The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-01-12 00:00:00

DEATH OF CAPTAIN R. E. BAXTER

(From the Bombay Times.)
We have to record a most unfortunate and sad accident at
Capsingmoon. Captain Richard Edward Baxter, commander
of the Liverpool ship Litherland, was drowned while bathing
alongside on the evening of the. Bth of August. From the
mode in which it occurred, as described in the annexed
deposition, it is supposed he must either have been caught by
a shark, or taken with the cramp—most probably the latter.
He was much liked by officers and crew, who are in great
_ his
distress

t his loss. Though every exertion was made his
body bad not been found by the last account from Capsing-

" DEPOSlTlON.—Capsingmoon, Aug. 1, 1840, nine, a.m.
My name is Nugent; I am second officer of the Litherland.
Captain Baxter came on deck about half-past six o'clock, and
said he would take a swim ; he then took off his clothes and
jumped out of the gangway; he swam about a little with
much ease—all at once he seemed to struggle in the water.
I jumped dow❑ on the stage that was alongside to assist him ;
but before I could reach the stage lie went down and never
rose again. (Signed) "J. NUGENT, Second Officer."

DREADFUL SHIPWRECK AND LOSS OF LIFE

We regret to have to state the loss of the steamer

Thames

on the morning of Monday, the 4th instant, on
the Scilly Island Rock. It would appear from the situation
in which the hull of the Thames was placed, and from the
statement of the man that was saved, that the commander
had mistaken the Scilly lights for those of the Long-ships,
the commander (Grey) expecting that the vessel would have
floated next tide, as she made no water, remained on board,
keeping the other boats of the vessel by him. It appears
that several of the crew having taken one of the boats left
the vessel, but the captain having prevailed on them to re-
turn and take the three females who were on board, they did
so, when a number of recruits having jumped in the boat was
swamped, and all lost ; a shore boat then came to the vessel,
and the three females were taken from her by means of
booming the boat off so as to prevent a similar accident, from
a rushing of the other persons on board. The vessel went on
the Rocks about five o'clock in the morning, after a tre-
mendous night of snow squalls, and much lightning ; a
strong north and setting in with the flood tide, and the
vessel having unfortunately listed to windward, from being

smooth water, a heavy sea arose, and the vessel was lost
with those that remained on board, including the captain,
remainder of the crew, four cabin passengers, and eleven
deckers, with some recruits.

(From tl, Morning herald of yesterday.)

FALMOUTII, FDIDAY NIGHT.—By the arrival of the
Penzance coach to-night;-it is learnt that the Thames,
steamer, Captain J. Gray, w s totally lost on Monday morn-
ing, at five a.m., on Rosevear Cavern, two miles south-
west of St. Agnes, Scilly, on her passage from Dublin for
Plymouth and London ; whereby, from information ob-
tained, we regret to state, it is computed that upwards of 60
persons have been launched into eternity, three women and
one man being the only persons saved of the total number of
her passengers and crew. Details have not come to hand,,as
post letters thence will not be delivered here until to-mor-
row morning ; and the Scilly Packet only landed her mails

and passengers as our informant quitted Penzance. It is
further stated, that the captain mistook St. Agnes's light
for that of Longships', which error he might unwittingly
have been led into, owing to not giving proper allowance in
his reckoning, for the strong gale of north-easterly wind then
prevailing. Of the authenticity of the report there is no
question; 17 bodies having been picked up, but of the vessel
there was not a vestige to be seen. During the many years
the Dublin and London Company's line of steam-vessels
have been established, this is the first accident attended with
fatal consequences. At present it cannot be ascertained in
this case, either as to a definita loss of life or of property,
both, however, must be tremendous in extent. Neither the
Tagus or the Great Liverpool steamers have arrived at mid-
night, both being anxiously expected. The former, it is re-
ported, will have to take out the Peninsula mails again on
Monday, owing to the failure of the Wilberforce. She is
expected to bring home a Malta mail, and double mails from
the Peninsula ports.

