The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-02-04 00:00:00

he has made of the enormities and abominations incu

next.

cated by Owen and his disciples has already been pro-
ductive of extensive good. Since the debate took place
in the House of Lords, in which the Bishop of Exeter,
Lord Brougham, Lord Melbourne, and the Marquess
of Normanby took part, we have remarked a studious
avoidance of the subject on the part of the Radical
press. This is a favourable omen. It shows that they
are utterly ashamed of their former advocacy of Owen
and his nostrums. It is to be hoped that the former
favour shown to this " filthy dreamer" was the result of
sheer ignorance of his atrocious doctrines. Those doc-
trines having been brought before the public, in all
their naked deformity, by the Bishop of Exeter, our
Whig-Radical contemporaries are now left without the
shadow of an excuse for attempting either to palliate or
to recommend them. So vile and beastly must they
now appear, that we venture to say that no public jour-
nalist, who possesses the slightest regard for public
decency, will venture to offer any apology on the behalf
of those who assist in their propagation. We are not

indulging in stronger language than the occasion war-
rants when we say that every journal in which the de-
fence of Socialism is attempted ought to be burnt by

the hands of the common hangman. Nor have we less
hesitation in saying that every man who professes to
espouse the principles developed in the execrable pub-
lications of Robert Owen, his son, or his followers,
ought to be scouted from society as a public pest.
Every such man ought to he shunned as we should
shun the most loathsome and disgusting reptile that
crawls upon the face of the earth. He ought to be
avoided as one tltat has the plague-spot upon him.
If the blasphemous and bestial doctiines of Socialism
are allowed to spread much further in this country, we
shall soon witness a revolution in our national habits to

which history can furnish no parallel. Under the in-
fluence of the hellish tenets propounded in the New
Moral World, and similar publications, the people of
this country would soon merit the slanderous charges
in which O'Connell's imagination has delighted to
revel. If. we wish to avert the curses which Socialism
would infallibly entail upon our nation, we must strive
with heart and hand to crush this " abominable thing"
in the infancy of its growth. If we neglect to do so,
from a mawkish dread of being stigmatized as perse-
cutors and bigots, we shall soon see the fruits of our
misplaced forbearance in the general spread of atheism,
the rapid increase of every species of immorality, and
the disrupture of the very bonds of society.

of the Town Council was held on
A special meeting
Saturday last, for the purpose of taking into -considera-

tion a Bill on the subject of the erection of Warehouses
on the Dock Quays, pursuant to certain resolutions
which were passed by the Committee for the affairs o
the Dock Estate, and adopted by the Council at their
meeting on the 2d of October last. Mr. Alderman
Evans, as most of our readers must be aware, has made
himself extremely active in furthering the scheme to
which the meeting of Saturday had reference. After
some preliminary information had been given, for which
we must refer to the report, Mr. Evans again moved
the confirmation of the Dock Committee proceedings,
relative to the Bill in question. His speech in support
of the motion was a tissue of assumptions from begin-
ning to end—assumptions which we have on several
occasions, felt it to he our duty to expose. Many of.
the " arguments " vslich he brought forward were
extremely childish and irrevelant. He remarked that
" the union of warehouses with docks and ships must
be extremely beneficial." So we should imagine. This
" union " has existed in this port from time immemo-
rial ; and it seems to have answered remarkably well :
but we should certainly not think of grounding an ar-
gument for an alteration in the system upon the utility
of the present plan. The greater proportion of the
warehouses in Liverpool are contiguous to the Docks,
and have been found fully to answer every purpose con-
templated in the proposed scheme of Warehotises on
the Dock Quays.
Mr. Evans's Calculations respecting the value of the
warehouse property in Liverpool are extremely curious
and original. Why, not endeavour to ascertain the
value of this kind of property from the criterion of
rent ? If the calculation were made on the Hudibrastic
matim, that the true value of a thing is just what it will
produce in the market, he would soon find that his es-

timate is egregiously wrong—wrong to the tune of a
couple of millions, at the least.
Mr. Bolton maintains that " an increase of dock ac-
commodation is wanted." By all means, if more
docks are wanted, let more docks be constructed; but

do not confound the increase of dock accommodation
with that of warehouse accommodation. It does not
follow that, because our docks are full, our warehouses
must be full also. Look at the number of warehouses
unoccupied in the town. Is not this a proof that the
supply of warehouse room is more than adequate to the
demand ?

