The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-01-17 00:00:00

THURSDAY.

TURNER v. ORPoun.--The plaintiffs in this case were
Messrs. James Turner and Co., silk mercers, Manchester,
and the defendant represented the Isle of Man Stearn
Packet Company. The action was brought to recover
£2l, being the value of a certain box or parcel and its
contents, belonging to the plaintiff, and delivered to the
servants of the Isle of Man Company, through a hose
negligence it was alleged to have been rendered valueless.
Mr. Meyers appeared for the plaintiffs, and Mr. Blair,
instructed by Mr. Wright, for the defendant. The case
for the plaintiffs rested on the evidence of their travelling
clerk, named Oakes, who in last August took a passage
from Liverpool to Douglas on board the King Orry, one
of the defendants' steamers. having with him a box of
patterns of silks, velvets, &c. When the steamer arrived
at Douglas she did not get into the pier, and the pas-
sengers were landed in small boats. The passengers
were sent ashore in the first instance, and the luggage
was to be sent after. When the last boat came,
Mr. Oakes perceived that his box had not arrived.
He sent the boat back for it. He saw it being
lifted out of the steamer into the boat; but while
being transferred, it fell into the water. In about ten
minutes it was recovered, but the patterns were com—
pletely spoiled. On the part of the defence, a notice
issued by the company was produced, which stated that
they would not be responsible for any luggage, unless
such as was booked in the office, and paid for as freight,
and that the box in question was not so booked or paid
for, but was merely carried by the traveller and placed
on the steamer's deck. It was also contended that the
company was not responsible for what had occurred in
taking the luggage on board the small boats. His
Honour said, there were several points in the case
deserving of consideration, and which he should take
take time to consider. He did not think the liability of
the company ended when they bad put the passengers on
board small boats. It would be a very injurious thing
for the company if such an impression were to go
abroad, and the public would not he satisfied at all, if
it were supposed that all the company were bound to do
was to bring them within a certain distance of their
journey's end, and then relieve themselves of further
responsibility by placing them on hoard small boats.
Whatever they were bound to land at all, whether
luggage or passengers, they were bound to land upon the
quay at the Isle of Man. His present impression, however,
was that the company did not profess to be carriers of
luggage generally, but only of.passengers, and of luggage
under certain conditions. His impression was, that Mr.
Oakes, who represented the plaintiff, had means of
knowing the terms upon -which the company carried
luggage. Moreover, he did not think that the box in
question could be considered as passenger's luggage in
the ordinary sense of the term, as that which was carried
by a traveller for his personal conveni •nce. His present
impression on these points was in favour of the
defendants, but he would take time to consider his
judgment. His Honour finally stated that he would
deliver judgment on the 3rd of February.

DIRECT TAXATION.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIMES.

Sir,—ln my !ast I enabled you to lay before
your numerous readers, the opiniqu.ofthe working
classes on the now much agitated and most impor-
tant questions of Direct Taxation and Free Trade,
as set forth in their memorable " Charter of the
Rights of Humanity," passed at a great public
meeting of the producers of wealth and knowledge
held in London, on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 1834:
I now proceed to extract from this same
" Charter" their views respecting universal liberty
of speech, liberty of the press, and universal ani
unlimited education :

Article 6th.—Liberty of expression of conscientious
opinions, upon all subjects, without limitation.
Because truth and sincerity cannot be established
without perfect freedom of expression upon every subject ;
and because it is the natural right of all, to proclaim
fearlessly, what they are compelled by the laws of their
organiz ;lion, and the mode, of their education to think
and feel.

7th.—No dominant national religion, encouraged by any
worldly temptations whatever, to be allowed to exist; but
all persons to be equally protected in the rights of con-
science.

