Northern Times. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-06-22 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE WEEKLY PRESS. evasions to be guarded against. Simple as the question to be asked on Monday is, we may expect the answer to be complicated ; and we may anticipate rather that the report of the meeting will add to the crude raw material for after thinking, than present ns with any plan ready cut and dry for execution.—Spectator. THE EDUCATION CONFERENCE. The sate of the public mind on the snbject of education may be described as that of authorised enthusiasm, practical purpose, and total confusion. The Consort of the Queen is to preside at Wiliis's Rooms, on Monday and two following days, in order to ask a very simple question as to the impediments which check the progress of education among the working classes, especially the early removal of children from school ; and what practical answer can we expect ? There is a fixed idea that " some thing must be done," but as to what, there is vagueness and uncertainty ; and even since the Conference was first advertised important events have taken place. Fresh inquiries in parliament have shown that the government will be brought to account if it should neglect to extend the education test in the civil service. Party has been held in abeyance while the House of Com mons was compelled to suffer the passing of Mr. Adderley's bill through the stage of com mittee; the object of that bill being to render vagrancy or mendicancy in young persons a special qualification which shall insure them an education ; and commoners and peers are competing to enlarge reformatory schocls. Oxford has advanced through all but its last stage of statute for establishing examinations of a kind suited not only to the middle class but to all other classes, and calculated to impart a national character to the schools pre paring students for that examination. Already we see some signs to confirm our expectation that schools will be established to meet this demand A promising scheme has been issued for opening a kind of Polytechnic school, " Gnoll College" in South Wales, suited to the wealthier portion of the middle class, or to the upper classes. And the schoolmasters who have been trying to establish a species of examination for themselves under the College of Preceptors, will probably, in a great proportion of cases, if not in all, conform to the Oxford standard, or to the standard which Cam bridge will establish. In the midst of these new testimonies to the faith in extended education, the Prince Consort assembles a large body of eminent gentlemen, for the simple purpose of asking, why it is that the sons of labourers are detained by their parents from school, and how that obstruction can be surmounted ? We need not wonder if the public is more anxious to know than able to inform itself. Education in any useful sense, especially the edu cation of the working classes whether rural or civic, is entirely an idea of modern times. Befere Luther, children, in those classes not intended to be " learned" or accomplished, were taught nothing but their catechism, and even that rarely. .It may be said to have been Luther who first laid the basis for teaching all; and his native country, Saxony is still at the head of the whole of Europe in the proportion of school pupils to the groas population. Pestalozzi, whose efforts attracted attention in this country some years ago, gave such an impulse to education in Germany, that Prussia and several states have made education an important business of the Government. The object of the le gislative and executive power appears to be even more directed to the spread of information than to the suppression of crime; and parents are not only compered to send their children to school, but to do so punctually and regularly. Among the penalties for neglect is imprisonment. A more vivid idea of the way in which school-attendance is enforced, may be gathered from the forms of notices and sentences in Saxony, which resemble those used in other parts of liermany. The fol lowing notice is sent by a teacher to the parent : " We miss N.N from the class since Monday, the Ist of June, without having received any intimation of the reasons of absence. We request you, there fore, to indorse the cause of absence on the back of this ticket, and to send your child to school again." If the offence of absence without excuse is con tinued or repeated, the register of the school is exhibited to the school director, who sends the following summons to the parent :—" To Mr. N.— We now present to you the list of shool-absences of your child. If you do not wish to be prosecuted according to law, present yourself at the latest between the hours of ten and four to the under signed, with your excuses." If after this summons a valid excuse is not forthcoming, the school-director gives information of the case to the government school-inspector, who puts into the hands of a policeman the following warrant, which cites the delinquent parent before a magistrate :—" You are hereby called upon to appear on the 7th of June at ten in the morning, to be tried for the neglected school-attendance of your child. (Signed) ...School-Inspector ...... ....Magistrate." In England, until our own day, the State had upon the whole remained passive, education being left more or less to the parish or to the church. Now the church believes in itself more than in the school ; and not only has it subordinated the school house to the parish-church, but each sect has had schools in which, for many years, the object was rather to see that the poor little pupil bad some firm, though mechanical hold of the dogma, than any real command of the elements of instruction. Even the most "liberal" plans yet brought to the verge of practice, demand some teaching of "religious knowledge." One of the most re markable features of the school system in Saxony Prussia, and many of the neighbouring States, is the independence of any creed, and the univer sality of the children's attendance. After a child has arrived at the legal age of attending_ school, whether it be the child of noble or peasant, he must be sent to school ; the only two absolute grounds of exemption being illness and death. Parents are not obliged to send their children to a public school ; the children may be sent to a private school ; but to some school the children must go. All teachers, however, of private as well as of public schools, must submit fo an examina tion, and must have a certificate of qualification from the Government Inspector of Schools. The quality of the education, thus compulsorily impart ed is not in all cases high, but there is a certain amount of real instruction. In the rural districts of Prussia, Saxony, and most other States of Ger many, the curriculum consists of reading, writing, arithmetic, drawing, geography. and