From the division which took place on Saturday last,
on the subject under notice, we have strong hopes that

the pet bantling of Alderman Evans will be turned out
of doors. The last municipal election has had the effect
we trust, of teaching the members of the Town Coun-
cil the folly of persisting in a scheme which has been
proved to be as unjust as it is unpopular. We hope that
this Dock Warehouse Bill will receive its quietus to-
morrow, or at all events, that the objectionable clauses
will be expunged.

MR. NEILL'S REPORT UPON DEAFNESS. —We have

received a copy of this work, which we shall notice in our

TRIBUTE OF RESPECT TO A CLERGYMAN.—In our last
number we copied a paragraph from a contemporary, in
which it was stated that several of the congregatiOn of St.
Luke's had refused to contribute to a subscription for a piece
of plate for their late minister, the Rev. J. Aspinall, said to
have been set on foot by the Reform Association. We have
since been informed that the members of the congregation,
of all political opinions, have themselves, and in connexion
with no party, subscribed for such a tribute of respect to that
gentleman. They had a meeting for such an object some
weeks since, at St. Luke's School, in Cropper-street, and
all parties, who attended it, were unanimous.
WOMBWELL'S MENAGERIE.—We strongly recommend
the admirers of animated nature to pay an early visit to this
extensive establishment iu the Haymarket. They cannot
fail of being much gratified.
LIVER THEATRE.—Last evening Mr. T. D. Rice, tile
popular American comedian, commenced an engagement at
the Liver Theatre, which was crowded to excess. He ap-
peared in " The Flight to America," and " Jumbo Jum,"
and was loudly applauded. His songs were received with
unbounded cheers. He will perform every evening this
week. A very laughable interlude was added, called " The
Christening," in which Mrs. Raymond and Mr. Tilbury
performed with their customary talent. The singing and
dancing continues remarkably good; and altogether it is but
just to say that there are few, if any, provincial establish-
ments conducted with more care and enterprise than the
Liverpool Liver Theatre.

EPITAPHS.—Perhaps no country abounds in beautiful,
pithy, or strange epitaphs, so much as our own ; some quite
in keeping with the gravity of the tomb, and others indica-
tive of no very becoming levity. The old woman of Dunkeld,
who survived some three or four reigns, and who concocted

her own posthumous eulogy, tells us, among other things,—
" An end of all perfection I have seen,"

little. deeming then of " the march," and of that annihilator
of time and space, the railway. As regards the infantile por-
tion of our species, decidedly the most beautiful lines for a
monument are those of the elegant Young—
" Early, bright, transient, chaste as morning dew,
She sparkled, was exhaled, and went to heaven."
But as regards the death of this most interesting portion of
creation,those mothers who negleet to try that national
medicine, Atkinson's INFANT'S PRESERVATIVE, will best
know who they have to reproach !—[See Advertisement.]
ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS : LIST OF PRESENTS SINCE
OUR LAST Pu °tic ATI ON.—Robert Arnett, Esq., presented
two crocodiles : Captain Adair, brig Dove, a spider monkey ;
Captain Calvan, brig Rocket, a mandrille satvre ; Captain
Callan, ship Bland, tine male leopard ; Demon, Esq.,
West-farm, Allerton, a grey squirrel; W. Duncan, Esq.,
Dublin, a peccary and monkey ; Captain Crosbie, brig
Elizabeth, a maccaw ; Captain Grayson, Lancashire Witch,
coatimondi ; Captain Gow, ship Orwell, a rattle snake ;
Captain Houghton, ship Hino, pair of cora doves ; Captain
Harrison, barque Wilberforce, pair of currasows ; Captain
Hamblen, ship Williamson, Entelles monkey : Edward
Healey, Esq., Seymour-street, au East Indian monkey ;
Captain Lovell, barque Monarch, sooty monkey; Captain
Nicol, brig John Brook, pair of gnat's ; Mrs. Palmer,
Everton, New South Wales dog; Mr. Richardson, Frazer-
street, a ringtailed monkey ; Captain Rattery, barque Anne,
a cootimonde ; Rowlinson, Esq., High Park-street, pair of
currasows ; Chas. Saunders, Esq., Bedford-street, an
ostrich, a pair of spotted covies ; and peccary ; Mr.
Southern, barque Hydo, three doves ; Captain Treadgold,
ship Sir John Beresford, marmosite monkey ; P. Watson,
Esq., of Demerara, a white falcon ; Pope, Esq., Upper
Stanhope-street, a Bengal sheep ; Captain Gibson, of the
Jamaica, two American ditto.

