The Express.
London, England, 1848-04-21 00:00:00

ntw (fort4s

514.1 LONDON, FRIDAY, APRIL 21, 1848. (THREEPENCE.

freer vent and tenet rising to densead. Freights are looking
up. There are report* d lone opondadmos in tonnage with as
eye to a Chins war, red a last Sot gwooragoeut would be obliged to
I engage transports.
_

THE CHARTIST CONVENTION.

The delegates met again yesterday morning, shortly
after nine o'clock. Mr. M'Grath in the ckair.
A letter was read from Mr. Ernest Jones, one of the mie
'binaries, stating that in Glasgow, Aberdeen, and other
places in Scotland, the people were forming themselves into
a national guard, and that they were determined to have

the charter.
Mr. CHILDS suggested that one more appeal should be
made to the House of Commons in the shape of petitione,
signed by the ehairesen of all the Chartist meetings, which
would be held throughout the length and breadth of the
land next week, and that such petitions should be intrusted
to the county members for presentation. (Hear.)
Mr. Clean est—lt is no use petitioning. Our national
petition has been rejected and treated with contumely and
degradation.
The CHAIRMAN said that immediately after Easter Mr.
O'Cnnor would brin forward a motion in the House of
Commonso for leave to bring in a bill to enlarge and amend
the representation of the people.
Mr. MIRPIELD and Mr. Witeetso could not consent te
again petition the House of Commons.
Mr. Comm did not wish for blood to he shed, but if the
charter was rejected he felt certain that anarchy, civil war, I
and the shedding of blood must ensue. All peaceable mess.,
however, in the first instance, ought to be tried, for he hoped
that the enemies of the people would never have cause to say I
that they were precipitate or acted with undue haste.
A long discussion ensued, during which Mr. Graham,
Mr. Cochrane, Mr. Walter, and other delegates urged the
imports ice of the Chartists doing everything in their power
to strengthen Mr. O'Connor's hands by ell constitutional 11
means before taking any ulterior measures.
Mr. DerilllTON would never sign another national petition.
If her Majesty refused to agree to the memorial which would
be presented to her, the neat step would be for the conven-
tion to remonstrate, not petition. (Hear.)
Mr. Cuatstixo said the people were now patient, but the
time might soon come when they could endure their griev-
ances no longer. (Cheers from the gallery.)
The Costitstme said, he agreed with Mr. Childs, that the
people ought to put up isuietly with certain moral evils
be ore they would he justified in taking ulterior measures.
He wished public meetinge to be held in every town in
the kingdom, demanding the People's Charter. Let
every locality agree to petition, and insist upon the
county and borough members presenting them to the House
of Commons. Ile would m
onake every one of the 643 mem- !
bets of the house present eor more petitions, and then
their prayer would be attended to.
Mr. Muiteue mid his constituents informed him that the '
seat petition they signed should be with "steel pens."'
(" Hear, hear," and cheers.)
Mr. WHEELER considered it would be no use to petition
again.
The motion for presenting petitions from all parts of the
'kingdom wiei then carried by a majority of 9 to b.
, Mr. Watten brought up the draught of a long address to
the middle deem.,
• which stated diet they were lid away by
corrupt and venal press, and that it would be their true
interest to make common cause with the working classes.
Mr. SHERRIN moved, and Mr. Denistan seconded, that
the address be adopted and printed, and copies sent to the
secretaries of ell the chartist societies in the United
Kingdom.
It was unanimously agreed that the address, after under-
going a few verbal areendmei.te, be printed and distributed
throughout the countryr.
rsati
11 After some desltoy conveon the conventio
ionrned at twelve o'clock until nine o'clock on Mondays ad-

