Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-07-23 00:00:00

AMERICA

The screw-steamer Bremen has arrived off Cowes,
with New York advices of the 9th inst., also $645,000
in specie, about $400,000 of which are for England.
The Asia and Vitro, both from Liverpool, arrived at
New, York on the 7th.

Adv ices from Washington state that the important
State paper as to the position of the United States
upon the question of neutral rights, had been com-
pleted, and was despatched to all the Ministers in
Europe, and despatched by the Persia on the 6th.
The Washington letter adds :

It will create a most. profound impression, and demon-
strate that the present Administration will maintain the
L. .

nations of t

ae earth,

WC Can

no longer permit the grave ; questions which may apse
affecting commerce to be disposed of without our voice and
influence being heard and felt in their adjustment. The
present manifesto lays down broad principles which will
govern us in the maintenance of our rights as neutrals, and
•

1011. S flow

assumed will be adopted by all the great

The principal. points are, of courso, with reference to a limi-
tation of articleg which shall be deemed contraband of war.
The United States hold that nothing should be embraced in
this list but the direct and immediate munitions of warfare,
such as powder, muskets, cannon, lead, and saltpetre, &c.
which is the very foundation of mannfic.turin•r and com-
mercial transactions, is declared by the United States not to
be contraband of war, and any attempt to construe it other-
wise will be viewed as an encroachment upoirour commerce.
So, also, are bread tuffs, not contraband of war. The broad
doctrine is also reiterated that a free flag covers the cargo.
While flo, des:Thitel, 4. •

:coring,

well muterstooct, as a settled principle of the Americiiii doc-
trine, that under no circumstances will we abandon that
right.' The views of • the new English Ministry are not
known, but the hesitation of the last Ministry in declaring
its views as to coal is in striking contrast with the boldness
evinced by our Government in ' emphatically declaring that

coal is not in any sense contrabandof war

Vera Cruz advices, received at New Orleans by the
steamer W. IL Webb, report the 5,000,000 conducta,
which was recently seized by General Robles,, to have
arrived there and to be awaiting shipment. General
Zuloaga had placed himself under the protection of
the British Minister, Mr. Ottway. General Miramon
had decreed the restoration of the private property of
Santa Anna. General Cohos was reported dead.
Commercial affairs were steady. Money continued,
to work very easily ; lines of three or six months
papers, prime; go at 7 per cent. ; while names less
generally known were current at 8 to 9 or 10 per
cent. Exchange on Europe was a shade higher. The
Cotton market was about Is c. per lb. rower, especially
on middling and lower grades. Flour was heavy and
closed at a decline of 10c. per barrel. Wheat was
steady, and prices without change of moment. Indian
Co: was at good request and firm. Freight engage-
ments were moderate, and rates unchanged.

PONTEFRACT ELEcTioN.The Pontefract election peti-
tion has been ,withdrawn.
WAKE FIRLD ELECTION COM M ITTEE .—This committee

will sit- on Tuesday. The _following are the members of
the committee :---The Right Hon. W. Monsell, chairman ;
A. H. Baring, J. Caird, K. Hodgson, and Sir J. D. Elphin-

HARVEST IN THE WEST.—A more than ordinary yield is

England

The corn i; described as looking superb, and it

In the vicinity of- Bristolselltting will soon comment(

At Glasgow Police-court, on Wednesday, a young drug-
gist named Savage was fined £5, or 60 days' imprisonment,
for putting a drop of croton oil in some tea winch a young
girl was carrying to a shopinan in an adjoining shop. The
druggist admitted the offence, and said he did it as a joke.
The heat in Spain is greater than has been known for
many years ; and it has not only done damage to the crops,
but ~ caused numerous sudden deaths of men and animals.
At a place called Cinco Villas there had been so many fatal
accidents of the kind that the local authorities • had been
obliged to prohibit agricultural labourers, under pain of
heavy fine, from working between ten and four o'clock.

LIBRARIANSHIP OF THE MANCHESTER EXCHANGE.—
On Thursday, at a special general meeting of the subscri-
bers to this library, .Mr.,.Peter Taylor (for eight years lib-
rarian to the Manchester Mechanics' Institution) was
elected librarian, in the ,place of Mr. A. Paton, resigned.
There were about 120 npplicants.; and these being reduced
by the committee to three or four, only two of these were
nominated, and Mr. Taylor was elected by a considerable
majority.

