The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-05-26 00:00:00

TO CORRI.:sPON DENTS

ye a conferen
ately if any amendment afft
the Corn 13111 is carried by

latie Lords will t

th the Commons immedi-
the essential principle of
Lords' coo:mittee. If an

amendment is canied on the second reading, the bill is

rejected.
Our reporter was in error last week in ascribing the removal of
the emigrants trorn the ship Rappahannock, the evening be-
fore our publication, to irstruc,i vas received from the go-
vernment emigration ages .. That gentleman, we are in-
formed, was nor present on the occ.ision.

We owe an apology to " Nigel," but the latter part of his com-
munication must have t.een mislaid, or it would c,rtainly
have appeared.
llnfortunately, we have not yet seen the erection criticised by
Ecclesi," and it would he scarcely prudent t) insert an ano-

nymous communication ou the subject until we have done

We do not view the matte

referred to by " Integrity" in pre•

cisely the same light as himself. A vote in Committee of the
Lord's can scarcely be termed a munceurre. It may be true
that such a vote wou:d defeat the will of the house, through
proxies not being counted in Committee, but on the other
hand the will of the Peers pre ent Li) the second reading may
be nullified by a pocket full of proxies. none of whom have
probably heard the debates on the question for which their
votes are given.

We eau~~ut consent to circulate the statements of " liumanitas."
His conclusions are founded on wrong data. We know that

Dickens and other writers have said that the abolition of capi-
tal punishment has been followed by a large diminution both
in the offences previously punished by death, and in the ge-
neral amount of crime. This, however, has not been satis-
factorily proved. On the contrary, we believe the reverse is
the fact, and if our correspondent be disposed to pursue the
subject further, we refer him to the current number of the
Law Magazine.

Ebt tibtrpool

TUESDAY MORNING, MAY 26, 1846.

Our Conservative government are adopting the
most effectual steps for turning from them the af-
fections and sympathy of the people. Does any
portion of their policy raise them for a moment in
the estimation of the masses, the notion of having
been actuated by any thing beyond the harsh and
dry dicta of political expediency, or economy, is re-
pudiated as a taint; and the offered hand of grati-
tude is indignantly rejected.
The Parliamentary proceedings of the past week
afford a striking instance of this repulsive inclina-
tion. A few days ago, the Ministry had urged,
through the House of Commons, a measure which
was certainly calculated to advance its authors in
the affections of a portion, at least, of the working
classes. They had effected, by a political sleight of
hand, what other statesmen, backed by the voice of
aggregate meetings and the funds of confederated
free traders might have clamoured for in vain.
Tey had given to the people something like an as-
sured hope of that social milienium, which was
painted as the result of a cheap loaf and extended
commerce. For this, they were threatened with
political martyrdom ; and " a good man suffering
adversity" is a spectacle which ever excites the
warm sympathy of a generous British people. Al-
ready Manchester was moving it- enraptured popu-
lation to do honour to the person of Sir Robert
Peel, by the erection of his statue in one of their
proposed new parks; and had the Ministry, en
masse, made a tour last week through the manufac-
turing districts, their progress would have been one
continued ovation.

An opportunity presented itself, however, to Sir
Robert and his colleagues, for getting rid of the
temporary popularity with which they had been in-
vested. The Factory Bill was brought before the
house. Half a million of the working portion of
our manufacturing population asked of Parliament
the boon of a diminution of the hours of labour, for
male and female youth between the ages of 13 and
13 years. The voice of five=sixths of the nation
seconded 0- and said, " your long hours

eir praye

of toil are destroying the health, strength, and the
morals of the parents and mothers of a future gene-
ration of Englishmen. You are depriving them of
education; you are shutting out from them the
means of religious instruction ; you are depriving
the male of the means of learning to value the comforts
of a well ordered home, and the female of leisure for
training in those domestic duties, the proper fulfil-
ment of which contribute to form the good wife
and the good mother; you are making the spring-
time of both a season of hopeless and wearing
drudgery, and their maturity, if they ever reach it,
a period of decrepitude and premature old age."
This was the appeal made to a ministry which has
just khown its apparent consideration for the poor
as a plea for giving them the boon of cheap bread.
What is the response of Sir Robert Peel and his
colleagues ? A concession such as this, they said—
the bestowing upon the poor factory workers, in-
creased means of enjoying life, and elevati g their
eannit be granted without di-
- —"rnfits, and taking some-

social character.

minis

ng manufacturi

thing from the remuneration of capital. The present
hours of labour may be too long, but the capitalist
and our foreign trade must he the chief considera-
tion of statesmen. A large class cf our population
inay be dwarfed and demoralized—may neither be
taught how to live or die as Christians—but we
*must spin so many thousand bales of cotton per
annum, and the manufacturer must have his present
'average profit per bale:
~,,Tlip„sa,te'in-g-a: may be
YielfaU Qf, Viiranthropists and theorists to declaim
upon; but statesmen have to deal only with the un•
bending, cold realities of raising revenue, and
keeping up the manufacturing interest of the
country.

