The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-02-26 00:00:00

LOCAL NEWS.

ASSAULT.—A car-driver, named Edward Barrow, was
yesterday fined 50s. and costs, (or to be imprisoned one
month,) for a violent assault on an old man, who had merely
gone up to obtain the name of the owner of the car, with
which the prisoner had run against and broken his son's
shandry. _

MODEL OF THE LAKE DISTRICTS.—Now that the wea-
ther has burst into beauty and become pleasant, it is to be
hoped that this very excellent and interesting model will be
well supported. The children of the Deaf and Dumb Insti-
tution were allowed to visit the model last week, and we un-'
derstand that many of them, from Ulverston and the neigh-
bourhood, took the most lively interest in examining the
country before them. We recommend a visit to this very
clever work of art.

REPRESENTATION OF MANCIIESTER.—We are glad to
perceive that the conservatives are making the most strenu-
ous efforts for contesting the representation of this boKough,
in case of an early dissolution of parliament. Encouraged
by a division amongst the liberal party, they are about to
bring forward two candidates—namely, Sir George-Murray
and Richard Entwistle, Esq. (the son-in-law of Edward
Lloyd, Esq.)

SERIOUS COMPLAINT AGAINST A LETTER CARRIER.—
Yesterday, at the Police-court, a letter carrier, named Joseph
Holloway, was placed at the bar on a charge of having de-
tained a number of letters, which he ought to have delivered
on the previous day. The inspector of letter carriers from
the postoffice said that he had gone to the prisoner's house,
and there found 180 letters. The prisoner said his round
was more than he could accomplish, and that he had made a
complaint to that effect. The inspector admitted that the
prisoner had complained, but added, that the round was not
greater than that given to others. Mr. Rushton said it was
the duty of the prisoner to return the letters to the postoffice
when he found he could not duly deliver them. The charge
was a serious one, and he must be remanded.
TRIBUTE OF ESTEEM.—The members of Mr. Jaffe's
Royal Liverpool Lancer Band having met together at the
house of his son, the Lancer Tavern, Old Haymarket, a few
evenings ago, it was determined amongst them to pay a tri-
bute of respect to their worthy leader ; a very handsome sub-
scription was immediately entered into, for the purpose of
presenting him with a magnificent silver medal, surmounted
with gold, in the shape of a star. Mr. Doke, our talented
townsman, will in the course of a few days have completed
this present, and will allow it to be placed in his window a
few days previous to its presentation. From such hands the
" star" must indeed be brilliant. I recommend the lovers of
the unique to avail themselves of the opportunity of inspect-
ing this chaste but splendid specimen of, art.—From a Cur_
respondent.

I AWFULLY SUDDEN DEATn.—Yesterday, at the police
court, Mr. Moss, pawnbroker, informed Mr. Rushton, that
a poor man named Joseph Hill, who was in the habit of occa-
sionally calling on his (Mr. M.'s) mother for relief, and who
had yesterday been sent from that office to the parish office
but refused relief there ; had that morning gone to informant's
house, and dropped down and died at the door, of what ap-
peared to be destitution of the necessaries of life. This
statement, which appeared to involve a serious charge against
the relieving officers, was, however, so far as they were con-
cerned, speedily disposed of. It appeared from the evidence
pf Mr. Evans and another gentleman, as well as of Mr.
Parkinson, of the Bridewell, that the deceased was taken
from the streets, on Tuesday, to Bridewell, for safety, as he
appeared to be in want. On Wednesday, when he applied
for relief, he was paid is, and told to return in the morning
(yesterday), and he would be sent to the Infirmary, as it then
appeared he was labouring under asthma. He remained in
the Bridewell till half-past six on that night. He had also
previously received 2s. as relief. Under the circumstances
Mr. Rushton said that lamentable as was the poor man's
death, no blame was attributable to the parish officers, and
the case terminated.

THEATRE ROYAL.—As Van Amburgh and his lions w
shortly leave Liverpool, no time should be allowed to elapm
by those who wish to see his wonderful performances.
" Venice Preserved" was played on Tuesday, and last night
A Cure for the Heartache ;" to-night, " Laugh when you
can" will put the risible faculties of many into action.

