The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-05-19 00:00:00

N '‘ NNN\ ~~~ ~~Ct~ a 'C'X finperial 4laritaintnt. HOUSE OF LORDS.-THURSDAY. IRISH MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS' BILL. Lord KENYON moved the order of the day for going into c ommittee on the municipal corporations' (Ireland) bill, and hearing counsel at the bar. The Marquis of LANSDOWNE said, he trusted counsels' arguments would be confined to the details, and not be allowed to be directed against the principle of the bill. He wished them to have no advantage more extensive than was allowed in the English municipal corporations' bill. Sir CHARLES WETHERELL was then heard at great length against the bill, on behalf of the Dublin corporation. On the motion of Lord KENYON. the further hearing of counsel was postponed to Friday. Their lordships then adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS.^TFIURSDAY A great number of petitioni On various subjects were pre sented. Mr. HUTT gave notice that, on the 26th, he should bring forward a motion respecting the grinding of corn in bond. Mr. G. PALMER said, as the motion respecting China, of which he had given notice, had been so long delayed, that its being carried could not now prevent hostilities, he should not bring it on. Mr. C. LUSHINGTON gave notice, that in committee on the Canada bill he should move an addition to the clause re straining the crown from appointing any spiritual person to the legislative council. In answer to questions from Sir G. CANNING, Lord PALMERSTON said the present state- of our relations with Persia was exactly what it had been for the last twelve months. Last summer an envoy, from Persia came here, to whom he gave a distinct statement of our demands ; the en voy gave a reply fat from satisfactory ; for, professing to agree to all those demands, it in reality proceeds to neutralise that profession by the way in which it pretended to carry it out. To that reply a rejoinder bud been sent, which would hare • reached Teheran late in March. The answer had not yet been received. Negotiations were in progress for bringing about a settlement, and nothing had occurred to destroy the hope held out in her majesty's speech, that this settlement might be expected at no distant period, because the last communi cation from Persia announced the determination to comply with our deMands, and probably that had not been done be cause of the misunderstanding of our demands. Sir John M`Neil was now on leave of absence obtained last year. The second officer was in office as charge d'affaires. The consul at Talriz had his commission still. Mr. M. PHILLIPS asked the - attorney-general when it was likely that the question respecting the validity of the charters of the corporation lately graited to some large towns was to be settled. The litigation which was going on was leading to a state of total disorganisatiqin in thoSe towns, and it was most important that it should be settled at thq earliest period. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL bad expected thiat very d 4 the case would have been argued in the Exchequer Chamber; however, some of the judges had been obliged to attend the Central Criminal Court, and the case was now fixed to be argued on the 21it of this month, on which slay he trusted there would be a favourable result. • In answerto a question from Mr. W. Puttee, Mr. LABOUCIIERE said that negotiations were still being carried on between this country and France ; treaty had actually been concluded. NEW WRIT FOR LUDLOW. Lord DARLINGTON then moved the new writ for Ludlow, disclaiming all intention of discourtesy to Lord John Rus sell, in having refused the requests which had been made for postponing the matter till his return. Lord J. RUSSELL acquitted the noble lord of any personal discourtesy, but thought it wou!d have been more advan tageous to the public to have allowed fuller time for conside ration. After such evidence as that which had been printed, and which showed that neither political party could pride itself on exemption from the corruptions proved, he believed that either of those parties would injure itself in public opinion which should be found justly chargeable with any endeavour to pass over such proceedings without notice. He had seen cases where the evidence of bribery was more direct, but none which showed a more disgusting course of conduct, both in the constituent body and in those who stood in very high relations towards them, than this of Ludlow. The two cases proved cannot he taken as the whole amount of bribery, but only as a sample. His object, however, was not so much to deal with this particular case , as t o introduce a general measure for the prvention of treating, he would propose that it should be illegal, not only during the election, and for a month after, but at any time before. As to bribery, he would bring within the penalties not only a gift or a posi tive promise, but any imp ied or indirect contract. For the purpose of procuring testimoity, he would give a general in demnity to -witnesses who might be called on to criminate themselves. And if all this should prove ineffectual, it might perhaps his proper to give the seat to the candidate who stood second on the poll, provided he were clear of corruption, as against one who had obtained a greater number of votes by these dishonest practices. Mr. HAWES, in pursuance of the tactics of Monday and Tuesday, moved, as an amendment, that a select committee should be appointed to inquire into the recent bribery and corruption at Ludlow ; and that meanwhile the writ should be suspended. He remarked that the opposition, though professing to be the friends of religion and the church, were strangely silent on the subject of the enormities committed at elections. Lord John's bill might be calculated to do considerable good, but would he insure its passing ? And was a candidate to go down by to-night's mail and tell the electors that the House of Commons was ready to connive, and that the money might be taken with safety ? Mr. HUmE contended, that Lord John's own speech made a case for inquiry. The noble lord had stated precedents for suspending the writ; and yet, instead .of voting for suspen sion, he proposed to rely upon public feeling! Sir R. PEEL said, that the question of issuing or suspend ing the writ must depend upon the circumstances of each par ticular case. Here had been a very impartial committee, which had not 'deemed She evidence of bribery sufficient to justify the suspension. No doubt there was ample evidence of treating; and it might be very proper to enact prospec tively that treating should be placed on the same footing with bribery ; but let not the house deal ex post facto, and apply that penalty to a bygone election. In the principle of Lord John's measure he would cheerfully co-operate, but he would bind himself to its details. It would be very difficult to distinguish harmless from corrupt treating ; and to do too much would be clearly dangerous, for it was never safe to run counter to the national feeling ; and in England that feeling was certainly favourable to general hospitality and entertainment. With reference to what had been said by Mr. Hawes about the silence of the conservatives on the sub ject of bribery, he was not aware of any great advantage to be derived from dealing in declamatory assertions ; but he strongly felt that to get rid of corruption was alike the in terest o( all parties in the state. Lord SAN DON rose fur the purpose of correcting an erro neous impression which had got abroad respecting the con ' duct of this committee. It seemed to he nnderstood in the house that the committee had closed the investigation with an intimation to counsel that they need not carry it further, as sufficient had been proved to vacate the seat. Now, no such fact had taken place. On one side there was only one case of bribery alleged—on the other there were ten cases alleged. The committee had examined into five of those cases, and had never hinted its opinion upon one of them to counsel until they had closed their case. (Hear, hear.) So far from it, the committee pursued its investigations for some time after Mr. Clive had announced his intention to retire from the contest. He did not think that hou. mem bers opposite bad a right to taunt hou. gentlemen on his side of the house with being the abettors of bribery and corrup tion, when they recollected that it was before this very com mittee that the immaculate secretary of the Reform Associa tioq had been convicted of dispensing bribes (loud cheers from the opposition)—when they recollected that it, was this very secretary (Mr. Coppock) who had got up and presented fourteen reform petitions against the return of hon. members on his side of -the house, for the mere purpose of disqualify ing them from sitting on election petitions. (Loud cheers from the same quarter.) He confessed that he did not think that the'reform party had any right to taunt the conservative party in that house with a peculiar attachment to corruption, or to glory in their own unimpeached and unimpeachable purity. (Vociferous cheers from the opposition.) He knew that it was the custom of hon e gentlemen opposite, whenever his friends would not redress a grieyance by the commission of an act of injustice, tr, taunt them with being supportet s of the grievance, and to keep out of sight that their objection was to the mode, and not to. the necessity, of redressing it. He hoped that the crime of bribery would be pursued hence forward with all the rigour of the law, but not with a rigour beyond the law. (Ironical cheers from .the ministerial benches.) And, as the house had never yet come to a reso lution declaring that treating was sufficient to disqualify a constituency, he had no difficulty in voting upon this occa sion in favour of the motion for the immediate issue of the writ. (Hear, hear.) Mr. WAELEY advised the mover of the amendment to withdraw it, and propose it as a substantive