Because there can he no merit or demerit in belief of
any kind, whether relating to immaterial essences, or to
material objects or beings ; and
Because, as so large a portion of the human race have
been compelled, by their education, or the society and
objects surrounding them, to receive their notions respect-
ing some religion, which notion they cannot of themselves
relinquish, all have an equal right to express their
opinions respecting their faith, and to support these by
fair and friendly arguments, but in no other way.
Bth.—National, scientific, physical, intellectual, and
moral education for all, who from any cause cannot be
otherwise well trained and cultured in all these respects.
Because society has a direct interest in the right forma-
tion of the character of every child that comes into-
existence. A child uneThcated, or ill-educated, may be
trained by the inferior and vicious circumstances which
now everywhere improperly abound, to create extensive
misery to his neighbourhood, to his country, and even to
many nations. Society has, therefore, a much greater
stake, a far deeper interest, in the formation of the
character of each of its members than the parents of the
children, and it has a far more legitimate right to train
and educate them ; and to obtain a well devised superior
national education ought to be, and when men become
wise, will be considered the first and highest duty of every
government.

Because all infants may have a superior or an inferior
character, a useful or a useless one, formed by the superior
power of a state ; and no inferior power, in any country,
can have the same command over the national arrange-
ments which are necessary to well form the character of
all the children of the state.
9. The children of all classes, without exception, to be
trained and employed, physically or mentally, to produce
for society as much as they require from society.
Because the general happiness of society ought to be the
ruling principle, by which to govern the proceedings of all
tho members of it; and as every child born within any
state is the child of that state, its powers and capacities
ought, in every single instance, to be made so far availa-
ble for the general happiness, that it shall be trained and
educated, and afterwards employed, to produce physically
or mentally, as much for society as it requires to receive
from society for its full enjoyment. Under wise arrange •
ments this may be accomplished, greatly for the permanent
advantage of every individual, in every country, in what-
soever rank, station, or condition, the individual may be
born or placed."
Thus, again, Mr. Editor, you perceive that on
the all-important subjects of General Liberty and
National Education, the working classes, in 1834,
were far in advance of general society even now, in
1857. In my next you shall see what the workers
then proposed for the prevention of crime, and the
reformation of criminals.—Yours, &e.,
A WORKER.

MONUMENT TO FATHER MATHEW.—Pursuant to the
requisition of his worship the Mayor, a large number of
the citizens of Cork assembled in the Ci'y Court House at
one o'clock on Monday, in order to take the preliminary
steps for raising a suitable monument to the memory of
Father Mathew. Notwithstanding the dreadful inclemency
of the weather the attendance was large and highly
respectable. The chair was taken by the Mayor, who was
received with cheers. Mr. Maguire, M.P., said—" Mr.
Mayor and gentlemen, taking into consideration the
inclemency of this day, and the injury it would do to those
whose clothes have been soaked by the rain, to remain in
those wet clothes for two or three hours longer, and the
utter impossibility of baying so large an attendance as we
would wish to see on an occasion of this kind, it is the
general feeling of the gentlemen who era here in such
numbers, that we should adjourn this meeting until
Monday next, in order to give all classes of our fellow
citizens the opportunity which they so much desire of
paying a tribute of respect to the memory of their illus-
trious fellow citizen. I beg leave to move the adjournment
of this meeting until Monday next, at this hour. Mr.
Townsend seconded the motion, which was put from the
chair and carriel unanimously.

TFIE SHIPOWNERS OF .NEW YORK AND THE
OLD MAN OF THE SEA.

