Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-11-04 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TIMES. LIVERPOOL, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1857.

he 'being entitled to his retiring pen-
sion. Sir H. S. Keating, the recently appointed
Solicitor-General, has, it is said, been offered the
puisne Judgeship in the Court of Common Pleas,
which will become vacant by the retirement of Mr.
Justice Cresswell, and has accepted the appoint-
ment. Of course speculation is rife amongst the
lawyers as to the Solicitor-Generalship. Amongst
those freely spoken of are Mr. Atherton, M.P.,
Mr. Collier, M.P., and Mr, We'shy.
The Atrocities committed ou board ships at sea
will never be fully revealed to the eyes of the
public. Captains of vessels out of port says a
London paper, " feel themselves relieved from all
immediate responsibility, and give loose to the
devilish passions which lurk in the hearts of all
men, waiting for their oppertunity. The hanging
of Captain Rogers, at Liverpool, a few weeks since,
for the cruel murder of one of his seamen, will
do but little to deter this class of petty tyrants.
The Americans, however, are much worse
than our own commanders. Particulars of a
very ferocious attempt to murder on board a New
York ship, out from Sunderland on 'Friday, have
reached us. The captain seems to have been ex-
asperated at having to pay for some damage, and
wreaked his ill humour on one of his sailors, who
told him the ship was under manned, by cutting
him down with an axe. What murder may have
been committed is not known, as the pilot dropped
over the stein for safety. Means have been taken
to intercept the vessel, and bring the ruffian to
justi•es."_ _ _

Our domestic trews is of some interest this
morning. Yesterday, the launch of the steamer
Great Eastern, was commenced, but we regret to
say that a very serious accident happened to her
—a full report of which we give elsewhere.
The Surrey Gardens Company held erneeting on
Monday, After an animated discussion, the
liepert of the .Committee, appointed by the share-
lniders, was carried ; as, also, was a resolution
dispensing with the services of certain of the
Directors. The minority have, however, appealed
to the ballot box, so that the actual result has yet
to be determined.

Da Salvi, convicted the other day of man-
slaugh:.er, in stabbing Mr. Robertson in the
Qteeri's Bench prison, has been sentenced. The
sentence merely repeated the one pronounced on
the former conviction, fifteen years' penal servitude
—to commence, however, from the date of' the
second conviction.

A correspondent sends us a report of another of
thcse murderous crimes which have stained the
land with blood during the lest few months: This
is a highway murder of a farmer near Colchester,
for a sordid object—the possession of the unfortu-
nate mrc's money, which was trifling in anioun*.
The nrirderers had ❑ot been apprLhended, but
justice was on their track.

- The ne As from abroad this morning isinteresting
The Belgian ministry has resigned, and the King
has sent for M. de Branckere. The gravest piece
of intelligence is, however, from Frankfort. The
co:itre.versy between the King of Denmark and
his subjects in the Fede'ral States of Holstein
and Laueuburg, has been brought to the know-
ledge of the Diet, and a commission has been
appointed to report on the legal nature of
the case. It was for some time expected, that
Austria would separate herself in this afrAir from
her German confederates ; that she has not done
e) gives additional importance to the proceedings
just commenced at Frankfort. For the first time
in his:ory the whole of Federal Germany, a cluster
of States numbering mare than seventy millions
of people, has stepped forward to vindicate the dig-
nity of the Federal constitution, voluntary imposed
upon themselves. but which hitherto has remainad
little more than a dead letter. Menacing as the
contest with Denmark has thus become, there is
one rc-assuring feature in it. A body, cornpcsed
as the Con federation of Germany is, can never be
brought to ce.operate excepton strictly legal grounds
and in legal form. It is only suited to the defence
of existing rights, and leeks the unanimity of feeling
necessary for ageression and conquest. It must be
expected that the law, and nothing but the law,
will he insisted on by the Diet. And in th:it case
Denmark will be unable to refuse it. News from
Vienna indicates the formation in the European
provinces of rtirkey to he en the increase, while
the Rottman PrincipAtip.9,pgq,ln xf:rtyin'it, 'n
in Send:, while interior dissensions have seized
even the Greek church itself iii Bulgaria, we now
hear of plots against the Turkish rule ia a province
•hitherto considrred one of the buttresses of Turkish
military strength, namely, Albania. The telegraph
!foes not inform us whether these plots proceed
from the Christian minority or the Mahommetan
majority in Albania, but previous events make it
prebable that the latter are the movers.
The Peninsular mail has arrived. The yellow
fever rages with unabated fury at. Lisbon. Nearly
all business was suspended. The Engli,h Govern-
ment had refused a Portuguese Contingent of 5000
men for Italy.

