The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-07-13 00:00:00

THURSDAY

THE LIVERYOOI4 STANDARD.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

The county courts are to receive great extension of
Tower. County insolvancy is to be placed within their
-scope, and the amount of debts allowed to be tried will be
extended to £5O. ' The lawyers do not like this. _

The Queen has been plea;ed to appoint William Scrope
Ayrton, of the Middle Temple, London, Esq., Barrister-
at-Law, to be one of the Commissioners of the Court of
Bankruptcy to act in the prosecution of Fiats in Bank-
ruptcy in the country.
ACTION AGAINST THE PROPRIETORS OF THE " DAILY
NEWS."—In the Court of Common Pleas, on Thursday,
Mr. Powell, formerly one of the sub-editors of the Daily
News, obtained X5OO damages from the proprietors of
that paper, for dismissing him from his situation.
Powell, it appeared, was engaged for two years certain,
at £l5 a-week, but the proprietors had reason to suspect
that he countenanced a garbled report of a case in the
Bristol Bankruptcy Court, to gratify the spleen of ano-
•ther gentleman in the office, and deemed it necessary,
for the character of the paper, that he should be dis-
missed. The jury found that the report was not garbled,
.and granted the damages named.
INSOLVENT CIRCUITS.—Home : H. R. Reynolds, Esq.
—Dover, November 5 ; Canterbury 8 ; Maidstone, 9 ;
Lewes, 26 ; Hertford, December 3.—Midland : J. G.
Harris, Esq.—Chelmsford, October 26 • Colchester, 27 ;
Ipswich, 28 ; Yarmouth, 30 ; Norwich, November 1 ;
Lynn, 2 ; Bury, 4 ; Cambridge, 5 ; Huntingdon, 6 • Pe-
terborough, 8; Oakham, 9; Lincoln, 10 ; Nottingham,
12 ; Derby, 15 ; Lichfield, 16 ; Stafford, 17; Shrewsbury,
19 ; Warwick, 22 ; Coventry, 24 ; Leicester, 26 ; North-
ampton, 29 ; Bedford, 30 ; Aylesbury, December 2
Northern :

—Sheffield, October 16 ;
27; Richmond, 30 ;

CORRESPONDENCE.

TY OF ELECTORS AT THE PRESENT
IMPORTANT CRISIS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE' LIVERPOOL STANDARD.
DEAR SlR,—There was, perhaps. never a period in the his
tory of our country when the motto of the immortal Nelson,
" England expects every man will do his duty" was more ap-
plicable than at the present important crisis : seeing we shall
shortly be called upon to exercise the political power with
which we are intrusted by the constitution of this free coun-
try—the Elective Franchise.

In this land of freedom, the feelings and prevailing senti-
ments of the people, duly expressed by their representatives
in Parliament, will never fail for any long nprina 'net With

uasy avnii, pc, iuu, WM.
a degree of power quite irresistable upon those in whose hands
out beloved Sovereign may place the reins of Executive Go.
vernment. Hence the importance of the Electors forming a
correct judgement upon those momentous subjects which are
likely to occupy the future attention of the Legislature, and
upon which the prosperity of the nation may greatly depend.

duty in tit(

aresent crisis of 01

tut tease hint threatening aspect 0 the Roman Catholh
Church, both at home and in our colonial possessions. Thi
growth of any system of religious opinions, howeVer erroneous,
or the zeal of those who may advocate them, are not in them
selves matters to create political alarm ; they should ratY
lat- 'he '

,cimm the friends of froth to greater exertions, and cal
forth larger efforts of a counteractive character, but the growth
of Popery, being in reality the advance of a great politica
corporation, (the Romish Hierarchy) into power and influence.
cannot be thus. revived. The Church of Rome essentially in.
tolerant, she has ever warred against the liberties of the world
and her triumphs can only be secured by enslavinx the ronsci.

private judge

constitution of this country

it by no means consistent, states-
man of our day, "broken in upon ;" and by that act persons
bearing spiritual if not temporal allegiance to a foreign prince
and prelate, are admitted to the unrestrained exercise of politi-
cal power within these realms; succession to the throne, and

one or two nig,n offices of state only excepted. The principle
upon which this admission was founded, was scarcely vindi-
cated even by the authors and supporters of that measure;
they deemed it to have become expedient, and with their expe-
diency justified its enactment without even an appeal to the
constituency of the country. Under this so far altered consti-

tution, our legislature no longer takes cognizance of ,truth or
error in matters of religion—all are equal in the eyes of the
law. But, as regards the aspiring Church of Rome, the evil
does not stop here. Popery first tolerated, then enfranchised,
has now become Popery favoured ; endowments have been
granted from the national funds for its support; more exten-

