The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-04-07 00:00:00

GOOD FRIDAY.

Next to Christmas, Good Vriday has always been one
of the holidayl which . claim itnnstial observance. All
'14;16 and conditiod of the people P;4 deferenee to the
day—not many, perhaps, in the way the most becoming
and appropriate, considering the awful significance of its
relation to our common Christianity; but with all it ie
set apart as an unmistakable holiday. Yesterday formed
no exception to the general rule. The weather, especially
in the early part of the clay; Wsts tetilarltably Ode; and
"as toil, remitting, lent its turn to leisure," all Liver-
pool appeared to be astir. The unusually busy appear-
ance of *mil- therciliglifares gave token of the large num-
ber of persons *to -ald ns ~-great from the suf-
.
-fo-unding . districts. Lime-street and Tithebarn-street
swarmed with - the passengers which the heavy, trains
were perpetually bringing from an early hour; and it
"was surprising to witness the precision and regularity
with which the vast additional traffic was managed at
the various railway stations. Of Course the great bulk of
the visitors were, as ustial, of the working
these whci ere k4t etiiglayeci iri the Many, niertilfactttring
establishments which abound in Lancashire aiore ihaii
any other part of the world. There was an absence of
the ruddy-cheeked lessee and sturdy, strong-limbed
rustics who may. be seen
.staring about in most of the
large towns- at this holiday season: Cotten factories,
linen mills, and print works usurp here the ground on
which the
..firM and the homestead stand in other
counties. This, hOwei-er; is a mere geOgraphical accident,
and it is riot ac circumstance 74hidi would be et all
deplored bY a real t3iclCy
Sam.
We often hear of the
dwarfing and deteriorating influence of factory employ-
ment, but it is at least gratifying to see, at each recurring
general holiday, that the factory has given to thou-
sands and tens of thousands not only the means of
• subsistence, but the means of enjoynient: Never did
a larger &timber otoWd into, our tovl4 Ira dr_4B
day than reached us from the various surrounding
minufactdring districts yesterday—a fact which, in
affOrdi pleashkevidenee of the prosperity of the
*oiling dais& i acid it tliedrisl had searched for
the wan and emaciated creatures that are fancied io
fill_ the cotton mills, he would have been agreeably
disappointed. They bore every appearance of health,
•and were; as a rule, well and decently clad ;
add 411erii*er sight Ott amusement offered
itself, their delight Was unbounded, and decidedly as
demonstrative, as if they had.been brmight up all their
days in green fields:. The river and the shipping
are; of invariably the greatest ditractioti ; and;
accordingly, a continuous stream of people set in
towards the more conspicuous docks, while all the ferry-
boats rejoiced each trip id crowded decks. It is hardly
possible to estimate the enormous nnmbei who crossed
by the Woodside-boats iii the catirite2 of the day. New.
Brighton cdaied its thotisands view of the Bock
Port and the sea beyond ; end the forest at Eastham
afforded :an attraction.as strong as ever. Special boats-
itarted in!the morping far
.the Menai Straits and Other
parts of North Wales, which were crowded to -their
iitmoti capacity; and not an inconsiderable
off on a trip to the . Isle Of Man. Perhaps the, greatest
gathering Of :all took'plice at the Liverpool:Zoological
Gardens. 'The great ilippopotamus Was here exhibited
for the first time in the provincess ; and we do not over-
estimate in stating that 10;0_00 or 12,000 people were
adrilitted into thd pe.idefli dtiritig this dif:

