The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-05-29 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TIMES.---LIVERPOOL, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 1857.

ship of this jourual to any such source.
What the ex-servant of the Corporation
has written on the Pike question, we
defy Mr. HOLME to disprove. The public
did not require to be informed by Mr. HOLME that
that gentleman had been a contributor to the
NORTHERN TIMES, for we have published
many letters from his pen, with his name
attached to them, but we • have yet to
learn that because a man contributes occasion-
ally to a newspaper, that he necessarily becomes its
" Chief Editor." Verily, the editorial " we" will,
henceforth, comprehend a very numerous family.
We are not, however, at all displeased with the
disgraceful and-" atrocious" attack of Mr. Alderman
HoLmE. It shows that the arguments we have
used, and the facts we have published, in reference
to the nefarious Pike Scheme, are overwhelming,
and that they have had so strong an effect upon
the public mind that they are gradually destroying
the Pike faction, and Mr. HOLME feels that ere long
he will be one of those who may be likened to
the cunning rats deserting the sinking ship, and
in this extremity he may find the NORTHERN
TI3IES ready to afford him shelter and protection
from the impending storm.
Since the foregoing was in type we have received
the following note
Sir,—My allusion in Council was to Mr. James Mac-
idonald as a " discarded servant of the corporation," and
whose incarceration at Birkenhead I learned from your
own columns. Ido not think that any one who heard me
could misunderstand such allusion, or suppose that I had
any other person in my mind. I understood that your
paper was established on the principle of political neutra-
lity, and for some time subsequently I did no more than
justice in bearirg testimony to the fairness and ability
with which local topics were then discussed in its pages.
Some of the articles which have appeared of late have
produced a very different impression.—l am, Sir, your
obedient servant. SAMUEL HoLME.

Benson street, May 20, 1857.
We do not exactly comprehend what connexion
exists between our political principles and the
course we have felt it our duty to pursue on the
water question but if it be any satisfaction to
Mr. HOL7AE we may refer him to our original
prospectus, in which he will find our political
creed laid down. We set out with the announce-
ment that, "In politics THE NORTHERN DAILY
TIMES will be liberal, but not extreme. It will

support measures, not men." How far we have
adhered to this text, we leave our uthnerous
readers to judge. That some of the articles which
have appeared in our columns of late should have
produced a different impression upon Mr. HOLME'S
mind to that which previously existed, may
readily be accounted for, when we remember
that upon the water question he has
.allowed
prejudice to usurp the place of reason. One
who has changod his opinion upon so impor-

taut a matter as the supply of water to
400,000 people, is just as likely, with as little reason
or propriety, to change his opinions as to the cha-
racter of articles in a newspaper ; but it does not
palliate, much less justify, the casting of foul im-
putations upon its management, much less does it
justify the random statement, that because a " dis-
carded servant of the Corporation" has contributed
a few letters to a newspaper, that therefore he has
become its chief editor. One word more. It
appears from the above note that the worthy
Alderman is still a reader of the NORTHERN TIMES,
although in December last he felt it his duty to
withdraw his pecuniary support by cancelling his
subscription.

A JUDGE of the land, Mr. Justice CRAMPTON,
has spoken from the Bench against the calling
of the publican; and, in imitation of the Roman
orator, has adopted a motto which we cannot but
regard as unreasonable and illiberal. The
venerable Judge to whom we allude, in charging
the grand juries of the county and city of
Dublin, a few days ago, took occasion to deliver
a somewhat lengthy homily on the spread of the
old national vice—intemperance; and concluded
by declaring that "public-houses are nuisances,
and should be suppressed." We have recently
alluded to the question of Temperance, and
made some- remarks upon the inexpediency of
attempting to enforce sobriety by Act of Parlia-
ment. Judge CRAMPTON'S charge, and the more
recent lecture of the Hon. NEAL Dow at Exeter-
hall, induce us to make some further comment
upon the subject. Nothing can be further from
our wish than to give countenance to the
practice of drunkenness. It is a vice which
aims a deadly blow at the well-being of society
at large, and the health, peace, and comfort of
the individual. It is a great moral disease,
which requires the most skilful operations of the
philanthropist and the Christian. Hence we
would not be true to ourselves, or the country to
which we belong, if we did not sanction all ',-
regulated movements which are likely to have a
practical result in dispelling the monster vice,
and ensuring us a generation of really sober
people.
Influenced by these considerations, the ques-
tion which we have to settle is, will the
enactment of a law, similar in principle and
practice to that adapted in the State of Maine,
reform .the drunkard, and arrest the progress of
intemperance ? To this inquiry we reply at the
outset that the Maine Liquor Law is impracti-
cable. From the most undoubted authorities
we learn that it has been a failure in the very
State where it was first concocted. It was a
boast of the late Mr. O'CONNELL, that he could
drive a coach-and-four through any Act of
Parliament ; and our friends across the Atlantic
seem to have a happy knack of doing the same
with the statute framed by the Hon. NEAL Dow.
They are a living demonstration that individuals
who can not be designated habitual drunkards,
or even " tipplers," will not willingly submit to
have their gastronomic habits guaged or
regulated by Act of Parliament. The spirit of
independence which more or less animates every
person rises in rebellion against such a
principle, so that the very prohibition which is

