The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-08-16 00:00:00

CONTEMPORARY PRESS.

COMBINATION—TRADES.UNIONS.—The respectable
inhabitants of Limerick and its neighbourhood are more
concerned than they may suppose in the efforts of trades-
men to prevent English artizans from being employed
here. If the statement of Mr. Fogarty, which appears in
our paper to-day, be correct—and we see no reason to
doubt it—his workmen have acted in a manner not likely
to benefit themselves as tradesmen or to advance the cha-
racter of their country. Had an intention been evinced
to put these men out of employment or enforce them to
accept lower wages by the introduction of strangers, they
would have cause to complain, and a right—since the law
leaves thern free to do so—to combine. But it is not
pretended that Mr. Fogarty had any such design. He
wanted the additional hands; and, as we view the case,
even solicited and obtained permission to import them
from Liverpool; when suddenly a new light broke upon
our resident carpenters; their national pride took the
alarm, and they would not work for a person who would
employ—Englishmen.
How injudicious—how ungrateful—how anti Irish is
this. Surely the Carpenters of Limerick cannot recol-
lect how many thousands of their countrymen in every
trade and occupation, are employed in almost all the
,o•reat
towns of England, with whom the native artizans cheer-
fully associate, admitting them without a murmur, to
share in their labour and the emolument arising from it.
—Do they wish by their present conduct to drive the
English operatives to retaliate upon those men ?—Whe-
ther such a contingency entered into their contemplation
at all, or whether it would have influenced their decision,
if it had,—vie leave to their own feelings and conscience
to answer. But we have reason to believe that the Eng-
lish tradesmen whom they have driven so inhospitably
out of their society, left Limerick breathing a deep
spirit of revenge against alllrishmen employed at Liver-
pool, Manch,?.ster, and throughout the west of England.
As all those places are unfortunately afflicted with
" Trades Unions" as well as Limerick, we can expect no-
thing less
.than a general conspiracy to drive home all the
Irish tradesmen and labourers, to add to the distress and
internal troubles of their'unhappy country.
We have seen with great regret the resolution of the
" congregated trades," who pledge themselves to sup-
port the guild of carpenters in their indiscreet course;
because we think it unwise.
If those persons have really associated themselves to-
gether, with a sincere purpose to protect the fair trades-
men, they are strangely mistaken in their mode of doing
so ; for by abetting and encouraging such proceedings,
they not only bring disgrace upon the country, but ren-
der the men, whose conduct they extol, objects of ge-
neral fear and dislike. The consequence will be that no
man, who can possibly avoid involving himself with
them, will engage in work which might expose him to
their dictation; for who that values his property, his
peace, or even his personal safety, would risk all three
by embarking in any undertaking subject to the arbi-
trary and shifting code of the Congregated Trades.

EXECUTION.
On Monday morning Henry Nicoll, late captain on the
retired list of the 14th Regiment of Infantry, was exe-
cuted at Horsemonger-lane Gaol. He was tried and
found guilty of an unnatural offence at' the late Surrey
assizes, and in the course of the trial it was proved in
evidence that he belonged to a gang of which Beauclerk,
who, it may be recollected, committed suicide sorrie time
since in the county gaol, formed one of the parties.—
Nicoll meditated self-destruction himself, as will appear
from what occurred after his condemnation. As soon as
the trial was over, which took place on Friday, the 2d
instant; and lasted.from nine o'clock in the morning un-
til eight at night, he was conveyed from the Court house
at Croydon to- Horsemonger-lane, and on his arrival at
the gaol he was questioned by Elmes, the head turnkey,
as to whether he had any instrument in his possession ;
in reply to this question Nicoll energetically declared
that he had not. The turnkey, however, suspected this
declaration, and insisted upon a strict search before he
was placed in the condemied cell, and immediately com-
menced it. Nicoll, on finding the turnkey was deter-
mined, then began himself to turn his pockets inside out,
in order to convince him of the truth of his asseveration ;
but the turnkey, on a minute inspection, discovered, con-
cealed in the lining of the collar of his coat, a long nail,
which was sharpened at the point like a lancet, and with
which there was very little doubt he intended to destroy
himself. How he became possessed of this instrument
there are no means of ascertaining; at all events it was
impossible that he could have sharpened it in the manner
it wasfound, and the supposition is, that it was conveyed
to him in some way or other by the other prisoners.
Nicoll had entered the army- at a early period of
life, and formerly belonged to the 72d, from which he
exchanged into the 14th Foot, and with this regiment
had seen a good deal of service abroad. He was very
respectably connected, one of his brothers having
served the office of high sheriff of Bedfordshire some
years ago, and, had the former lived, he would have be
come entitled to some property arising from the manor
of Studham, in the above county. From the period of
his conviction up to the morning of execution he con-
ducted himself with great propriety of conduct in the
gaol, and paid the utmost attention to the devotional ex-
ercises performed by the chaplain, to whom he had ac-
knowledged the justness of his sentence on several occa-
sions since his trial. The night previous to execution he
slept soundly for some hours, and on awaking and inqui-
ring the hour, appeared anxious for the arrival of the
sheriff and the executioner. At nine o'clock precisely
the unhappy man was led from his cell to the place of ex-
ecution, which is immediately over the entrance into the
gaol, and, after a short time spent in prayer, the drop
fell and he soon ceased to exist. A large concourse of
people assembled to witness the execution, and amongst
the spectators a number of females also presented them-
selves, and by their shouts manifested their abhorence of
the criminal. The body having been suspended the
usual time, was then taken down and delivered over to
the surgeons of one of the Borough hospitals for dissec-
tion.

