The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-07-26 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD, TUESDAY, JULY

by a Reformed House of Commons ; the best time
of the day is spent in asking Ministers ridiculous
questions or talking on impossible projects ; and in
the dead of night, when the greater part of the
members are away and the rest asleep, the real
business is done in passing Bills, which are thus
briefly reported in the daily papers :—" The other
orders of the day were then disposed of, and the
House adjourned." After numerous sittings in
Committee, the last clause of the Ministerial
India Bill has only just been reached, the Bills
for attempting to settle the long disputed
questions between landlords and tenants have not
yet arrived at the concluding stage; the Commit-
tee on the Pilotage Bill has only been commenced,
and the most important clauses have still to be
discussed; the Merchant Shipping Bill has not yet
passed; the Bills for manning the navy are still un-
discussed ; numerous other measures are in a state
of hopeless incompleteness; Lord JOAN RUSSELL
was last night to declare the number of Bills-that,
having gone through several stages, were to be
given up, and yet as late as Thursday last no fewer
than six new Bills were introduced by members of
the Government. We were told, as an apology for
the Coalition Ministry, that the Liberal party con-
tained all the practical men of business. Here is a
proof of it in as pleasant a melange of hurry and
confusion as ever disgraced a conclave of talkative
old women. If the present state of public business
be an evidence of administrative talent, it would be
as well to choose the next ministry from men who
had never been in Parliament before, and the
country might benefit by the change, When
GEORGE 111. was threatened with a desertion of
his ministers, because he would not surrender a
cherished principle, he said Ile would form a cabinet
from the lust twenty respectable-looking men he
met at "Charing-cross. What the old KING offered
to do from necessity Queen VICTORIA may do from
choice, for the country will soon become convinced
that a change must be for the better, when it is im-
possible to be for the worse.

DUTY ON SUCCESSIONS.

THE key-stone of Mr. 'GLADSTONE'S financial
policy having at length 'escaped the tedious dis-
cussions in the House of 'Commons, from which

many of its clauses narrowly escaped by bare
majorities, has undergone a more digniked dis-
cussion in the nouse -of Lords, and met a well-
deserved exposure of 'its enormities by the Earl of
DERBY. In his able speech -on Friday—which we
are only presented from giving by its great length=
he showed the monstrous injustice of 'the scheme,
which would involve the owners of real property in
endless litigation, and fail of recruiting the
Exchequer excepeby the grossest oppression.
was, however, determined not to divide the House tra
the second reading, but Lord DEVS--s. -gave notice
that he ihoulchnove several important amendments
in Committee, one of which would be to make-the
measure prospective only, instead' of retrospective,
for twenty Tears, as at present, and another to limit
its duration to five years. This ,annonncement has
been -eagerly - seized upon by Radical sticklers for
Constitutional privileges as an infringement-of a
tacit understanding, that no Money Bills shall ori-
ginate or undergo alteration in the House of Lords—
a principle -*bleb, however judicious in the abstract,
is not absolutely compulsozy,,-arad which; if carried
to the.extrcme, may, as in thiscase, produce -serious
inconvenience. The objection was ably met -by the
Earl of DZRBY, who saicll---=" If your lore:ships
are.to bow-to every injustice which the ticuse of
Common thinks fit to impose upon your lordships
—if you are to submit to eee the rights of the
people infringed upon—then, I say, you had better
abandon- at once your functions, and you hid better
nut go through the farce of -having the tax-sent up
to you for your consideration at all." We -should
strongly-condemn any unnecessary tamperirg with
the •respective privileges -of -either House .otf Par-
liament, or the persistence in any course which
would needlessly lead to a' breach of the good un-
derstanding which should exist between- the two
branches of the Legislature ; but the measure is
one which imperatively demands a more careful
revision, than it has yet received, and it-is 'perhaps
full time -the fact was made more apparent than it
seems at .present, that the `ti of Commons is
not, either-de jure or de facto, •the whole Government
of the -country.