This- is the substance of the reply to Mr. Fielden
and the advocates of a ten hours bill; and what does
it tell us with respect to that other great measure
which is uow agitating the country—unsettling in-
Austry and paralysing commerce? It tells us em-
phatically that it has not been to advantage the poor
man —to add a penny to his store, a loaf to his table,
or a garment to his scanty wardrobe—that agricul-
tural industry is to be stript of its protection, and
"the British husbandman lowered in the social
•Scale. It is not an overflowing philanthropy which
.bas dictated this measure, but the sordid consider-
ations of political economy alone. It is the manu-
facturing capitalist, for whose interest the ministry

It is for a stimulated commerce,
more mills, more factory slaves, and mare exports
and imports, that they are legislating. Let no poor
man lift up his heart in gratitude to them for the
apparent boon of a cheap loaf. It was not intended
for him, and it will not be permitted to be enjoyed
by him.

seem so careful

Whilst Conservatism is thus throwing away from it
every thing like popular sympathy, giving increased
stringency to an already intolerable poor-law, and.
perpetuating the long hours of toil inflicted upon
the young and helpless children of our working po-
pulation, mark the different conduct of its oppo-
nents, the party of which Lord John Russell is the
leader! \Vise in their gen-ration are the Whigs!
Sir Robert Peel answers the appeal for help, of half
a million of his fellow-countrymen, with scraps and
saws from the musty pages of political economists
We hay

o interfere with the right

of every man to sell his labour at his own price, and
on his own terms. The Whig leaders, on the other
hand, assert boldly that there is a point beyond
Which we cannot be guided by ►he cold abstractions
and heartless dogmas of political philosophy—that a
government has moral duties to perform, uhich it
cannot with safety neglect. Mr. I'. B. Macaulay,
in one of the most admirable speeches ever delivered
in the Elouse of Commons, thus demolishes, by
analogy, the argument that governments cannot in-
.terfere with the wages or the contracts of individuak.
..Speaking of the Intel ference of government with the
regulation and construction of buildings, he says:—

We should have nothing

to do with the matter if it

.were a purely commercial affair; but other and higher
Interests than mere commercial interests are concerned.
It concerns the public weal that the Brest mass of the
people should not live in a way the tffect of which is to
abridge lite, making it wretched and feeble while it lasts,
and to send to untimely graves the population, who leave
behind them a more miserable progeny than themselves.
(Hear, hear.) If it be the fact that a great mass of our
population is familiar with misery—if it be the fact that
places calculated to shorten life, to taint the health, and
to turn the stomach of those accustomed to more cleanly
habits, are not noxious to those who dwell in them,—
this, proves how greatly the government of this country
has neglected its duty; and proves that they have tolera'ed
the existence of houses like hogslyes, until there is
danger of the population becoming like hogs. (Hear,
hear.) Who would affirm, then, with respect to a ques-
tion whsre morality and hutiianiiy are concerned, that we

rust adhere to this
'Cheers.)

And, in direct reference to the factory question, he
asks :

Is not the Dublin health concerned in a question re-
lg to the time of labour? Does any one who has
nined the evidence, or opened his eyes in the world,

,r examined his oar. feels

ouht that twelve hours a
t far ory labour are more than are desirable for
9 of thirteen? !hear, hear.) If so much labour be
_ sirable, then I say every argument on wh ch inter-
ference can be justified calls on me to keep tho-e youths
from injuring their health by means of immoderate toil.
.
(Hear, hear.) Is this, or it nor, a question in which
morality is clncerned ? Can any one doubt—certainly
my friends around me do not dnuht—that education is a
matter of the highest impnrance as regards the virtue and
happiness of the common People ? For education we know
that leisure is necessary. Do we believe that, after twelve
bohrs have been taken front the day for factory labour,
and atter so much time as is necessary for refresbmeu

and exercise has also been taken, do we believe that
enough time will remain for that amount of education
which it is desirable the people should have? I believe
that we must answer that question in the negative. (Hear,
hear.) This I say, that all the principles in which you in-
terfere to prohibit contracts of a nature which you believe
to be prejudicial to the public morality, justify me in en-
deavouring to prevent contracts like those which are now
the subject of consideration." .

These are the arguments of no sickly sentimenta-
list, but of a man brought up at the feet of Malthus,
and deeply read in the political economists; and
they are convincing because they are true.
In a similar light the question was viewed, and
similar opinions expressed with almost equal ability
by the Whig leader, Lord John Russell. The Con-
servative ministry clung by the side of the Cob-
dens, the Brights, the Humes, and the Wards of
the house, bolstering up the cause of capital against
humanity, setting the dogmas of abstract philoso-
phy in the scale against the dictates of feeling and
justice to our toiling fellow-beings, whilst their
wiser opponents adopted and ably maintained the
more widely popular aspect of the question at issue,
winning golden opinions and blessings; from no un-
influential section of the community.

