The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-04-24 00:00:00

THE NORTETFPN _o;_.. 4 -4-.41 TIMFB -- EPPOOL, FRIDAY.

Council had guthorised last year. With respect to
the sewerage, the committee borrowed last yeat-
£lso,oos, and they propose to borrow this year ar,
additional £42,800; The 'sub-committee propoi3d.
to recommend for the year the following rates :
Liverpool, is .2d ; Kirkiale, 2s 3d Everton
13 8d ; West Derby, 2s
.6:1 ; and Toxteth Park,
2s in the pound—being a decrease of ld in
Liverpool, and of ld in Kirkdale, and an increase
in West Derby of ld, and Toxteth Park of 3I
Everton remaining unalterel. After some short
discussion the report was adopted. A report from
Mr. Evans, on the adulterated butter subjected to
his analysation, showed that it only contained 47
per cent. of pure butter, of salt 23 per cent., and
of vegetable matter upwards-of 28 per cent. The
health of-the town is good, the deaths last week
being 195, or 31 fewer than the corrected average.
The most important domestic news this morning
is the judicial decision in Archdeacon Denison's
case. It was delivered yeiterday, by Sir John
Dodson, Dean of •Arches. The learned judge
reviewed all the facts of the case, commencing with
the Archdeacon's first sermon objected to, and
which was preached in Wells Cathedral on the 7th
August', 1853, He said the question a issue was,
whether the proceediogs were taken against the
archdeacon within two years of the commission of
the offence. If the notice of the issue of a corp.
mission were to be considered the commencement
of the proceedings, then the suit in this case was

commenced in time; but if the commission was a
mere preliminary proceeding. and the suit did not
commence until the issue of the citation, then he
held that more than two years elapsed before
any legal notice was taken of Archdeacon Deni-
son's offence There was a broad difference be-

tween the notice of a proposed commission and a
citation from the court. The serving of articles
was to some extent a notice of proceeding, but it
was nothing but a notice. He (the learned Judge)
must rule that the issue of the citation was to be
taken as the commencement of the proceedings
according to the Church Discipline Act, and that
more than two years elapsed between the commis-
sion of the offence and the commencement of
legal proceedings, and his opinion was, that who-
ever might be to blame, this suit had not been
pursued with sufficient activity, and that the arch-
deacon must not suffer. Having cited many cases
to the same effect which bad been decided in that
court, and finding'no adverse decision in any of the
superior courts, the learned Judge said he must
pronounce for the appeal, thus reversing the
decision which dismissed the archdeacon from his
preferments in the Church. Dr. Phillimore applied
for costs. The learned Judge said he must decline

to make any order. Mr. Bathurst, on the part of
Mr. Ditcher, gave notice of au appeal to the
Judicial Committee of Privy Council. With this
decision of the Dean of Arches all the.other points
connected with the appeal which the Court of
Queen's Bench ordered the learned gentleman to
hear, and which would have gone to the merits of
the sentence of deprivation which the Archbishop
of Canterbury pronounced, fall to the ground, and,
as far as the Court of Arches is concerned, the case
is at an end.

Of political news this morning there is little or
none. The number of petitions likely to be pre-
sented against returns at the late elections will
open a plentiful harvest to•certain lawyers. Mr
Serjeant Kinglake, formerly so eminent as a Par-.
liamentary advocate, is no longer eligible to plead
before a committee of the House of Commons, as
he is now a member of that house. His very large
practice will fall into other hands. Formerly the
great- guns at Parliamentary tactics were Mr.
Austin, Mr. Serjeant Wrangham, Mr. Cockburn
(now Chief
.Justice), and Sir F. Thesiger. Mr.
Serjeant Wrangham has of late declined briefs
.connected with electioneering matters. We may
add that barristers- who are members of the House
of Commons may plead before the House -of
Lords.