history. No great stress is laid on the last two, but rather upon the other four, and no individual can be encountered of any grade or class whatsoever, who cannot at least read and write and manage a little ciphering. How are these school labours reconciled with rustic laboor ? The hours, of attendance vary in the different places ; but they are longer in winter than in summer. In fact, throughout the poorer districts of Pomerania, Silesia, &e , the schools are described as being in vacation throughout the summer, so that the children may assist their . parents in field labours ; and during the harvest all national schools in the rural districts are shut. It may, therefore, be said that there is a complete attendance in the, rural schools only during five or six months of the, year, and the daily time at that period appears toebe from four to six hours. These fac,s, no doubt, aria connected with the reason why Dr. Lyon Playfals is expected to tell something as to the mode in which they manage matters on the Continent. He had already studied the subject, as any one may see by reading the pamphlet embodying his speech at the anniversary of the People's College in Sheffield in October, 1853, on "Science and its Relations to Labour " It is, however, quite obvious, in limine, that such com pulsions, are available in Germany could not be employed in England ; and that consideration reminds us that the experiences of the Continent cannot be of more than partial application here. The system of " half-time is more reasonable. It is just to protect the child against the avarice or recklessness of the parent, to whom the law ren ders that child subservient there would therefore be no injustice in exacting from the parent a certificate of the child's attendance at school, as an indispensable condition to any liberty of employing that child in labour profitable to the father. But even this quasi-eompulsory mechanicism of education would demand; as its essential accompaniment, free schools ; and here we are plunged again into all the questions of rating, of voluntary " school pence," of colourable attend ance, with the interminable distinctions between town and country, as to the character of the tuition, the mode of supporting the schools, and the NINE H . URS IN THE COMMONS. One night last week the House of Commons got into a confusion so inextricable, became so thoroughly puzzled, and so completely defied the control of any acknowledged authority, that it had to break up and go home to bed, from sheer inability to discover any way of escape from the difficulties in which it was plunged. It sat for nine hours, without any result, except the bad gering of two subordinate members of the govern ment, and several sharp skirmishes between second rate speakers. Different causes probably united to produce this unfortunate result. The parliament is new, and does not as yet know its work. There is no minister who can effectually control it in the discussion of domestic subjects; for, patiently and reverently as it listens to the Premier when he is on the ground of foreign affairs, it distrusts his lead in the details of horre policy. Then, again, it is in the nature of Englishmen to undergo strange fits of waywardness, and Parliament may be expected to exhibit occasional outbursts of the national humour. But the chief cause of the imbroglio undoubtedly lay in the nature of the subject with which the house was dealing. The government—and they demoralize the house by the habits of license and disorder which they engender. It is absolutely essential for the govern ment to make arrangements by which their recur rence shall be rendered impossible. The course taken by Mr. Wilson was taken from a very good motive—he provoked a general discussion because he wished to give free play to cri ticism. But the event showed that, when the house has to consider the propriety of money votes, the only chance of profitable discussion is to em dody every disputed point in a distinct and single issue. If this can be done without the change of any of the existing rules so much the better : for it is very undesirable to alter regulations which have received the sanction of time, and which may be regarded as representing the experience of centu ries. Still, at whatever cost, confusion like that which we have described must be prevented, and the public business despatched. We trust that the government will take warning by the lesson it has received, and will prolride against the repetition of scenes so discreditable both to itself and to parliament —Saturday Review. THE REDUCTION OF THE BANK RATE OF I INTEREST. The step taken by the Bank of England in slightly reducing the rate of discount, appears upon the face of the published accounts to be fully justified, by its improved position, not only as compared with the state of those accounts of the preceding week, but still more as compared with the accounts at the beginning of April when the rate was raised to 61 per cent. As .compared with the accounts of the preceding week, the bullion shows an increase of no less than 632,7951, and the reserve of notes in the banking department of 647,0001, the circulation in the hands of the public remaining nearly the same. On the other hand, the amount of private securities, which must always be regarded as the measure of the demand upon the Bank, shows in the one week a decrease of 387,5421. When compared with the period when the rate was raised to 6i per cent., the bullion has increased by 1,012,0001, and the reserve in the banking department is higher by 1,300,000/ ; while the amount advanced upon private securities is 1,319,0001 less. In looking, how ever, at the state of the Bank of England, and in estimating correctly the reduction now made, we should fall into a great error if we did not refer to the particular time of the quarter which regularly and periodically affects materially the condition of the Bank of England. It is well known that towards the close of each quarter the position of the Bank is greatly strengthened by the accumu_ lation of Government deposits prior to the pay ment of the dividends, and that at such times the Bank is in a condition . to extend its accommodation from temporary causes. In order, therefore, to form a correct relative estimate of the position of the Bank in relation to the probable permanency of its improved condition, it is necessary to com pare the accounts of the Bank at the corresponding dates of each quarter. These accounts are dated the 13th instant, and, therefore, the corresponding accounts of last quarter were those made up on the 14th of March. The items to which we have referred, taken from the accounts of the 14th March and those of the 13th inst., compare as folio 413 Civil Service Estimates are composed of items so miscellaneous—they cross many favourite hobbies of