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

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD, TUESDAY, JULY 26, 1853.

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 JOHN 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
GEOIeGE 111. was threatened with a desertion of
his ministers, because he would not surrender a
cherished principle, he said he would form a cabinet
from the first twenty reepectablc-looking mon ho
Ind at Charing-cross. What the old KING offered

to do from necessity Queen VicTourA 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 dignified dis-
cussion in the House of Lords, and met a well-
deserved exposure of its enormities by the Earl of
DERBY. In his able-speech on Friday—which wt
are only preventecHrom giving by its great length—
he showed the monstrous injustice of the scheme,
which would involve the owners of real pnipertyin
endless litigation, and fail of recruiting the
Exchequer except-by the grossest oppression. It
was, however, determined not to divide the. House on
the second reading, but Lord DERBY gave'rotice
that he should move several important amendments
in'Committee, one of which would be to make the
measure prospective only, instead of retrospective,
for twenty years, as at present, and another to limit
its duration to'five years. This announcement has
been eagerly seized upon by Radical sticklers for
Constitutional privileges as an infringement of a
tacit understanding, that no Money Bilis shall ori-
ginate or undergo alteration in the House of Lords-
-a principle which, however judicious in the abstract,
is not absolutely compulsory, and which, if carried
to the extreme, may, as in this case, produce serious
inconvenience. The objection was ably met by the
Earl of DaTtry, who said :—" If your lordships
are to bow to every injustice which the House of
Commons thinlcs fit to impose upon your lordships
—if you ere -to submit to see the rights of the
people infringed upon—then, I say, you had better
abandon at once your functions, and you had better
not go through the farce of having the tax sent up
to you for your consideration at all." We should
strongly condemn any unnecessary tampering with
the respective privileges of either Home of 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 House of Commons is
not, either de jure or de facto, the whole Government
-of the country.

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
saved 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
CIV El Dorado, tho Shipping intorGct revivPri 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 shlppimg ports. Prices
were raised, because there was a new source of
wealth to meet it ; and under the stimulus of com-
petition decreased, and demand augmented, by
emigration, the country recovered from its depres--
-sien, and quickly reached "that state of prosperity
-for which the Free-traders have the unblushing
effrontery to claim all the credit. It is true that
some of their writers, with more 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 or too little.
The avowed object -cf Free-trade was to increase
the export of mantf:ctured 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 of money, upon
which the predicted prosperity was to-be founded.
It did so operate:, prices were lowered, the interest
of money was 'es high that the necessity of the
repeal of the.Usnry Laws for the 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 reTers al of the modern theory we now
experience that state of prosperity -I;Thich is falsely
attributed.toFree-trade.

While, however, all appears so fair, both present
and prospective, we should be cautious not to feli-
citate ourselves too confidently on our immunity
from reverses. We have for the present escaped
shipwreck from our adherence tc the Manchester
policy but: it is still unreversed, and the dangers
to which weare liable spring from the same source.
The increased demands for our manufactures have
led to apprehensions as to a -siliflcient supply-of
the raw material, while the improves value of
labour has prompted the operatives to hold them-
selves independent of their employers, and refuse
to work except upon their own -terms. The 'dis-
couragement of our home agriculture is 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 recent
threatened stopi:age of much of our foreign
supply, owing to the disturbed -state of poli-
tical affairs in• the East of Europe. This is an
evil of no trifling magnitude, not. only rendering
our internal condition more and mere dependent
upon the presertuAion of peace, -however disho-
nourably obtained, but by discouraging our agri-
cultural population, and weakening r.those sources
of national strength by which alone we can hope
to secure permanent peace. Those who counselled
active interference behalf of -Turkey, little
thought •of the danger of such a comae, if Russia
had been insensible to the efforts of diplomatic
skill. Active hostilities in the Black :Eea would
have deprived us of ar. important supply of food ;
and, with a rural population which has been dimi-
nished at the rate of a thousand a day ,by emigra-
tion, we &boai'd find unceasing difficulties in re-
cruiting
our .forces with those stalwart frames of
thews and sinews which we. should look for:in vain
among the manufacturing operatives. We have
raised a numerous militia ,force, and, under the
blessing of 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 defenceless and oppressed :in every quarter of
,the globe. We must preserve peace with Russia
on any terms, for she helps to nourish our popu-
lation with food ; and we owe -this humiliating
position to the vaunted ,policy,whiclLis persisted in,
'because, with all the predictions of .its advocates
directly reversed, our rulers cannot perceive, or will
not admit, that the whole of our present com-
mercial prosperity is owing to causes which Free-
trade had not the slightest influence in producing.
It gave :us no gold, but diminished what 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 cur
finances, given ass colonial markets for exports,
raised prices, and given employment to labour,-
and yet, in the teeth of facts which ought to-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.

ON the afternoon of Sunday week, a somewhat singular
incident took place in Grove-strut, 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 instruments 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 were 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.
With this proposal she would not comply. She said she
would agree to a separation upon one consideration only—
that being that she should be empoweredto 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 hut-

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
take 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.