Wooewica.—On Saturday night last a fine young woman,
named Mary Youell, residing with her parents, near the
market-gate, Woolwich, went to bed in good health, and
rose and went down stairs to light the kitchen fire on Sun-
day morning. When her parents came down stairs some
time afterwards, they found her lying on the floor quite
dead. From the appearance of the body it is supposed she
had died of fright at the time of the terrible thunder-storm •
which prevailed at seven o'clock on Sunday morning. What
renders the case more distressing to her afflicted parents and
sweetheart is, that she was to be married on the following
day to a recently discharged sapper and miner at present em-
ployed as a stonemason at Deptford. The storm and thun-
der and lightning were awfully grand here, and from the dis-
tant noise of the thunder appearing like the noise made by a
park of artillery when marching, many persons jumped out
of their bed in the firm belief that the French had landed,
and were engaged in deadly contest with our troops ; but,
with the exception of the fright, the case recorded above,
and a large hole made in the new road sufficient to bury a
horse in it, caused by the descent of a thunderbolt into the
drain, no other damage has been done in this quarter.
THE WEST INDIA COMPENSATION COMMISSION.—The
commissioners of compensation terminated their labours on
the 31st ultimo, after seven years of perhaps the most ardu-
ous and intricate duties which any commissioners were ever
entrusted with, and in the discharge of which they have had
the singular good fortune to give universal satisfaction. The
merchants connected with the West India and other colonial
interests, have, we believe on several occasions, testified their
high estimation of the services of these gentlemen—Messrs.
J. Lewis, H. Elwin, and H. F. Stephenson—and also of their
talented and indefatigable secretary, Mr. Henry Hill. The
thanks of the Queen's government have recently been pre-
sented to them in the most flattering manner, through the
inedium of Lord John Russell, as secretary for the colonies.
Mr. Field in his pamphlet on " Equity Reform," speaks in
the highest terms of the proceedings of these commissioners,
and bases his proposed changes in the administration of the
Chancery Courts upon their mode of adjudication. When
the number, complicated nature, and immense sums often in-
volved in the claims which they have had to decide upon is
considered, the very few appeals from their decision (not-
withstanding the proverbial penchant of the colonists for liti-
gation,) is certainly remarkable, and affords conclusive evi-
dence of the zeal and ability with which the business of the
commission has been conducted. There are a few outstand-
ing cases remaining undisposed, to the amount we believe of
about £30,000, which for the present have been referred by
the commissioners to the lords of the treasury, the disposal
of which, as well r-s other matters connected with the wind-
ing up of the commission, awaiting the decision of parliament.
NEW MANUFACTURE OF PAPER.—The materials in-
tended to be converted into paper are usually softened either
by means of putrefaction, or by beating. Putrefaetion is a
chemical operation which possesses some advantages ; but
the inconveniences attending it are so numerous and serious,
that the progressive improvement of the manufacture of paper
occasions its use to be, if not altogether laid aside, at least to
he very considerably limited. With respect to the softening
of rags by merely mechanical means, it can only be done by
the machinery now employed by a great loss of time and a
great moving power. It has been thought that this opera-
tion could be brought to perfection by altering the method
of trituration ; and accordingly the softening of rags, old
cords, &c, has been effected by submitting the subsUvices,
either dry or moistened, to the action of a roller, or a vertical
mill-stone turning on asolid surface. The rags, when sorted,
bleached, and torn to pieces by these machines, only require
to be sieved before they are converted into paper.—Moniteur
lndustriel.
CROCKFORD'S CLUB.—This celebrated club has lately
been dissolved, Mr. Crockford, the proprietor retiring, it is
supposed, with nearly a fortune of half a million. The nu-
cleus of the new club consists of a hundred noblemen and
gentlemen, from whom a committee has been formed for the
purpose of arranging for the ballotting of the new members.
Thus, contrary to general expectation, this club promises to
retain its original sporting pre-eminence.—Conrt Journal.
THE POST-OFFICE.—The whig-radical ;government are in
course of taking steps to deprive the post-masters of all the
provincial towns of the privileges they haue hitherto enjoyed
for keeping private boxes and accounts, and making up letter-
bags for merchants, traders, and gentlemen in the country.
The proceeds are to be appiied to the general revenue of the
post-office—no doubt with the view of covering, in a small
degree, the deficiency which has been found to arise from the
scheme of the penny-post. Thus, while the entire face of
the scheme of the penny-post. Thus, while the entire face
of the country is covered with pensioners, commiioners,
and overpaid functionaries of all descriptions, to thess tune of
hundreds of thousands a year, the really useful and hard-
working servants of the public are unscrupulously divested
of a material portion of their just incomes, and coolly told
that they may either accept reduced terms or surrender their
situations. Such is whig reform ! It offers another proof of
the fraud, corruption, and abuse which have ever marked the
public conduct of the faction that now afflicts the country.--
Cumberland Pacquet.

REAL POSITION OF THE POLITICAL AF-
FAIRS IN FRANCE.
(From a Correspondent of the Times.)
Without some extraordinary event, a change of mi-
nistry does not seem possible in France for some
months. Certainly the Gauche, a part of the Centre-
Gauche, and a fraction of the Droite, have said, and
will repeat, " The time for the Mole ministry has ar-
rived ; he is the man for the present state of affairs;
to bun alone it belongs to pursue the career which is
opening," &c. Is all this true ? is it sincere ? is it so
self-evident that from the mere force of circumstances
a change of ministry must be the result ? That is the
question we are about to examine.
M. 'Tiers, who at this moment in the Chamber is
at the head of the political men, soi-disant resign.,
acts as he acted at the time of the coalition. At that
period he intrusted:to M. Guizot the task of over-
throwing M. Mole, because M. Mole was the more di-
rect obstacle; now he coalesces with his former enemy,
because M. Guizot, his ancient ally, has become in his
turn the most prominent obstacle, and which must be
the first overthrown. This is the key of those modest,
disinterested, and philosophical declarations, which only
admit that he has no longer any hope for himself, no
longer any mission, but which push self-denial so far
as to humble himself before fortune and before the
merits of his ancient rivals. All these false virtues, all
this false disinterestedness, are parliamentary come-
dies.