IT will ever remain a remarkable fact, that,
although this country is placed in a peculiar, and
anything but an encouraging position, it is with-
out its Parliament being in session, nor does there
seem to be any great wish expressed that the
Ministers should assemble at much, if at all,
before the ordinary period. We are engaged in
a life-and-death struggle with a revolted empire,
containing a population of more thin one hun-
dred millions of souls. Oar Bauk3 are beginning
to totter, and the co:nmercial class all but com-
pelled to close their doors from want of discount
accommodation. Yet the members of the Cabi-
net enjoy their holidays, and both Lords and
Commons" are allowed to rusticate in the coun-
try, or amuse themselves in shooting and hunting.
If ever there was a time when the collective wis-
dom of the nation -should be assembled at the
Palace of Westminster, it is jost now—not that
we are the advocates ,for the long debates and
endless ..voting, which are the common character-
i6tics of the British Parl:aintMt. The two great
matters which press up )n tis as a nation are the
Indian mutiny ,and the monetary and commercial
crisis, which ha',:-aE,samed a most formidable and
forbidding aspect. With rega-d to the former,
we were led to believe that its cost would be
cornparaiively trifling, but enough has already
taken place :toasbow that the expense will ulti-
mately be such as to exercise a material influence
upon the taxation of the country. An army, or
armies, amounting to over 50,000 men, cannot
be transported nearly 20,039 miles, and supplied
with all the warlike material and provisions
requisite to an efiJetive campaign against bosts
of armed enemies ani an unfriendly
population, for less than several millions
of pounds sterling. In proof of this,
vre 117.ve only to notice the fact, that the East
India Company, after haying apparently ex

hanited all its slvings, by the stoppage of the
pay of is Bengal army, has already appropriated
three millions of railway deposits, and borrowed
from the reserve fund of the Bank of En.4laucs,
one million. Bit as matters have b!eu going
on, this is only the convnencement of the cost
of the Indian mutiny. The affair has assumed

such proportions, Oita it would be difficult to

guess when, a,nd at what amount,the expenditure
is to end. Certain it is, that the East India
Company :a not in a position to defray the "sum
total." Shall the British Government then step
forward to aid 'the Leadenhall-street ectors ?
We should say they must; or what is probably
the most likely thing, they will annex India to
the British Crown, and undertake the Com-
pany's liabilities. In any case, the people of the
United Kingdom have before them the certainty
of increased taxation, or what amounts to pretty
much the same thing, a considerable augmenta-
tion to the national debt. Despite the sanguine
pre _fictions of many of our metropolitan and pro-
vincial co`emporaries, who insisted that the
mutiny would be instantaneously snuffed a-
little or no cost to the Indian exchequer, and thaw

