The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-03-22 00:00:00

Empertal paritaintnt.

HOUSE OF LORDS.—MONDAY.
Lord BROUGHAM, in presenting a petition from Glasgow
against any further grant or endowment to the Church of
Scotland, expressed his satisfaction with the declaration made
by Lord Melbourne upon the subject.
The Earl of ABERDEEN said he had understood that the
noble viscount had given a pledge that funds to a certain
amount should be applied to the further endowment of the
Scotch Church.

Lord MELBOURNE said, that the government had not at
present come to the determination of making any proposition
on the subject.
On the motion of Lord SEAFORD, several papers mkttive
to the working of free labour in Jamaica were ordimed.
The Earl of ABERDEEN inquired if there was any further
inkrmation relative to the war in the east to be laid before
the House, and was informed by
Lord MELBOURNE, that considerable additional informa-
tion had been received, which would be laid before their lord-
ships. He added, that he would make a statement upon the
subject as soon as all the papers were produced.
In answer to a question from the Marquis of NORMANBY,
The Earl of RODEN stated, that the motion of which he
had given notice for Thursday next would be for a commit-
tee to inquire into all the circumstances connected with the
state of Ireland.

Some discussion ensued on the presentation of a petition
by Earl Stanhope, complaining of the conduct of the poor-
law commissioners, and a petition presented by the Earl of
Mountrashel in favour of the corn-laws.
The House then adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.—MONDAY.
After the presentation of a great number of petitions,
Mr. HORSMAN gave notice that soon after Easter he would
call the attention of the house to the subject of impressment
in the navy.
In answer to a question from Sir J. GRAHAM,
Lord PALMERSTON said that Mr. M`Neill, the envoy at
the court of Persia, after retiring from Persia had returned
to this country on account of ill health, and that he had left
Colonel Shiel as Charge d'Affaires.
A short discussion took place respecting the affairs of
Canada, when it was settled that Wednesday should be fixed
for the discussion of the question.
On the motion being made for the house resolving itself
into committee of supply, Mr. T. ArrwooD moved ` That
it be an instruction to the committee to reconsider the vote
of 34,160 seamen and marines, and to inquire whether it
would not be advantageous, in the presentstate of the country,
considering its foreign relations, to make an immediate and
considerable increase ;" but after a short discussion, he con-
sented to withdraw his motion.:
The house then went into a committee of supply, when
several votes connected with the army were agreed to.
The debate on the corn-laws was then resumed for the fifth
time, and after a discussion of several hours the house
divided, when Mr. Villiers's motion was lost by a majority
of 147 the numbers being for the motion 195, against it
342. The house then adjourned.

HOUSE OF LORDS.—TUESDAY.
Lord NORMANBY (in answer to the inquiry of the Earl of
Ripon, whether any further documents were forthcoming)
stated that, connected with the Maltese commission, he was
endeavouring to procure more information on the subject of
the reports, which, as soon as obtained, he would present.
The Earl of ABERDEEN, in moving for papers illustrative
of the state and causes of the war in the East, said that he
was prepared to wait for the papers regarding Persia, and,
therefore, would make no observations in reference to our
relations with that power ; but that he must apply for papers
regarding the warlike proceedings at Affghanistan, and of the
governor-general's declaration, &c., and at the same time
condemn the conduct of the government, as far as he under-
stood it.

Lord MELBOURNE complained of the condemnatory lan-
guage of the noble earl in the present state of affairs in the
East, and said that, now he knew what were the papers, he
would ascertain whether they could be produced consistently
with the interests of the public service.
The Earl of ABERDEEN claimed the right to comment on
the The
declaration, it having been laid on
their table. If that document was to be exempted from cri-
ticism, why was it produced ?
Their lordships soon after adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.—TUESDAY.
The Bristol and Gloucester bill was read the second time,
after some opposition and a division.
On the motion of Mr. HAWES, it was ordered that none
of the 21, or more, " small debts" bills, now before the house,
should be committed until after April 8, in order to afford
the opportunity of proceeding with the general and uniform
measure on the subject now on their table.
Sir T. FREMANTLE presented a petition from Wigan, com-
plaining of the undue return of Mr. Ewart. Ordered to be
considered April 16.
Mr. GRATTAN moved for various returns respecting the
appropriation of the £50,000 annually voted for the purposes
of education in Ireland..
Lord MORPETH expressed his readiness to produce the
returns, excepting that portion which required the Protes-
tant and Roman Catholic children to be separately enumer-
ated.