motion. Lord John and Sir Robert Peel, he said, would then be obliged to vote fur it, if they meant to act consistently with their speeches of to-night. Sir lionear PEEL denied that he had uttered anything which could bear such a construction, and said when the mo tion was made he should judge for himself. Mr. WARBURTON and Mr. AGLIONay supported the mo- ClOil. Mr. T. Duscom tsEspoke on the same side, and conc l u d e d the diettsriii by reading extracts from the printed evidence. "File then took place, when the numbers appeared— Fiir the amendment Against it - Majority -78 anendinent being negatived , t he main question was cirred without further contest. The next contest was on tne Cambridge writ, which Sir Joan Walsh moved without any introductory observations. Mr. W An.Buiirm: said, though there had been less bribery at Cambridge than at Ludlow. yet there had been more inti midation ; and he referred to certain passages of the evidence as s upporting his as,s,•tion, particular ly . to a manifesto against intimidation, put forth by some leading members of the uni versity. He moved the appointment of a committee, and the suspension of the writ, as proposed in the preceding case. air. HumE, in a few words, reproached the house for its indifference to such subjects, and a division was then taken. Ayes 162 Noes 75_ Majority --Si The writ therefore was ordered, as in the case of Ludlow. Mr. DuNcousE moved the discharge of Stockdale and his attorney, Mr. Howard, which was generally acceded to, on the ground, that the recent statute having precluded the re petition of the offence, it was unworthy of the house to maintain a contest with these two individuals. Mr. BAINLS raised a roar of laughter by suggesting that " poor Thorogood" should be included in the amnesty ; but the house, though much amused, did not extend the order of discharge to that sturdy nonconfomist. HOUSE OF LORDS.—F E/D. ,,y. The tithe commutation act amendment bill, and the insol vent debtors bill, went through committee. The Marquis of WESTMEATH directed attention to the persecution of the Jews, hoping that the good offices of go vernment would he used to prevent, if sossible, any continu ation of it. Lord SERANGFORD called attention to papers respecting piracies on the shores of the Adriatic. It appeared that ap. plication had been made to her majesty's government on the the part of the King of Naples, requesting her Majesty's good offices in procuring the suppression of the piracies. But on the 27th of Feb , 1833, Lord Palmerston replied to Count Rudolph to the effect, that her ;Majesty could not attend to any request from the Neapolitan government until the sul phur monopoly question was settled ; whereupon the Count wrote to Lord Palmerston expressing his surprise at receiving such an answer, after the promise of assistance which her majesty's government had previously given to the govern ment of the King of Naples. That note of Count Rudolph was not included in the papers laid upon the table. He should be glad to have a return of it. Lord MELBOURNE acquiesced. The Marquis of NORMENBY, in answer to a question from Lord Glengall respecting correspondence relating to appoint ments under the poor-law commissioners in Ireland, stated that if the correspondence existed, it should be laid ou the table. Lord ELLENBOROUGH said that he found in the papers laid on the table, that the proceeding s of the commissioners, in respect to valuations, were illegal. The Marquis of NomunANBY answered that he should cer tainly call the attention of the commissioners to the subject. The noble marquis then laid on the table of the house returns from the poor-law commissioners in Ireland. The house afterwards resumed the hearing of counsel against the municipal corporations (Ireland) bill. Mr. Professor Butt was board and cheered. N \~ ~ ~~~ ~~ The Duke of WELLINGTON opposed proceeding with the bill further until there should be a fuller attendance of p e ers. Further proceedings were fixed for Friday next, after which heir lordships adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS.—FRIDAv. In the Commons very little business was done, beyond the forwarding some private bills a stage, and receiving some pe titions, previously to the introduction of TILE BUDGET. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER brought on the financial statement for the year. He stated the ordinary income of the year, ending April 5, 1840, at £47,685,223, and the total income at £47,843,202. The total expenditure was £49,300,424, being a deficiency of £1,457,222. The deficiency, however, had been anticipated, to the extent of a million, by a vote of Exchequer bills, reducing the balance unprovided for to £457,222. But this was not all deficiency on the ordinary expenditure of the year. In the course of last year £260,000, granted in 1838 to the clergy in Ireland, was issued in Exchequer bills, leaving the balance of the deficiency of the year unprovided for £197,000. The defi ciency was estimated by Lord Monteagle at £935,000, but he had made no calculation as to the deficiency in the amount received from postage, and the actual deficiency on that head had been considerable—£2ss,ooo. Taking the postage into account, the difference between his noble friend's :estimate and the actual result was only £12,000. H e came th en to the immediate subject of consideration, the- expectation of ' expenditure and income of the current year. The total charge on the consolidated fund was £31,877,000 ; the army, navy, ordnance. and miscellaneous estimates, amounted to £16,880,000. The whole was £48,757,000. With respect to the China expedition, the expenditure will be charged on her Majesty's goverpment, but will be advanced, in the first instance, by the govtfrnment of India. He proposed, how ever, to make au estimate on that account. The amount estimated as the expense of the preparation of the expedition, up to Ist May, 1840, was £54,000 ; and taking this as the rate, if the expedition should last six months from May 1, its expenditure would amount to £162,000, making the total cost of the expedition £216,000. He would take a vote of £150,000 on •account. Including a vote for the navy com mission of £75,000 a vote for the expenses in Canada of £350,000, and this vote of £150,000 on account of China, the total estimated expenditnre of the year ending sth April, 1841, was £49,432,000. He came now to the expected revenue. The right honourable gentleman entered into a statement of the inconvenience caused by the deviation from the usual practice this year, of framing the estimates not from the beginning of the financial year, sth April, but from the beginning of the year, sth January, 1841. It was usual for the heads of departments, he observed, to understate the expected revenue t for he had never known a case in which the actual amounOlid not exceed the estimates of the heads of departments. They bad now, he said, got the actual in come for one quarter, which had been estimated up to the sth April, 1840. From this return, it appeared that for the quarter ended sth April, 1839, there was received in the four principal departments of customs, excise, stamps, and taxes, £8,069,000 £8,339,000 And for the year ending sth April, 1840, Being an increase from these four sources on the first quarter alone of £270,000 Including every part of the revenue, even the Post-office, upon which the right honourable gentleman opposite had es timated the loss for the year at £1,470,000, taking in the loss from the Post-office, the enormous amount which would be lost reached only £273. This announcement was received with great cheering. Looking at the condition of the country, he did not see sufficient grounds to justify him in supposing that in the course of next year the sources of revenue were likely to produce less than in the past pear. With regard to the Post-office, he proposed to take the estimate given in by the Post-office authorities. He could not but think that the estimate of £530,000 was a fair estimate to lay before the house. The whole amount of our estimated income was taken by him at £47,034,000: The right hon. gent. alluded to the negotiations now going forward for a commercial treaty with France, and he thought it would not be fair if he did not state that the commercial treaty, if carried into effect, might cause a deficiency in the revenue of £300,000. He adverted next to the relief proposed to be given to the post-masters. He proposed to reduce the different rates to an average of £3, a small reduction, but one which would prove extremely use ful. Allowing for this deduction, the income of the country, on which they could rely for the ensuing year, was £46,700,000. Deducting the income frbin the expenditure, the deficiency on the year would be £2,732,000. Having made these state ments, the right hon. gent. came to a subject respecting which much anxiety has been felt in the city, namely, his mode of meeting the deficiency. He announced that her Majesty's government were not prepared to recommend to Parliament to meet the deficiency by any new system of loans. When, after all reduction, there was still a deficiency of in come as compared with expenditure of £2,732,000, he was not prepared to make a provision for that deficiency by any temporary expedients, which would be only staving off the difficulty ; he would not place the hand of the tax-gatherer on any new object of taxation. Upon consideration, he felt that it was best to propose an increase on the duties already existing. Stamps should not be included in the new regula tion ; but he was prepared to take a per centage upon the Ex cise duties, the Customs duties (except in some few instances) and upon the assessed taxes. He proposed five per cent. °al the Excise and Customs duties, and ten per cent. upon the assessed taxes ; and he begged to acquaint the house that the per centage should be taken, not upon the value of the com modity or article taxed, but upon the amount of duty now collected. The right