What, it may be remarked, is the lesson which
our remarks are intended to convey? It is this :
Ne wish to make it palpable to the Conservative
members of the House that, by the course whicn
they are pursuing, they are advancing the very con-
summation of what they appear most to dread in the
establishing in power of the Whig party. They are
getting rid, with Sir Robert eeel, of the respect of
the British people. They are assisting him to plunge
their party into unpopularity, which years of re-
pentance will not wipe away. They are enabling
the Whigs to re-assume their ancient boast that they
are the party of the people. Place them once in this
position, and in power; and a long, long period of
misgovernment, of wild theorising, of desperate ex-
perimenting upon our government and our laws, is
in store for this deluded and betrayed nation. Play
on for a while longer the game of the astute and
wily premier, and Great Britain will no longer be a
land to which it will be a boast and a pride to
belong,

Our readers, such at least of them as were pre-
sent, will doubtless remember the pleasure with
which they witnessed last year the proceedings of
the Yearly Meeting of the Liverpool Auxiliary
Branch of the Foreign Aid Society, at which M.
D'Aubigne, the eminent historian of the Reforma-
tion, and other distinguished foreigners were pre-
sent. The meeting for the present year is announced
to be held in the Royal Amphitheatre, on the 9JI
June, this day fortnight ; and is not expected to
be at all behind its predecessor in interest and
importance. Amongst the speakers will be, we
understand, the Rev. Canon M`Neile, with several
of the leading clergy of the town ; and we shall
again have the opportunity of hearing the operations
of the society detailed, and its importance and value
shown by a deputation of distinguished Protestant
foreigners, who will be able to bring to the meeting
the evidence of personal observation.
At the present crisis this association assumes a
peculiar interest. With Popery making prodigious
strides towards supremacy in our own land, we seq
throughout Continental Europe the light breaking
in, and community after community, sickened of
the dark jugglery of Rome, throwing away their
chains, and coming to the pure fountain of truth for
support. Wherever Popery is known, it is becom-
ing odious and intoleraVe; and an infinite amount
of good is to he achieved by holding up before the
observation of the British public, the operations in
other lands of societies such as this, and proving
to misguided millions of our fellow countrymen the
true character of that dire apostacy which here, in
the infancy of its strength, bears itself with lamblike
humility, although, wh n in its plenitude of power,
it can play the devouring lion, We trust that we
need not appeal to the liberality of the Protestants
of Liverpool in behalf of a society engaged, like
the Foreign Aid Society, in emancipating the minds
of our Continental brethren from the thrall of this
subtle and tyrannical power. Let. our fellow-towns-
men and fellow-townswomen attend the meeting,
and the result we do not fear.

The Manchester Guardian is silent under the
proof which we 'gave him that the feeling of our
Canadian population is not one of approval of the
Free Trade measures of her Majesty's Administra-
tion. He merely echoed, perhaps, another Free
'l'rade authority, the London Times, who paraded
the same resolutions of the Montreal meeting as
conclusive with respect to the opinions of the ag-
gregate people of the two provinces; and seeing a
document so convenient for his purpose, neglected
to search for any of an' opposite character. The
following letter from the partner
Canadian firm, e.n..clffire,=t6Convince the Guardian of
rgeirtlrva'fue of his pet resolutions, if the arguments
drawn from them even stood uncontradicted by
other and better authority

" Montreal, 27th April, 1846.

" A Free Trade Association has been got up here by a
parcel of hot-headed theorists (chiefly young men of no
experience), who repudiate protection as au injury and
destruction to all sound principles on which commerce
should be based. The avowed object of the leaders, as
first announced, was to secure to Montreal all the western
trade. Discussion has. however, shown even them the
absurdity of this; but being committed, they go on from
pure admiration of the principle !
" The enclosed (cut from the Montreal Herald) shows
how little prospect there is of our retaining even the trade
of Canada West, and far less of the Western States, it
Canada flour has no protection in England to make up
for the great charges and longer voyage of the St. Law-
rence navigation.

" The Montreal Herald assumes that the freight from
Lake Ontario to Liverpool will be brought down to 4s. •
It is now 6s. 9d. It also assumes the freight from New
York to Liverpool to be Is. 9d., whereas we have just
heard of flour being conveyed from New York to Liver-
pool at Is. and Is. 3d.
" So that, if there is a protection of less than 45., the
trade must go by New York, and all this vast employ-
ment be wrenched from British subjects, by the adoption
of free trade in England, to haw! over to the Americans.
" The Montreal Herald is anxious to think well of tree
trade. and to support Sir Robert Peel as of old, but you
see the halting way it does this."
We may mention another fact or two which have
come to our knowledge, and which may not be
uninteresting to the Guardian's readers. A certain
Canadian firm is in the habit of shipping annually
to those colonies British manufactures to the amount
of £250,000. During the first four and a-half
months of this year, however, it has diminished its
purchases in this country by £40,000 as compared
with those of a corresponding period last year.
This amount, however, is not a twentieth of what
the Canadas take from us ; and if the feeling of
alarm which has induced this firm thus to contract
its shipments be general, it will be a fair calculation
to make that half a million sterling will be lost this
year to the manufacturers of Great Britain as the
result of that very feeling whose existence the Guar-
dian denies. He is himself on the spot to ascertain
whether the above statement is correct or not; and
if he can confute it, on authority, we shall give him
a candid confession of our error.