FREE-TRADE POLICY.
ME assertions as to the success of Free-trade have
been -so pertinaciously reiterated by cur .ce3,dern
political economists, that the, public, unaccustomed
to weigh-causes and effects, have been too ready to
accept the conclusions without taking the trouble
to think for themselves. They know that the Corn-
laws were -repealed in 1846; -that this measure was
followed-by-reductions in the sugar duties, which
admitted the produce of fortlgn slave labour on
nearly equal terms with that of the free labour of
our own colonies; that the shipping interest:was
afterwards exposed to foreign competition; and that
these measures were all parts of the Free-trade
system. They now experience tle benefit of im-
proved prices, and active demand for the products
of industry,:-with unceasing trade in imports and
exports, and having the positive assurance of the
advocates of the Manchester school that the present
state of affairs is the promised reisult of the new

commercial -system, the unthinking portion of the
public adopt the theory without troubling them-
selves with any farther inquiry. Thezubject, how-
ever, is of tco great importance to Le allowed to
pass without further investigation, or it may be
found, when too late to apply an efficient remedy,
that we have been persisting in a hazardous system,
and giving it credit for a success which is solely
owing to exceptional causes. It would ..be well to
bear in mind upon what grounds the success of
Tree-trade was confidently predicted by those who
were its warmest advocates, and whose perseverance,
whether right or wrong, was rewarded with success.
They complained that the closing of our ports by
prohibitory duties to the produce of the corn-
growirg, countries of the north of Europe not only
deprived our artisans of thesupply of cheap food,
which was essential, but deprived manufacturers .Of
a market for their goods to clothe the peasants of
Prussia, Denmark, and Germany. With un-
restricted importation we should exchange our
cotton goods for the cheap earn of northern
Europe, so that the increased employment of the
operatives would .convert Lancashire into a paradise
of remunerated industry more than sufficient to
compensate for any loss to the agricultural districts.
Wages would be high while bread would be low,
so that every man would have enough and to spare.
They even went further, and Free-trade orators
drew the pleasant picture of Manchester being
virtually laid alongside the valley of the Mississippi
—on one side all engaged in making calico, and on
the other all occupied in growing wheat to feed
them. England was to be the workshop for the
world, a huge factory, which should produce suffi-
cient calico to clothe all the population, and agricul-
ture might be neglected, for with cheap bread the fac-
tories would find employment for all. It would be
hard upon political prophets to refer them to all
their predictions, as it is cruel to read a defendant's
love letters in a court of law; but it is a duty to
ourselves to consider how far any of these predic-
tions have been realised. It is true that our exports
have considerably increased, but the demand has
arisen from our neglected Colonies, which were
denounced in Parliament as incumbrances to be
shaken off. Northern Europe, instead of exchanging
corn for calico, has every year taken less of our

manufactures, and even the United States, from

which we were to receive an abundance of cheap
food, has found other markets for her breadstuffs,
leaving us the once contemned sources of the ports
in the Black Sea to make up for the deficiency of
neglected agriculture in England. Almost the first
effects of Free-trade were universal complaints of
agricultural distress, and such a diminished home
trade for our manufactures, that goods were ex-
ported at a loss to prevent the greater loss of closing
the factories. Ireland was prostrated to a depth of
misery which cannot be recalled without a shudder,
her population decimated by famine, hundreds of
thousands flying from their homes, her landlords
impoverished and her land desolate, and English
markets deprived of that supply of wheat which up
to this time had been steadily increasing. All was
complaint, trade was unremunerative, capital was
diminishing, rents were rapidly falling, and distress
was becoming general. It was then, when Free-
trade, having accomplished the single object of
cheap bread, had well nigh shaken the Empire to
its base—when the Bank of England was only
savea from stoppage and consequent national bank-
ruptcy by the suspension of the Currency Act, and
when even a Free-trade Ministry were compelled to
admit the existence of distress,—that the discovery
of gold in California gave an impetus to our foreign
trade, and induced a glimmering of hope that prices
would recover under this unexpected accession to
the' stock of the precious metals. A similar dis-
covery was shortly afterwards made in our own
neglected Colony of Australia, and then it was that
under such a startling stimulant a movement was
made which for extent and rapidity is almost with-
out parallel. The exciting news aroused the popu-
lation, and produced a mania for emigration to the
new El Dorado, the Shipping interest revived under
the impetus, and the increasing demands for manu-
factures raised our exports not only in amount but
in value, gave full employment to our artisans, and
bustling activity to our shipping ports. Prices
were raised, because there was a new source of
wealth' o meet it; and under the stimulus of com-
petition decreased, and demand augmented, by
emigration, the country recovered from its depres-
sion, and quickly reached that state of prosperity
for which the Free-traders 'have the unblushing
iftrontery to claim all the -credit. It is true that
some of their writers, witbrrore modesty than their
leaders, have the candour to admit that the gold
discoveries have assisted to develope their theory ;
but, in doing so, they admit too much tit too little.
The avowed object of tree-trade was to increase
the export of manufattured goods by lowering the
cost of production. 'Cheap bread was to be the
means of reducing the wages of the operatives, and
this was to operate' in a general lowering of prices
and consequent-raising of the value tf money, upon
which the predicted prosperity was to be founded.
It did so operate, prices were lowered, the interest
of money was-so high that the necessity of the
repeal of the tsury Laws for tilt first time became
evident, and the result was general distress without
prospect of 'remedy. The discoveries in California
and Australia changed all this—Free-trade was
virtually upset, prices were raised instead of
lowered, the interest of money reduced, and out of

