The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-04-13 00:00:00

uccess is to have

refinement in our own mind

ion of the judgment of the pub!
d not to be satisfied with anything short of
7ill never do anything at all, either to please

s, or too
He who

'ORANCE IS BLlSS."—There are now
nese in California. " When a customer

York Trzbune, " they exhibit won-

derful expertness in comprehending his wants and arrang-
ing a bargain. But the tax collector avers that he cannot
by any possible means make them understand his visits."

A CRIMINAL CASE IN TEXAS.—At a trial, somewhere
in Texas, the defendant, who was not familiar with the
multitude of words which the law employs to make a very
c,,e, after listening a while to the reading of the
•np,d up and said, "Them 'ere allegations

I trifl
indictment

—Place a basin of cold water by the
side of your ben. When you first awake in the morning,
dip your hands in the basin, and we; your brow ; and
sleep will not again seal you in its treacherous embrace.
This is the advice given by an aged clergyman, who had
been in the habit of rising early during a long life.

EAP.LY list
1

ALARAIING

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" They say,

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PAPAL DR

sentation of N:

sir, the cho.
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I don't mean the 'air of the 'ed

So the pre-

" MonsignOre"
ncelled, and the

21,123

Land

261,i63

41,iii
110,441

of Eas

11.072

on the Quarter ,

. 102,540

saints themselves, though some are associated with a more
early pagan ceremonial. The Christmas celebration can-
not be older than Christianity; and many of our manners
and customs, which are now of much interest to the anti-
quary and the historian, originated since. But the period
,ter is identical with the paschal season of the
Jews, and thus its origin is as remote as the exodus. It
is true that the time and manner of its celebration has
been the subject of long and bitter disputes ; and it is
also true that the various sects of Christians in Asia, as
well as in Abyssinia and Egypt, entertain ideas respecting
it widely different : but this only shows the importance
which has marked the season, by Christians, who possess
in other respects few points of resemblance. This one
sabbath of the year has also given a character to the other
fifty-one; for there are many who say, that as Good Fri.
day is a day of humility, and Easter-day one of grateful
ry uneasy acknowledgment, so Friday should always be a fast, and
cope you're very particular about the Sunday a day for spiritual rejoicing.
Hairdresser : " Oh ! I see you don't

In Scotland, Easter is practically unknown, though, in

particular parishes and districts, it is made to coincide
with the spring sacramental season. In Ireland it is cele-
brated with great spirit, even protestant dissenters joining
heartily in the fasts, without asking for a reason. In
England the celebration is moderate; and especiallyin
these counties, Whitsuntide is the period for rejoicing ;
while, in the Sister Island, this latter festival is not
known, except through the almanac. It would be an
interesting but somewhat tedious task, to enumerate the
various customs which used to be known in connexion
with this season. The festivities are easily accounted for
by the abstinence of Lent, which preceded ; and the
malicious disposition which was formerly shown towards
the Jews, was an alleged retribution for their sin in cru-
cifying our Lord. In the south of France the persecution
of Jews was carried to the most brutal lengths, the cus-
tomary box on the ear being given on one occasion with
such sincerity, as to leave the poor victim's eye hanging
on his cheek. Happily such scenes were always rare, and
are now unknown. Our ordinary associations are with
mere amusement during the Easter week. In Lancashire
and Cheshire the process of " lifting" is still practised,
and those who are unwilling to submit to this elevation
either by men or women, are expected to purchase immu-
nity at a small sacrifice of coin.

In lieu of the outdoor sports which are well known in
remote villages and rural districts, the inhabitants of a
great town have their own peculiar way of seeking ex-
citement. Mr. MAucus conducts his long train of sight-
seers to the metropolis, and Mr. HouLsroN guides a similar
party to Bangor and the Menai bridges. The river is
alive with boats, young and old crowding to New Brighton

to have a run on the sand-hills, and others passing up-
wards to "Eastham, the Richmond of Liverpool." All
is happiness and excitement; and it is gratifying to see
how a glowing season gives buoyancy to our spirits, en-
abling us to bear up against the pressure of ills that might
otherwise assist to crush us.