bon. gent. then went over the different items of revenue. There were so many different rates of duties on spirits that the application of the per centage to them would throw the whole trade into confusion. He pro posed, therefore, that one uniform rate of duty, an additional tax of 4d. per gallon should be imposed on all English, Scotch, Irish, colonial, and foreign spirits. He should leave corn out of the new arrangement. The duties on railways, stage-car riages, and post-horses, were originally stamp duties, but for the sake of convenience, they had been transferred to the Excise; but he thought an exception should be made of ar ticles of this class, and he therefore proposed to exempt post horses, stage-carriages, and railways, from the general prin ciple. He calculated the additional duty on spirits would yield him £276,000. There has lately been great laxity and inattention in houses and window taxes. It was not pro posed to call for arrears, but to be more strict for the future. The amount of 5 per cent. on the Customs and Excise would yield £1,426,000. The duty of 4d. on spirits would yield £484,000, the assessed taxes would yield X 276,000. He ex pected from the new survey of houses and windows £150,000. There was still a deficiency of £400,000.; and, as 'in regard to the vote for China and Canada, he was not prepared to make any permanent additions to the burdens of the country on that account, he proposed to meet the deficiency by a vote of credit. The actual sum which lie estimated would be paid in would make a total of £48,501,000. The right hon. gent. concluded with moving a series of resolutions in accordance with his statement. Mr. HUME complained, that when the estimates were voted, which created the deficiency now in discussion, there was not an attendance of one-fifth of the members. There had been no falling off in the revenue, nor did the deficiency arise from the permanent charges on the consolidated fund, but from the annual votes of the house, which had now in creased the expense of the naval, military, and other esta blishments by £2,180,000. This was in order to oppress our colonists in Canada and elsewhere ; and now the day of reckoning was come. The new regulations of the postoffice ought to have produced a saving; but. instead of that, the government had aggravated expense, by adding a vast num ber of new attendants. But what he chiefly deprecated was the continuance of the system of taxation, by which he alleged that the pockets of the rich were spared at the ex pense of the poor. Above all, he condemned the preference which he said that the possessors of landed property enjoyed over the possessors of personalty. The government were fast following the example of France, where the exemptions of the rich drove the poor at last into actual insurrection, and overthrew the monarchy. He would divide against this resolution. Why had the tones been forced from office ? Because people expected economy from the whigs. At first the whigs did something to gratify that expectation, but they had now abandoned the principle on which they had obtained their places. He concluded by moving, as an amendment, that there should be an equal evalization of the duties on real and personal property. The chairman, Mr. BERNAL, suggested that this amend ment could not regularly be made in this committee, upon which this technical discussion arose. Lord JOHN RUSSELL observed, that the business of this committee was to provide new means of meeting a certain expenditure ; but it did not appear that Mr. Hume's reso lution must necessarily provide any new means whatever. Mr. GOULBURN concurred in this view, and thought the resolution irregular also on account of its vagueness. Mr. HUME then altered his amendment by proposing " a tax on the descent of real property, on a scale varying from 1 to 10 per cent., according to the tax on the transmission of personal property." Mr. LANGDALE said, that as the land pays stamp duty on transfers, which funded property does not, he would propose, in addition to Mr. Hume's mdtion, that stamp duties should be paid on the transfer of funded property. To this Mr. HUME replied by appealing to the national faith, pledged to the public creditor by the acts under which the debt was created. But at least, rejoined Mr LANDALE, in point of justice, the argument against the land is answered. Mr. EWART was for taxing the landowners, mainly for this logical reason, that they possess a considerable influence in the House of Commons, and a preponderance in the House of Lords. He was also desirous to try the experiment of re ducing duties for the purpose of increasing trade and con sumption, and thus eventually deriving a larger revenue from lower impost. Mr. TURNER said, he could not support the resolution of government. Colonel SIBTHORP also disapproved of it. He would rather have seen a tax on champagne than on spirits, and would have thought it better still to tax the salaries of ministers. Mr. GOULBURN glanced at the various absurdities of the preceding speakers, and particularly at the blunders of the members for Kilkenny on the subject of landed descents. He then addressed himself to the Chancellor of the Exchequer's statement, and expressed his regret that the government had not begun to grapple with the deficiency in the revenue until the mischief had attained its fourth year. If Canada had been, as Mr. Hume had been contending, a source of extra ordinary expense, Mr. Hume himself, by his inflammatory communications with that country, had been mainly the cause of the evil. After exposing the infirmity of the grounds o n which the Chancellor of the Exchequer had founded his estimates of probable income, Mr. Goulburn reminded the house, that even on the assumption of all those estimates as accurate, there would still be a vote of credit, or in plain terms, a borrowing of money, to the amount of about a mil lion sterling—according to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, £850,000. With respect to the additional taxation proposed, he would vote — because the exi g encie s o f t h e country's pre_ sent situation required him to vote—in favour of the resolu tion of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but he much appre hended that under a great number of the heads of revenue the increase of impost would produce a decrease of consump_ tion. He pointed out several objections to the details of the government plan, particularly with _retferencehe proposaltothoe four penny duty on spirits ; and regretted_ a new _f x i es o as b the ei p n o g or likely t s o u rv r e e n y d e f r t th e e p window urp But so far as respected the os e t s a o x f a t the eat oc cupiers of inferior tenements. oppressionassessed principle of providing permanen t of the country, he maintenance of the strength and cha racter financial means for the fully agreed with the Chancellor of the Exche q uer. Mr. LABOUCHERE vindicated the plan of Government, and touched briefly on the mistakes of Mr. Hum e, and others He of the accustomed supporters of Government. congra tulated himself and his friends on the temperate tone of Mr. Goulburn's speech ; and stated some details as to the re ceipts in late years from the Customs and Excise, showing that their present produce was little less than it had been when the rate of duties was much higher. Mr. Wsnatiwrorst thought the budget had been framed not so much with a view to benefit the country as for the purpose of getting easily through the committee. He found fault with the indiscriminate character of the universal im post of 5 per cent. Sir R. FEEL thOUght 9 that on the whole, the addition of a general per centage to a small amount was less injurious than the taxation of a new article. The derangement was less, and there was no necessity for new establishments. It was ver y mortifying, however, that after so man y y ears of pe ac e been a regularly gro w i ng i ncrease in the expendi e ; b the f i na nce should be in its present st a t e . F or severa l years h had the income in the last three sess i ons h a d ex hibi te d t a tu p re r r o e b gress ive deficiency. He feared, too, th a t suc h causes o f expen dit u re as Canada and China might recur in future years. But, at all events, he was persuaded that the time had come when permanent taxation must be substituted for the discreditable system of temporary expedients. He knew the difficulty of making exceptions, and, though he wished some relief upon raw materials, he would not press that ea- ,_. `~\ ~a i emption if it were found to impede the main object. A great part of the present deficiency arose from the change in the Post-office—nearly one-half. He believed that a general rate of 3d. on every letter would have been better for the country than a tax of 5 per cent. upon raw cotton. He could uot, however, pledge himself to propose that increase of postage. It might be very inexpedient to restore a tax, although it had been quite proper to oppose its abolition. He would find no fault with the proposal to increase the assessed taxes, though Ireland would be wholly exempt from that chapter of the new levy, inasmuch as' she pays no assessed taxes at all; and indeed it would have been strange if the Chancellor of the Exchequer, considering from what sources he derived his support, had made any proposal to equalize this burden as between the two countries. Sir Robert Peel concluded by enforcing that true economy which consists in the maintenance of the public credit, and affords the means of fairly and honestly reducing the interest of the public debt. Air. WARBURTON travelled into the Post-office question, eagerly vindicating the recent change. Mr. GiLtoN, as far as his meaning could be collected, appeared in favour of Mr. Ilume's amendment. Sir. GEORGE CLERK thought the Chancellor of the Exche quer had not followed out his own principle far enough. It would have been better to make a larger provision against deficiency, especially as the calculations of government ap peared to be excessively sanguine. Mr. BRISCOE concurred in the opinion that a larger taxation should have been raised, so as not only to guard against deficiency, but to secure a respectable surplus, without which this country could not preserve the respect and in fluence due to her. Air. DARBY believed it the cheapest mode of defence to keep up a surplus of revenue beyond expenditure. He wished exemptions for hops and malt. Lord. J. RUSSELL recommended it to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to resist all solicitations for exemptions. He thought the country as well able to meet an expensive war, as if she had struggled to keep up the old system of a sinking fund. As to the postage remission, he did not look upon it as a question of revenue ; and if the Post-office were never to yield a larger amount than £500,000, he should not at all regret that the change had been made. He hoped as the statement of the Chancellor of the Exchequer had met the general approbation of the house, that Mr. Hurpe would not think it necesaary to divide upon his amendment. Mr. GROTE pleaded for the exemption of marine insu rances. Mr. 