M. Mole himself, who knows very well that a formi-
dable opposition would be again quickly formed against
him if he were to replace M. Guizot frithout pledges,
demands, first, before he thinks of forming a Ministry,
that the laws on the fortifications, the secret service
money, and that the projected loan should be discussed
and passed ; he desires that the Oriential question
should be cicatrisee in France, and especially that the
question of a new and more intimate Russian alliance
should be entered upon and settled. These are the
reasons why this statesman waits, with an appearance
of calm self-denial, and of renunciation of office, till
the propitious moment for seizing power offers itself to
him. In the meantime, and even in complaining to
to his friends of the kind of ministerial candidature
which they make him sustain, in spite of himself, even
in asking from everybody the means of silencing their
reports, and to enable him to quit a part which does
not suit him, M. Mole is, and ought to be well satisfied
that his name is so perpetually brought on the minis-
terial tapis, and that he has been placed before the
public as a permanent en cas (alternative)—a position
so much the more advantageous that the opposition
itself, by a manoeuvre which it deems skilful, takes the
initiative, and pays the cost of a war which will be to
his profit. The fraction of the Droite (the legitirnatist
fraction) who join in the projects of M. Thiers as to
the replacing M. Guizot by M. Mole plays the same .
game as when it approves of certain projects of the
republicans against the government of Louis Philippe ;
it hopes to arrive at its object by a transition : it finds
an immense advantage in setting M. Thiers in opposi-
tion to what it thinks the most exact expression of the -
system produced by the revolution of 1830. In short, e
the friends and skilful partisans of the present ministry
do not too strongly reject the hopes of M. Mole,
although they adjourn them to six or eight months,
because they perceive that it is necessary, before all, to
gain time, and that in some measure disarming M.
Mole by a kind of adhesion, they reduce him to an
opposition, inert or moderate, which for the moment
is little to he feared.
Thus, then, the position, general and private, of
parties is l'expectative ; the ministry itself is reduced
to this policy ; on the one hand, it does not clearly see
how the politesses and the advances of Russia will end
—it is afraid then of receiving them too well, and by
that means to make too soft a bed for M. Mole; on
the other hand, it is afraid of not acknowledging them
sufficiently, and to see itself submerged by this system
if it should arrive at maturity. In this position, M.
Mole being more particularly the man of the Russian
alliance, the English Cabinet, if it knows how to take
advantage of circumstances, ought to sustain M. Guizot
by some concessions capable of placing him in a posi-
tion to resist either M. Thiers making use of M. Mole
to overthrow him, or M. Mole himself.
M. Mauguin displays more activity than ever to tie
the threads of the intrigue which he went to St. Peters-
burgh to set on foot. He runs from M. de Pahlen to
M. Mole and M. Thiers, it is said even to M. Guizot.
Notwithstanding all his activity, all his promises, all
his developement of theories, he has not hitherto been
able to make any serious progress towards the Russian
alliance, either among the members of the Gauche or
in the ranks of the Conservatives.
All the papers are occupied with the nomination of
General Bugeaud. There is no longer any doubt that
he has caused the ministry to adopt his old plan, a
little modified, and which would decidedly have for its
object the cessation of the losses occasioned by the
unlimited occupation and permanent state of war. If
this is the case, and we consider it certain, it will com-
mence a new era in the colonization of Algeria. The
concentration of troops will also be able to meet, in
case of necessity, three eventualities—that of a war with
Morocco, that of a new conflagration of the Oriental
question, and that of a conflict with Spain, which France
would thus attack at the same time by the north and
the south.

A French paper states that the bite of a mad dog, whether
given to the human or brute creation, may be cured by fre-
quently washing the part with new salt water, and taking for
nine or ten days a new laid egg, beat up with some oil of
olives and calcined oyster shells, fried in a pan.
THE ECCLESIASTICAL. COMMISSIONERS.—The official
return presented to the House of Commons shows a sum
exceeding £30,000 to be now in the hands of the Ecclesiasti-
cal Commissioners. It is justly complained that this sum
remains inactive and inoperative, and that the augmentation
of the smaller livings, to which a portion of it was to be ap-
plied, is continually delayed.—Morning Herald.

The important turnpike trust, comprising the Fisherton,
Wilton, Heytesbury, &c., lines of road, was last week put up
to be let by auction for the forthcoming year, when note
single bidder appeared ! It is said that the present lessee,
who also rents several other lines of road, is at present losing
£l6 per week by his turnpike speculations.

SINGULAR COINCIDENCE.—III our obituary of this day
will be found a notice of the decease of Dr. Simpson, r.nd
also of his lodge-keeper, Mrs. Fuller, both of whom died on
the same day. The latter and her husband were for many
years in the" service of the late Mr. Redding, of Henwick,
near this city, and, singular to state, Mr. Redding and his
faithful steward (Mr. Fuller) also died on the same day.—
Worcester Guardian.

