The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-08-07 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

The letter signed a "Constant Reader" is clearly an adver.
tiseirtent. -

Ehe iLiberpool

FIUDAY MORNING,• AUGUST 7, 1835.

The packet ship.. Napoleon arrived here yesterday,
having sailed from -New York on.the, Bth July. The
Mary Howland, however, has brought us papers three
days later.. She left New York on the 11th July, and
arrived at the same time with the Napoleon.
fly these'veSsels we have numerous files of the Arne-
. rican journali, but theY do. not contain much interest._
• The citizens of New York celebrated the 4th• of ;filly,
the day of independence, (we wonder; what the 'blatiS
call it,) witir:gf6at .401endmir thliylar. 'Several Enelp-
elroly accidents happened, and according to our yearling
a murder 'MRS corn-Int-Med.:- --it tg ha vett rthe walk-
ing ceremonies of the:day had passed, a troop of light
dragoons had gone to dine_at a tavern." After'diriner a
riot took place, Ir► which a cornet of the troop struck a
magistrate a terribleblow which killed him on the spot.
The only other . event which created a sensation was
the capture of a sea serpent. ThiS must-be gratifying
intelligence to our wonderful contemporary of the Mein.‘

- cur'y. Yes', this monster has at' length been caught I• It
is actually fifteen feet long!
Tho following is what they call duelling in the land of
liberty. •We in-our plain way call it-rnitrder:- • •
correspndent writes, us as follows, under date of July.l :
An affray took place yesterday afternoon, at. Chuckatuck,
in IsTansetnond•County, between two highly respectably young
gentieinen;
,Mr. Samuel. Whitfield, jtin.,:und Mr. William
A• P. CoViTer, froth of lsle'af Wight County, which resulted in
the death of both ! 'l' kiti nit informed of all the particulars Of
this tragedy, but learn that. the parties have been in hostile
relation' towards each other for some months:- and withiri:that
time challenges hid
.passed between them- but .no personal
meeting could be effected. Yesterday afternodn they met
easuallyat Chuckattick, when'they'dreW their pistols and fired.
„ Cowper teasshot through the body aiid died immediately. At
- stage. of the affair; Mr. Josiah C. Parker, the brother of
Cowper, fired his piatol at • Whitfield, the bait of which passed
through W., and killed a free negro man who happened to be
standing near him. Parker. soon After fled, and came on board
the Kentucky in 'the James River, this day, and passed- on. in
the steam-boat to Baltimore.'
" We have duce heard othercletails of this lamentable'occur-
rence, which confirms the above statement, and are more dr-

cumstantial:but as no cfne can well be a passive spectator on
such an occasion They must be received with many grains of
allowance. lt is said that Cowper saw Whitfielttin -the act or
itssiiting a lady to enter her carriage, and immediately after
'shot at him, the ball grazing his arm, Whitfield then drew a
Pistol, and was in the act of firing at Cowper, when the latter
deelaring. himself unarmed, the former waited till he had re-
loaded his pistol, and then fired'and shot hint through the body.
When Cowper fell; Josiah C., Parker stepped fot ward to Whit.'
field and shot hint through the abdomen, and, as we before siid,
the ball entered the body a free tieg,ro man, wlio was killed
instantaneously. The scene of action is represented as niost
horrible—presenting the' view of three men, who were, -live,
annutes before, in the prime of life and strength, lying at a few
Paces from ea. 441, other,, weltering in
.their gore."

These papers also announce the' demise of ChiefJus-
,tice MARSHALL, which took place at Philadelphia on the
6th ultimo. • • • •

The Morning. ,Chronicle of Tuesday last, halluding
to the alarming state' of the mtmicipal corporation bill,
contains the-following very-delectable bit- of bathos :
"fn throwing out thiS•measure, •the -peers declare to the
country that they are irreCOnCileably, 'opposed to parlia-
_petatary reform, and that the people,sliall derive no he-
se& -from their• iMprOved representation!" •
The poor Chronicle is e' idently raving: , The mean,
&ng of the sentence, if it have any meaning at all,
amounts to this lords • declare that they will not
tolerate Whig jobbing and corruption, and that JostPli:
PARicc's," of ii;runiggeut,4s.Lord.BßOVGll,l#. calla it', shall
not• much longer receive • a salary' for directing the '.pro.
ildnefatif Whig commissioners,, nd shall not
allowed to swamp, by means 'of falsification and flan-
clulent reports; the intitlicipalcorporatiiMs .of England and
Wales. • "

