The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-08-14 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Perhaps enough has now been said on the subject referred to
by " Veritas."
. .
The two Archbithops of England rank higher than Dukes, and
the Bishops stand next below "Viscounts," and above
" Barons." The Bishop of London is next in rank to the
Archbishop of York—then Durham, Winchester, &c. The
Bishop of Chester is certainly not entitled to the post assigned
to him b.' our correspondent's friend.

Ebt Eiturpool Otanbarb.

TUESDAY MORNING, AUG. 14, 1849.

THERE has been nothing in the preparations
for, and the conduct of, the brilliant festival which
has just been held more pleasing than the happy
union of all parties and creeds in promoting its
benevolent object. The Tory and the Whig, the
Churchman and the Dissenter, have worked hand
in hand to.,zether, laying aside old feuds and jea•
lousies ; and i,he press of the town has done its
duty on the occasion. At the last hour, however,
this gratifying forgetfulness of party has been
broken through by one of our contemporaries. To
the Mercury the opportunity to have a fling at a
political oppojaent, on any pretext, was a gratifica-
tion not to be resisted ; and accordingly we find
him, on Friday last, indulging in a scurrilous attack
upon the Rev. Dr. M`Neile, and attempting, upon
an unfounded charge, to hold him up to the unme-
rited obloquy of his fellow-townsmen.
Our contemporary says, in the course of some
laudatory remarks upon the scheme of the festival :

Yet, against so popular a scheme sermons have been
preached, and pharisaic influence brought into play. Dr.
M'lsTeile, and some of his humble satellites, have objected
to these rational pleasures, and the carrying of the profits
to charitable purposes. Be not charitable, they say,
tinder excitement : the principle is impure."

The imputation sought to he affixed upon the
reverend doctor and his clerical friends is, that
they have endeavoured to deter their flocks from
visiting the festivities, presenting contributions to
the bazaar, and thus obstructed the success of the
scheme for assisting the charities. We are assured
that, so far as Dr. M'Neile is concerned, he has
preached no sermons which can be considered fairly
liable to this charge. He has, it is true, referred to
the subject of the fancy fair, and justly and pro-
perly lamented that any occasion should have
occurred to render such an appeal to the public, for
charities, whose value is universally admitted,
necessary. He has explained to his flock, as was
the duty of a Christian clergyman, how far more
preferable in the sight of God is charity, which is
poured forth spontaneously, to that which, to draw
it forth, requires the adventitious machinery of
music anu amusement. He may have referred,
also, to the possible excesses by which such gather-
ings are occasionally attended, but that he ever
impugned the sincerity of benevolent feeling which
actuated those by whom the fete was promoted, or
the charitable motives of the majority of those by
whom it was attended, or that. he attempted to
injure its success, is simply untrue.
The squib attached to our contemporary's remarks
is at once witless and indecent. The Mercury, in
one part of it, in his reference to the " inflating
process," treads on somewhat dangerous ground.
The world will acknowledge that our contemporary
himself is no mean proficient in the art of inflation,
and practices it on a rather considerable scale.

WE have received from a highly respectable and
intelligent gentleman—practically conversant with
hydraulics and geology—the following important
statistics, relating to the supply of water at Riving.
ton. We shall do no more this week than ask our
Thursday's contemporary to analyse the calcula-
tions and see what he can make of them.
Nine superficial miles is the area proposed to be laid
under contribution for the supply of Liverpool.
Forty inches is the mean annual fall over the district.
This would yield, if every particle could be collected and
retained, 190 gallons per superficial yard.
Now, in one square mile there are 3,097,600 superficial
yards. These multiplied by 190 gallons and by nine would
yield 5.296,896,000 gallons. This again divided by 365
for the daily supply, would give 14,512,040 gallons, or a
little more than fourteen-and-a-half million ; but from
this quantity 9,000,000 daily must be deducted for the
supply of the millowners and bleachers in the district,
and secured to them by act of parliament ; thereby leav-
ing to Liverpool five-and a-half millions of gallons some-
what less than the quantity yielded by the wells.
The compensation clauses in the act of the Rivington
scheme, in the event of a draught, would be utterly
ruinous to Liverpool.
Instead of 40 inches, the fall over the Rivington area
should be not less than 80 inches. And even with this
fall, the loss by evaporation and by surface • absorption
would barely suffice to give more than 12,000,000 gallons
daily.

WE are anxious to place the following letter
before our readers in as prominent a manner as
possible. We can assure the public that the
reports of Messrs. Smirke and Tite are as satisfac-
tory as words can make them with reference to the
stability of the beautiful erection referred to :