SINGULAR CONVICTION.-At the Herefordshire adjourned
sessions (says the Western Luminary,) a young man, named
Samuel Dunnage, was convicted of stealing a turkey, on the
evidence of identity afforded by the bones after the turkey
had been boiled and eaten. The bones of the thighs and
wings were fitted to the drumsticks and pinions, which had
been cut off and left behind by the thief. He was sentenced
to three months' imprisonment.

'We regret to announce that two respectable merchants of
this city were last week apprehended upon the serious charges
of forgery and fraud. So far as we have been able to ascer-
tain the particulars, they are these :—The two gentlemen in
question are charged with having procured several blank ac-
ceptances of a young man, a mercantile clerk in London,
filled them up, from time to time, as suited themselves, and
discounted the bills at the City of Glasgow and other banks,
representing the acceptor as an extensive wine-merchant in
London, and, as residing at a place in London where he
never resided, but where a gentleman of the same name lived.
Inquiry being made as to the circumstances of the gentlemen
at the address given, the banks were satisfied, and conse-
quently induced, it is said, to cash the bills ; and the drawers,
taking care to remit funds to London to retire the bills as
they became due, the system was carried on for a considera-
ble time. One or two of the bills, however, being returned
dishonoured, inquiry was set on foot, and the result has been
that the gentlemen have been taken up on a charge of forgery
and fraud. By consent of the Lord Advocate they have since
been admitted to bail under a penalty of £3OO. The gentle-
men, we believe, deny that they gave a false representation
of the acceptor to the banks.—Glasgow Herald.
ATTACK ON THE EARL OF DARTMOUTH.-A daring attack
was made on the Earl of Dartmouth's carriage on Monday
evening, a little before ten o'clock, on the return of his lord-
ship from the meeting of the Operative Conservative Asso-
ciation, Wolverhampton. As the carriage, which is a phae-
ton, with a barouche box in front, was passing through the
New Town, Bilston, his lordship observed a knife through
the side of the leather head of the back seat, on which he
was sitting, and instantly stopped the horses, and gave an
alarm to the coachman and footman, who were riding on the
box. The rascal immediately got down, and ran up Engiv
Bank, leading to the factory of Mr. John Dean, japannef,
followed by the noble earl and his servants. Fortunately,
the gates at the top were closed, and a capture was made by
his lordship, who was first in the chase. The prisoner turns
out to be a young man of the name of Hammond, employed
as a moulder at the Pot House Bridge Foundry. occupied by
Mr. Wright, where, his father, a very respectable man, is
foreman.

PREMIUMS OF INSURANCE AT LLOYD'S

LONDON & LIVERPOOL,

Jamaica
Leeward Isl. Dem. & Berbice,
Honduras
New York, Boston
Charleston, Savannah
New Orleans
Havana
Canada
British North America
Newfoundland
Brazils
River Plate
East Indies
China
Batavia
New South Wales
Cape of Good Hope
Africa
Gibraltar
Lima, Valparaiso, &c
Malta, Sicily, &c.
Smyrna and Constantinople
Malaga
Madeira
Western Isles, Cape de Verds
Lisbon
Cadiz
France
Holland
Hamburg, Bremer., &c.
Gottenburg, Stockholm
Petersburg, Riga, &c.
Oporto

Outward

25$ Oct@ 30 0
20 0-25 0
50 0— 60 0
30 0-40 0
30 0. -- 40 0
40 0 -- 50
40 0-50 0
40 0— 60 0
40 0 -- 60 0
40 0 -- 60 0
25 0-30 0
35 0 -- 40 0
35 0 -- 40 0
105 0 --
35 0

40 0 - ---
30 0 -
20 0 - --
50 0 - 60 o
25 0 - -
40 0- 50 0
25 0 - 30 0
15 0 - 20 0

60s odEpiiio
30 0-40 0
6o 0 —lOO
17 6 -- 20 0
20 0 -- 25 0
40 0 -- 80 0
60 0-80 0
30 0 -- 60 0
30 0-60 0
20 0-3" 0
25 0 -- 30 0
30 0
35 0-40 0
63 0 -- 84 0
40 0-50 0
40 0 --
40 0
126 0 —147 6
20 0

40 0 - -
20 0 - 23 0
25 0-30 0
25 0- -
15 0-20 0

25 0 -- 30 0
25 0 --
30 0 -- 40 0
30 0-40 0
40 0-60 0
50 0 -- 60 0
6o 0 --
25 0 -- 30 0

17 6-20 0
20 0 -- ----
25 0 -- 3U 0
25 0-- 30 0
30 0-40 0
40 0-- -.........
40 o._-- 60 0
17 6-- 2ft 0

LIVERPOOL INFIRMARY REPORT

January 9, 1840

DISCHARGND. is In- ADItITTID.
.... 29
In-patients cured patients ...
Relieved and at own .....
request . 3 Out-patients
........... 0
Made Out-Patten" 1 Casuals during the last
'week 6
Irregular . ~ 2 Rents-41in the house
Dead.. 2

Consulting Surgeons, Mr. Forshaw and Mr. Dawson.
Chaplain ..... Rev. R. Davies.
House Visiters, Mr. James Bold and Mr. R. Houghton
Apothecary, Mr. W. Burgess.
House Surgeon . Mr. Brancireth•

Innations and Subscriptions thankfully received at Mum
WA; on and CO, and at the Infirmary.