'VILLIERS complained that our whole taxation was contrary to philosophical principles. Mr. MUNTZ thought this was peculiarly a time when the government and aristocracy ought to relieve the working classes. In his opinion, a property-tax would have been the right measure. Mr. HUME said Sir R. Peel seemed to think there were only two ways of meeting the difficulties of our position— taxes or loans. He wondered the right hon. baronet should not perceive that there was a third way--by the diminution of expenditure. As to his own amendment, it would be found that if the land were taxed on its descent from father to son to the amount of only 2 per cent., it would produce about £2,300,000. (He seems to be wholly ignorant that hardly any considerable estate is ever suffered to descend at all, the land being put in settlement by every fresh generation, and paying on that settlement large ad valorem duties. The land suffered to descend, which alone would pay Mr. Hume's duty, is almost wholly that of the little yeomanry •, so that his tax would be peculiarly a tax on the poor and middling classes. Of the legacy duty, too, which Mr. Hume seems to fancy is a tax upon personal property alone, a very large proportion is paid for legacies charged on land.) Lord IN GESTATE bade Mr. Hume recollect that the poor andcounty rates are exclusively borne by the land. (Add the land tax and the malt tax, and then let Mr. Hume, ac cording to his own classic expression, " take his change out of that.") The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said he objected to Mr. Hume's tax precisely for the reason for which Mr. Hume urged it—namely, that it would press on the agricultural in terest exclusively. The chief defalcation here arose from the postage reduction. Who had been the gainers by that? Surely not the agriculturists. The other classes had reaped almost the whole of that advantage ; and yet the hon. member wished that the entire cost of it should be defrayed by the agricul turists. Mr. HumE, with that firmness which in lowlier men is called obstinacy, persisted to divide, and his amendment was negatived by a large majority. Another division took place, at the instance of General JOHNSON, on the resolution respecting spirits, which how ever was carried, as were afterwards the remaining resolu tions, without division. MURDER OF LORD WILLIAM RUSSELL. (From the Times of Friday.) THURSDAY. — This day Curvoisier was again brought up for examination. Previous to Mr. Hall taking his seat on the bench several persons of distinction arrived, and were accommodated with seats near the magistrates , among whom were the Duke of Brunswick, Count Alan, Earl Clarendon, Colonel Angelo, Earl Mansfield, Captain Donellan, Colonel Fox, Sir George Beaumont, Mr. Murray, the secretary to the church commissioners, the Earl of Essex, the Hon. Edw. Phipps, Mr. Hodgson, private secretary to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sir Watkin W. Wynn, and several others. It was stated that some persons of distinction bad attended for the purpose of giving evidence respecting the character of the prisoner while in their service. After the examination of the maid servants was again gone into at great length, the prisoner was remanded. During the examination he paid the greatest attention to the evidence, and seemed perfectly com posed. The crowd collected opposite the house of the late Lord William Russell has been to-day considerably less than on any of the preceding days, the point of attraction being the police-office, Bow-street, where it was known Courvoisier would be examined. About twelve o'clock Mr. Commissioner Mayne arrived at the house, as did also Mr. Superintendent Barker, but in consequence of most of the persons who have been actively engaged in examining the premises being required to attend for the purpose of giving evidence before the magistrates, the examination was not proceeded with to-day. The whole of the property missed from the house, and sup posed to have been stolen, has been found on the premises, with the exception of the silver tablespoons and brooches. The watch, as was stated yesterday, was found on Wednes day. It was discovered in the sink removed from the pantry, and which, after its removal, was thrown into the yard, where, on Wednesday, it attracted the attention of a sergeant of the C division, who began examining it, and eventually turned back the lead from the wooden frame, where he dis covered the watch artfully placed in between. The lead had evidently been beaten down after the watch had been intro duced, and the glass of the watch was broken, which was apparently all the injury it had received. There was no chain or seals attached, and what makes its preservation most re markable is the fact that the sink, since its removal, had been repeatedly used as a stool, without a suspicion being entertained that it was the repository of a portion of the pro perty. Under the flooring of the pantry a sovereign was also found, which is supposed to have been one of those stated by Cour voisier to have been seen by him with the £lO and £5 notes in the possession of his lordship on the evening previous to the murder. Soon after one o'clock Mr. Commissioner Mayne left, and shortly after a hackney-coach drew up at the door, into which Superintendent Baker, accompanied by the cook and house maid, got, and proceeded to Bow -street, followed by Inspec tor Tedrr an in a cab, with a number of bundles and other property. The following paragraph appeared in the Sun of Saturday, hut we do not find it corroborated by the morning papers of yesterday : Norfolk-street, Saturday, Three o'Clock, p.m. , . . " The workmen engaged at the residence of this ill-fated nobleman, resumed their researches at an early hour this morning, anticipating that the whole of the missing articles would be found. " In the course of the day Inspector Tedman, Sergeant Pcllard, and four constables, made an important discovery (which, it is stated, was a shirt spotted with blood belonging La Courvoisier), which was the resultfof their labours yester day. It is reported that they found this morning a waist coat, also spotted with blood, belonging to Courvoisier." STATE OF TRADE. LEEDS.—We are happy to be able to report that the im provement in the demand for woollens still continues. On Saturday the business done in the Cloth Halls was much more extensive than of late, and on Tuesday the sales were considerable. BRADFORD MARKET.—There was a fair business done in the piece market here on Thursday, principally at former rates, which scarcely underwent alteration. The yarn mar ket was very flat, and prices were scarcely maintained. In the wool market the transactions were limited, and though the stocks are light, prices had a tendency to decline. HUDDERSFIELD MARKET.—Our report of this market last week is equally applicable to-day, there being consider able sales effected in most descriptions of goods, especially in that of fine fancy woollen and waistcoatings of superior ualities. Prices remain firm, perhaps a little improved. Considerable activity prevails in the warehouses. Work is also more plentiful, and the mills are generally working full time. The price of wools is stationary. Foreign orders are comparatively few. WAKEFIELD WOOL MARKET.—We are still unable to quote any improvement in the long wool trade,—the few sales that are passing average in quantity with what has been doing for two or three weeks past, and prices are about main taiued. Clothing are in fair demand at full quotations. HECKNIONDWIKE BLANKET HALL.—On Monday last, there was a good attendance of buyers, and more business done in consequence. On '1 hursday only two buyers at tended. The late wet weather has prevented goods being dried and finished, consequently few samples are in the mar ket, besides which, the present low price of the manufactured article in comparison to that of wool, makes only the needy sell. The goods cannot he replaced at the prices given. BARNSLEY LINEN TRAM—A slight improvement in the linen trade, we are happy to say, has taken place in this town. A number of hands have found employment at several warehouses ; as the summer approaches it is expected that the trade will assume its usual briskness. ROCHDALE FLANNEL MARKET, MAY 11.—We,haVe had a very fair demand for pieces again to-day ; and many flan nels•have been sold, though at low rates. Wool has fully maintained the last week's prices, and for nods some little advance has been asked, though not generally obtained.— Leeds Intelligencer. THE IRON Worms.—Wages have declined from 71 to 15 per cent., both at Merthyr and at all the works on the hills. The reduction, however, will be felt by few except the improvident. Some classes, unfortunately, are compelled to suspend work, more or less, owing to the great scarcity of water.