- • .•
•• • This, is: all that., the lords... have. declared they will
do, and the. promulgation. of • their intentions, we admit,
quilg fearful eiwagh to rouse the Ire of theßirtning-
acitnAttorney, the city stockjobber; and the-other wor
titles, who, rather than • be- ousted from their places and
disappointed in their golden expectations, are determined
AO die game, attd•write down the Morning
r.Plielords have dOne.nothing more than what every.-sen-
sible, reasonable; and intelligent man in the country ex-
pected they .would; do. It was proved to their lordships—
it was proved to the satisfaCtiOn'of the.nation-Lthat the
report, concocted by. JOSEPH. PARKES anti founded on the
scraps of pestilent tOSSip• collected by the Rustfros,
COCKRIJRNS, RGSCOES, and such persons, is a
_tissue of
fabrications, bouncing. misrepresentations, and'tnean and
sinister calumnies, from beginning to end.. Sir CHARLES
,AVETHERELL and Mr. KNIGHT: opened the eyes of •the
peers to the farrago of nonsense. and falsehoods which
formed the basis of 'what -they were called to. legislate
upon.
~Indeed, without the aid of those learned counsel,'
the lords knew enough of the'bill to know 'that unless its
Preamble were proved they; could not, as• hodest and' re-
sponsible senatars;zoneur in its sweepingand unconsti-
tutional enactments. Their sense .of honour- too-. was
*hpeked by the conflicting and contradictory statements
Made in sup'port of the bill by two of its leading adtio-
cates. Lord •MELnoutiNE, to the -surprise of: the whole
douse, declared that the hill was not founded upon there-.
port of the commissioners; while Lord BROUGHAM', as -if
destined to spoillery.thing lie touches, and whose. ve-
.lg . ntary friendship, is.-invariably mischievous, asserted'
that the foul-W.ld .on'tl.te report of his favotirite
mtnissaoners, so eapliciou.slyveruel!:ve and unwarrant--
41y. pitched overbaird pr itne minister. • '

Here, at the very outset in the lords, the champions of
the , measure' were at. variance, if not at loggerheads.
7711.eirlordships,.asIsed-H4i'44t, 'evidence are we to.be
Plied with in .proof:of the-charges made against the cor-
p Orations? Loi•d'.'Bßottan.4:3l pointed to a bulky blue
bniak of,rubbish lying on:the table. No, said Lard LYND-.
ight:ST;:thit:iS :Hot evideiice—that is the scrap-book Or
JOSEPH PARKE,S—Ihat is:.nnlk a Birmingham album, very:
tastefully and very, ingeniously, no doubt, gummed to-
gether V a sharp. attorney ; what I want is evidmce—
tti.e. 'evidence of the witnesses examined by the commis-
sioners. Lord Mkt.noutt's was 'requested to prddlice the
evidence, but his lordship; after consulting PARKES in a
confer of the house, stated:that -he had no evidence to
`produce other than that which the attorney of Birming-
ltani had manufactured for a.particular.ptirpose..

'These are facts'which.we dare any man breathing- to
deny. The peers looked 'at each..other, with astonish=.
ment ; and welt they might for they saw an attempt
riuJe,by.aininisier of the• croWn.,'actingin the name of
the King,. who-has no lord chancellor to advise-him, to
alter, proscribe, and expose to iniamous.deprivation . the,
municipal corporations of England • and Wales WyTH-:
OUT. A SHADOW. OF EVIDENCE TO JUSTIFY
THE PkOCEEDING!!!
Wilt any sane man say, after this, that the lords have
acted rashly, or -•
unadvisedly, or without being fortified
in, the course .oey have adopted, by demanding to 'hear
evidence in PreaOf the allegation's set foith in the bill,
and aanctioned.by the report of an illegal commiSsion—
bY men who liave not even been sworn to state.ttie -truth
--and have taken care to suppress all means by which to
t estit.? On the contrary, we-feel assured that the whole
country will thank the tor-di for-the caution they haVe
evinced, and the calm and judicial pOlicY they havd re:
solved to 'pursue. The 'times, we concede, are bad
enough, and they must be.' bad when. bad .men, and fla.:
Eantly dishonest men, are in- poweir-; but we have• not

