Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-06-13 00:00:00

EFAIE AIESiRS. R GLADSTONE AND R. SHEILL.

WHO Is. THE BEST JUDGE ?—A case that caused somo
" speculation" came before the above magistrates. It was
a prosecution on behalf of the crown—and Mr. Tyndall
appeared to support it—against a sailor for attempting
to smuggle a worked muslin dress, the duty on
which would have been 6s. The prisoner was defended
by Mr. Bluck. The allegation was that the dress was
wordi £3, and the penalty under the act was three times
the amount, namely, £9. Mr. Black raised an ingenious
objection to the value, and contended that revenue officers
were not judges of drapery, like the young men at
Crompton House, Frisby and Dykes, and Carmichaels.
The magistrates allowed the ohjectim, and set the value
at £l, and fined the defendant £3, according to the act.

PRESTON HOUSE OF CORRECTION.

RESIGNATION OF THE REP. JOHN CLAY.

The following letter from the Rev. John Clay, chaplain
to the prison, was laid befcre the visiting justices, at their
meeting on the 6'h inst.:---
County House of Correction, Preston. 3rd June, 1857.

Gentlemen,—l beg, with great respect, hereby to place in
your hands my resignation of the chaplaincy to this House of
Correction. It is with no little regret that I feel myself com-
pelled, by loss of health, to cease any further attempt to per-
form the duties of an office to which, for nearly thirty-six years,
I have gladly devoted, though not without a consciousness of
insufficiency for the work, all the attention and ability I could
command. While submitting to the necessity of this step, I
have great satisfaction in knowing that, periling the appointment
of my successor, the chaplain's ditties will be most faithfully
and efficiently discharged by the gentleman whom, in your great
kindness, you selected nearly a year ago to act as my coadjutor.
Be pleased gentlemen, to accept my grateful thanks for the
constant support and encouragement which I have received
from you in my official capacity, and also for the personal
kindness which I have so long experienced. I beg to lay
before you the requisite medical certificate as to my state of
health.—l have the honour to be, gentlemen, your faithful and

humble servant,
To tho Visiting Justices of the County
House of Correction, Preston.

.TORN CLAY;

MIDDLE CLASS EDUCATION.

TO THE VICE-CH iNCELLOR AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE.
THE MEMORIAL OF THE REV. T. S. HOWSON, M.A., PRINCIPAL
OF THE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTION, LIVERPOOL,
Sheweth, That— •
Your Memorialist has been informed that a proposal
has been made to extend the action of the Universities
by the appointment of a Board of Examiners, " to test the
attainments" of some of those who are not destined for a
University, and after examination "to distinguish the
most deserving."
Your Memorialist is aware that a system of Examina-
tions has been organised, and with useful results, by the
Society of Arts. Those Examinations, however, are
intended for the lower classes of society, and have reference
mainly to Industrial Instruction. The plan proposed for
your consideration has regard to the Middle Classes, and
to the general ends of Education.
Your Memorialist has under his immediate superin-
tendence, in this town of 400,000 inhabitants, a group of
Schools contaioing about 800 boys from various ranks of
life. Of these boys, perhaps more than 100 are directly
and steadily acted on by the Universities, while probably
less than 100 are likely to receive any impulse from the
Examinations of the Society of Arts. The remainder,
about GOO in number, are destined for various kinds of
business.
Your Memorialist has thus had fall opportunities for
forming a deliberate judgment concerning the present
position of Middle Class Education. He feels justified in
respectfully expressing his persuasion that the proposed
plan, if wisely matured, is likely to confer on that large
intermediate class, which lies between the richest and the
poorest, the same kind of benefit which the lower classes
of society now derive from the Committee of Council of
Education, and which the higher classes have always
derived from the Universities themselves. And, without
pledging himself to any opinion respecting details, your
Memorialist earnestly hopes that the proposed plan may
receive the favourable attention of the University of
Cambridge. J. S.. HowsoN.
Liverpool, May 30th, 1857.

FRANCE.—The Moniteur of yesterday publishes an Impe
eat decree closing the sitting of the Senate. Also a
decree promulgating the new law for the continwT9 of
the privilege of the sank of France,

PUBLICANS AND BEERLIOUSE CASES.

BEFORE ROBERTSON GL ADSTONE, ESQ.

Maria F,x, Batchelor-street, was summoned for
having p?rmitted persons to as=emlale and drink in her
house opt the 2nd inst., contrary to the act of Parliament.
Police-constab:e 702, state I—at a coiner past ten o'clock
on Sundry last, I visited the hou4e kept by the defendant,
in which I found ten men and four women drinking
whiskey and rum. Smie of them were drunk. PJlice-
- constable 584: I witnessed the same. Mr. Gladstone .
Were you in plain clothes at the time. Constable: We
were. Mrs. F,,x: I was not at home et the time, and did
not know anything about it. Mr. Gladstone : I have a
great dislike to this system of constables visiting houses
either of publicans or any other persons, in plain clothes.
I dislike it very much. It is not an E iglish system. It
not fair play, as ever man has a righ; to know when
justice in an official capaeil goes to his door. L is against
my sense of what is right. I shall fine you' however, Is.
and ls. costs, but you had better be cared in future as
it is against the law; and obey it,.aa lung as it is the law ;
but it is not a law aceor.ling to my taste. I must say,
however, that I do not blame the officer in the matter, it
the system. Constable 702 : wo should be very glad if
we could get out of it.