The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-05-23 00:00:00

HOSTILITIES AGAINST " SOUPERS."

At the Dublin Police Cour?, on Monday, James Molloy
was charged with using abusive and insulting language to
the Rev. H. R. Halahan, incumbent of St. Nicholas
Without. The rev. gentleman stated that about nine
o'clock on the previous morning he was proceeding to
Luke's :Church, for the purpose of reading service at a
funeral which was then just approaching, when the
prisoner, a lad about 14 years of age, cried out " Souper,”
with the object of creating a disturbance. Ile then ran
away, but was captured by Mr. Halahan, and given into
custody of police constable Crowthers, 147 A. Mr. Magee
called attention to the sth Victoria, which authorised
imposing the penalty of 40s or one month upon any person
making use of abusive and insulting language, or behaving
in a manner calculated to provoke a breach of the peace,
and stated that in future he would give any person
brought before him the full benefit of that sentence. As
the prisoner, however, was young. and his conduct was
to a certain extent the result of ignorance, he would fine
him 20s, or, in default. one month's imprisonment.
Anne Fagan was charged with shouting and using
abusive language at Patrick-street. It appeared from the
evidence that shortly after two o'clock, as the congrega-
tion was coming out of church, the prisoner comm-nced
to sing aloud the following elegant couplet :
Sour ere, sonoers, ring the bell,

Soupers, sonpers, go to h-1.
She was taken into custody by police constable Luby,
98 A., and was fined XI, or one month's imprisonment.
Peter Reilly was charged by police constable Trehy,
163 A, with hawking and vending publications of an
exciting and irritating character. It appeared that
between seven and eight o'clock on the night of Saturday,
the 16th inst., the prisoner was attracting public attention
by crying out what professed to be the con ents of docu-
ments which he was selling, headed—" The Proselytisers
—Public Excitement," in which a distorted and untrue
narrative of the circumstances attendant on the Coombe
was put forward. The prisoner, however, did not confine
himself to their actual contents, but heightened athe
attraction of his wares by such phrases as these—
" Attempt to burn Francis-street Chapel "—" Conspiracy
of the Proselytisers to assassinate the Rev. Canon
M`Cabe," &c. He was followed by a large and disorderly
crowd, who were much excited by the false and exagger-
ated statements thus put forward. The prisoner was
ordered to find bail for his future good conduct, or in
default to undergo seven days imprisonment. Subsequently,
however he wai allowed to stand out on his own recog-
nizances, when it appeared that he was unable to read the
papers which he was calling out, but that he had been
specially instructed in their contents for the purpose.
Police Constable George Dogherty, 104 A, charged
Martin Power with singing upon the public thoroughfare
on the 16th inst., at Back-lane, between three and four
o'clock, a song, entitled " The Devil amongst the Soupers,''
which was calculated to excite the worst passions of the
multitude. He was taken into custody and brought to
the station-house, but having been let out upon bail by
the inspector, did not think it necessary to attend the
following morning at the police-office. A warrant was
therefore issued for his apprehension, but up to the time
the court continued to sit he had not been taken into
custody. Amongst the string of ballads found in his
possession at the station-house was one from which we
take the following extracts

Four loaves in a week and two shillings
Is given to them that'll cant,
But who'd sell his soul to the devil,
Even though he's in hunger and want?
When a shopkeeper's goods are ill-gotten,
He sells them off cheap I'll be bound—
So the church of the soupers being rotten,
They pay you for believing it's sound.
They coax yon your children to send,
With their crotchets, and plain-work, and muslin,
But it's all devil's work in the end,

The ballad was headed with a carefully-executed portrait
of a soup-kitchen, and the chorus chimed in appropriately
a follows

With your canting, and ranting, and scheming,
Ye hypocrites !—ain't ye afraid ?
0 give ep your lies and your souping,
And take to some honester trade.
William Young was charged with creating an obstruction
at Castle-street. Police Constable 150 A deposed that he
saw the prisoner carrying a large placard through the
streets, calculated to provoke a breach of the peace, upon
which was printed in large letters—" This Day, Part
Protestanism in a galloping consumption, by the Rev.
Father Marshall." When the prisoner saw him approach-
ing he walked on and turned down the head of the placard.
He did not refuse to move on but did so of his own accord.
Mr. Magee said as he had not refused to move on the man
should be dismissed; hut he would recommend him to
return the placard to the parson from whom he had got it,
be he whom he might, and if brought up again he would
certainly be committed to the penitentiary.

FURTHER TESTIMONIALS IN FAVOUR OF THE
BALLOT.

The following extracts are from Australian papers : —" As we visited
the various polling booths in succession, it was impossible to avoid
being struck with the quiet decorum, almost amounting to silence,
which prevailed at all of them. The police had a sinecure of it during
nearly the entire day, and the remark of many was that the ballot with
all its merits made an election day' barren of incident.' An American
gentleman, well known to the mercantile community, was heard to
express himself to the effect that he never saw the ballot work in
greater perfection, and that nothing could be more unexceptional than
the manner in which the public functionaries appeared to discharge
their dntles. So far the ballot must be pronounced decidedly success-
ful in Victoria. Not a syllable was breathed throughout theday upon
which the smallest reliance could be placed as to the chances of the
candidates, and the surmises which were put forth, and they were
comparatively few, ware qualified by en honest confession of
ignorance."—Adelaide Despatch.
" There were, upwards of eight thousand electors on the roll for
Melbourne, and of these the great majority were polled. The voting
was by ballot, and the whole proceedings were completed, and the
result known, between the hours of 9 o'clock in the morning, and
8 o'clock in the evening. Up to the present time the results are, upon
the whole, encouraging, and lead us to hope that responsible govern.
ment will not be allowed to dwirole into a mere mockery of empty
show, without reality or meaning."—The Age.

