The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-02-23 00:00:00

THE CLAYTON-SQUARE DEMONSTRATION.

Pursuant to notice by placard stating that a public meeting
would be held in Clayton-square, " to consider the propriety
of adopting a petition to Parliament in favour of Lord Alor-
peth's Irish Registration Bill,"—the " giants" thereof as-
sembled yesterday in full force—a motley multitude of would-
be legislators. Their numbers varied from about 1,203 at
the commencement of the meeting to between three and four
thousand, whose ready voices willingly responded to the tor-
rent of invective and vulgar abuse which was levelled by
nearly every speaker at their talented and patriotic oppo-
nents, the Rev. Hugh `Neile and Lord Stanley. There
were about seven or eight females present, three in the up-
per story of one of the hotels, and four or tive in the crowd :
how different from the meetings in the Amphitheatre, the
importance and respectability of which the various speakers
sedulously endeavoured to depreciate—meetings in which our
fair townswomen dare to make their appearance, and blush
not to countenance! We noticed among the " giants" as-
sembled in the balcony of the Union Hotel, for the purpose
of addressing the mob beneath—Sir Joshua Walmslev, Col.
Williams, Messrs. Alderman Evans, William Rathbone,
Rosson, Duffey, Earle, Aikin, Molyneux, M'Euteer, Atkin.
son, Charles Holland, R. V. Yates, Sheil, Booth, Slater,

Sir JOSHUA WALMSLEY, having been voted to the chair,
thanked the meeting for that honour, for he considered it
a great honour to preside over a meeting like the present.
He eulogised the " statesmanlike measure of Lord Morpeth,"
and felt surprised that their opponents " were not satisfied
with doing all in their power to oppose this measure, but in-
timated their intention to repeal the Catholic emancipation
bill. Could political bigotry and fanaticism lead them far-
ther ?" They were asked " Where were the giants of Clay-
ton-square?" (Shouts of "We are here.") That meeting
was an answer to the question. He launched into a tirade
against Lord Stanley's bill, and viewed with satisfaction that
of Lord Morpeth, which set at rest the assertion that the
reform bill should be considered a final measure. He called
upon Col. Williams.
Col. WILLIAMS moved the first resolution—" That the
people of Ireland have part cause to complain of the laws
which regulate the right of voting for members to serve in
parliament for that part of the United Kingdom." After
great perseverance they got a House of Commons which
pleased them, but in two years that house was dissolved.
This put him in mind of the Apostle casting out certain un-
clean devils! The house was swept and garnished ; but by
and by the devils came back, and the last days of that house
were worse than the first. (Laughter.) Such was the pre-
sent state of the House of Commons ! (Uproar.) He told
them to watch the bill up to the House of Lords—[Qy.—will
it ever get there ?]—and see if the fellows would give judg.
ment somewhat after the manner of the Cardigan affair.
They had had enough of that house ! (Great noise.) He
concluded by telling them Lot to go asleep, when
Mr. Rosso` came forward to second the resolution, and
concluded an unmeaning speech with a flourish :—" Let
them improve the people without, and they would soon make
an impression which Lord Stanley and his followers could
not resist within."
Mr. DUFFEY came forward amidst great uproar. He
first alluded to the ministerial abortion, and then to the
measure of the " noble lord who rejoiced in the name of
scorpion Stanley," and the rev. gentleman who took a pro-
minent part in political affairs. Here followed a sophistical
defence of the conduct of the Catholic clergy, and a wretched
attempt to vilify the character of the rev. incumbent of St.
Jude's. " Did he (Mr. 111'.Neile) think the honest working
men of Liverpool would bow before the influence of the
base, bloody, and brutal party which he represented ?"
-The great Agitator would not have relished this quotation
from his former abuse of the whigs.] He calculated that
there were 12,000 present on that occasion. (This last as-
sertion created some laughter, in the midst of which three
cheers were given for Lord Stanley and Sir Robert Peel.)
Mr. Holrne now came in for his share of abuse. He con-
cluded by saying that unless they obtained what they wished
for—" with nine millions they would beat down the scorpion
bill and Lord Stanley" [Fudge !] ; and by repeating O'Con-
nell's worn-out quotation—

