The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-03-16 00:00:00

Ir. NV, Brown, of Brentwoot

the new church,

ore than ten years of aye, but of
s been appointed organist to

at Brentwood

t multi.

The valne of the plate, paintings, furniture, and other pro-
Wynyard Park, is said to be

perty saved from the fire

£50,000: The total loss is estimated at £70,000, and there
now seems to be_ no doubt of the distressing fact that the

property was wholly uninsured

Since the opening of the Hartlepool and Stockton railway,
and the recent openin of the Great North of England rail-
way for goods and merchandize, great quantities of fish are
now daily sent from Hartlepool to Darlington, and forwarded
by the latter railway for York, Leeds, Sheffield, Derby,
Manchester, and Birmingham.

The quantity of timberimported into the port of Sunderland
for the year ending on the sth of last January was 41,705
loads. The quantity imported last year into the united king-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland was 818,299 loads ; so that
the quantity imported at this port exceeded a twentieth of
that of the whole kingdom.

FATAL ACCIDENT,L-It is with sincere regret we have to
intimate the untimely fate of the Rev. Thomas M`Ritehie,
late minister of the parish of Clunie, in this county. It will
be' recollected that he voluntarily demitted his pastoral
charge, between two and three years ago, for the purpose of
going abroad. He was drowned on the Ist July last, in con-
sequence of the upsetting of a boat in the Kiapara River, on
the west coast of New Zealand, while the ship Anna Watson,
with which he was a passenger, lay wind-bound on her voy-
age from Sydney to the Bay of Islands. Mr. M`Ritchie was
'-sixth year of his age.--Perth Constitutional.

iu the thirt

A French paper called the Audience contains a letter from
e correspondent, dated Gibralter, the 28th ult., which
states that an opulent British merchant, named James Bos-
well, long resident there, had been tried and convicted of the
murder of his daughter, on circumstantial evidence, and that
on the way to execution the convict saw in the crowd ano-
ther Englishman named John Keats, who had been active in
collecting evidence against him. The convict expressed a
desire to die in peace with all mankind, and to pardon this
person, whom he considered his greatest enemy. When the
convict reached the scaffold, the executioner was preparing
to execute the sentence of the law, when a voice was heard
in the crowd exclaiming---" It is I that am guilty, and not
the convict." ' This exclamation was made by John Keats.
He confessed that it was he who hail carried off James Box-
well's daughter; that he had cut off her hair during her
sleep, and stolen one of her dresses, which he had steeped in
blood ; and that the generous pardon granted to him by this
victim had caused him to reflect on the enormity of his
crime. The executioner immediately withdrew the rope
from the convict's neck, and the cap from his face, when it

4 private

scovered that he was dead from the effects of terror.
File atrocious John Keats was conducted to prison amidst
the execrations of the populace, who wished to tear him to

DESPERATE OUTRAGE DS AN ARMED PARTY.—On the
night of 'Monday, between the hours of eight and nine
o'clock, a large body of armed men surrounded the house of
Patrick Ryan, of Ballywilliam. Five of them having en-
tered, the tirst'thing they did was to demand of Ryan what
decree's he had in the house; not having immediately com-
plied with the demand, one of the ruffians snapt a gun at his
head, which fortunately missed fire ; two others of the party
also attempted to shoot him, but their pistols burned
priming. They then assaulted him with the butt ends of
their fire-arms, and having knocked him down, they asked
him if lie would give up the decrees he had obtained at the-
last quarter sessions against the Boyles, Gormans, Ryans,
and others. Havinggiven them the decrees, they placed him
on his knees, and swore him as to the fact of his having any
more of them. They also swore him to give up an acre of
land, which be had rented for the last twelve months from
Caleb Powel, of Castleotway, and threatened him with cer-
tain death if he put them to the necessity of a second visit.
Before they departed they beat a weaver who was sleeping in
the house, in a most unmerciful manner, and broke several
of his teeth. His name is Thomas M`Mahon, and his of-
fence was being entered in one or two of the decrees as a
specialty. Several shots were heard after the gang had left
the house.—Liraerick Standard.