THE POST-OFFICE GALLERY.—Since writing the notice
of the pictures that have been lately added to the Post-office
Gallery Collection, we understand that several more first-
rate works of art have arrived, and will be hung up to-day.
Amongst them are fine paintings by Guido, Caracci, Mor-
land, &c. We sincerely hope that this undertaking will an-
swer. We believe that the proprietor only wishes it to pay
the expenses. It has so far been well supported. The walls
now exhibit works of art at least worth £20,000 to £30,000,
and the gallery, in point of excellence, may compete with
many of the first collections in the kingdom.
PROTESTANT REGISTRATION OFFICE.—We omitted in
our last to direct the attention of our readers to the regis-
tration office now established in Elliott-street, by Mr. Lea-
therbarrow, for the purpose of providing the public with
respectable and Protestant servants. We have no doubt
many of our friends will be glad to avail themselves of this
excellent method of procuring fit individuals for their domes-
tic requirements.

DISEASES OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN.—We beg to draw
attention to the very liberal offer made by Mr. Cronin, in
his advertisement which appears elsewhere in our paper to-
day. We have heard of some very remarkable cases which
Mr. Cronin has had under his care, and tin recommending
him to the notice of our friends, we believe we can do so with
confidence.

ST. DAVID'S DAY.—The celebration of this day by the
loyal inhabitants of ancient Britain will take place as usual.
After a procession and examination of the children in the
Welsh school-room, the friends of Cambria will adjourn to
the Clayton Arms Hotel, Clayton-square, to partake of the
repast prepared for them. On the following day, we per-
ceive, a meeting will take place for the purpose of petitioning
the legislature against the abstraction of the Welsh ecclesias-
tical revenues for any other purpose than that for which they
were originally designed.
THE LIVER.—The " Church-Street Drawing Room," as
this theatre has been often called, has been well attended
during the week. Aladdin has been cleverly got up. We
earnestly recommend Mr. Rogers to give up those abomina-
ble deep tragedy airs he indulges in. He must recol-
lect that he is not roaring across the sawdust of
an Amphitheatre, but in the Liver Theatre, where,
to use Shakespere's excellent advice, he must " use all gen-
tly. In " Ten Thousand a Year," instead of acting like a
plain country gentleman turned out of his estate, he delivered
the text as if he was doing the awful in a SansPareil melo-
drama.

