The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-12-31 00:00:00

MR. PEASE AND HIS CONSTITUENTS.

We have not space for a detailed report of the sayings
and doings at the meeting between Mr. Joseph Pease,
M.P. and his constituents, yesterday week. The en-
tertainment was called a " Public Breakfast," but, ex-
cept as to the hour of the morning, it was, substantially,
a" dinner," for the Whig reporters tell us that,, beiides
coffee, cakes, and ham, there Was'a plentiful supply"
of pies, fowls, "game," &c.; and that the tea and cof-
fee-cups were succeeded by decanters and glaSses ;- the
latter of -which being filled, the company- commenced
toasting and speechifying at the singularly urifa.shiona-
ble hour of nine in the morning, and this " game" was
Mpt up until five o'clock in the afternoon. Of course;
uring the long performance, Mr. Pease played a very
prominent part—the spirit having moved-lAm• to speak
for two hours. Mr. Rippon was absent, but not, we
suspect, for the reason assigned—the hon. gent.'s " in-
disposition" arising from a fear that, should he have
presided at the " breakfast" given to Friend Pease, the
Gateshead Rads. would accuse him of inconsistency,
seeing that, in Parliament, the Quaker member for
South Durham and himself 'voted against each other on
several important questions. The entertainment, iii
theatrical phrase, did not go off without considei-able'
diaapprobation; for we are told that the chairman, a gin-.
tleman of the name of Parker, a flax spinner at Dough=
ton-le-Skeme, rated Mr. Pease in good set • terms for
having disappointed his constituents in his vote on the
Irish Coercion Bill,and for havingfalsified hispromises

_ .
in relation to his conduct on Mr. Tennyson's motion for
shortening Parliaments. Other speakers, also, indulged
in a similar strain, and we gather from the speeeh of the
hon. gentleman himself, that numerous" slips of paper,
specifying objections" 'to his Parliamentary conduct,
were likewise handed to him from persons round the ta-
ble. The hon. gentleman, in his two hum s ' harangue,
endeavoured to explain away these various causes of
complaint, but the most remarkable feature in the pro-
ceedings is, that he carefully abstained from noticing the
rail which had been made upon him from various quar-
ters tt, name the "Irish traitors," to whomhe alluded in
his celebrated letter to Mr. Kelburn, surgeon, of West
Auckland, in the following terms :

" Again, the most hostile to the bill in the house laughed and
joked out of the house how much money they had got—how
mach law business—by becoming agitators! and only deplored
the bill ruining the most shameless of trades."

So far from Mc:. Pease having made his peace with
the Irish members, he has rather augmented the original
cause of quarrel with that body, by justly attributing the
evils of Ireland, not to "Tory Misrule," in the slang
phrase of his party. but to the " sons of Ireland,"—the
O'Connells and the Sheils--themselves. Mr. Pease
avowed himself not only against annual Parliaments;
but actually laid the axe lustily to the root of the argu—
ment for triennial Parliaments, on the ground that this
would tend to lower the representative body, inasmuch
as no honest man would so frequently incur the ruinous
expense of contesting a county. In this he is right;
but he nevertheless declared himself ready to vote for a
five years' Parliament. One argument urged by Mr.
Pease is truly valuable, and we trust it will have due
weight with Earl Grey and the "Tribe of Fortune."
Hear it in Northumberland and Durham—let it be pro-
elainied in Downing-street, in the twolillouses of the
Legislature, and at Windsor Castle, that Mr. Joseph
Pease, the Radical member for South Durham, declared
in•the face of his Constituents, that to swamp the peers
by a " liberal" creation, " Would throw down one third
part of the British Constitution ;" and that was indeed
most awfill question." For this we thank Mr.
Joseph Pease ; and. nothing now remains but a word or
two as to the majority of those whO assembled to do him
honour. •A radical contemporary has stated that one
hundred and twenty persons were present, butiri this he
"vas mistaken, for the entire number was one hundred
an.-: fifty-one. The chairman, as we have said, is a flak
spinn,A., and if we except three solicitors, as many me-
dkai gentlemen. and an equal number of others of a si-
milar grade, there were none remaining who, on the
most liberal allowance of rank, could be considered of a
higher scale than a yeoman. The latter, we grant, are
a most useful and respectable class of persons, but the
absence of county gentlernen was most remarkable. Of
course the railway agents and clerks were of the party ;
but the remainder, Co use the expressive phrase of a girl
twelve years of age, "looked like pitmen in their Sun-
day dresses." The burthen of the speeches (in the words
of a correspondent), " was in abuse of the Church of
England, and of the sacred character of her ministry."
Some judgment may be formed of the taste and feeling.
of the meeting, from the fact that an observation from
one of the speakers, a prominent character in Mr. Pease's
election, that, "for the value of twenty shilling's he was
ready to change his religion, and adopt any other with
one single exception," was received, not with the ab-
horrence which such a sentiment was calculated to ex-
cite in sound and well-regulated minds, but with disor-
derly laughter and applause.—Newcastle Journal;

