The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-07-03 00:00:00

POLICE-COURT-YESTERDAY.

SHOP ROBBERY.—John Pearson, a well-known thief,
who was only liberated on Friday, after an imprisonment
of three months, was committed for trial yesterday,
charred with having stolen on Saturday two bags con-
taining sovereigns, and one half-sovereign, from the shop
of Mr. R. Williams, provision dealer, Redcross-street.

A SUSPICIOUS CHARACTER--As. Constable 103 was
on duty in Vauxhall-road, errly on Snnday morning, he
observed a fellow of suspicious appearance in conversation
with a couple of prostitutes, and considering he would
not be overstepping the bounds of his duty by introduc-
ing the man to his superiors, he apprehended him ; on
searching the fellow he found a most formidable weapon ;
it was a short thick stock of wood, shod at one extremity
with iron; this bludgeon was concealed in the man's
sleeve, where no doubt it lay in readiness for the first de-
fenceless victim who might chance to pass the path of its
possessor. Such an instrument could scarcely be used
without fatal results. The ruffian, who gave hi. name
Thomas Kehoe, was brought before Mr. Rushton yester-
day. and was again remanded.

JUVENILE DELINQUENTS.—Yesterday, George Reid, a
boy not -twelve years old, was committed to prison for tw)
months for stealing a pair of boots from a shop in Church-
st.—Another child whose name is William Whitfield, was
charged with having stolen a quantity of gutta percha.
This boy's uncle appeared in court, r d Mr. Rushton di-
rected that he should take charge of the child.
BURGLARY.—On Saturday morning, the house of Mr.
Royle, 117, Bedford-street, was robbed of wearing apparel,
&c., amounting in value to several pounds. A man
named Edward Grimes was seen to leave the house, and
return again, as if for further booty. He was apprehended
in one of the cellars in the neighbourhood on the following
morning, at an early hour, and brought up at the police-
court yesterday morning, when he was committed to the
assizes.

CHILD STRIPPING.—Mothers are cautioned not to trust
young children far from home unprotected, as several'
instances of child-stripping have occurred of late. A
woman giving her name Eliza Thompson, was brought up
before Mr. Rushton yesterday, charged with having de-
coyed two young children to accompany her, and then
depriving them of their shoes. She was identified by one
of her victims, and Superintendent Abraham stated that
her appearance answered the description given of the
woman above referred to. She was remanded.

STREET ROBBERY.—On Saturday afternoon, about
four o'clock. as Miss Whalley, of St. George's-crescent,
was passing down Lord-street, a lad made a bold attempt
to snatch her purse, which she carried in her hand. The
thief failed in his attempt of securing the money, but suc-
ceeded in wresting the purse from the lady's hand, the
contents being scattered about the street. The thief was
pursued by a policeman and captured in South John-
street. His name is George Thompson, and he was com-
mitted to prison for two months.
RETRIBUTIVE RonsEay.—An Irishman named Wm.
Dougherty appeared before Mr. Rushton one day last
week, to complain of having 'been robbed of XlO by two
men who had ill-used him and thrown him into the canal,
in addition to depriving him of his money. The men
were committed for trial on the charge. Yesterday, the
quandam prosecutor appeared at the bar of the Police-
court as a prisoner, when_another Irishman, named Peter

Derham, detailed the facts of his arriving on the 16th
ultimo, at a lodging-house in Marlborough-street, where
he deposited his box, which, amongst other property,
contained £l2. On opening the box, last Saturday, the
money had disappeared, although the box was not broken
into. The prisoner, who, a short time since, represented
himself as suffering from positive destitution, had of late
displayed evidences of plenty, until the night on which he
had been robbed. When he went home, he accounted
for his disordered appearance in a manner very different
from his statement before the magistrate. Mr. Rushton
did not doubt but that Dougherty was the original thief,
and had been in turn despoiled of his ill-gotten gains,
and accordingly remanded the case for further inquiry.

CAPTAIN DENHAM'S REPORT ON IRISH

IMMIGRANTS.

We have been requested to insert the following letter,
written before Capt. Denham had made his report, from
the agent of the Drogheda Steam Company, contradicting
the assertions of the medical officers. This subject de-
mands a more impartial investigation and a cooler and
more practical consideration than it has yet received.