intended to be a panacea for all the evils of
intemperance works its own defeat. Fine and
imprisonment will not induce mankind to
cultivate the moral virtues, and particularly that
of temperance. If reason and a due regard to
self-interest will not induce sobriety, all the
enactments in the Statute-book of England
cannot compel it. While, therefore, we are
anxious to see the vice of intemperance arrested
and the people become sober and orderly, we
we must object to
.the measure of Temperance
Reform whiclf the advocates of the Maine
Liquor Law put forth. We do not dispute the
preamble of their Bill setting forth the injurious
consequences of drunkenness both to society and
the individual; but here we part their company,
well knowing that they take extreme views of
the entire question, and consequently pr3pose
the application of extreme remedies.
We hold that there are various circumstances
and particular phases in the life of every
individual which warrant, nay, absolutely
require, that he shall have recourse to artificial
stimulants to enable him to perform the duties
of his calling. Climate, state of health, and the
daily duties of life, alike warrant the moderate use
of some stimulus or other, and when so used,
instead of proving an evil, it becomes a positive
benefit. Although the Maine Liquor Law
advocates descant with poetic eloquence upon
the heavenly effects produced by a draught of
the pure fountain, we have learned by experience
to appreciate the beneficial results produced by
a glass of good sherry, or other wholesome
wine. When that is not available, a drink of
unadulterated ale or porter will not impart an
injury, but actually confer a benefit to the worn
out energies of the hard working-man. We coincide
with the leading journal when it declares that
" when the time for relaxation arrives, the man
whose lot is to live like a hermit, and work like
a horse, is not capable of the exertion which
would refresh the energies of the savage. He
sits down to his meal with a great craving for
food, rather than with a wholesome hunger, and
the food set before him is rich and heavy.
Water is not the apt solvent for such a meal,
nor will a few glasses of cold water supply that
stimulus which the languid stomach requires to
enable it to perform its task." This view of the
case at once demonstrates that the Maine
Liquor Law aims a deadly blow at the physical
construction of man. No wonder, therefore, that
the Temperance panacea of Mr. Dow should
prove a signal failure, and that its promulgation
should have instigated bloodshed and riot.

There is another reason why we object to the
prohibitory measure of Mr. Dow, and the dictum
of Judge CRAMPTON. Take the whole popula-
tion of the country, and it will be found that the
proportion of that population who are habitual
drunkards is very small ; hence, we consider that
it would be an act of oppression and social
tyranny to punish the vast majority for the sins
of the comparatively few who debase themselves
by a constant use of the bottle. It is a
state of things which society, constituted as
Great Britain is, supposing it possible to procure
such an enactment, would not tolerate for four-
and-twenty hours. In all ages, and among all
grades of society in this country, stimulating
drinks of one kind or another have been used.
The habit has been formed, and woe to the
authorities who would :attempt to obliterate that
habit by rendering it penal to gratify it to a
moderate extent.