ELECTION INTELLIGENCE
-4.

There are now six candidates in the field for the repre-
sentation of the Tower Hamlets—Sir W. Clay and Mr.
George Thompson, the present representatives ; Mr. C.
S. Butler, a resident magistrate and deputy lieutenant of
the Hamlets ; Mr. Acton S. Ayrton, Mr. W. Coningham,
and Mr. W. Newton, who has been brought forward by
the ultra-Chartists to represent the " rights of labour.
Sir H. L. Bulwer Lytton is spoken of as a candidate for
Lincoln. The heads of both whig and tory parties are
said to be working in his favour. Mr. Charles Mare, the
ship-builder, is an ultra-protectionist and Protestant can-
didate for Plymouth, and promises, if elected, to press
forward a revision of the navigation laws. Mr. Baillie
Cochrane is a conservative candidate for Southampton.
The Marquis of Douro offers himself as a supporter of the
Derby government, minus protection, to the electors of
Norwich, and promises to vote for a repeal of the May-
nooth grant. Mr. H. M. Curteis, the whig member for
Rye, retires, to make way for Mr. Pomfret, an active ma-
gistrate of conservative principles. Lord Robert Clinton,
brother of the Duke of Newcastle, is definitely announced
for North Nottinghamshire. _

The Exeter Gazette states "that a requisition is in
course of signature, in different parts of the Northern
Division, soliciting George Stuckley Buck, Esq., of
Hartland Abbey, son of L. W. Buck, Esq., M.P., to
permit himself to be put in nomination as a representa-
tive for the Northern Division, in conjunction with his
father." [The requisition has since been withdrawn, Mr.
L. W. Buck being averse to his son's availing himself of
the intended honour, not deeming it proper that the same
division should be contemporaneously represented by
father and son.]
Sir Graham Montgomery, of Stanhope, brother-in-law
of Mr. Forbes Mackenzie, the retiring county member, is
expected to be unopposed for Peeblesshire.
The Preston Pilot says that there is a strong r Mo-
bility that Mr. Henry Raikes, of Chester, will contest that
borough on the Conservative interest.
A meeting of the electors of the southern division
of the county of Lancaster was held in Newell's-
buildings, Manchester, on Tuesday, Mr. G. Wilson in the
chair, at which Mr. John Cheetham, whom, in conse-
quence of Mr. Henry's retirement, it is purposed to
associate with Mr. William Brown, M.P., delivered an
animated address, enunciatory of thorough free trade
principles. A resolution nominating him was most cor-
dially carried. The meeting was also addressed by Mr.
T. Bazky, Mr. Rathbone, Mr. Bright, M.P., Mr. Alex.
Kay, and other gentlemen.
The Wigan Times announces that the Conservative
candidates, Colonel Lindsay and Mr. Powell, son of the
Rev. Benjamin Powell, and proprietor of the paper, are
absolutely safe of their return for that borough.
NOTTINGHAM, APRIL 10.—An attempt has been mak-
ing to join together the Whig and Radical interest of this
borough, so as to promote the return of Mr. Gisborne and
the Hon. Edward Strutt. The appearance, however, of
an address from Mr. Walter of the London Times (one of
the present members) has put a stop to this effort ; and it
is thought that the return of Messrs. Walker and Strutt is
certain, the extreme Liberal, Mr. Gisborne, being almost
friendless.

RETURN OF SIR FITZROY KELLY ON SATURDAY FOR
HARWICH.—The vacancy in the Parliamentary represen-
tation of Harwich, consequent upon the decision of the
committee of the House of Commons unseating the late
member, Mr. Crawford, was filled up by the election,
without a contest—a rare event in the history of this
borough—of Siz Fitzroy Kelly, her Majesty's Solicitor-
General.