Mr. Grattan's motion led to an extended and desultoryl
but not very animated, discussion.
THE MEXICAN BLOCKADE.
Lord SANDON having been called upon by the Speaker to
bring forward the motion of which he had given notice, re-
specting the French blockade of the Mexican ports, presented
a petition from the merchants of Liverpool on that subject.
It was a subject which had previously been before the house.
He thought he perhaps need not further allude to tne con-
tents, as he should be called upon to move for them in some
detail. He would only remark that this petition was not one
signed only by the merchants of Liverpool, but was signed
by other persons also. He understood that there were other
petitions from London and Glasgow on the same subject, and
he would wait until they had been presented.
Mr. GROTE then presented a petition on the same subject
as the noble lord, the member for Liverpool, had given no-
tice of, from the merchants of London connected with the
Mexican trade, complaining of the serious grievance of the
Mexican blockade.
Lord SANDON again rose. He said, the motion of which
he had given notice wt, s for the production of certain papers
between certain merchants in connexion with the trade of
Mexico and Buenos Ayres and the members of Her Majesty's
government, whether abroad, or -in the department of the
Foreign-office. He felt much embarrassment in putting him-
.6l,Z•dreme- 'AJA LLaral couittlerce. tie should not
have thought of mixing a question of this nature up with a
question of the law of nations, a question for which he was
not fitted by peculiar education, if he had not been called on
most imperatively, some way or other, to being the question
before the house. In bringing forward this question he con-
fessed he felt one difficulty in a great degree—that the nature
of the discussion almost imposed on him the necessity of en-
tering in some degree on a sort of criticism on the actions and
proceedings of a friendly nation ; and therefore he should take
the liberty of disclaiming at the very outset of his observations
any feeling of hostility against a country upon whose conduct
he was called on to make some remarks, in any other way than
that their proceedings were at variance with the interests of
Great Britain, and against the interest of all other nations with
which Mexico had any extensive commerce. Perhaps it was
necessary, before he went into the case, in some degree to al-
lude to the proceedings, both with regard to Buenos Ayres and
Mexico, which had preceded the blockade, the effect of which
all who were engaged in British commerce had such reason to
deplore. At the same time it was not the business of that house
to enter into the policy of a foreign country, except as it re-
garded the interests of this. He should endeavour, therefore,
to make his observations as concise as possible. With regard
to Buenos Ayres, for a long period of time France had
shown a great desire to possess considerable influence in the
river Plata. They had evidence of this early desire of France,
not only in the state papers published by the Foreign-office in
1820 and 1821, but also in the communications and investiga-
tions on this subject with M. Chateaubriand. In the year
1821, under the administration of that prime minister of
France, the government of France entered into negotiations
for the purpose of establishing a Bourbon dynasty as the
government of that devoted colony. As soon as this was dis-
covered, Mr. Canning, the then minister of England, made a
most decided communication to France, inquiring if such was
the intention of France. If he (Lord Sandon) was not mis-
informed, to that question M. Chateaubriand gave a denial ;
but subsequently, perhaps the vanity of that distinguished
man had led him to betray the fact that his denial was not
founded on fact, and that his intrigues in France had that
object. But he confessed that this early proceeding have
them a little insight into the motives of the transactions
which France had been carrying on lately in Buenos Ayres,
and led them to imagine that it was not simply for the redress
of grievances of that republic, but for the purpose of carry-
ing on her ancient interests in that state, and for which she
had taken the extraordinary and unusual measure she had.
It was a remarkable fact that France had throughout inter-
fered in the internal divisions of that state. She had pro-
tected the minister of that state, who had been driven by an
Su, -act of his government to seek refuge in France. He remained
9111 -there a considerable time with other refugees, and they had
now returned to Buenos Ayres under the proteetion of the
-r, French flag. The ostensible causes, however, of the differ-
.
ences between Buenos Ayres and France, were—so far as he
(Lord Sandon) could collect them, amidst the liberal pro-
fusion of phraseology displayed in all the diplomatic corre-
spondence on this question on both sides, out of which it
was very difficult to obtain any information—so far as he
Ird been nhlp fr. ‘1,40.6, v u et! objects or France were
e protection of some of her subjects who had settled within
the district of Buenos Ayres from being called on to serve
in the militia, that they should have the right of retail trade,
and they also sought for indemnity for some injuries which
particular individuals of that nation had suffered, or at least
had been stated to have suffered ; but greatly redo-
minating over all these was the imposition on thep state
of Buenos Ayres, of a treaty of commerce similar to
that enjoyed by Great Britain. lie thought, though the
exemption from serving in the militia might be a cause
for negotiation, and an object desirable for France to attain
for her subjects, it yet did not justify a cause of war. The
disputes of France with Mexico were much of the same
nature as those with Buenos Ayres, though he confessed that
the French had more reason to complain of the conduct of
Mexico than of Buenos Ayres. He did not deny that France,
as well as other nations which had to deal with Mexico, had
much reason to be dissatisfied with her conduct, and he
(Lord Sandon) had had on more than one occasion to com-
plain on the part of his constituents of the injustice of the
Mexican Government. It had levied forced loans without
distinction of the subjects of other nations who were affected
by it; but this they justified on the plea of necessity; in
fact, like other half-civilized, half-organized states, Mexico
was not in a condition to afford adequate protection to the
subjects of other nations, but he must say that that did not
justify France in proceeding to the extremities she did. He
did not feel it necessary on this occasion to enter into an
examination in detail of the grounds stated by France for her
blockade of the coasts of Mexico, but it could not be denied
that the French government, whatever might have been the
real round of dispute, had made an attempt to extort com-
mercial advantages under the pretext of redressing individual
grievances. After a good deal of negotiation on this subject,
a blockade of the Mexican ports was notified by France in
May last,
and made, in his opinion, with a force not suffi-
cient to justify her Majesty's government in acknowledging
it at first; but he admitted that afterwards a force sufficieut
for an effective blockade had been sent out under Admiral
13audin. The question which he raised on this part of the
case was, whether, in the first instance, Great Britain was
called upon to recognize the blockade with such breathless
haste as it had done • and next, whether, considering the
great amount of British interests at stake, the French had
any just ground for a blockade, and whether it was at first
enforced by a force sufficiently effective. He confessed, for
his own part, that he much doubted whether the French
were justified in the blockade at all. He was but little skilled
in those questions which arose out of international law, but
he had the curiosity to look into several writers of admitted
authority on these subjects, and, notwithstanding the prac-
tice which had grown up
recent date of resorting to block-
ade on slight occasions, and before a declaration of war, he
found in those authorities a decided opinion that a blockade
was a purely belligerent right. It had, however, been of late
used i.n a different sense. He could not, in the authorities
to which he had referred, find any case in which it had been
recognized in any other sense. It seemed not to have been
a case at all contemplated. It was like parricide under the
Romans—no punishment had been decreed against it, be-
cause it was a case not at all contemplated. Looking at
the decisions of Sir W. Scott, he found that blockade
had always been held as a pure right of war between bel-