vet' reached such a point of -depravity and tyranny:as,
that where the property of a community, or, thepri,
leges of a poor man can be wrested from him without
law or reason, without his guilty possession ar his crirrii'-,
nal abuse, of those privileges being substantiated by - the
most irretivable evidence; -
The Chi article, in a miserable whine; tells us that the
lords 'Are -." opposed to parliamentary ref‘wm," and it
menaceS ns with the gathering indignation of --the
PEOPLE,". on the ground that their lordships have
*dared that the said " PEOPLE" shall derive "no benefit
from. their improved representation. .

JOSEPH PARKES ! we take leave to. tell-you th ..will
• I
not do. YOU must coalman(' your artist to playgentemer
music to his bear, or you and he will send the begging
box round. in vain before winter. Thd day is. gone by
when twenty thousand Birmingham tinkers could force
such garbage down the throats of the people of, England.
The term "people" has been much abused by the whigs.
JOSEPH ?Alums and the unitarians, no doubt, call them-
selves the " peopleof England," just as the three tailors
in Tooley-street did. It is uniformly the case that the
meanest, vainest, and emptiest of all sects lays claim. to
the greatest share 'of interlact• and liberality, and deefos.
itself the wisest, with the most. unalterable pertinacity,:
Simply becailso extremes paucity in numbers, and
at)Stract. worthlessness; protect. them from being fr 6-:
quently.cliallenged or exposed. In this instance, there
, .
fore, as in many others, the Unitarians, with JOSEPH
PARKES at their bead, aided.and abetted by .a few of ..the
.most violent and iinprinciPlo of
,thedlisenters;epres4ie
upon public credulity; and' call themselves the" PEOPLE
OF,ENOLAND" Bail' 'said of the Globii'new
paper is applicable to PRKES and the. unitarialls--",tt
ball: of lifirse dung killing.,,itsell—the feW hard
tempered files of attorneys-a • score or two- of spoiled.
iCitholalastera.4,a.. Ulf • • dozen -er so of -setti:ry.upertaris,,
who preach doctrines diametrically opposed -thoe
which- thelai,solermily :professed- irr earl viife÷;-tt batch! of
skinny maideps in . the sear, like long poplars in winker, e
all ..bark and no. leaves, sour as the untouched crab-of the:
hedge
,walk, . and
.who • in hopeless- despondency wrife,
treatises on political economythese and a few thousand-
persons Who have not sense enough to know alien spu-
rious is imposed upon them for sound doctrine—these,
alneka day! are the `f PEOPLE OF ENGLAND !

It is admitted on all sides that. there are not more than
two million's of .persons -in England and Wales who are
direCtly 'Orremoiely interested in this municipal corpora-.
thin bill. .It' follows then that there are some nine .or
eleven Millions.of people who give themselves no concern
about it.: What can JOSEPH PARlcEs'hiinself know about
corporations.? The people :of Manchester, Sheffield, and
.Birmingham can know nothing about corporations. Where
the densest population is There are no corporations. Of
the two millions then who are freemen how many are
otherwiie ?, Certainly not a moiety;. and yet for the sake
of these persons, the whole charteredv.rights.of the com-
munity'. are proposed to be iniaded.and placed: at the
mercy of.the democracy.