POWE AND DUTIES OF PERSONS IN
REGARD TO RIOTOUS MEETINGS.
The following extracts from a charge of Lord Chief
Justice Tindal to the grand jury, on the occasion of trial, at
Whited under a special commission in 1632, containing
valuable information relative to the provisions of the law, and
the duty of the subject, in regard to unlawlul and riotous as-
semblies, deserve to be more generally known.
The Lord Chief Justice, on that occasion, after stating that It was
anneceneary to wonder whether the acts of outrage and rapine
(which were the offences! to be tried) were caused by the riotous
proceedings which osteurral ut an earlier period of the
same day, or whether wicked and designing pensions, taking
advantage of the state of excitement in which the people
already were, availed themselves of it to effect their own pr '-
poem of destruction and plunder, observed to the grand jury :
ss it relight be safely concluded, that If the excitement which led to
the doiance of the law it the earlier part of the day had never
seated, the weightier crime., euteeqacntly committed by the
I populace, would not have takes place; and
t imes that It ls pre-
: chicly for We reason, that the law of England Imo ea ell
held in the greatest abherrence riotous and tumultnary area-
blares of the people. Nu man," said the Lord Chief Justice,
"can foresee at the commencement what course they will tahe,
or what comeneences will come. Though cases may occur in
which the object of each assemblies in at first defin and mforodm
e-
rate, they rapidly enlarge their powers of mlohie ed f ; and
the natural effect of the excitement and ferment inseparable from the
collection of multitudes in one man., the original design is quickly
last sight of, and men hurry on to the commission ,of crimes, which,
at their first meeting, they bud never contemplated. 'fhe beginning
of tumult Wilts the letting out of water ; if not stopped at knit., it
becomes difficult to do so afterwards ; it risen and increases, until It
overwhelms the fairest and the most valuable works of man." "It
baa been well told," observed the Lord Chief Justice, " that the ins
of the law cauelsts, grit, in preserving men's pennon from death ma
violence; next, in securing to them the free enjoyment of their pee- ,
perry. And although every single act of violence, and each individeal
6rs '
eich of the law, tends to counteract and destroy this Its primary
as and object, yet do general rising" and tumultuary meetings of the
people in a more especial and particular mariner produce tilled/IM,
—not only removing all security both from the pennon and the pew I
perry of men, but for the time otatang down the law itself, and dart(
to usurp its place. The law of England has amordirgly, in propor-
tion to the danger which it attaches to riotous and disorderly meat-
logs of the peep:, made ample provision for preventingsuch idioms*,
• and for the prompt and effectual suppression of them whenever they
vies."
Pineal ass DUTY Or Tile STIJICT.-111 the Bret place, by the asm-1
mon law, every private person may lawfully endeavour, of his on
authority, and without any warrant or sanction of the magistrate, to
suppress a riot by every means is his power. lie may disperse, or
meat in dispersing, those who are aseembleil ; he may stay those who
are engaged in it from executing their purpose ; he may stop and
prevent others whom he shall err coming up, from joining the rent; '
and not only has he the authority, but it tineis ',amide's duty, its
a
good subject to the King, to perform the+ to almost of his ability.
I If the occasionderaands immediete action,and no opportunity le given •
for procuring the advice or sanction of a magistrate, it Is the duty of
every subject to act fur himself, and upon his own responsibility, in
suppreeing a riotous and tumultuous assembly; and he may be
' assured, that whatever is honestly done by him in the executiou of
that object will be supported and justified by the common law." In
stating the obligation imported by the law on every subject of the
realm, the Lord Chief Juana, observed, "The law acknowledges no
distinction in thin respect between the soldier and the private iodi-
vidu.al. The soldier in still a citizen, lyieg and, the mute obliga-
tion, and invested with the same authority to preserve the peace of
the King as any other subject. if the one is hound to attend the
call of the civil magistrate, so also is the other; If the one may in-
terfere for that purpose, when the occasion demands It, witheut the
requisition of the magistrate, to may the other also;—if the one
may employ arms for that porpow, when arms are necemacry, the
soldier may do the same. Undoubtedly, the name exercise of
discretion which requires the private subject
dination to and In aid of the magistrate, rather than upon