CiMPLAII46IIIP OF TIM BOROUGH GAOL►

DI. DllGleil I•43YLNCI

I now pr

I to in my

my resig

eve, is to Make the
iet on foot against me

pdb
by t
acid
It

ante of the evidence

good clue to the persecution
laboured to state, that Captain
inspector, is bigotted in his
'ens of gaol discipline; that I am
is being contrary both to the laws
of. God and man ; as being in itself a punishment greater

under
Willia
attach,

and as necessarily le

nesas and tyranny which none could suppo'se who are not eye
witnesses of it; and against this system and its cruel inflic-
tions 1 have borne testimony in a pamphlet which was
pnblished at the dose of the year 1839. Captain Williams
has had the good fortune of making converts of several of
the magistrates of Liverpool—of men who profess to be
guided by the benevolent feelings of Howard, and yet can
tolerate, as parts of their silent system, cruelties which that
amiable man did not witness in his day—for they have since
come into existence.

To the pamphlet to which I have just referred, and to my
undisguised hostility to the silent system, and I may add, to
my Christian sympathy for several unfortunate offenders
against the petty tyranny which results from it, I am fully
persuaded that I have to ascribe the accumulation of charges
made against me, and the rigour and pertinacity with which
they were pressed.
I take comfort to myself, in the hope that at no distant day
some influential philanthropist like Lord Ashley may be
induced to seek a revision of the system of gaol discipline
arid gaol inspection, so that humanity may proceed hand in
hand with the appropriate execution of the sentence upon
the offender.—l am, Sir, your very faithful servant,
J. BUCK, D.C.L.

REPLY OF DR. BUCK TO THE CHARGES PRE-
FERRED AGAINST HIM BY CAPT. WILLIAMS.
GENTLEMEN ,—I am happy to think that the time has at
length arrived when I am permitted to answer for myself.
I had thought of obtaining professional assistance when
first I read over the evidence for what I must call the prose-
cution ; but I soon found that that would be in vain : that
however unequal to the task of grappling with the legal acu-
men of the clerk of the peace—however unequal to a contest
with the inspector of prisons—accustomed, no doubt, to such
matters—that no mau was so proper to defend my reputation
as myself.
The charges tardily produced against me, after all the evi-
dence against me had been taken on oath, thus depriving me
of the real power of cross-examination, constitute an arrow
aimed at my heart—an arrow dipped in poison of the dead-
liest kind. I can truly say, the poison of asps is under their
tonFue..

Your letter, requesting my attendance, says—
" At an adjourned meeting of the Gaol Finance Committee
and Visiting Justices, on Monday, the sth day of Octo-
ber, 1840, at the Town-hall,

an Mgt"

PRESENT

" Hugh Hornby, Esq

" Christopher Rawdon, Esq
" James Aikin, Esq.
" Rd*. Vaughan Yates, Esq.
" James Haywood, Esq.

R. E. Harvey, Esc

rk of t

xe your

ace communicate the following

ned it expedient to institute
alarities in the Borough pri-
. an inquiry into matters be-

ent, they now proceed to

irtment as chaplain

may assist their inves.

.ing that may

pith the inquiry at the

•se of the proceedings, instead of being an
was to reader assistance, has, from first
adeavour to establish cases of guilt against

me, all the evidence having been previously prepared with
consummate skill, and every disproof, which 1 foolishly put
into the hands of the inspector before I fully saws into the
nature of the proCeeding, most unfairly turned against me.
If I was thought to have offended, I could and ought to
common privi-
,,efore his trial

s indictmen

1, my protest against such

roceedings, was disre

that my words

hurt the feelings of m

a words

.t of taking

Allowing remarks

!ceive that solemn
:r exalted in rank

to the communications of a minister
.esent standing and future prospects

ations I bad encouraged yester-
:Aeration that no moral guilt was
charge, nor, indeed, necessarily
nit that the present was simply an in-
and irregularities, I find, by the line
iton adopted, and from the previous preparation
idence intended to be produced, that I am, in fact, upon
al, and am refused a copy of the charges to which I
The method adopted involves me in
—lf I make no reply. I'must be treated
s guilty, though innocent : if I do give in any
tuture prosecutors, already armed with almost
eder) possible advantage against me, will become acquainted
With my line of defence, and be enabled, however complete
that nefence may be, to fritter it to nothing. _ _

have to answer

this unfair dilemma

" The chaplain thinks, that if a mode of investigation
known to Englishmen and English law had been employed
on thi- occasion, rather than that practised in France, and
perhaps even in this country in the time of the First Charles,
the whole proceedings, whatever may be their result, would
have been more satisfactory."