his direct revers al of the "modern theory vre now
experience that state of prosperity which is falsely
attributed-to Free-trade.

While,l2owever, all appears so fair, both present
and prospective, we should `be cautious not to feli-

citate ourselves too confidently on our immunity
from reveries. We have.for the present escaped
shipwreck from our adheretce to the Manchester
polity ; 'but it is still trareversed, and the dangers
to which- re are liable spring from the same.source.
The increased dernwids for our manufactures have
led to apprehensions as sto a sufficient supply-of
the raw material, while the improves value 'of
labour ,has prompted the 'operatives to hold them-
selves independent of tlicir employers, and -refuse
to work except upon their own terms. The dis-
couragement of our home agriculture it making -us
every year more dependent upon foreign countries
for our supplies of necessary food, and the danger

of such a state is just-now evident in the recen t
threatened stoppage 'of much of our ,foreign
supply, owing to the -'disturbed state of poli-
tical nTairs in the East of Europe. This --is an
evil of no trifling magnitude, not only rendering
our internal condition :more and more 'dependent

upon the preservation of peace, however 'disho-
nourably obtained, but: ,by discouraging our agri-
cultural population, and,T.reakening those -sources
of •national strength by,which alone we can hope
to secure permanent peace. Those who counselled
active interference .in 'behalf of Turkey, .little
thought of the danger-of-such a course,:if.Ruseia
had been insensible' to-the efforts of diplomatic
skill. Active hostilities, in the Black Sea .would
have deprived us of an- important supply of food;
and, with a rural population which has beendimi-
nished-at the rate of a thousand a day by emigre.-
tion, we should find uneeasing difficulties in:-re-
cruiting our forces with, those stalwart frames of
thews and sinews which .we.chould look for -in vain
among -.the manufacturing operatives. We lave
raised -a :numerous militias:ferce, and, under the
blessing cf Providence., may be able to hold .our
own against an invading foe:; but Free-trade has
weakened: the long and strong: arm which England
was wont-to stretch in the pride of her might over
-the defenoekss and oppressed in every quarter. of
-the globe. 'We must preserve peace with Russia
on any terms, for she helps to,nourish our.popu-
lotion with ,food ; and we owe this humiliating
position to,the vaunted poliay,whioh is persisted
because, with all the predictions -of its advocates
directly reversed, our rulers cannot,perceive, or swill
not admit, that the whole of .our present com-
mercial. prosperity is owing to causes which Free-
trade had not,the slightest inguencein producing.
It gave us nozold, but diminished: hat we had ;
it opened no new!foreign markets, but reduced our
previous ones ,; it impoverished our home trade,
ruined Ireland, and almost ruined our colonies.
The discoveries in Australia have recruited our
finances, given us-colonial markets for .exports,
raised prices, and given employment to :labour ;
and yet, in the teeth .of facts which ought Ito be
.self-evident, we are met with reiterated assertions
of the success of Free-trade policy.

ABDUCTION OF A CHILD IN LIVERPOOL
By A ROMANIST PRIEST. - REMARK,-
ABLE CASE.

