The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-05-03 00:00:00

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TUESDAY MORNING, MAY 3,1 S 53.

THE WEEK.

WITH almost all public interest centered upon the
doings in Parliament, where the important question
of the reduction and imposition of Taxes is still
under discussion, other subjects lose their influence
upon the public mind until the fate of the Budget
having been set at rest, attention may be turned to

other matters. The Conference on :Mercantile Law

took place on Friday, and, with the exception of
those from Manchester, the deputies agreed to a
resolution affirming the advantage and necessity of
establishing local tribunals for commercial questions,
such as we advocated last week. The recommen-
dation of the Manchester deputies to substitute a
system of arbitration, is a mere offshoot from the
crotchet of the Peace Society about international
arbitration ; but the good sense of all the other
members of the Conference prevailed, and Man-
chester was left alone in her glory. Some difficulty
was raised as to the unwillingness of the Legislature
to sanction a peculiar jurisdiction, which might
afford a precedent for other interests demanding a
similar privilege; but there is surely a vast differ-
ence between the commerce of Great Britain, to
which, for extent and importance, history knows no
parallel, and any other interest ; though, in the
instance of Shipping, it is provided for by the
Admiralty Court.

The Council meeting, announced for to-morrow,
will, no doubt, be interfered with by the much
greater attraction of the race for the Chester cup,
and some of our Radical contemporaries are already
angry in anticipation that our Town Councillors
should share in a recreation which will be enjoyed
by many thousands. They may, however, safely
leave the question to be decided at the Roodee, at
Chester, where they will meet with more of their
constituents than they would find in Liverpool, and
the verdict would be sure to be in their favour.

All honour to the House of Lords for vindicating
their own reputation and maintaining the Christian
character of the Legislature, by throwing out the
Jewish Disabilities' Bill, on Friday, by a majority of
164 to 115. We may entertain the highest regard for
our Jewish fellow-subjects, and believe, with the
Earl of SHAFTESBURY, that they are destined in
good time to become the sovereigns of the human
race ; but so long as the laws of our country are
based upon a recognition of Christianity, the Jews
would be in a false position as Legislators, and few
of them, we think, have any ambition to be so du-
biously distinguished.
The negotiation as to the purchase of the Birken-
head Docks by the Liverpool Dock Trustees has
not yet been brought to a conclusion, the repre-
sentatives of the property having to consult with
their co-proprietors as to the amount to be asked
as purchase money. We again repeat that it is
much to be regretted if any extreme notions on
either side interfere with the carrying out of the
proposed transfer. Birkenhead will have much to
gain by the Dock property being placed under
more efficient management, without the (necessary
losses from competition ; and Liverpool must also
gain, as she is in want of Dock accommodation,
and has no available space except at very incon-
venient distances. The Shipping trade of the port
has been considerably increasing, until it has sur-
passed that of the port of London ; and the pro-
babilities are that, as the trade of the country ex-
tends, and new markets are opened, it will still
further increase ; and as more Docks are even now
required, it will be niggard economy to throw
away the opportunity of making such a valuable
acqui's'ition, even if the price demanded should
be something beyond the notions of some of our
Radical economists. With reference to the growing
trade of Liverpool, we may remark that Mr. GAGE
has this week published a very curious and in-
structive chart, showing the tonnage of London
and this port every year, from 1700 to 1852, with
the addition of the population, and the amount
received for Dock dues.

Some amusement was created at the meeting of
the Select Vestry on Tuesday, owing to Mr. Moss,
from his recent domestic literary pursuits, assum-
ing to be a critic. He stated that a tender for beer

was mis-spelt and badly written, but it was found
that the charge originated in an obliquity of vision,
caused by a flaw in his glasses.
The forthcoming opening of the Exhibition in
Dublin has formed an exciting topic, and Liverpool
will send a respectable force to do honour to the
inauguration, which, owing to the present forward-
ness of the preparations, will not, it is believed, be
delayed beyond Thursday week next, the day fixed.
This evening the Mayor entertains a distinguished
party in honour of the event.

THE SPIRIT-RAPPING INFIDELS.—There is a
homage which vice pays to virtue; and in like
manner there appears to be a homage payable from
infidelity to faith. The notorious Robert Owen,
who has spent his life in denying the personality of
the Divine Being, and the moral responsibility of
man, who has denounced Christianity as one of
the greatest curses that have ever befallen mankind,
and marriage as the pest of human society, and
who, in consideration of these distinguished services
to the cause of religion and morality, was presented
to the Queen by Lord Melbourne, and is, to this
day, patronised by Lord Brougham, has given
notice to the world of " a great moral revolution"
which has taken place in his own mind, and " is
about to be effected for the human race." This
announcement is the result of " most important and
gratifying" communications made to him by " in-
Visible but audible persons, purporting to be from
departed spirits." Benjamin Franklin, the late
Duke of Kent, President Jefferson, and his own
"first and most enlightened disciple," Grace
Fletcher, are among the spiritual notabilities with
whom, " through the proceedings of an American
medium," Mr. Owen has been placed en rapport,
and whose visitations have had the effect of making
him exchange his theory of the eternity of matter,
and of the extinction of all individual and conscious
existence by death, for belief in " a future conscious
state of life, existing in a refined material, or what
is called a' spiritual state." Infidelity in its dotage
is far from being an uninstructive spectacle.--John