THE MURDER AT FROME.—At Taunton assizes, on
Tuesday, William Sparrow, William Maggs, and Robert
Hurd, were indicted for the wilful murder of Sarah Watts
on the 24th of September. It appeared that the deceased
Sarah Watts was a child of about 14 years of age' and
was the daughter of John Watts and Leah Watts. They
occupied a dairy farm about two miles from Frome. On
the morning of the 24th of September the parents, as was
their custom, started for Frome market, leaving the child
alone in the house. They returned about four o'clock in
the afternoon. Upon entering the house the first thing
that attracted the father's attention was some blood on
the kitchen floor ; be also heard a little dog lapping
something in the dairy, which adjoined the kitchen.
He immediately called for his daughter, but she did not
answer, and he then went into the dairy, and there
found his daughter lying on the floor ; her clothes
were torn, and she was bruised and bloody, and quite
dead. Upon an examination of the body by a surgeon, it
turned out that the poor child had been ravished while
living ; and that her death had been caused by suffocation,
as there were marks on her neck and throat, and upon her
head. It was, therefore, clear that she had been shock-
ingly abused, and then brutally murdered. Some bread,
butter, and cheese had been taken. The parents went up
stairs and found the room had been ransacked : some
clothes and a watch had been taken ; but there was no
money. There was a silk handkerchief left on the kitchen
table which was sworn to belong to one of the prisoners.
The three prisoners with another man had been seen to-
gether in the neighbourhood at the time in question, and
there were circumstances of strong suspicion against
them • whilst Sparrow, the day after the murder, detailed
the whole of the circumstances of it to a female with whom
he was drinking at a fair.—The case was continued on the
‘l-- V- ,d- -d up fr 'sly to the

6 day , ne judge summed up tavouraL
prisoners, and the jury, to the astonishment of nearly all
in court, returned a verdict of not guilty.—As soon as the
verdict was delivered, Ilurd said, " My lord, we are all
innocent. Providence has done this." Maggs then said,
" I declare to God we are innocent." Sparrow said,
"We were not within a mile of the spot. God has done

it." Hurd then said, "My lord, it will all be found out
within a month. Let me speak to Mr. Smith (the detec-
tive officer.)" They all then said, " Let us see Mr.
Smith."

THE NEW EMIGRATION BILL.

A GREAT portion of the legislation of this country, espe-
cially that which professes to be protective of any particular
class, appears to be based upon the conclusion that the
parties against whom it is directed are rogues, or tyrants.
Such is the spirit of a bill brought into the House of Com-
mons by Mr. Peel and Mr. Labouchere, purporting to be
for the purpose of amending and consolidating the laws
relating to the carriage of passengers by sea, a copy of
which, " as amended in committee," is now before us.
The spurious philanthropy of the age has been stirred up
to zealous action by the discovery of a few petty abuses,
practised by unworthy persons, upon steerage passengers
emigrating to the colonies of Great Britain, or to foreign
countries ; and the conclusion that has been arrived at is,
that all parties connected with the emigration trade—
shipowners, merchants, charterers, captains, brokers, and
common " runners," included in a common mass—are
confirmed evil-doers, who require to be dealt with by the
strong arm of the law, and gagged and restricted by the
most arbitrary and penal provisions. The result is the
introduction of a bill, which, if passed in anything like its
present shape, as amended in committee (!), must, we do
not hesitate to say, place a serious bar in the way of our
poor fellow-countrymen proceeding to settle in foreign
lands, and certainly divert from British ports the tide of
emigration, which is now flowing to them from European
countries. Some of the clauses of this precious specimen
of legislation are so absurd and impracticable as to excite
wonder that even half a dozen men could be found in Par-

liament to listen to them for a moment; and the whole
bill is so oppressive as almost to lead us to the supposition
that the object of its framers was to put a stop to the

trade altogether,

It must be perfectly obvious that a great change is tak-
ing place in the description of vessels engaged in the con-
veyance of passengers, and that steam propulsion is being
substituted for propulsion by sails. For the first time, by
this act, our fine sea-going steamers, if carrying any
besides cabin passengers, are to be subjected to all the rigo-
rous surveillance and restrictions devised for vessels carry-
ing the ordinary steerage passengers. Second cabin
passengers, or those who do not mess with the captain, or
who have not paid at the rate of at least 20s. for every
week of the length of the voyage for sailing vessels, (70
days in summer, and 80 days in winter, to America, or
£lO to £ll for the passage,) are to be classified and sepa-
rated from each other in precisely the same way as those
steerage passengers ; and the effects of the bill will be to
check materially the extension of this most important arm
of our maritime power.