Os the afternoon of Sunday week, a somewhat singular
incident took place in Grove-street, in this town, which
has given rise to many rumours in that locality, and which
furnishes another proof of the unscrupulous character of
the Church of Rome, and the Pope's tustruments in
England. From the information which we have been
able to glean, it appears that, late on Sunday afternoon
week, as several people were passing along Grove-street,
they wen somewhat surprised to see a child snatched
from the custody of a gentleman, carried into a cab which
was in waiting, and driven off in the ;direction of the
Lime-street railway station. The crowd, excited by this
singular exhibition, ran after the vehicle, which was
driven off at a rapid pace ; but they were unable to over-
take it, and in a few minutes it was out of sight. The
occurrence, witnessed by several individuals of respecta-
bility, has revealed a melancholy story, which ought not
to remain unpublished. It is now several months
since a clergyman of the Church of England, whose
name had become notorious in connexion with cer-
tain Popish practices, became a convert to the Church
of Rome. He, therefore, it would appear, applied for
admission into the ranks of the Papal priesthood, but was
refused until he could make an arrangement with his wife
to separate from her, and to live a life of celibacy. He
accordingly had a document drawn up, which would have
the effect not only of enabling them to live separately,

but would also convey her marriage portion to him.

She said she

With this proposal she would not comply
would agree to a separation upon one consideration only—
that being that she should be em poweredto retain the fortune
which she had brought to him at the period of their mar-
riage, or at least such a share of that fortune as would
enable her to support herself and her child comfortably.
But this did not suit his notion of propriety ; he refused,
point blank, to allow her a penny, and the document
remained unsubscribed. When he could not prevail upon
his wife as he first wished to do, the pervert determined
to work upon her maternal love and fear ; and, accord-
ingly, to preserve her child, she was driven to leave her
home. It seems that she came to Liverpool with her
child,—the fruit of her lawful marriage with her perse-
cutor,—and for some time past she has been residing at a
house in Grove-street. Thither, it would seem, her hus-

band, or some of his Popish friends, dogged the poor
woman ; and it is thought that, for a long time, they
must have been assiduously watching the opportunity to
tako from the lonely and exiled lady the last comfort
which was left to cheer her life. Be this as it may, the
result has been that they have stolen her child, in the way
which we have attempted to describe. The matter, as
might be anticipated, has created an unwonted sensation
in the locality where the gross outrage upon maternal
love and right was perpetrated; as well as in the circles
of those gentlemen who witnessed the abduction, with
which the evening of Sunday week and the streets o f
Liverpool were disgraced in the face of the open day.

LIVERPOOL
BOROUGH SESSIONS, YESTERDAY.

Tut quarter sessions of the peace for the borough com-
menced yesterday, in the New Assize Courts, St.
George's-hall, before Gilbert Henderson, Esq., recorder.
The calendar contained 118 prisoners, and the offences
charged were of the ordinary character. The most
important cases are those of Thomas Pattison, solicitor,
who stands charged with haying fraudulently obtained
money from a client, and Matthew Mudd and John Gare,
alias Brown, who are charged with obtaining the sum of
£3OO from the North and South Wales Bank in this
town, by means of forgery. The following gentlemen were
sworn on THE GRANT) JURY.

Mr. Robert Crosbie, tobacco broker, North John-
street, foreman ; Henry Curry, broker, Fenwick-street ;
George Robert Clover' shipbuilder, Queen's Dock ; Jas.
-Dalglish, merchant, Harrington-street •, Louis Henry
Macintyre, merchant, Cooper's-row ; Robert Makin, jun.,
corn merchant, Brunswick-street ; 'William Pierce, mer-
chant, Castle-streets; Charles Paul Phipps, merchant,
Cook-street • Robert nankin, merchant, outh John-
street; Charles William Reade, gentleman, Shaw--street;
George Bates Richardson, shipchandler, Spading-street ;
Halsall Seger, jun., corn merchant, Brunswick-street ;
John Samuel Swipe, merchant, Cook-street ; Robert
John Finley, share broker, Peel-street ; Joseph Browning
Windle.