Another branch of this important question as
broached by the Hon. Judge CRAMPTON, and
which arises in the practical application of
the Maine Liquor Law, is the suppression of
public houses. Now, here is a matter which
affects in the most direct and serious manner
the pecuniary means of twenty or thirty thousand
families. At one fell swoop they aie deprived
of a living. The calling by which they earned
a livelihood has been extinguished. Their
stock-in-trade is rendered a contraband article,
and, according to the law, must be destroyed,
Added to all this is the loss of the investment
made to get into the business. What, we ask,.
is this but wholesale, national robbery and
the wilful destruction of millions of property ?
We are not going to argue, as Mr. Justice CRAMP-
TON did, upon the impolicy of granting spirit
licenses as a source of national revenue. What
we contend against is the injustice that would
be done to so many thousands of the people, and
the enormous pecuniary loss which they would
sustain, should the learned and venerable judge's
idea be carried into operation, when he exclaims,
" Abolish your public-houses, abolish your beer-
shops, which are only provocations to spirit
drinking, and thus a law might be framed which,
without trenching upon the revenues of the
crown, would largely contribute to the hap-
piness, the morals, and the improvement of
our people."

Before the philanthropic idea of Judge
CRAMPTON can be carried out, we must consider
how we are to compensate the thousands of
families which we propose to ruin by our Tem-
perance Reform Bill. They must be provided
for in one way or another, and it is more
than likely our Parliamentary economists would
stoutly object to any scheme which would be
brought forward for that purpose. If, then,
the people of this country are averse to the
principle of a Maine Liquor Law—if that law
is arbitrary, oppressive, and tyrannical in opera-
tion and principle,—if its application would
entail loss and ruin upon tens of thousands
of our fellow subjects, and if the constitution,
habits, and pursuits of the people require the

moderate use of a stimulus, we contend that
no philanthropy —no matter with what amount
of zeal it may be urged—can plead a justification
for the enactment of such a law, so that Mr.
DOWE should betake himself to the land of his
nativity, or at least cease in this country from
enforcing upon our people social theorims which
are at total variance with all their habits,
wants, and desires.

We have felt it our duty to say thus much
upon the subject, from a conviction that the
lower classes require to have their claims con-
sidered. The enactment of a Maine Liquor
Law would not much affect the enjoyments of
the rich. They could still obtain and use their
part, sherry, claret, hock, champagne, &e. Not
so the labouring classes. Their ale and porter
supplies would be cut off, and they would be
the party against whom the prohibitory enact-
ment would most severely operate. For this
and the foregoing reasons we must enter our
protest against the proposal of the Maine Liquor
Law advocates.

THE debate on the Water question, proved so
far satisfactory to ourselves, that every speaker
—even the more reckless and prejudiced Pikeist
—were forced to acknowledge the truth of every
statement which has from time to time appeared
in the columns of this journal. Notwith4tanding
the pretended stoicism, quibbling, sophistry,
if not positive deception, on the part
of certain of the declining faction, who
claim to be the dictators not only of the Council,
but of the town, on this :as on all other ques-
tions of importance, the effects of our truth-
telling articles were most apparent. No better
proof of this could be afforded than by the
declaration of Mr. JAMES HOLME, that if there
was to be no more writing in the newspapers
everything would go on harmoniously. If the
public would only cease to read the exposures
made of him and his confederates, j)y an
independent Press, then they would try
and do all they could for the Rate-•
payers. Only trust them a little longer.
Let them only complete their gigantic job,
and then the people would rest satisfied. True,
by false pretences and scheming they had been
cajoled out of a million of money. True, their
water had been wickedly withheld and wasted.
True, a quantity of the abominable Pike wash
had been surreptitiously introduced into the
town, and the pure water, the boast and Alight
of the inhabitants, thereby polluted to such an
extent as to make it positively disgusting and
actually poisonous. All this and much more had
been done—we cannot deny it but in mercy to
us, just give us one trial more—for three months
only—to enable us to have a little more
doctoring and jobbing with your well water, and
by that time all agitation will have died away,
and you may confide in our tender mercies
towards you.

Such, in fact, was the appeal made by
thei condemned and fallen Water Committee,
to the Council, on Wednesday ; men
who had shown no mercy to those who had the
manly temerity to dare them to tell the truth,
now come forward overwhelmed with disgrace and
infamy as the humble suppliants for a respite of
that just punishment their delinquences so richly
merited. Unfortunately the majority of the
Council agreed to their undeserved respite.
But if they suppose that this result will either
satisfy the press or the people of Liverpool, they
will find themselves sadly mistaken. We were
the first to give publicity to Mr. DUNCAN'S
report, and we condemned it in the most
unmeasured terms, as being neither more nor
less than a piece of cunningly-devised jugglery
to mystify and mislead the Council from the
real merits of the question. In an evil moment
the memorialists thought they could cajole the
Water Committee into restoring them their well
water at whatever cost, even if a second set
of mains should be necessary for that purpose.
Little did they know the characters of the Pike
despots, otherwise they would have made no
attempt at compromise. The tyrants who
gloried in rivetting the chains about the necks
of the unfortunate and confiding people, by
whose suffrages they had been raised to power,
would be satisfied with nothing short of the
full amount of their cruel and iniquitous revenge.
Like the tiger who has once tasted blood.
nothing sbort of a gorge would sate them. To
us their true character has been long but
tou apparent.