GREAT FLOOD AND DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY AT
WAKEFIELD.—During the storm on Wednesday evening
last, the low lying portion of Wakefield was subject to im-
mense damage from the accumulation of water. All the
1., lower apartments of the houses were flooded to the extent

of some five or six feet, and the inhabitants had to take
refuge in the upper stores. When the Wednesday evening
service was concluded in bt. Mary's chantrey, the clergyman
and congregation found their egress stopped by a turbid,
swollen stream. They were kept prisoners in the chapel some
hours, and, on the partial subsidence of the .tempest, con-
veyed away in cabs. In Back-lane, fifteen yards of a wall
eight feet high, which formed the northern boundary to the
Unitarian Chapel,'Was swept • away by the flood, breaking
open the schoolroom doors in its . progress; and choking up
and destroying the interior. At Chcvet Park, the residence
of Sir Lionel Pilkingion, all the , windows and a great deal

of the valuable furniture were destroyed. Sir LiOnel esti-
mates the damage to his house and' crops at £6OO. Mr.
Ibbotson, one of Sir Lionel's tenants, had thirty acres of
splendid wheat utterly ruined, and estimates his loss at £BOO.
Mr. Richardson, of Woodthorp, sustained damage to the
extent of £3OO ; and at Walton £l,OOO will barely cover
the loss sustained by Mr. Charles Coldwell. Mr. Ellis, of
the same place, also had his crops damaged to the extent of
£3OO or £4OO.

THREATENED DISTURBANCES AMONG THE NORTHUM-
BERLAND VITMEN.-011 Thursday, nine pitnuint:belonAing
to the Seaton Delavaj Colliery were brought into North
Shields, handcuffed, by a large body of the county constabu-
lary and were, taken to the. County Magistrates' Court.

.Ltutjur _Damao 11UM a large laxly or ponce out to
the colliery, as a disturbance seems to be imminent. Seaton.
Delaval Colliery is in ' the Hartley. Steam Colliery dis-
trict ; and last Friday, without ..giving any notice, the
whole of the men, about ,500, struck. work, demanding .an
advance of 3d. a ton. It seems that the steam colliery
district is brisk at this time; and the men taking advantage
of this circumstance, struck with a view of embarrassio,,
the owners of the colliery, and forcing them ta terms. The
men were under an engagement to, give ar take a month's
notice ' • the masters binding themselves to pay a month's
wages if they turned a man off tko oolliery without giving
the proper natice, All the men were apparently intelligent
men. They admitted that they had violated the law, but
said that they must submit to numbers. They were.all sent
to gaol for two months each. Other four men were appre-
hended in the court, and.remanded. The court was crowded
with men from the colliery, and they seemed to be very
excited. ..
BREACH or PROMISE or MARMAGE.—At the Stafford
assizes, the case of Warner v. Shipley has been decided.
The parties live, the, defendant at ratenhill, and the
plaintiff at liartan,Under-Needwoud, in the 'parish of
Tatenhill, North Staffordshire. , The defendant is a small
farmer, living on his own land ; and the plaintiff is a
housekeeper, with £9 a year wages, in the household of a
farmer, named Shinto'', and is about 50 years of age ;
whilst the defendant is nearly 60. Defendant had paid £lO
into court. This sum, Mr. Huddleston, who appeared.fo
the plaintiff, ridiculed because of its smallness.' r
dvocate calm 'd upon:_ the "101 l 'kited

Lieu
hopes," " ruined
prospects," and "disappointed affection" of his client, who he
said was " a clean, buxom, motherly, well-behaved, butter-
making person." The defendant and plaintiff, it was stated.
had "met at the market," and arra,,,...„.]

aitangea to become man and
wife on the next Easter Tuesday, a month afterwards.
Thu defendant, who was a widower, but without children,
bought the license and the ring, and continued to pay his
addresses to his charmer up to the night before the day fixed
for the " consummation of their happiness," remarking
to his neighbours upon his intention to marry Mary War-
ner, and settle all his money upon her. • At- ten o'clock at
night, however, he came to Mr. Swinton's, saw his ladye
love, said he had " heard something," and declined to
marry her. After this interview the plaintiff returned into
the house, " weeping bitterly." The " something" that
defendant had hearewas that plaintiff was the mother of
an illegitimate child. In about a week after Easter Tues-
day, the defendant returned to the plaintiff; and offered to
marry her, but refused to settle upon her his money. Upon
this the plaintiff turned scornfully away, and said she had
placed the matter in the hands of her lawyer. Mr. Mid-
dleston contended that the defendant was aware of the
plaintiff having been a mother When he promised to marry
her, the birth having taken place when his client was 20
years of . agc ---Verdiet for the plaintiff, damaaes £2o,' in-
cluding the £lO paid into court.

JULY 23 , 1859.

THE CLERK OF THE PEACE AND MS

FEES,

IMPORTANT JUDGMENT

COURT OF CIIA

Before Vice-Ch

JULY 21

THE CORPORATION OF LIVERPOOL V. WRIGHT

This case came on upon demurrer. The bill was filed by
the Corporation of Liverpool for the purpose of obtaining an
account from the defendant, the clerk of the peace -of the
borough, of all moneys received by him in respect of fee'
payable .to, the clerk of the peace, and of all sums which had
become payable to him for salary or disbursements, Such
accounts bemg taken as from December, 1851. The bin
contained the '.following allegations :—Upon the appoint;
meat of the defendant, Peter Wright, to the office (a

clerk. of tile peace of the borough of Lii-erpool, in Novel 11"
her, 1844, the following resolution was passed by the Town
Council. "That, regard being had to the duties of the clerl,"
of the peaceof this borough, it is the opinion of this Comic'
that the nett emoluments of that officer ought not to exceed,
the sum of £5OO per annum." The defendant was informen
of the views of the Council, and he accepted the office ou

the terms of the resolution. The business in the office
having greatly increased, the Council of the borough agreed
in 1848 to pay the defendant the additional sum of /160,
annually, besides defraying certain incidental disburse'
meas. The agreement between the plaintiffs and the de.
fondant upon his first appointment was, that the surplus of
the fees received by him after payment of his salary, On
subject to his retaining the incidental disbursements, should'
be placed to the credit of the borough fund. In 18519
Liverpool, which had formerly paid the costs of pro'
secutions out of the borough fund, , was placed upon
the same . fimtiner nr hnrnturh a nuti nnnr.+Ll, tinCl

tue costs of prosecutions were repaid out. of a stun
annually voted by Parliament for that purpose. While
the costs of prosecutions were paid out of the boroug
funds, the bills were taxed by the clerk of the peace and
submitted to the finance committee. The fees of theh
clerk of the peace were included in these bills; but no

actually paid, being treated as a matter of account.
Government undertook to pay the costs of prosecutioust
the clerk of the peace objected to tax the bills of costs 1?
before, on the ground that they included the amount of his
fees, and that it would amount to a certificate by him that
the fees had been actually paid. --In consequence this
refusal the fees had been -paid to the delendgnt as frofo
February, 1852. The bill, stated that the. amount of such
fees' considerably exceeded the salary and disbursements to
which he was entitled under the ari•am.;'ement entered into
by him, upon his appointment to the office, and submitted
that he ought to account for the same, and. pay the surplus,
after deducting his salary and the. incidental disbursements
to the plaintiffs or the treasurer. The defendaut
alleged' that the agreement by Government to repo,.
the costs of the prosecutions put an end to the agTeemegt
entered.into by him upon his appointment, at • a time wheo
the whole cost of proseeutions- was thrown upon the borou,!it
fund. The plaintiffs denied that the agreement • with. the
defendant that he should. be paid by salary had ever been
put an end to, and alleged that subsequently to the Iwo
arrangement by Government he had received a salary at the
rate of £660 a year. :The bill prayed an account in respect
of all moneys received by him in respect of fees as frout
December, 1851, and payment of the balance. The defendant
had demurred for • want of equity, . upon the ■round thitt
there was no such agreement averred in the bill as would
-stify the Court --ntiug tl-

s' relief ; that i!
there _were any sue agreement it was illegal and void 0'
against public policy, and was without consideration ; and,
further, that it could be -no lomm, nffeel

- - - - - up,
under the altered state of circumstances.
Mr. Amnblett, find Air V.

port of the demurrer ; Mr. Itolt and Mr. C. Hall were for
the nlaintiffs.

The Vice-Chancellor said that the demurrer must be
allowed. There was considerable difficulty upon the state'
meats in the bill in arriving at any definitt; agreement ; bat'
assuming in the plaintiff's favour its existence, as stated+
" that the surplus of the fees, after payment of his saladY
and incidental disbursements, should be placed by the de'
fendant to the credit of the borough fund," there were tAir°
plain grounds of public policy which . rendered .any sueni
agreement- illegal. First, there was that whole class 0
statutes which said.that in an office of this desciption Sao
bargain could be made on the appointment of any persoo'
The statutes only gave additional sanction to the doe",
trine of the common. law imposing penalties for alo
such bargain or payment, which was accordingly alt`';
gether illegal ; secondly, the clerk of the peace was n°
the officer of the corporation. lie was not appointed upoll
a salary, his payment being provided for by statute out ,
the feeS ; nor was he removable by them at pleasure, tin
office being held during good behaviour: • He was absolutely'
to the -fees, and could not part with, a sin,le
ling of those fees to the persons • who had appoiniud bind
The law assumed that he required for the dignity of
office all those fees which were assigned to him by law; nor
was he allowed to assign :or encumber them. These :bv°
grounds alone struck at the very root of any such an
His Honour, after adverting to other objections 055
to the agreement, and observing that the defendant
perfectly justified in raising the question upon the simple
point of law, by demurrer, allowed the demurrer, and (afterl
some discussion) gave leave to. amend.