TO THE RIGHT HON. SIR WM. SOMERVILLE, BART.
Sir,—As agent for the Drogheda Steam Packet Com-
pany here, I took the liberty to enclose you a copy of my
letter. to Sir George Grey, in reply to Mr. Rushton's, on
the subject of Irish immigration into this town.
Whatever weight may be attached to the grounds
upon which I dispute Mr. Rushton's conclusions, I trust
that it may appear clear to you and the government that I
have at least shewn that limitation, while it can neither
serve the people of Liverpool nor the cause of humanity,
would seriously interfere with the liberty of the subject
and the rights of trade, by forcing from one or two ports,
and giving to others, that passenger traffic which, under a
fair competition, they would never obtain. It may be
said that limitation does not contemplate such restriction
as would, to any serious extent, interfere with the prefe-
rence which deck passengers heretofore gave to certain
ports ; but I would most respectfully beg to show you that
the very fear of not obtaining a passage upon arrival at
the favourite ports would cause hundreds to branch off at
certain points in the interior for those ports where limita-
tion would be less likely to detain them in transitu. I
feel convinced, that should the government be disposed to
enforce limitation of numbers and accommodation be-
tween decks, a case will have been made out, supported
by facts, and not by mere assertions, regarding the suffer-
ings said to be endured through overcrowding and expo-
sure to cold on deck. I know not what case Captain Den-
ham may have made out in his report ; but I cannot help
stating, that tha only opportunity afforded to me, on the
part of those I represent, was to reply to certain written
questions put by this gentleman. As I conceived that
these questions did not embrace the whole of the subject of
enquiry, I waited on Capt. Denham, at the Town-hall, on
Monday, the 30th of April, and handed him my written
answers, in the hope that I might have an opportunity of
entering into the subject with him and those of the autho-
rities of the town who were then present. I remained
there the whole of the day ; but as the evidence and opi-
nions of others were being noted, I told Captain Denham,
when the meeting adjourned, that I would have much
pleasure in waiting upon him next day, or any other day
he would appoint, to which he replied that he could not
then fix a time, but that he would send to my office for
me. This he did not do; and lam sorry for it, for the
sake of his report, which I cannot help thinking—sur-
rounded as he (Capt. Denham) was by the authorities of
Liverpool—must be a mere reflex of the statements of the
deputation from this town which waited upon the Secre-
tary for Home Affairs and the President of the Board of
Trade. I do not mean to cast the slightest imputation
upon Captain Denham's impartiality, but I cannot help
stating, at the same time, that upon the principle of
" audi alteram partero," I should have been afforded an

opportunity of. entering fully into the points of his
enquiry.

After Capt. Denham returned to London, a report from
the Select Vestry of this town was published in one of the
local papers of the 18th ultimo. This report contains a
number of statements made to Captain Denham by two
medical men appointed by the authorities here, in 1847,
to examine passengers, under the late Irish quarantine
regulations. 1 beg to encloie you a printed copy of these
exaggerated statements, and must draw upon your indul-
gence •chile I take the liberty to answer them.
1. " The number of deck passengers varied from a mere
handful to upwards of a thousand in a single vessel."
Now, taking the medical men upon their own statement,
it cannot be expected that space between decks for several
hundreds, or say one thousaad, should be fitted up and
appropriated for the exclusive use of a " mere handful."
The largest number of deck passengers carried by the
Brian Boru, during the year 1847, was 580, instead of
1,300, as represented to Captain Denham by these gentle-
men.

2. The stables on the decks of our vessels were never
locked, because there were no locks upon them. They
were quite open to passengers at all times, free of charge,
when there were no horses in them.

3. " As our vessels are generally filled with live stock
at Drogheda, it becomes indispensable, for the steadiness
—I may say safety of the ship—to put the heavy weight
below, and the light weight, say passengers, on deck ;
ergo. in our vessels there can be no accommodation be-
tween decks for passengers. Our sailors are not allowed
to admit passengers into their apartments in the forecastle
for payment.
4. Passengers and cattle have not been indiscriminately
mixed together. Should the main deck be full of live
stock, and only a few passengers offering, they are put on
the quarter-deck. Should the deck be partially filled
with live stock—say one-half or two-thirds—they are
partitioned off with boards, and the passengers are then
placed between thi3 separation and the quarter-deck
but should they be too numerous for this space and the
quarter-deck, the live stock, which cne boat would carry,
is divided into two, for the purpge of giving a safe and
not an overcrowded transit to deckassengers.
6. "Scenoen de c
s ofk. T
debaucheryilis
is
purewere
fiction,sa dt
for haveif
suchbe h
been notud
uncommon
been the case, the captain and crew of the ship, passing
to and fro on the gangways overhead, must have known
something of such scenes ; but they all declare to me that
no such occurrence ever took place.
6. All under this head, like the whole report, is a co-
loured compound of mere assertions and exaggerations.
7. " Police-constables state that they have seen persons
frozen to the deck." This may be more easily understood
as romance, than believed as reality.
8. Cattle and human beings were never mixed in the
holds. The hatches of our vessels, when coming from
Drogheda, are never closed either during fine or severe
weather, and it is not true that air is admitted only by the
hatches, as there are other means of ventilating our ships
below.