EDUCATION OF THE BLIND.
The Alphabet used-by the Blind in the Asylum at Glasgow
is composed of seven different characteristic knots of twine,
which take their place in the alphabet as aeimqu y—to these
are attached small knots called auxiliaries, which, placed at cer-
tain distances from their principals, form a complete alphabet,
viz.:—A is a knot formed by putting the twine three times
through itself; B is the same,, with a simple small knot close to
it; Cis the same, with the little knot about half an inch from
its principal; and D is the same still, with the little knot about
one inch from its principal, and so on through the rest of the
characters. In this alphabet the greater part of the Gospel of
Mark, and the 119th Psalm, and other passages of scripture
and historical works, have been composed. The compositions
are wound round an horizontally revolving frame, and pass from
the reader as he proceeds.
The Arithmetic Board is so contrived that the 10 numerals
are represented by one characteristic pin, according as it is
placed. It is simply a pentagon, with a notch at one end on an
angle, on the other end on the side. Being placed in the board,
with a corner notch to the left hand upper corner of the hole, it
represents 1 ; proceeding to the right hand upper corner it is
3; the next corner in succession is 5; the next 7, and the last
9. In like manner the side notch, by being turned to the sides
of the hole progressively, give 2 4 6 8 O.
The Map of the World consists of the Eastern and Western
Hemispheres, represented on either side of a circular board.—
The Land is made rough to the touch, and the Seas, Lakes,
Rivers, &c., smooth. Towns are represented by small pins.—
Mountains are ridged, and boundaries simply raised. Degrees
of Latitude are marked round the edge of the circle, and of
Longitude along the Equator, which is raised above the surface
of the earth. At a recent visit to the Asylum for the Blind, in
this city, we were much gratified by the great proficiency of the
pupils; under the preceding mode of tuition, and especially in
Arithmetic, the Board for communicating a knowledge of which
was invented at the Institution. The details of the whole esta-
blishment are alike honourable to the directors, beneficial to the
inmates, and mast encouraging as a model for similar asylums
in other cities and towns.—Glasgow Courier.

TRUE CHARACTER OF THE REFORMED HOUSE OF COMMONS.
—There is not anywhere within the circle of the British isles
such a herd of ignorant, vulgar, incapable men, as is to be
found in the present House of Commons ! —Free Press, a Liberal
Journal.
WELSH FLANNELS.—The East India Company's order for
20,000 yards of flannels, after being one year sent to Lancashire,
has again been sent to a draper in Shrewsbury; the quality of
the Lancashire goods being found so inferior as to be nearly
useless in India. At the flannel market in Newtown, on the 25th
ult., the most scarce goods were those at from 6d. to 14d. per
Yard ; middle good from 15d. to 21d.; fine and super, 22d. to 2s.
Enquiries were made for extra-superfine at from 3s. 6d.
to 3s. 9d. ; but there were not enough of goods in the market;
and, as wool has much advanced, the manufactured goods must
consequently advance.—Chester Courant.
IMPORTANT To CLERGYMEN.—In a recent case which came
before the Court of Session, regarding a clergyman's refusal to
give a certificate to a party applying for the benefit of the poor's
roll, the court cited him to give evidence on oath at the bar as
to the applicant's condition. In that case, the Lord President
said, that when a clergyman is asked for a certificate, he is
merely required to state what is the true result of his knowledge
or inquiry; but that much, he is bound to state, whether it
amounts to an attestation of poverty or not. That in this coun-
try, by the humane provision of an ancient statute, followed by,
long practice, there is a mode prescribed by which poor persons
who have rights to establish, or wrongs to redress, may be
enabled to establish these objects without cost in Courts of Jus-
tice.—But, as it would lead to, great oppression and abuse, if
persons, who were not really in a state of poverty, were ad-
mitted to the poor's roll of the court, there have always been
checks established for the purpose of repressing this, as far as
possible; and one of the most important is, that of requiring a
certificate from the minister and two elders of the parish where
the applicant resides, setting forth his statement of particulars,
conform to the schedule provided for such case, and adding how
it consists with their knowledge. That this certificate is taken
from them, as from witnesses who are supposed generally to
have the best means of informing the court. That the court
can know nothing of themselves • and, as it is a most valuable
privilege to a litigant to be admitted to the poor s roll, the mi-
nister and elders have been required to give their testimony in
the form of a certificate, so as to insure the privilege to one who
leserves it, and debar it from (me who has no proper title. That
this is also convenient to the ministers and elders themselves, as
thereby the necessity of citing them as witnesses is superseded.
That the court have power to cite them, as well as any other
Berson, to give testimony in civil matters; but in place of doing so,
Which would be productive of inconvenience, they merely re-
quire a certificate; but that, wherever a certificate is refused,
the court feel themselves called on to enforce the poor party's
right, by taking the evidence at their own bar, which the minis-
ter and elders have refused to give in lona of a certificate.