" treat, glorious, and free,
First gem of the earth, and first isle of the sea."
The resolution having been carried amidst great tumult,
Mr. EARLE, in his usual sarcastic strain, told the meet-
ing that Mr. M'Neile was quite as great an agitator as Mr.
O'Connell, whom he abused ! that the late meeting at the
Amphitheatre was a hole and corner meeting, and that Mr.
M'Neile's conduct was all a humbug. (Rapturous applause.)
He said he never saw so large a meeting as the present, and
concluded by moving the second resolution—to the effect that
the electoral qualification in Ireland was too high.
Mr. FAWCETT seconded the motion. Carried tumultuously.
Mr. AIKIN drew their attention to the two bills. The bane
and antidote were before them, which would they choose ;
one would ensure them peace and content; the other discord
and bad feeling. [Well said, Mr. Aikin.] He should not
compare the intelligent countenances in that meeting—con-
sisting of some thousands—with those of the few hundreds
who met in the Amphitheatre. [lt was politic not to do so.]
Orangeism was the curse and bane of Ireland. Mr. M'Neile
was not only the propagator but the fabricator of misrepre-
sentation !He moved the next resolution—to the purport
that the people of Ireland have not a sufficiently extensive
right of voting at elections, and that it would be dangerous to
withold from the Irish people anything they wanted. [Very
pleasant.]
Mr. Alderman EVANS, who was nearly inaudible, seconded
the motion.
The resolution was carried.

Mr. WILLIAM RATHBONI; came forward and was received
with terrific uproar. (A Voice—Put on your hat.) He said
he was in a fever—[no doubt : he generally is)—and that he
would keep his hat off. He made a classical allusion to Mrs.
Glass's cookery-book, " first catch a hare, and then cook it ;"
and enlightened the populace by telling them that cream rose
to the top. He was not going to fight with a shadow ; but he
moved the next resolution, in effect that they had seen with
great pleasure the bill which Lord Morpeth had introduced
to Parliament.

Mr. MOLINEUX seconded the motion.
Mr. M'ENTEEIL took a ramble by France to Russia, thence
to our East India possessions, and eventually landed in
America ; told them of the strength and powers of the right
arms of millions ; abused the aristocracy ; and concluded by
" tipping the blarney" to his frienis on the platform.
The resolution was then put and carried.
Mr. ATKINSON followed up the strain of invective against
Mr. M`Neile. It was possible Lord Morpeth's measure
would not pass the Lords. [Very possible.] He moved
the adoption of the petition.
Mr. CHARLES HOLLAND seconded the motion. He re-
joiced a great many times that Lord Stanley again met them
upon Irish ground—the theatre of persecution and crime.
[Too often, indeed, is crime committed by the reckless and
cowardly assassin.] They had gained a bloodless triumph
in the emancipation bill, and were they going to fail then!'
(Cries of " No, no.") That was but the beginning, for
England as well as Ireland : it was only the forerunner of
farther enfranchisement. (Great shouting.)
This motion having been carried, a vote of thanks was
passed to the chairman, and the mob dispersed.

The provineial annual meeting, for 1842, of the Rota
Agricultural Society will be held at Brisol.
The London correspondent of the Dublin Monitor states
that the 6th of April next is the day appointed for the ac-
celeration of the London and Liverpool trains. On that day
also the mails will be conveyed from Crewe, ria the Chester
and 13irkenhead lines, by which a further saving of twenty-
five minutes, as compared with the present route of the Grand
Junction Railway will be effected.
NEWSPAPER STAMPS.—In the House of Commons, on
Thursday night, Mr. O'Connell gave notice that on Thurs-
day, the 4th of March, he would move for a committee to
inquire into the frauds practised in the number of stamps
purported to be issued to newspapers in England and Wales..
SuicinE.—On Tuesday morning, a person named Agnew.
residing in Cowgate, Edinburgh, cut his throat with a razor,
and afterwards threw himself over a window two stories high.
Agnew was an itinerent musician, and had been in low spirits
for some time.