our borne and foreign trade was, and would con-
tinue, prosperous. We have seen the reverse of
all this, so that in a commercial and financial point
of view, our position is cri'ical indeed.
As to the general panic which has been looming
in the dis'ance,we are very far from desiring to be
alarmis's. Nevertheless, it is impossible to con-
ceal from the mind that as matters now s.and,
unless some relief come in from some quarter, the
trade of the country, both home and foreign
must, be greatly jeopardised, and the industrial
classes, above all others, compelled to endure
hardships and privations of no small extent. if
we look to the west, gloom and despondency is
the order of the day, and although many parties
on the other side of the Atlantic were disposed,
at the date of our last advices, to think
the culminating point of the crisis in the
United States had been passed, still the notion
of speedy relief from that quarter cannot be
expected. At home we hear of bank and com-
mercial failures. One disaster of the kind
engenders another, and although the wealth of
England is unbounded, and far greater by a
hundred fold than her liabilities, still there is
sufficient just now to rouse the fears and damp
the ardour and the hope of the most sanguine.
We have thus written to show that this is not
a time for the nation's representatives to be
scattered over every part. of the United King-
dom and the Continent of Europe. If Lord
BROUGHAM be correct in the sentiments he
delivered at Penrith, on Wednesday, the recon-
struction of India, and the devising of proper plans
for the future government of India, will he a
work of much time and anxious solicitude. From
what has transpired in India, it is quite evident
that the East India Company's rule must be
changed. Means must be devised to bind with
the links of loyalty a disaffected people, and all
experience, not only of the native population-of
llindostan, but the 'uncivilised people of every
other foreign country, prove that this can only he
done by improving their condition in a moral and
social point of view, developing the natural
resources of their land, and finding employment,
uy .11t1 exercise
of industrial and provident habits. To do all
this requires lengthened and earnest deliberation,
Crude and hastily digested schemes for the
amelioration of the people of India, will do more
harm than good. For these reasons, were there
no other, Parliament should be called together
without delay.

But there are additional grounds why the
prorogation should terminate. Increased tax-
ation, as we have already shown, must follow the
Indian campaign, and the wheels of commerce
are clogged so, that that most important machine,
so essential to the greatness of the nation at
large, and the comfort, happiness, and prosperity
of all classes of the people, has come to an
almost stand-still. It is indispenrable when a
people have increased burdens to bear, that they
should know their nature and extent, and the
cause of their imposition. This should be known
as early as possible, so that all parties may take
into account their exact position, and prepare
to meet the pecuniary demands which Parliarnen.
may authorise the Government to enact. Fur-
thermore the commercial crisis may not be so
easily surmounted as many suppose ; and as we
earnestly hope it may, then surely it is requisite
that Parliament should be in Session. so that if
matured and passed into law, whereby the trade
and commerce of the country shall be assisted in
their pressing difficulty, and the industrial
classes saved from the hardships and privations
which scanty and ill remunerated employmen ,
and high priced provisions must entail upon them
and their families. We repeat our convicion,
that Parliament -should be assembled to
deliberate upon • all the many and serious difficul-
les which surround the best interests of England,

and 'be glory and honour of her gigantic and
valuable Colonial Empire,

Txn wise King SOLOMON tells us, that "A
false-balance is .abomination to the Lord; but a
just weight is his delight." We are sorry to see
that this inspired declaration is not only neglected
but despised, and that many persons who have
great pretensions to honesty—aye, ,and res-
pectability too,—are to be found engaged in
their ordinary pursuits as tradesmen and trades-
women who use false weights and measures. '
Independent of the dishonesty and immorality of
such practices, they are illegal ; and hence it is
that from time to time batches of persons, in-
fringing the Act of Parliament, are brought
before the magistrates to answer for their im-
proper conduct. It is somewh at amusing to
learn the various subterfuges of evading the law,
and dealing with false weights and measures.
It is not, however, for the purpose of referring

to these cases in particular. that we now write.
As the law at present stands, it is insufficient