By clause 10 of this bill it is provided that no passenger
ship shall clear out of any port without a certificate from
an emigration-officer that all the requirements laid down
have been fulfilled, so far as the same can be done before
the departure of such ship ; and that a bond of £l,OOO
shall be signed by the master, conjointly with one or more
good and sufficient persons to be approved of by the
government emigration-agent. for the fulfilment of all the
conditions of the act up to the conclusion of the voyage :
and clause 11 enacts that for default in so doing the owner,
charterer, or master, shall be liable to a penalty of £5OO,
which may be sued for in any of our colonies, or in Great
Britain ; and, in addition, the vessel may be seized
and conscated, the owner, if a foreign vessel, being
compelled to place himself in the same position as a British
subject before being allowed to employ his ship in the
trade. Under clauses so preposterous, litigation seems
actually to be invited ; and they may easily create serious
misunderstandings with foreign nations. For example, it
is provided as one of the conditions of a vessel being
allowed to carry a certain number of passengers, that she
must carry a surgeon, such officer to be, if in a British
ship, a duly authorised British practitioner, and if a
foreign ship he may be a surgeon or physician of the
country to which she belongs. Where the supply of
medical officers is to come from at all, at so short a notice,
is beyond our comprehension. A foreign vessel coming
to England with a cargo, and desirous of being chartered
outwards with emigrants, will he in a singularly awkward
position, not having brought out a doctor belonging to the
country to which she belongs, Again, by another clause,
the captain and doctor are to make regulations for the
discipline and government of the emigrants on board, and
are to have a power to proceed for penalties for non-ob-
servance of such regulations. A cargo of British emigrants,
subjected to the absolute control of a foreign captain and
doctor, would be in a rather unenviable position at times.
The powers conferred by the bill on the Government
officers, with regard to the survey of ships, the examina-
tion of provisions, the providing of ventilation, &c., are
far too large to be entrusted to ordinary human beings.
Such officers ought to be superhuman in knowledge, in
temper, and in honesty. The powers given to passengers
to harass and victimise owners and masters of ships aro
literally preposterous, and calculated to drive a great por-
tion of them out of the business. The passenger brokers
must in the first place give to each party a ticket or con-
tract in due form, containing the name of the vessel by
which they are to sail, her day of sailing, and other minute
particulars ; but if, on arrival at the port of embarkation,
such vessel shall be full, and another suitable conveyance
be not provided to sail within seven days afterwards, not
only subsistence money is to be paid in themeantime, but
compensation money to the amount of not more than ten
pounds for each passenger may be sued for, in addition to
a return of the passage-money. It is well known that
brokers are engaged in various parts both of this country
and the Continent in getting passengers for emigration
ships, or rather lines of ships. Such brokers are continu-
ally liable to engage more than any particular ship
may be able to carry ; and it would be quite suf-
ficient for the purposes of justice if they were made to
provide subsistence money until another equally suitable
vessel should be provided. It is only in a very few of the
ports of Great Britain that this can be done within seven
days ; and the effect of the clause providing for compen-
sation for such involuntary breaches of contract will inevi-
tably deter any prudent man from chartering a passenger
ship to sail from any, save a first-class port. A similar
absurdity pervades another clause, which provides for
compensation, in addition to subsistence money, if in case
of any disaster at sea the damage done to the ship be not
repaired, or another suitable vessel provided within six
weeks. It seems not to have struck the framers of the
bill that the disaster may occur where adequate means of
expeditious repair are not at hand, or where no vessel can
safely approach.