A SHIP OVERTURNED IN THE GRAVING DOCK.—A
rather novel accident occurred on Monday last to the ship
Baboo, Capt. Forrester, from Calcutta, at this port. The
vessel, it appears, was recently placed iu the Canning Graving
Dock, where she had been repaired and coppered. On
Monday she was ready to take in cargo, and was about to
leave the Graving Dock for that purpose. Unfortunately
she was not sufficiently ballasted, and, as the water rose
upon her, she suddenly sprung up and immediately fell over
on her beam ends. The ballast that was in her hold slipped
over, which, with the water which rushed into her, contri-
buted to fix her with increased firmness in her awkward po-
sition. None of the workmen or sailors sustained any in-
jury, and active measures were immediately resorted to in the
erection of mechanical purchases, &c. to replace the vesselin
her natural posture, which, it is expected, will be effected
without damage. The rumour of the accident soon spread
far and wide, and hundreds of persons visited the spot for
the purpose of witnessing a sight so novel and extraordinary.
ST. HELEN'S SPRING FAIL.—The first spring fair in this
thriving and fast-increasing town took place yesterday week.
At ten o'clock in the morning a procession was formed, and
headed by a band of music, accompanied the authorities to
proclaim the fair according to the ancient custom. There
was a tolerably good show of all kinds of stock, with rather
a lack of buyers. In those brought to be exhibited for the
premiums offered by the fair committee, there was a manl-
iest improvement since last fair. The judges appointed to
decide upon the merits of the different animals were Mr.
Scotson, of Toxteth-park ; Mr. Almond, of Standish • and
Mr. Wood, veterinary surgeon, Wigan. Owing to indispo-
sition, the latter gentleman was prevented from attending,
but the other two gentlemen very satisfactorily discharged
the important duty imposed upon them.
ASSAULT.—We alluded in our last to an assault which had
taken place between a fireman of the West of England
Junction Company and an inspector of police, at the fire in
Rumford-street, on Sunday. The parties were brought be-
fore Mr. Rushton on Tuesday, and after the following ob-
servations he dismissed the case :—" This is a case against
Inspector M`Donald, for having assaulted Mulholland, and
deprived the men of the West of England Fire-office of their
plug. He had not acted on his own responsibility, but from
the instructions of the head constable, and did so for the
purpose of obtaining a supply of water which was necessary
for the suppression of the fire. But if any man interferes in
such matters without an authority, he makes himself amena-
ble to the law and is brought before me, I should visit him
with the most severe punishment. But Mr. Whitty had given
his instructions, and the West of England men ought to have
made way for him, as it is in evidence that they knew that
they were an impediment to the head constable. The cor-
poration have vested powers in the head constable, and I
wish to be understood, that they must not be interfered with
at all. If the parties under him outstep their duty they are
amenable to this court. But in no case, when acting under
the orders of the head constable, are they to be molested. It
appears to me, that this is a case of jealousy on the part of
the West of England firemen."—The charge was preferred
by the fireman.
ROBBERY OF VALUABLE GOODS FROM A WAREHOUSE.—
At the Police Court, yesterday, Peter Taylor, Geo. Mercer,
James Hughes, Catharine Taylor, Jane Woods, and Catharine
Ashcroft, were placed at the bar, on suspicion of being con-
cerned in robbing a warehouse of some valuable silks, &c.
It appeared that on the 11th or 12th of the present month, a
warehouse-room belonging to Messrs. Wm. Rose and Co.,
in Tower-gardens, was broken open ; a case was also broken,
and a quantity of the articles carried off, while others were
left lying about, doubtless in the hurry of the depredator or
depredators to escape.—Philip Flinn, warehouseman to
Messrs. Rose and Co. (merchants and forwarding agents),
said that he locked the warehouse-room in which the goods
were shortly after 12 o'clock at noon, on the 11th instant,
and all the cases were then in good order. On the following
day he received notice that something was wrong, and on
going to the spot found some pieces of silk handkerchiefs,
&c., strewed about. A man employed by Messrs. Bayley
Brothers, and who had gone to the warehouse for weights and
scales, saw a silk handkerchief-piece lying at the door of the
warehouse-room, and gave the alarm, and a poker was soon
afterwards found near the door, also a chisel, broken in the
lock. The room was then entered, a case was found broken
open, various articles carried off, and some left lying about.
The goods, it appeared, had been received from Glasgow.
Several pawnbrokers' assistants appeared, who produced silk
handkerchief-pieces, or separate handkerchiefs, pledged by
one or other of the prisoners. The house of Taylor, in Be-
vington-bush, was searched, and a quantity of silk handker-
chief ends, or fents, were found stowed in a cradle by the
police-officer. Several pawntickets, to correspond with the
articles pledged, were also produced and sworn to by the
pawnbrokers. Some silk handkerchiefs were also found at
the house kept by one of the male prisoners, and at that of
another more of the web ends, between the bed and the mat-
tress. The evidence was not so strong against Mercer as
against the others, but strong suspicion nevertheless attached
to him, and they were all remanded, till the parties from
Glasgow, who could identify the articles, could be brought
round to give evidence. There were also found, along with
handkerchiefs, at the house of one of the prisoners, a hand-
some piece of plate, chased, and intended probably as a small
sugar-basin. This article is not part of the property taken
from the warehouse.

BIRKENHEAD FAIR, TUESDAY.—This fair being a new
one, and some doubt and uncertainty having existed as
to its being held at all, caused the attendance to be rather
slack. There is no doubt, however, from the great faci-
lities offered by the railway to Chester, that if the Birken-
head fairs were made more public they would be extremely
well attended, while the excellent prices at all times obtained
on all descriptions of stock ought to prove a sufficient encou-
ragement to the farmers in the neighbourhood to bring down
their produce. In the cow fair we saw some very likely
calvers, at £l6 to £22. There were two or three fat beasts,
which fetched high prices, varying from £22. to £25. There
were very few sheep, but high rates were obtained for them.
There were a few pigs, for which 30s. to 40s. were asked, too
high prices for their value. In the horse fair were many
very
shown, but high prices were asked for all sorts. If this fair
were well supported, we are confident that it would become
one of some consequence. We saw many respectable dealers
from Liverpool, who would doubtless have laid out their
money if prices could have tempted them. We were sur-
prised to find that there was no cheese pitched. Consider-
ing the very excellent prices obtained at the last fair, we should
have thought it would have been worth the while of the
farmers to bring their dairies forward. More publicity must
be given to the next fair, and there is no doubt that the at-
tendance will be better.