to correct the very serious crime of using
false weights and measures. The skill • and
ingenuity of those persons who make a
practice of cheating the public by a false
balance, or a deficient weight or measure have
become proverbial, and like the renowned ANDER-
SON, who is nightly astonishing thousands of our
fellow townspeople at the Theatre Royal by his
feats of magic, they can cheat you to your very
face, and thereby put their hands as it were into
your pocket, and extract from it money,
to which they have no just right or title. We
are at all times glad to commend the magistracy,
when they come forward and express their ab-
horrence of dishonesty, and also intimate their
determination to grapple with, and put down the
evil. For this reason, we heartily approve of the
appropriate and telling observations of Mr.
Alderman HOLME who was oae of the presiding
magistrates, before whom the deficient weights
and measures summons cases were heard
last week. Mr. HoLstis was quite right
when he characterised the practice of
using false weights and measures, as an
offence equally as dishonest and heartless
as the conduct of the highway robber, who
pounces upon his victim, and calls upon him to
"stand and dsliver." Indeed, in our estimation
he is much more culpable, The "Highwayman"
attacks you openly ; his " demand" is satisfac-
tory evidence of his intentions, robbery by
threat, or robbery by force, which ever you
please; but his encounter w;th you signifies
robbery by all means. It is not so with the man
or woman who cheats, by false weights and mea-
sures. He or she will assure if asked, that they
are" all right," and if need be, seal their dis-
honesty, by asservalions of the most solemn and
serious kind. You are not only cheated of
the deficiency of the weight, but subjected to
be duped by means of " false pretences."
For every one guilty of the practice
of using a fdse balance, or deficient
weights and measures has recourse to false pre-
tences to carry on their nefarious doings. Ano-
ther consideration connected with this matter is
the circumstance that it is the poorer classes who
are the chief victims to this genteel system of
" plunder," " petty larceny," and " false pre-
tences." The upper and middle classes can. and
do go to procure whet
-they require, to the better
class of tradesmen, who woald rather cut off
their right hand than be suspected of denuding
their measures of a hair-breadth of their legitim-
ate extent, or th,,ie weights of the smallest pos-
sible portion of what the law assigns to each. Oa
the other hand, the poorer classes are, from a
coinbinatioa of circumstances, obliged to deal in
places where their flour, their butter, bread, tea,
and sugar—in fact, every commodity relating to
provisionsy
tdettl
hihiheloar
teeeutiadse humbler
ust
ilidclhemtoeb:i
übadait
sntlytaetel:nsinririal)seteytythisccidoiteaoliie:a:usfftsasesasittielisylielerelarlrrcsir
iiiw.r egsenossi persons who
hair-ounce *eight, an ounce off the half-pound,
h
and a couple of ounces off the pound weight ; or,
failing that, to use a balance that tells against the
bf,
tss%
v:yysttoimohm.lt:ifltiire.oilp:nirclhlue,i
ewtfaardie sntlicr,tltyriaaaheiktnra:hei
cannot
that
tsdt
repro-
bation, lentat
bdoli
one
dyieefs
buyer, less or more according to the cupidity of
atrarhcrii
teeeset
ft
Ira sl ol alte---‘lllvpsuerhitioli;":eLi2aLttirislaielelofaiy.aieas.sold

severity.

When a boy or a girl steals from you a pocket
handkerchief, he or she will be sent to gaol, pro-
bably to hare tread-mill practice—aye, and as
fir. Alderman LM very properly observed,
the magistrates arc, by the law as now exist-
ing, compelled to send a poor lad to
gaol for taking a loaf to satisfy his hunger,
whilst the shopkeeper is allowed to plunder
the public wholesale, and get off with a fine."
This is an imperfection in the criminal code. The
habit of using a false balance, or deficient weights
and measures, is dishonesty of the rankest
character—dishonesty concocted and carried on
by means of " false pretences," and, looking at
the crime in a moral and social aspect, should
rank and be punished with the petit felonies
which so generally figure upon our assize and
sessions' calendars. We entirely agree with Mr.
Alderman HOLME when he said, that the punish-
ment awarded to the offence was quite unequal to
its magnitude and enormity. It may be said
that a fine of 51. is a pretty smart punishment
for the crime in question. Were it a first offence
we might be disposed to regard it so, for, no
doubt, many parties may unconsciously be guilty
of using deficient weights and Measures. But
after an admonition and a conviction, there can
be no excuse. It is studied and determined dis-
honesty; and as we punish habitual robbers and
felonious criminals, so would we deal with any
person using false weights and deficient measures
—imprison then " without bail or mainprize."
As surely as the officers of justice handcuff the
convicted burglar and the professional thief, so
surely would we " ruffle the wrists" of any one
guilty of robbery by means of a false balance,' or
deficient weights and measures. An example or
two of this kind, and the dread of prison disci-
pline and " hard labour," combined with the loss
of caste in .society, which would crown the con-
viction and punishment, would do more to put
a stop to the offence than a fine of 501. Indeed,
we believe many of these fines are never paid,
and that the parties only laugh in their sleeves
when the order to pay 20s, 405, or 60$ and costs

goes forth from the lips of the magistrate. In
conclusion, we hope that Alderman HoLmit's
remarks will not be without effect.