individuals, irritate many sores, and are within the compass of so many minds—that they are sure to provoke, even under the most favourable cir cumstances, a large amount of desultory and random criticism. And the peculiar mode in. which they were last week presented to the considera tion of the house, made anything like orderly die cussion perfectly hopeless. Mr. Wilson, whose office it was to bring them forward, knew that the vast increase of these estimates during the last five years was a source of alarm and anxiety to the reflective portion of his hearers and of the public ; and he wished, there fore, to take an opportunity of stating how this increase had grown up, and how far the present gorvernment was responsible for its existence. He went through every head, stating the amount and the cause of each additional burden thrown on the tax-payer. He pointed out the instances in which parliament had been more extravagant than the ministry. He explained how increase oF expenditure had been rendered necessary by changes in the social policy of the country. He was prepared, not only to defend the government on every point, but to prophecy that futureyears would see the expendi ture augmented. And he adopted the unusal course of making his statement after the Speaker had left the chair, for the express purpose of inviting free discussion, and of releasing his critics as much as possible from the restraint of parliamentary forms. Nothing could, at the first glance, have been fairer or handsomer, yet nothing could have turned out worse. What happened was only what might have been expected. The house was invited to consider the general subject of the increase of the Estimates. But it is not very easy to deal with a hundred and fifty heads of expenditure except in detail. A man who wants retrenchment wants to see expenditure diminished under some particular head, with the facts of which he has made himself acquainted. Every critic has made some one point his own. As, soon, therefore, as a general discus sion was invited, a host of questions were asked, and remarks offered, on every conceivable subject connected more or less remotely with the Civil Service. One member stated that he was longing to hear a justification for an extravagant purchase of furniture. Another complained that a guinea was now charged for keys giving admission into Hampton-park. A third wished to know how the breeding studs at Bushy were kept up, and a fourth thought that 251. instead of 501. (the sum proposed) was sufficient to maintain the Chancellor of the Exchequer's stables in Scotland yard. Of course no interrogator considered it neces sary to wait for a reply to the inquiries of his predecessors ; and Sir Benjamin Hall, to whose department they most referred, was often four or five questions deep, and sat still from mere want of power to reply to everybody at once. This tempest of inquiry was diversified by a private sparring between Mr. Stafford and Mr. Roebuck, each of whom stated that he was in the most ,perfect good temper, but said the bitterest things which the heat of the moment could suggest. When Mr. Stafford sat down, Mr. Spooner„with more humour than he ordinarily displays, asked whether they might not now conclude that the general discussion was terminated. But his reproof was ineffectual, and the house relapsed into its mood of special inquiry—different members requesting information on subjects so incongruous as, whether any pl ns had been prepared for the adaptation of Burlington House to natural purposes ? what rooms had been hired for the conduct of public business? and why the pictures at Hampton Court do not bear the names of the painters? As it was impossible to deal with this labryuth of questions, the ministers interrogated for the most part remained silent. Every now and then, indeed, an exception was made. When a member confidently asked why the expenditure on the royal palaces had increased 70 per cant ,he was met by the reply that it had decreased by a sum exceeding 5,0001. But, gene rally, the querists were left to answer them selves, and any other course would obviously have been hopeless. At last this irregular fire 'ceased, and the house settled itself to the discussion of the first vote on the list, by which it was proposed to appropriate a sum of 190,146/ to the maintenance of palaces and public buildings. But here a new difficulty arose, which proved insuperable. The different items of this demand were accurately set down in the estimates, but they were all comprehended hi a single vote. One member objected to one item, another objected to another item ; but the rules of the house did not permit an amendment to be put many ather shape than in that of a proposal to reduce the total amount by a. specified sum. It was open to one member to propose that the vote should be reduced by 10,0001, and to another to pro. posed that it should be reduced by 20,000/ —the regular course of proceeding being that the larger reduction should be taken first, and the smaller one put to the vote only in the event of the house rejecting the former. And this ar rangement would work perfectly well, if only two amendments were proposed but it obviously fails if objections are taken to three items, unless two of the sums are in the first instance added to gether, and their gross amount submitted to the vote of the house before they are dealt with sepa rately. If, without any previous concert, three members respectively propose that a vote shall be reduced by the sums of 10,0001, 5,0001., 4,oool.—end if the first proposal is re jected, and the second adopted—the third cannot be entertained at all, because, if it were carriel, the amount would be reduced by 0,0001., which is precluded by the rule that the largest reduction must be taken first. The only method of succeeding in both would be to arrange that the £9,000. should be taken as one vote. From the nature of the case, such an ar rangement is difficult to effect, because each mem ber has his own favourite point of attack, and is wholly indifferent to the operations of his neigh bours. At any rate, it would require long practice and great parliamentary experience to familiarise members with the working of so complicated a machinery. In a new parliament—and a parlia ment very little under , ministerial control— the practical result of the rule was utter confusion. Endless proposals for reduction were made, but were withdrawn, because no one amendment could be put to the vote without interfering with all the rest. There was no way out of the mess ; and after floundering on until nearly one o'clock in the morning, the house had literally to abandon the task, and to seek recoveey from its bewilderment in a night's rest. Such exhibitions of wasted time and energy are much to be depre cated. They make it impoSsible that parliament should give the requisite attention to matters of real importance—they cast a tiltlr on represeutatiye Private Reserve of Bullion. Circulation. Secaritt3s. Notes. March 14.. 