kin own authority, before recourse is boil to area, ought to
operate in a still stronger degree with o military force. But *acre
the danger is pressing sod immediate, where a felony has actually
been committed, or cannot otherwise he prevented, and front the cir-
cumstances of the case nu opportunity I. offered of obtaining a [aqui-
,ition from the proper authorities, the mature nubjecte of the King,
like We civil suejects, not only may but are boiled to do their utmost,
of their own authority, to prevent the perpetration of outrage,
to put down riot and tumult, and to preserve the lives and property o'
the people."
Derr or Crvit. 011'ICZ111,—"rill further, by the common law, not
only in each private subject bound to exert himself to the unmet, but
every
themel, constable, and other peace otheer is cancel upon to do all
that in h lien for the suppreneion of riot, and each has authority to
command all other subjects of the King to at them in that under-
taking." •• By an early statute, which lA still in force, any two
justices, together with the nherof or under-sheriff of the countyri , soters,
hall
come with the power of the county, d need he, to arrest any
and shall arrest them."
WIT on Prawns To Ale; Mnot.ra•rce.—" It in not lefCal the
choice or will tit the subject, as some have erroneously supposed, to
attend or not to the call of the magistrate, as they think proper
hut every man ahound when called upon, under pain of tine and
prisonment, to yield a ready and implicit Oath:ace to the call of the
magistrate, and to do his utmost in assisting him to suppress any
tumultuous assembly. alagietratee have lull power to
otmend anaintanCre by way of precaution ; the act of he and
2nd Will. IV., cap. 41, having invested the magistrate with
that power in direct and entitles terras, when tumult, riot,
or felomy, is only likely to take place, or may reasonably be
apprehended. Again, that this cull of the magistrate in coommeury,
and nit left to the choice of the party to obey or not, appears from
the express euictruent in the I ad-mentioned act, that it he disobeys,
unleas legally exempla', he is liable to the penalties and punehments I
therein specified."
aer.—The most Important provision of the law for the sup-
Kulo
pre.
5, of riots. Li to be found in the statute let Geo. 2,
a.m. 5, by which it in enacted, " That if soy persons to the number I
of twelve or more, being unlawfully, riotouely, and tumultuously
assembled together to the disturbance of the public pence, and
being required or command.' by any one or more juallee or I
justices, or by the sheriff of the county, or his under-aberiff, or by
the mayor, bailiff, or bailiffs, or other head °dicer or juettee of the
peace, of any city or town corporate, by proclamation to be made in
the King's name, and in the form stated in the act, to dispense them-
pelves, and peaceably to depart to their habitations or to their
lawful business, shall to the number of twelve or more,
ilaWithstanding such proclamation, unlawfully, riotounly, and
tumultuously remain or continue together by the space of
one hour after such command or request mule by Prof
amanita, then such continuing together shall by adfudged felony."
" such are the different provisions of tne law of England,' ea id the
Lord Chief Justice, "for the putting down of tumultuary meetings;
and It is not too much to atfirtn. that if the means pros-Idol by the
law are promptly anti judiaally enforced by the magistrate, and
honestly seconded by the co-operation at his fellow-subjects, very few
and rise
would be the instances in which tumultuous assemblages of
the people would be able to hold defiance to
the the !Lord Chief Justice is
aws."
The fullowing twatige in the judgment or
deserving of general attention " Let me impress on the attention of
all those who, from idleness, curiosity, or mere thoughdeeenees,
suffer themselves to form part of a riotous and disorderly meeting,
OW they subject themselves, unconsciously, to the danger of punish-
ment for crime which they never contemplated; for where many
arc collected welter in the prosecution of an illegal object. it is
often imp... Awe ti, discriminate between the active and unotfen=
partw fe bo of
tujb'eymmobs.y pli.
ot "gee autflewtoe'lpdroden'uce' :"'lnthoerdprrt toadeleadwethem.
mtees against the charge M participation in the guilt of others. The
only sue emu, ror the iaeaceable and well-disposed, on all occasions
of popular tumult, is thin -to lend their ready aid to waist the magn-
ums.. super. ..tag it, or,
,vt all events, forthwith to the
them-
selves from the others."
I. What constitutes an online WI meet-Mgt
2. What is the liabili snare artlo` ',Maul In It
The following enswe by jui...dee of unquestioned authority:
1. "An sembly of great number& of Perkins, which Wool Is We-

