and independent of the basin, and the jetties ran down the centre, so as to admit of the ship being easily berthed, and of the goods being quickly carted off. The committee said this was a good dock, but not having a lock was fatal to it. He replied that they had not in other cases, when they had en trusted a great amount of valuable property, thought a lock necessary. They entrusted even their steamers without a lock, to a dock where the stream was more powerful than at the portion of the river now in question. However, he showed them that his principle would admit of a lock, and he accordingly drew two other plans with locks. Mr. Gage exhibited the first of these plans and pointed out its advan tages. He then showed the second, which he preferred. The jetties in this formed a horse-shoe basin, In this he said there was a great facility of moving vessels. Two of the Dock -masters were present, and made frequent observations. One of them appeared favourable to Mr. Gage's plans ; the other opposed. The latter now took ob jection to the curved wall, which he said would he inconve nient, and would throw ships not having quay berths to too great a distance. Mr. GAGE said the curve would be so slight as scarcely to be perceptible. Mr. YATES said, if a vessel could land her goods as a se cond and third vessel from the quay, she could land them at a curved wall. Mr. CHAPMAN observed, that the foemer acts were ob tained for the safety of vessels, as well as for the facilities of trade : the present act was obtained with a view to the des patch of businesi. They had water space—what they wanted was quay room. Mr. YATES said Mr. Gage's plans gave both water space and quay room. Mr. CHAPMAN alluded to the circuitous line of the pro posed warehouses on the west side of the intended dock. The committee were tied not to build on the opposite side for some years to come. Hence it was impossible to get an en trance to the Mersey. He showed the danger of such a con tinued unbroken line in case of fire, and the advantage of taking a portion of the buildings from the middle thereof and puttin g it at the north- wes t ang l e . Mr. GAGE next produced a plan which he said he deemed the most desirable of the whole. He had in this treated the whole space between the Duke's Dock and George's Dock basin as if it were blank, with the exception of the baths, which were not to be touched. Mr. Gage showed the vast quantity of space wasted, or covered with buildings, ware houses and quays, of comparatively little public use. He wished to direct attention to the result of his mode of arrang ing this space, which afforded more landing and discharging room than all the docks put together. He was not astonished at persons being sceptical on this point. All the vessels in troduced into the plan were taken from actual survey, and he could give any person who desired it the name and position of each when the survey was taken. It is impossible by any mere description to convey a notion of this plan. The docks, however. we may observe, are packed as it were side by side, with the requisite quay space between cap's, their ends being placed towards the river, with the requisite openings at con venient points. They all open into each other, but pf tiro numerous conveniences and niceties of arrangement we can give no notion. Mr. Gage observed that her Majesty's ship Trafalgar could traverse all the docks. Mr. Gage, in conclusion, said, having shown clearly that the space could be had, the question was, would it be wanted ? He thought he had shown that clearly enough by his fluxi lineal curves. Mr. Gage proceeded to show that in his views the space would be wanted almost immediately. He thought we ought not to give way to th e croa ki ng cry t h at Liverpool had obtained her maximum and would go down, for some people did not hesitate to say so : but it was an idea which he would not for a moment countenance. (Cheers.) With all the facilities which had been introduced of late years of steam and other advantages, were they to expect Li verpool to stand still? It was plain that the progress was onward, and such being the case it was their duty to provide for future exigencies. The CHAIRMAN reminded the meeting that Mr. Hartley was invited to be present at that meeting. He would not judge or condemn Mr. Hartley unheard, and perhaps he could yet give them an exposition of his views. Mr. GAGE said he should be extremely happy to meet Mr. Hartley in discussion on the subject. One of the dock masters observed that Mr. Gage's plan did not contain any graving docks. Mr. GAGE said he was drawing a plan with graving docks, Mr. YATES observed that the carpenters were so far re moved from this vicinity that the question of graving docks here required consideration. A memorial was read by the Secretary of the Shipmasters' Association. It was addressed to the Dock Committee. After pointing out th e v i ew s of the Association tou c hi ng t h e several plans submitted by Mr. Gage, it goes to task th e committee o refer all th ose pl a ns to the judgment of so me superior On the motion of Captain Finlay, seconded by Mr. Charles Reed, Esq., the memorial was adopted. Mr. A. F. JONES ' who describ e d hi mself as a practical shipbuilder, who had been an observer of docks from his o t fh a G n a n g e e d ' n p- exceedingly inconvenient and straggling, childhood, spoke e t x h i e st l i i n ig g h d e n s e t k t s er a m nsd bei s by pl A an ir s : space most wastefully. The great error, he a H n ad d r t nl c ee o ye n ,n pa e ys n g said, an of having their entrances crossing each other at right angles, which was visible in the King's Dock, was repeated in Mr. Hartley's plan. Mr. YATES, after a few words in favour of the plans of M r. Gage, recommended that they should be made public. Mr. GAGE said he was about to have them printed. On the motion of Mr. YATES, seconded by Mr. JoNEs, the thanks of the meeting were voted to Mr. Gage. Mr. GAGE returned his acknowledgments. On the Motion of Mr. GAM, seconded by Mr. YATES, thanks were voted to the Chairman, and the meeting broke up. occ the the tif) eft', N7a, boa vale clue con Mai and but to :V then the t yard open ere t is a 1 the t with all t Oiss sped Mr. is aff tive press of th that as be subsi of th havii adva on ti per c hand other the n adve the v held. that he k of F three whet bine( class to ac whic . appro It is fourt withi land are in F whor insta have But that quire to be form peno V )" ngl few engii felt them Helve to p engii by t frei g the ti Duly l'lgtll oard on ti Ways vXpr depa Aerie than 'hub that to th tical Cha t wool aunt] by vv