ON THE CUSTOM OF DECORATING CHURCHES AND
DWELLINGS warn EVERGREENS AT CHRISTMAS.

Ainong the many customs which prevail in the Christian
Church, and which in England in particular are observed by
traditionary practice, while their origin is either entirely un-
known, or involved in unnecessary obscurity, there is not one,
I believe, so little understood as the popular practice of decorat-
ing our churches and dwellings_ at Christmas with branches of
evergreen shrubs and trees. The ignorance that prevails on
this subject is the more remarkable,-because the custom admits
of a very simple and easy solution by reference to those Scrip-
tures, which are now, thank God, in the hands of every cottager
in the kingdom. For the sake, therefore, of all who, at this
season of the year, cannot but feel an interest in the inquiry, I
will first notice the fanciful opinions which prevail on this sub-
ject, and I will then direct them to what I conceive to be the
only credible origin of this ancient usage.
There are not wanting some persons who derive the practice
froth our heathen ancestors—because, forsooth, in the worship of
' their gods, which, after the Roman invasion, they universally
adopted from their conquerors, they always held forth in their
religious processions, or decorated their temples and idols with,
the branches of such trees as were sacred to their adopted deities,
which trees were almost Without any exception evergreen, such
[as the myrtle, the laurel, the olive, &c., among the Romans ;
!these having, no doubt, their substitutes in Britain among our
L indigenous evergreens.
Others, again, in their zeal for antiquity, assign an earlier
date to this custom, and find an easy. explanation of it in the
• use that was made by the druids or priests of the ancieut Britons,
anterior to the Roman conquest, of the sacred misletoe at their
religious feests and sacrifices.
But without stopping to expose the absurdity of such conjec-
tures, I will proceed to notice two other explanations which are
• given for the custom, and which carry with them so much
plausibility, as generally at first to satisfy the inctuirer, as if it
needed no better solution. The first in order of time, is the
reference that is made to, the ancient Jewish custom, attending
the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles by the people of
Israel.
Moses, in the 23d chapter of Leviticus, 40th verse, had in his
institution of that feast used these expressions: " Ye shall take
you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of
palm trees and the boughs of thick trees ;" or as the same in-
stitution is recorded and insisted on by Nehemiah, (Bth chap.
15th v.) "Go forth into the mount, and fetch olive branches
• and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches,
and branches of thick trees."
The well-known practice attending this festival in later pe-
riods of the Jewish history, I mean that of surrounding the altar
with processions of men bearing branches of trees remarkable
for their verdure and fragrance, shouting " Hosannah !" as
they advanced along, appears, at first sight, certainly to claiin
an alliance with our modern practice.
There is, however, one other explanation given by a reference
to Sacred History, that is generally consideredineenclusive and