I shall feel it my duty io *tate my sentiments with free-
dom, not on the whole number of accusations together, but
separately, distinctly, and without the slightest evasion,
chewing, even out of the mouths of the evidence brought up
against nie. the utter groundlessness of each charge, its
worthlessness, and its venom. If I had not felt confident I
could have satisfactorily answered every charge, at least to
an unprejudiced mind, I should have quietly slunk into that
disgraceful retirement which I should have deserved : I
should not have dared to stand before you this day.
. Let me intreat a patient attendance. I will endeavour to
be as little tedious as possible. We may probably, in the
midst of weightier matters, find something to dispel sadness;
for I am not yet quite willing to believe of any gentleman
before ice, but that he will wore rejoice to feel it his para-
mount duty to acquit me with honour, than, by a sentence
of guilty, to assign me and mine to ruin. With these preli-
minary remarks, I enter on the consideration of the first
charge
Ist

—Whether the statements contained in a pamphlet,
published by the chaplain, and admitted by him to refer
to the discipline enforced in the Borough Gaol, particu-
larly the passage commencing with the words " third"
and " fourth," p. 5, and the one ending with " coffee
drinking washhouse," are founded.on facts ; and, if not
so, whether such statements have not tended to weaken
the proper authority of the officers over the prisoners,
and to create division and disunion in the gaol.

I commence my reply to this charge by reminding the
gentlemen assembled, that on the 25th of October, 1839,
according to the provisions of the Gaol Act. I addressed to
the magistracy of the Borough. of Liverpool, in sessions
assembled, an annual report in which many important sub-
jects were brought before them. That this report called
forth the serious thoughts of the justices there there can he
no doubt, as will be manifest from circumstances to be men-
tion,' '
amongst other subjects brought to your

remain in the pl
the sufferers are

s a cler

prison of

hereafte

the prison management then in
my opinions, as to the propriety

October

.—ln conclusion, allow me to suggest
connected with really bard labour ;
?"fiiivzi'rd's prisoners, instead of habitual
hope, of reward held out, instead of
ing punishments, might go far towards
reformatory rather than a receptacle of

whereat
ciuded-

n reason to suppose,

,vember, of the

In a pri

I thought that they

-6 in a way of duty frequently in the
of the justices, I could not from what I
myself to suppose that they were cogui •
t from all the common feelings of hu-
pposed that they really did not know, because

abhorrer.

stipendiary u
governor of t

had no opportunities of
Cll
less of rules of their own sanctioning. I had no harsh
tits of their purposes, bnt really believed they knew
hat was transpiring, and that it was my duty as a mi-

the distressing

and their cha

to bring before them,
t; fully

possible, the whole si bj

Christian

the hands of

ne as the trans-

ye no one a copy to
. .., •

officer of the prison, thinking
way, my conduct might appear

copies of it within a few d4's of
of several officers of the prison,

cularly of tt. governor.
d, private or official,
was taken of the. printed
aubt of its accura,: was whispered, no denial was
pted. The.officers of the prison, from the highest..
es, frequently conversed with me on the subject,
s in the way of commendation.• The witness Law
:hat he is squirting under a suspension from his
inkey, with the loss of £lO yearly in his wages,
upposes, through my instrumentality, in having
for profane conduct, says, when speaking of
" I have doubt there is a good deal of
truth Unhappily, he is quite correct in that part of
his testimony. No magistrate spoke to me concermog the

o doubt of its accuracy

ggp I lira 'Wont stiOt Oa I'

rnportant

tutitspvott t

did he write to me on the subject--uor, as far as I have yet
heard, to any gentleman connected with the prison. In
fact, no statement had been made, the truth of which was
doubted, for I cannot for a moment give way to the suspicion
that this silenc
twelve months
having left tl
cases would be

the p
ay. L

id the pr

n babe been p

iping tears

aie the turnlil

wernor who must have punished
s. A very slight knowledge of
nature is needful to see through the utter fallacy of
. opinion. My pamphlet had its effects: it in_a great,.

on law

degree excited attention ; it aroused the dormant feelings of
humanity ; it brought about a state of mind incapable of
deeming prayer and penitence matters for punishment :—it
went further ; it has led persons who previously acted with-
out thought on the subject, to shudder at oppression, and to
induce them now to think that they never could have done
such things ; never could have been parties to carrying on the
principle of aiding towards the damnation of their fellow men.
In truth neither present turnkeys, nor former, nor governor,
are unprejudiced witnesses in such a case. The monstrous
wickedness of thus acting has been brought before their eyes
in such colours that they shudder at the possibility of such
atrocity being imputed to them ; (though after all they are
in no proper sense to blame, they only act according to the
rules by which they are bound). They think themselves in-
directly attached by my remarks, by my thorough exposure
of a system which is against the laws of nature, of God,—and
if I am not in great error—of man also, in this and every other
country under the canopy of heaven.
I may be here reminded of the latter part of the first charge
whether such statements have not tended to weaken the pro-
per authority of the officers over the prisoners, and to create
division and dissension in the gaol ? I shall reply to these
doubts specifically, and in order.