FATAL ACCIDENT.—On Tuesday evening, about half-past
seven o'clock. police sergeant Beckerson, 22 A, was on duty
in Hyde Park, when he observed a chimney belonging to No,
4, Hamilton-place, on tire. He went to the house to apprize
the inmates, and knocked at the door, but no one answered
it, and whilst standing there be heard something fall very
heavily in.the hall, accompanied with a great smashing of
glass. The door was afterwards opened, and the sergeant
saw a man lying on his face, on the floor of the hall, sur-
rounded by an immense pool of blood. He turned him on
his back, but the poor fellow was to all appearance dead. Dr.
Fuller, of Piccadilly, was sent for, and that gentleman said
that life had become extinct the moment the deceased fell.
The deceased was afterwards removed to St. George's work-
house. It appeared that the deceased, whose name is James
Bexford, was under-butler to Henry Bevan, Esq., of No. 4,
Hamilton-place, and had ascended to the roof for the pur-
pose of putting something down the chimney, when his foot
slipped and he fell through the skylight into the hall, where
he was found.

ANOTHER DUEL.—An affair of the above nature took
place on Thursday, the 18th instant, between a Mr. L. and a
Dr. H. The principals, their seconds, and an eminent sur-
geon of this city, whose services had been secured for the
occasion, met, by appointment, about two miles beyond
Penicuik. Here they were unable to carry their purposes
into execution, being watched and followed from the inn by
two men who appeared to suspect their object. Upon this,
a move was made back to Penicuik, where, by means of
each party leaving the inn separately, and proceeding into
the wood by different routes, they escaped observation. A
difficulty now a use concerning the mode in which the duel
was to be conducted, Dr. H. insisting, through his friend,
that it should be in the French style, where the parties
are placed back to back, and the signal being given, each
advances a certain number of paces—previously agreed on
—turns, and fires. This difficulty being disposed
of by an
appeal to " a toss," which was won by Dr. H.'s friend,
the French mode was adopted. The seconds then retired
considerably to the right side of the combatants—the signal
being given, Dr. H. rapidly paced his steps, and turning,
fired; but in his eagerness to gain the advantage of firing
first, he discharged his pistol before he had turned wholly
round, consequently his bullet passed between the two sec-
onds. Mr. L.'s ball passed within a few inches of the doc-
tor's head. The parties fired a second time without effect,
the usual mode being this time adopted. Dr. H. now yielded
to the original demands made by Mr. L., and signed a writ-
ten document to that effect. We understand the affair arose
in consequence of a dispute concerning the right to a disco-
very in minute anatomy, clearing up certain physiological
phenomena hitherto inexplicable. This manner of settling
a dispute must appear, we should hope, even to the parties
themselves, both foolish and culpable. Although a duel has
been fought, has it been ascertained
I%scerta_in.red who was the real disco-
verer of the physiological fact? , e suspect not.--Edinburgh
Evening Post.
SERIOUS OUTRAGE.—We are sorry to have to record
another instance of those villainous and cowardly acts, which,
on too many occasions, have had their rise among the dis-
contented colliers. On Tuesday last some malicious person
or persons, between ten and eleven o'clock, discharged some/
fire arms, loaded with bullets and slugs, through one of the
windows in Mr. Peace's house in Haigh, with intent to kill
or maim an inmate of the house, who was at the time
closing the window previous to his retiring to rest. We un-
derstand that a clue has been already obtained to the perpe-
trators of this diabolical outrage, but we refrain, from saying
more on this head, lest, by doing so, we should frustrate or
impede the attempts which are now making, by our active
and vigilant police, to capture the offenders. Fifty pounds
reward is offered by Mr. Peace, to any person who may give
such information as will lead to the conviction of tie person
or, persons who perpetrated this atrocious act.—Wigan
Gazette.