9. " Previous to the quarantine regulations, persons
labouring under " fever were landed. Liverpool was
likely to become the fever hospital for Ireland. Dead
bodies were brought ashore. Women were brought to
bed on the passage, &c., &c., &c." There wirer was a
fever case landed from our vessels, either before, during,
or after the Irish quarantine. 'Tis true that during the
time of the medical inspection here, two of our steamers
were prevented from going into dock, and were forced up
the river to the hospital ships, into which four passengers
were transferred. These four supposed fever-patients,
after a day and a night's detention on board hospital ships,
were released as free from all sickness, tho' not till my
predeceseor had gone to the trouble and expense of send-
ing two qualified medical men to examine, not patients,
but prisoners, unlawfully detained by order of the very
men, whose report, the Select Vestry of Liverpool are
pleased to term—" the clearest evidence of sufferings,
almost rivalling in intensity the horrors of the African
slave-trade." As to " Liverpool becoming the fever
hospital for Ireland"—l have only to state that fever
cases were not imported, but were generally in the
unventilated and filthy cellars of Liverpool. so long
allowed to be occupied by human beings, till the mor-
tality, as compared with other towns, enforced upon the
authorities here the necessity for better sanatory regula-
tions. As to "dead bodies brought ashore, and women
brought to bed on tLe passage," I have sometimes heard
of such occurrences in railway carriages, and I am not
prepared to say that solitary cases of this kind have not
also occurred on board steamers ; but for the sake of
truth, I trust that Capt. Denham may have informed
himself of the actual number of such cases, and the ves-
sels on which they are stated to have occurred, before any
weight be attached to such assertions.
Having now answered, in detail, the several statements
made to Capt. Denham, by the medical inspectors, I
must beg to apologise for the length of this letter, which
I take the liberty to address to you, as member for
Drogheda, in the hope that you will have the goodness
to communicate with the President of the Board of Trade
upon the subject. —I have the honour to be, &c.
W. M'ELnOY.
Liverpool, 161 It June, 1349•

