The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-03-13 00:00:00

he protection of agriculture were likely to continue in
force.

For the present we must content ourselves with ur-
ging the preceding considerations on the attention ol
our readers. Want of space precludes us from enter-
ing any further into the question. We shall, however,
again and again recur to it.

We beg to direct the attention of our readers to a
condensed report of the proceedings at the half yearly
meeting of Proprietors of the Bristol and Exeter Rail-
way, which appears in another column. It will be seen
from the Report of the Directors, that if their exertions
are seconded by the support of the bona fide share-
holders, the completion and opening of the Line as far
Bridgewater, (a length of 34 miles) may he depended
upon during the course of the present year ; and we
trust that a consideration of the benefits which would
result to the undertaking from the success of such an
effort will not be lost sight of.

Yesterday a meeting, convened by the Mayor, was
held in the Sessions House, for the purpose of " con-
sidering the propriety of petitioning the Legislature in
favour of the Irish Municipal Bill." Our radical
contemporary of this day will no doubt blazon forth the
resolutions passed at this meeting as the expression of
the public opinion of the inhabitants of Liverpool. The
resolutions express no such thing. They merely convey
the sense of the Popish rabble of the town, who are,
almost to a man, utter strangers in the town, the lowest
and most degraded of the vagabond Irish, who an-
nually cause an immense addition to our parochial
rates, and among whom not one in a hundred can
boast of either a vote, a clean face, a decent coat, or an
honest character. Such were the men whose dirty
fists were held up in favour of the resolutions which
were carried yesterday.
The Radical party, for some time after the meeting
had been convened, imagined that no opposition would
be offered to the proceedings : but on discovering that
the Conservatives intended to muster their forces on
the occasion, the emissaries of the Precursor Society
were dispatched in every direction to collect together
the low Irish Papists, for the two-fold purpose of in-
timidating the respectable part of the inhabitants, and
of carrying the resolutions in favour of the Bill for
converting the Irish Municipal Corporations into
schools of Popish " normal agitation."
,The expe-
dient was, to a certain extent, successful; but it failed
in exciting any feeling of alarm in the minds of the
Conserrative gentry of the town.
The meeting was appointed to take place at
twelve o'clock. Long, however, before that hour,
the principal avenues to the Sessions House were sur-
rounded by a dense body of low Irish vagabonds,
Whose Very appearance was sufficient to prevent any
man of respectability, or possessed of delicate olfactory
nerves, from making any approach to the entrance
doors. The mob were evidently bent upon excluding
from the meeting all excepting those who were in
favour of the Popish Bill now before Parliament.
when the doors were opened, the Irish rushed in, and
took possession of all the space behind the rails. The
Conservatives were compelled to seek an entrance
through the side doors, which had been previously
opened for the admission of the few " gentlemen of' the
broad cloth" in the 'Whig interest who " honoured"
the meeting with their presence.
When it was perceived that the Conservatives were
making their way in great numbers to the lower part
of the room and the galleries, the signal was given by
the notorious Langan, and repeated by several members
of the Common Council, for a rush inside the bars on
the part of the Irishmen. The signal was immediately
understood, and the rabble began to clamber over the
seats, in order to dispossess the Conservatives of the
seats usually reserred for the snore aristocratic part of
the audience. Hundreds of Conservatives went away,
being totally unable to obtain an entrance. The be-
haviour of the Irish was—that of blackguards of the
lowest degree. They did not hesitate to jostle and as-
sault every man who had a decent coat who came in
their way; and several Whig gentlemen were thus un-
ceremoniously treated, being mistaken for Conserva-
tives.
On the first division which took place, the parties
were so nearly balanced, that in common with many
others, we were unable to say which party had the ma-
jority. The Mayor, however, decided in favour of the
Liberals, though many felt persuaded that the Con-
servatives were the more numerous. Of this we feel
assured, that if the -" broad cloth," or the gentlemen
off 'Change had had to decide the matter, the majority
Would have been five to one in favour of the Conserva-
tives. The principal speakers on the Conservative side
Were Messrs. N. Robinson, J. Wright, T. B. Horsfall,
J. Sheppard, Isaac Holmes, and C. Bushell. In ad-
dition we noticed, amongst a large body of Conserva-
tive gentlemen, Sir Thomas Brancker, Messrs. James
Aspinall, R. Gladstone, W. Potter, T. Sands, 'l'. Moss,
George Green, Robert Horsfall, Thomas Porter, J.
Fairclough, J. N. Wood, Jos. Cooper, James Lawrence,
Duncan Gibb, W. Huson, C. Boutflower, Josias Boo-
ker, C. Groves, Daniel Neilson, J. Wellstood, Richard
Griffiths, Wm. Shand, William Jones, M., Bousfield,
Nicholas Bold, J. A. Tinne, &c., &c., &c., besides a
large body whose names we cannot enumerate. It is
an undeniable fact that, even if the first resolution was
Carried, in accordance with the decision of the Mayor,
the negative was carried by an overwhelming majority
of the more respectable portion of the meeting.
Once more we beg emphatically to deny: that the
resolutions alleged to have been carried at the meeting
of yesterday, convey the sense of the merchants and
tradesmen of Liverpool. They were carried through
the sheer physical force of the Irish strangers in the
town, marshalled under their fugleman, the ex-boxer, ,
Langan. If the Mercury says anything to the con-
trary
to-day—it lies.