Their Royal Highnessess the Princes of Oude
arrived at the Adelphi Hotel yesterday. They were
received by the Mayer, Messrs. William Brown,
M.P., J. C. Ewart, M.P., and several members of
the corporation. They will stay for a few days in
Liverpool, and inspect the docks, St. George's
Hall, and other lions of the town.
Mr. Churchwarden Woodruff, summoned Mr.
Carrie (late Churchwarden), for the Parochial
and Cemetery rates, yesterday. The case came
on for hearing at the Police--court, before Mr.
Mansfield, who said he would take time to consider
his decision, but from what fell from him we should
think that Mr. Carne will be compelled to pay.
Of foreign news this morning there is not a great
deal. The proposals laid down by the mediating
_ _

powers in the Neufchatel affair are stated to be
:—The King of Prussia is to retain the title
of Prince of Neufchatel; the principle of indem-
nification is admitted, but the amount claimed is
to be reduced from two millions to one. The
guarantee by Switzerlard to Prussia of the preser.
vations of the status quo of the benevolent institu-
tions is rejected, as also is the demand of Prussia
that no constitutional changes should be made in
the canton within six months after the transfer of
the sovereignty. The demand of Prussia for a
general amnesty has already the consent of Swit-
zerland. The statement that a considerable time
must elapse before the next meeting of the Con
ference is erroneous. Switzerland will give her
reply as early as possible.
The proposition to substitute legal instead of
police supervision over the printing licenses in
.Prussia, which was carried in the Prussian
Chamber on Monday by a majority of one,
was rejected next day, Government having col-
lected its forces.

The reception of the Grand Duke Constantine
at Toulon has been even of a more flattering
description than was anticipated. An immense
crowd of people assembled to meet him, and he
was escorted amid thunders of applause. General
Todtleben, who accompanied the Grand Duke,
was not less an object of admiration and applause.
The Grand Duke is an interesting young man,
only 30 years of age ; and the General is described
as having all the facial marks of genius.
A Persian newspaper publishes what purports
to be a faithful account of the battle of Kooshab,
which is rather amusing. We condense the ac-
count for the benfit our readers The Elglish
marched in great strength from Bushire, bat their
progress was hampered by the rain, which fell in
torrents, and by the mud The Persians advanced
against the invading army, in inferior force, and
were subjected to the same difficulties as the
British. The latter took refuge from the rain in
caverns and behind rocks, whilst the Persians with-
drew to their tents On the following day the Eng-
lish, seeing,' that any advance would be impossible,
blew up their stores of ammunition and retreated in
haste. They were overtaken by the inferior force
of Persians, who twice charged the British regi-
ments and broke them. The heavy rain prevented
the action, which had lasted nearly four hours,
from -being continued, and both armies retired,
leaving their artillery in the mud. The loss of the
British was from 800 to 1,000 men ; that of the
Persians from 300 to 600. The Persian Generals
Kouli Khan and Ali Khan were wounded in the
brilliant charges of the Persians, the former by a
grape shot, the latter by a sabre cut." The truth
of the matter is, that the English loss in
this action was 10 killed and 62 wounded, and
the English estimate of the Persian loss was 700
killed, 100 prisoners, and two guns captured.
The Persian army was totally routed.
Major-General Ashburnham, who takes the
command of the expeditionary force to China,
has been dancing at a grand ball at Malta. This
entirely contradicts the news that he had been
lay] up. By tli;s time the General is on his way
from Malta to Hong Kong.
There is no further news concerning the
Ministerial crisis at Copenhagen except that the
Danish envoy at the C,?rmanic Diet has been sent
for. This circustance shows that the quarrel with
Germany enters as an important element into the
present complication. b
We learn that yester-
dal3,yattetlieleginlitrftr fotin
,Du Dublin,
hrror, in the case of Butler v
Mo. untgarret, the Cnie f baron and Judge Crampton
pron.onn cod judgment. Of the Judaea
thedge verdict,thecof
Common Pleas,
fire—whereby
tQhtetenelui'isnbßeernsc‘hvearen—d
fotiii.eseCt(iiiuntgt oJsi d
six ; and for granting a new trial,

the finding of the court below was affirmed, and
the verdict remains undisturbed.

Yesterday, at Dublin, also, the Lord Lieutenant
in Council commuted the sentence of death passed
on Norris and Power, who were to have been
hanged. on Monday' next, for the Spike Island
murder.