SKETCHES IN PARLIAMENT.—No. I

(For the Liverpool Standard,)
DEBATE ON LORD MORPETH'S IRISH REGIS-

TRATION BILL.-MONDAY, FEB. 22

The " obstruction" of Lord Stanley's bill, for reforming
the present corrupt system of registering voters in Ireland,
commenced this evening in the House of Commons, and the
gallery and the space below the bar, was filled at an early
hour

An unusual degree of excitement w•as raised by the

announcement, which-had been pretty generally circulated

by the ministerial party, that upon the issue of this evening's
debate would depend the fate of Lord Melbourne's govern-

With their usual adroitness, the ministry had suc-

ceeded in gaining, for their own measure, precedence over

that of the member for North Lancashire ; and should they

fail in procuring a majority for its second reading, it was
deemed scarcely probable that they would attempt any fur-

ther serious impediment to his lordship's bill, the second
reading of which is fixed for Wednesday.

The Speaker had taken the chair, and some preliminary
business had been disposed of before I succeeded in getting

into the house

Amongst others, the petition from Liver.

pool, signed by 27,00 G of the inhabitants, had been already
presented by Lord Stanley. From the usual sources of in-

formation, I find, however, that the petition in question,

far as regards the number of the signatures attached to it
is nothing compared with what the O'Connellite ministry can
produce upon any Irish question. One retition had been
previously presented, in favour of the ministerial bill, from
Dublin, signed by 200,000 persons ! and two from Cork

signed by 78,000 each ! ! The " hereditary bondsmen " will,
some of these days no doubt, be mustering their full corn-

plement of seven millions of signatures to a petition for
repeal, which would perhaps be a document quite as genuine
as those from either of the places in question.

The coup-d' ceuil, presented by the house, when, the order
of the day having been moved for the second reading of Lord
Morpeth's bill, the noble member for North Lancashire,
arose to move that it be read that day six months, was ex-
tremely imposing. The ministerial and the cross benches
were moderately filled ; but the attendance of members on
the opposition side of the house was overwhelming. There

is little in the interior of the House of Commons itself to
excite interest. The associations attached to those walls,
which have re-echoed the stirring eloquence of the leading
spirits of the last generation—of Pitt and Fox, of Burke and
Chatham—no longer exist. Yet it is impossible to gaze upon
such an assemblage as that which was last night met together
within the walls of the present House of Commons, without
feeling proud of our native land, and of her noble institu-
At one moment the eye would rest upon the lofty

features of a descendant of the old nobility of the land—of
one whose sires had fought at Cressy or at Agincourt—whose
name had descended in the page of history, from the wars
of the rival houses of York and Lancaster, to rise again in
undying lustre in the present age ; at another upon the more
homely and less distinguished face of one whom his talents,
his industry, his enterprise, or his gallantry had contributed
to place in the senate of his native country. In either case
the object of contemplation is almost equally gratifying. In the
one we are made to feel that the " aspiring blood" of
England's ancient chivalry will not " sink in the ground;''
and in the other by the working of our glorous constitution,
the prize of a noble ambition is still attainable by the hum-
blest of our fellow subjects.
I will not attempt to follow in detail the arguments, or to
aaracterise in its general features, the splendid effect of par-
liamentary eloquence, with which Lord Stanley occupied the
attention of the house for a period of nearly three hours.
Although upon a question necessarily filled with statistical
details, and to he handled only with sober and somewhat dry
reasoning, the interest which it excited in the able hands of
the noble lord never flagged for a moment. One after ano-
ther, the misrepresentations which ministerial ingenuity and
mendacity have endeavoured for the last six months to attach
to the measure, brought forward by his lordship last session,
were stripped from it by his trenchant and keen eloquence,
and their authors held up by his relentless gripe to the
mockery of the house and of mankind ; whilst, at the same
time, every sophism, which the utmost stretch of ministerial
cunning has endeavoured to hang around their own com-
peting measure, was torn from it by the force of irresistible
argument, or chased away by playful, yet cutting satire. Not
a shred of concealment was allowed to cover the features or
the limbs of the changeling, which the impure hand of cor-
ruption is endeavouring to substitute for the present de-
nounced and demoralising system. The " spirits blue,
white, and Grey," by whose art it was to be clothed in gaudy
and enticing colours, shrunk from beneath the waving of the
enchanter's wand, and left their charge—" monstrum, hor-
ribile, ingens informe"—to emerge to the contemplation of
the world in his naked and impure shape ; whilst the darker
spirit which animates the great prompter of the ministerial
puppets, for a moment, seemed to desert his impenetrable
front, as at the magic touch of omnipotent truth, another
kindred spirit of old " fled howling; and with him fled the
shades of night."

