The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-01-29 00:00:00

THE LIYERPO6I, STANDARD.

Commercial s:Fars.

Zbls Dap.

THIS DAY (Tuesday), the 29th instant, at Half-past One o'clock,
at the Commercial Sale-room, Temple-court,
6 Tierces American PIGS HEADS, in dry salt,
17 Hhdis. Ditto DITTO in pickle,
per Arctic, from New York.
WM. GARDNER and CO., ]3rokers.

Apply to

THIS DAY (Tuesday), the 29th instant, at Half-past One o'clock
at the Commercial Sale-room, Temple-court,
About 3.000 Boxes American CHEESE.
Apply to Messrs. TRIMMER and GRAINGER, Bank-chambers,
Cook-street ; or to WM. GARDNER and CO., Brokers.

On account of whom it may concern.
Tnis DAY (Tuesday), the 29th instant, at Half-past One o'clock,
at the Commercial Sale-room, Temple-court,
567 Barrels FRENCH. PORK,
per Eugke, from Morlaix.
WM. GARDNER and CO., Brokers.

Apply to

THIS DAY (Tuesday), the 29th instant, at Halt-past One o'clock,
at the Commercial Sale-room, Temple-court,
120 Barrels Choice AMERICAN LARD.
Apply to Messrs. MCANDREW, SoNs, and HALL, Merchants
or to WM. GARDNER and CO., Brokers.

sions, the majority may begin to question the use of
a Government, or, indeed of a Parliament, except to
vote supplies, increase taxation, and indulge in idle
and profitless discussions. Recent Acts of Parliament
have been but a mockery of legislation, reflecting dis-
grace on all concerned, and calling loudly for reform,
laws being made at the dictation of the lowest class
of mob agitators. A Bill for regulating hackney car-
riages in the metropolis was altered in its enactments
because the cab-drivers refused to ply for hire ; a Bill
to put a stop to Sunday trading in London was with-
drawn, because a mob of ragamuffins and the lowest
ruffians assembled in Hyde Park and broke windows
in defiance of the police; and the Bill to diminish the
opening of public-houses and beer-shops on Sundays
was altered because similar means were used to inti-
mitate our chicken-hearted Cabinet Ministers. They
are destitute of moral courage, deficient in ability, and
possessing no quality entitling them to the confidence
of any party, or section of a party ; and yet, because
of their professions to prosecute the war, about-which
the people felt strongly, and which would have been
infinitely better done by a Conservative Ministry,
these men have been permitted to fritter away the best
interests of the country, and now have the hardihood
to claim credit for their good management.
It is time that the Conservatives, as a party, be-
thought themselves seriously of their position, and the
duty which they owe to themselves and the common
cause. It may have been prudent to permit the exist-
ence of a Ministry upon sufferance when great inte-
rests were at stake which may have been imperilled
by political contests at home, but a day of reckoning
must come, and the longer it is delayed the worse will
be the settlement. Forbearance has been pushed,
hoWever, almost to the verge of endurance, experience
has proved that our position abroad has been in no
way improved by simulated unanimity at home, or
endangered by a Ministerial crisis, as was shown when
the coalition was expelled, and we have therefore a
right to assume that even the pending negotiations
will be in no way damaged, but rather improved, by
attention being paid to our own affairs, which are in-
timately concerned in the rjght men being in the
right places.

THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.

PRESIDENT PIERCE was so anxious to make known
his sentiments, and publish the address which he
hoped would secure him a re-election, that he could
not wait for the organisation of the House of Repre-
sentatives, but sent them his Message, which they,
under the circumstances, very properly refused to
receive. The only point in it which may be considered
of any interest in this county, is his laboured com-
plaint against Great Britain, for an alleged infringe-
ment of the CLAYTON-BULWER treaty, with reference
to interference in the affairs of Central America. But
while he endeavours to assume a belligerent attitude,
which he hopes may serve him in good stead when
the choice of a President for the next four years is
the question at issue, he seems by no means confident
of having taken the right course. His comments
throughout betray his being willing to wound, and
yet afraid to strike ; for while he appears to insist
strongly on the violation of the treaty by Great Bri-
tain, he professes great confidence in an amicable
adjustment of the difference, as though he dreaded to
provoke an hostility which he wishes at the same time to
persuade his countrymen he is not afraid to encounter.
The whole of this petty storm is founded upon a ridi-
culous assumption by the United States of their right
to dictate to European powers as to their dealings
with all the rest of the Continent of America. The
possession of Honduras and the protectorate of the
Mosquito territory by England are of far older date
than the treaty alleged to be violated ; nor could it
have been supposed when the treaty was entered into
that it had any other meaning than to restrain future
acquisitions by either party, so that Central America,
which was about to become the highway to the Pacific,
might be preserved in its state of comparative inde-
pendence.