ON the maiming of Wednesday week a fire was
discovered in a,,milliner's shop in Chester-street,
Birkenhead, occupied by a person named JONES.
The alarm was first raised about four o'clock in
the morning, and when first discovered the fire had
made considerable progress—the whole of the
lower portion of the premises being in a blaze in
an incredibly short Period. The. inmates con-
sisted of, as we are informed, five females and
one male, all of whom were asleep in the upper
portion of the building. The police appear to
have been promptly on the spot, and the fire
engines being kept within a hundred yards of
the burning shop, were almost instantly in readi-
ness to play, but they might as well have been,
a hundred miles away, for on opening the fire
plugs not a drop of water could be procured. We
are assured by persons who were present from the
commencement that, had there been even a limited
supply of water available, the fire could have
been subdued in a few minutes. As it was,
however, it made rapid progress, and before the
inmates could be aroused and made conscious of
their danger, all chances of escape by either
the doors or windows of the lower portions of
the house were completely cut off, and
the poor creatures were obliged to fly
for safety to the attics. Fortunately,
there happened to be a sky-light, and by means
of ladders they Were enabled to make their way
through it, and on to the adjoining roofs. The
building was a lofty one, five storeys in height ;
and bad it not been for this fortuitous circum-
stance, the whole of these six human beings
would in all probability either have perished in
the flames, or been dashed to pieces in attempt-
ing to escape ; either catastrophe would assuredly
have been the case had the building been an
isolated one. The idea is frightful in the

extreme, even to contemplate.
For two hours did this fire rage with uncontrolled
fury,until it had literally consumed the last vestige
of combustible material within the building. 04
course the efforts of the police and firemen were
useless without water ; and had it not been that
there was scarcely any wind at the time, the
whole block of buildings would doubtless have
been burned to ' the gromid, including the very
water office itself. It is not enough that this all
but fatal catastrophe occurred without the limits
of our own borough to justify our silence on the
subject. When culpable, aye, criminal negli.
gence and neglect is displayed by public com-
panies, and in consequence valuable lives are
jeopardised, it becomes the duty of the indepen-
dent journalist to denounce such, without
reference to local boundaries.

No public bodies enjoy more ample, re-
mnnerating, and exclusive privileges and mono-
polies than our Gas and Water Companies do
—the latter more especially, Only look into
auy of LLe Auto of Pttiliamont, Luta see how they
are armed at all points with the most arbitrary
authority. True, a clause is generally inserted
in the various Water Companies' Acts, making
it compulsory on them to supply water. free of
charge for the purpose of extinguishing fires; but
then the time and manner in which this supply
is to be afforded; is in every instance left to the
tender mercies of the Companies themselves, and
their servants ; nor is it made compulsory that
such supply Shall be given to the full extent re-
quire', and hence these authorities have never
been at a loss for an excuse of some sort. This was
the wont with the old Water Companies in Liver-
pool, who just gave the water how and when
they pleased, -as in -the- present case of the
Birkenhead Company. But we hope this latter
body will be made to feel that their important
rights and privileges involve also the performance
of important duties. It is not enough that the
Company shelter themselves under any of the
many paltry arid sophistical excuses which are
usually resorted to in cases of this kind. The
people of Birkenhead have a right, and we trust
they will exercise it, to demand from the Water
authorities the most complete explanations of
their late short comings. What has been done
in Liverpool can be dooe,-and ought to have been
done, in Birkenhead years ago.

THERE is no class in the community who, if
permitted to have every thing their own way, are
more likely to cause public inconvenience and
annoyance than the " unto quid." They are eter-
nally making a parade of their Christianity, and
offensively intruding their doctrines and opinions
upon every one with whom they come in con-
tact. Their spouting propensities are an
intolerable nuisance. " All their works they do
to be seen of men"—" devour widows houses,
and, for a pretence, make long prayers"—
"compass sea and land to make one proselyte"
and loving "the uppermost seat in the sync_
gogues, and greeting in the markets." Such
characters may be actuated by zeal for what they
pompously parade, as their " Master's cause."
In such a case that is a qualification, when not
regulated by discretion, which may entail very
serious consequences upon society.
Many of our readers will no doubt recollect
something of the riots which took place in Can-
terbury in 1833, and the dreadful results that
followed to a large portion of the lower classes
by being inflicted with the blasphemous doctrines
of the madman THOM. 'There was no want of
fervour and zeal among the ignorant and deluded
Kentish followers of this religious maniac. It
was a zeal uncontrolled by discretion, and it car-
ries with it a telling and a terrible retribution.
It was at first a mental disease, but ultimately
ripened into and became a deep and studied
criminality—a criminality which required the
strong arm of the law and the interference of the
Imperial forces, horse and foot, to put down. The
Monmouth riots, and the Ballingarry cabbage-
garden affair in Tipperary, were illustrations of
zeal without discretion-eforfeiting the lives of