nil appanage and accompanylng circurnatanoes is calculated to ex-
cite term, *gm. and consternation, to genera'''. criminal and =law-
ful."—lN big ems by Mr. Justice Bayley in the trial of Rent, York
SPY/1111ki AB m a
2. " rD. kt Pro an oserddy of this kind, disregarding its
peobabte awl tie slow sod consternation that are likely to
ensue, sod all sted=roirOarrian and support to it, are criminal
parties."—Bo linid lip Ms. NON liolroyd, Lancaster Spring
/O&M, 1822.
..........".",....—.—

ADDRESS TO THE BRITISH NATION FRM
THE POLISH REFUGEES RESIDENT IN END-

LAND.
Britons!—Poland, the wronged and the oppressed,
armed with her imperishable rights, stands again before the
tribunal of nations, appealing fee justice. Of the three
despoilers of her extensive provinces, two, yielding to its
supreme verdict and the united voice of the German people,
have recently restored her a large %hereof her national rights ;
nay, from being bitter enemies, they have adopts(' a milder
and mere humane system of government, and profess to be
henceforth friends of Poland. But the third, and the most
implacable of all her oppression, Russia, holds her usurped
share fast in her iron grasp.
How long Poland may yet remain within that unrelenting
grasp, it is not easy to predict ; but believing, as we do, in
the immutable decrees of Eternal Justice, to which rulers
and nations are alike subject, the day of retribution for
wrongs done most unavoidably arrive. The firmer the un-
natural grasp of Russian despotism is held, the sooner it runs
the risk of being loosened from its unfortunate sictim ; and,
judging from the nature of the Russian polies in Poland,
from the barbarous threats, fierce acts of violence, and the
daily increasing reign of terror now prevalent throughout
that eountry, and all this with the sole view of forcibly ree
taining the inhabitants in slavish subjection, the hour of dire
reckoning appears to ho. fast approaching, even to be nigh at
hand.
Free-born Britons! brought up and nurtured in the lap of
liberty and independence, and ennobled by them, you will
easily conceive with what impatience an exiled patriot must
await, and how ardently he must pant for, that auspicious
day when the 'sing and weary period of his exile shall ter-
minate, and his duties of buoyant active life in the service of
his native land shall commence,—duties, domestic and
public, for which you are known to be yourselves pre-emi-
nently distinguished.
It is to your high sense of these patriotic and sacred duties,
which you so well know how to cultivate among yourselves,
nod which you are hest qualified to appreciate iu others, that
Poland's expatriated sons venture now to appeal. The mo-
tive for their doing so they feel cenfideot will meet with your
approval. It is as follows :
A considerable portion of Poland, under the governments
of Prussia and Austria, having of late had a notional organ-
isation granted it, the refugees resident in England are
desirous to return to those Polish provinces, but they want
means to enable them to quit this country. To those who
are single the difficulties may not be so great ; but some of
the refugees are married men, with wives and helpless
children. The latter require particular solicitude.
The total number of the refugees in this country, not in-
eluding their wives and children, is about 400, all of whom
are ready to leave England if furnished with necev ary
means. Trey are more than ever averse to continue Isinger
a burden to this country. Ity granting this last request von
will immenuhibly enhance the debt of gratitude whien they
already owe to the British nation for the hospitality and pro-
tection it has accorded them.
This being the only motive the Polish refugees have in
thus appealing to the benevolent feelings of the public for
subscriptions, they flatter themselves with the hope that, in
order to attain that end, the friend/I°f Poland will endeavour,
by their generous exertions, to revive former Polish com-
mittees throughout the kingdom, as during the years 1832
and 1833. Their united co-operation cannot fail to be
crowned with success. At the request and on behalf of the
Polish exiles resident in Great Britain.--Colonel LACK
SZYHMA, Captain BAISTOCHOWStiI, THOMAS BUTHIEWICZ.
10, Duke-street, St. James's, April 18, 1848.

