The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-03-24 00:00:00

judged of the new doAritie by its
the protestant churchman to be an intruder and a robber.
He saw that the tithe's went to the church, and that no
portion of them went to the poor. He found that, con=
nected with the church, there was no asylum for the.
indigent. He scouted the idea that the minister of our
reformed religion was a missionary sent to him. He
was a stranger speaking in an almost-unknown tongue.
He was, in short, the minister of the Saxons, and there
was no sympathy between the new church and the na-
tive population either of a spiritual, social, o'r of a self-
preservative nature. There was consequently little or
no secession from the old faith, simply because there was
no rational inducement.. The peasant saw no attractions
in the reformed church sufficiently prepossessing to in-
duce him to desert the old pastor who had counted his
rosary by the bedside of hiS parent, and had adminis-
tered consolation, and perhaps provided food, for a de-
solate and afflicted family.
But it may be said--,a state provision for the poor has
nothing to do with the machinery of a national church.
We contend that it has every thing to do with it. The
churchwardens and overseers of the poor are practically
in the church of England what tile elders are in the
church of Scotland. They 'have-the management of the
parish funds, and the diStribution of the temporary aids
to the poor. . Thelnmates of the workhouse may be said
to belong to.the church. • In fact, the church of England
is the poor man's church. It is there only where the in-
firm and the destitute find shelter. There are some sects
in England who have few or no poor—why ? Because
it is their interest to-have none. Poverty is sometimes
caused by, and it frequently is the eause of intemperate
habits. The poor of this description are a very numer-
ous body, and they vein a sense outcasts. They have
no asylum, nn resting place, but in the church. - .
There are many other reasons why poor laws. should
be given to Ireland, and one among the rest is that Eng.
land•is at this mement Ileac ily.taxed In -support and trans-
port the paupers of. I.rlbuacji Tbis-,ts a griei•ance of a
very reprehensibie titik'especially as tbe're •is: no
reciprocity. -It ''ha's'L been proved before a commit-
tee of parliamerit that' Irish land owners and ma-
gistrates have frequently raised a fund for the purpose
of defraying the
.expense of, a passage by steam to
England of shoals of ragged paupers. They are
sent here to beg, and they have to be sent back
again at our cost. This evil will not be endured much
longer. The labourers of England are fast sinking to the
low state of the Irish- peasantry, and uuless the land-
owners of Ireland are compelled to maintain their own
poor, some means must be adopted for making them bear
the cost of such us are removed from place to place by
the parish authorities of England. To conclude, we most
earnestly call the attention of Sir ROPERT PEEL to the
subject. • . .

In the proper place will be. found a report of the trial
Of NORMAN WELCH, fursthe-murder of Mr. SOUTHGATE.
It is impossible to read the details without coming to the
immediate conclusion that. at or about the period when
'the deed Was committed there were dissensions, caused.
by real or imaginary grievances, in the subordinate
department of the Liverpool Custbms. Whether the
unfortunate victim was a violent or overbearing officer
does not come out on the trial; and it would be uncha-
ritable to make inquiry -now ; but one thing is clear
enough, Mr. SOUTHGATE.was unpopular with the subor-
dinate officers, NORMAN WELCH labouied under a con-
viction that he had been injured, and
.being at times
insane, as is most_ abundantly proved on the trial, he
avenged himself of hit supposed injuries, and murdered
his superior officer.. .

Bat if the man was insane why was he permitted to
hold a responsible situation ? This is a very awkward
question. The officer whose duty it was to report his
conduct, and effect his removal, on the ground of insanity,
swears that he did not believe WELCH to be insane. If
he had stopped here, we should have been silent, but the
Inspector General, if we can. believe the witnesses, and
we have no right to question their, credibility, was re-
peatedly told that the" man Was mad, and an affidavit,
or. sworn evidence to that effect, was made or given
before this same Inspector General. lle, however, does
not recvlicet tho G4ciy, atiil pit he swears that he never
suspected and never believed that WELCH was occa-
sionally insane. If thelnspeetor general have a me-
mory so treacherous that he cannot remember facts sworn
before him, and which were embodied in a memorial sent
to the Board at London, we are bound to presume that
he is equally incapable of remembering occurrences of
another kind, of retaining an accurate description of
acts, and looks, and features, and consequently is incoin-
petent to pronounce an opinion on the state of mind
with which the unfortunate man was afflicted.