The opinions of parties who profess to he in the
secret, are still widely apart_ with respect to the

probable fate of the Corn. and Customs Bill in the
House of Lords. A few clays ago the organs of the
free traders were anything but sanguine. There
were sorrowful predictions of a hitch in the future
progress of the measure, which suggested, doubtless,
to many an honourable member, the disagreeable
circumstance of haVing to face his insulted con-
stituents. The Times of yesterday, however, sets
all right. 'The measure is safe, thanks, we under-
stand, to Lord John Russell, who is. reported to
have stated that, when he wrote his celebrated
letter, announcing his conversion to the League, he
considered that he had his party in his pocket, and
has just intimated to each; that he expects they will
consider themselves as committed with him. We
give the note of triumph of the Times:—

It is cruel to destroy the last lingering hopes of the des-
perate, and to consummate the misfortunes of the mise-
rable, hut Ht times " one must be cruel only to he kind,"
and even to the victims themselves a certain evil is bet-
ter than " hope long deferred, which maketh the heart
sick." It is, therefore, rather in a spirit of humanity than
with a hostile exultation that we announce to the Protec-
tionist party the final doom of the Corn-laws in the House
of Lords. The whispered expectations of a division in the
Whig ramp have all proved groundless. Lord Stanley,
Lord John Russell, Lord Palmerston. end Lord George
Bentinck will not unite in discordant harmony for the sal-
vation of their c tuntry. The Whig peers have no inten-
tion to abandon their consistency, nor to surrender all
claim to the confidence of the nation by splitting them.
selves into sections for the mere purpose of mutilating the
b It. The rumours to this effect are wholly bout foun-
dation, and the Whig party have taken the surest means to
prove that they are so. On Saturday there was a meeting
at Lansdowne-house, at which not less than 60 Whig
peers were present, including Lord Melbourne and Lord
Fitzwilliam. The leading members of the party in the
House of Commons attended also. The result was most
satisfactory. There were not wanting some who, as we

have always done while a compromise was possible,
avowed their preference fora fixed duty on the principle of
revenue; but it was felt that the opportunity for such a
settlement was past, and it was unanimously resolved that
they should not waste their energies in attempting to at-
tain that which was now b-yond their reach, but promote
vigorously and cordially the success of the bill in the very
form in which it had been received from the Commons.
It is unnecessary to enlarge upon the importance of this
d-cision. Without it, the Corn Bill might have b-en, not
indeed rejected, but so mutilated as to have insured its
rejection by the House of Commons; with the firm sup-
port of the Whig peers it may be considered beyond the
reach of danger.
Of rather another complexion is the following,
which we quote from the Morning Hera I
We learn, with great satisfaction, that the decision at
the meeting of Whig peers, at Lansdowne House, on Sa-
turday, to support Sir Robert Peel's corn bill, was not
unanimous ; but that Lord Melbourne, who will, we un-
derstand, be suppor►ed by Lord Beauvale, Lord Ponsontr-.
and at least nine or ten other Whig peers, protested
against Lord John Russell's insolent attempt to dictate
to the party, and declared his (Lord Melbourne's) deter-
mination to vote against the second reading. If Lord
Melbourne take the course which, from all that we can
learn, we believe he will take,—and if he shall be sup-
ported by as many of the Whig party as we trust will sup-
port him, the defeat of " the execrable bill " is certain.
In any case the popular effect of the late Prime Minister's
single vote against the odious measure must outweigh the
votes of any dozen of hungry place-bunting Whigs or
pauper Tory peers.
The Morning Chronicle says that seventy Whig
peers attended the meeting, and that they came to a
resolution, "to give the bill their hearty support,
and to offer a decided opposition to any amendment
whatsoever."
Perhaps, after perusing these versions of the story,
our readers will conclude, with ourselves, that the
safest plan will be to wait the issue itself. With
the glaring inconsistencies of modern statesmen
before us, we should be sorry to express an opinion
either way.

\Ve are sorry to have to point out, in our Friday's
contemporary, the following piece of—to say the
least of it—exceeding bad taste, which appears in
one of the leading columns of his last publication.
Speaking of the prospects of the ministerial mea-
sures in the House of Lords, the Mercury remarks :
" It is said, more difficulty has beer. found in ascertain-
ing how the bishops will vote than either party anticipated.
The sudden illness of the Archbishop of York or of Can-
terbury would soon solve these doubts. Why can't
Charles James London take the gout, or Edward Durham
' assume a quinsey if he have it not ? ' In promotion as
love—

' Ti be in doubt is but to ne resolved.'