APPEARANCE OF THE WHEAT CROP.—We rejoice to be
able to state, upon the authority of several intelligent farmers,
resident in various parts of the corn districts, in the neigh-
bourhood of this town, that, so far as can be at present judged
of the appearance of the wheat crops, the prospects are highly
auspicious. On the whole, the season has been by no means
unfavonrable for agricultural operations.—Preston Chronicle.
CURIOUS CASE.—At the Moot-hall, Colchester, on Mon-
day, Mr. Samuel Powell was summoned for 9s. arrears of
church-rates. Mr. Powell pleaded that he had tendered the
money on the overseer's demand being made. The overseer
said that defendant offered to pay him in farthings, and as
that was not a legal tender he refused to accept them. The
defendant contended that it was a legal tender, being the cur-
rent coin of the realm. On a reference to the 56th Geo. 111.,
cap. 68, it was discovered that no. other money than silver
was a legal tender under 405., and none but gold above that
sum. The defendant was ordered to pay the rate and costs.
—Chelmsford Chronicle.
FOUR PERSONS POISONED.—Two LIVES LOST.—The
village of Hempnall, near Long Stratton, has this week been
thrown into a state of great alarm, by a woman, her two
children, and a neighbour who was washing for her, being
all poisoned. It seems that a carpenter named Daynes, liv-
ing in the same village, who goes out to work for the farmers
in their own yards, got up at the usual time on Monday
morning last, to go to his work ; but before he went from
the house he filled the kettle with water, as was supposed
ready for breakfast—a thing with him very unusual. The
wife was in bed when he went away, but soon afterwards
got up, kindled a fire, and boiled this kettle, containing the
same water the husband had left. She had sent for an old
woman named Betty Mills, who had formerly lodged with
them, to come and help her to wash. Mills attended, and
the two women, and two young children' of Mrs. Daynes's,
sat down to breakfast. The women made tea from the ket-
tle, and the children had sop from the same water. They
had scarcely finished breakfast before every one of them was
taken ill. Mrs. Daynes was violently sick, and vomited very
copiously, as did also one child. Their illness was so alarm-
ing that it was necessary to call in medical aid, and the hus-
band also was sent for from his work. He came home, and
as soon as he arrived, was observed to take the kettle to a
beck standing at the back door, and rinse it very carefully,
and would have put the children's sop, that still remained,
out of the way, but was prevented. Messrs. Litton and Bur-
ton attended ; to whom it became evident that the-people
had been poisoned. The youngest child, about two years
and a half old, died in a few hours, and the poor old woman
(Mills) ceased to exist at about half-past three o'clock : the
others, from the effect of the sickness, though considered in
a very precarious state, are likely to recover. The man
Daynes was taken into custody, and on Wednesday a jury
was summoned to hold an inquest on the bodies, before Mr.
Pilgrim, county coroner. It appeared that the man Daynes
had formed an acquaintance with a woman named Gook, in
the neighbouring village of Tasburgh ; but being somewhat
crossed in this amour, had at different times threatened to
put an end to his own existence, and for this purpose had
kept a razor under his pillow, or got ropes to hang himself,
so that the parties lived but very, uncomfortably. It was
also shown, that during the previous week he went to Mr.
Brownts, a chemist, at Long Stratton, for six-pennyworth
of arsenic ; but Mrs. Brown refusing to supply it, he went
away, refusing to have "so much trouble." Report says
that the woman Gook purchased it for him ; but that we
cannot assert for truth. The inquest on the bodies has been
adjourned, in order to procure time for the analization of the
contents of the stomach, which have been sent to Norwich
for that purpose.—Ipswich Journal.