The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-11-26 00:00:00

the magistrates. The latter, without a word of in-
timation to the Watch Committee, summon a meet-
ing, and upon evidence collected by themselves,
proceed, by the censure of one of its members, for
acts done in his private capacity as a burgess, to
throw discredit upon that body. They go on to
take the authority, with which the law has vested
them, out of the hands of its members. They direct
that their officer, without the common courtesy of
first acquainting the Watch Committee of his in-
structions, shall proclaim to the whole police force
their magisterial usurpation of authority ; and they
conclude, as the climax of insult, that he shall record
that usurpation, in all its insult of manner and
language, in "the general 'order-book of the police
force,"—the record eichigively of the orders of the
Watch Committee, and kept entirely in their own
custody ! Surely, a more unparalleled case of
studied insolence was never devised than this last
requirement.

Compare with the above the proaeding3 of the
Watch Committee, as given in the resolutions which
we have quoted. The Watch Committee repudiate
the existence of any power in the magistrates to
make "regulations of the police torch"; but they
nevertheless, do not factiously set their faces against
the necessity of some such regulations being made.
On the contrary, they proceed to pass a resolution,
on all fours with that of the magistrates, as they
would have done, without prompting, had the whole
facts of the case been originally brought before them,
instead of being brought before Mr. Rushton.
But there are one or two little circumstances con-
nected with the progress of the affair which deserve
to be chronicled. Mr. Edward Rushton was in his
magnificent vein when he dictated the fiat, which
was to extinguish the Watch Committee, and to
immortalize himself. The spirit of Pharaoh or
Cheops, or Nebuchadnezzer, stood in his boots
when he commanded his decrees to be written in
the books of the Watch Committee; hut, like the
latter monarch Mr. Rushton was pulled down next
day from his towering altitude and compelled to
"eat dirt". A hint was whispered him by the
Town-clerk that he could not legally consum-
mate the insult meditated. He could not :be per-
mitted to record his edicts or those of the bench
amongst the orders of the Watch Committee. And
accordingly the chopfallen stipendiary backed out,
and issued his instructions—his instructions—to
override an express order of the assembled bench
that Mr. Dowling was to omit that portion of the
resolution. Nay, he was even compelled to convey,
by way of apology for the insolence of the resolution
in question, an intimation to the committee, through
Mr. Hugh Hornby, that the whole had been written
by him very hastily and under circumstances of
great excitement. Alas ! to what humiliations do
mingled vanity and passion sometimes hurry us !
Before we leave this subject, we must say that tip
time has now arrived when the question, as to the
conflicting authority of the Watch Committee and
the bench over the police, must be settled. The
repetition of such proceedings as those of the last
week cannot but weaken the influence of both
bodies, and are calculated seriously to impair the
efficiency of the force about whose regulation they
contending. The sooner we have a formal decision
of the matter, by a court of law, the better for all
parties and for the interests of the town. We may
add, in conclusion, that the Town-clerk agreesun-
hesitatingly with the able authorities already con-
sulted, that the proceedings of the magistrates are
illegal, and that the bench are usurping powers of
which neither according to common sense nor the
provisions of the law are they in possession.

We beg to direct the attention of our readers to
an advertisement which appears in our columns
this day, announcing that the annual sermon in aid
oc the Southern and Toxteth Hospital, will be
preached on Sunday morning next, at St. Barnabas
Church, Parliament-street, by the Rev. Thos. Nolan,
incumbent. We know of no institution which has
greater claims upon the public for support than the
one in question; and we, in common with others,
cannot but admire the manner in which the com-
mittee have hitherto managed it, under the able pre-
sidency of Jos. Brooks Yates, Esq. All parties
seem working together for good, and it must be ap-
parent to every one who has paid a visit to the insti-
tution, that great benefit must inevitably flow from
such a charity, so admirably conducted. We are
therefore pleased to find that our worthy chief ma-
gistrate (following in the steps of his predecessor,
who established the precedent) has in this particu-
lar instance in the kindest manner consented to be
present, and sure are we that he could not give his
sanction and presence to a better or more useful
institution ; and when we consider by whom the
appeal is to be made, there cannot be a doubt in the
first place of a crowded church, and in the second
that the response will be in every way worthy of a
cause so noble.