A great portion of your readers have already enjoyed oppor-
tunities of listening to Lord Stanley, and of estimating his
talent as an orator, beyond the walls of parliament ; but it is
indispensably necessary to listen to him within, to be enabled
to form a just idea of his transcendant powers. As a debater
his lordship is admitted to be without an equal in the present
day ; and it is almost impossible to imagine that on any pre-
vious occasion he can have excelled his display of last night.
However difficult it may be to particularize any portion of an
address—which was forcible and effective throughout—as
being more than ordinarily striking, yet there were undoubt-
edly such portions, which in the delivery gained additional
force from the manner of the speaker and the evidence which
it afforded of their being prompted by the circumstances and
the position of the moment. Amongst these I may mention
his calm and clear display of the close analogy between those
parts of the ministerial bill which affect the registration and
the clauses so vehemently opposed in his own measure of last
session. When collating these similarities and reminding the
occupants of the ministerial benches of their former recorded
opinions in opposition to them, as disfranchising and as op-
pressive to the people of Ireland, the excruciating satire con-
veyed by his speaking features, as he glanced his eye from
one to another of his late fierce denouncers, was calculated to
increase the crushing severity of his language, and even Lord
Alorpeth himself, the jaded and servile tool of a shameless
and tyrant master, appeared to wince under the merited cas-
tigation which it inflicted.

The most effective passage, however, was that in which

the speaker exposed the analogy between the appropriation
clause of the Melbourne ministry and the £5 qualification
" tacked" to the present bill as a definition of the franchise,
which he showed to have been adopted in order to secure the
measure from the possibility of being passed into a law, and
by this means to perpetuate the iniquitous alliance by which
ministers are at present " propped" up in their unstable
seats. It is difficult, indeed, to conceive how any of the
ministerial party could escape the conclusion, so full of hu-
miliating recollections, to which his lordship reluctantly
dragged them ; or get rid of the degrading consciousness that
by giving their support to so palpable and transparent a trick
as the measure before them, they were in reality pandering to
dishonest and mendacious legislation, and doing their puny
utmost to uphold one of the most fertile systems of fraud and
collusion which ever was permitted to blacken the face of a
civilized and Christian country.
Most deeply do I regret my inability to convey within the
limits of this imperfect sketch even a tolerable idea of its
most prominent subject. In part, however, that object can
be effected by a careful perusal and study of the entire ad-
dress of the noble lord ; and to such a perusal I would
earnestly invite those of your readers who desire information
of the ectire details and principles of a question, the decision
of which is, in all :probability, destined to be productive of
such important results to the social welfare, and, perhaps,
to the peace, of the empire.
The noble lord was succeeded in the debate—it would be

a mockery to say that he was replied to—by one of the most
feeble and shallow of his party, Mr. C. Wood, the member