What the memorialists really wanted—what
the people of Liverpool now want, and what
we have ever contended for, is the restoration
of our own well-water in its integrity and purity.
We want no big jobs or little jobs—no more
engineering trickery or deception. We tell
the Water Committee that until that plain and
intelligible request of the Press and the people
of Liverpool is honestly complied with, there
shall be no cessation of agitation, on our parts,
at all events. What care we as to the quality
of the water supplied to Leicester, Bolton, or
any other town whatever i) Have any of the
towns enumerated such a supply of pure spring
water as we could formerly boast of? Certainly
not. Pike water or similar water is certainly
better than no water at all; and if we Were
in the same position as many of these towns
have been in, we should gladly welcome
the Pike as a blessing. But we are not in
such a position, and never have been. We
have abundance of pure spring water, and
to spare, No other town in the world
can boast that, from seven sinkings in
red sandstone rock, can be drawn a daily supply

of the purest spring water in the world, exceeding
seven million gallons, or equal to twenty gallons
to every one of its inhabitants.

This water, clear as crystal, cool and limpid
in the hottest weather in summer, we possess at
present at our own doors, and yet a paltry faction
declare, that although God has blessed us with
this unparallelled supply of delightful health-
giving water, we are your masters, and we decree
it to be too good for you—we have prepared a
decoction of our own, and you shall either
swallow that or die like dogs, as you are. Such
is, in fact, the language of the Pikeists to the
humble remonstrances of the ratepayers of
Liverpool. Will these -submit longer to such
tyranny ? We hope not. -Their insolent task-
masters declare that all are satisfied with their
disgusting slime—that there are no complaints:
It is for the inhabitants now to speak out,
and tell them, in language unmistakeable,—
you lie !

Not one of the Pikeists ventured to praise the
Mr. Holme said he was much disap-
pointed with its colour—but it was no worse
than Windermere—what of that ! We neither
wanted water from the Pike, or from Winder-
mere, or from Bala lake, or any other impure
source. Nothin3 could be more condemna-
tory of the whole scheme than the description
he gives of Mr ANDREW'S pit. He says,—
"There had been a great deal said about Mr.
ANDREW'S pit. Well, he had visited that pit on
the recent elccursion. There he had found Mr.
M`DONALD, he thought not much to that person's
credit, for he was only there to point out some
little matters that might, perhaps, be overlooked.
He went to see the pit—that was the pit at the
bottom of the goit, and he found it was fourteen
years since it had been cleared out. Wherever
there were trees there were also leaves, and the
,leaves would fall in the antmnan season, and it so
occurred that they had fallen into that pit, which
this year the old gentleman had determined to
empty, and it was that which had got into the
goit that had given rise to so much talk, and of
which Mr. BENNETT had made so much noise
about."

water.

The remark about Mr. M'DONALD comes with
a very bad grace from Mr. JAMES HOLME. Mr.
M`DONALD has proved himself an honest and an
honourable man, although a poor one. His very
honesty has caused his pecuniary ruin. His
statements have been repeatedly denounced as
false by Mr. HOLME and his obsequeous
hirelings, when he had no opportunity of
defending or proving their truth. On the
occasion of the Council's visit to the Pike,
however, such an opportunity did present itself,
and he embraced it, not at the cost of the
Corporation, for he declined to eat or drink at
their expense, although it is but fair to say he
was invited. He went there for the sake of
truth alone, and, however galling his presence
was to Mr. HOLME and others, it was certainly
no discredit to him. The man who has dared
to encounter poverty, ruin, and pecuniary
degradation, sooner than become the tool of a
set of jobbers, was not likely to be deterred
by the frowns of Mr. Horan:, or any one else,
from pointing out what had been so stoutly
denied, namely, the existence of dense masses
of decayed animal and vegetable matter in and
around the Pike reservoirs. He told Mr. HOLME,
and the other Councillors who accompanied him,
that he had brought them to Mr. ANDREW'S pit,
in order that they might see for themselves what
the nature of the deposit must of necessity be in
their own reservoirs in a few short years; the
case of the one being in every respect identical
with that of the other. There was no gainsaying
he fact, for there it was, patent to the senses of
all; and Mr. HOLME, little to his credit, lost his
temper, and took to abusing Mr. M'DoxAr,n, an
example soon followed by his engineer. Mr.
M‘DoNALD was cool—the best proof of the
correctness of his statements. There on the
spot, serrounded by Pikeists and anti-Pikeists,
he was prepared to substantiate the truth of all
he and advanced, but Mr. I-loLms and his friends
pleaded want of time as an excuse for not
following up the damnatory exposures which
Mr M‘DoNaLD expressed his readiness to
point out to them, including the filthy black
slime, the existence of which was so strenuously .
denied, although they had spent some hours at
the Black Boy. But they got enough, in all
conscience, at the pit, however lightly Mr.
HOLME may treat it.

