The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-06-18 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

be closed up, what is to become of our coasting
craft ? Where are they to go for security and shel-
ter ? We say emphatically there is no other place
in the river capable of affording the required accom-
modation ; ana a very cursory examination of a map
will satisfy any one on this score. We do say and
insist-that this great interest,—the coasting traders,
which are the purveyors to all ships trading to for-
eign parts,—demands our most earnest attention and
protection; we are hound to see those traders are not
deprived of a right which they.have enjoyed from all
time, and which, to all intents and purposes, ought
to he preserved to them inviolate, and not wrenched
from their possession for any other than some great
national benefit, which we deny the. Birkenhead
scheme to be. The coasting craft entering the river
last year amounted to 602,728 tons. This is exclu-
sive of 786,255 tons of steamers, which are princi-
pally employed coastwise. This is an important
interest to deal with, and so interwoven with the
prosperity of the town and port of Liverpool as to
demand the protecting aid of it inhabitants.
There are at this moment about seventy coasting
vessels beached and at anchor in Wallasey Pool and
on its banks ; and with a westerly wind it is no un-
common thing to see upwards of 200 lying there.
Now, where would these be if Wallasey Pool were
now walled in ? The ten-acre basin, which it is pro-
posed to give them, would not accommodate a tithe
of them, and there is no other place to which they
can he removed with safety to themselves, or with-
ous obstructing the navigation of the river. It is a
common right which they have enjoyed from time
immemorial, and it must be maintained for them in
all its integrity. Ruin your coasters, and ruin will
speedily follow on all the commerce of the port.
Drive them away and Liverpool will soon cease to
be what she now is, the second port in the kingdom.
We will not tire our readers by going further into
the subject, but call upon them to examine minutely
into the matter and satisfy themselves whether there
is danger to be apprehended or not to the com merce
of Liverpool by the scheme now before Parliament,
awl if they do see grounds for apprehension (which
we are sure they will,) we entreat them to put their
shoulders to the wheel to avert that which may soon
become law, and beyond their controul. We say
sign the petitions to the Lords if yet in time. It is
to them we must look for protection from the threat-
ened injury, to our docks, river, and trade.

• Another check has been experienced by Sir Ro-
bert Peel, in his efforts to drag his Conservative
supporters into the adoption of measures opposed,
in their tendencies, to those principles which they
have been accustomed to advocate and support. The
amendment of Mr. Miles upon the proposed minis-
terial settlement of the sugar duties was carried on
Friday night, by a majority of 20 votes ; and the
Government have now added a fourth to the de-
feats sustained by them in the House of Commons
within the last three months.

We know not at this moment what may be the
result, so far as the ministry are concerned, of this
occurrence. It has been imagined that Sir Robert
Peel would resign office in dudgeon; nay, it has
been rumoured that he and his • colleagues had al-
ready tendered their resignation to her Majesty.
That this has occurred, however, is contradicted,
quasi ex auctoritate, by the Morning Herald; and we
believe our.contemporary to be on this occasion very
much in the right. Sir Robert will not resign, when
it is perfectly within his reach to disappoint the
hopes of a great number of those—the Whig-
radical portion of the majority—who on this occa-
sion voted against him, in direct contradiction to
their recorded opinions with respect to the policy of
discriminating duties, by postponing the present
bill for another year, and falling back upon the ex-
isting scale of duties in its stead. This, we imagine,
is the course which he will adopt; for we are confident
that he is not disposed to venture upOn the experiment
of attempting to dragroon his conservative sup-
porters into another exhibition of that facile rever-
sion of their recorded opinions, which has already
so fatally damaged the character of the reformed
House of Commons. It is idle, however, with our
present amount of information upon the subject, to
speculate upon probabilities, when perhaps the same
edition which contains these remarks will convey
to the great bulk of our readers the declaration of
Sir Robert Peel's intentions, which would be de-
livered in the House of Commons last evening.