not a few of •our fellow-countrymen,ifor their
outrage upon the sovereign - and the people.
The former was a religiouS, the two latter poli-

tical mania. Fortunate would it haVe been for
all concerned had the civil authorities been less

forbearing in each case, and the broken and
despised laws rigidly but temperately enforced.
Then there would not have been cause for the
widow and the orphan to deplore the untimely
end of those near and dear to them. Gifted
orators and poets-3xperienced and patriotic
statesmen, philosophers, and men of letters—
would not have stood in the felon's dock—their

lives would not have been placed at the disposal
of Royal clemency, the clanking of the convict's
chains would not have been upon their fettered
limbs, nor would the transport ship have
borne "beyond the seas.' these noble spirits for
loving their native land "not wisely, but tiro
well."

We have been led into this train of thought
on perusing the report of a case brought before
Mr. MANSFIELD at the Police-court on Monday,
when Mr. Inspector CHEW charged two gentle-
men—WlLLlAM DENNISON and EDWARD SUMNER

—with having obstrUcted the thoroughfare in
Lime-street, wild for annoyance, by creating a
disturbance, by preaching in that street. The
two public offences committed by the said
preachers were " obstruction's and " annoyance."
Both_ charges were substantiated by the report of
Inspector NUTTER and the testimony of Inspector

But the case was further brought home to the
defendants by Mr, BOOTHBY and Mr. WILLIAM
SLATTER, of the St. George and Royal Railway
Hotels. They went even further than the police
inspectors, for they asseverated that this street
preaching in Lime-street had heel:gine a positive
nuisance, and that the complaints of their guests
and other customers against the practice were
numerous and indignant. On these grounds the
practice besides being illegal, is reprehensible,
and should not be tolerated. In this very locality
area number of tradesmen who pay heavy rents
and taxes, but whose business is interfered with
by the meetings in question. It is not on the
Sunday alone, but almost every evening of the
week, that these Psalm-singing prodigies
assemble at the " big lamp" to descant upon the_
" glories of the redemption," with a vehemence
that only becomes the inmate of a lunatic asylum,
and a style of phraseology that is more akin to
the declamation of " Cheap• John," or an itiner-
ant showman. If, then, any portion of the
community are injured in a pecuniary point of
view, it becomes a question which the authorities
;should 'promptly settle by ordering the discon-
tinuance of the evil.

No matter how forcibly these gospel-
tongued missionaries may plead for the
liberty of the subject, and talk of their
" pride, and privilege, and duty," to hold forth

on disputed points of faith in " the synagogues
and the streets, that they may have the glory of
men," and " that they shall be heard for their
much speaking," they should be taught and com-
pelled not to "do evil that good may come."
We give them credit for good intentions, and it
may be for acting 'according to their conscien-
tious convictions. We readily award to them
the privilege of influencing, as far as they can,
all who may listen to them to adopt their mode
of faith and practical habits of life. But to that
concession we cannot grant the power, much less
the liberty, of disturbing the quietude of a public
resirt like Lime-street, nor of obstructing its
thoroughfare, as set forth in Inspector NUTTER'S
report. To allow its continuance is to set at
nought one of the first principles' of all govern-
ment—local and national—peace, • law, and
order.

But we object to these pharisaical demonstra-
tions, because they are more likely to bring the
true gospel into contempt than anything else.
The bawling oratory, frantic gestures, illogical
reasoning, and laughable illustrations in which
these street preachers indulge, often call forth a
feeling of ridicule, and disregard for the Gospel,
when such men are its expounders. Where one
listens from a feeling of the truth and importance
of the subjects descanted upon, thousands stand
before these itinerating Gospel-expounders from
mere curiosity, and in the expectation of hearing
an extravagant principle enunciated and enforced
by stentorian lungs and clap-trap reasoning.
Furthermore, we question the necessity for
this excessive exercise of missionary zeal. It

may be the object of the would-be Rev. Messrs.
DENNISoN and SUMNER " to catch the attention
of such as did not go to church ;" but if the
laborious minister, and his energetic scripture
reader, cannot induce the ungodly to attend
divine service, all their songs of sacred melody,
long-winded prayers, and rambling discourses,
will be futile. No one in earnest about religion
will lurk about a lamp-post, to hear the earnest
invitations and encouraging promises of the
Gospel offered up and explained. Religious
conviction will lead him—nay more, it will com-
pel him to repair to the " Tabernacle" of his
fathers, or his own adoption, and there learn from
his own minister the goodness of God, and his
long-suffering and forbearance towards sinful
man.