Mr. Alfred Lafone has been elected honorary secretary
to the Chatham Society, in the place of Mr. A. G. Kurtz.
A little girl named Green has died at Manchester from
the cold water treatment.
NEW RESTRICTION.—On the arrival of the Europa in
our river on Sunday last, the representatives of the press
and the parties acting for the Underwriters' Room, went
as is usual by the Satellite tender along side the ship to
obtain their respective files of newspapers. They found
on going on board that the parcel-room was guarded by
an officer of the customs, who stated that he had instruc-
tions to detain all newspapers, and to open them, to
ascertain if they contained anything contraband. Mean-
time the tender departed with the mails ; and the party
were detained an hour and a half before they received
their files, after the wrappers had been torn off. It is
said that hereafter, the press are not to be permitted to
bring their papers on shore by the mail tender,—in which
case an hour or two may be so sacrificed, (if the mail ship
arrive in the evening,) and their files would be of no use,
as regards a local newspaper which has to go to press by
midnight,—so that its readers and the mercantile commu-
nity, generally, may be deprived of all the gratification
and real advantages of early information. The new re-
striction, if pursued, will equally affect the London press,
and in some instances the government itself. It is not
yet known with whom the vexatious and unnecessary
order emanated ; but, as the press has hitherto been
afforded every facility by all parties for the early receipt
of their files, we trust that it has originated in some mis-
take, and that when it becomes known at head quarters
it will he rescinded, so that we may experience no such
delay in future.
At St. Louis, America, during the six days preceding the lath
of June, there had been 330 deaths by cholera.
The late Mr. Young, in ene of his orations to the members
of the Veterinary Co!lege, observes—" that by the.iiiiptiavi,
ments in modern chemistry, the medical profession
successfully to treat diseases which were prerioirsir§uppeetr7,-.
as not within the reach of medicine." This .triUipleksr,
manifested for many years, but: in no instanci,e4itenOi?-imz- •
Rortance to mankind than by the discovery of
sci4gl,t and
heumatic Pitts. •
..;"i
n't

~~~' n

MMIIMIIMIIIMIE

titeraturr.

NOTICES.

Kavanagh, a Tale. By H. W. Longfellow. Liverpool:
John Walker, 97, Bold-street.
rWe should have been puzzled under what denomina-
tion of works to class this beautiful little work, had not
its very talented author informed us in his title-page that
it was " a tale." It is certainly not such in the ordinary
sense of the word, but rather a most poetical exposition
(in prose) of some of the finest phases and weaknesses of
the human heart in its mare exaltic moods, introduced
through the medium of just as much incident as will serve
to sustain the interest of the reader. The principal of
these is the history of an affection, awakened i❑ the
breasts of two fair young girls—friends--named Alice
Archer and Cecilia Vaughan, for a young clergyman,
Kavautigh, just introduced to a curacy in their parish,—
all whose characters are drawn with the skill of a master
and the delicacy of a true poet. Same other characters
are also karmic-7Ni, not however connected with the
story ; and one of these—a deliciousll sketched one—we
shall introduce to our readers.
TMr. Churchill is the schoolmaster of a retired rural
district in the heart of one of the rural States of America
—" a dreamy, poetic man," simple and amiable in cha-
racter, through whose day-dreams floats the dim shadow
of some immortal work, for the accomplishment of which
his slumbering- genius only requires awakening. Mr.
Churchill at length resolves to write a romance; but we
shall give the description of the occasion of his resolve,
inasmuch as it introduces his wife, a character as deli-
ciously painted as his own :
MR. CHURCHILL RESOLVES TO 'WRITE A ROMANCE.

• • - -
" When tea was over, Mr. Churchill walked to and fro in his
study, as his custom was. And as he walked, he gazed with
secret rapture at the books, which lined the walls, and thought
how many bleeding hearts and aching heads had found conso
lation for themselves, and imparted it to others, by writing
those pages. The books seemed to him almost as living beings,
so instinct were they with human thoughts and sympathies.
It was as if the authors themselves were gazing at him from
the walls, with countenances neither sort owful nor glad, but
full of calm indifference to fate, like those of the poets who
appeared to Dante in his vision, walking together on the dolo-
rous shore. And then he dreamed of fame, and thought that
perhaps hereafter he might be in some degree, and to some
one, what these men were to him; and in the enthusiasm of
the moment he exclaimed aloud,—
"'Would you have me be like these, dear Mary ! '
" Like these what ? ' asked his wif7, not comprehending

him.
" Like these great and good men,—like these scholars and
poets,—the authors of all these books!'
, She pressed his hand and said, in a soft but excited tone,—
" 0, yes ! Like them, only perhaps better '
" Then I will write a romance 1 '
" Write it ! ' said his wife, like the angel. For she believed
that then he would become famous for ever ; and that all the
vexed'and busy world would stand still to hear him blow his
little trumpet, whose sound was to rend the adamantine walls
of time, and reach the ears of a far-off and startled posterity."
The fate of the romance—never to be begun—is con-
veyed in the following conversation between the simple.
minded, procrastinating schoolmaster and Mr. Kavanagh,
li
the curate, which took place years after the incident
which we have quoted :
MR. CHURCHILL'S ROMANCE HAS NEVER BEEN BEGUN.
" And your Romance,—have you been more successful
with that? I hope it is finished, or nearly finished?'
" Not yet begun,' said Mr. Churchill. The plan and cha-
racters still remain vague and indefinite in my mind. I have