Nothing would so soon enable the Lords Spiritual to dis-
cover that the passing of the corn bit!, without delay, was
a religious question, as a vacant see, or the prospect of
being called to a more extensive sphere if u'efulness."

- - -
This may be what the l/ercury considers smart
writing. There is a numerous class of people who
are content to be witty at the expense of decorum,
and to sneer at things which rightly constituted
minds hold too sacred for such flippant treatment.
The character of the episcopal office we should have
imagined was one of these things, at least in the
eyes of a churchman, as the editor of the Mercury
occasionally reminds us that he is. Such a para-
graph as this of the Mercury might have been ex-
cused as coming from the lips of some rabid dis-
senter or socialist, to draw down the applause of a
mob of infidels ; but it is scarcely suited to the co-
lumns of a newspaper, which professes to circulate
amongst families of every creed, and which, on that
ground alone, taking no higher moral or religious
ground, ought not to outrage the feelings of any
class of its readers. We trust the editor of the
Mercury will he able to assure us that the article is
the work of a volunteer, and that its insulting cha-
racter has escaped his observation. It certainly does
not bear the ordinary impress of his writing.

Mr. Peel, eldest son of Sir Hobert Peel, does not return
to Madrid to resume his post as attache to the British
Legaion. He is appointed Secretary of Legation under
his Excellency Mr. D. R. Morier in Switzerland.

We are enabled to announce positively that our govern-
ment has received formal notice from the President of
the United States that it is the desire of the American
government that the treaty for the joint occupation of the
Oregon territory should cease and determine at the ex-
piration of twelve months from the date of such notice.—
Ob,erver.

SINGULAR ROBBERY.—Between the Fours of ten and
eleven o'clock on Saturday morning last, an extensive
robbery was committed at the house of M r. Francis Barnes,
book-keeper, Roscommon-street, Everton, under the tot-
lowing circumstances. It appears that, immediately after
breakfast'on that morning, Mr. Barnes and his family left
home, leaving no person to take care of the house except
the servant-maid. Between the hours mentioned, a knock
was heard at tte front door, which was opened by the ser-
vant, and instantly two men rushed in, seized hold of her,
and fastened her in the water-cellar. They then proceeded
to ransack the house, and succeeded in finding and carrying
off with them a pocket-book, containing nine sovereigns
and four half-sovereigns ; also several ladies' dresses, some
gold rings, broaches, and ear-rings, a coral set in
three sets of windi,uw.cuvratilient;.o?:3-ti;-e;;;l;i7ay. ellisshhiratvse,
facet) issued for the apprehension of the robbers.
LIVERPOOL, ORNISKIRK, AND. PRESTON RAILWAY
COMPANY.—Yesterday, at one o'clock, at the Clarendon-
kuilai,,,so, a eppoial general meeting of the holders of scrip,
or of bankers' receipts for scrip in the company, was held
pursuant to resolutions of the two houses of parliament,
to take into consideration the bill now pending in parlia-
ment, entitled, " A bill for making a railway from the
Liverpool and Bury Railway to Preston, and to the
Blackburn and Preston, and North Union Railways, with
branches therefrom, to be called the Liverpool, Ormskirk,
and Preston Railway. There was a numerous attendance
of shareholders. Mr. Wm. Cooke, in the absence of the
chairman and deputy-chairman, occupied the chair.
Considerable delay occurred whilst the names and address
of the shareholders, and the denoting numbers of all the
scrip and receipts were recorded. The Chairman an-
nounced that the amount of the capital of the company
was £750,000, and that there was a sufficient number of
scrip in the room to constitute the meeting a legal one.
Mr. Lloyd, the law-clerk, then read a bill to the meeting.
TNT. Chairman then proposed that the bill be approved of.
This was seconded by Mr. Howell, and carried unani-
mously. 14,592 shares were represented at the meeting.
The proceedings then terminated.
CHARGE OF THROWING VlTRlOL.—Yesterday, two
boys named Joseph Snyder and William Ferguson, the
former about 14 and the latter 12 years of age, were
brought before the magistrates on a charge of throwing
vitriol at a young lad named John James Woodcock. The
complainant stated that on Saturday, between one and
two o'clock in the afternoon, be was running down Camp-
bell-street, from Duke-street, when a boy seized hold of
him and threw something in his eyes, which deprived him
of his sight. Another boy stated that the pt isoner Fer-
guson held the complainant while the other threw the
vitriol into his eyes. They had the liquid in a black bot-
tle. The complainant was taken into Mr. Taylor's, drug-
gist, Cleveland-square, where such remedies were applied
as the necessity of the case demanded, and he was after-
wards removed to his own house and at'-- ' ' " 'ica'

ended by a me(
man. Several other witnesses were called, but their evi-
dence merely went to show that a quarrel had taken place