The grand jury having been sworn, and the usual pro-
clamation against vice and immorality having been read,
The Recontstet addressed the jury to the following
effect. He commenced by noticing that he regretted
that the proceedings of the court that morning had
been delayed, for some time, in consequence of the
absence of several gentlemen who had been summoned
on the grand jury. It was painful for him to have
to refer to this matter, for it was the first time during
the last ten years that he had had to make any complaint
on what had now occurred. Since the time that he had
been recorder of this borough he had uniformly re-
ceived assistance from the gentlemen of the town,
in his 'desire to forward the administration of justice
in the borough. Under the circumstances, therefore, he
was willing to accept the absence of the several gentlemen
who had been summoned rather as an accident, than as
en intentional disrespect to the court, or an evidence of
an indisposition to perform those public duties which he
was sure that any gentleman, having a right feeling,
'would be willing to undertake.. He should, however,
impose the fine on each of those gentlemen whose names
"hid been called upon as members of the grand inquest,
but which fine he should be Trilling to mitigate on any
sitlicient reason which might be assigned. The grand
jury would find that there were 118 prisoners whose cases
would be brought before them for investigation. Now,
`'considering the period which had elapsed since the last
- sessions, he (the recorder) was free to confess that this
-was not a large relative number, and the calendar
-showed that the crimes 'committed now as com-
pared with the last ten -years. were decidedly on the
decrease. At the -same time, although the calendar
proved that the more-serious class of crimes had been ar-
rested, looking at the statistics of the town, when they
found that the population had increased by one-third
within the period 6f which he was speaking, yet it was
not, perhaps, a proper criterion of the actual state of
crime in the town, as -shown to -them, as grand jurors,
because, in additioreto what would come before them, as
grand jurors, the -committals and summary convictions
before the magistrates -had increased very much, and he
thought he nught4fairly say that that increase approxi-
mated very nearly' to theTelative increase of the popula-
tion. Neverthelesssarel notwithstanding all this, there were
very many proofs dean increasing desire for order and a re-
spect for the mss"-on the part of tiae eeople. In proof of
this he might name the abandonment of public processions
on the part'efthose'who had been in the habit of taking part
in them, and Whiela, in their effects,'only led to disorder
and bloodshed. 'This abolition of these processions was
not only creatable-to the magistrates and the head con-
stable, butit was also creditable to the people themselves
—became, without' their concurrence, the objects of the
authorities'oeuldenot have been carried out. The inhabi-
tants of 'the townenotwithstandingswhat their particular
feelings atigent be,' had yielded to what the magistrates
considered was desirable for the peace of the town, and,
under thislessling; had agreed to Abandon any participa-
tion in processions. 'lr. this respect, a very excellent ex-
ample had 'been eetlerthe town, and it was creditable to
it. A reasonable respect had been shown for the opinions
of the authorities, and it could scarcely be doubted that
the community woeld teap the advantage. 'Lately, a sec-
tion of thelahouring 'classes in this town showed, by their
emend, that seasons.ofprosperity ought to extend to all.
In the existing state Of society, it would always happen
that the working classes would struggle to obtain what
they considered was• their' right. 'Such a struggle had
recently'token; place, in this town, and it was highly
creditable 'to those classcs, who thought-they had a right
to that for 'which they- were contending, that, in the
sppuerestui
ft
aro f •tiht ,a
la theyw. han;d urea-. iafog rami
al uniformly a s
a shewnsthe greatest re-
proof of the im.
proved intelligence of the humbletectassessin the commu-
nity. After -making a slight reference
'observed that, in reference to criminal law,
to the calendar,
t
thheereitecivorerederat the present time several questions under
the consideration of thee:Legislature which must have a
very important bearing on the country. It was
highly probable that •transportation from this country,
for eriarinel Offences, 'would be entirely abolished,
and that imprisonment and penal labour would be
substituted .in its stead. This was a result which
could not -surmise any one who had been a close
observer of "the effects of transportation •'from this
country. The system of-transportation was immoral
in principle, end was- widened by the fact that in the
country to whites our convicts were sent—our..colonies,
labour was so-scarce that they-were willing to receive any
one—willing, inconsequence of the scarcity of labour, to
receive people, even of damaged character. But the'time
would come when labour wouki be less valuable in our
colonies, and when it would be: said by them, •"We are
not willing to receive such damaged characters:" 'He