.establishment; unl(
these realms to 'a se

liberty, the only real sa

reat principle of civil
:guard of our freedom

take an immediate and determined stand of resistance again,
the further progress of these evils, and to refuse to vote for an
man at the approaching election, be his party. his influence.

himself to op]

ment or encou
I trust then,

of •Liverpool
Churchmen ai

pendent and S

cement io the Church of Rome.*
r, that the sound-hearted Protestant elector
do their duty at this important crisis; the
IVesleyans, Presbyterian and Baptist, Inde
eder, will lay aside all their prejudices, am

ng to Parliament our sown(
)igby Mackworth, and any
_ _

le forward

A PROTESTANT ELECTO

July 10,1847

* See an important address, lately issued by the Christiar.
Infiw

Society

THE BIRKENHEAD DOCKS

The following is the suppressed letter alluded to in our
report of the proceedings of the Birkenhead Dock Com-
missioners meeting on Wednesday week :

- London, July 7, 1847.
" GENTLEMEN,—The extraordinary resolution which you
came to on the 29th ult., and the extraordinary circumstances
under which it was brought forward, called for some remarks
from me, the more especially as it was supposed by some that
I was a concurring party, and notwithstanding that your chair-
man disavowed, at the meeting of the committee on the 2d inst..

that he had sanctioned any such belief.
" When I accepted, with your chairman, the appointment of
prosecuting the dock bills in parliament, it was with the dis-

through as nearly as possible as they had passed the Commons,
and that we should not withdraw them. After the second read-
ing, it was suggested by your chairman that, as there were se-
veral petitions against the bills, it should be endeavoured to
have them withdrawn, and Mr. Lloyd was instructed to ascer-
tain if this object could be attained.
" This proposal met a decided refusal, Mr. Loyd having ob-
served that only two points were raised in the several petitions,
viz the question of title, and that of permanent level. It oc-
curred to me,-that, if the opponents should agree to limit their

whatever is attributable to Captain Gowan, who was on 1 POSITION OF THE AUTHORITIES
'deck at the time. The lead was kept going constantly, IN BIRKENHEAD.
and the vessel at slow speed ; but the fog was so intense
that no precaution was of avail—as a proof of which, we
may state that, even after the ship struck, the land was
invisible, though but fifteen or twenty yards distant.
The passengers were all safely disembarked in the course
of the morning, and came up to town by various convey-
ances. A number of steamers and lighters were yesterday
forenoon despatched to the spot to secure her cargo, and
assist in getting her off the rocks ; but as yet she remains
hard and fast.—About the same time as the Sea King,
and not far from the same place, the Athlone steamer,
on her voyage from Dublin to this port, went ashore on
the Copeland Island. Everything that care and foresight
could do to prevent the accident was done by Captain
Williams ; but, as we said before, the fog was so intense
that no skill or seamanship was of any avail. The Ath-
lone, however, was more fortunate than the Sea King, in
that she got off at high tide, and arrived at the quay on
Sunday night at six o'clock, not having sustained the
slightest damage.—Belfast Chronicle.

The affairs of Birkenhead have latterly excited so much
attention, and yet their actual state is so little understood,
that the following may perhaps not be uninteresting to
some of our readers.

The commissioners of Birkenhead consist of twenty-one
persons, one-third of whom go out in rotation every three
years, when others are elected by the ratepayers. They
have the entire management of the parks, ferries, mar-
kets, streets, sewerage, lights, &c., their powers being
much similar to those of municipal corporations. They
are, also, ex officio commissioners for the management of
the Birkenhead Harbour and Docks ; but all proceedings,
accounts, and monies of this trust, are kept quite sepa-
rate and distinct from those of the town. It would have
saved frequent mistakes had they been called Dock Trus-
tees, as their affairs from the similarity of the style are
frequently confounded. But, although they are the same
individual persons, the two bodies are, in every point of
view, distinct and independent of each other, so that, in
fact, there are in Birkenhead two public corporations, or,
more strictly speaking, two public companies.
• There is also a private body, frequently taken for the
Birkenhead Dock Commissioners ; but which is entirely
independent of either of the public trusts, this is the
Birkenhead Dock Company. It is a private company,
having a nominal capital of one million, divided into
10,000 shares of £lOO each.