Not one word has appeared in evidence to show that the
officers have been in the slightest degree daunted in the per-
formance of their duties by this publication. No evidence
to show that there has been any disunion amongst them.
None to shew that the governor has felt aggrieved, or that he
and the chaplain have not been on the very beat terms possi-
ble, considering the difference of their education, their man-
ners, their pursuits ; twice and only twice since the publica-
tion has the slightest difference arisen between them, and on
those occasions the justices thought the chaplain in the right,
the governor in the wrong, and so recorded their opinions on
the minutes of their proceedings. So little misunderstanding
arose—nay so entirely free from every unkindly feeling were
these parties that in February last the governor intrusted the
education of his youngest daughter to Mrs. Buck, where she
remained under mlt roof for four months, experiencing every
equality of comfort, kindness, and attention, with my own
daughter. Nay, so decided was the feeling of confidence and
amity that the very week before the inspector of prisons ar-
rived in Liverpood, the governor of the gaol wishing to be ab-
sent from his charge for a while, applied to the committee of
visiting justices for their sanction to my acting for him as
his deputy during his absence, on the express ground that he
bad more confidence in the chaplain than in any other officer
of the prison.

So much for the speculative part of this first charge, the
disunion, &c, &c, created by the pamphlet. The only dis-
union I have known has arisen from the arrival of a gentle-
man armed with power of taking secret reports from all de-
scriptions of persons, of bringing any individual against whom
he entertains an unkindly feeling to trial, without affording
him a copy of the charges intended to be advanced. Observe,
I pray you, the injustice of such a proceeding.—The prosecu-
tor is seeking for, not proving a case , he produces, unex-
pectedly, as it regards the accused, all the evidence within
his power, and out of that part of it, which is not shattered
by a random cross-examination, he frames charges which be
thus makes to be very difficult of answer. The party incul-
pated, ignorant of the matters intended to be laid to his
charge, is in a constant state of suspense, as to the importance
or bearing of evidence adduced against him. And where he
is subject to roaming charges, who can tell the effect upon
the judges of the accumulation of petty charges. In the next
place, and which is perhaps more important than all, the ac-
cused is necessarily all abroad in cross-examining the wit-
nesses. Whereas, if he knew what was to be alleged,against
him, he might shew from the witnesses themselves, that the
matters to which they bear testimony, were done, or said,
under circumstances of innocency, justification, or extenua-
tion.—The arrival of Captain Williams has caused a spirit of
disunion which no time will heal—has taught each officer of
the prison that he may to-morrow be the victim of espionage
—has shown him that in England, so boasted of for its open
administration of equal justice, he may be tried, condemned,
punished, degraded, and ruined, in a way unknown to Eng-
lishmen, unknown to the principles of the British constitu-

yman, f

mired with education, and not altoge-
ther unacquainted with the laws of my country, as a sincere
and ardent friend of rational liberty and improvement have
now, for the first time learnt. that in these days of boasted
liberality, a power contrary to and overbearing the established
laws of the kingdom, is tolerated and upheld by men who
haue always professed to advocate the cause of liberty.
Job, who lived long before the schoolmaster was abroad,
before the march of intellect had made such rapid strides,
said, " Oh that my adversary had written a book," or, as
the words ought to be translated, had let me have a written
indictment—had specified his accusation! I join with him

in his complaint, and can only now regret that the lapse of
perhaps 37 centuries has tended so little to the improvement
-•

peculiarly to Liverpoo.

f justice

There is not a word in my
n to suppose it related
ambridge, writing

Mr. Pryme, of (
I had

ained my views from the

in the state of the Newgate prison, in London.
rove that my pamphlet had a peculiar reference to the
hich I was chaplain was needful, ere I could be

accused of evil in bringing -my opinions of prison discipline
before the magistracy, and, through them, to the knowledge
of the public. As already stated, no remark in my letter
could shew this. It was written in the most general terms
against what is technically called the silent system. Artifice,
therefore, became needful : a seaching question must be pro-
Aposed : it might, through the known habits of the chaplain
of at once expressing his feelings without a care for conse-
quences, be acknowledged by him, that scenes he himself had
witnessed had led to some of his conclusions.
_Hence, in the

midst of conversation, on a subject far removed from 'prison
life, the interjectionalrernark was made—" By the way Dr. 8.,
your instances of severity under the silent system, were, of
course, drawn from what you have witnessed ?" " Certainly,
was the reply ; I have supposed nothing. Every case I
have pictured has passed under my own observation." Enough,
—the bait had taken, and hence the power of accusation—
the gravamen of the charge now brought against me being
and admitted by him to refer to the discipline anforced in
the Borough Gaol. Through fear of giving offence, I ab-
stain from saying one word on the subject of espionage in a
free state.