STEAM-POWER APPLIED AS AN AUXILIARY AID TO
SHIPPING, DURING CALM, LIGHT WEATHER.—The ship
Maria, 460 tons burden, James Black commander, and
Messrs. Gardner, Urquhart, and Co. owners, laden with a
general cargo, and drawing 16 feet 6 inches water, sailed
from London for Bombay on the 13th of December, 1838.
This was the first sailing vessel fitted with steam-power for
occasional aid during calms or light winds. She had two
engines, of ten-horse power each, made by J. T. Beale, of
East reenwich, with Melville's patent propellers. From a
careful inspection of the Maria's log-book and Captain
Black's memoranda, it appears, that the engines propelled
her, in a calm, at the rate of three miles per hour. The
steam-power was used on forty-five different occasions, and
during a period of 511 hours equal to 21 days, 7 hours.
When the ship's draught of water and the smallness of power
employed are considered, this result of a first experiment
must be deemed, by nautical men, as very satisfactory. The
owners of the Maria expressed their undiminished confidence
in Mr.' Melville's invention, and hope it may be generally
adopted for the advancement of the naval and commercial
interests of the country.
THE LATE STORMS.—Whilst the violence of the recent
gales compelled many vessels to return to Liverpool, after
having been at sea, some a fortnight and others three weeks,
several ships continued to keep. out at sea, and hopes are
entertained, that by having taken advantage of a slight slant
of favourable wind, they had, at least, got out of the
channel. It now appears, however, that not one of the
outward-bound has been so fortunate, all the vessels that
sailed before the storms having been accounted for, except
the Tigris, for Calcutta. The packet-ship New York, which
sailed hence on the 7th, for New York, put into Cove on
Monday, the 27th ult., after having been 20 days out ; and,
on Thursday, the 30th ult., the packet-ship Europe, which
sailed hence on the 15th ult., in company with the packet-
ship Roscius, put into the same harbour, having been 15
days out. The Europe saw the Roscius on the 27th ult.
The packet-ship Algonquin, which sailed hence on the Bth,
for Philadelphia, was off Dungarvon on the 29th, after having
been 21 days out. These facts show, that the weather must
have been unprecedently severe in the Channel. Seldom,
indeed has it been known, that a first-rate ship has, for three
weeks, been knocking about between Liverpool and Dun-
garvon, the distance between the two ports not being more
than 21 hours' sail with a moderately fair wind.
THE CONDEMNED CHARTISTS.—We announce with un-
feigned pleasure that the lives of Frost and his wretched
associates in crime, and in the sufferings it has produced,
will be spared. What the commuted punishment will be has
not yet been determined on : it is enough at present to know
that the scaffold is not deemed essential to vindicate the
authority of law and order; but that the mercy is allowed to
triumph over the stern claims of retributive justice.—
Ministerial paper.
ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE.—The Tournament will be with-
drawn at the close of the week. It continues to be as
attractive as at the first, but it must be superseded by other
novelties in Mr. Ducrow's splendid style. Of the horseman-
ship we have the same favourable report to make as usual—
we do not believe it possible to be surpassed.
NEW ACCESS TO THE RIVER MEnsEy.--The following
is An extract, of general interest and importance, from a
most elaborate and scientific paper read last month, Decem-
ber, 1839, to the Literary and Philosophical Society at Liver-
pool, by Joseph Brookes Yates, Esq., F.A.S., M.R.G.S.,
many years president of that society, and late chairman of
the Shipping Association, an extensive West India merchant
and shipowner, and a member of the Dock Trust Committee,
Liverpool, on the rapid and extensive changes which have
taken place at the entrance to the river Mersey, and the
means now adopted for establishing an easy and direct access
thereto. After adverting to the frequent representations of
Captain Henry Mangles Denham, R.N, F.R.S., marine
surveyor, and the results emanating from his surveys of Li-
verpool, the author proceeded, in detail, to state, "That
Captain Denham had been indefatigable in watching the
shifting of the sands, and at length announced, as his opinion,
that a diagonal channel might be forced in aid of the ebb
current, direct to the sea; this, he added, would afford a bet-
ter channel than heretofore. This proposition was much- op-
posed and jeered at as a vain attempt to oppose, in
an open
sea, the powers of the elements eight miles seaward of
commence
river's mouth ; but at length lie was enabled to
acol
of
three
operations at the close of last year over an
admitting
earliest by three hours into the port) channel,
the
Victoria
quarters of a mile by one third, and there OSt not' xists (the
large ships, and recognised by authority, as
part of the
destined to be
Channel, through which, indeed, the _ greater
seems
trade of Liverpool already passes,t!). d
So complete a success
the future great avenue to the
resemble Liverpool, and
tors of those harbours whichel
k in any degree, to aid the great
noticed in our
.previous
of the design is a sufficient recommendation to the conserva-
where human efforts are likely,
is now engaged in giving
M e
numbersmechanics
and is rapidly carrying out his plans
opinions on otherdp
°straightening the Wyre navigation up to
icst
hoaft
for deepening an
nature:cn p tarti",i
gladly publish the foregoing for the satis-
Detinhvaim
Port Fleetwood, we
fa • of those in
• terested in the undertakings confided to
him.--Editor Railway Magazine.