This explanation is requisite for the clear understanding
of the following statements. It was on the 19th of July,
1843, that the scheme of the docks was agreed upon at
the house of Mr. John Laird. He, as every body knows,
is an extensive iron shipbuilder, then holding land under
the Corporation of Liverpool, occupied by him as a build-
ing yard at Wallasey Pool. By the Liverpool papers of
this week, it appears to have been stated in the Town
Council, chat an application was made for an increased
'• '^ 1^" ^^A of the term of his
it there. However.

having

s granted

and also. to others, who,
uniting their purchases or leases, came thus in possession
of the requisite space for the dock-works, which were
commenced by the Birkenhead Dock Commissioners in
October; 1844.
The estimated cost of the Docks and Harbour was
stated between £300,000 and £400,000, nod the plan of
the then intended docks was given with the Standard of
the 14th November. Though materially altered since
that period, two large triangular pieces of land will yet
be formed by the sea walls, which will enclose an area
each side of the pool, of aboi ' •

was consic

lered that

defray the cost of consTiuji;
in the words of an official do

the Docl

ty acres

is land would
and Harbour..

le Com-

unssioners, the entire cost of the Docks, it is believed,
will not exceed £300,C00, as an offset to which an immense
quantity of valuable land will be reclaimed, which may
amount to more than the whole outlay." Upon these
statements. airlpel 1,, .

---j cue money maricer,
)ck Commissioners were enabled to borrow large
-‘oney ; and they proceeded with their works, hay-
- to a parliamentary document, expended,
.:263,967 on the works. In addition to
'ihead Dock C0rn.;..;,,-,,_,.

on 31st Dec. last

the Birke

nave
lent to the Warehouse Company the sum of £50,000, and
to the Birkenhead Town Commissioners a similar sum.
A deviation from the plans originally submitted to Parlia-
ment, has been made, whereby £78,000 has been spent
uponthe present Morpeth Dock, opened recently by his
' " •

view to 1€

galise this expenditure, and to obtain powers to
make further alterations from the original scheme, bills
are now before the Lords ; but although they passed the
Commons without ormngitinn

...Le upper nouse, they are now most violently opposed.
The crown appears to have claimed possession of the
strand of the Mersey, which is now claimed by

of several front

y_l\fr. Price, of

Telands, formerly of

poration of Liverpool, who
ce's property therein. These
parties are all movers against the right of the crown, in
which, incredible as it may appear, they are joined by the
Birkenhead Warehouse Company ; and they have been
so far successful as to induce the Lords 'to insert a few
little words, which entirely open the question of the
crown—and instead of the broad assertion, " Whereas,
the crown is possessed, &c.," the paragraph stands thus,
" is, or claims to be, possessed. In this position, the
Commissioners of Woods and Forests refuse their con-
sent to the bill, unless clauses be added, and security
given for the outer dock works being completed in
three years, and for suspending the works until the re-
funding of the money improperly loaned by the commis-
sioners. With these conditions, Mr. Mallaby and Mr.
Potter both agree, that it is impossible any " honest com-
missioner" can comply ; and at all the public places in

werpool
night a r

praying the

arc now in course of signature,
Wo..o.ds‘ and__oi ll_
with-
_tit:: bills
passing as they now stand. Our readers are aware of the
proceedings at the Dock-office on Wednesday last ; the

,orks are now all but entirely suspended, with, apparently
from the want of pecuniary means, but little prospect of
their.carly resumption.

betore glancing at the actual condition of the affairs of
the 'other bodies, it may be as well to state that the•
reclaimed land has not been given to the Dock Commis-
sioners, as asserted ; and that even Mr. Price contended,
in 1844, against their taking his right of shore, and such
claim was referred to arbitration.

The condition of the township commissioners' funds is
such as to prevent the refunding of any portion of the
£50,000 lent to them by the Dock Commissioners at pre-
" ;e nntirphr alicnrhpil in niir,nn4 ry
-

on their I

s, however, very different with t 1

ns which they cam,

[ready nearly

;o borro

ahead Dock