satisfactory, as not to be questioned—but which is to my mind
by no means nearer the truth than the former—because it refers
to a point of time where we should naturally be the least dis-
pesed to look for a parallel to our Christmas decoration. The
triumphant entry of our Saviour into Jerusalem is the event to
Which. I allude, when, according to the testimony of three out of
the rout gospels (Matt. xxi. B—Mark xi. B—John xii. 13), the
multitude took branches of palm-trees, and went forth to meet
him, and cried, iii alluSion to the Feast of Tabernacles, " Ho-
sannah bleised be the King of Israel that cometh in the name
of the Lord 1" The entry of Jesus Christ into the Holy City,
attended with these emblems of peace and triumph, certainly
bears some reseinblaece to the holy festival of the present season,
when we commemorate the entry of our blessed Saviour into
4.lit world, by the festive and lively decorations of evergreeni.
Now I will not say that the custom which prevails in many
parts of England, at Eastertide, of adorning the church with
:sprigs of box, may not have been derived from the above fact
recorded is the gospels—but not so, I would maintain, the
Christnias decoration, which has a more general meaning than
is.couinat9lV assigned to it, and is by no means to be limited in
its aPplieaticin to now particular event in our Saviour'S history.
At whateVer perio-4 this custom :vas first introduced into the
Christian Church, fir there is P certainty oh this point, it is
.verV clear that on reference to Iv _l. (ix. 13) the Evangelical
PrOphet is-eur surest quit e uc : oks out of our difficulty.
That lieautiful cl«a i'l/unntity with the 19th verse
of the 41it chap.;; r!• rifles 11.:1;-:-.1,1:,',ticlangu4ge the gl Nil in:-
increase and ffouri,;„, :h. of God in of ter times,
by the conversion. and 0,, r;e k.propheey that I
need not say is verilled a tr.. .?? 1,,e (1.300.tru of Chris-
tianity among all nati,ns The -:,.wrapt he it _Were into
future times, foresaw the happy- •'. the Cilt1I(.1), of Christ,
and exulting declares, as if God 'was sih;:ic;rig in his'perSon to
," The ;fiery of lebanen shall come unto thee, the •
for tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place
ofrn y idnrluary :hail
; I -will Make the place of niy feet (L e. my
temple) glorious.
; This passage so strikingly points to-the; custom now so Pre-
-valeta throughout Christendom, that I will not insult the un-
derstandings of my readers by draWing the parallel for them,
but thus mach I will just add, that the chapter containing this
remarkable prophecy, was purposely selected by the compilers
of our incomparable Church Liturgy, as one of' the lessons of
the day: priaoing Christina, Day, a coincidence that most satis- •
factorily bears.rne out in assigning to the authority of the pro--
phet the whole and sole origin of the practice in question.
Froth the public "sanctuary," the custom has extended itself
to the private dwelling, and not without reasoh, for every
" Household of Faith," being a little " sanctuary" in itself;
very appropriately adopts, in its simple but striking decoration,
the same expressive representation of its joy in the birth of
Measles, and of the peaceable, triansphant, and neier-fadirig
character of the religion he has established upon earth.