—Birmingham Adrertiser. In the MARKET for METALS business has been very dull, but the only decided change in the value of any article is in whichEast re l d n u ci c i e a d ti r n a , te of of76s p per cwt. of Banca were yesterday offered at publi c auc ti on , an d were o bli ge d t o b e b oug ht i n a t the CHURCH PASTORAL AID SOCIETY.—The anniversary meeting of this society was held on Tuesday. in the large room in Exeter Hall, London, when there was a very nu merous and most respectable assemblage of ladies and gen tlemen. Among other supporters of the institution on the platform were the Marquis of Cholmondely, Lord Ashley, M.P., the Right Revs, the Lord Bishops of Chester, Ripon, Norwich, and Lichfield, the V enera bl e Archdeacon Wilber force, Mr. Chancellor Raikes, &c.; Lord Ashley took the chair, and, in an appropriate speech, expressed his gratifica tion at the progress the society had made, and the amount of benefit of which, although only five years in existence, it had already been productive. The secretary then read the report of the committee, from which it appeared that the receipts during the past year were £16,176., being an increase of £5753. upon the year preceding. To the list of clergy sub scribing, 200 names had been added, and 37 auxiliary asso ciations had been formed, to which 22 clergymen had given their services as corresponding members. Grants had been made to 76 incumbents, having the charge of 534,800 souls, grant andof Xe chapels. had s. l b hi t e o e g n ee tl m ha.ye a r d a, e sx t s o t w aan a 9 rf the swu pa s. broughtbuilding oafn churcheswhichn u ally by the society to t o t f e x s u r , v B i s c 4 e of per. t the e a c n h n u u r m c h . e o e f To n C hde h e e ßd s et by y r . s io a n n t d hu 3 s 6 benefited was Tp o o f tive E t eandgggl in nengdta aggregate ar n m d o 196 labours,unt o clergymen f pa population paulcaot the Bishop of Lichfield, was car moved esti mated theat as adoption many as 2 t 1 0 1 eOO ,report,OOOri.e joxt H he u aire g t h imann S g t a : ft w ane e r l d l w a tt n i d echm t h ao e cvtin ß o t e eg v . 01 of M ptah r r . at: S tike4 ln s c iw la e i r r e n g e iv x e t n ad to dr t e h s e se n cl o t b h le e d wThiilcehßb unanimously.iesihnops GRAND CONCERT. AXONS. DOHLER has the honour to announce a Grand I.VI. CONCERT 'of VOCAL. and INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC, which will take place on TUESDAY Evening, the 26th instant, at the Royal Amphitheatre, Liverpool. HERR MOLIQUE, the celebrated Violinist, whose performances at the Philharmonic Concerts, London, have created such an extraordinary sensation, will make his first and only appearance in Liverpool on this occasion. Vocalists, BIRCH, Miss DOLBY, and Signor ZUCCHELLI. VIOLINIST HERR MOLIQUE. PIANIST Mons. DPEILER. Mr. GEORGE EYTON will accompany the Vocal Pieces. Full Particulars will be shortly announced. fox places may be secured on application to Mr. WEiss Church-street. Tickets for Centre Boxes, 55.•, Side Boxes, 4s. ; Pit, 3s. ; and Gallery, 2s. each ; may be had at the Music Shops and usual places, The Concert will commence at Eight o'clock. THEATRE-ROYAL, LIVERPOOL. Second Night of Mr. BUCKSTONE, the celebrated Dra matist and Performer, of the Theatre-Royal, Haymarket, who is engaged at this Theatre for Ten Nights. Mr. T. P. COOKE, of the Theatres-Royal, Drury-lane and Covent-garden, will commence an engagement of Eight Nights at this Theatre, To-MORROW EVENING (Wednes day), when will be.produced the last new Drama, written by J. B. Buckstone, Dig. called POOR. JACK ; in which Mr. T. P. Cooke and Mr. Buckstone will sustain their original characters of Jack Somerton and Tim Two penny. THIB present TUESDAY, May 19, 1840, will be per formed the Musical Drzima called A ROLAND FOR AN OLIVER. Sir Mark Chase.. Alfred Highflyer.... Mr. W. Howard. Mr. Selborne.. Mr. W. H. Bland. Fixture:. Mr. Slaiter. • Mrs. Fixture. Mrs. Baker. Maria Darlington Mrs. W. H. Bland. After which, the new Comedy, written by Mr. Buckstone, called SINGLE LIFE. Mr. Peter Pinkey Mr. Buckstone, • As originally performed by him in London. Mr. John Niggle „; Mr. Webster. Mr. David Damper -' Mr. Baker. Mr. Narcissus Boss Mr. W. Howard. Mr. Charles Chester Miss Kitty Skylark. Miss Caroline Coy Mrs. Edwards. Miss Maria Macaw Mrs. Clarke. Miss Sarah Snare Miss Cleaver. Miss Jessy Meadows. Mrs. W. H. Bland. To conclude with Mr. Buckstone's Farce, called THE CHRISTENING. Mr. HopkinsTwiddy (his original character) Mr. Buckstone: Gruen Mr. Baker. Mrs. Dolby Loveehild Mrs. Clarke. Mrs. Motherton.. .... Mrs Baker. TO-MORROW (Wednesday), the petit Comedy of CHAOS IS COME AGAIN. Colonel Chaos, Mr. Baker; Jack Bunce, Mr. W. Howard.—After which, will be pro duced, for the first time here, a new Drama, written by J. B. Buckstone, Esq., and performed at the Adelphi Theatre with the greatest success, called -POOR JACK. Jack So merton, Mr. T. P. Cooke; Tim Twopenny, Mr. Buckstone (as originally performed by them in London) •, Sam Griffin, Mr. Gray ; The Hon. Mr. Flummery, Mr. Chaplin •, Mrs. Colonel Fantod, Miss Cleaver ; Eleanor, Mrs. W. H. Bland ; Becky, Mrs. Tellet.—To conclude with Mr. Buckstone's Farce of OUR MARY ANNE. Jonathan Tunks, (his original character,) Mr. Buckstone. TO CORRESPONDENTS. n consequence of the numberless applications for a copy of our last publication, containing the masterly exposition of LORD STANLEY'S IRISH REGISTRATION BIM, by the Rev. HUGH M`NEtt,E, we have been induced to publish a corrected report of the speeches at the Meetitig in the Amphitheatre. on Wednesday last, in the form of a PAMPHLET, which will be ready TO-MORROW. The letter transmitted to us last night, relative to the absurd new postage covers, shall appear on Friday. We have been requested to correct a slight error which ap peared in a paragraph in the Standard of Friday, relative to the ship Mysore, now lying in No. 1, Queen's Graving Dock—that vessel was built by Mr. Cato for Messrs Chap- man and Willis, and not by the latter gentlemen, as pre. viously stated by us. We have heard a whisper of the extraordinary scene whicl took place yesterday in one of the docks, but we have not been able to ascertain the particulars with sufficient accu. racy to give insertion to them to-day. ktinrpool TUESDAY MORNING, MAY 19, 1840. We have been politely favoured with a file of the Guiana Times to the 20th of March—two days later than the arrivals by the last pacl:et. These papers were brought by the Union, Capt. Jones, which sailed from Georgetown on the 23d of March. It is gratifying to find from these papers that num bers of immigrants were continuing to arrive from Barbadoes, of whom the Guiana Times remarks, " they may be said to have come to make their own fortunes and to improve ours." With reference to the opposition of Messrs. Sturge, Scoble, Pease, and Co. to the schemes proposed for supplying British Guiana with immigrant's, the Times remarks, that " there is no sane man who knows any thing of human nature, and of the internal condition of that country, that can allege that the large and speedy importation of immigrants would he produc tive of anything but national greatness and individual happiness." The Times complains, with much reason, of the ap parent duplicity practised by Governor .Light, in his despatches to the Colonial Secretary, and deplores the inattention of the home government to the interests of the West India colonies in general. The mischievous combination against the prosperity of our West India colonies is extending its ramifications in every direction. The parties engaged in this infa mous scheme, for plunging the most valuable of the colonial appendages of Great Britain into irretrievable ruin, are as unscrupulous in the choice of means, for effecting their nefarious and selfish purposes, as they are recklessly oblivious of the truth in their language. The tortuous course which they pursue on all occa sions, is worthy of the knavish ends they have in view. Among the most recent of the plans set on foot for precipitating the ruin of the West India planters, we must instance a petition, which was published in the Morning Chronicle of Saturday last, " from the whole sale and retail grocers, confectioners, and others, of London and its vicinity," praying the House of Com mons to sanction the admission, for home consumption, of other sugars than those of British possessions, at the same duties as British plantation sugar. It is some consolation to find that even the Morning Chronicle has so much sense of justice as to denounce a scheme so fraught with ruin to the interests, not only of the West Indies, but also of this conntry. The petition to which we have referred, the under stand, has been extensively circulated in a printed form, and will, no doubt, be placed upon the counter of every peddling huckster in the kingdom, with a view of obtaining signatures. It becomes, therefore, an im perative duty that we should attempt to expose the gigantic fraud which it contemplates, and to point out the ruinous consequences which a compliance with its prayer would entail upon all but the sleek-faced cock ney grocers and confectioners by whom it has been concocted. The anti-colonial petition under notice states, that the importation of sugar from the British possessions in the West Indies, has decreased to the extent of 40,000 tons, as compared with the average import of the ten consecutive years, from 1830 to 1839, and 50,000 tons as compared with that of the ten pre ceding years, from 1820 to 1829, and that it is now ascertained that the deficit during the present season (1840) will be much more important. Hear that, Mr. Scoble, and venture again, if you have the audacity, to " gull the natives" by your absurd mis-statements re specting the prosperity of the West Indies. With such a tremendous and almost unparalleled defalcation in the importation of the staple commodity of sugar, we would ask the sages of Aldermanbury, what founda tion have you for asserting that the Negroes have manifested the most exemplary diligence