9,574,000 18,517,000 19,575,000 5 532,000 Jane 13..10,221,00) 18,772,000 18,679,000 5,924,000 This comparison shows the Bank to be in a better condition at present, and more able to meet the demand soon to be made for the dividends, than it was at the corresponding time in March. The bullion is more by 647,0001, and the reserve is more by 392,0001, while the private securities are 896,0001 less; and circulation is only 255,0001 more. So far, therefore, as the comparison of the two quarters are concerned, the accounts would encourage an opinion in favour of an easier state of the money market hereafter. With regard, however, to the demand of capital for trade at dif ferent periods, it is more determined by the cor responding periods of the year than of the quarter. And in this 'view of the ease, it would be a safer criterion as to the future, to compare the accounts of the Bank of England now published with those of the corresponding period in June last year, which may be stated thus : Bullion. Circulation. Securities. Reserve. 1856. .£ June 14 . .11,437,000 19,233,000 14,367,000 6,673,000 1857. June 13..10,221,000 18,778,000 18,679,000 5,924,000 Looking at this latter comparison the result is much leas favourable to the bank. The bullion a year ago was 1,216000/. more than it is at present : the reserve was more last year by 754,0001., and the advances upon private securities were less by tho large sum of 4,3l2,oool.:—therefore, in every way the bank was in a much stronger condition to resist the pressure which came upon it subse quently, than it is at this moment. On the other hand, it must be borne in mind that a year ago, the rate of discount was 5 per cent., and that now it is 6 per cent. This comparison would, however, lead to well-founded doubts as to any consider able . reduction, if any, in the value of money in the present year, and especially when it is considered that the chief causes which led to a drain upon the bank last year, continue in full operation in the present year. The drain of silver to the East, and the consequent drain of gold from this country to procure it, in place of being mitigated, is rather aggravated : the failure of the silk crop in the present year is at least equal to that of last year; the increase of our general trade in 1856, which led to great demands for capital, appears, at least up to the present time, to be still proceeding at an equal rate. All those great causes which existed for dear capital in 1856 appear equally to exist in 1857, while the Bank is not in so good a condition to meet the consequent demand. The only important fact of a favourable character at the present time, in comparison with 1856, is, that perhaps more generally throughout Europe and the United States the prospects of the harvest are better, and that, so far as it goes, is no doubt an important feature. So far, however, as the condition of the Bank of England is concerned, and so far as the known causes of the scarcity of capital in 1856 can be now compared with similar influences at this moment, we fear that there is nothing from which it would be safe to infer that the present step taken by the Bank of England can be regarded as the forerunner of a permanently lower rate of liscount.—Economist. THE NORTHERN TIMES.--LIVERPOOL, MONDAY, JUNE 22, 1857. noted- of its political contributors. In spite 0 , their differences of opinion about the Roman Catholics, the tory party concluded the war in triumph, and preserved the due equili brium in European states. Will any one contend that differences on a Jewish are more serious than those on a Romish question ? It is, besides, an entire mistake to suppose that an, absolute 'conformity on secondary or sectional political questions was ever required from the members of the great Conservative party. That connection was founded after the Reform Bill, and it stayed the movement from going too far. It gave battle to the Liberals on the question of the sacred ness of church, and it won. It assailed the Whigs on their financial blunders, and proved to the country that the Liberals were unfitted to con duct the business of the exchequer. The whole community pronounced against them, and accepted the income tax in preference to whig budgets. On foreign'policy the conservative statesman impeached the conduct of Vicount Palmerston, and the country has adopted the opinions of the conservatives, while the Premier, ever facile and flexible, has been compelled to modify his own. When menaced by Irish agitation, which had, from the fostering patronage of the whigs, disturbed the empire, and insulted the majesty of the crown, the Conser vatives put the law of the land into execution, and vanquished O'Connell. And yet, while gaining these great parliamentary and constitutional battles, and exhibiting an unbroken confederacy, there were several secondary ques tions on which the conservative chiefs dissented from each other—such as a municipal reform for England and Ireland, the universities and the dis senters, railway legislation, and other subjects which we need not particularise. Such differences of opinion must always be expected amongst large political confederations composed of freemen and gentlemen. It is only in fundamental views and essential principles that. absolute conformity can be looked for amongst all the members of a great party. The conservatives do not object to the fair action of public opinion, once that it is clearly ascertained to be opinion, and not the sense less echo of clamour. They desired to be ruled by the ancient institutions of the realm, because they preserve the state from the rigidity of absolutism, or the extravagance of democracy. It is calumny to assert that conservatism is opposed to social progress, or the free development of true public spirit. On all the, great questions cited above the conservatives refused to bend to ephemeral clamonr, and the voice of the country pronounced finally in favour of their principles. Who now hears any radical outcry about " Reform of the House of Lerds," or removing the bishops from the upper house ? So, also, on the " ballot," the conserva tives have consistently resisted that uu-English mode of taking the suffrages of a free people. The whigs, in reality, coincide in opinion with them, but only for the aid given by the conserva tives our electoral proceedings would long since have been "Americanised," and the foundations of our mixed constitution would have heen shaken. There will always be some exceptional question presenting difficulties which cannot be solved by the first principles of party. The Jewish question has all that variety of complicated interests and conflicting claims on which it might previously be anticipated that there would be differences of opinion between members of the conservative party. To expect unanimity of view upon such a subject would be impossible. There are many " Liberals" in the country who do not, coincide with Lord John Russell upon it; and, exclusively of all political sentiments, there is undoubtedly much variety of feeling on the question, and even a great portion of apathy in the community at large.