THE NEW WATER SUPPLY FOR LIVERPOOL.--The water
now supplied to Liverpool from the Rivington hills, though
abundant in quantity, is not of that quality which would
render it generally acceptable for dietetic purposes. This
is owing to the fact that the large body of water, when
impounded, Nods upon peaty ground, and to the equally
important fact that the system of filteration is not sufficient
to prevent all vegetable impurities from passing into the
service pipes. —Tirws of Yesterday.

SUDDEN DEATH.----Catherine Cord
y, who resided in
Clayton-street, dropped dead yesterday, without having
exhibited any previous symptoms of disease.
The Petition to the House of Commons in favour of the
Bill for the Admission of Jews to Parliament lies at the
Exchange Rooms, the newspaper offices, and other usual
places, for signature.
THE WEATHER for the last four days has been sunny and
warm. Yesterday, about three o'clock, there was a heavy
shower with a deep hazy atmosphere. The lain was
refreshing, the more so as fine warm weather is sure to
follow.

THE AMERTCAN MAILS.—The royal mail steamer
Canada, will sail for New York to-morrow, with the mails
for the States a-id Canada. Letters will be received at
General Post Office in the ordinary course, up to twelve
o'clock, and to one o'clock with fees, and at the box on the
stage to two o'clock, with additional fees. Letters by the
latest are charged Is additional.
THE SPERE-lIALL MADMAN.—Some time ago, an un-
fortunate man, labouring under insanity of some sort, was
found in a plantation at Speke-hall. It appears that he
had lived there for some time, and when discovered, was in
an exhausted state, and his feet was in a state approaching
mortification. He was brought to t
he Royal Infirmary,
where he died yesterday. An inquiry into the cause and
circumstances of his doath, will be held thvi day by the
coroner.

TELEGRAPHIC NEWS.

(By British aril Irish Magnetic Telegraph.)

ITALY.

TANGIER, MAY IS.
The Phoenix has been off Tangier since the 11th
instant.

The agitation still continues amongst the
'Genoese.
The presence of the Emperor alone will be able
to calm this effervescence. Be this as it may,. the
Prince will not proceed to Fez for about a fortnight
—that is to say, seven days after the Ranadhau.

THE OVERLAND MAIL.

INDIA AND PERSIA,

TRIESTE. THURSDAY.

The steamer America arrived this morning, at
half-past eight a.m., in 11.6 hours from Alexandria.

ALEXANDRIA, MAY, 23.

The Indian mails leave to-day, with dates from
Bombay, May 2 ; Calcutta, April 23 ; Madras,
April 28 ; Ceylon, May 3 ; Hong Kong, April 15 ;
Shanghae, April 6.
News of the peace with Persia reached the camp
at Mohumra on the sth of April.
The Jemadar of the 34th Bengal Native Infan-
try, the ringleader in the late disturbances, has
been hanged.
Fuszl-Ali has been killed in an attack made
upon his band to avenge the murder of Boileau
Meetings have been held at Singapore, con-
gratulating Sir James Brooke on his just severity.
At Bombay transactions in imports rather
limited. Export market quiet. Freights dull.
Exchange 2s ld and 11-16ths to id.
Calcutta import market somewhat improved.
Operations in exports impeded by high prices.
Money continues easy. Exchange, 2s 11d.
At Madras.—lmport market quiet ; money plen-
tiful. Exchange, 2s Itd._