COLLISION AND SINKING OF A PASSENGER STEAM-BOAT.
—An accident of an extraordinary and alarming nature oc-
curred oa Tuesday morning, at Kilpinpike, near Howden.
The facts are briefly these :—About eight o'clock the iron
steamer Hirondelle, Captain Wilson, from Hull to Selby,
came in contact with a vessel lying at anchor in the river, and
so dreadful was the collision, that the steamer's starboard
bow was completely stove in, and her machinery so dread-
fully shattered, that in less than five minutes she filled with
water and disappeared. She had on board about 50 passen-
gers and 93 sheep. We are happy to state that all the pas-
sengers saved their lives by jumping on board the vessel with
which the steamer came in collision ; but nearly half of the
sheep were drowned : 25 dead ones have been picked up at
Booth Ferry. A Jew lost a valuable box of jewellery, valued
at £3OO. The screams of the people on board the packet
were heart-rending, and they certainly were in imminent
danger, as the interval which elapsed between the shock and
sinking was scarcely five minutes, and had the vessel on board
which they escaped been in the least damaged by the colli-
sion, they would inevitably have perished. The weather was
calm, but a dense fog prevailed at the time of the accident.
This is the account given by the persons who were on the
deck of the steamer when the collision took place.—Eastern
Counties' Herald.

FATAL AFFRAY BETWEEN A " GIANTESS" AND HER
HUSBAND.—On Saturday night, after the performance in a
booth at the foot of Saltmarket-street had closed, the woman
who exhibited herself as a giantess quarrelled with her hus-
band, on acccunt, it is said, of his excessively dissipated ha-
bits, and in the course of the struggle which ensued, the lat-
ter received
.a severe blow on the forehead with some weapon.
The unfortunate man soon after became seriously ill, and on
Sabbath afternoon, about five o'clock, he expired. Prepara-
tions were made for the interment of the body on Tuesday,
but on the circumstances of the death being made known to
the. police, the obsequies were postponed, the body taken to
the police-office, and submitted to medical inspection. The
female was, at the same time, taken into custody for exami-
nation. It appeared that, the weapon used was part of a bed-
post ; but we understand-that the medical gentlemen are of
opinion that, from the morbid state of the brain, death might
have ensued although there had been no external violence.
The deceased's name was Moir. The accused is a woman
about five feet nine inches in height, and of -a' masculine
figure. She denies having used deadly violence towards her
husband, and frequently asks for what she is confined. Since
the above was wrote the prisoner has been discharged by the
fiscal, subsequent to the report of the medical gentlemen
having been received.—Scollish Guardian.
SUICIDE.—On Monday evening a man and a woman en-
gaged lodgings in a house in. Bell-street, and remained during
that night. In the morning the man went out after break-
fast, and did not return. On Tuesday evening the former
ordered some coffee, into which the landlady observed she

put a white powder, but supposing it to be some-
medicine,
took no suspicion of the matter. ring the night the woman
was heard to vomit excessively, and in the morning she was
found in her bed dead. Under the pillow was a letter, ad-
dressed to " Wm. Barton," of whom we have learned nothing
but the name. The writer, however, was known as a per-
former in the booths at the foot of Saltmarket-street, and
had been married to a showman named Scott, some years
dead. She addresses Barton in affectionate terms, informing
him that this letter was the last her poor hands would write
in this vale of tears ; that his departure from her was the
last blow to her proud and bursting heart. She prays for
forgiveness to all who have spoke reproachfully of her ; and
concludes—" her eyes becoming dim"—with a last request
to her sister to attend her funeral. We learn that the de-
ceased was respectably connected. She was about thirty-six
years of age, and had been good looking, but from her course
of life her countenance had assumed rather a haggard ap-
pearance.—Scottish Guardian.