THE CLIMATE or CFIENA.—I have already remarked
that the climate of the country is much more to be
dreaded than the Armies of the Chinese, and I shall draw
these remarks to a close by giving a description of what
that climate is. In all parts of China where I have been
the hottest months in the year are July and August. In
the north the heat is very oppressive from the middle of
June to the end of August. About Hongkong and Canton
the oppressive heat commences a little earlier and lasts
longer, although it is not quite so intense as it is further
north. My registering thermometer during July and
August, at Hongkong, frequently stood as high as 90 deg•,
andpne day reached 91 deg• in the shade. In Shanghai
and Ningpo the same thermometer used to stand sometimes
for days at 100 deg. But the hottest months are not the
most unhealthy; at least we have not so much sickness
then as we have later in the season. In September, when
the monsoon begins to change, and when the northerly
winds come down, causing a sudden depression of
temperature, natives as well as foreigners suffer much
from fever and dysentry. Tire excessive summer heat
seems to weaken the constitution, and thus renders it
more easily affected by the sudden changes of temperature
which occur at this period of the year. The rivers of
China are particularly unhealthy at this season—a fact
which ought to be kept in view by the commanders of our
ships of war.—Ocerland Friend of China, Aug. 25.

SAILOR CAPTAINS v. Docroa CAPTAINS.—The follow-
ing remarkable letter has; been] addressed Ito the Times,
on causes of losses to shipping;:by Mr. Stuart (of Stuart
and Douglas) of Liverpool. ~..The subject is most impor-
tant ; and, until now, we never heard of non-professional
commanders of ships :—" In your leading article of 24th
October on the casuality to shipping during the year
1836, I think the losses to shipping do not arise so much
from the causes you name as from the want of good
education among our seamen. I and my partner have had
frees 3,000 to 12,000 tons of shipping engaged in the trade
to the western coast of Africa for the last fifteen years,
and any losses that we hive had have happened when
the ship was commanded by what we call a sailor captain
—that is, a man who has been brought up to the sea. We
have never had_ a loss, or, hardly contemplated such a
thing as likely to happen when the ship was under the
command of what is called " doctor captain," who is a
man that has been brought up to the medical profession,
has gone out to Africa as surgeon, and afterwards become
a supercargo, and in this latter capacity had command
of the ship. I think there is not one case on record
where a medical man lost a ship belonging to this port
engaged is the Afrieaa trade ; and before the passing of
the Mercantile Marine Bill in 1850 " doctor captains"
were very common."

REMARKABLE 7VIARAIAGES.—Of the many Chinamen in
New York, not a few keep cigar stands upon the side
walk. Their neighbours in trade are the Milesian apple
women. Twenty-eight apple women have gone the way
of matrimony with their elephant-eyed, olive-skinned
cotemperarie3, and the most of them are now happy
mothers in consequence. The physiologists aver that the
human being is improved, as is the domestic branch of
the quadruped animals, by "crossing." If this be true—
and we suspect that it is—the natives of this country
ought to be remarkable for physical strength and beauty,
fur surely there never was such a mixture of races in any
part of the world. R-presentatives of all nations have
located and married here. We know of two Bedouin
Arabs, part of an exhibiting troupe who came to this
country several years ag), who married wives and are
rearing offspring in olio of the Hudson counties. Siam
has its representatives here in the famous twins, and in
one of the up•town streets a wealthy native of Morocco
domiciliates wall a Westchester county spouse. The
mixture of Dutch, Italian, French, Spanish, English,
Irish, Danish, Swedish, &c., is perfectly bewildering, but
the amalgamation of the Irish and of the Chinese is some-
thing inure than bewildering—it absolutely begets a chaos
of ideas from which no ray of intelligibility can be safely
eliminated. Imagine a scion of this stock chatting gaily
about "Jush" in one moment, and speaking of his father
primary election, and swearing that he goes in, tooth and
nail, or rather body and breeches, for the:pomination of'
his mother's brother, Patrick O'Dowd. Oh, wfattt a
country is this !--Vezu York Mercury.