This gen-

for Halifax, and brother-in-law of Lord Howick
tleman, or rather these two gentlemen, it will be remem-
bered, enacted together during the last session the character
of a parliamentary see-saw ; and of Mr. Wood himself I may
candidly express my regret that his person has so far out-
grown his mind as to render indecorous the innocent recrea-
tion afforded by a plank or a hobby horse, for which he is so
eminently qualified. That his rambling and faltering vindi-
cation of his own consistency was listened to by any portion
of the house can be attributed solely to a curiosity entertained
as to the why and how far he is disposed to jump round during
the present session ; and this feeling was fully gratified. The
mental optics of Mr. Wood have, by some strange process,
arrived at the discovery that the bill of Lord Morpeth, so far
as the registration clauses are concerned, is identical with
that of Lord Stanley which he himself supported last session,
and the noble Secretary for Ireland as vehemently opposed—
a conclusion highly flattering no doubt to the consistency (!)
of the latter ; and, with respect to the tack of a five pound
qualification, Mr. Wood is prepared to consider the propriety
of altering the amount in committee. Does the poor young
man imagine that the ministry, or their master, will ever
allow him the opportunity of making the attempt ? The
glimmer of even his feeble intellect, however, has not been
without its use. A straw thrown up will serve to shew the
direction of the wind ; and the present oscillation of the
member for Halifax is a sufficient indication that the passing
of Lord Morpeth's bill in its present shape, even through
the House of Commons, is a hopeless impossibility.
I must pass over the intervening speakers, (although to one
of them, Mr. Litton, it is an injustice to do so,) and proceed
to
fthe concluding speech of the night, that of Lord Morpeth.
Of
this remarkably inefficient effusion the reports of the
daily Papers have conveyed a fair and just idea; and I will
inconclusive
fatigue your readers by entering into a detail of its various
attempts at reasoning. I doubt if any of your
readers had
hatl4reve: the gratification of seeing the celebrated
have done Liston, perform in a tragedy. If they could
how far they
might arrive at a tolerably accurate notion
be ado the suhsstnce of a speech from Lord Morpeth could
rned by
the
by the dignity of graces of utterance, or enhanced in interest
Differing in these demeanouressentials
possessed by the noble speaker.
from that of Lord Stanley, the
speech of the Secretarytr Ireland is infinitely better in the
perusal than it was ja
hearing; and yet under these un-
equal circumstances I should be quite content to leave the

question at issue to be decided by the result of the same at-
tentive perusal which I have requested for that of the noble
lord.

The speech of Lord Stanley leaves not a feature of the
whole question unreviewed, is characterised by calm reason-
ing and logical deduction ; that of Lord Morpeth searches
nothing, decides nothing ; is neither calm nor dignified ;
abounds in the frippery of ornament, in personal invective,
in dolorous attempts to be merry and satirical, and is altoge-
ther unsustained and artificial. In one part, and one alone
—the concluding part of his address—is contained anything
worthy of serious notice ; and even that portion was listened
to by a majority of the house with evident repugnance.
The passage to which I refer is the implied threat held out
over the heads of the supporters of Lord Stanley's bill, of an
outbreak in Ireland as the result of its being passed. How
well and how briefly might an English conservative reply :
" You fostered by your misrepresentations of the principle
and operation of that bill the repugnance which you allege to
exist in Ireland against it. You fostered the agitation of
repeal as its alternative, from which you now affect to anti-
cipate danger to the constitution. You now sit upon those
benches the acknowledged slaves of that very traitor who is,
you presume to hint, prepared to precipitate a bloody rebel-
lion, and you shall not be suffered to shelter yourselves be-
hind your own wrong. If a necessity exists for the conces-
sion of such a measure as the present—if it can be shewn to
be required by justice or to be beneficial to the interests of
the United Kingdom—let it be conceded. But a British le-
gislature, mindful of the past, must not again grant to the
threats of a ruffian, his priest•lcd millions, or his crawling
and abject ministerial slaves, what they are not satisfied to
yield to reason and to the demands of the constitution.

" Once before, let it be remembered, such an unhappl•
concession has been made, and mark its results. You, Lord
Morpeth, and your unprincipled colleagues, are now, by this
very bill, attempting to trample upon the last and the most
important of those securities which were guaranteed to the
people of Great Britain as its accompaniment, by endeavour-
ing to Nubstitute for the disfranchised forty-shilling free-
holders rf Ireland A FIVE-POUND PAUPER CONSTITUENCY !
Beware, my lord. lest England be driven to put forward HER
claim for JUSTICE!"
I am warned by my space to conclude, although it was my
intention to have trespassed upon your readers with a further
portion of the debate. I will, however, be enabled, 1 trust,
to give you the remainder of my observations for your Tues-
day's publication.

THE PROTECTOR SOCIETY.

$` Neither a borrower nor a lender be.".

P-HA M LET.