in Campbell-street amongst some boys, without proving
the cow exion of the prisoners with the transaction in
question. Dr. Marsh, who had been called in to see the
complainant, said he found that intric acid, or what was
commonly terned aqua ford., had been thrown into one
of his eyes, which was much injared. Snyder denied u e
charge, stating that he had been sent on an errand by his
master, Mr. Hay, architect; he went into Campbell-
street, where he played at marbles with some other boys,
and some of their marbles were stolen. An alercation
took place ai to r.i.ing back the marbles, at which time
he (the prisoner) was taken into custody. Ferguson
stated that he had been on an errand for his mother, and
was playing at marble.. with the boys in Campbell-street,
as stated by Snyder, when they were taken into custody,
and charged with throwing the vitriol. He denied all
knowledge of the charge preferred against him. The
magistrates ordered the prisoners to be remanded in order
that further evidence might be produced as to their Iden-
tity. They were both admitted to bail, and Mr. Hay
intimated that he could speak as to the good character of
Snyder when the proper lime arrived.

CHARGIs AGAINST A POLICE-OFFlCER.—Yesterday,
a man appeared before the magistrates, Messrs. Hough-
ton and Harvey, to prefer a complaint against police-
officer Kinnear, (61,) for having assaulted him. The
man stated, that on Friday night he was standing at the
corner of Lord-street, between seven and eight in the
evening, talking to a friend, when the officer came up,
and without any previous intimation, struck him on the
side with his stick, at the same time calling him
Irish rascal, and adding that if they did not go he would
break some of their legs. The complainaint was about to
calla witness to prove his statement. when Mr. Dowling,
addressing the magistrates, said—" This man is one of the
most notorious scoundrels in Liverpool, and so is his
friend." Mr. Houghton—lf he is a scoundrel he must
have justice. Mr. Dowling said, he had mentioned the
circumstance in consequence of the magistrates having
asked who the complainant was. The complainant then
stated that he was employed to solicit orders for a
person who was a cigar dealer. A• witness, on beinz
called corroborated the statement made by complainant.
The officer stated that the complainant was one of a set of
men called "duffers." well known to the police. He was
standing (-is had hien stated) with his friend, and they
acre ordered off to prevent any interruption to the foot.
walk, but ttfust'd to go, at the same time giving a great
deal of abuse. He then pushed them, but did not strike
at all. The statement was corroborated by Police-officer
360. Mr. Dowling said, that between the Town-hall and
Bold street, there were sometimes forty of those fellows
occupying the footwalk, and requesting parties to buy ci-
gars, handkerchiefs, &e, and other things which were not
at all what they .ere represented to be; their object was ►o
catch parties whom they suspected to be flats, and take
them in. Mr. Harvey—l am sorry to hear you say they
only take in the flats, because they have attacked me as
well as others. (Laughter.) Mt. Dowling—They friund
you not so flat as they expected. (Renewed laughter.)
The magistrates cautioned the parties that they were not
to stand neon the footwalk to the interruption of the
passengers, and immediately dismissed the case.

LIVE.iPOOL AUXILIARY BIBLE SOCIETY

The annual meeting of the subscribers and friends to
the above society was held last evening at the Concert.
hall, Lord Nelson-street. The attendance was not so
numerous as on former occasions. The Rev. Dr. Berth
occupied the chair, and on the platform were the following
clergymen and other gentlemen :—The Rev. Mr. Davies,
the Rev. Mr. Hampton, the Rev. Dr. Raffl-s, the Rev.
J. Kelly. the Rev. J. B. Owen, incumbent of St. Mary's,
Bilston, &c. After prayer had been offered up and
several passages of scripture read,

The HitIc'RNIAN said that his observations would be
few, as the secretary and other gentlemen would bring
forward statements and details in which, no doubt, they
would all be interested. It was impossible for any one
who had for a long time been connected with the British
and Foreign Bible Society, not to feel deeply interested
every time he was present at one of those meetings. It
was a society having in view one of the noblest of objects,