Trio lONIAN ISLA.NDS.—A. letter from Athens says :
Tao scenes of riotous sedition which took place at Corfu
on the arrival of the first claws of the Indian mutiny are
still fresh in the memory of the public. There was an
outcry against the British government ; there was a
demand for an instant abolition of the Protectorate, and
for a union of the lonian islands with the kin..;dorn of
Greece. These feelings, so far from having decreased
since then, :Tem on the contrary to have augmented in
Intensity. Exaggerated accounts of reverses of the
British army in India have been circulated amongst the
lonian people ; for them the approaching downfall of
English power has been confidently predicted, and the
glorious day which is to witness the union of the entire
Greek race, and the disparition of the British flag from
the Seven Islands, has been declared to bo near at hand.
Emissaries have been sent by the leaders of this agitation
into Greece, and into every country where it was supposed
that a revolt against British power would meet with
sympathy and support. Things have of late assumed so
grave a character in the lonian Islands, that Lord Lyons
has removed into the neighbourhood with his fleet.

STATE OF TlPPRltAßY.—sincethe murder of Mr. John
Ellis there appears to be an 'Attempt to revive the old
code of Ribandism in the Norilli:dtiding of Tipperary•
The local paper of Saturday (the Eenagh. Guardian)
reports the latest outrage in that district :—"A party of
MEil visited the dwelling of John Hackett, who resides on
the townland of Ballycormack, near Holycross, on the
night of the 28:h ult., and tired a shot through the
window of the kitchen. Hackett, his wife, and a neigh-
bouring man named Reilly were sitting before the fire at
the time, and they had a most providen:dal escape, as
some of the contents of the gun (broken nails) fell near
them, having pierced through the shutter, which was
fortunately clued at the time. Hackett is care-taker
over lawis purchased by Mr. Matthew R. Gabbett, of
Dublin, some six years ago in the Encumbered Estates
Court. When Mr. Gabbett came into posse. sion of tins
property he purchased on liberal terms the goodwill of
several small co:tiers, • who give up their claims with
apparent satisfaction, if not tainkfulness, and up to the
outrage we have recorded there had not been the
slightest manifestation of hostility either towards the
respected gentleman hiinself (who is spoken very highly
of by the peasantry), or his caretaker, a quiet and
inoffensive man. It would appear, however, that the
late murder of the unfortunate Mr. Ellis has given a
fresh impetus to Ribandism iii our county, and, favoured
by the " long dark nights," ominous words in Tipperary
formerly, emboldened its upholders in the commission of
their nocturnal offences.

SIR GEORGE GREY AT MORPETII.-011 TrelleSday
last the Secretary of State for the Home Department,
who has a country residence at Falloden, about 20 miles
from Morpeth, paid a •visit to his constituents and took
part in the proceedings at a public meeting held at
Bedlington, an outlying part of the borough, to promote
the rebuilding of a 9chool, with the aid of a grant of money
from the. Government. The Rev. Charles Whitley, the
vicar, who has generously given a site for the proposed
seminary, acted as chairman, and the meeting was
attended by the principal inhabitants. Sir George Grey,
in moving a resolution stating the inadequacy of the
present school accommodation for an increasing popula-
tion, and the expediency of augmenting it by a Govern-
ment grant in aid of private subscriptions, took occasion
to say he. considered it the bounden duty of those who
had property in the district or political connections with
it to assist in keeping up the maans of education to the
number and wants of the inhabitants. The time had
xone by when it was necessary to. dilate on the advantages
of education, or to point it out as a duty we owed to God
and oar neishboor, Unfortunately, a diviOcon of opinion