ANOTHER " LADY" THlEF.—Several contemptible acts
of imposition and theft have been committed of late by a
person having the appearance of a respectable female, in
something after the following polite mode of proceeding:--
She calls at a milliner's, well dressed, and with a reticule
over her arm, gives an order for mournings, with pressing
injunctions to have them finished at a certain time ; and as
the mistress of the establishment is noting her instructions
and measurements, the pretended customer applies herself
to the filling of her reticule with such "unconsidered trifles'
as may be most inconveniently secreted without the ob-
servance of the other party. But this lady, it would further
appear, has more than one system to practice upon, as the
following account of a transaction which took place on
Saturday morning will show :—About half-past five o'clock.
a medical gentleman was roused by a loud and impatient
knocking at his door. Ou opening the door, there stood a.
respectable dressed female in great apparent agitation ; she
asked if the doctor would visit immediately her sister, who
was said to be dying—that she had been delivered of a baby
the night before, about nine o'clock, but she was fast sinking,
and the midwife declared that she could do nothing, and that.
it would be necessary to obtain the assistance of a doctor..
On hearing this statement the doctor answered that be would
attend immediately, taking a particular note of the address..
So soon as he could dress, which did not occupy ten minutes.
he proceeded to the address, not three minutes walk from his
house. When he arrived there, and knocked up two dif-
ferent families in the land, he discovered that some unfeeling
wretch had played off a pitiful hoax upon him, as there was.
no person of the name in the land, although a person of the.
name had lived there a few months ago. In this instance
there was no theft committed, as far as we could learn ; but
on the Tuesday morning preceding, a similar trick was played.
upon another medical gentleman, and in that case the doc-
tor's great-coat was slipped off the pin in the lobby. The
description of the female corresponds with that of the per-
son who is known to have duped the milliners in the manner
described, and there is little doubt that there is some bold
and ingenious person at work, and acting upon measures.
preconcerted, with a view to plunder and defraud. We ob-
serve that similar dealings have been detected in Edinburgh,
of late.—Glasgow Courier.

THE FIRST-
OF SEPTEMBER IN FRANCE.—The first of
September is not looked forward to in France with such in-
tense anxiety and anticipatory glee as with us. Why this is.
I know not, for a finer bird country, in every sense of the
word, is not to be seen. The abolition of the law of primo-
geniture in France is, I suspect, the primary cause. A French-
man, unless he happen providentially to be the file unique of
rich parents, can take no pride in his inheritance, and feeling
no interest whatever in his strip of acres, looks upon shoot-
ing partridges more as a matter of every-day occurrence than
as an amusement of an all-engrossing and enthusiastic nature.
The Sportsman in France.

A masonic emblem has been found in a stone wall at Ghia-
nee. It is merely the five points, with an inscription in Per-
sian round it. The translation of which inscription is, " God
grant roe what I want." During our campaign through Aff
ghanistan, a strong resemblance to the customs, dress, and
manners of the ancient Jews, was very prevalent among the
Affghans. Indeed, at Candahar, they acknowledge their di-
rect descent, and called themselves " the children of the
Jews." No doubt many more masonic emblems might be
traced, and if due examination were made, we should pro-
bably elicit those scintillations, embers of the masonic light
itself, which might be enkindled into pristine power and
beauty.—Freemasons' Quarterly.
LoNnox.—London in length is nearly eight miles,
breadth three, and its circumference twenty-six.
_lt
more contains
above 8,000 streets, lanes, alleys, and courts, anodham
chapels,
than
65 different squares. It has 246 churches anflore g I
for i Errs, and
meeting-houses for Dissenters, 43 chapels
6 synagogues for Jews--making 502 places of
of parliament
The number of inhabitants during
this thevast city there are up.
t public worship.
is estimated at 1.250,000.
'cation, 10 institutions for
the indi.
wards of 4,000 seminaries forinec.o
promoting the arts and sciences,13:iispensaries, 704 eharitablie •
gent. 17 for the sick and lame,t
ents of the law. The
122 asylums for
a4n,od4Oreptruorfnesinsigontoal
nected with the variousodep
institutions, 58 courts ofjugsoaiirnctgem,
the river Thames in the re
ay.-
13,300 vessels trading
waggons
hrneenmate:
. ctourse-of a,.
year, and 40,000 F
their repeated voyages.,
Po
ts of exports and imports to and from the Manses,
The amounts
...
811 992
lis in the same "rp.aegno.d, in.clu ding tilt.
'mated at Ibb, , _sterling annually, and the pam-
per ~.
These
is ets.,tilloating in this vast city every year is 4170.00000,
sterling• circumstances may be sufficient tn.eolovinee:
us ofthe amazing extent and importanee of the *spite, of dm-
British empire.