believed that the time would aeon arrive when the prin-
oiple would be thisein reference to the treatment of crime,
sthat every country would have to deal with its own crime
in its own country. And, as a principle, the justice of this
'theory must be admitted. :It •was-clear that the time .was
arriving when we eheeld have to deal with our own crime
in our own countryeand not send them to other countries,
'far the purposes of eantaminatioe. The learned gentle-
man, in continuation, gave several "illustrations of the
objectionable system of transportation, and then pro-
ceeded to show, in graphic terms, that the prevention of
,crime ought to be momettended, to than it was at present.
Hesext referred to the measures now-before Parliament
with-Deference to criminal -jurisprudence. One question,
ha ssiet. which was now before -Parliament, was the treat-
reent.of juvenile offenders. 'ln connexion with this im-
portant:subject there were two bills at present before Par-
liament. One was the bill ()Übe Earl of Shaftesbury,which
bad already passed the House of lords, and the principle
of which bill was that all children who could-not be found
to have any parents should be taken into the workhouse.
Another-bill was that which had beenbrought forward by
Mr. Adderley, a bill of a mote comprehensive character
than that of the Earl of Shaftesbury, and which involved
a juvenile reformatory. The learned gentleman showed
that thiebill,sif passed, would give-the magistrates a dis-
cretionary power of committal which .they did not at
present possess; and by various illustrations made it
apparent that ,it would be a materiel improvemoot on
the present system. Speaking of as -reformatory, the
learned gentleman observed, that, without having
any objections -to a reformatory, as 'web, 'he thought
it was only ate expedient, and his opinion was
that the attention of the authorities aught to be
directed to plaeingsoseety in such a state as to render a
reformatory unnecessary. There was another question
which was now undentho consideration of the House of
Commons :—he referred to the question of lieences to
public-houses. Now, me person who looked into the
ceases of crime generally, could fail to perceive that it
arose either from gross ignorance or from drunken habits.
The question of granting 'licenses was now before the
legislature ; but he (the Recorder) was satisfied that
whatever might be done, a greater restriction than existed
at present, ought to be put on thessumber of public-houses
in Liverpool. He thought the black colours in which
this town had been painted by Mr. eAay.* as well as by all
other writers who had studied the condition, socially,
of our large towns, was painful to reflect upon. It
seemed to him quite clear that all that these gentlemen
had written against the town was malt* to be attributed
to the prevalence of drunkenness amongst us. Last year
the magistrates did not grant any licenses to public-
houses, and he, for one, thought it was a great honour to
those magistrates who at those sessions refused to grant
any licenses at all. He knew there had been some in-
crease of licenses in consequence of transfers, but still he
did say, that those gentlemen—the magistrates—deserved
great credit for the course they pursued, and more par-
ticularly so, because he knew they gave great dis-
satisfaction to certain interested parties. It was natural
to suppose that people would complain who had an
interest, but it was not to such people that they were to
look. The protection of the public was what ought to
be looked at, and he (the recorder) felt satisfied that the
conduct of the magistrates at the last licensing session
would be properly appreciated by all right-minded persons.
A great deal had been said about the evil of the beer-
houses, but his experience enabled him to say it was the
spirit drinking that did the greatest mischief. The state
of the public houses—the licensed houses—in this town I

• The Rev. John Clay, chaplain of the Preston Houee of
Correction.

26, 1.853.

was disgraceful. Week after week we saw one public
house after another fined, which distinctly shewed that
that caution in the granting of licenses which ought to
take place, was not observed. A great deal had latterly
been said about relaxing the present system in regard to
licenses, but surely, when they referred to a neighbouring
country—Scotland—which had suffered from this unre-
stricted system, they ought to be careful how they granted
licenses in this town. He certainly thought that not only
were the number of licenses to public houses in this town
too extensive, but he was also persuaded that there were
many persons in possession of them who ought not to
have them at all. It would, perhaps, be premature
in him to say more upon the subject. because it was quite
clear that the legislature was now inclined to deal with
the entire question, but he did feel an interest in it, and
therefore he thought it right to show that this highly
important subject did not escape the public observation of
those who sat in authority. The learned Recorder then
dismissed the Grand Jury to the performance of their duties.
No trials of any importance tooie place during the day.