since they have been admitted to the full enjoyment of freedom ? How are your inflated 'accounts of the industry and good conduct of the Negroes to be reconciled with the lamentable results indicated in the petition of your cockney friends ? We venture to say that this is a nut too difficult to crack by any one of the anti-slavery agitators, even though his jaw-bone may be as strong, as that with which Samson did so much execution upon the Philistines. The petition then goes on to state that the cultiva.. tion of sugar in the island of Mauritius appears to have reached its maximum, and that the expectations of the public have been disappointed in the cultivation of sugar in Bengal. It then proceeds to say, that sugar is " an article of great importance in culinary purposes, and essential to the comfort" of the population—(a piece of information for which our profound thanks are due to the cockney grocers)—that " a high price for sugar is an abatement of the comforts of the mass of the population"—and that " by encouraging a more extended use of an article so generally agreeable to the taste as sugar, the consumption of tea, coffee, rice, &c., will be essentially promoted." It further informs us that the stock of West India, Mauritius, and Bengal sugar now on hand does not exceed one month's con sumption, notwithstanding such sugar has ceased to be refined for exportation since October, 1838. The last is an ominous piece of intelligence, and. fully confirma tory of our worst apprehensions. . But-what do the petitioners propose should be done in order to avert so direful a calamity as that of depriv ing the Sturgites and the Scobleites of the means of sweetening their tea and coffee ? The remedy which they suggest is, the importation of foreign sugar—of sugar which they say is sold at one-half the bonded price of the three descriptions admissible for home consump tion. In plain English, they wish to give the prefer ence to slave-grown sugar, in foreign countries, over that produced by the free labourers in British colonies. Such, in fact, is the modest proposal conveyed in the petition. We hope the approaching Anti-Slavery Con vention will take cognizance of this nicely concocted plan for encouraging slavery. Great Britain has put down slavery in her own co lonies, at an . enormous expense to the people of this country, and we are now called upon to patronise and encourage . slavery and the slave-trade, by allowing the importation of sugar from countries in which the whole produce is raised by slave labour, and into which, as the Morning Chronicle very justly observes, " slaves are continually imported." Admirable con sistency ! Noble philanthropy ! We have made the slave free in the West Indies, and are now called upon to deprive him of the fruit of his free labour. The West India planters have concurred in the noble mea sure of emancipation, and we are now called upon to plunge them into irretrievable ruin. Exquisite sense of justice and humanity I As - we have already remarked, we rejoice that even the ultra-liberal Morning Chronicle has had the courage and good sense to denounce a scheme so fraught with ruin, and so utterly inconsistent with every principle of reason and justice, as that developed in the petition under notice. We cannot better conclude these ob servations than by quoting the emphatic language of Our contemporary resOcting this petition. We earnestly solicit the attention of the radical journalists of Liverpool to the following sensible remarks :--- " It is very true that the importation of sugar has fallen off, and must continue to fall off still snore than it has done, because the negroes, admitted to their freedom, and able to live with little labour, are not such fools as to work as much as they did in their state of slavery. In British Guiana alone we have a territory of boundless extent, in which sugar may be raised in any quantity, but labourers are wanting. A limit is placed to the extension of the operations of the planter; he has a boundless extent of soil, and, could he only command labour, he might continue to add to his produce. But the labourers know the value of freedom ; they consult only their own wants and their own pleasure ; and, however agreeable it might be to the planters in British Guiana and the British consumers, that they should continue to perform as much work as they did during their slavery, the wants of their employers and the comforts of the British public are the last motives by which they will be influenced. " But whatever ineonvenience may be suffered from the high price of sugar, to meet that evil by importation of sugar from slave colonies would be infamous. To put down slavery in our own colonies, merely to encourage it elsewhere, and not merely encourage slavery but the slave-trade, would be the height of inconsistency and of impolicy. " The British people, to whom sugar is a necessary of life, must, however, obtain that commodity. But increased im portation can only be obtained through additional labour. The additional labour can only, however, be obtained by a fresh supply of labourers. Why should any impediments be thrown in the way of the planters obtaining such a supply ? " The slave-trade was an abomination, and slavery a great evil. The slave-trade has now been abolished for nearly thirty-five years ; and there are no slaves in the British domi nions. The negro in all our possessions is free. Ought not that to be an inducement to well-intentioned men to impart the blessings of freedom as extensively as possible ? As the labourer must be more happy under the British government than elsewhere, in encouraging emigration from all quarters we are diffusing the blessing of freedom—we are encouraging the industry of freemen, and striking a blow at slavery. The petition of the London dealers in sugar would, if acceded to, discourage cultivation by free labourers, and encourage slavery." Our contemporary of the Mercury has devoted two mortal columns of his last publication to the purpose of misrepresenting the object and provisions of Lord Stanley's bill, and vituperating the character of those who came forward in its support, at the meeting of 'Wednesday last, Our Liverpool readers are, we dare say, aware that two columns of the Mercury are no or dinary soporific. On this occasion, however, our con temporary has put oft' his night-cap, laid aside his cup and candle, dipped his pen in gall, and boldly perpe trated a mass, or rather a hash----for most of it is second hand—of the grossest stupidity, ignorance, falsehood, and ribaldry that ever disgraced the pages of any paper which, by the 'utmost stretch of courtesy, could be termed respectable ! We shall not attempt to follow our contemporary throughout the whole of his rambling ,and incoherent remarks. We shall not animadvert upon his vulgar personalities, directed against the speakers at the Am phitheatre meeting, and especially against one of them who has always been, and, we trust, ever will be a thorn in the side of that party of which the Mercury is the subservient tool. We shall not notice the flippant ab surdities and the laboured wit which our contemporary substitutes for argument. These things we willingly resign to the enlightened admiration and refined tastes of his tap-room readers, for whose gratification our contemporary is ever ready to dip his hands in filth, and to degrade, in his own person, the character and respectability of the British press. Our only object, in noticing at all the lueubrations of our contemporary, is to show, out of his own mouth, hiS profound ignorance of the subject upon which he presumes to write, and the ready facility with which he perverts and misrepre sents facts, in his attempt " to make the worse appear the better reason." The first instance we shall give of our contemporary's ignorance—whether real or assumed, to serve a disho nest purpose, we shall not inquire—is contained in the following sentences. After sneering at the " amiable faith entertained in the impeccability of the judges of assize, and assistant barristers appointed by them," and, in the true spirit of O'Connellism, imputing, to the bench generally, partisan and corrupt motives in their administration and interpretation of the law, he proceeds to show " what Irish judges will or will not do in conformity with, or in opposition to, the spirit of an act of parliament." We pass over for the present the decency of such an insinuation, coming from such a source, and come at once to the illustration—to the " one fact which is worth a wilderness of assumptions and suppositions," and which, unfortunately for our contemporary, is not a fact at all. " The sth section of the Irish reform act"—we quote from his own veracious authority—" confers the fran chise on El 0 leaseholders, the object being evidently to extend the franchise : but the Irish judges have con trived, and their decision has been acted upon, to limit the franchise virtually to £2O leaseholders ; for, accord ing to their interpretation of the section, a man must not only prove that he has a holding for which he pays El 0 a-year, but that a solvent tenant could afford to pay for it El 0 annually over and above the rent he him self pays, which is just the same as if the £lO house holder in England were required to prove that his house is worth £lO a-year more than he actually pays for it." Now, we are really at a loss to know whether insolence, ignorance, or falsehood is the more prominently dis played throughout the whole of this paragraph. We will dissect it, however, in order to show how grossly such prints as the Mercury mistake their forte when they leave the beaten track of scurrility and slander, and commit themselves to facts and arguments. " The sth section of the Irish reform act," says our contemporary, " confers the franchise on ten-pound leaseholders." Indeed it does no such thing. There is not such a being mentioned or contemplated in the whole act as a " ten pound leaseholder," in the sense in which our