TEE 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 having fraudulently obtained
money from a client, and Matthew Mudd and John Gore,
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 GRAND JURY.
Mr. Robert Crnabie, tobaooo 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-street ; Charles Paul Phipps, merchant,
Cook-street ; Robert Rankin, merchant, South John-
street ; Charles William Reade, gentleman, Shaw-street ;
George Bates Richardson, shipchandler, Sparling-street ;
Halsall Seger, jun., corn merchant, Brunswick-street ;
John Samuel Swire, merchant, Cook-street ; Robert
John Finley, share broker, Peel-street; Joseph Browning
141 ndle.
The grand jury having been sworn, and the usual pro-
clamation against vice and immorality having been read,
The RECORDER 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
an intentional disrespect to the court, or an evidence of
an indispositionto petform those public duties which he
was sure that any gentleman, having a right feeling,
would be willing to undertake. He should, however,
impose theline on each of those gentlemen whose names
had been called 'upon as members of the grand inquest,
but which fine.he should be willing to mitigate on any
suEcierit reason swhieh might be assigned. The grand
jury would`find that there were 118 prisoners whose cases
would be brought before them for investigation. Now,
considering theiperiod which had elapsed since the last
sessions, he (the recorder) was free to confess that this
was not a lame 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 of 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 addition to what would come before them, as
grand jurors, the committals and summary convictions
before the magistrates had increased very much, and he
thought he might fairly say that that increase approxi-
mated very nearly to the relative increase of the popula-
tion. Nevertheless, and notwithstandingallthis, there were
very many proofs of an increasing desire for order and a re-
spect for the laws on the part of the people. In proof of
this he might name the abandonment of public processions
on the part of thosewho had been in the habit of taking part
in them, and which, in their effects, only led to disorder
and bloodshed. This abolition of these processions was
not only creditable to the magistrates and the head con-
stable, but it-was also creditable to the people themselves
—because, without their concurrence, tbe objects of the
authorities could-not have been carried out. The inhabi-
tants of the town, notwithstanding what their particular
feelings might -be, -had yielded to what the magistrates
considered was 'desirable for the peace of the town, and,
under this feeling,-had agreed to abandon any participa-
tion in processions. In this respect, a-very excellent ex-
ample had been.aetby the town, and it was creditable to
it. A reasowabr respect had been shown for the opinions
of the authorities, and it could scarcely be doubted that
the community would-reap the advantage. 'Lately, a sec-
tion of the labouring classes in this town showed, by their
conduct, that -seasons of prosperity ought to extend to all.
In the exisring• state of, society, it would aiw-crs happen
that the working classes would struggle to obtain what
they considered was their right. Such a struggle had
recently takes ;,place -in -this town, and it was highly
creditable to those classes, who thought they had a right
to that far which they ,were contending, -that, in the
pursuit of it, they had uniformly shewn the greatest re-
spect for the law. Here again was a proof Of the im-
proved intelligence of the inacabler classes in the•commu-
nity. After making a slight reference to the calendar,
the Recorder observed that,- in reference to criminal law,
-there were at the present time several questions under
the consideration of the
,Legis;ature which must-have a
,very important bearing on the country. It was
highly probable that transportation from this country,
for criminal offences, would =be entirely abolished,
and that imprisonment and penal labour would be
substituted in its -stead. This was a result which
could not surprise any one -who had been a close
observer of the effects of transportation from -this
„ovary. The system of transportation was immoral
in principle, and was widened by -the fact that in the
count(; to which our convicts were sent—our colonies,
labour. was so
in of h
ywere e
scarcitywillingtoofrelacebiovuerto
Wiivreceive :people, any
e—'lelionglt consequence
e, even of damaged character. But the time
would eozie when labour -would be lees 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 soon arrive-when the aria-
ciple-would,be this, in reference to the treatment of crime,
that 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 should have to deal with our own crime
in our own country, and not send them to other countries,
-for the purposes of contamination. 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 he more attended to than it was at present.
He.next referred to the measures now before Parliament
with reference to criminal jurisprudence. One question,
he said, which was now before Parliament, was the treat-
ment of juvenile offenders. In connexion with this im-
portantsubjecit there were two bills at present before Par-
liament. One was the bill of the Earl of Shaftesbury. which
had already passed the House of Lords, and the principle
of which ,1311/ 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 been brought forward by
Mr. Adderley, a bill of a mare comprehensive character
than that of the Earl of Shaftesbury, and which 'involved
a juvenile reformatory. The learned gentleman &I-lowed
that this bill, if ,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 material improvement on
the present system. Speaking of a reformatory, the
Learned gentleman observed, that, without having
say objections to a reformatory, as such, he thought
it was only an: expedient, and his opinion was
that the attention of the authorities ought to be
directed to placing society in such a state as to render a
reformatory unnecessary. There was another question
which was now under the consideration of the House of
Commons :—he referred to the question of licences to
public-horses. Now, no person who looked into the
causes 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, oughtto be put on the number of public-houses
in Liverpool. He thought the black colours in which
this town had been painted by Mr. Clay.* 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 mainly 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

* The Rev. John Clay, chaplain of the Preston Ifouee of
Correction.

was disgraceful. Week after week we saw one public
house after another fined, which distinctly chewed 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 tooK place during the day.