THE CHURCH. James Clarke, Esq., Recorder of Liver-
Pool, has contributed one hundred pounds towards the build-
ink fund for the erection of St. Thomas's Church. Lancaster.
List of Cabin Passengers on board the George Washington,
Captain A. Burrows, from New York, arrived on Tuesday :
Mr. George Wildes, London; Mr. L. Palmieri, Naples,
Consul of the Two Sicilies for the U. S. of America; Mr.
~,,`-'• L. Boric, Philadelphia Tobias, Liverpool.
~?led on the passage, Mr. Henry Clark, Hackney near Lon-
merl.
-,, PRSTIVA,L CHORAL SOCIETY.—On Tuesday evening the
zestival phoral Society gave their sixth public performance
in the N uric-hall, Bold-street. There was a numerous and
„respecii
t ble attendance. The scheme comprised a selection
from andel's Acis and Galatea, and Haydn's first service.
. 'file principal vocalists were Miss Leach, iss Stott, Mr.
Lunt, Mr. G. Lunt, Mr. Davies, Mr. Earnshaw, and Mr.
P. Gardner. Mr. G. Holden was the conductor, and Mr.
Elliot lead the band, which was highly effective. The per-
formance gave entire satisfaction.
AN OLD HAND.—By the Parkfield, which arrived the other
day, there came a convict transported for life for forgery,
from Liverpool, under the name of Drake. Unfortunately
for him, our convict police system partakes somewhat of the
Pouche perfection, and the consequence was, that he was
discovered by Mr. Ryan, chief clerk of the Superintendent
of Convicts Office, to be one John Roberts, an absentee
from Van Diemen's Land in 1830, by the ship Surry, and
was assigned to Captain Swanston, and represented himself
to have been a clergyman of the Church of England. Not
liking his quarters there, he joined some other desperate cha-
racters, and they effected their escape by taking possession
of the Badger schooner. With her, he sailed to America,
and there he re-assumed his reverend character, under the
name of the Rev. William Robertson, M.A. America did
not suit him, and he wended his way back to England, and
in Liverpool he committed the crime for which he has been
transported, under the name of John Drake. He was for-
warded to her Majesty's gaol of Sydney, to be forwarded to
Van Diemen's Land, to take his trial for the piracy. On
being questioned as to where he obtained his degree of M.A.,
he replied at Eton. The following is a specimen of his style,
which certainly appears to be cultivated. The extract is
from a letter addressed to the surgeon superintendent on the
way out :—.`• Respected sir, I fear that the avalanche of your
displeasure has fallen on my devoted head."—Sydney Colo-
nist.
ROYAL UNION SOUP.—MARCH OF INTELLECT.—At an
eating-house in Somers-town, a board is exhibited, on which
is painted in large letters :—W. and S. Weeding, perveyor of
Soop to Her Magesty Victorier the Furst, and Prince Al-
bert the Furst's loyal subgects. The only house in the me-
troperlis where a basin of Royal Union Soop can be hobtain-
ed. Hot Joints from 12 to 3 Daly. Noospapers taken
hin."
BLENHEIM, NEAR WOODSTOCK, SUNDAY.—The Duke of
Marlborough, accompanied by his eldest son the Marquis of
Blandford, arrived here express last evening from town in
consequence of the demise of his noble father the late Duke,
on Thursday evening. His grace was staying at the man-
sion of his mother, now dowager duchess, in Park-lane,
when he received a letter dated from hence on Thursday,
informing him of the late duke's dangerous illness; the next
'I, post brought a second, informing him of the duke's disso-
-4 lution. The obsequies of his grace are fixed to take place on
45':- Friday next, at the mausoleum of the Churchill family, built
41 by the celebrated Duke of Marlborough. The late duke had
1, in e . . lived in comparative retirement for some years on a wing of
to his noble mansion, seldom quitting it except for a short visit
'fil l' to one of the watering places every year. The present duke,
51 ,'Ettit , by, his marriage with 'a sister of the Earl of Galloway, has
' nlti four children, the Marquis of Blandford, in his 18th year,
kJ ' 4
4 Lady Louisa Spencer Churchill, and Lords Alfred and Allan
1(r3.1 110'., Spencer Churchill. Lord Churchill, formerly Lord F.
IN* 1,, Spencer, brother to the late 'duke, and his son, the Hon. J.
`llq G. Spencer, Lord Galloway, and Lord Charles Churchill
415',1 841' will, it is expected, attend the.. funeral.
.Lord John Sencer
"nd „. Churchill will be absent, having sailed in command of the
.1 k.,, --bivid frigate- for the East India station. Tha Dowager
'-1,..-.Duchess of Marlborough is now in town.—Morning Herald
.
of Tuesday.