il had had to encounter some of the most severe

-1 - and that it had struggled on, and still
pros er .v is no small proof that it continued to receive
the divine I less' ng. He believed, as did all its promoters,
that when its objects shall have been carried out, the na-
tions of the world would be provided with the word of
God, each man reading in his own tongue in which he was
born, that the world should yield a spiritual increase, and
that all the people should praise Him who had thus
blessed them. It must appear a wonderful thing to every
reflecting mind, that an object such as that sought be to
obtained by means of the British and Foreign Bible Society,
was so long in engaging the attention of members of the
Christian church ; but in that respect it seemed to be in the
same condition with other societies, whose objects were of
a similar nature. The age in which they lived had given
birth to most of them. This had been called by some
the age of great societies ; while it had been called by
others the age of little books. It might at least be desig-
nated the age of mechanical invention, as machinery had
been brought to operate on those operations connected
with the purposes of social life ; and it might be called
likewise the age of Christian associations. ( Hear.) The age
of societies for promoting the best interests of man, by
bringing him into connection with the means which enabled
him to know God, and to act upon the principles laid down
in His holy word. And while the society whose objects they
were met to promote, was contemporaneous in its origin
with many other societies, he believed the union of them
all ca'culated to effect that which the Lord commanded,
and that the Christian public would be as it had been to
the present day, willing to lend assistance to them all.
(Hear, hear.) There was, perhaps, one feature in the
British and Foreign Bible Society, on which he
might dwell for a moment. It seemed to be
the only society, so far as present experience bad
shown, in which it was possible for Christians of all
denominations to unite, and to which they could, without
distinction of sect, give their cordial support. ( Hear,
hear.) It compromised no man's privileges—it judged no
man's faith—it offended no man's prepossess'ons—its
scone was ainple enough to engage every man's affections,
and he could regard its triumph without being in the
least degree affected by the anprehensicn that its victory
was inconsistent with any object he ought himself to en-
tertain. (Hear.) He spoke of Caristian men—it was with
regard to them, and for them alone, he ventured to say
that the British and Foreign Bible Society, properly con-
templated, possessed those principles in which they
might all unite. There might be cordial harmony amongst
parties, as each individual who united with them, and
who was part of the great machinery, might reserve his
own private opinion, being neither called on to defend
them against assault, nor required to assail the opinion of
his neighbour. (Hear, hear.) Surely that must be re-
garded as a great distinction. He believed philosophers
would think so, and he knew a large portion of the Chris-
tian community not only thought so, hut acted upon the
principle, as they had come forward without distinction
to take a part in the objects sought to he attained by the
society. He hoped they would excuse him for occupying
their attention on a matter which by some might be deemed
common-place, but he did hope that there, as well as
el-ewhere, the success of the British and Foreign
Bible Society would, as it well deserve I, be on the in-
crease. If other sicietifis came forward and occupied
fields in which they laboured, they could make use of the
British and Foreign Bible Society to give their labours
efffct, and command success, and they stood in the posi-
tion of being ready to assist them without distinction.
He believed that in so doing the blessing of God would
rest on their labours, not only because the object waq one
which he approved, but because that blessing would be
further extended in answer to the prayersand thanksgivings
of tho-e who would avail themselves of their efforts. He
concluded by calling on the s c-etary to read the report.
The Rev. Mr. DAVIES then read the following
report :

The British and Foreign Bible Society still holds on its noble
course. Its receipts last year amounted to £101,305 158, being
an excess over the previous year of £3,550 4s. 2d, Its issues
amount?d to 1,441,651, being 525,840 copies more than in any
previous year. The total issues of the Society have reached
18,324,487 volumes. Let this fact be coupled in our minds with
the promise above alluded to—" My word shall not return to
me void :" and it will serve to cheer us in the midst of gloomy
and alarming forebodings.
Your Committee have again this year the pleasing task of
reporting that the operations of the Liverpool Auxiliary Bible
Society continue to famish ground for gratitude to Almighty
God for his blessing, by which its funds are increased and its
labours extended. . . .

.... ~_
The annual subscriptions last year amounted to 1110 lls,
being 121 las. 6(1., more than in the previous year,
Th donations received last year amounted to .1214 45., being
.114 Bs. 6d, more than the year before.

The Ladies' Branch society contrmuteu last year .4'333 M.
9d.. but this amount is less than the sum received in the pre-
vious year by £55 12s. 74. Several causes have contributed to
occasion this diminution in its funds. One is, and that the
chief cause, the great want of an increase in the number of
rAll ...flora to labour in the tiehl.
By the sale 9I uuuU. •I.a re has been received this year
.e 9-15 2s. 3(1., being .290 14s. hitt. n,orc tuft., the year before.
The country associations have also produced au Increase of
income in the past year. The amount being .t'277 18s, 6(1
which is .el 6 9s. 2d. more than the year before
The following are the separate items
Prescot....
St. Helens
Southport .
West Derby
Ormskirk
Orr

£5O 0 0
64 0 0
74 5 6
29 0 6
5 0 0

27 2 4
24 19 10

Wallasey
In addition to this, they have paid into
the Ladies' Association ..El4 16 6
Chowbent
Leigh
The Mechanics' Association have contributed .e 9 35., being
£2 IBs. 45d. more than the previous year.
The Welsh branch continues to exhibit the devotion of its
subscribers and contributors to the great cause of the Bible
Society. Its receipts were £602 ss. 13d, being -E-85 17s. more
than the year before, and from this amount they have trans-
mitted to the parent society the noble sum of £550 as a free
contribution, being eloo more than last year.
From these various sources the Liverpool Auxiliary Bible
Society has received in the last year, £2971 16s. 74., being
£494 9s. B}d. more than the year before.

The total number of copies of the Holy Scriptures dis-
tributed by this auxiliary and its branches, in the past year,
amounted to 31,868, being 16,655 more than in the previous
year ;—thus making the total issues from the institution of the
society in the year 1811, amount to 299,764.