Whatever may be the assumptions of American
statesmen, Great Britain has never acknowledged
that absurd claim to exclude all European interference
with the whole American continent. It may have
been in some degree partially acted upon, because non-
interference, except in cases of urgent necessity, has
been a rule of English policy, but our hands are not
to be tied because the ITnited States Government
choose to set up a claim, the assertion of which, if
tamely submitted to, may ultimately result in refusing
our right to defend the Island of Cuba from their
piratical expeditions. The time may come when
Mexico may claim our aid against another aggression
to gain another California ; or the States themselves,
no longer united, of which there seems some prospect,
may demand our interference, should some of the
northern ones, preferring British government, wish
to annex themselves to Canada. Such events are by no
means improbable, as shown by the disunion which
appears to prevail in the American Congress. It has
long been predicted by those who have watched anxi-
ously the progress of American institutions, that
sooner or later a division of the Northern and Southern
States would be inevitable, for the antagonistic prin-
ciples of slavery and freedom could not long work
harmoniously together, however mutual forbearance
might prolong the catastrophe.
When, some few weeks since, a portion of the Ame-
rican press assumed a belligerent tone, and war with
America was becoming a topic of conversation, we
then stated that it was merely an ebullition of popular
effervescence, in order to give excitement to an
election contest. There is no doubt that President
PIERCE was endeavouring to prepare the public mind
for his message to Congress, and, in despair of any
claims to popular sympathy, trying to make political
capital out of a pretended defiance to England. It is the
whole secret of his laboured exposition of the CLAY-

TON-BULWER treaty; and as he has evidently mistaken
the tone of public feeling in America, for his warlike
notes have failed to meet with a reponse, there can be

little doubt that his electioneering movement wil

prove a failure, another President will be elected, and
then we shall hear no more about war. The interests

of trade, the love of hard dollars, will predominate,
and though the vote may be agreed to for the increase

of the American navy, it will have no reference what

ever to.any anticipation of a breach of the good un.
derstanding which exists between the two countries.

RAILWAY REFORM.

WE have before called attention to the condition of
the enormous 'amount of capital invested in railways,
and its manifest want of due appreciation when judged
of by the quotations in Railway Share lists. Much
of this is to be attributed to the disfavOur in which
this species of investment has fallen, owing to the
senseless opposition of rival Directors, and the great
amount of capital literally wasted in Parliamentary
and legal expenses,—a state of affairs by no means
improved by the exposures which occasionally take
place, as instanced some time since in the case of the
celebrated Railway King, and more recently in the
doings of the Eastern Counties Railway Board. It is
.hardly, therefore, a matter of surprise that the pro-
mises of future dividends should be looked upon with
somewhat of suspicion, and that the public, before
making an investment in such apparently uncertain
securities, should require an ample margin for pre-
sumed contingencies. Shareholders complain, and
with' justice, of unprofitable branches constructed, and
of competing trains being run without profit ; while
those who have the property at stake, with dividends
becoming small by degrees and miserably less, are
altogether at the mercy of Directors, who may com-
pensate themselves by the emoluments and patronage
attaching to their office. It has long been an object
of ardent desire to obtain a remedy for this unsatis-