Some hundreds of hives of honey-bees have recently
been exported from New York State to ghe Pacific coast.
They cost about £ a hive, and realise about £l5. The
honey-bee does not thrive in California without artificial
hid; although the
.country seems 10 afford 'abundant
means of subsistence.
THE COURT.-011 Saturday (this evening) there will
be a grand performance at Windsor Castle of Haydn's
Passion music. The orchestra, in addition to her
Majesty's private band, will be composed of the leading
members of the Philharmonic Society. The choruses
will be under the superintendence of Mr. Leslie. The
court will visit Scotland at. a much earlier period this
.year than usual, as her Majesty does not intend to go
.to Osborne at the customary' summer season.
GREAT DISPLAY or FRENCH GOADS IN BOLD-
STHLET. The commercial treaty with France has
certainly given an impetus to the shopkeepers of Liver-
pool, and French goods are beginning to be largely
imparted. The rapidly increasing business of _Messrs.
Shellard and Hodgson—a business confined entirely to
-shails, mantles, and jackets for ladies—has compelled
an extension of their already very elegant and spacious
establishment. Amongst
.the mare prominent altera-
tions have been the throwing the first and second floors
of the houses 40, Bold-street, and 43, Wood-street, into
a series of spacious and splendidly lighted show-rooms,
second to none in -the kingdom probably for tl,e ,e
qualities. The extra space thus given affords ample
room for the effective display of the elegant stock wbieh
has just been got in. We. understand, that the buyers
of the establishment hive just returned from London
and Paris. andlhat the .Frenoh CoMmercial Treaty, by
which silk and other goods are admitted free of duty,
has enabled the French designers and manufacturers to
produce mazy novelties that have attracted the attention
of the buyers for the British market, . .Anticipating a
very large demand, the supply of goods from the hands
of the French manufacturers has been of a correspond-
ing magnitude and; availing theanselves of the facilities
offered, to them' Messrs. 11 Shellard and have
pUrChased • largely of very rich gods, which they will
show early in the ensuing week.