contemporary uses the term ; and it is evident that he is in a profotind state of ignorance as to the wording and meaning of the section in question. That section does confer a right of voting, and for the first time, upon leaseholders for a certain term, or for lives ; but its limitation is not to those who hold at a rent of £lO per annum, and whom our contemporary styles ten-pound leaseholders, but to those who " have a be neficial interest" in their leases " of the clear yearly value of £lO at the least above all rent and charges payable out of the same." We give the words of the enactment, which are precisely the same as those used in the English act to create the same right of voting; and we are npt aware that any difficulty has ever oc curred in England as to the interpretation of the clause. Here, then, we have the false assumption raised, that the Irish reform act intended to confer the right of voting upon parties holding on lease at a rent of £lO per annum, " the object being evidently," as our con temporary says, " to extend the franchise," Why, what on earth does the silly twaddler mean ? The ex tension of the franchise was effected by the right of voting being conferred at all upon the leaseholders. Whence, then, the comparison instituted between the object of the bill and the decision of the judges upon the interpretation of one of its clauses ? Can it be said, or has it been said, that the framers of that clause contemplated its being interpreted according to our contemporary's views ? We think not ; and we doubt whether any man out of Bedlam could read it and put his interpretation upon it. Yet upon this interpretation, ignorantly, or wilfully and falsely, placed upon the meaning of as plain and distinct a form of words as can be put together in the English language, our contemporary proceeds to erect a superstructure of ignorance and falsehood equally glaring. " The Irish judges have contrived," he says, and their decision has long been acted upon, to limit the franchise virtually to twenty-pound leaseholders ; for, according to their interpretation of the section, a man must not only prove that he has a holding for which he pays £lO a-year, but that a solvent tenant could afford to pay for it £lO annually over and above the rent he himself pays, which is just the same as if the ten pound householder in England were required to prove that his house is worth £l O a-year more than he actually pays for it" What a pity that the editor of the Mercury is not an Irish judge !—that a man who can contrive to make a beneficial interest, which is the excess of value over rent, into rent itself, should be deprived of such an elevated position, from which to display his vast erudition ! For his consolation, how ever, we can inform him that, as yet, no Irish judge has attempted the contrivance in question. His absur dity and his ignorance are, as yet, unparalleled, and are likely to remain so: " None but himself can he his parallel!" Seriously—no Irish judge has ever yet ruled that to confer a right of, voting upon a leaseholder under the sth section of the Irish refo'rin act of 1832; a man must " prove that he has a holding for which he pays £lO a-year." We challenge our contemporary to point out any such decision ; and as it may take him some time to waken from his present bemused state, we give him three months to do so ! It has been decided that a beneficial interest of £lO a-year must be an interest to that amount, over and above the rent, estimated by the additional amount which a solvent man could afford to pay, and not by the imaginary value which the claim ant himself may choose to put upon it ; and, if the editor of the Mercury will for once lay aside contriv ance and consult the reform act, he will find that such an interpretation is neither contrary to its wording nor its spirit, however contrary it may be to the convenience, and destructive to the contrivances, of the Romish priests of Ireland. • It will be pretty evident, we think, to our readers, from the above specimen, that, however well 2cquainted he may be with the proposed measure for the amend ment of the present system—and we doubt very much his having read it—our contemporary is at least igno rant of the meaning and provisions of the act now in operation. We will; however, give another " sample" or two—if we may use our contemporary's expression— and have ,no doubt of establishing the fact, that he is either politically ignorant or politically knavish. He may take his choice of the two alternatives . . The Mercury imputes it as an objection to Lord Stanley's bill that claimants "have to expose their title deeds to all who choose to see them"—misrepresentation would be a very mild word to apply to the sentence we have placed in italics—" to needy attorneys, or agents of tyrannical landlords, &c." Now the impression intended to he conveyed here is, evidently, that the pro duction of title deeds in support of claims to register is, for the first time, required by Lord Stanley's bill. Yet what is the fact ? Why, that the same production of title deedsis required by the act now in operation, which expressly enacts that every claimant "shall pro duce, in open court, the deed, lease, or instrument, if any, duly stamped, by virtue of which he shall claim a right to be registered." The production of title deeds is no new feature introduced by the bill of Lord Stan ley, and is, therefore, either ignorantly or fraudulently put forth as an objection to it by our contemporary— at second hand !—for we find it reiterated in another column as a quotation from Mr. Sharman Crawford. With equal accuracy, and equal honesty, our con temporary proceeds to institute a comparison between the several bills, brought in by government for the, amendment of the Irish system of registration and Lord Stanley's proposed measure. "The principle of annual revision and appeal to the judges," he admits, " are common to both ; but in all else they differ as much as Macedon from Monmouth." We accept with gratitude the admission of the similarity of the bills formerly brought in by government and the present bill brought in by Lord Stanley, in these, which are their leading principles. Here is at once established a neutral ground upon which ministers and their-oppo nents may meet and settle the details by which those principles may be brought into application. Let the bill of Lord Stanley go into committee, and the dif ferences which are so fluently and vaguely glanced at be fairly canvassed. Why is not this course adopted ? Because faction, fraud, and slavish love of .place, are stronger in the minds of Lord Melbourne's adminis tration than consistency or patriotism. It is not the difference in detail alone which constitutes the minis terial ground of objection to Lord Stanley's bill. They have thrown overboard their own principles—the annual revision and the appeal to the judges of assize ; they no longer seek to reform the evil which they admitted so lately as 1838; they are bound hand and foot to the car of the Juggernaut which is crushing in its destruc tive course the energies and the morals of the Irish people, and which is fed with the frauds which the present system_ encourages and protects. The judges of assize are now repudiated as a court of appeal ; " the system of annual registration," our contemporary informs us, "is now admitted on all hands, Whig, radical, and tory, to require amendment !" Both these great principles the Mercury repudiates ; and vindicates the opposition offered by O'Connell to Lord Stanley's bill on the very grOund that these principles are de- fective What then becomes of the plea that the details of Lord Stanley's bill are the grounds of ministerial objec tion ? It is evidently abandoned ; yet the Mercury in forms us that O'Connell may, with perfect consistency, oppose this bill, on the ground of objection to its details alone ! We may, however, remind our contemporary, that the opposition of this impostor commenced before the bill was brought in—before its details could be known—and i 9, consequently, like that of our contem porary and his party, an opposition to any alteration in the present corrupt system—an opposition got up for factious and interested purposes, " TO PROTECT FRAUD UNDER AN AFFECTED CONCERN FOR POPU LAR RIGHTS l" But we are sick of the task of exposing the incon sistencies of this miserable twaddler. Resides we are pressed for room, and have already extended our re marks considerably beyond the space which such an antagonist usually demands or is worthy of. We shall, however, have a word or two to, say to him on Friday in reply to his misrepresentations of Mr. M‘Neile ; but for the present we forbear. We have con victed him, out of his own mouth, of ignorance, misre presentation, and vulgar insolence, sufficient to stamp for ever his character as a public journalist with a de gree of contempt for which the English language affords no term sufficiently strong. We have proved him igno rant of one of those very measures upon which rests the great claim of his party to support—ignorant, in fact, of the principles and provisions of the Reform Bill itself. We have shown him ready to resort to trickery and mis representation of every description, to bolster up that ignorance ; and we leave the public to characterize, in their own way, the moral worth and honesty of a party of which the Liverpool Mercury is the established organ, and the weight which ought to be allowed to arguments coming from so contemptible and disre putable a source. We would seriously advise our contemporary to re turn at once to the mere trifling which for years has occupied his silly brain. Write charades, good Mer cury, expound enigmas, unravel riddles ; be oracular upon the weather, expatiate upon cork jackets, or square the circle, if thou wilt; but be assured that the serious business of the world, and especially of the world of politics, is too arduous a matter for thy feeble capacity. Above all, leave the besotted and base