But this is not the worst of it. The Chronicle says
that the lords deny to the.people the benefit of their " im-
provedrepresentation.7 We, say in answer to this, that
the municipal"bill is an outrage upon the reform bill, and
that the ‘4 improVernenr. it proposes is a denial of justice
.to the Poor man—that it robs. him; his sons, and his
apprentices of the political franchise--.4hat it shuts .the
ilOor igailist the humble operative—and that •it restricts
his right of voting to a household qualification; ;which
Lord JQHN'RUSSELL and :JOSEPH PARKES knOIN, HE-DAN-
NOV.POSSItLY AFFORD TO OCCUPY: The corporation
bill,p.rOfesses tkgive the right of voting to a loWer grade
of householders paying poor rates; but it hotorionsly:dis,
qualifies apoor min-,from voting at elections fOr his
repres6ntatives in parliament. It confers privileges upon
the keepers of beer shops, and. upon the keepers of houses
of a still more demoralizing character.; but it excludes
the honest artizan,
,and is downright robbery of thi
labouring Classes. • . •

. The journal ofJosEpli PARIcSS is:eonsequentlyWastini
its ink in making a .desperate appeal to the community
'at larg'e. 'Stich frantic .;addresses ake as pitiable as they
hre useless. and absurd: Ho 'and his 'scribes forget', that
the refornihill had for its adMirers the Whole mass'ef.our
countrymen, now.sickened by its fallacies, now diSgiiste:l
with its• delusions. The municipal bill is ,addressed to
the passions of a miserably_small faction. They are the
fungi.:nttlie-earth. They liave no character, no influence,
nn
.autho4ty. .The. people of England take .as little
interest:in-4W hopes or disepliditantentg of .T.OsOft
PARSES, of tiirtniugharn, ai the reporters of the join.
,we allude-to, or the printers thereof, having receiv
their wages, care about the chronicling of stnallbeer.

Lord AlstnorrtNE• and Lord BROUGHAM in the House
of Lord's, look fOr all the world like two Oldham cOtton-
spinners .sitting facing each other in a rowing boat, 'and
pulling different ways. On Tuesday night the.exhibition
was highly ludicrous. No wonder the theatres are on the
decline, seeing that there is so much fun and: drollery in
both houses of parliament. But to our tale:-

On Tuesday evening the Marquis of SALISBURY stated

hat he bad two petitions to • present from .two corpora:.

tions, praying for inquiry, and the noble marquis
suggested that the house should pro'ceedtitli ihese
cases, as there appeared to be no .other ready to proceed
with.

Lord Baay-GUAM; who for some. time has been' playing
he part of Leader of the-house, advised the noble marnitis

tb have these.easei " ready .by. tomorrow; and 'if there
was an opportunity; so much the better.".

now for tlte
This is -vihat we call rowing one way ;
pull per contra. It is quite a•trbat : • .• .• • •-:
Lord MEr.nOual4E here' advanced
.to' the table evidently
under a feeling-:ot strong excitement, and' said that he did not
think cases' referred to: ought iu -!.e entertained;
" and T proieat—l protest for the third time;" said the-trobie
lord, " against the course which your lordships are now pnr.:
suing: I roliii.dirr it contrary to reason and to the practice of tide
hoaxe. I will not hold myself bound to it as a precedent, for I
deem it to be ertoneous, prejudicial:, and' pernicious, and there-
fore I ripen9jfitf ill ruot .be bound to it in any respect. ,At
the swine t e, as _your lordships 'have- decided the iluestina
apinainy eotwi Non, I.feel that I am bound to bow to a ma-
jority:Of your hirdpvips' li,ouse; But I wish it to he understood
'that I brim to -4'lniijorityiif.Ois house—to a; inajority,, I• repeat,
Ofth is tnie, an d.t6".th-at only. I consider. myself coerced and
. tiikelkire • your' ardships
may up'W act as thitat fit." The rapidity'and vehemence
with which the noble lord uttered these,-observations appeared
to surprise their lordships, many of whom were about to -retire;
but again resumed their seats.