A COLD-BLOODED ATTEMPT TO MURDER.

MANCHESTER, MONDAY.

This morning, at the Borough Court, a man named Gill,
was brought before Daniel Mande, Esq., the stipendiary
magistrate, charged with one of the most diabolical and cold-
blooded attempts at murder which has been recorded for
many years. The victim of the attempt was his wife, a
woman respectably connected, (the sister of Mrs. Leresche,
proprietress of the Manchester Advertiser,) to whom he
had been married about fourteen years, but who for the last
five years had been separted from him owing to his ill-usage,
and had been placed in a small way of business in Ashton-
road, Manchester. The prisoner had been to Africa during
the last two years it appears, and returned to Manchester
about a fortnight ago. During this time he had sought and
obtained repeated interviews with his wife, the object of
which was to persuade her to let him live with her. She re-
fused to do this, but offered to do all she could to maintain
him if he would continue separate. On Friday evening
last, he called and repeated his persuasions, and was
sitting alone with her at tea' when he suddenly seized hold
of a clasp knife, and dragging his wife into a dark room used
for coals, threw her down, and after deliberately feeling
about her neck, for the jugular vein, drew the knife across
her throat, inflicting a wound about half-an-inch deep and
three inches long. He then deliberately left the house, and
was going down the street when some neighbours who had
been alarmed by the cries of his wife, suspecting what was
the matter, raised the hue and cry after him, and he was soon
afterwards safely lodged in the keeping of the police. His
poor wife was found weltering in her blood, where he had
left her, but on the assistance of a surgeon being procured,
it was discovered that the wound was not fatal, the villain
having missed his object. The following are the particulars
of what transpired in court :
Mary Ann Gill, the prisoner's wife, was called into the
witness box and sworn. The unfortunate woman appeared
very weak from loss of blood, and being much affected on
seeing the prisoner, was some time before she could proceed
with bee statement. In answer to questions from Mr.
Maude, she said : I am wife of the prisoner, and we have
been married about fourteen years, but about five years
ago he was induced to sign a deed of separation and leave
me. I believe he went to Africa about two years since, and
returned hoMe a fortnight since last Saturday. I have not
lived with him since, but he has been at the house every day,
and in consequence of the language he made use of I have
mostly had a man who is a neighbour, to come and remain
in the house to protect me. He came in first on 'Saturday
fortnight, and said he wished to come and live with me. I
told him be should not, but he said he would, and staid in
the house several days. I was afraid of him, and had persons
with me most of the time. During this time I had many
conversations with him, but lie did not then attempt any
violence. He did take his penknife on the Wednesday, before
he left me, and threatened to stab me. In consequence of
that he was taken before the magistrates at the New Bailey,
in Salford, but was discharged on his promise not to annoy
me again. On the Monday following he came again to my
house, and said he was come to live with me. I told him he
should not, but promised to do all I could towards his sup-
port if he would not molest me. He again threatened to
annoy me before leaving the house. He came again on
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and behaved in the
same manner.