DitAINaOS Or TowNes—Sir,—ln considering the
difficulties which beset the question of the drainage of towns,
it ha- to be remarked that cesspools were universally adopted
till the end of the last century ; and, secondly, that the
change of arraneements which was gradually introduced
had such an injurious effect on the Thames and on sewer
mouths as to produce the moat serious alarm about twenty
years ago. Medical men and commissioners, appointed to
institute inquiry, have proved that this new arrangement of
draining offensive matter into our rivers through house-drains
and sewers, is acting most prejudicialiy on public health ;
and the whole of the evidence embodied in the first Rep,rtof
the Sanitary Commission shows that cholera was connected
with sewer mouths and with rivers receiving the contents of
sewers ; and the late secretary to the Health of Towns As.
sociation (now consulting engineer to the Metropolitan
Sewers Commissioe) gives the most conclusive answer to the
coro,ohdo• against the former commissioner for net enforcing
house drainage. The cesspool is outside the house ; but, iu
" case of the drain or sewer, the poison newly generated is
driven directly into the house in periodic succession. The
remedy would certainly be worse than the disease. It
is much to be desired that compulaory pleas should be
suspended until the remedy for the evil has been applied."
(Min. of Evidence, p. 117.) When Lord Morpeth brought
forward the Health of Towns Bill, in the reply to the objec-
tions which were made to hie exclusion of the metropolis,
his lordship stated that, from what he knew to be going on,
he believed that the metropolis would yet be a " perfect
model in drainage," to be followed by other towns. The
new Metropolitan Sewers Commissioners propose to rest
their proceedings on well-paid officials, and it is consequently
very important to inquire what is laid before them by those
on whose recommendation they are acting. Lord Morpeth
informed the presentment jury that two reports had been
made to the new commission, both of which contemplate the
liquid distribution of the sewer water from Westminster, and
the whole of the drainage arrangements are to be eltered to
effect this object. The plan which was first proposed for
Surrey is sow brought forward for Westminster. It con.
templates pumping up the refuse one hundred feet high, out
of wells into which it is to flow, through new sewers to be
constructed in every street. it contemplates the most perfect
control over the house-drainage, so that "no drain of any
description should communicate with the system sinless con- i
strutted to the entire satisfaction of the surveyor ;" and the
drain-pipes themselves would be required to be so perfect
that the commissioners are urged to establish trial works far
the manufacture of pipes. The following questions are in-
surveyed at the expense of the ratepayers Will anew house
arrangement and such a perfect control over house-drains he
obtained as will keep out all stray oyster-shells, cinders, and
cabbage stalks? Will a new 'ewer be made in every street,
and of so small a dimension that, when requiring repair, the
street must be completely broken up to discover where the
defect is? Will fifts en or more wells for pumping up the
refuse oe hundred feet high, and will satrating the land
with the refuse twenty miles round the meturopolis, be t Ae-
rated ? And, lastly, as the whole rests upon the liquid dis
tribution over the land, will this pay fur the expenses which
it would incur.' The proper drainage of the metropolis
would probably give 200,000,000 of tons annually, and to
force this quantity to an gg distance of twelve miles
would, according to Mr. Hawksly'e evidence, cost 5,000.0001.
a year. The whole empire is interested in these questions, as
the metropolis is to give " a model in orainage" to other
towns. Toe retention in cesspools which necessarily pre-
vailed till water-closets were introduced, is bad nut drain-
ing offensive refuse into sewers having a bad outlet, and
through them into water surrounding towns, is worse, in a
sanitary point of view, and is combined with the leas of the
fertilising substances which Providence has designed for the
land. Here is Scylla, there Charybdis; a hurricane is
threatening, and the Metropolitan Sewers Commission have
taken the helm to guide through impending daggers, and
hence the importance of the reports of those authorities to
which they look for directions.—J. J. MOHENWOOD, April 15.
BIRKENHEAD Docks.—The government having
sent down Mr. Robert Stephenson, the eminent civil en-
gineer, to examine the doeks and works, his report (says the
Liverpool. ail) is to the effect that the works are the best
he has seen ; that more work has been done in the time
which has elapsed since their commencement than he had
ever before known ; and that they have been constructed for
lee money than any works of a similar description. He has
also given in an estimate for their completion without hav-
ing had any previous knowledge of that of Mr. Bendel, and
is within 3,000/. of the calculations of the latter gentleman,
stating, at the some time, that his own estimates are for the
extreme cost. Lord Morpeth has also obtained from Mr. J.
Stewart his valustion of the crown reserve, on the north or
; Seacsiruhe side of the docks,, and, th,iigh the contents of his
repot, have no: yet transpired, so much has oozed out as to
show that the land is more than suflicielit to secure the
money necessary to liuish the works. Mr. Stephenson re-
ports that Mr.ltendel's plans are perfect and comprehensive.
The corporation of Liverpool have given formal notice to
the Commissioners of Woods and Forests of their intention
to take such steps as they may be advised, in order to claim
the foreshore in Birkenhead against the crown, as to such
portions of the purchases of the corporation there front Mr.
Price and his assigns. in which all the rights of Mr. Price
are conveyed to them - also that they will claim the fore-
shore and creeks on the north side of Wallasey Pool, under
a different title.

COMMERCIAL 4. MARKETS.

I:ONEY MARKET & CITY INTELLIGENCE.
Two o' Clock.—The public offices are of course all
closed in the City to-day.
The Hamburg mail brings advices to the 19th
instant. Commercially and financially they continue
unfavourable. More failures had taken place, but
none of them houses of much consideration.
In reference to the Schleswig-Holstein affair, it
appears that hostilities were suspended, the Prussian
commander having given notice, however, that if the
Danes did not quit Schleswig on or at the close of the
18th inst., the Prussian troops would advance and
i compel them by arms.

RAILWAYS.
TORII 111 LE... spats
Gt. Northern. U. Os. 6d. York, sod Bee" No. I.
N. British Thirds, 19s. Od. I (late Ness lier.;, 94. 16s. Id.