. What a scene! Lord BROUGH'AM'S advice, quoth my
Lord MELBOURNE, is contrary to reason and the
practice of the house."- This may be true with regard to
Lord 'l3Roi6nAm's advice generally; but why in such a
towering.passion about it? 'Gentlemen of mature years

do not lose their temper aboUt trifies,:and- therefore we
must seek a reason elsewhere than upon the surface.of
the proceedings. Lord
.MEtOquat was not 'wroth at
:the suggestionof Lord ,ar..isimaY, or.the advice of his
ex-chancellor; but when we consider the nature of the
'evidence which the noble lord knew would be submitted
to the house, we can-well understand what gave rise to
his rage. •"Lord MELBOURNE fuleiv, that. the .report of
'JOSEPH P.ilixEs, (there .is a fatality, says the
.Times,
about the name JosEpu,)Would not bearexamination
.or`the test of evidence before.the. peers ; he -had a. foie-
boding 'of the exposure--he trembled for the con-
sequences. , . . •

• And well he might. The evidence of the town-clerk
of Coventry is a curious lesSon upon the,professional re-
putation of :the commissioners. TliN gentleman swears

thaf\they.tOokliear.say evidence in •almost all cases. They
alloWed a fellow who had betrayed the confidence 'of his
employer to visit them-cit their inn, and they hive dis-
guised this fellow's evidence somuch.that it a.ppears iu
the report as emanating from. eight
,or, nine witnesses.
The following is rich, but singularly characteristic

Mr. Woodcock, sOlicitor, residing at Coventry, and who at-
tended before the Commissioners solely froth 'curiosity, said
that:he had "beard the evidence of a Mr: Browitt, who ad-
mitted that he had been a party to get persons to swear, in or-
,ddr.to qualify themselves fOr, taking up their freedom, that they
bad served seven years' apprenticeship to a freeman. He said
the thing was common, and that he himself had been party to it,
though he knew that some of tlo men swore falsely. Witness ri-
atonsintted• tu,the commissioners against their receiving the peideitO'

,o, -person. who had admitted a fact whichsemsld disen title him
to credit on his oath or qffisMation. Browitt is a quaizer.
ness was told by the commissioners to sit
.dow)."

. Mr. C. Meredith, who has lived in Leicester forty-five years,
and practised as a solicitor in that town fir thirty years, said he
" was at Leiceiter When the corporation commissioners came;
they were the same two who had been at Coventry. Was ex-
amined by them. His examination occupied atr hour or more.
Had lead the report, but did not find A word of his evidence,
nor even the substance of it, statsd in, that report. Was asked
by the commissioners about the conduct of the magistrates, .the
administration of justice,- and as to any complaints about the
magistracy very particularly, but no, trace of his answers ay-,
peared in the report. Had been for many years one of :the
county coroners.. It appeared to him that there was an inten
lion on the part of the commistiimers to collect all the evidence they
could on on e',side,
,but none on the other. ConceivCd the conduct
of the commissioners to be much otherwise than fair and impar-
tial, which he remarked to the commissioners themselVes. The
inquiry was conducted amidst much clamour and invective by
the
,persons assembled, but not. by the commissioners. The
commissioners did not interfere to put down that chtniour."

• After perusing this :we beg-the reader. to
.turn his at:
•tention to other parts oftbeevidence,Whicli will•be found
•in our, parliamentary columns, 'especially-that given by'
Mr. HOLDBEACU,:the deputy-steward ofSuttoncol•dfield,
before Mr. Cornmissioner CocKtruniv. He there sears
that tint part of the report whichrelates. to the cOrPora-.
ti tin in' question and '.uPon vvhiOhe. 'municipal bill: is
"founded,. is not true—that it is misrepresentation- fromt
beginning" to end'! In. shOrt, it appears from, the evi-
dence, so far as it goes, that the commissioners who over.:,
ran the country in trait cbaiSe's at the• public expense,
were ernployed•for no other purpose than to distort evi-.
dence, collect scandal,. and 'make up.. a. oak AGAINST the
Corporations .of -England and Wales. If they' h.ere not
einploYediforithiS base, purpose, and secretly instructed
tothis:etre:l, .then mast- we:believe that they have-wil-
fully and collusively concocted, pr -given
series of falsehoods in order, to brink cOrPorations.iiito
disrepute, and pave •the way for -the ir ' easy destt'tiction by
the .House of Commons.. We 'give, them the benefit of
the alternative. They were either hireling or voluntary
detractorS.: '.Thereis net a trace of, fairnesi, or candour,
or-justice, in_ their conduct. In- hardly one instance is
there- a fact correctly stated; and. where a charge is
made they have taken pains to emblazon it, without'aP.;
pending. the answer which disprOieit'Or refutes it. Thii
is the case in •Coventry, Oxford Worcester, Leicester,
SuttonColdfield,cand,in, the other towns in whose favi:Mr
witnesses: have been examined, and we have 'no doubt
that..whpn all the parties are heard;thete.will be' such an
-exposure of gross misconduct on the-part. of the commis-
sioners as must bring "odium upon whig barristers and
whig commissions for ever.
The result may be anticipated., 'The lords will report
that, the preamble. of the bill has not been proved, and
that the report ofJosEiniPAarcks is not founded in truth.
No wonder then that Lot d MELBOURNE and the Morning
Chronicle are ;excessively ingry., The detected cheat is
always indignant.. • The bill will be thrown out amid the
acclamations of all good and honest men. Tf,..tlieir lord-
ships could tie it round the necks of JOSEPH 'limas and
his nineteen Whig commissioners and' toss'tirem into the
deepest and dirtiest part of the Thames they would ren-
der an.essential service to their country. • .