FATAL ACCIDENT.—TIVO LIVES LOST.—On Thursday
morning, between 11 and 12 o'clock, the following lamenta-
ble occurrence took place :—lt appears that two nursery-
maids, attached to the establishment of Major Macfarlane,
of 16, Raymond-terrace, Regent's Park, went out with three
of the children for the purpose of walking round the park.
On arriving at the bridge over the canal, one of the servants
incautiously placed the youngest child on the parapet of the
bridge, and was in the act of tying the strings of its hat
when the child fell backward over the bridge. The servant
succeeded in grasping its leg before it disappeared, and, in
her endeavours to save the child, she overbalanced herself,
and both were precipitated into the canal. The screams of
the other servant quickly drew a number of persons to the
spot, and several rushed down to the water side, but the child
and its nurse had disappeared beneath the surface. Two
gentlemen, divesting themselves of their coats, immediately
plunged into ihe•water, and, after repeatedly diving, at length
succeeded in bringing out the bodies of the nurse and child.
The poor infant was found closely clasped in the arms, of the
unfortunate young woman, who, it is supposed, had never
lost her hold of the child. The bodies were conveyed to the
residence of Richards, Esq., close to the spot, and every
exertion was used to restore animation, but without effect,
life being quite extinct.—Morning Herald.

WARLIKE PREPARATIONS.—SHEERNESS, MARCH 10.—
The greatest bustle and activity prevail in the royal dock-
yard here in getting her Majesty's ships Monarch and Ver-
non fitted out. 'When completed, they proceed to Spithead
for orders. No doubt is entertained here but that their des-
tination is a visit to our braggart brother " Jonathan" and
the rest of the Van Buren faction. A letter received here
(Sheerness) this morning states,. that at Plymouth and Ports-
mouth the utmost activity prevails in the naval departments,
and our position in China is now tallied about as if it were a
secondary consideration.

NORTH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.—WO understand that it is
not Lord Maidstone's intention again to offer himself as a
candidate for the representation of North Northamptonshire.
Although, in conjunction with his constituents, we sincerely
regret to lose the services of a nobleman whose spirit, energy,
and talents have so thoroughly commended him to our good
opinion, yet we rejoice to know that the conservative arrange-
ments are quite completed, and that Augustus O'Brien, Esq„
is fully prepared to take the field, in connexion with Mr.
Maunsell, that well-tried and unflinching upholder of his
country's weal, whenever a dissolution takes place.—North-
ampton Herald.

GALILEO.—The ceremony of Galileo's abjuration was one
of exciting interest, and of awful formality. Clothed in the
sackcloth of a repentant criminal, the venerable sage fell
upon his knees before the assembled cardinals; and laying
his hands upon the Holy Evangelists, he invoked the Divine
aid in abjuring and detesting, and vowing again never to teach,
the doctrine of the earth's motion and of the sun's stability.
He pledged himself that he would never again, either in
words or in writing, propagate such heresies ; and he swore
that he would fulfil and observe the, penances which had
been inflicted upon him. At the conclusion of this ceremony,
in which he recited his abjuration word for word, and then
signed it, he was conveyed, in conformity with his sentence,
to the prison of the Inquisition. The account which we have
given of the trial and the sentence of Galileo, is pregnant
with the deepest instruction. Human nature is here drawn
in its darkest colouring; and in surveying the melancholy
picture, it is difficult to decide whether religion or philoso-
phy has been most degraded. While we witness the pre-
sumptuous priest pronouncing infallible decrees of his own
erring judgment, we see the highminded philosopher abjuring
the eternal and immutable truths which he had himself the
glory of establishing. In the ignorances and prejudices of
the age--in a too literal interpretration of the language of
Scripture—in a mistaken respect for the errors that had be-
come venerable from their antiquity—and in the peculiar
position which Galileo had taken among the avowed enemies
of the cluirch, we find' the elements of an apology, poor
though it be, for the conduct of the Inquisition. But
what excuse can we devise fqr the humiliating confession
and abjuration of Galileo? Why did this master-spirit
of the age—this high priest of the stars—this representa-
tive of science—this hoary sage, whose career of glory
was near its consummation—why did he reject the crown of
martyrdom which he had himself coveted, and which, plaited
with immortal laurels, was about to descend uponehis head?
If, in place of disavowing-the laws of nature, and surrender-
ing in his own person the intellectual dignity of his species,
he had boldly asserted the truth of his opinions, and confided
his character to posterity, and his cause to an all-ruling Pro-
vidence, he would have strung up the hair-suspended sabre,
and disarmed for ever the hostility which threatened to over-
whelm him. The philosopher, however, was supported only
by Philosophy ' • and in the love of truth he found a miserable
substitute for the hopes of the martyr. Galileo cowered un-
der the fear of man, and his submission was the salvation of
the church. The sword of the inquisition descended on his
prostrate neck, and though its stroke was not physical, yet
it fell with a moral influence fatal to the character of its vic-
tim, and to the dignity of science.—The Martyrs of Science.
By Sir David Brewster.