It has, however, gentlemen, been brought to my remem-
brance that a line of conduct somewhat similar led to the
condemnation of the bishops in olden time ; and paved the
way for the subsequent loss of sovereignty by one of the former
rulers of this land of liberty. I proceed to shew that the
publication of my sentiments on prison discipline has not
tended to make the government of the prisoners more diffi-
cult ; and on this point I need only remind you that, so far
from the conduct of prisoners being worse than it was, it has
greatly improved—the number of punishments for offences
against prison rules a year since was nearly 5 per cent. daily.
I take the governor's statement, they are now a little more
than one per cent. ; and, if their severity be taken as a test,
I have only to say that the dungeons were then always full—
they are now for the most part receptacles for brushes,
brooms, and stones for cleaning cells.
I now turn to the principal part of the charge, and read my
report dated 26th October, 1839.

"The great—the crying evil of a prison, and which is amply
sufficient to account for the little good effected by incarcera-
tion, is that it is regarded as a place of mere coercion and
punishment, not as an atmosphere where moral feeling may
be engendered. So long as the tendency of prison discipline is
to annoy, distress, wound, and irritate the mind, it is impos-
sible that a beneficial moral change can be effected. So long
as it is known that the minister of religion is clothed with no
authority, is under no circumstance the channel through
which mercy can flow or advice proceed, the inmates of a
prison must almost necessarily suppose that his appointment
is rather a form which the law obliges to the observance of,
than a mean expected to be productive of good. So long as
the rule is acted on that no prisoner can speak to the chap-
lain without first obtaining the leave of a turnkey, the natural
impression must be, if I express a wish to speak, I become a
marked man whether to officers or to prisoners, and must
therefore expect ridicule and contempt from those amongst
whom I am doomed to associate : from the effects of which
the chaplain cannot screen me.

" Wliat value, I would respectfully ask, can the prisoners
really suppose is attached to the reading of the scriptures,
when, during six months in the year, they may indeed read
them before rising from their beds in a morning, or after they
retire to bed at night, if the light in the cells be sufficient, and
the presence of those do not deter them, whilst,, during the
six winter months, even this liniited power is taken from
them by want of light?
" The fact that in this prison are two schools, under the
care of persons (certainly of most unblemished and valuable
characters) differing as to their religious tenets, the one es-
sentially, the other in a lesser degree from the chaplain, and
that he is not allowed the slightest oversight superintendance
and controul, appears to be an anomaly. It has, however,
frequently been brought by me under your notice, but whe-
ther it be supposed that a clergyman of the Established
Church must be necessarily a proselytizer, or, though

thought fit to be trusted with the 'religious instruction of
adults, is unfit to superintend the education of children I
know not, the evil, for such it undoubtedly appears to me to
be, continues unredressed. This benefit at least would arise
from a change. Had the chaplain the superintendance, one
essential part of his duty would be, to see that every boy and
girl irrespective of character should be under instruction,
under the present regimen, bad characters are ex-
precisely those who have most need of moral training.
the largest save one in Great Britain, multi-
ust arise in which the direst scenes of poverty
I apprehend it will be readily allowed,
likely to hear of these cases, nay to
it is remarkable that the
ttee of magistratess, the

strate, the con

prison, have all funds whence they can mi-
nister to such wants as come to their knowledge, whilst the
chaplain, echo meets with ten heart-rending cases to one over
all these parties, has not a single shilling at his disposal to
relieve any one. Unlike the minister of religion universally,
whether in charge of parishes or chapels who have some
means of relieving distress, the chaplain of your prison has to
witness cases of woe and misery almost without number, and

Burn a deaf ear against all applicants, it being
utterly out of his power from his own most slender means of
subsistence to spare the merest trifle: he is thus debarred
the opportunity of cultivating the best feeling of human na-
,ssential tore, the ministering to the wants of the necessitous.
a minister of " Ia conclusion .11- "egest "

I allow me to that moral discipline,
!ally hard labour, kindness of demeanour

habitual harshness, and the hope

of reward held out instea,

of the fear of accumulating punish-
ments, might go far towards rendering a prison a reformatory
rather than a receptacle of villany. and a nursery of crime."
From this letter you will perceive that I seriously and so-
lemnly, as chaplain of your prison; called your attention to
what appeared to me to be great evils
Om

onth afterwards the body of magistrates, through
the mayor, received the letter from which the pamphlet was

In the month of January following, a report, greatly re-
flecting on my character, and making severe strictures on
the October report, was forwarded to government.
At the end of the same month, at your command, I waited
on you in the Town-hall—explained my conduct by reference
to my journal—and, as I believed, and still believe, fully
satisfied even those gentlemen who bad previously thought
me very culpable, that I was really free of blame and had
acted uprightly; and, as I expected from English gentlemen
and justices, yon treated me with every mark of attention
and kindness—requested nie to attend your clerk of the
peace, and arrange with him `for the drawing-up of a paper
which should be satisfactory to my feelings, and which, when
approved by me, you agreed to sign by the clerk of the peace,
and to forward, in the name of the magistrates assembled in
session, to govern:, ent, to be appended to, and to be consi-
dered as an integral part of, your annual report ;—thus pass-
ing an act of oblivion over the past, commencing anew with
original mutual confidence : and I appeal to you, in all the,
boldness of innocence, whether, from that day to the time