EItitACIRDII.I.RY HISTORY OF AN
I 'foagitht,

.1...............0

FrOm the' Gimgetv Horning Herald.
Henr3r,thornton ility is at present incarcerated in the
North Prison of Glasgow, undergoing six months' int-
prisonment for uttering forged orders for provisions on
mere than one shopkeeper in Cowcaddens.. He is about
35 CLitee; middle-sire in height, speaks with a
slight 'English accent, and is a most plansible fellow.
There is reason to believe that is a Odor Finglish
curate's son, and one of those who are a grief to their
parents. He received a tolerably good education, but
was never in Cambridge University, and :therefore we
may without hesitation throw his tragic love story out
of sight as the " basekss. fabric of e vision." He did
enlist, under the name of Thomas Watkins, and went
with the regiment to the West Indies, where he
deserted, acrd etit:ltd the Third West India Regiment.
He was recaptured, punished, end permitted to join
the 71st Regiment, which came to GlasgOvi In 1847,
and here is the first time that he appeared in public
in the western metropolis. He seems always .to have
had a forte for preaching ; and in Glasgow he first
attracted notice as a preacher of the Gospel. It
may be in the remembrance of a number of our
readers that about thirteen years age, a deserter was
found pteL'chlng in Oteetillead 04oad sacra, church,
and that after the forcnOthi service he WO marched off
to the barracks a prisoner. That man *de Thornton
Hay. In the end of 1847, the pulpit of Greenhead
Chuich was vacant, and accordingly Hay having ingra-
tiated hitriself with a female manager of the church, who
kept the keysthrough life be seems to hove readily
captivated the sit sea—he preached four consecu-
tive Sabbaths under the name of tlih lev: Mr. Bertram,
but whether "with acceptance" or not we 'canna ray;
Having been at that time absent from his regiment five
days, two sergeants from the 71st Foot waited upon him
until he left the pulpit, when they conveyed him to
durance vile in the barracks, where at that time his wife
resided. He was tried' by court-martial, and sentenced
to a period of imprisonment, his former desertion being
also brought up against hint. After his discharge from
the army, he returned to Glasgow and obtained d situa-
tion at the Theatre Royal, where he continued for four
months. He now sought and gained employment in a
cooperage, as journeyman, where he continued for a few
months, and next transferred his coopering services to
Kilsyth. After a sojourn of a few months there, he
returned- to Glasgow, and resumed coopering and some-
thing else. He procured an introduction to one or two
Free Churbh 'ministers, told his wonderful tale, and on
Hogmanay, 1814, being iti4itfd tdiaturch soiree, he sat
upon the platform with the other guests and epkialcers,
and delivered an address. He then regularly attended a
Free Church in the centre of the city, pretended great
holiness of life, counterfeited the Christian character,
and made a profession which paled the greater lights
around him. By this pseudo-sanctity he imposed upon
many, chiefly the "weaker vessels;" and the consequences
" were wounded feelings, destroyed prospects, and ille-
gitimate children. To chow the cool audacity of the
scoundrel, we may state that on ode occasion he invited
two respectable women, to whom he was at the same futile
paying his addresses, to his lodgings to tea, and then intro-
duced the one to the other as his sweetheart ! He likewise
went so far ati to take a house in Portland-Street, and
had it furnished by one a fES #elation of the person he
was about to marry. Happily he was disce4eted ha time,
and had to beat a hasty retreat. He next turned tip
near London, and palmed himself off in a Roman
Catholic family, as a greatly persecuted, poor Roman
Catholic priest. Here he lived for some six weeks, but
discovering that the Roman Catholic bishop of the
diocese was abmit to visit his depet, he decamped. Of
course; he repaired td London; and under the garb,. and
profession of a clergyman front Scotland; fie etiteeeded in
defratitling several peopie out of considerable aunts, for
which he was duly sentenced to twelve
.nionths'impri-
sentient. Being diSeltaiged ford gaol in August, 1856,
he sitceeedcd tIY Sanie means hi raising as nitich Money
as carried him to Glasgow again. here he arrived "di si
pretended agent of the London Missionary Society, just
returned from India. In this character he traversed the
city and neighbourhood, -addressing meetings here and
there ; but although his speeches were quite: barren of
new fact, and indeed disappointed the most unsuspecting,
still, by his great holiness of life, and uprightness of
character, he insinuated himself most astonishly into- the
sentifidenee of ninny gridd people: he had; therefore, no
difficulty in getting a loan of radridY, eepeddlly as he
was just expecting his annual salary from the Mis-
sionary Society, along with his travelling expenses. By
these means he made a pretty large haul in Glasgow ;
he had not, however, uninterrupted success. In the
east end of the city there is a large Sabbath class,
composed of 100 young men and women. To one of
the Toting titan al' the:t ekes, of his own name, he got
introduced ; and by his plattsiiile isiittehes, Isle minis-
terial appearance, and frankness of manner, completely
deceived him. ' He was in due course invited to the
adult class. The scoundrel was more successful in that
quarter than he ought to have been. He got in-
troduced to one of the young women, who belongs
to a most respe6table family residing on the
smith side of the river, and she accepted him as
an idttiovAedied suitor; his saintly appearance
much aiding his purpose. in fieceriitieti 1856, hs was
introduced by Miss -- to her minister, a highly res-
pectable U.P. clergyman on the south side of the river.
About that time, their congregational soiree was to be
held, and "the missionary" was announced as a speaker.
The speech was delivered, but the general feeling in
regdid td tit F 6 nissionaty " was that the London Mis-
sionary Sodety had hot triticli fo Vrig of it him. Hav-
ing been invited to dinner by the worthy Min et, it
was wound tip by the guest obtaining the loan of
Ahoht tliat time he got £5 froti the manager of a mill
near Ruthergten-t'tfde..,6'. having strong suspicions, the
U.P. minister made a few 4-414iieei; Which resulted in
the discovery that there was no such agent Of the Lon-
don Missionary Society as Thornton Hay, and that
doubtless he was an impostor. Information was accord-
ingly conveyed to the police, but " the missionary" suc-
ceeded id getting off to Liverpool. He was not again
Eeeird of by the Glasgow authorities until about the
middle of 1857, diid lie had pa:ssed through many
remarkable vicissitudes of for-tilde: M the beginning
of that year, on his arrival in Liverpool, he. g'aiiied the
good opinion of several of the Established Church eleik
there who opened to him their pulpits ; and by this means
he was enabled to fleece a number of people to the tune of
Upwards of £lOO. He next repaired to Edinburgh;
and here he dame out as a clergyman of the Anglican
Chtireli; ate:V.4 a survey of the state of the Episcopal
Church in Scotland." We don't told* Midet what name
he then passed, and although we are hot eet‘tain, yet it is
very probable that he ran out of -cash here also, stud"
required a loan or two: He preached at the Castle to
the soldiers, and in other places in Edinburgh. He sub-
sethiently, repaired to London, and in coming back to
LiVerPl Pi kW ac4tiainfante with a Glasgoii gentle-
man. Desirous of malting &OM tint of ttqtrattraintance-
, ship, he came to Glasgow ; but tins platted thin time,
and had to make a hasty journey to gclinlititgii,
lie did tot remelt' long. Passing through Haddington,
he sought' outv ritri irdpo'sed upon some of the descen-
dants of the great Script i 6 6einmentator of that town,
obtaining money which conveyed 'hip"' to. Sunderland.
Here he succeeded, by delivering a forged- loses from a
friend in Glasgow, in getting from a female member of
the gociety of Friends ; but her husband at once detected
the forgery, and, getting a policeman, they caught the
felldo at the railway station- as he was about to start
fot Newcastle. When ha sail, hie was detected, he
hurriedly tore tip had pieces two letters that
he had upon him, strewing the ettitisd 10th the frag-
ments. These were all "carefully gathered tip elid pot
together, when it was found that they. purporteil to he
letters of introduction from two; U.P. ministers in Glai-
gdtA id d I 115: minister in Newcastle, written in high-
flown larigna:ge, Tits bearer is an esteemed
brother, and a great acquisitioil fa the cause of
-dissent in England.".. Unfortunately, by swedO flaw
in the evidence, he Wax acquitted at Sunderland-;
but die siiti7oiities ai Haddington were in waiting
to receive him, and thiffiet he was- tak6n and
sentenced to five weeks' imprisountenti As soon -as his
term of incarceration at Haddington was over, ha was
brought to Glasgow, and before the sheriff and a jury he
was convicted of obtaihing money under false pretences,
arid lodged iii the North peisonfor six months. During
the ji.ei 18391' and, after he came out of prison, he
returned te 'his ertiPylii4iii as a e6opet ;- and towards
the end of the year got again into ttonble by forging
his employer's name to some ord6rs -for provisions on
various dealers in Cowcaddens. For that offence he
was sentenced to six months' imprisonment, and at
present he is undergoing that punishment. He will be
liberated next June.