GLASGOW CIRCUIT COURT.
(ROBBERY BY A SURGEON.)
John Wright, accused, of stealing various articles from the
Glasgow Apothecary Hall Co., in August or September last,
acknoWledged his guilt. The counsel for the priioner. pleaded
in mitigation of 'punishment that this was his first, offence, and
that he had already been imprisoned for a period of four months.
Lord frleadowbank said, the present was as deplorable a case as
had ever come under his notice. The cannel at the bat, it ap-
peared; was a surgeon in Glasgow, 'and a licentiate of, the fa-
culty of physicians and surgeons, and bad just admitted himself
to be guilty of the most disgraceful crime Of. theft. The plain
duty of the court, notwithstanding, was to do here as they did
with others placed in similarcircumstances thePunishrnent to
be inflicted having reference to the crime-rand not to the indi-
vidual. It Wa.s... a simple case 'of theft, no. aggiaVatinn being
harged in the indictment. Lord Mancrieff said he hada most
Painful duty to' perform in announcing the sentence in thilcase.
The education of the prisoner, the situation lie held in society,
and the means he possessed of rendering hirriself resPeitable,
all tended to make his task 'of a moat disagreeable 'nature. TliCie.
Was UnaggravatiOn. charged, but the 'sentence fo be awarded
would be felt gcvorelysenotigli'by the Vadat as he would by it.
be degraded' in' sothety. The 'slighttSt,ptiniShmOt was eon-
gnemeat in'Bridewell; and;to a ni4n of [fig- edueatulti thatniust.
be an awfUl'doom. He trusted the: court would, by this . seri-
.tence, discharge its duty. It'would' be- needless to speak to a
man of information, like the prisoner, as to what should 'be his
Inture conduct; but he trusted he would ask pardon of Almighty
God; and form new and amended resolutions, arid that he-might
still liVe; either here or elsewhere, to be a respectable member
of society. The prisoner was then sentenced to nine months'
imprisonment in Bridewell.

CHINESE JUSTICE.—An epitaph on Hi and Ho, two Chinese
astronomers, who were appointed to watch an eclipse, but, hav-
ing got
_drunk and neglected their duty, they Were condemned
tote executed by Ho Hang, the Chinese Emperor. Soon after
it was discovered that the eclipse was invi,4ible:—
Here rest the bones of Ho and Hi,
Whose fate tho' sad was visible,
Being hung because they. could not spy,
The eclipse that was invisible.
Ileigho ! 'tie said a love of drink,
Occasioned all their trouble,.
But this is hardly true I think,
As drunken men see double.

LONDON POLICE REPORT.

MANSION HOUSE.—FuniAy.

IMPORTANT T, THE EXPORTERS OF WlNE.—Considerable in-
terest was excited by the following case, the publication of which
will, no doubt, put extensive dealers in wine a little more on
their guard than some of them have hitherto been.
Mr. James Hoskins appeared before-the Lord Mayor and
Alderman Kelly to answer an` ingimation founded upon the
tith of George IV., c. 107, s. 85, which states, " That no draw-
back shall be allowed upon any, goods which by reason of
damage of decay shall have become of less value for home use
than the amount of such drawback; and all goods so damaged,
which shall be cleared for any drawback, shall be forfeited, and
the person who caused such goods to be cleared shall forfeit
£2OO, or treble the amount of the drawback in such case, at the
election of the Commissioners of the Customs."

Mr. Walford, the solicitor to the Customs, stated that the
object of the Commissioners being to put a speedy termina-
tion to a practice which existed to a Tory serious and pernicious
extent, they had directed the case 'to he brought before the
magistracy in preference to the more dilatory and expensive
process of the Exchequer. The defendant was charged with
hiving entered for eiportation to Rotterdam, in the ship Saxe-
Coburg, 39 gallons of what he called Portirgal red wine for the
drawback of the duty, which amounted to £lO 14s. 6d. The
liquid which had been thus designated was, it would be proved,
vile trash; which no person iii his senses could mistake for wine.
Fortunately it, underwent examination by persons well qualified
to judge, and a representatiOU of its quality was made to the
Board; who caused it to -be • seized. Walford was about
to call witnesses, but

Mr. Hoskins at once admitted that he had entered the article,
and wade other admissioni for the pittpose of accelerating the
decision.