Every one has read the adventures of Sinbad the Sailor
with the Old Man of the Sea, whom, in an evil hour, he
offered to bear upon his shoulders across the brook. This
Sinbad we take to he a mythical type of the maritime interest
of New York, and the Old Man of the Sea means nobody
else but E. K. Collins, Esq., the agent and general manager
of the great transatlantic Liverpool monopoly. If our readers
will turn with us to the authentic chronicle of Sinbad's en-
counter with the Old Stan of the Sea, they will perceive how
exactly his trials correspond with those which the shipping
merchants of New York have experienced since Mr. Collins
got his legs astride their necks some eight or ten years ago.
" When I was a little advanced into the island," says the
adventurous navigator, "1 saw an aid man who to me seemed
very weak and feeble. He sat upon the bank of a stream,
and at first I took him to be one who had been shipwrecked
like myself. I went towards him and saluted him, but he
only bowed his head a little. I asked him what he did there,
but instead of answering me, he made a sign for me to take
him upon my back and carry hint over the brook, signifying
that it was to gather fruit. How like is this to the appeal which
Collins put up for help from Congress, to enable American en-
terprise, as he phr: s el it in the turgid i hetoeic of his memorials to
Congress, to compete with Rights!" monopolists, and to vindicate
the glory of the American mat inc. Sinbad's story proceeds as
follows. showing how the old man of the sea succeeded, and
some of its consequences :—" I believed him really to stand
in need of my help, so took him upon my back, and having
carried him over, bid hilt get down, and for that end stooped,
that he might get off with case ; but, instead of that (which I
laugh at every time I think on'r), eats old man, who to me
appearal very decrepit, clasped his legs very nimbly about my
neck, and then I perceived his skin to resemble that of a cow.
He sat astride upon my shoulders and held my throat so
straight that I thought he would have strangled me, the fright
of which made me faint away and fall down." Precisely the'
same way our o.d Man of the Sea got his legs astride the
commerce of Now York in 1347, and secured the contract for
carrying a monthly mail to Liverpool by steam at
about twice the cost which the Cunard line contracted
to do a corresponding amount of service for the English
Government. Simbad next proceeds to typify the course
which Collins pursued when he once got fairly in his saddle
—how in 1352 he exacted twice the sum be had
been receiving before, namely, 800,000 dols a year, to enable
him, as he said, to compete with the Cunard line, which,
for the same service, receives only about half the money.
" Notwithstanding my fainting, the ill-natured old fellow
(meaning, of course, the aforesaid E. K. Collins) kept fast
about nay neck, but opened his legs a little to give me time to
take my breath." This refers to the practice of giving free
passages and other douceurs to members of Congress and
influential citizens who vote for or ativocate the appropriations.
" When I had done so he thrust ono of his feet against my
stomach and struck me so rude y on the side with the other,
that he forced me to rise up against my will. Being got up,.
he made me walk under the trees, and forced mo now and then'
to stop to gather and eat such fruit as we found. He never
left me all day, and when I lay me down to rest me by night,
he laid himself down with me, holding always fast about my
neck. Every morning he pushed me to make me awake, and
afterwards obliged me to get up and walk, and pressed me with
his feet. You may judge, then, what trouble I was in, to be
charged with such a burden as I could noways rid myself of."
We have before us his last " dig," in the form of a memorial.
ehich is certainly one of the most marvellous specimens of
assurance that has recently fallen under our observation.. He
Insists upon Congress renewing his appropriation or taking his.
old steamers, now a good deal the worse for some eight or nine
years' wear, off his hands. The reason he assigns for asking
this special grace from Congress is, that he and his associates had
built their boats to " stop the boasts of Ragland, which were
loud," until he began to spread his feathers some eight years ago.,
The Bremen line, which, to use the felicitous diction of the
memorial, "commenced to run with the loudest vauntings,"
frightened the Cunard Company very much, we are told, but
tbeyimmediately built four new steamers, and took the Bremen
line off, as they say in the West, " close at the knees." Then
Mr. Collins informs the public that it became necessary for
him to interfere, to save the honour of the nation, and what
was of the last importance, to put a stop the boasts of England,
and accordingly, "at the solicitatio❑ of the Government"
(this will be news to the Government, we fancy), he proceeded
to build the four vessels, popularly known to the world as the
Collins steamers, two of which have been already wrecked, and
the other two pretty much worn out. But this was not all
that was necessary to enable Mr. Collins to maintain what he
terms the honour of the country and our supremacy in ocean
steamers; ho required in addition, some 800,000 dollars a year
as a subsidy from the Government, or just twice as much as
his great English rivals receive, and in his memorial proclaims
to the world the craven admission that American steamship
builders cannot compete with English on equal terms. That
is not true, and if it were, it would be, as we have said a
thousand times, a most pernicious policy to discourage Ameri-
can enterprise by such enormous bounties to any single com-
pany. And because Congress has signified its intention to pay
these bounties no longer, Mr. Collins prays that Government
will relieve him at once, from his contract and his vessels. The
meaning of this is, simply, that his boats are pretty much worn
out, and having got as much out of poor Sinbad're sinews and
muscles as he could, the Old Man of the Sea now wishes to
make a market of his carcase.—New York Evening Post of
26th December.