*Our own opinion is, that WELcit was, at the time he
committed the fatal deed, and for some time previcens,
labouring- under mental derangement. Some people
imagine that spirituous liquors,in a person so afflicted,
cause madness. It would be well to inquire whether the
madness is, not the proximate cause of excessive ine-
briety. Much error prevails on. this subject. That
which is supposed to be the effect of drunkettness is, we
suspect, too frequently .the cause of it. The fever—the
helplessness—the torture--and the prostration of mental
energy, caused by arty derangement of the nervous sys-
tem, drive the buffeter to those indulgencies which pro-
duce excitement, but which, we are inclined to believe,
are frequently tl►e preventives of self-destruction. WELCH
was in that unlytppy condition. He drank hard—to ex-
cess—to an un reasndable extent—therefore l►e was mad

Although we have .made these observations in justice
to all parties, yet do tiot see how any other verdict
could have been,retuined, 'how any other result could
have been preferred. It is an awful crime in a man to
lift his hand against .the life of another.—" He who
sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his- blood be shed."—
At the same time We:trut that in such an establishment
as, the customs of Liverpo9l all measures of .unnecessary
severity, calculated to create a belief that injustice has
been done by one 'officer towards another, will, in future,
be at pitied.. There has been 'too many differences al-
ready, and many of them of a very senseless kind. The
trade of the port is injured b,y,absurd and foolish formali -
ties. Laws passed: to-day are rescinded to-morrow.
Favourites ate Introduced, and old servants suspended—
artd..all this forthe sake (.)f what 'is' 'called discipline, and
under the' pretext of enforcing economy. Under the
whig adminiSttioif kunds'Avere thrown away to nave
farthings,'nur.filkal financiers- fishing with herrings to
catch sprats. _ • •

LONDON L.47'E S 7' NE VS.

City, Half-past Soren o'clock, Saturday Evening.

Consols have been•very firma In4lay at 9.21, alternately, buyers
and sellers,. cud the market evinces great Stability. TLe
111 Wing were the closing prices:—

Bank Stock. ' shut Brazilian B7; 81 73
3 per Cent. Reduced .... shut Chillan .. .... .161.7Z
3 per Cent. C 01114018.• 92i ii i Columbian ....394 401 ll 404
3% per Cent Consols-..shut Danish 74
33/4 per Cent. Reducell....shilt- Dutch 5 per Cents....lo3i
New 334 per Cents. IUU 1(K) I Do. 2 per Cents
India Bonds ..;.. 4.2.1. Mexican 4l 451 4
Etchectuer Bills. •- 39 41, 1 Portuguese 931 5.3/4 41 5
1..0ng Annuities shut Spanish ...... ...653/4 ;i i 1
Consols fur Act..... 924 j % Russian ' - . shut
Beigiau ' 1031 Scrip " ' Bl ii i

BANK or ENGLAND.-At at meeting of the bank proprietors,
held on Thursday last, a. dividend of £4 per cent.. on the capi-
tal stock of the company, was ordered to be paid for the half
year ending on the sth April next.

. .
LIVER THEATRE.—Pierce Egan advertises "something new"
for his benefit at the "Liver' to-morrow evening. Something
l'new implies something good, and the great celebrity of this
ancient ,slangster justifies the expectation that nothing said or
done by hint. can be -positively bad. We are therefore pre-
pared to expect a full house at the Liver to-morrow
-ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE.-The session of this theatre being
ahOut to close,• 111 r. Armistead; the ministerial. "leader of the
house," takes his benefit this evening. As the house-manager
he has been indeCitigable as a purveyor of amuseuieut for the
public, and, as chancellor of the exchequer, has exhibited great
financial skill in raising the supplies necessary to meet the
exigencies of the state over •which he presides.. - The tax he now
proposes to levy on the lieges of Liverpool being based on
the •' voluotary system," .wr trust will ite popular, and that
Mr. Armistead will find by the receipts of the-night that he kiss
not miscalculated his- " waysand means." On referring to the
bill it will be found that a great variety of entertaiunieuts will
be performed.

DR. NictioL.—This gentlemen, recently appointed one of
the lords of the treasury, iu conaequence of Mr. W. E. Glad
atone's acceptance of the office of under-secretary of state t'o-
the colonial department; has Lieu re-elected for the botuutit Or
Cardiff without opposition.