TUESDAY MORNING, MARCH 16, 1841

When the Popish member for all Ireland blesses
Heaven for any extraordinary gift, one naturally feels
alarmed as if some evil tidings were to be expected, or as
if some public calamity had happened. It will he recol-
lected that but a few evenings since lie gave Heaven
thanks that the doctrines of the Oxford tract school of
theology were " very close to the ancient Catholics,"
and spreading widely in our church. Now if this

statement were true, and also one that sincere members
of the church could have reason to rejoice in, we sup-
pose it will be pretty generally admitted that Mr. Da-
niel O'Connell would never, in reality, " bless Heaven"
for being enabled to make it.

The statement consists of two parts—the first refer-
ring to the nature and character of the doctrines
taught, and the second to the extent to which they
have been disseminated. Were we to examine it mi-
nutely, it would obviously lead us into a theological
discussion in the first instance, and into an inquiry of
fact of considerable difficulty in the second ; but with
neither shall we trouble our readers at present. We
enjoy the pre-eminent and decided advantage, in con •
nection with the Church of England, of having settled
articles, creeds, and formularies, .which render it un-
necessary for individual members of her communion,
whose churchmanship has been once settled, to make
themselves uneasy about new teachers, commentators,
and expounders who may start up within her pale. We
do not say that errors in this kind ought not to be'
combated in a suitable place and mode; but we main-
tain that the church, settled as it is in doctrine and dis-
cipline, by articles, canons, and prescriptions, affords a
bond of union to her children without exacting perfect
unity of sentiment upon► all points ; and that those
who wish for peace within her walls are not called upon
to prove the goodness of their churchmanship b?sub-
scribing to the Oxford Tracts, or any other unautho-
rised publications pretending to be expounders of her
doctrines, or indeed to trouble themselves about such

productions at all either in the way of acceptance or
refutation unless under some peculiar circumstances of

•ovocation

Whether the Oxford Tractarians, in case of meeting
with all that success to which their unknown ainbition
way aspire, would leave the church in possession of

her glorious Anglican liberties, and admirable forms, is
a point that certainly does not admit of conclusive de-
termination. Judging by what we have seen of their
writings, we should, for our pari,'say that they would
not.