In a community like Liverpool, the population
must of necessity be of various creeds, and
actuated by distinct and different articles of reli-
gious faith. It is, therefore, impolitic, for one
party to set out and publicly proclaim their
doctrines in the lanes and the streets of the town.
Irrespective of the canting hypocrisy which such
displays suggest, they are calculated to sow
among the inhabitants seeds of much religious
strife and anti-Christian feelings. No man likes
to be told that the elements of his creed will

land him on the domains of Beelzebub ; neither
does he relish it to be accused of belonging to a
system which drinks the blood of martyrs, and
battens upon the persecutions and spoliations of
all who dissent therefroni, It appears from
Inspector NUTTER'S testimony, that the majority
of the persons who went to the big lamp to get

theology illuminated were Roman Catholics.
"When he managed to disperse them, there were
evident signs of a breach of the peace, in conse-.
quence of what was going on in the discussion."
After this the public will know how to estimate
the statements of the accused and their friends,
that they did not contemplate any irregularity
or disturbance: Mr. MANSFIELD dismissed the
parties, although he said that there was an ob-
struction, and that the public peace was endan-
gered. Had a poor orange_vendor been " booked"
for a much smaller obstruction, without any fear
of a breach of the peace, the judgment would
have been different. When will the law be im-
partially, and without fear or affection, adminis-
tered throughout the land.

MERCANTILE MARINE SERVICE AND BOARD OF TRADE

INVESTIGATIONS.—A public meeting of. Mercantile Marine
masters, officerr, and engineers, is to be held in the Cotton
Sales Room, at one o'clock to-day, to complete the organi-
sation of the effort made to throw- off the incubus of the
Board of Trade. We trust the Mercautile Marine wll
on this, as on the last occaslon,.ba a strong and united
body, and by a full attendance strengthen the bonds of the
council of the association formed at the last meeting.

A FRENCH OP INION OF THE ENGLISH ELECTIONS.—A
Paris correspondent writes : —How different your elections,
now nearly terminated, from ours! If you Lave, in the
counties, too much of landlord domination, it will be
righted, no doubt, in time ; and, even as it is, it is far
preferable to the return of two Houses of (miscalled)
representatives by the will of one man. Better that 20,000
landed aristocrats should influence the return of one-half of
your House of. Commons, than that the one autocrat
should Ail out .two Chambers with his nominees. Yoar
boroughs will keep you right in the Jong run, and your
country squires have, before now, shown that they think it
best to cede to the popular' will, when iti becomes to)
manifestly strong for them. W are ail glad ,here at the
defeat the coalition sustained in your elections ; though for
my part I am sorry to see Cobden and Beight out Pf the
Commons. Perhaps it is we'll that they have had a ties Our
and when they get in again, which I hope they prc-
bly it will teach them more discretion in future. The
return, once more, of Rothschild, for the City of London,
in despite of the ignominious rejection of his claims to sir,
by"the House of Lords, is very pleasing to a large and
influential section here. Such continued firmness in

right purposa must, eventually, bear its fruit.

GAswonics.—A return has been published of all gas-
works established by Act of Parliament in England and
Wales, with various particulars, such as the charge per
foot, the average quantity of gas evolved from a ton of
coal, the illuminating power, and the cost. The London
Gaslight and Coke Company charges from 4s to 4s 6d per
1,000 cubic feet (Newcastle coals), and Os for cannel gas.
The average quantity evolved is 9,000 cubit.; feet from
Newcastle, and 10,000 feet from cannel coals. Five feet
of Newcastle gas is equal to twelve candles, and five feet
of cannel gas is equal to twenty-six candles. The Imperial
Gaslight and Coke Company charges 4s 64 Ira. 1,000 feet,
and produces 9,518 feet of gas from one ton of coal. The
quantity of gas evolved in London varies from 8,500 to
/0,000 net from one ton of coal, and the illuminating
power from 12 to 14.2 can ales. The Phcenix Company
uses Newcastle and cannel coals mixed.