Mr. Walford then produced samples of the alleged wine in
its turbid condition on being jolted down to the CuitOrit-houie,
and in its clear and quiet state.
Mr. RiChard Chase, an officer of the Customs and a searcher
of the poit of London, said that he had tasted the article, and
was of opinion. that it was no wine at all.. He did not know
what it was, but if it was wine, it was the most worthless wine
he ever tasted—certainly not worth a shilling a gallon.
Mr. Hoskins's solicitor submitted that it was unfair to pro-
duce a sample taken when the wine was disturbed with finings.
His client had. paid the duty on the article, which had by age
become of inferior. quality, and, therefore, he sold it to Captain
Ladd, who purchased it
.for a friend who intended it for retail
trade at Rotterdam. Hd repfesented. the extreme hardship of
the .case, which was brought forward not only as a ground of
inflicting a penalty, but as a means of injuring the reputation
of Mr. Hoskins.
_
Mr. Walford disclaimed any notion of prejudicing
ithe cha-
racter of the defendant; he was einly.floing..his duty n- going•
for the penalty, for the very palpable violation of the act of
Parliament.

The Lord Mayor. —lt appears to me that it is an act of
severity and injustice to push for a penalty except there is evi-
dence of an intended fraud, a very improbable thing in this
case, the quantity, being so trifling. If a man pays the duty on
wine which turns out to be bad, it seems to me to be hard to
prevent him from sending it back.
Mr. Walford said that a case of this description had never
been brought befoie a magistrate before, and he trusted that
the event would supersede the necessity of repeating' the experi-
ment to stop practices which might be resorted to for purpoSes
of fraud.

Cojt, a searcher of the pOrt of London, stated
that he seized the.cask of Wine entered by Mr. Hoskins. It was
so bad that inquiries, were made about it in the trade. He con-
sidered it to be nothing but the tops and bOttonie and washings
of casks. It was certainly damaged, and riot worth the duty.
The Lord Mayor.—l know that wine is every day sold for
considerable less than the duty. I have seen some nice samples
of wine which has been advertised as the stock Of O. gentleman
of large fortune going abroad, or just dead. I presume the
Customs would not refuse to take duty upon such trash.
Mr. Walford.-=The cominisioners gave the defendant every
opportunity of accounting for the possession of the article, but
he could give no satigactoiy explanation.
Mr. Chafy, a landing-surveyorof the CustouV-houAe, stated that
when it was represented to him that the entry had been made,
he tasted the wine, and found it to be-such trash that he ordered
it to be detained, and the case to be laid before the board.
The Lord Mayon—What do you believe to be the value of it?
Mr. Chafy.—lt would not pay the freight. It is terrible trash,
and no doubt would haire been thrown overboard five minutes
after the vessel should sail. _ _

Mr. Hoskins complained that the conjecture of the last wit-
ness cast a most groundleis, and at the same time a mast uncha-
ritable imputation upon him.
Mr. Walford admitted that the surveyor was not justified.
Mr. Lockman, who is engaged as a taker of sainplesjtated
that the stuff produced was a complete mixture. •
The Lord Mayor.,-Do you consider it Portugal red wine ?
Witness.—No, I "do not, indeed.
The Lord Mayor.—Can you prove that it is nit Worth ss. 6d.
a gallon ?
Witness.—l am sure it is not

Mr. Hoskins's Solieitot.—This man is not a judge of the
nature of wine. _

fho Lord Mayor.—Can you bring any one.fo.proie That it is
worth ss. 6d. a gallon? - .
Mr. Hoskins's Solicitor said that the .ondsprobancli lay with
the proseculer.
Mr. Walford.—LAill my witnesses say that It is Witthless Stuff.
No, man living of common understanding would pay the duty'on
such trash.

Mr. Hoskins.—Eyerybody knows that for biandy not worth
2,5. a gallon his Majesty wants 225. duty. This wine was bonded
in 1829, and age has injured its quality.
The Lord Mayor (to Mr. Hoskins
_.)—Have you received the
money from Captain Ladd for this wine?
Defendant.—No. But' f your lordShiP will postpone the case
till the captain arrives, I shall bring hiM forivard to swear that
he purchased the wine. I have another proposition to make.
Let the wine be sold at the neat sale; ana it will then be seen
whether it will not fetch ss. 6d.