We had proposed adding a few more observations to those
we made last week on the legal doctrines propounded by this
society, and by Mr. Bretherton, in his pamphlet ; but since
then Lord John Russell's new registration bill for England
has been read a second time, atd as it proposes to do away
with the condition of paying the Queen's taxes altogether,
and alters the time for the payment of rates, it is a fair pre-
sumption that the reformers have felt that the existing law is
too much for them, and cannot be overleaped by any such
contrivances as the Protector Society has attempted to make
use of in Liverpool. Their champion, Mr. Bretherton, it is
true, has been fighting their battle through forty-eight mortal
pages ; but we have already shown that he fights shy of the
question in front throughout. We have now done with his
law, which being no better than a mere gossamer thread of
sophistry from first to last, could not really endure a second
attack, even the weakest, from the fortress of common sense.
It may be well to notice, however, those general powers of
reasoning, as well as argument, with which he has essayed to
defend the cause.

Desirous to put the Protectorites on the vantage ground of
virtue and patriotism, he argues (p. 30) that it is an honour-
able act to " stimulate men to profit by the privileges which
the constitution offers to their attainment." This being
granted, we are to learn how the Protectorites apply the
stimulus, or what is the sort of instrumentality they use for
the purpose of stimulating ? The answer is, lending men
money to pay their rates; that is the " stimulus," according
to Mr. Bretherton. Why, we would call this not stimulating
at all, but DOING that act for another which he ought to do
himself. He is not stimulated to work ; his work is done
for him. And this lending and borrowing system is what
Mr. Bretherton champions, recommends, and eulogises as
the most constitutional and patriotic proceeding possible.
He disapproves of giving the poor man the money to pay his
rates out and out; that he conceives would be ".bribing and
corrupting him ;" nor would he have the poor man pawning
or disposing of his goods in order to pay them ; that he con-
ceives would be allowing him to be too hard run. No, neither
of these methods will do ; the Protector system of lending is
the only thing. His words are these :

" I conceive, and, I think, rightly, if there is any one
mode of rendering assistance to the worthy, which can be
held justifiable, it is by loan, when, by the undertaking to
repay the amount advanced, the party incurs a responsibility,
proportionate to the benefit received, and is not bribed, to
seek a franchise he will make no sacrifice to possess, either
directly, by a gift of the money to him, or indirectly, by his
receiving the amount, and handing over some worthless
chattel."

There is a little of that obscurity which belongs to the
sublime in the latter part of this sentence ; but we content
ourselves with being able to perceive that the gentleman
means to say, in plain language, that there is " nothing like"
—not leather, but " lending." This is certainly something
new. Some of our old moralists have laid it down, that for
every shilling a man borrows he forfeits so much of his inde-
pendence, and becomes pro tanto the slave of the lender ;
but the advocate of modern protectorism maintains that this
is the very way to make him independent, and to raise up in
the community an independent body of electors ! It would
be unpardonable of us to waste time or space in refuting non-
sense like this ; besides, as we have already observed, the
question is virtually given up by the introduction of a new
registration bill, in which the payments at present found so
inconvenient to " Reformers" are excused. The following
notice of its details, from the able speech delivered by Sir E.
Sugden on the occasion, may be interesting to our readers:—
" The practice of registration would in future not be con-
fined to one particular part of the year, as now, but would ex-
tend, at the will of the registering barristers, over the whole
year, interfering with quarter sessions, assizes, Parliament
itself, and the other public business of the country. Nor
was the claim to registration to rest, as heretofore, on the
period of the payment of rates and taxes, but on the particu-
lar period of time at which the judge should think proper to
give notice of his intention to register the voters of any par-
ticular district. The right of voting was, moreover, to be
placed on an entirely different footing to that on which it was
placed by the Reform Act, under the noble lord's newfan-
gled bill. The bill before the house contained a clause by
which it was attempted to alter the franchise in England. It
would have been well if the noble lord had done his work in
a more manly, open manner; he, on the contrary, had at-
tempted to effect a great and radical change in the most
skulking and secret manner, by leaving out certain words in
the former franchise bill, and putting.in others having a di-
rectly contrary effect, though so insignificant as not to catch
the eye. The 26th clause of the bill contained a provision,
altering altogether the Reform Bill, the noble lord's " final
measure"—(hear)—by rendering it no longer necessary to
have paid the Queen's taxes in order to be entitled to be put
upon the registry."