• The Irish coercion bill, introduced by Lord GitEr,- and
'renewed by .Lord MEI:BOURNEAW a natural: death -on
Satur(Jay' last, the Ist of August. In consequence-of
this' the.popiSli rabble of Dublin had a feast of riot and
bloodshed. on 'Monday. The avowed reason for this, as-
semblage of ruffians was to pass a vote of censure upon
Mr. Stcaiv, .the recorder, who rep-resents the University
of DubUnit'. Parliament—the real object was of a very
different kind, as the following description from the
Evening Packet will show :

The walls throughout the city and suburbs .Were covered
with' placards of
,a spirit-stirring character. Emmissaries,
were' dispatched in every direction to bring in forces; blud--
geons wee literally transported to the Coburg Gardens in cars coil
other vehicles; • and the Trades' Unions were, exhorted to "go
armed as fur the field of battle." The whole Of Sunday was
spent in recruiting and inciting; priming witty porter and whir-
key; 84c.; and' the whole night of the 'Shthal h vas' a season Of
riot by the bivouack of coal and corn-porters who were. admit-
ted to the arena of the meeting. During Sumlayr placards
Were carried through the city, and suspended at .the chapel
doors throughout the country, inviting the " Men ofj-reland”
to 'attend themeeting; and hand-bills, were circulated stating
"the murder of a Roman Catholic priest by bloody. Orange_

;rneil !"

• So early as five o'clock on Monday morning, the platforth
and its contiguity was occupied by thousands of ruffianS,''who
were marched in troops, preceded by rods_ and green rit;hons,
ante under the guidance of priests, and the entrances warded
sentinels, against the,admission of ail who'were
suspected of being opposed to the views of. the party, vihn had
convened this aggregate meeting for fl'eecliscussion.t•

:
The story about a Roman• catholic ,priest ic;l4-kgimii._
"simply a lie, invented ;for the:. u rppse •of : ex-
citing the. mob to more ferocious acts of Vie'eke; •It
seems that a priest had, been killed by a fall,,frotu' his
horse, abd this, to suit the occasion, was trumped
fup into
a murder; committed of course by.the oratigemeg,
It is needless to enter rurther into. the .cletailS of this
Dublin was a'scene of riot durtng,the whole
of Monday, and the most savage outrages were perpe-
4rafed Withoht the goVernment interfering. Lord MU.
GRAilt:-was very conveniently.ont of the way, Lietitriant
Dit'ultiroNg being. the solo representative of Majesty,
and who; no doubt, had the fear of O'Co rr*Eit'before
his eyes. Several persons have been severely wounded,
some are not expected to survive,. and one is said to be
dead. 'The mayor was at Jengt.li compelled-to ealt out the
military,-but far whom the day vvOuld baire• ended more
disastrOuSly. • •
Stichls the beginning,,of the end of . the coercion bill.
'The prieStiliave now their staves under their itncontrolled
command, and we fear that many more atrocities will be
committed on the unprotected: Protestants, or in other
words,. that the " Reign of Terior". is only commencing.