Mr. Walford.—lt is impossible that such trash should be dis-
posed of at a sale.
The Lord Mayor.—What will be done with it?
Mr. Walford.—lt will be thrown Into the Thames, thiist de-
cidedly.
The Lord Mayor.—Where the fishery is quite bad enough
"already. My brother alderman and myself are of opinion that
Mr. Hoskins ought to have time to bring forward evidence to
prove the actual value of the article.
Mr. Walford.—There is nothing at all vindictive in the course
we are taking. We agree to be decided by the opinion of any
respectable merchant about the value of the article.
Mr. Hoskins submitted that the sooner the case was decided
the better; and he hoped the magistrates would take it upon
its present merits.
'I he Lord Mayor.—Have 'you an entry in you' books of the
sale of this wine to Captain Ladd?
Mr. Hoskins.—l have.
The Lord Mayor.—Then produce your books, and I dare say
the solicitor for the Customs will be satisfied.
Mr. Walford.—l will.

MI. Hoskins hete hesitated, and then asked for the decision
of the magistrates, without the production of the books.
The Lord Mayor then said he was convinced there was no
fraudulent intention upon the part of the defendant, but he cer-
tainly had violated the act, for which offence he was convicted
in the lowest penalty—a fourth of the third of the amount of the
drawback. .

The sum was immediately paid.
MARLBOROUGH-STREET'. -THVRSDAY.
Tuff MOST LEARNED BARRISTER AT THE BAR.--Mr. French,
the barrister, appearei before the magistrates, to complain of
an assault committed on him by the porter of a tradesman, who
accidentally struck him a blow on the shin brine of one of his
legs, with a shutter, as he was clOsing his rifaster's shop; and
further to complain of being thrust out of the aforesaid shop
by the owner thereof, Mr. Reynolds, who, in reply to the
charge,, insinuated that the complainant was "rather under the.
influence of liquor." This charge roused the indignation of
the learned gentleman, who declared that he was as enainerit
for his temperate habits as for his great learning. In his
address to the magistrates, he said that he was willing to accept
Mr. Reynolds's apology provided the publicity of the proceed-
ings was prevented ; for, said Mr. French, I have warned the
reporter of the consequence of-publishing anything concerning
me of so libellous a nature as thatuttered by Mr. Reynolds. I,
shall bring actions for libel if they insert it.
Mr. Dyer hinted that this was a matter which he did not
choose to interfere in.

"But, sir," said Mr. French, with soine warmth, "I do not
like such a charge. I, that am universally known to be the
soberest man in exiitence—l may say a pattern of modern
sobriety. Now, sir, as a barrister, I ask you to put the defend-
ant on his oath as to the fact whether or not I was sober."

Mr. Hall.—l should think you, as a barrister, ought to know
that a defendant cannot be put upon his oath.
Mr. French.—Oh ! if you wish to convict me of ignorabce in
my profession, I am quite Willing. to allow that you will find no
difficulty in so doing; for, constituted as the law now is, I con-
sider it an honour to be ignorant of the system practised by it.
But if, sir, merit is dile to him who, in one year, reads, digests,
and profits by what he readi, more than and other man in
twenty,.l am the man who can justly claim it:
The BenCh'inade no reply to this modest avotial,
Mr. French then turned to Mr. Revtohis, and 'said,
sir, I ask you to. State explicitly whether you considered that I
was labouring under intoxication when I entered your shop."
Mr. Reynolds.-4 certainly Will not say pOsitifely that you
were iiitoxicated, but I thought at the mothent, from your
manner, that you weic labouring under—that ia, yntz appeared
to be a -little— .

•
M -- Mt. French.--yes, that is what you mean. I was
certainly in a state of great agitation from the wound in my
leg.
The Bepch lint an end' to further colloquy by requiring Mr.
Reynolds to enter into his own recognizance for himself and
servant, to answer aity charge which Mr. French, at a future
period, might be induced Co bring against thtm.