There is too evident a leaning on their side to the
Judaising formalities of Romanism for a modest con-
tentment of this sort. Rome is, in their sympathising
view, of near kindred with us—our " elder but erring
sister," as they say ; and, according to their interpre-
tation, we have seen that our church is " not to be
considered as condemning purgatory, image, and relic
worship, invocation of saints, masses, and so on, as
they are taught authoritatively by the Church of Rome,
but only absurd practices, and opinions which intelli-
gent Romanists repudiate as much as we do."
We have heard, and indeed know it to be a fact,
that a learned and pious divine of the Church of Eng-

land undertook the compilation of a work which was
designed as a full examination and refutation of the
doctrines of the Tractarians; he is a scholar and the-
ologian than whom there is none better qualified for
such an undertaking; but after advancing some way
in his task, he gave it up, with this declaration, which
was the result of long and anxious deliberation—l re-
nounce this labour, because I find that in refuting Pu-
seyism, I am only doing what has been long since done
by our reformers. 'The same process of reasoning
which refutes Popery refutes Puseyism, and the work
is already done to my hand—causa finita est.
But as to what this school of divines would do with
our church, if they had the power, we have an inti-
mation from themselves in the very last number of the
Tracts for the Times, which exhorts us to " let the
church sit still for the present; let her be content to be
in bondage; let her work in chains; let her go on
teaching with the stammering lips of ambiguous for-
mularies, and inconsistent precedents, and principles
but partially developed." If this mysterious language.
does not shroud some meditated revolution, we own
we are utterly unable to guess its meaning.
But to turn from the theology to the policy of the
question, it does strike us that to any reasonable and
observing mind it must be evident that the great want
of the church at present is EXTENSlON—extension
chiefly among the poorer orders of society—the la-
bouring and manufacturing population. This, for her
political security, and indeed for every reason, is one
of her chief wants, if npt the very first; and this 'be-
ing so, it naturally ocbirNitone to ask, is the Tracta-
rian school of theology adapted to, and likely to pro-
mote this end ? We should certainly think not. It is,
we may remark, in the first place, one of a very exclu-
sive order, and has much in it to repel, but little•in-
deed to gain over those who have been drawn away
into the ranks of dissent. In the next place, it sets
the laity at an immeasurable distance from the ecclesi-
astical body, and disdains the aid even of the most
worthy towards supplying at any bumble distance the
ministrations of the church among the poor ; and,
lastly, it combines so much of traditional teaching
with the simple enunciations of Scripture, that it ne-
cessarily adds embarrassment and'difficulty to church
instruction, and deprives her services of that free
course which they otherwise might have.
The Churci of Rome, we may be reminded, finds it
easy to progress among the poor and ignorant. True;
but the Church of Rome first takes away the light of
holy writ, and then traffics with the ignorance that she
creates. We have not heard that the Tractarians cal-
culated on "putting out the light" in like manner;
but if they do, they should no longer be regarded as
members of the Church of England, but as a sort of
Romanist separatists from her. The Church of Eng-
land is built upon holy writ : " so that whatsoever is
riot read there, nor may be proved thereby," she de-
clares, " is not to be required of any man, that it
should be believed as an article of the faith, or be
thought requisite or necessary to salvation ;" and for

this reason, the more consistent her instructions are
with the divine records, and the more perfectly they
harmoniw with the pure and simple doctrines of the
gospel, the more readily are they likely to find accept-
ance among a Bible-reading and Bible-instructed po-
pulation.

That the introduction of the Poor Law tyranny into
Liverpool has been suggested by some most pitiful
motive, there can be no doubt; but we feel assured
that those who have been accessory to the movement
will hereafter have abundant cause to repent bitterly
of it.