factory state of things, and which was a question of
some importance, considering the magnitude of the
interests involved; but the suhject was beset with
difficulties insurmountable; and the more so, as Rail-
way Shareholders were widely scattered, changing
every day, and possessing no common bond of unity
by which their numbers could be made available as an
element of strength. Some time since it was proposed
that the Government should appoint auditors of
Railway accounts, but then came the jealousy of
Government interference with private property, which
rendered the scheme abortive. Occasionally com-
mittees of investigation have been appointed, but their
proceedings have rarely led to any practically beneficial
result, shareholders being naturally unwilling to
depreciate their own property ; and so Boards of
Directors have virtually had immunity for all their
doings, however imprudent, injudicious, or even re-
prehensible.
An attempt, however, has at length been made to
try the effect of general combination, and accordingly
on Tuesday last a meeting was held in London under
the presidency of Mr. MALirts, M.P., and a society
formed under the title of " The Railroad Proprietors'
Association." The avowed object of the association
is the protection of railway property, by restricting,
and where possible closing, capital account, the sup-
pression of unremunerative tariffs by territorial
arrangements, and by entertaining all questions
conducive to the benefit of railway property, in the
shape of economical working or otherwise. There
can be no doubt that the interests of shareholders
require some protective measures against the injuries
which appear to have been inflicted by the conduct of
Directors and the want of unity between rival
concerns ; but the objects set forth by this new asso-
ciation are not the most desirable, while the real wants
are left wholly unprovided for, or at any rate,
unnoticed. By far the most important requirement
is a more efficient audit of railway accounts, and this
' might be accomplished by the appointment of a body
of competent auditors, invested with full powers of
investigation ; and if their appointment were entrusted
to an association of shareholders, it would obviate the
difficulty; occasioned by a jealousy of Government
interference. Such a point gained would do far more
for the interest of shareholders than any of the
objects professed to be sought by the association.
We are aware that the closing of capital account
has long been anxiously desired as a means of protec-
tion to the shareholders ; but it is not always attain-
able, owing to bonds and debentures falling due and
being renewed at varying rates of interest. Again,
much erroneous opinion exists as to what are called
unremunerative tariffs, as though the receipts of a
railway augmented in proportion with the increase of
fares. The fact is more often the reverse ; and if the
shareholders hope to increase their dividends by
raising the charges for traffic, they will find them-
selves grievously disappointed. There is no want of
evidence. The London and Brighton Company has
been conspicuous for running trains at low fares, and
yet their dividends are higher and their shares bear
a better price than almost any other great trunk line.
Take the Southport line for another example. Last
year the fares were reduced by competition till they
were ridiculously low, and yet in one week the traffic
produced £7,000 to the Lancashire and Yorkshire
Company alone for trains running in and out of
Southport, an amount considerably greater than was
ever received from the previous rates. Excursion
trains also, however low the fares, produce far
greater profits than the ordinary trains ; and it will
be found the interest of shareholders to promote the
traffic derived from low charges as far more remune-
rative than the tariffs which are to be promoted by
territorial arrangements. The interests of the public
as well as shareholders would then be consulted ; and
as dividends increased we should hear less of com-
plaints against the management of Railway Directors.