It is idle, however, to point out particular objectionable
clauses. The whole bill must be modified, if indeed any
bill is required at all, or the consequences must be most
damaging to the shipping and mercantile interests, and
equally so to those for whose welfare it professes to be
intended. It may be remarked, as characteristic of this
sort of amateur legislation, that her Majesty's steamers
and transport ships are expressly exempted from the
operation of the bill. Emigrants of the lowest and most
ignorant class—the sweepings of workhouses and prisons,
people who have been accustomed to be housed and fed
like their own pigs—are to be delicately tended, in well
ventilated ships, and fed upon the choicest food, every
care being taken that they have roomy berths, sufficient
light, and their meals cooked for them at a stated hour ;
but the poor soldier, required at a week's notice to sail
for some distant point of our vast colonial empire, may
be put on board some wretched hulk, over-crowded
and hardly sea-worthy, and must not murmur at
his sufferings during the long voyage, whatever these
may be. What was the meaning of the questions asked
in both houses of parliament on Tuesday last, respecting
the troop ships Megtera and Hydra ? They were prompted
by the known fact that one, if not both, of these vessels
left the shores of this country in a condition unfit to be
entrusted with the carrying of the large amount cf human
life on board. Should a calamity befal either of these,
similar to that which has just aroused the sympathies of
the public, in the case of the unfortunate steam frigate
Birkenhead, the country will have a just right to complain
of the conduct of those public departments who, whilst
imposing the arbitrary and crotchetty enactments of
amateur legislation on others, claim for themselves immu-
nity from any regulation or surveillance, however much
experience has shown that it is required.

BURNING OF A SHIP AT SEA.—On Wednesday, intel-
ligence was received of the destruction by fire of the
British ship Hilton Grove, while on a voyage from
Liverpool to Aden. The unfortunate vessel was laden
with coals, for the depot of the Indian steamers, and
after weathering the Cape, the crew, on the sth of Jan.,
when in lat. 30 S., and long. 53 E., had their attention
drawn to a quantity of smoke issuing from the hatchways.
Every stratagem was resorted to in the hope of suppressing
the flames. Unfortunately all failed ; the heat became
more intense, and the smoke greater; and on the third
day after the discovery the deck and hatchways were
thrown up by the explosion of the gas generated by the
burning coal. By this period the captain and crew had
taken to the boats. The fire, however, increased, and
the wreck being burned to the water's edge, she went
down in deep water. The crew then shaped a course to
the Isle of France, and, after much suffering and buf-
feting about, they were on the 28th sighted and picked
up by the Dutch ship Maria Elizabeth, from Batavia,
which put into Table Bay, at the Cape of Good Hope,
some eight or ten days afterwards, and landed the poor
fellows, who are said to have lost everything they had in
the shape of clothing, &c. Spontaneous combustion
amonzst the coals no doubt led to the firing of the ship.
The Hilton Grove was nearly a new vessel.
TRANSATLANTIC STEAM-SIIIPS.—The United States
mail steam-ship Arctic, Luce, commander, sailed from
the Mersey at 1 15 p.m., on Wednesday, for New York,
with a full cargo and a considerable number of passengers.
Ori Wednesday. the screw steam-ship Sarah Sands,
W. C. Thompson, commander, left the Mersey for New
York, with a full cargo and a considerable number of
passengers. The Royal Mail steam-ship Teviot, Onslow,
commander, sailed from Southampton, on Friday, with
the mails, &c. for Brazil and the River Plate, 60 passen-
gers, £130,000 specie on freight, and about 220 tons
cargo. The Liverpool and Philadelphia screw steam-ship
City of Glasgow, Wylie, commander, sailed from the
Mersey for Philadelphia, on Saturday, at 4 p.m., with
seventy cabin passengers and a fair cargo. On the Satur-
day fortnight previous to her sailing, during the course of
the regular examination of the machinery, a crack was
found in one of her shafts, since which time a new one
has been made and fitted. She only came out of the
graving dock at 9 p.m., on Friday evening, loadet
900 tons of coal and
_cargo during the night and

morning, a:d was rea.

Judkis, co

led from the AT