• -
"TO the silent operation of the ballot must undoubtedly be
attributed, in a great measure, the freedom from disturbance and
popular turmoil which has characterised the election proceedings.
Viewed in its social aspect, secret voting may be considered to have
proved itself as successful as it certainly has in its political effect.
With only very few exceptions, the demoralizing intrigues which are
often put in operation at elections have failed to praduce those results
which in other times, and under a different order of things, would
have followed. Even in those instances where indirect influence was
resorted to, the efficacy of the ballot was proved by tha notoriety which
such practices at once acquired."—Herald.
" We did not hear of any disturbance or serious occurrence through-
out the day, save that at a little past 2 o'clock the Protestant Hall
was placarded with the same announcement that a man had been com-
mitted to gaol for personating an elector. Oa enquiry it turned out to
be true. The affair occirred at the Lightning-hotel. A man came
up and a' tempted to pass himself off as another in the employ of Mr.
McFarlane, of Bourke-street, and was at once detected and punished
as he deserved."—Argus.
Not a drum was heard, not a ribbon was worn,
Aa our votes at the pall we recorded,
For music and banners `• illegal "are deem'd,
The Electoral Act is thus worded,
We entered the polling booth one by one,
Oar steps to the left hand turning,
Our beating hearts with a tropical glow,
Of Amor rattle burning.
No useless hustings obstruct the street,
No clamorous shouts confound us,
But we quietly carry the list of names,
To a nook where no eyes surround us.
Clear and sharp are the scratches we make,
Without an emotion of sorrow,
And we stedfastly gazed on the names we erase,
And we cheerfully think of the morrow.
Briskly and gaily we wended home
From the scene of our present story,
To pay this tribute, and pen these lines,
To Nicholson's honour and glory.
—Melbourne Punch.

THE EXTREME or POLITENESS.—Our lamented old friend Mrs.
Parroquet, though she was very rich, always did her own marketing,
and carried home her own dinner. One day on her retnrnfrom market
she slipped and dropped a fine leg of mutton, which had been disguised
by her shawl. Our other friend, 'Major B , who was passing,
picked it up, and handed it to her, with a low bow, and the remark,
Madam, you have dropped your fan.
ImpROVIIIENT IN THE WEST OF IRELAND.—As a proof of the vast
improvement in agriculture in the West of Ireland, one gentleman
has imported from the house of Mr. Skirving, of Liverpool, more
turnip seed this year than what was sown in the whole of Ireland a
few years since. His importation for his own farm has been more
than three tons of turnip seed, or sufficient to sow over three thousand
acres. Some other farmers In this district are sowing hundreds of
acres of turnips, and hundreds of acres of carrots and mangel wur-
zel, and the wages of the labourers are nearly doubled. As our
informant poetically remarks, " They are turning the barren desert
into a paradise"—Waterford Mail.
A VILLAGE IN Faasam.—The Progress de la Haute Marne describes
a terrible fire which broke out in the rich and important village of
Fresne-sur-Apance three days ago, and was not extinguished until
more than half of the village was reduced to ashes. The flames burst
out in a private dwelling at 11 in the morning, and spread with great
rapidity. The wind was so high that large pieces of burning materials
were carried to the neighbouring houses, which rapidly caught fire.
The inhabitants of the neighbourhood came to the assistance of the
burning village, but their efforts failed against the violence of the
wind, and all they could do was to assist in rescuing furniture and
valuables from houses that were menaced. Towards sunset the wind
subsided, and owing to the many engines brought to the spot the
flames were got under. Fifty. seven houses were burnt to the ground,
and seventy families reduced to want by the calamity.
ALARMING CONDITION OF THINGS IN JAMAICA.—The Kingston
Journal says .—The vast dimensions of ladies' skirts, with row upon
row of flounces, each flounce feathered, flowered, laced, or otherwise
trimmed with row upon row of other trimming, have attracted ani-
madversions as requiring an enormous number of stiches in comparison
with those which, in former days, were of a reasonable length and
breadth, and plainly made, and withal far prettier. The pernicious
confinement of the waist, in painful contrast with the profusion of
petticoat, the exposure of the head to the influence of a hot sun, and
of the face to a common gaze, in a state of society in which women
profess so wear sonnets when they go abroad, are shocking to good
sense and taste ; and so is the ♦ariety anti amount of things pit on.
Our ladies, whether iu the open air or dancing saloon, look like walk-
ing wardrobes I*. om the weight they carry, and amount of furnishings,
one on the top of another.

TUB SANITARY COMMISSION BREAD COMPANY.—Although Parlia-
ment may neglect to legislate for preventing the at: °dons practice of
adulterating the bread of the people, yet it was impossible that the
disclosures of the An alytical Commission, confirmed as they were by
the labours of a Committee of the Heuse of Commons, could remain
unproductive of important results. Accordingly, in this instance, as
in many others, while the legislature remains passive, private capital,
energy, sagacity, and enterprise promptly advance from the protection
of the public health and interests. The half-poisoned inhabitants of
this metropolis will rejoice to learn that a new and powerful company
has been formed, under the Limited Liability Act for the manufacture
and sale of perfectly genuine flour and bread. A mill of enormous
capability has been already secured in an admirable situation, and the
disgusting and uncleanly practice of kneading the dough " by hand"
will be entirely obviated by the introduction of a beautiful system of
machinery, exposed to public view while in full operation. The new
institution is entitled the Sanitary Commission Bread Company. All
the analytical arrangements will be under the immediate supervision
of Dr. Hassell, who is one of the directors.—Lancet.