Iduse of

HOUSE OF

Mr. O'CONNEL

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en taken on

Mr. M. O'FERRALL conceded very considerable merit to
the plan of Mr. Harris, and eight vessels had been fitted with
this apparatus by way of experiment. There were, however,
two other plans under consideration by the admiralty, which
appeared to be equally efficient, and were very much less ex-
pensive. They were now causing experiments to be made
with these, in order to ascertain if they were as convenient
in their adaptation as those of Mr. Harris. In doing this
thre was no risk whatever, inasmuch as even very imperfect
apparatus afforded safety to the vessels. He had no objec-
tion to the motion of the noble lord.
Lord INGEsTain read a letter from th
Admiralty to Mr. Harris, declining to give him compensa-
tion for his invention, in which letter its utility was admitted.
He feared there was some under current at work to prevent
Mr. Harris from reaping the reward of the important service
he had rendered to the navy

secretary to the

Mr. WARBURTON said that after such a strong report from
the commissioners the plan of Mr. Harris should he gene-
rally adopted in the navy, and fair compensation should be
given to that gentleman for the invention.
Sir R. PEEL quoted the opinion of Captain Fitzroy, of the
Beagle, which ship was fitted with the apparatus of Mr. Har-
ris, strongly approving of the prineiple, and bearing testi-
mony to its practical utility in that vessel. The right hon.
baronet contended that the Lords of the Admiralty would
incur a heavy responsibility if, in the face of the report of the
commission, composed as it was of practical scientific and
nautical men, they, from mere motives of economy, neg-
lected to adopt it. He was also of opinion that Mr. Harris
was entitled to receive a fair and reasonable compensation.
Sir T. COCHRANE had no doubt but that many of those
vessels which had never been heard of were lost tor want of
such an apparatus as that of Mr. Harris. This was the more
likely when it was recollected that a ship of war when at sea
was a magazine offering a point of attraction to the lightning.
Sir R. INGLIs supported the adoption of the plan of Mr.
Harris.

Sir C. LEMON said that, in addition to the value of the in-
vention, Mr. Harris was between £l,OOO and £2,000 out of
pocket on account of the Government.
Captain A'CounT thought the plan should be at once
adopted in every ship in her Majesty's service.
Admiral Sir C ADAM admitted that the most perfect system
of protection was that which ought to be adopted, without
reference to economy ; but it was only by experiment that
the most perfect system could be ascertained. Those now in
the course of being tried were perfect as conductors, and
much cheaper than Mr. Harris's, but it remained to be ascer-
tained if they could, with equal convenience, be adapted to
the ships, and whether they were likely to sustain damage at
sea. The Admiralty had not objected to give compensaton
to Mr. Harris, but he had claimed £7,000 as compensation
for loss of money and loss of professional time, and the
Board of Admiralty thought his invention not worth that
BUM

Lord ELIOT asked if the noble lord would state what sum
the Board of Admiralty would consider to be a fair remunera-
tion..

This question was not answered, and the motion, on being
put by the Speaker, was agred_to.
__

Mr. PAKINGTON obtained leave to bring in a bill to alter
the mode of electing coroners. The principal alterations he
proposed were to shorten the period for taking the votes,
and to have the right of voting the same as that which con-
ferred the franchise for parliamentary elections.
Upon the second reading of the bill for conferring a pen-
sion on Lord Keane,

Lord SEYMOUR, in a reply to a question from Mr. Hume,
said there was no objection to lay upon the table a record of
the services of Lord Keane.

The other orders of the day were then disposed of, and

the house adjourned

On the

OF LORDS,—FRIDAY.
lotion that the trial of the Earl of Cardigan be
ttention of their lordships
ddress of the Attor-

HOBS

Lord ELDC

He"was ready to ma

of individuals, be
the subject, and

n in tit

irrelevant, he

moral delinquency" in the
allowance for the feelings

;ht that

the house had expressed no opinion on
e trial had gone off on a question wholly

led the subject to be noticed-, lest it should
eir lordships concurred in the sentiments