Mr. Maude : Was there a threat held out on each
occasion ?

Witness : There was, sir : he kept saying he would have
blood. He came on Friday, about three o'clock. There
was no one in besides our two selves, and he sat down very
quietly. I was getting my tea at the time ; and after he had
been in the house some time, he said,—" Will you live with
me, Mary Ann ?" and I Said " No." With that he dragged
me into a dark place under the stair, used for coals, where I
had not room to turn round, and there he threw me down.
He had a clasp knife in one hand, and with the other hand
I felt him feel about for the jugular vein ; but I put my hand
over it. I said, "Oh ! spare my life ;" but he said "No ;
you shall die, Mary Ann," and then he drew the knife across
my throat. I cannot say how long we struggled, but it see m-
ea but the work of a few moments. In that state he left 1110.
He had made use of no threats to me on this occasion, but
seemed more than usually civil.
The prisoner put a number of questions to his wife, of
which the only ones to the purpose were the following :
Prisoner : bid not I ask you, on Friday, to be reconciled
to me, and I would try to get work, and assist you to keep
my children ?
Wife: You did.

Prisoner : Did you not then fly into a passion and use op-
probrious epithets, saying I had borrowed another man's
clothes ?

Wife : No, nothing of the kind.
Mr. Maude : Had you said any thing to the prisoner to
make hint angry ?

Wife : No,-sir. He appeared all the time unusually civil,
but I observed that the muscles of his face worked very
much. _

Prisoner: Did you not say that you had been obliged to
whore with Mosca to keep a house over your head, and did
not I feel as though the veins in my head had swollen to
double their usual size, and I seized you and said, " Then
you shall die, you b—ch, in your whoredom ?"
Wife : Oh, dear no.

Mr. Maude : Then did you say nothing of the kind to him ?
Wife : I told him, sir, that he had tried to drive me to
prostitution, and I would never live with him again.
Mr. Maude : Was it then that he seized you ?
Wife : No, sir ; MS last words were, would I ever live with
him again, and I said I never would. He then seized me by
the shoulders, and pushed me into the place I have before
described.

Pris Oner : Did I not accuse you of improperly admitting
that man into the house ?

Wife : Yes, but the accusation was very unfounded.

The prisoner then said he was a murdered man ; but he
did not attempt to deny that he bad previously threatened
to destroy his wife, though the magistrate called his attention
to that part of the evidence.
Mr. Robt. Boyer, surgeon, said he had dressed the wound
in Mrs. Gill's throat, which was about half an inch deep and
three inches long. In his opinion she had narrowly escaped
death.

The prisoner was then committed to the Liverpool assizes
for trial, charged with " cutting with intent to murder."