YOUNG CHINA.—The children begin to work very
early, almost too young ; they get serious and sedate,
are wonderfully old-fashioned, and think for themselves
very soon. Though there is no great respect for old
age, juveniles are net snubbed for being prococionS ; on
the contrary, I have often noticed the little fellows give
their opinion before their elders. It is by no means'
rare to see children under twelve years of age with full
charge of a shop or stall, and even, sculling ferry boats,
the large scull enabling young bairns to move boat loads
of people ; they fight their way independently through
crowds of boats, and are sometimes as cheeky as cabmen,
—Twelve years in China, by a British 848 418131.

.•
ME Soma, EVIL Ix MILL..—The• police statistics
of 1859 for the borough of Hull, just published, reveal
the fact that there were 20 brothels " well conduCted "
as against 13 in 1858 57 of the second class, " well
conducted, and frequented by thEy middle classes and
youths," as against 69 in 1868; and 162 "disorderly
houses, frequented by the lower orders and thieves," as
against 177. The diminution is, therefore, 20. The
houses of accommodation classified in a similar manner
are reported to be, of the first class 5 in 1E59 as against
6 in 1858; of the second, 15 against 37 ; and of the
third class, 25 against 31; or a total diminution of 32.
With regard to the known prostitutes, the numbers are
564 against 563 in 1858. Of these, in 1869, there wer
100 j between the ages of 15 and 20, against 67 in the
previous year; between 20 and 25 years' *of age 240,
against 265 ; between 25 and 30, 103. against 118 ;.
and above 30 years, 121 against 118.—Zastern Colman
Herald.