not even found a name for it.'
" That you can determine after the book is written,' sug-
gested Kavanagh. You can name it, for instance, as the old
Heimskringla was named, from the initial word of the first
chapter.'
"' ! that was very well in the olden time, and in Iceland,
when there were no quarterly reviews. It would be called af-
fectation now.'
"' I see you still stand a little in awe of opinion. Never fear
that. The strength. of criticism lies only In the weakness of
the thing criticised.'
" That is the truth, Kavanagh; and I am more afraid of
deserving criticism than of receiving it. I stand in awe of my
own opinion. The secret demerits, of which we alone perhaps
are conscious, are often more difficult to bear than those which
have been publicly censured in us, and thus in some degree
atoned for.'
" I will not say,' replied Kavanagh, ' that humility is the
only road to excellence, but I am sure that it is one road.'
" Yes, humility; but not humiliation,' sighed Mr. Church-
ill, despondingly. As for excellence, I can only desire it, mid
dream of it; I cannot attain to it; it lies too far from me; I
cannot reach it. These very books about me here, that once
stimulated me to action, have now become my accusers. They
are my Eumenides, and drive me to despair.'
" My friend,' said Kavanagh, after a short pause. during
which he had taken note of Mr. Churchill's sadness, that is
not always excellent which lies far away from us. What is
remote and difficult of access, we are apt to overrate; what is
really best for us lies always within our reach, though often
overlooked. To speak frankly, I am afraid this is the case
with your Romance. You are evidently grasping at something
which lies beyond the confines of your own experience, and
which, consequently, is only a play of shadows in the realm of
fancy. The figures have no vitality; they are only outward
shows, wanting inward life. We can give to others only what
we have.'
" And if we have nothing worth giving?' interrupted Mr.
Churchill.
" No man is so poor as that. As well might the mountain
strearnlets say they have nothing worth giving to the sea, be-
cause they are not rivers. Give what you have. To some one,
it may lie better than you dare to think. If you had looked
nearer for the materials of your Romance and had set about it
in earnest, it would now have been finished.'
" And burned, perhaps,' interposed Mr. Churchill ; or
sunk with the books of Simon Magus to the bottom of the
Dead Sea.'
" At all events, you would have had the pleasure of writing
it. I remember one of the old traditions of Art, from which
you may perhaps draw a moral. When Raphael desired to
paint his Holy Family, for a long time be strove in vain to
express the idea that filled and possessed his soul. One morn-
ing, as lie walked beyond the city gates, meditating the sacred
theme, he beheld, sitting beneath a vine at her cottage door,
a peasant woman, holding a boy in her arms, while another
leaned noon her knee, and gazed at the approaching stranger.
The painter found here, in real life, what he had so long sought
for in vain in the realms of his imagination ; and quickly, with
his chalk pencil, he sketched, upon the head of a wine-cask
that stood near him, the lovely group, which afterwards, when
brought into full perfectionlecame the transcendent Madonna
della Seggiola.'
" All this is true,' replied Mr. Churchill, but it gives me
no consolation. I now despair of writing any thing excellent.
I have no time to devote to meditation and study. My life is
given to others, and to this destiny I submit without a mur-
mur; for I have the satisfaction of having laboured faithfully
in my calling, and of having perhaps trained and incited others
to do what I shall never do. Life is still precious to me for its
many uses, of which the writing of books is but one. Ido not
complain, but accept this destiny, and say, with that pleasant
author, Marcus Antoninus, " Whatever is agreeable to thee
shall be agreeable to me, 0 gracious Providence ! nothing shall
be to me too early or too late, which is seasonable to thee!
Whatever thy seasons hear shall be joyful fruit to me, ti Na-
ture ! from thee are all things; in thee they subsist ; to thee
they return. Could one say, Thou dearly beloved city of
Cecrops? and wilt thou not say, Thou dearly beloved city of
God? " '
" Amen ! ' said Kavanagh. And, to follow your quotation
with another, "The gale that blows from God we must endure,
toiling, hut not repining.
" Here Mrs. Churchill, who had something of Martha in her,
as well ns of Mary, and had left the room when the conversa-
tion took a literary turn, came back to announce that dinner
was ready, and Kavanagh, though warmly urged to stay, took
his leave, having first obtained from the Churchills the promise
of a visit to Cecilia during the evening.
" Nothing done ! nothing done ! ' exclaimed he, as he
wended his way homeward, musing and meditating. And
shall all those lofty aspirations end in nothing? Shall the
arms be thus stretched forth to encircle the universe, and come
back empty against a bleeding, aching breast ? '
" And the words of the poet came into his mind, and lie
thought them worthy to be written in letters of gold, and
placed above every door in every house, as a warning, a sug-
gestion, an incitement :
" Stay, stay the present instant!
Imprint the marks of wisdom on its wings !
0, let it not elude thy grasp, but, like
The good old patriarch upon record,
Hold the fleet angel fast until he bless thee ' "
Alas ! how many Churehills are there in this world of
ours—men burning ever to attain a height of excellence
shadowed to their imagination, yet never daring to take
the first upward step !
We should have been glad to have been able to quote
another scene or two from this beautiful, though unartis-
tic little book; but we fear that we might detract from
its interest with the general reader, and expect moreover
that it will attain a large circulation. Its typography and
getting-up are very creditable to the publisher.