The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-04-17 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL ST:IND3RH.

Str,L-There are frequently abuses of public duty, which,
however grievous to individuals -and injurious to society, it is
impossible to
_punish—owing to the elevated situation-of the
parties committing them. I may be mistaken in describing the
following case as coining under this head, but conceivingmy-
self to be an injureil.party, and not. meeting with due protection
from the proper authority, 1 am anxious to state the following
case to the public through time medium of the press, which, as
the real guardian and protection of justice to all classes, may
be induced to deliver an opinion on it, affecting, as it must, the
majority of the mercantile awl trading.commuuity.
On Saturday last,. the 14th instant, 1 made an application to
Mr. Hall, the magistrate, for a warrant, to arrest in Ireland, a
workman who hailbeei!everal months in our employment,. and
whO I conceived to be guilty of an act constituting felony and
combination.

Hr. Hall asked, could I swear to the circumstances ? and I
replied that I had my witness in court to prove the' facts; that.
I was the proseCutor, and requested permission to state the facts
first, and prove them afterwards.
Mr. Hall refused to hear me, but called my witness, who is an'
apprentice, and asked what he had to say My apprentice
answered, that a man in our employment had induced him to'
assist in abstracting his indentures out of my desk with the
view of taking hint to London.
. . . . .

Mr. Hall a's'ked—" Where are the indentures now ?" and my
apprentice stated that he returned them to are the day before—
(Good Friday.)
Mr. Hall, addressing me, said---013. this is no case to be
brought here—whereupon some one of Mr, Hall's assistants or
clerks seated below him, desired me to move off.
I again requested permission to state particulkirly the circuin-
stances, but Mr. Hall would not hear me, and'a policeman put
his hand upon ,me, and made use of some (at all events) un-
necessary language, to the effect that I might go home now,
and not be bringing such complaints there.
I had no resource but to leave the court quietly, but fully de-
termined, at the same time, to state my case through the press,
and obtain the opinion of others upon the matter.
A person of the name of Alla Kenny was, till a few days ago,
a workman in our employment, receiving a salary of 30s, a
week. He was intrusted with the key of an outer gate leading
to our printing office, in Castle-street. Kenny, being about to
leave our service, nut on very good terms, proposed to our ap-
prentice (who was a valuable hand, entrusted with the key of
the counting house) that they would contrive to get possession
of the counterpart of' his indenture, for the purpose hereafter
mentioned.—Accordingly, on Sunday, the Bth .instant,- (there
being no one then on our premises) Kenny and the apprentice,
by means of their joint keys, got into our counting-house, and,
after searching our files, 5&c., succeeded in abstracting the in-
denture from our desk. The indenture was taken out of, our
desk by this Kenny, and kept by him from that time till he was
going to Dublin (on the 12th instant,) for the purpose of in-
ducing another apprentice (his own brother, a boy of
good
character and talent,) out of our employment there, when
.he
gave the indenture in charge of the apprentice,. however, mak-
ing him promise never to return into us, or to dischise anything
whatever of what had been done by either of them, stating, at
the same time, that he would be back in Liverpool from Dub-
lin in a week, having taken a lawfully bound apprentice from
us there, and that he and the two apprentices'would at once
proceed to London and seek their fortune.
The day after Kenny had lekLiverpool, (Good Friday,)
however, our apprentice relented of his conduct, and, of his
own accord, confessed his error. Upon hearing his statement,
my determination was, if agreeable to the laws of this country,
to get a warrant for the arrest of Kenny in Dublin' and have
him tried in Liverpool for the double offence of theft and com-
bination, and, if guilty, to meet with whatever punishment
might be due to him; however, from the manner in which I
was treated by Mr. Hall and his assistants, I may conclude
that if I seek for redress, it inust be in the city of Dublin, where
the magistrates are generally admired and respected for their
gentlemanly demeanour to all parties with whom their office
brings them in contact, and for the due patience and good tem-
per with which they investizate and decide on all matters which
are submitted totheir judguteut. HENRY SIIAW.
April 16th, 1838.
[We have admitted the foregoing inconsequence of Mr. Shaw's
having , appended his name and address—a rule which we
invariably insist upon, where specific charges are brought
forward against public characters.—E. L. S.]

Mr. Love, the polyphonist, and Mr. Sutton, the ventrilo-
quist, are among the passengers for New York, by the packet-
ship England.
THEATRE. ROYAL.—List evening Mr. Edward Lytton But-.
wer's new play of " The Lady of the Lyons," was brought out
at this theatre for the first time. We have not space or time
for any particular comments, or for any lengthened critique;
but, so far as a first hearing of it enables us to form an opinion,
we think it is a play likely to become a standard favourite.
The plot is full of interest, and is ingeniously developed; and
it abounds with many passages•of: noble sentimentsentiments
calculated to renier the stage the most useful, as well as the
mist attractive medium of instruction and of improvement.
We feel confident that no youth of ingenuous and ardent feeling
could sit and hear the play of "The Lady of Lyons," without
being fired with the same emulation, the same honourable feel-
ings, and the same laudable ambition which crowns with suc-
cess the efforts of Claude Melnotte. The plot of the piece is
briefly this: Claude (Mr. Stuart) is a peasant, and falls in love
with the beautiful but proud Pauline (Miss Faucit). He indites
some poetry to her, which she scorns because proceeding
from' a peasant. His love is turned to a feelieg of re-
venge, under the influence of which, he enters into an agree-
ment with Beauseant, (Mr. Howard) a rich gentleman
of Lyons, who , has been refused by Pauline, ,to win and
marry her, passing himself off as a prince, and Beauseant
providing him the means. The plot succeeds • Madame Des-
chappelles, (Mrs. Clarke) Pauline's mother, is succeeds;
at the
idea of her daughter wedding a prince, and the match is com-
pleted. Pauline, when she discovers that she has married a
peasant is highly enraged, and Claude, whose affection fur her
had returned, consents to a divorce, enters the army, gains
rank by his bravery, and afterwards marries her on equal
terms, and as.an honourable man. The piece was well got up;
and the acting throughout good Mr.. Stuart, Mr. Baker, and
Mrs. Clarke, are especially deserving of approbation for their
clever actin;:. A new Pantomime, " Harlequin in Sicily," for
the Easter holidays, closed the performances. There was a
good house.
LIVE TunnoT.—Under his head, we inserted, on Tuesday
last. a paragraph, on what we considered good authority, con
tradicting a liatement which appeared in the Liverpool Chroni-
cle. We have since ascertained, that the statement 'put forth
in the Chl'onicle was perfectly correct; and we have further to
State, that Mr. Newton, of No. 14, Stilrlin'S fish- market, has,
diiring the present week,- au abundant supply of that delicious
iuxury—live turbot, which, notwithstanding the late violent
gales. he continues to sell at the same low prices as heretofore..
We also understand, that Mr. Newton has taken the Port !lush
and Port Stewart salmon fishery, which will enable him to pro-
vide an abundant supply for the Liverpool market at the most
reasonable prices: