The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-03-29 00:00:00

Church in the most important part of their public duty.--I am,
EPHRA.

Sir, yours, &c.,

VENTILATION IN CHURCHES-EASTHAM.

To the EDITOR of the LIVERPOOL STANDARD,

SIR,—I have been much amused and pleased with reading
the very able and excellent remarks in a letter, No. 2, of your
correspondent, " Earnest Churchman," inserted in your paper
of Tuesday last, in which he gives an account of his visit, on
the previous Sunday, to one of your suburban churches, at
which he complains of a want of ventilation, and the injurious
effects it might have upon the congregation of a thousand per-
sons at least assembled. I am, therefore, sure, for these two
reasons,—want of ventilation,and so large a congregation,—that
it was not my parish church, Eastham, for we have no cause
to complain of the want of ventilation, or being too hot. We
have three capital stoves in the church, the fires of which are
lighted sufficiently early on Sunday mornings to about warm
them, and get them a degree or two above zero ; and, as a
security for the due ventilation of the church, the whole of the
doors are opened, and so kept for an hour or two before service
time, thereby inhaling the fresh breezes to blow out the little
warmth got by the stoves. To add to these comforts, the two
belfry doors, inside and outside the church, the latter of which
opens due north, are kept open likewise, for the ingress and
egress of the ringers, their friends, and lookers on ; the cold
draught through these doors is excessive and very annoying.
I observed, only the other Sunday, when it was blowing a gale
from the north east, and very cold, both doors wide open, and
our respected clerk bad occasion to go through the belfry,
either to see what time it was, or to ascertain from some one
if his reverence might come out of the vestry and commence
the service (for it was then past time). On his returning—
the worthy clerk not having recently had his head under the
hands of Mr. Tonsor—his hair, from the want of which, blew
about, and had all the appearance of a grenadier's cap, or an
arctic region muff in a storm. I can compare these belfry
doors to nothing better than a funnel, or what I have seen on
ships' decks, a kind of canvass bag to convey air into the hold
of the ship. Ido hope our friend " Earnest Churchman" will
some Sunday hie over to Eastham ; he will then see ventilation
to perfection, as well as a roof to let in water at every shower.
and the inside walls of the church of all colours, green, brown,
rust, must and dust, occasioned by the damp and wet. So
much for the interior comforts of one of the finest parish
churches in Cheshire.

Yours, very respectfully,
A REGULAR CHURCHMAN.

LIVERPOOL SPRING ASSIZES.
•o-

Mr. Justice Cresswell and Mr. Baron Martin arrived
here on Tuesday afternoon, from York. Their lordships
were met at the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Sta-
tion by the Mayor, the Town-clerk, and Mr. Deacon, of
Preston, the Under-sheriff, and conveyed to St. George's-
hall, where the Commission was opened. Talbot Clifton,
Esq., the High-sheriff, was unable to meet their lordships,
owing to an accident sustained whilst hunting. Their
lordships, after the opening of the Commission, proceeded
to their lodgings, in St. Anne-street.