The following list contains a particular statement of the
issues during the past year :
The labours of the Colporteur have resulted in the distribu-
tion of 5,256 copies of the Scriptures, which were sold by him
in the town and in the suburbs and villages surrounding it, at
cost prices, within the last year.
Three new Associations have been formed during the past
year, and connected with the Liverpool Auxiliary—viz., Orrell,
Leigh, and Chowbent ; and in a very few months they have
been the means of distributing 2,394 copies of the Holy Scrip-
tures.

Upwards of 3,000 copies of the Word of God have been put
into circulation during the last few months by the zealous and
persevering efforts of Sunday-school teachers and scholars.
The agents of the Town Mission have been the means of ma-
nifesting the anxious desire of the poor to possess themselves
of a copy of the Word of God, upwards of 7,000 Bibles and
Testaments having been sold to then.l in a very short time.

in the work of Bible distribution. One individual has put into
circulation upwards of 400 copies. . . _

tee is encouraged to

of faith and labour of love.
The Rev. 11r. KIRKUS moved that _the report which

under the direction of the committee. He had attended
that meeting as a stranger in Liverpool, having only been
a resident for a shot time, but although a stranger in
that respect he was not a stranger to the institution for
whose interest they were met to appeal. There was in

everything around them a natural tendency to change ;
all human works were changing, many beings were has-
tening into eternity, and on one day during the last week he
had in his ministerial capacity attended tt e funeral rites
in connexion with twenty bodies in one district, and when
they took into account that the same was going nn in
other districts in other parts of the country, and that
'millions of human beings were entering eternity and ra-
pidly passing from this world. and there was nothing but
the Bible and its truths for the salvation of souls, how
great was the responsibility which devolved upon them,
and how necessary was it that they should come forward
and support the society which bad for its ohjfcr the dis-
semination of the Word of God. He rayed attention to
the necessity of looking (especially in a large se port town
like this) to the interests of one class especially, and that-
was the sailors. From the report he was glad to perceive
that great attention had been paid to that class of men,
and be knew there had been instances of divine am cess
arising out of the distribution of the Holy Scriptures to
those individuals. He mentioned one or two cases
which had come within his own experience, where
the Bible that had been given to the seaman had
saved him from the eternal ruin which must other•
wise have awaited him. He, called their attention to
the necessity of using their efforts to obtain an amalgama-
tion of the societies' funds, and stated a circumstance
wherein a poor woman beloneing to one of the southern
lighthouses had appropriated a sovereign to the purposes
a the society, which had ben left by a lady, although she
had been advised by her friends to retain a portion of it
for herself. The lady having heard of the circumstance,
offered her a situation in her establishment. This the
poor woman respectfully declined, fearing it might
interfere with her religious dutier. This so pleased
the lady that she sent her a check for £2O, and her
daughter also inclosed one for £5. The lady to whom he
had alluded, was no other than the Duchess of Ke-t, and
her daughter, the present Queen of England. He con-
cluded with an anecdote of a gentleman, a ho had been in
tl e habit of giving £lO annually to the Bible Society for
several years, and on one occasion he only gave £3. re-
serving the £7 to himself. Th.. person was shortly
afterwards robs ed of the 1.7. and he acknowledged himself
to have he en nigh tennsly dealt with on a( c,stit of his hav-
ing kept hack the £7. when his means would have allowed
him to have gi. en £lO. He urged upon the !fleeting to
come forward liberally in aid of a society which had ac-
complished. and was now accomplishing, such an amount
of good, by the dissemination of the Holy Scriptures to
all, without any distinction whatever.
The Rev. J. B. OWEN, one of the deputation, in se-
' conding the resolution, remarked noon the fact that a
portion of the room was not adtquately filled, and ex-

pressed his fear that Bible meetings of late had been si-
milarly neglected. The reverend gentleman proceeded to
canvass the objections of some who objected to the con-
stitution of this society, which he showed to have been
the parent of all other societies for spreading Christianity,
inasmuch, as by spreading abroad the scriptures, it gave to
every man the only sure foundation of religious doctrines.
He proceeded to offer several interesting facts, to show
the usefulness of the society, and showed, amongst other
things, that in the forty-one years during which it bad
existed, it had circulated six times as 'many copies of the
Scriptures as had been done by all the nations of the world
in 1800 years preceding. It bad now produced transla-
tions into 1.36 different languages. The society had this
year circulated a million and a half of Bibles, principally
at home. In Manchester, where their ordinary circula-
tion was about 10,000 per annum, and which had
gradually risen to 20,000, the circulation in one month
recently was twenty thousand ; and in the six months
ended 31st March, the extraordinary number of 60,680
had been circulated in that town. In France, their circu-
lation bad risen last year to 130,000, in Holland and
other countries they had an increase, the only decrease
being in Belgium. The reverend speaker concluded a
most effective speech, by detailing several interesting
anecdotes, showing the benefici 11 effects of Bible reading,
at the close of which he was loudly cheered.
A collection was then made, after which the Rev.
George Osborne moved the next resolution, congratu-
lating the society upon the increase of tbeir funds, and
the society's usefulness during the past year.
Several other gentlemen afterwards addressed the
meeting.