—Press. JERROLD'S GRAVE. The funeral of Douglas Jerrold, which took place in Norwood Cemetery on Monday last, was in all respects a fitting and characteristic tribute to his memory. There was too much real grief amongst those present for any parade of conventional mourning, and everything connected with the event was quiet, simple, and impressive. The cemetery is just the spot he would have chosen for his last resting place—a green and wooded knoll, surrounded with rich meadows, and within sight of the great world of action; amongst whose noblest workers he had resolutely toiled for nearly half a century. The ocean roar of distant city life,_ which for years beat a fierce, tumultuous music on the brain and heart of the slumberer, melts around his grave to the inland murmur of a shell. He sleeps .amidst the summer blooms Sand waving shadolas that he loved. For you can not . help seeing in his writings that, with the keenest relish of city life, Jerrold had a poet's fondness for wild flowers, green fields, rustic scenes, and fresh country air. Glipses of the fair and smiling fields of Kent, of its trim hedgerows, " wayside cottages, with garden-strips of brimming flowers,"often occur in his works, especially—and as a welcome relief to its gloomy pictures of city wretch edness, luxury, and crime—in his longest story," St. Giles and St. James " He rests, too, near his earliest friend, ,Laman Blanchard's grave being just opposite on the other side of the path. The number and character of the mourners who fol lowed his body to the tomb were a living epitaph on the deceased, more eloquent and striking than any words could be. The funeral was private, and the place of burial being distant and difficult of access, it was naturally thought that comparatively few would be present. With the exception, how ever, of one or two friends unavoidably absent through illness or distance, the mourners at the grave included all who knew him or who were connected with him in any way, from the most distinguished members of his own profession to the pressmen and compositors from the printing office, who were now and then cheered, at their work by his kindly word and radiant smile. The time fixed on was scarcely convenient to some who might have wished to be present, It was the first day of the " Handel Festival," and while the sad pro cession wound slowly up the rising ground of the cemetery, the sublime anthems, and swelling choruses of the Messiah," flooded the crystal dome of the neighbouring palace with the noblest sacred music ever composed ; but this did not thin the numbers in the quietburying-ground. To all who knew him, indeed, there was a music that was touching and profound in the words of consolation and hope spoken at the open grave of one so loved and honoured. The gathering round the grave was spontaneous ; the loss heartfelt, and the grief sincere. What an impressive sight it was F Every turn of the winding carriage way showed in the pro cession some well-known face saddened by the common loss Immediately behind the hearse you saw Dickens's noble brow, energetic form, and worn, intense mournful look; and not far oft Thackeray's grand head, white and uncovered, rose like King Saul's far above all his brethren. Behind followed members of almost every profession—barristers, physicians, clergymen, artists, with the President of the Academy at their head, managers and actors from various theatres, leading publishers, headed by the veteran Charles Knight, while every department of literature was represented by some of its foremost men, who had numbered Jerrold amongst their chosen friends. Such a gathering at his grave is a sufficient answer to all that has been said by covert slander or open hostility of his vindictive bitter nature. This is, indeed, but the cuckoo cry of cold-LlFLarted and shallow crities.—Leader. THE CONSERVATIVES AND THE JEW BILL. The malice of faction was rarely more distinctly seen than in the active propagation of rumours that there were schisms in the Conservative party. Because Sir John Pekin gton honourably avowed a change of views on the admission of Jews into the Legislature, it was assumed that dissentions existed amongst the representatives of the Con servative community. his significant that these rumours have been spread abroad in a week when a favourite measure of the government escaped defeat in the House of Lords by the narrow majority of five on a division of 101 to ninety six, and when on a practical motion, of which long notice had been given, ministers were beaten on the same night in the House of Coranalna by a majority of ten, on a division of 172 to 162. We must remind the circulators of such idle tales that Lord George Bentinck was chosen leader of the conservatives in the lower house, after the clearest declaration from that lamented statesman TRIESTE, June 18.—The Envoy Extraordinary of Rus of his views on the question ; and the same thing sin, at the Court of Teheran, has arrived here, accom can be affirmed in the case of the right hon. gentle- panted by 17 officers and 60 cossacks, who served him as man the member for Bucks. Like the " Cathol" -1 " Prince of Herat who was taken prisoner, has been be , 11 - 3ort. The Envoy was received the tollowing:day. The Question," the subject of the admission of the Jews headed at Teheran. , into the legislature has at no time been made a. Pest THE HIGH PRICE OF SUGAR. —PUBLIC MEETING IN of party. _Lord Castleregh and Mr. Canning led LEEDS.—An open-air meeting was held in Church-street, the tories in the lower house from 1806 to 1826, Hunslet, Leeds, on Wednesday evening, upwards of 10,000 though both were for " Emancipation ;" and these persons being present, for the put pose of taking into con eminent statesmen acted in a cabinet of which the sideration the present high price of sugar. Mr. William Premier, Lord Liverpool, and the Chancellor, Lord Peel presided. The following resolution , p ro p osed by Mr. Joseph Scott, seconded by Mr. F. Smith, was Eldon were were actively hostile to the claims of the Roman Catholics. So little Of a party character mously carri h ed . : h --" That this meeting, sjeaingo_noracoanuoseofor the agreesp r present nt abstain had the catholic question, that the Quarteily convenient Review remained silent upon it till 1830, and never g f r r nm ee uosfisnuggaarnyexaceopftar b as t is t „ to their families, until a reduction n of at least al per lb. discussed its balance of arguments in any " uni- shall take place." The resolution concluded with a strong lateral sense," to WM the phrase of one of the most recommendation to other townships to go and 40, likewise. POLICE COURT.