THE FUNDS.—SATURDAY NIGHT.—The Funds have
been firmly supported to-day, without particular feature,
and Consols for money and the account left off 1001 to I.
Bank Stock closed 205 to 206; India Stock, 286 to 288;
Three per cents. Reduced, 991 to a ; Three-and • a-Quarter
per Cents. 1021 to I ; Long Annuities, 1113-16; India
Bonds, 81s. to 83s. premium. In the foreign market very
little has been done. The speculative stocks are rather
firmer, which is the only alteration to notice. Spanish
Five Per Cents. were finally quoted 244 to t ; the Three
per Cents., 351 to ; Rutsian, 1181 to 1191 ; Peruvian,
241 to 251 ; Portuguese, 541 to 554 ; Dutch Five per
Cents, 99 to 1; the Two-and-a-Half per Cents., 621 to 63 ;
Danish, 89 to 90 ; Colombian, 134 to 14 ; Chilian, 100
to 102 ; Buer.os Ayres, 36 to 37 ; Brazilian, 88 to 89 ;
Mexican, 36 to 4 ; and the Deferred, 16 to 4.
The Dublin Mail states that if the Conservatives of that
city will rally to the register the party will not suffer any
loss of votes.

THE WEATHER.—After a continuance of wet, damp,
and very foggy weather, we have for the last three days
enjoyed a clearer, drier, and colder, but much more sea-
sonable atmosphere.

The Marquis of Clanricarde has commenced nineteen
actions in the Common Pleas, Ireland, to recover the
presentation to so many church livings, in the diocese of
Clonfert.—Dublin Post.

FATHER MATHEW.—At a meeting, yesterday, at the
Clarendon-rooms, to raise money for this apostle of tern.
perance, a letter was read from Lord Sefton, inclosing
his contribution, wishing the object every success.
Amongst those present were Messrs. Lawrence Hey_
worth, Thomas Avison, R. Shiel, T. Harvey, C. Rawden,
M. O'Connell, Sir A. Knight, R. Allison, and W.
Brown.

AFFECTING EVENT.—We have received intelligence of
the almost sudden demi e of Mr. William Hetherington,
a fine promising young gentleman of 18 years of age,
son of the late W. Hetherington, Esq., of Birkenhead,
and recently appointed a second Lieutenant in the 60th
Rifles. Last summer he had been engaged in a rowing
match, and, from the exertion at the oar, his hands be-
coming blistered, he incautiously, whilst in a state of
perspiration, dipped them into the cold water. Eruption
and gathering ensued, causing much pain and annoyance,
and this corrtinuing for a considerable time, he went to
London, and it is apprehended took unskilful advice, by
which, though he appeared to be cured, the disease was
probably thrown into the system, by the too rapid drying
up of the sores. He returned home to his family appa-
rently quite recovered, and, after remaining a short time,
resolved to return to the military college at Brussels,
where he had before studied, to make the best use of his
time in professional acquirements. On his arrival there
he was congratulated by his former companions, to whom
he was much endeared ; but, alas ! on Wednesday week,
when he sat down to dinner with them, he suddenly re-
marked that he felt extraordinary sensations, and could
eat nothing. Being observed to be ill and afterwards to
faint he was immediately carried to bed, and received
every possible attention, but to the grief of all around
him, he expired early the following morning. We need
scarcely say that his relatives in this country are plunged
into the deepest affliction by the mournful intelligence.

IMPORTANT TO PAWNBROKERS.—At the Worship-
street police-office, on Thursday last, Mr. Attenbot ough,
the pawnbroker of Crown-street, Finsbury, attended
before Mr. Bingham to show cause why he refused to de-
liver up a coat, of the value of 205., which had been
pledged at his shop, and the principal and legal interest
on which had been duly tendered. Anne Barrett, a poor
Irishwoman, proved pledging the article on the 4th inst.,
and that on going to redeem it, the defendant refused to
restore it, on the ground that he had already delivered it
over to another person. The defendant produced the
usual printed form of " declaration," filled up in the
name of William Barrett, which is that of the woman's
husband, deposing to his having lost the duplicate, and
said that the pledge had been delivered to the person pre-
senting it. He maintained that he had thus exonerated
himself from all liability. The complainant declared that
neither she nor her husband had either made the declara-
tion themselves, nor authorized any person to make it for
them. She had pledged the coat herself, her name was
upon the duplicate, and all the defendant's shopmen
knew her intimately, for her being constantly obliged to
pledge articles there. Mr. Binghanii said, he was strongly
inclined to think that the defendant was answerable for
the property or its value, and that he was in a correlative
position to that of a banker and his customer. The de-
fendant pointed out the extreme hardship of such a lia-
bility upon pawnbrokers, as it would place them entirely
at the mercy of any unprincipled person who thought fit
to commit a fraud upon them. They were imperatively
required by the act of Parliament to give the necessary
forms of declaration to be filled up, not merely to the ow-
ner of the property pledged, but even to any one repre-
senting himself as the owner. In compliance with Mr.
Bingham's suggestions, the pawnbroker said he would
obtain further professional advice with the view of having
the matter more fully discussed in a fortnight.