Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-12-30 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIME,

Sir,--Allow me to make a few remarks in reply
to the letter of " A Clerk," in your impression of
to day. It appears to me that " A Clerk" wrote
simply to display his powers of composition, for I
must confess I cannot see a single point in his
egotistical produstiou. I have read "Liverpool
Ho!" and I am one of the class whose cause
Mr. P. Oswyn so ably espouses. A " Clerk" (to use
a vulgar phrase) " cuts his own throat." He says,
" I must disclaim Mr. Powys Oswyn's infamous
libel upon the mercantile employers of Liverpool."'
"I have been; an ill paid cleric:' "I have fallen
asleep on my stool on mail nights when the small
hours have crept round, bringing- slowly in their train
the small pay day." Are not these quotations
incompatible with each other'' Now, with the
consciousness of his own value, which it is evident
" A Clerk" possesses, I ask him, if " Liverpool'
Ho!'r had appeared when he was "ill paid,'
would he not have admitted the justice of
the character attributed to Liverpool employers
quite as vehemently as he now (beinc
" liberally paid'')` refutes such charges ?
Truth is seldom palatable : never so to those (or
the toadies of those). whose iniquities, it exposes
and isandemns. I can safely endorse the state-
ments which Mr. Powys Oswyn makes respecting
the tyrannical character of Liverpool merchants.
A Clerk" uses no argument, states no, facts, to
substantiate the position which he asserts : he
simply states what he wishes to be considered his
opinion, but which is of no value, backed,. as it is,
by "liberal pay." I certainly admire the pre-
sumption with which he takes upon himself to
" declare, on behalf of the commercial clerks of
Liverpool," his disgust at what I assert are the
home-truths and exposures of grinding tyranny
contained in " Liverpool, Ho !" and I, for one.
indignantly repudiate any such advocacy. I
admit that the work is faulty in an artistic point
of view, and that it Contains some exaggerations,
but that it deserves the condemnation of "A
Clerk," and the appellation of a " lie," I deny. I
have found from experience and observation that,
with very few exceptions, clerks are considered,
and used, as mere tools ; and, like them, when
worn out in service, cast aside without a thought;
their feelings are never considered ; their difffeul-
ties never sympathised with : their exertions
rarely, if ever, appreciated by their employers. In
conelusirn (notwithstanding "A Clerk's" self-
sufficient protest), I am content to leave the
matter in the hands-of the clerks of Liverpool, and
I hone that they will take some means to assure
Mr. Powys Oswyn of their gratitude for his able
advocacy on their behalf.—Trusting to your sense
of that justice, which the English press is ever so
ready to show, for the insertion of this letter—l
remain, sir, your obedient servant, No TOADY.
Dec. 28, 1857.

FOOTPATHS AND BYgWAYS. IN COUNTRY
DISTRICTS.

TO TA S ICIMTOR OF THE NORTHERN TIMES.

Sir,—To the facility of interohange of communi-
cation lam willing -to admit this country owes
much of its present exalted position. Railways
have all but siapereeded our old great thoroughfares
Turnpike-roads and our Byewaye, shady roads and
foot paths, over green fields and golden corn fields,
in the suburbs of great towns, without any
assignable reason, seem also. to be passing away,
and this without any Act of Parliament or other
legal authority justifying the disturbance.
The public have a vested right of user
in these delightful rambling places, and it would
appear desirable to preserve them—that the
studious having no pleasure grounds can resort
thereto, and where also the nurses with their young
prattlers, can enjoy healthful exercise without
liability to injury. I would suggest that in each
local district an association be—formed, for the
preservation of these footpaths against the hand of
the encroaching landowner.
These remarks are induced from a little
practical disappointment. I and another gentle-
man, met with the other evening—beautiful
and moonlight was tho night—being at
Marsh Lane Station, on the Liverpool and
Waterloo line of railway, my companion stated
that some of his children were staying at Waterloo,
and he should like to see them before returning
to Liverpool. There being no train I volunteered
to accompany him, and believing there still existed
the old shady road, at the bank of what were
known to be the late Mr. Bibby's houses, and
emerging therefrom throngh the footpath
over the fields by the pits, we sallied forth ;
but, to our surprise, we found no shady
road ; it had disappeared, and formed
part of a fallow field. Still we went on
on, following, as best we could, a narrow beaten
path, until we came to a dead stand. All trace
abruptly ceased. The hand of the husbandman
was observable even by moonlight. To return we
did not feel inclined, so over fallow fields and grass
fields we went, trespassing, I suppose, until our
course was interrupted by the brook, too wide and
uncertain to take, In no way disheartened, we
made for the railway, which we used for some die-
tattoo, bidding adieu to the once existing foot-path,
and just managed to reach Waterloo in time to pay
a "pop visit" and catch the last train for Liverpool.
Enquiry will prove that the disappearance of
ancint footpaths in the neighbourhood of large
towns, begins by giving substitutionary paths,
much narrower than the old ones. Then, as old
inhabitants move off, and the history is gone, these
subs hilted pathways are destroyed, the land-
owner justifying the same, on the ground that they
are not ancient roads, nor have they existed for a
sufficient time to give the public a vested right of
user. In this way, the public too often loose the
benefit of easements, common to country districts
—Y nirs, & A. B.
28th December, 1857.

The British Benno. of Thursday, states that the Rs-iv.
Thomas Binney eailed on Monday last from Liverpool for
Australia, iu the Sultana, in company with the Rev. Mr,
Poore, and a large party of missionaries and friends. Mrs.
Binney aecompinies her husband.

CAPrUaE or A GANG OF 1i".,1113ER5.-At the Bat nslry
Court House, on Monday, Thomas Ward, James Rigby, and
Richard Thirst were charged with b ing found with
burglarious implements in their p( ssession ; and also on a
second charge of stealing a fowl, the property of Mr.
Bennett, of amber. policy constable Machen. while on
duty about two o'clock oa Thursday morning la,t, c line
act% ss the three prisoners in a lonely part of the township
of Darton. Ward had a "jemmy" or crowbar in his hand,
with which he threatened to strike the officer, if the latter
molested them. Some altercation took place, when the
officer drew his cutlass in his defence. The prisoner Hirst
then ran awey, when the policeman handcuffed the other
two, finding upon Rigby two bags, a butcher's knife and a
fowl. On the prisoner Ward were found in addition to the
crowbar, a heavy stick, a packet of pepper, and a knife.
Hirst was apprehended the same morning,—The fowl
having been identified as the property of Mr. Bennett, the
prisoners were poplicifted for trial at the see ions.