administration, which now governs this unfortunate land, to flounder through their few short days of power, without the aid of thy small glimmer of wit, or the guidance of thy Jack•o'•lantern light, A few days will bring to her . . moorings thqti floating tub which for whole summers past has fui r nished thy weekly fund of amusement ; and we trust that it will continue to afford a subject for thy pen, and a relief to a mind distracted with the turmoils of party, and unfit for the strife of faction. " Dulce est desipere in loco." Unbend—good Mer cury—unbend! A correspondent of the Liverpool Chronicle has called our attention to the circumstance, that the language .used by Mr. James Mulleneux at the Clayton-square meeting, when he termed the illustrious hell' of the house of Derby " the accident of an accident," was not an original thought of that worthy individual. We never supposed for a moment that the expression was originally that of Mr. James Mulleneux, or of Mr. O'Connell, who had previously made use of it, in one of the vulgar tirades in which he usually indul g es when upon his dunghill. This want of originality, however, is no palliative of its vulgarity and insolence, when ap plied to a nobleman of Lord Stanley's admitted worth and talent, by a gentleman whose claim to indulge in a sneer at rank and birth is so slender as that of Mr.. Mulleneux. We might he disposed to concede to a man like Lord Thurlow, whose talent and learning had elevated him to the summit of his profession and to a peerage, the right to use such an expression towards a mere popin jay, whose taunts had stung him. But we are by no means ready to concede the same license to one who, whatever may be his own opinion of himself, will certainly never, in the opinion of the world, be ranked amongst those who, like Lord Thurlow, have " achieved greatness," and may therefore fairly claim an equality with others who, on the contrary, " have had greatness thrust upon them." The small wit of the Chronicle is no friend of Mr. James Mulleneux, or he would have allowed this unlucky expression to go quietly to oblivion. 'The . petitton in . favour 7 0V Lord Stant eyse • itirszatt tion Bill, agreed to at the meeting held on Wednesday last at the Amphitheatre, was forwarded to London on Saturday- evening for presentation ; and we are glad to be able to announce to our readers that the number of signatures affixed to it amounted to 23,128. We do not affect to consider this number of signatures as re presenting fairly and fully the Protestant feeling of Li verpool. But when the short period allowed for sign ing the petition is taken into consideration ; when the respectability of the names attached to that petition is taken into consideration ; when the absence of all un worthy and dishonest claptraps to procure signatures is taken into consideration; then we say that the Protes tant Conservatives of Liverpool have abundant reasons to congratulate themselves, and to congratulate Eng land, upon the sound and healthy feeling which that petition vouches for, as existing amongst the inhabi tants of this great and influential community. It is too late now for the degraded faction, which for the last ten years has rough ridden the people of Eng land, to attempt to revive an expiring domination. It was madness for the paltry tools of a paltry corporation to attempt to prostrate, at the . feet of a beggarly impos tor, and at the sound of a treasonable outcry, the loyal and high-spirited inhabitants of Liverpool. They have made the attempt, however ; they have set the wheel in motion. Let them cringe beneath its recoil. The petition which would be presented last night— a petition of 23,128 inhabitants of Liverpool, eack- of whom has a trade or a profession and a place of abode, will seasonably strengthen the hands of Lord Stanley and the supporters of that talented nobleman and loyal English gentleman, in their endeavour to deliver this Protestant land from the thrall of an Irish Popish faction. Would to God that every town in England_ had followed so noble an example !' THE BUDGET: The present ministry came into office with the passport of " Reform, Retrenchment, and Peace" in their hands. These were their credentials to popular favour. These were the watchwords with which they roused " the masses" to stand up in their defence. These were the professions by which their political integrity was to he tested. How have the Reform Administration redeemed their flattering pledges ? As to the question "of reform" let the people of England answer. What single, practical measure of substantial or beneficial reform have they carried into ef fect? As to the question of " peace," look at the dis jointed state of our relations with every foreign power of any importance. Look at the insults offered to the British flag , and the flagrant interruptions to British commerce, pave trated with impunity by every petty government in both hemispheres. Then, as to the question of " retrenchment," look at the Budget submitted to the House. of Commons, on Friday last, by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Read the discouraging statements which he has put forth, and then tell us where is the boasted retrenchment of the 'Whigs This is the twenty-fifth year of European peace, and the tenth of the administration of the Whigs, and what is the state of our financial affairs ? The Budget furnishes the reply. The Reform Ministry are now spending three millions a-year more than the amount of the revenue of Great Bri tain ! Need we wonder that the people are beginning to inquire " what are the benefits of reform ?" For the particulars of the statement submitted by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, we must refer our readers to our abstract of the parliamentary intelligence. From that report it will appear that the expenditure of last year has exceeded the income by the amount of £1,457,000, which. was only partially provided for by the amount raised on exchequer bills. In his calculations for the present year; he' stated that the total expenditure would he £49,432,000, and that the probable income, from existing resources, would be £17,03-1,000. From the latter sum he deducted £300,000, on account of a probable diminution in the customs from cer tain reductions of duty which would follow the completion of a commercial treaty now in progress with France, and a further sum of 434,000, on account of the remission of the duty on carriages let out for hire. This will bring the estimated income down to £46,700,000, leaving a deficiencY of £2,732,000. To provide for this estimated deficiency the Chancellor of the Exchequer does not propose an addition to the publiP debt, funded or unfunded, but an addition to the amount gf taxes already. levied. Not, however, an addition to the num ber of taxes, but an increase in the rate of taxation. He proposes an addition of 5 per cent, on the Customs and Ex cise, with exceptions to certain articles, and an addition of two shillings in the pound, or 10 per cent., on the assessed taxes. On the article of spirits he proposes only an addition of four pence per gallon. The duty on corn he leaves un touched, as also the duties on post horses, and the licenses upon stage coaches. In order to levy the window tax be de clares a new survey to he expedient. The produce of these additional taxes he estimates as follows : : 5 per cent. on Customs and Excise £1,426,000 4th per gallon on spirits 10 per cent. on assessed taxes Increase from new survey 150,000 Total new revenue As this amount, however, cannot be actually realised in the course of the year, he asks for a vote of credit to th e amount of £850,000. It is exceedingly doubtful whether the increased duty on spirits will be as productive as the present smaller duty. The former reduction in the duty on this article led to a great Me ereasP of revenue. The converse is likely to hold good- The re-assessment for the window-tax will prove elca . ingly obnoxious, as, independently of the repugnance enter tained to the intrusion of the tax-gatherer into' the privacy °f our households, many parties will feel themselves cornpelk a to re-close windows which have been opened within the 11 0 few years, on the faith of existing arrangements. The increase in the customs and excise will lead to inter. minable confusion, and, in many cases, to serious losses API protracted litigation, especially in the case of merchants 90 others, who have entered into engagements for the future de' livery of goods. Other considerations press upon our notice, in connection with this subject, which we shall hereafter lay before 011 . 1 r readers. W e canno t i n d u lg e i n any h ope t h at t h e p r oposed arrangements will prove either satisfactory or succes#o3' We look forward to the close of the current financial with feelings of augmented alarm. The country—thank , t° a Reform Administration—is plunging deeper and' dpePe r into distress and difficulty. NEWSPAPER CIRCULATION. A return of the number of stamps issued to the 601 newspapers of Great Britain and Ireland, during each li 14 1 1 .„ 1 of the two quarters ending on the 31st of March last, e "; , just been published by authority of parliament. BY 1 0 %,. ring to previous returns, we are enabl e d to f orm the fol . ing table of the number of stamps i ssue d t o eac h ne*sP." - ~, in Liverpool since the commencement of last year :--meter Half-year Quarter Quarter 'l7O ending ending ending :ii. 31. June 30, Sept 30, Dec. 31, 4- 104 6 . ;839. 1839. 1839. • „ i c 000 Standard Mail Courier 55,197 28,000 29,000 1 6,500 Gore's Advertiser Mercury .... Albion 77,433 49,000 45,500 ,ii , ooo Chronicle Journal w 30,900 18,100 00 0 ./ 'OO O Mercantile Gazette. 27,500 14,500 14,000 - , 14 2 :000 Times. POET OF PRESTON.---The Board of , Customs.haie der, dated the 9th instant, granted the; Privilege of r411.4".' tithe grain, under bond, here from the port of „ 1 4 merchants fi tting up their warehouses suited. to the ma tegulations,--Praton Chronicle. . . •