-SAT URD iY., LIVERPOOL. BEFORE MR MANSFIELD. ASSIULTiNd TIM POLICE.— A porter named Thomas Mather, was charged cv,!!h having assaulted Policeman No. 631. The officer saw titi,e prisoner running after, and beating some boys, who were calling him " Jack Pud ding." The officer interfered, when the prisoner assaulted him, tore his clothes, kicked him in tht legs, and knocked one of his teeth down his throat. he peisaner was sent for trial. Patrick Power, and Anne O'Brien, were sent to gaol for six months fir having assaulted the police. POCKET PICKING,—TWO well-dressed females, named Elizabeth Woods and Mary Gilling, were charged with picking :he pocket of Mary liarton, a " Cheshire gal," at the George's Pierhead, on FrPay evening. Mr. Dodd defended the prisoners. The case was clearly proved, and as the prisoners were wall-known, to the police, they were sent for trial. ASSAULTING A BAlLlFF.—Michael M‘GaWArt was charged with having assaulted a bailiff named James Reed. The complainant said he went to levy a distress for rent on the prisoners goods in Crosby street, when the prisoner rushed at him with a spade, but he caught it and then he gave him a "clout" on the eye, with sore thing that opened it. (Meaning that he split his eye-lid open.) He was sent to gaol for one month. CAUTION TO SAILORS.—James R. Bell, Samuel Jeffers, Emanuel Martin, James Campbell, Alexander Gardiner, and Nicholas Twiss, were braught up by Inspector Chew, on a charge of refusing to proceed to sea, and there was an additional charge against Ball. f. r drawing a knife and threatening the captain. It appeared that the prisoners had signed articles to go to the Brazils in the ship Snowden, with a Captain Smith. They were on board in the river, and ready for sea, but it seemed Captain Smith was replaced by another named Arthur William Dickson, and when he assamed the command of the ship, the pri soners refused to proceed to sea, and acted very disorderly, and Bell threatened the captain and drew his knife. In answer to the charge, the prisoners said that they were under the impression that they should sign fresh articles when they got a fresh captain. Mr. Mansfield read the articles, and a clause directing them to obey Captain Smith or his lawful succe2sor. His worship asked the captain if the risonere had received an advance, and he replied they all got an advance. His worship said it was plain why they refused to go in the ship. They wanted to defraud the owners of the ship. It was mean, shabby, and un sailor-like. He sentenced Bell (as the worst of the gang) to ten weeks' hard labour, and the others to six weeke' imprisonment. The prisoners then said they would go in the ship, but the captain refused to take them, so they were committed. CORONER'S INQUES rs. The Coroner held the following inquests on Saturday— On the b dy of Richard Brackle, aged about eight years,who was drowned in the Leeds canal. The only evidence given was as to the finding of the body, and it was supposed the boy fell in' whilst playing about the canal. Verdict —Found drowned. On the body of a female named Anne Snow, the widow of a master mariner. She was 46 years of age, and lived at 15, Faulkner street, and made out her living by setting lodgirgs. She had two children, and was lately much embarrassed. The landlord sent in bailiffs for rent. On Friday it appeared that she went into a fiall in Parliament street, where she cut her throat with a knife. She was seen by a boy, and an alarm was raised. She was taken to the Southern Hospital, where she died soon after. The jury found a verdict that she conaraitted the act whilst labouring under temporary insanity. On the body of William Rimmer, who was engage i in the yard of the Pheasant Inn, Queen square. He WAS kicked by a horse on the 3:1 inst., and lingered to Friday, when he died from the effects of the injuries. Verdict, acci dentally killed. THE END or LOND3N.—Perhaps the most noticeable thing about Vauxhali-brid7e is, that we seem at last to have got nearly to the end of London. On one side is seen the dome of St. Paul's, looming through the atmosphere ; a little nearer are the tower and turrets of the Nv:w Houses of Parliament, and the bold massive outline of Lambeth Palace; and surrounding these is the labyrinth of roofs and steeples of our modern Babylon. But on the bridge itself there is a little clump of fresh green lillacs, and a small garden planted with wall flowers and London pride ; and looking from the other side of the bridge, we see, be yond the wharves and houses, the glistening roof of the Crystal Palace reflecting the sunlight ; and bounding the horizon, rice clumps of trees, which gives promise of pleasant green grass lying beneath their shadows, and telling of the quiet country where the busy turmoil of London is unknown. Vauxhall-bridge was opened in in 1816, and it seems a matter for wonder what could possibly have induced any one to build a bridge which led, on the Middlesex side, to that dismal swamp, Tothill- fields—then a dusty piece of ground used for dog-fighting, bull-baiting, and other noble sports—and to market-gar deners' swampy lauds, which were intersected by slimy ditches, and oranmented with a few hovels, and the well known " Monster" pubiio-house.. However, since the bridge has been built, a new neighbourhood has grown up around it, although the traffic has never reached to anything like an amount to satisfy the shareholders.—Commercial Travellers' Magazine. THE MANCHESTER. MEN.—The "Manchester Men" are peculiar in many respects. They are very partial to, and proud of, their city—enthusiastic lovers of free trade, free institutions, free thought, and free speech. They get early to business, and dine at one. A writer in Blackwood's Magazine, in 1839, thus humorously describes the Man chester dinner hour :—" The rush of the clans from the mountains—of the cataracts from the Alps into the valleys beneath—of three thousand pent-up schoolboys all detained for bad conduct, and then let out at once, only just in time to reach home before dark—of soldiers in revolt—of Irish peasants in a row—or of the Paris students at an emeute— might be compared to the scenes 'which may be daily wit nessed in the city' portion of Manchester when the clock strikes one. No other comparison could be instituted which could express this mighty movement as the moment of dinner draws near." This is only true in part, as the principal merchants merely lunch at one and then go home about six to dine. And the homes of these merchant princes are of the most costly and recherche description. Everything that taste can invent, or art can produce, or genius can create, or wealth Can purchase, is to be found in the houses of those plain, quiet men, who go to and return from business in twopenny omnibuses 1 No more munificent patrons of art, science, or literature, are to be found than the Manchester merchants ; but their sympathies are not confined to pictures, statues, and well-bound books; for, wherever or whenever money is required -to aid charities, build schools, relieve distress, and advance civilisation, there the Manchester men are first and foremost.