THE FUNDS, SATURDAY NlGHT.—Stocks have re-
ma:tied quiet to-day, the early close of the market pre-
venting the usuil run of business. The rejection of the
Ministerial project for altering the sugar duties has had
little effect upon prices. Consols, however, closed the
shade lower, being marked 98. Bank Stock left off 1971
to 1981; Exchequer b‘lls, 745. to 765. pm. ; Three per
Cents. Redneed 981 to ; Three-and-a-Half per Cents.
Reduced 1011 to I. In the foreign securities business
was not very active, but prices, nevertheless, were tole-
rably well supported. Spanish Three per Cents. closed
341 to ; the Five per Cents, 23/ to a ; Portuguese, 46 to
47 ; Peruvian, 27 to 28 ; Mexican, 341 to 1; the Dere! red,
141 to 1 ; Dutch"Two-and-Half per Cents., 611 to a : the
Five per Cent.., 1004- to 1 the Danish, 88 to 89 ; Colum-
bian, to ; Chian 103 to 105; Buenos Ayres 35 to
37 ; Brazilian 81 to 1 ; and Belgian 1031 to 1041.
REGlSTRATlON.—Conservatives who have changed
their tesidence since July last year, ought by all means to
send a notice of the same and of their present residence,
to the Parish-office, in order that they may be properly
placed upon the ensuing parliamentary register • and thus
save themselves the nuisance of being ohj,c•erito by the
liberal party. who liberally take advantage of the least
flaw to deprive a conservative of his qualification.
THE WEATHER.—We had some slight but welcome
showers yesterday afternoon, with a milder atmosphere,
and an appearance of further humidity. The hay grass
already cut in this county is scanty, but generally of good
quality, and a good after-crop is expected. The wheats
still look well, and Clough the straw will be short,_ the
grain wilt probably fill well. The spring-sown crops are
improving in appearance ; and on the whole, if we be soon
favoured with rains, the injury sustained by the late
droughts will be nearly redeemed. We are glad to learn
that in some other parts of the country copious and re-
freshing showers have fallen within the last ten days.
CHARGE OF MURDER.—Abont half-past two o'clock
yesterday morning, police officer No. 66, who was on duty
in Limekiln-lane, he found two men holding up the ap-
parently dead body of a man ; it was bleeding profusely.
He immediately caused the body to be removed to Rose-
hill station, where surgical assistance was obtained, but
without effect, the vital spark having fled. It was after-
wards discovered that the deceased was Thomas Spinks,
a stonemason, residing with his mother in Benn's Gar-
dens, and that he was last seen in company Ri h Chas.
Doyle, John Dunford, and Jane Rainford, in a cellar in
Limekiln-lane, opposite which the policeman found him.
Inspectors Gandy and Abraham having learned the par-
ticulars went in search of the parties above named, whom
L they apprehended. Doyle's coat was matted with blood,
and so was Dunford's shirt. The three persons are in
custody awaiting the result of the coroner's inqdest, which
will be held th s day.

COLLISION AT SEA.—We take the following particu-
lars of a collision between a New York packet-ship
and a timber ship, off the banks of Newfoundland,
on the 27th ult., during a thick fog, from some me-
morandums furnished by a passenger on board the former
vessel, which left this port on the 26th April, and arrived
at New York on the 31st ult.:—

26th MAY.—Foggy, unpleasant morning, and we get on mise-
rably, the weather being so calm, and the little wind we occa-
sionally have is always a head. We have only gone this last
week 350 miles.
27th.—Rose at 3 o'clock, a.m., in alarm. I was awoke by a
tremendous crash ; laid still, and immediately heard another,
and the I thought it time to rise, as my impression was that
we were upon rocks. I ran upon deck, and all was confusion.
We ha 1 come in contact with another ship, which completely
cleared away our bowsprit, and our ship went immediately
into the other amidships; completely knocked her side in,
and carried away her mainmast. You may imagine I cannot
describe the confusion on board. The rigging of the ships
were entangled in each other, so that we could not get disen-
gaged for a considerable time. Every swell of the sea made
the other come thumping up against our ship, and did her
considerable damage. In fact, I thought she would stave
her side in every minute; and as the other vessel was full cf
water, we expected her sinking every moment; and to crown
all, just at this time down went our foremast, with tremendous
crash, upon deck. With great difficulty we got parted. The
name of the brig is the Levant, of Bath, State of Maine, with
timber.—and it was owing to this last circumstance that she
kept afloat. She was of 300 or 400 tons burthen, and had
seven hands on hoard. Three of their crew came into our
ship as soon as we separated. The others remained to pro-
cure as much of their clothing as they could, and then ►eft
her. Our second mate offered to stick to her if the captain
would abandon her; but he would not, but returned to her in
a boat with two of our seaman ; got a few more things, and
then set fire to her and returned. She is now blazing away.
The Il•ade, of Boston, came up about half an hour after the
accident, so that if there had been any Occasion we could have
gone on board of her. All hands are busy getting up another
mast.