CROWN COURT—WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23.
(Before Mr. Justice CRESSWELL.)
His Lordship, after attending Divine Service at St.
George's Church, took his seat on the bench shortly after
11 o'clock. The following Grand Jury was sworn :
William Earle, E=q ' foreman, Spekelands ; Peter Ains-
worth, Esq., Smithhill-hall ; Sir John Bent, Knight,
Rake-lane ' • Stephen Blair, Esq., Bolton ; Jas. Bourne,
Esq., Heathfield-house ; Richard Pudsey Dawson, Esq.,
Liverpool; Robert Wilson Ffrance, Esq., Rawcliffe-hall ;
Thomas W. Leigh Hilton, Esq., Moston-hall ; Adam
Hodgson, Esq., Everton ; Samuel Holme, Esq., Home-
stead ; Henry Hoghton, Esq., Bold ; Hugh Hornby,
Esq., Sandown ; Thomas Berry Horsfall, Esq., Mill-
bank-house; Benjamin Heywood Jones, Esq., Lark-hill;
Joseph Langton, Esq., Liverpool ; Robert Lawe, Esq.,
Lytham ; Thomas Littledale, Esq., Highfield-house ;
Thomas klonk, E=q., Preston ; John Paley the younger,
Esq., Preston ; Thomas Parr, Esq., Grappen-hall-
heys ; Wm. Pilkington, Esq., Eccleston-hall ; Joseph
Brooks Yates, Esq., West Derby.
CHARGE TO THE GRAND JURY.
In his charge to the Grand Jury, his Lordship said :
Three months have scarcely elapsed since I had the honour
of presiding in this court, and then a calendar was laid
before me containing the names of 120 prisoners. I find
you now have 118 prisoners to be tried at this assize, a
melancholy instance of the prevalence of crime in this
part of the country, and this, too, at a period when, it is
said, South Lancashire is more prosperous than usual—
when labour is abundant and wages unusually high. I
find in this calendar crimes of a darker die than usual—
murder ; manslaughter, under circumstances approaching
to murder; highway robbery, with great violence, ap-
pear; and other violent outrages against her Majesty's
subjects. To what are we to ascribe this ? Certainly not
to any want of provision for physical want : and, there-
fore. it is confirmatory of the opinion which T believe is
very generally entertained now, that the only hope we can
entertain of improving the habits and morals of the people
is by giving the rising generation a moral and religious
education. There is a case of manslaughter against a
person of the name of Cull, which I mention for the pur-
pose of noticing, in that and several other cases, that the
deposhions which have been laid before me are very un-
satisfactory. I believe a very large allowance is made for
writing the depositions, and in several instances they are
very illegible—in some, barely legible ; and some of them
in a state which is by no means creditable to those em-
ployed in taking down the evidence. His lordship drew
especial notice to No. 73, a charge of violence and out-
rage committed on a young woman, and it is imputed to
some man who, I believe, was a quack doctor, and he ap-
pears to have obtained possession of her person by pre-
tending he could cure her of fits. I draw your attention to
it specially, because the details in the depositions are more
than ordinarily offensive, and it does not appear, accord-
ing to them, there is any of the resistance which is neces-
sary to constitute the crime imputed. If the party were
so ignorant as not to be at all aware of what he was about
to do, and, therefore, he got possession of her, but under
a felonious pretence, and she not at all knowing what he
was about to do, this evidence of non-resistance may be
accounted for, and it has been held by the judges that it
would still amount to a felonious outrage. If you think
she did know what he was about to tio, however gross the
party's conduct may have been, you cannot say he com-
mitted the crime for which he is at present before you.
There is also a charge against three persons of conspiracy
to defraud the customs here ; but the depositions are so
taken that I cannot read one-half of them. I mention
this publicly that notice may be taken of it, and that there
may be no further complaint. There is a charge against
Edward Lawson for a felonious outrage on a female. On
reading the depositions, and the evidence of the medical
man, it seems to me there must be some mistake about
it, and that she herself, who, no doubt, intended to be a
witness of truth, was mistaken in supposing the whole
crime was committed.
MANCHESTER ROBBERIES.
Thomas Pennington, aged 32, and Betsy Dougherty,
aged 30, were found guilty of assaulting and attempting
to rob Matthew Stock, a well-known vocalist, at Man-
chester, on the 22nd of January.
James Tinker, aged 20, who pleaded guilty to robbing
Robert Beesley at Manchester, on the 2nd of January,
was sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment with hard
labour.
Michael Conner, aged 31, pleaded guilty to two cases of
burglary, committed at Atherton on the 27th of November
last, and was sentenced to ten years' transportation.
A PRECOCIOUS THIEF.
James Donohue, aged 14, for a burglary committed in
the dwelling-house of James Payne, on the morning of
the 19th December, was sentenced to transportation for
ten years. The prisoner was a native of Ireland, and
three years ago he was convicted there of cow-stealing,
and sentenced to a year's imprisonment.
ROBBERY AT MANCHESTER.
Edward Riley, aged 18, and James Riley, aged 36,
were found guilty of assaulting Robert Porters, a sawyer,
at Manchester, on the 22nd December.
COINERS.
James Smith, aged 30, was found guilty of uttering a
counterfeit crown piece, at Ashton and Staleybridge, on
November 24th, and Elizabeth Reardon, aged 32, was
also convicted of a similar offence.
ROBBERY AT SALFORD.
John Bridge, aged 22, for assaulting and robbing James
Hunt, at Salford, on the sth of March, was sentenced to
18 months' imprisonment and hard labour.

THURSDAY, MARCH 24.
ROBBERIES, WITH VIOLENCE.
John Davies, aged 48, and William Farrar, aged 34,
charged with assaulting and robbing Edmund Titton at
Heap, on December 16th, was found not guilty.—Janzes
Carroll, aged 24, was sentenced to twelve months' im-
prisonment with hard labour, for having assaulted and
robbed Richard English, at Manchester.