—lreatis Visitors' Guide. COMFJRT FOR THE COMET-STRICKEN. — We hope the following statement from the Newburyport (U. 8) Herald will relieve the apprehensions of the comet-Stricken, if such there be among our readers. The comet isn'c going to strike—it is whizzing off into boundless space, and every moment increases the distance between it and the earth. Fortunate planet! Fortunate people! We breathe deeper and freer.' The comet. having turned off its cold shoulder. we may now look for warm weather. But here is the ex tract from the Herald By the assistance of C. W. Tuttle, Esq., late assistant of the Astronomical Observatory of Harvard University, now resident in this city, we were able to see this comet on Friday last with Mr, Greenough's teliscope notwithstanding the brilliancy of the full moon and the strong twilight prevailing at that time. It was more satisfactorily seen on Saturday night with the same instru ment. At that time it was on the confines of the circum polar constellation Cameleopard, near Ursa Major. It exhibited a round, nebulous mass of light, slightly concen trated, of about two minutes of arc in diameter. I-s excessive faithless on both occasions was owing to the united effects of the full moon and strong twilight. There being no star within the reach- of the annular micrometer, its position could only approximately be determined. The elements of this comet resemble those of the comets of 1532 and 1661, and if they are identical, then this comet has continued to revolve around the sun once in every ten years since, unseen by human eye till the 25th of February, 1846, when it was discovered by Brorsen. The dimensiens of its orbit are now well as certained. Its aphelion is beyond the orbit of Jupiter by more than thirty-six millions of miles. At its perihelion it was just within the orbit of Venus. The comet's geocentric motion, at this time, is mostly in right ascension, being upwards of fifteen minutes of time daily from west to east. Oa the 28th ins'aut it will be near the bright star Beta Uteve Majoris. It was nearest the earth on the Bth instant, being then about twenty millions of miles distant. It is now receding from uc, and will not be visible to the naked eye during its present apparition. This is the comet the Europeans announcod would strike the earth in Jane. But in America it has been confounded with the great comet of 1566, which has not yet appeared. The return of this cornet, according to prediction may be regarded as another of the brilliant series of astronomical triumphs. calor AND DEED Boxxa.—The next important thing to the posses sion of men is, how (when you have got it) to k e ep it safely, either in the courting-house or at home. The same remarks apply to deeds and other valuable documents. We have Bee a large and varied str,ck of both these desirable articles, manufactured expressly for Mr. that c halleutge attention. The. e E. T. Hall, of South John-street , boxes are made on new and admired Rrincippd, Possess patent key. isi To merchants , bents, solicitors, and ,whichs defy the ingenuity of any pia -lock in the world to open, except with the legitimate others, these new safes, ona small e, inns prove %NW* ilidetd. ' —Northern Daily Times, 21st May, 1857.. ASSAULT BY A CLERK AT THE COUNTY COURT. At the Police Court, on Saturday, before Messrs. Holme and Crosthwaite, James Carsen, a clerk in the Treasurer's department of the County Court, Lime-street, was sum moned by Mr. Thomas Bott, watchmaker, St. James-street, and Chester-street, Birkenhead, for having, on the 3rd of the present month committed an assault upon him. Mr. Hirne, solicitor, appeared for the defendant. From the statement of the complainant, it appeared that he had had some business at the county court, and had applied for a fraud summons against a person living at Oswestry in Wales. He had been compelled to ge very often, from, as he thought, the conduct of the defendant. On the day in question, after getting the keige's leave, he went to the Treasurer's office, about twenty minutes to four o'clock. When he entered the office the defendant was there walking about, apparently doing nothing, and he was kept waiting until nearly four o'clock, when the defendant took the paper and said " you are too late," and threw it at the complainant. The complainant replied, " surely you will not trouble me to come again." The defendant, in a very authoritative manner, said, " leave the office, or I wilt turn you out." As the complainant was leaving the office he called the defendant an impudent blackguard ; but before he could gat to the door, the defendant struck him a blow on the head and kicked him with his foot. The complain ant was cross-examined at considerable length by Mr. Hime, with a view of showing that he had used some aggravating and insulting expressions before the defendant turned him out of the office. The complainant posi tively denied that he had done so. Mrs. Jane Whitehead fully corroborated the complainant's statement. Mr. Rime, in addressing the bench for the de fendant, stated that the complainant was very much excited at the time, and had used insulting language to the de fendant, and other clerks in the office. That he was i simply told that it was after four o'clock, and his business could not be attended to on that day, when he attempted to strike defendant, and was removed from the office. A man named Trainer was called to prove this statement. bat it appeared that at the time of the occurrence he had told the complainant that he had been most shamefully used; therefore, but little reliance could b 3 placed on his present statement. A clerk in the office was also called, for the purpose of showing that the defendant was engaged at the time the complainant went into the office. The magistrates considered the assault was clearly proved, and I that the conduct of the defendant as a public servant was exceedingly reprehensible, and fined him 40s. and costs, I which was immediately paid. LIVERPOOL COUNTY COURT. TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TDIRS. Sir,—Here we are with another adjournment this week ! On Tuesday last Mr. Conway sat in the absence of the judge ; but the cases for the three following days were adjourned until the 20th and 30th of July next, being a period of THREE CALENDAR MONTHS from the days they were entered in the court Is this right? Is this court a boon to the public, or is it a nuisance ? " The remedy is obvious," says the Daily Post ; " let the Government appoint an additional judge.'' The remedy is equally ob vious, say I ; let the judge appoint a deputy, and pay him according to the Act of Parliament. One judge of ordinary stamina is sufficient for the present business, and therefore the country ought not to be saddled with the expense of an additional one. Let the judge, whoever he may be, confine him self to his own dutie sin his own court, and not ram ble off to the Quarter Sessions four times in the year to the hindrance of his own suitors. The judge of this court is, without doubt, a very good judge, and he has been so much lauded that we can now hardly bring ourselves to find fault with him. But there is reason in the roasting of eggs, and our love for the man must not lead us to forget what is due from him to us. If the constution of the judge should unfortunately be so weak and delicate that he can not execute the duties of his office, then, in honour, he ought to resign. But I would fain hope this is not so, and that his appointment of a deputy would remedy the inconvenience arising during his severe illness.—l am, &c., A SUITOR. 20th June, 1857. The Illoniteur of yesterday published an important ad dress from the Prefect of the Seine to the electors. It commenced by pointing out that the Government, in frankly adopting universal suffrage, wished that the Chamber should be the expression of the general will. It has only reserved to itself the means of influence, viz., to proclaim aloud to the country the names of the men who enjoy its confidence, that the people may not be deceived by false declarations of political opinions. THE POSTAGE OF NEWSPAPERS.—We understand that the Lords of the Treasury have sanctioned the proposal submitted by Mr. John Francis to the Chancellor of the Exchequer for stamping the co7ers of newspaper agen t s with an impressed stamp , having a rim attached, express ing the name and address of the send er . A u th or i ty h as also, we learn, been given to the board of inland revenue to matie a new stamp denoting a 3d rate of postage—a stamp that will prove of special service in respect to the large number of newspapers now transmitted to India, via Marseilles, EXAGG 5 RATION ABOUT CLIMATE .-Of the United States where hale old age is rarely seen ; where at thirty women are grey ; where a glance at the children reveals a physi cally degenerating race; where, consumption and virulent periodical fevers are th e s co urge of regions; where nearly one. third of the emigrants from Europe die within three years of their arrival--we are told that the climate is fine, bright, and dry ! Of Canada, which might be described as two months an oven and four months an ice-house ; where in winter rivers become ice -roads, and meat has to be split up like firewood—of Canada, we are told (in Canadian "Prize Essays") that the climate is perfection ; that though it is cold you don't feel it ; and that if you live, you grow to like it ! Of Nova Scotia, where if the ice be. a foot or two thinner, the fogs are a foot or two thicker, it has been , hinted that the climate cannot be bad, because an old settler once lived to be 103 there without possessing a great coat ! Of Natal, an African colony lying within 27 degrees of the line, where sheep don't live, but where lions do ; where serpents, contipede, scorpion, and divers torrid and horrid reptiles abound ; where sugar and c)tton are looked to as staple exports, and where wheat won't grow, we are told be an emigrant writer—" There can be no hesitation in characterising it as the healthiest _region under the dominion of Great Britain !"—New Zealand, hy Charles Ifursthouse. THE COMET THAT DIDN'T STRIKE THE EARTH.—The " approaching comet" created considerable sensation all last week, and the feeling was intensified when Saturday, the veritable day, arrived. A large number of people expected the monster to visit this town by way of London road, through Walton-le-Dale;. but they were agreeabiy disappointed. A good look-out was kept by several of the alarmed. We understand that fire-proof safes were in great requisition, and many parties migrated to Lytham and Blackpool, under the impression that, although the comet might strike the earth, it would keep a respectful distance from " sant wetter." Many ludicrous things h appene d ; s mogst the number, Smith, a well-known pig dealer, sold off au extensive stock of the swineocracy, at "au alarming sacriqce." He was determined to be ready for the comet. The foolishness of this gentleman accounts for the fall in the price of pigs on Saturday. On the other hand, two or three booksellers "made a good thing" out of a small pennyworth of bosh about " the great comet." People were "sensible to the last," and eagerly bought up, the editions. Ultimately these gentlemen, fearing their occupation would be gone, passed a resolu tion to the effect that the comet be respectfully requested to defer his visit for a fortnight. The result our readers know--the great comet did not strike the earth.—Pres:ora Guardian . TAILED Mnx.—The Rev. Mr. T. 3. Bowen, who spent several years in the interior of Central Africa, as a mis sionary of the Southern Baptist Board, makes the following reference to the subject in his recently published narrative, In speaking of Nassamu, the executioner of tlfe.King of Liorin (an inferior city of at least 70,000 inhabitants), and ethers with whom he conversed, he says: —The Moors and Arabs, who had been everywhere, had told them wonderful stories of still other countries and tribes far off in the east. Somewhere on the other side of Yakouba is a tribe of people called Alakere, none of whom are more thin three feet in height. The chiefs are a little taller than the com mon people, The Alakere are very ingenious people, especially in working iron, and they are so ininetrious that their towns are surrounded by iron walls. Beyond these are a tribe called Alabira, who have short inflexible tails. As the stiffness of their tails prevents the Alabiru from sitting flat on theground, every man carries a sharp-pointed stick, with which he drills a hole in the earth to receive his itraoiln b wh a i r l s e , sitting. They are industrious manufacturers of which they. sell to surrounding tribes. All the fine swords in Sudan are male of this iron. The next tribe in order are the Alabi woe, who have a small goat-like horn projecting from the middle of their forhead. For all that they are a nice kind of black people, and quite intelli gent. A woman of this tribe is now in slavery at Offa, near Llorrin. She always wears a handkerehief around her head, because she is ashamed of her horn. There are other people in the " Doko" region who have four eyes, and others who live entirely in subterraneous galleries. These wonders are attested by inthes and grabs,--'Frets Notes and Queries.