THE " MERSEY CONSERVANCY."—The commissioners for
the improvement of Birkenhead and Claughtou-cum-Grange,
n pursuance of the powers in them vested, have given notice,
dated the 15th instant, to the acting conservator of the
Mersey, to the clerk of the peace for the county of Lancaster,
to the clerk of the peace for the county of Chester, and to the
clerk of the peace for the borough of Liverpool, that they
intend, within two months from the above date, to erect certain
quays, wharfs, &c., in the said notice set out, in or adjoining
the river Mersey at Monk's Ferry.
COUNTY COURT JURISDICTION.—IR the Court of Ex-
chequer, on Saturday, Mr. Milward moved for a prohibition to
the Judge of the Liverpool County Court in several cases, on
the ground that they did not fall within his jurisdiction. The
plaint was brought under the 85th section of the 9th and 10th
of Victoria, chap. 95, which gave the County Courts jurisdic-
tion to try suits for "any legacy under a will," and it was now
contended for the defendant that the case did not fall within
that section. It appears that in 1839 a man died, and by his
will he gave certain furniture, goods, and debts to the defend-
ant (who was his executor), in trust, to sell and realise the
same, and invest £lOO and the interest thereon, until the
plaintiff (his nephew), then a minor, should come of age,
and then upon trust to pay him the same, with power to ad-
vance the whole, or any portion, if such a step should be de-
sirable. A similar provision was also made for two sisters of
the plaintiff, to the extent of £6O. At the death of the tes-
tator the mother of the children was " on the parish," and the
defendant made from time to time certain advances for the sup-
Port and benefit of the children, which exhausted all the funds ;
and when they came of age they each brought an action
in the County Court against the defendant, to recover so
much of their respective legacies as fell within its jurisdiction,
abandoning the excess beyond that sum, The learned judge,
on objection being made, stayed execution, in order that this
rule might be discussed, and it was now argued for the defend-
ant that the section of the act only applied to the case of a
mere legacy, where nothing remained to be done but for the
executor to hand it over to the legatee. In the present case,
however, the executor was clothed with a complicated trust,
and the legatees, by the process of the. County Court, were
virtually suing him for a breach of the trust.—Mr. Aspland
showed cause against the rule, and cited a case where this court
held that a sum given to an executor in trust to pay to the
legatee was a legacy which could be recovered in the County
Court.—Mr. Milward, in reply, showed the distinction drawn
between a legacy in the hands of an executor and one in the
hands of one who was both executor and trustee, in which
latter case the legatee could only resort to equity.—The Court
was of opinion that the distinction so taken was well founded,
and that in the present case the County Court had no jurisdic-
tion. The rule for a prohibition must therefore be made abso-
lute
in each action.—Judgment accordingly.
PAINFUL SCENE AT TIIE POLICE-COURT.-011 Saturday,
before Mr. Mansfield, a well-dressed man was charged with
having, on the 14th September last, and at other times, stolen
some silver spoons, ten silver dessert forks, and other property,
to the value of £3O or £35. The prisoner was very much dis-
tressed, crying the whole of the time the case was being heard ;
while his wife, a respectably-dressed young person, with a
child in her arms, sat just under the dock, weeping piteously.
Mr. Stephen Schilizzi, a Greek merchant, of this town, said
the prisoner had been in his service about nine months as but-
ler, and the plate was put entirely under his care. He was not
aware of any impropriety until Detective-officer Povey went to
him on Friday, when he identified the articles of plate produced
his property, and as a portion of the plate entrusted to the pri-
soner's care. Mr. Green, pawnbroker, Marybone, pointed out
several forks and spoons as having been brought by the pri-
soner, on different occasions, to his shop. He first came on
the 4th of September, and pledged a spoon, which he said
had been given to his child by its sponsor, as a christening
gift. He came again on the 20th November, and pledged a
spoon; again on the 12th instant, in witness's absence, and
pledged another teaspoon. Thinking the case one of suspicion,
witness gave instructions that if the prisoner called again that
he was to be watched. On the 24th he called again, and
pledged a pair of trousers. He was followed to Mr. Schilizzi's,
Holly-road, Fairfield; and information was afterwards given
to the police. Mr. Edward Byford, pawnbroker, deposed to
the prisoner pledging a silver fork, on the Bth November last,
in the name of Stephen Shephardson. David W. Winstanley,
assistant with Mr. Woodruff, pawnbroker, Pembroke-place,
stated that, on the 24th August, the prisoner pledged a spoon
at his master's shop, stating that. it was a christening gift.
He said his name was Shephardson, and that he lived at
No. 8, Ashton-street. • -Mr: Frederick Walter, pawnbroker,
London-road, deposed. to .the prisoner pledging spoons and
forks on the 20th October and Bth instant. Povey, the detec-
tive officer, stated that, in consequence of evidence received
from Mr. Green,. he apprehended the prisoner, and
charged him with robbing his master. He admitted the
offence, said he was very sorry for it, and that lie had in-
tended to have redeemed the articles, and restored them to
the stock of plate belonging. to Mr. Schilizzi. Mr. Mansfield,
(addressing the prisoner :) • •Do you wish to plead guilty P The
prisoner: Yes; but indeed I intended to restore them. In
reply to the bench, Mr. Schilizzi said the prisoner had been in
his employ nine months : that he was a most excellent ser-
vant—the best, in fact, he had ever had ; that previously to
coming into his service, he was in the house of Mr. Bodo-
canachi about a year, and that that gentleman was very much
satisfied with the manner he had conducted himself while with

opner2
ysloeroryf ltihvaintga
a-year.l;i;:a ft
s;vfills: saidsurprised
in his position, so highly spoken of, and. having a life of use-
he w;ishvisersyt
fulness open to him, should have fallen into a temptation, of
what nature known to himself and the Almighty, to induce
him to commit this criminal act. It was a lamentable and
painful thing for the. court to do, but it must pass a severe
sentence. The prisoner had come into the posession of• valu-
able property in trust—a trust which he had violated, and,
instead of protecting, had stolen the property so placed in his
care. He must be sentenced to six months' hard labour. Mr.
Mansfield directed that the whole of the recovered property
should be restored to Mr. Schilizzi, who, he was sure, would
make some suitable present to Mr. Green, to whose honesty
and praiseworthy conduct he was indebted for the discovery of
the.robbery.