'faking it for granted that every man, woman, and
child in the kingdom is now perfectly satisfied that
the commission-administered law is the greatest scourge
ever put into the hands of public functionaries in this
kingdom for the purposes of tyranny, crpelty, and op-
pression, we have only to express our astonishment
that the spirit of party could operate to such an extent
as to prevent some men joining with the great body of
their fellow,-citizens who naturally and justly acclaim
against so grievous an imposition. Baneful indeed
must that influence be which can render them insensi-
ble to the approach of so gigantic an evil, and take
from them all desire to avert it,—nay, which leads them
rather to court its arrival and weigh the petty grafi&
cation of witnessing for a moment the fancied humilia-
tion of political rivals, against the great and lasting
mischief which must follow immediately in the train of
so miserable a triumph. We should have expected
that all party feeling would be forgotten where the in-
terests of the poor, and the interests of our common
locality, are so intimately concerned ; but such has not
been the case—and we own, that, low as our ideas of
Whiggery have ever begin, this unpartiotic and dis-
graceful defection—(for the defalcation is all on one
side)—has depressed them to a point beyond which,
we suppose, they cannot now descend.
How comes it, let us ask, that every Conservative
is opposed to the commission-tyranny, but that not a
single Whig has the courage openly to contend against
it ? When the question was asked at the meeting of
the special vestry held on Thursday—" For whose be-
nefit it was intended," some mysterious unknown in
the assembly replied " For Sir Joshua Walmsley's ;"
and really that great unknown, who is perhaps more
in the se,eret than we are, may be right. If we can
conceive so monstrous a nuisance to be for the benefit
of any human being, Sir Joshua Walmsley may as
well be the happy personage as any other that we wot
of. Certainly he has not shown himself the friend of
the poor, or of the Inhabitants of Liverpool, by joining
in the remonstrance against it. • We have it on the au-
thority of Mr. EARLE—and a very good authority too
in such a case--that the introduction of the law which
has been so long deferred may be attributed to the
over-much righteousness of the special vestry, and
their scrupulous attention to the interests of the parish
in the matter of the warehouse bill—it is, he gave us
to understand, a punishment upon them for meddling
with the projects of the Town Council—for their "mal-
versatio" of the parish funds in protecting the parish-
oners against the encroachments of the Council. Only
think how attentive the commissioners sitting in So-
merset House, London, have been to the interests of
the people of Liverpool—how anxious they have been,
amid numerous other cases, to save us from misma-
nagement and adjudicate impartially between our Whig
Town Council and our constitutional special vestry.
But whence did they receive their information ? How
came the commissioners so well to understand our
local differences, and to apply with such nice discri-
mination a remedy so exactly suitable to our wants ?
Was it Mr. EARLE himself that put them up to it, or
was it Sir Joshua Walmsley—an active stirring man
in all public affairs—or who was it Well, no matter;
at present our only concern is, that the visitation may
be averted; for we do aver that if ever there was a
project calculated to fire the indignation and provoke
the displeasure of a patient people, the abominable pro-
ject in question is the one. Let us briefly review the
facts.

We have in the first place a system among us that
answers all the purposes of which such a system is ca-
pable, and so administered that no complaint whatever
has been preferred against a management which, from
its peculiar nature, is of all others the most difficult.
Neither tax-payer on the one hand, nor pauper on the
other, is heard to murmur—a circumstance in itself
remarkable and most creditable to the.:town. We
should think that few instances of a sta444.fthings so
singularly felicitous in a matter of so grave a character,
and so deeply important, could be pointed out. And
yet a proposition is made wantonly to destroy and sub-
vert it. Under what pretence, or for whose benefit?
The official answer must of course be, for the benefit of
the inhabitants of Liverpool. But the inhabitants of
Liverpool, all hut a clique so numerically insignificant
as not to be worth speaking of—vastly obliged, to be
sure, for such kind intentions—are desirous rather of
remaining just as they are, in their present unreformed
but happy condition. They ask for no new law; they
have no wish to have foreign commissioners put over
their heads; they want no deputy to assist them ; they
only require to be allowed to manage their own affairs.
and are willing to bear those evils that they have rather
than experimentalize with others that they know not
of : in a word, they ask to be let alone. But no—this
may not be. Whig influence must be forced through
every vacant corner of the land ; and as neighbouring
towns have been put in the stocks, a good pretence is
furnished for inflicting a similar punishment upon Li-
verpool. Centralization and " uniformity" are stock-
in-trade humbugs of the school.

But if this ground of opposition to the victimizing