The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-04-09 00:00:00

TUESDAY MORNING, APRIL 9, 1844.

The power, which centres in the three " kings of
the poor" at Somerset House, approaches its ob-
jects with a stealthy tread. For years past it has
been aiming, unseen, at an unchallenged supremacy
over the poor of the empire, and a sole administra-
tion of the millions annually levied for their mainte-
nance. Repressed by the legislature from direct in-
terference with those parishes which possess local
acts for the regulation of their poor, (of which Liver-
pool is one), they have gradually broken through all
restraints, until any legal exemption from their au-
thority has become almost a mockery.

But such indfrect wielding of authority does not
appear to satisfy this triumvirate. It is not suffi-
cient for them to lord it unrestrained over the rural
parishes of England. They seek now even more
extensive rule. They seek direct authority to con-
trol the doings of vestries and parish boards,
hitherto only indirectly subject to them—to unionise,
to centralise, to classify, and to render still more
shadowy the little of local authority which their
past encroachments have left ; and a Conservative
government abets them in their endeavours to pro-
cure these new powers, by clauses in what they
have facetiously denominated their " Amended Poor-
law Bill."

We have already canvassed some of the proposed
enactments of that bill, and, in particular, expressed
our detestation of the clauses relating to bastardy,
which are characterised by little less than heartless
mockery towards erring womanhood, accompanied
by preposterous unfairness as regards particular
parishes. We shall now, therefore, confine our-
selves to those parts of the bill which affect places
having local acts for the regulation of their poor.
By the 17th clause of the bill it was evidently in-
tended—although Sir James-Graham escapes under
the plea of obscure wording—to procure, in all pa-
rishes, including those having local acts, differently
constituted boards of guardians, by a division of
such parishes into districts, and by making the office
of chairman in all cases elective. This clause, how-
ever, with the 56th, which compels meetings of
boards of guardians and vestries to be held at least
once a fortnight, has been promised, at the urgent
remonstrance of deputations from the metropolitan
parishes, to be modified so as not to include those
places having local acts. By the 28th clause it is
proposed to give power to the Poor-law Commis-
sioners to unite parishes, whether under local acts
or not, into audit districts; and its effect will in all
probability be to drag the authorities of such pa-
rishes as that of Liverpool, with their accounts, to
whatever central locality, 20 or 30 miles distant,
may be chosen by a Somerset House official in
which to set up his court of audit.
The most objectionable clauses, however, are
those which confer power upon the commissioners
to establish district schools for pauper children, who
are to be removed, say 20 or 30 miles from their own
parishes and friends, to some central educational
establishment; and to erect district asylums for the
reception of vagrant poor, in lieu-of affording them
casual relief. Now we put it to our readers, what
mu,t be the effect of the carrying out of these two
clauses. We are already erecting, at a great outlay
of money, schools for our own pauper children.
Will these buildings be permitted to be devoted to
their original purpose, or shall we be allowed only one
of these two alternatives, viz. to contribute to the
expense of some huge erection, on Chat Moss, or on
some equally lively locality, to which our poor chil-
dren are to be drafted from the neighbourhood of
their homes, or to enlarge out existing building
for the reception of the pauper children of some
forty or fifty additional parishes ? 'Would either of
these alternatives be ratifying—be any other than
most revolting to the ratepayers of Liverpool ?
They would not.
But even worse than this, so far as Liverpool is
concerned, would be the operation of the clause re-
lating to the erection of district asylums. We have
in this town, from its position as the inlet of the
masses of Irish labour to the agricultural and ma-
nufacturing districts of the north of England, a
greater amount of casual pauperism—of vagrant
pauperism than any town in Great Britain.
At a large expense, certainly, we have hitherto
dealt with that pauperism, in the old-fashioned
way pointed out by the old and humane law
of our forefathers ; but if we are to have our
present system wholly subverted, and in the place of
administering casual assistance to enable poor wan-
derers to reach their homes or a market for their
labour, we are to erect, at a vast outlay of money, a
building huge enough to enable us to apply to them
the favourite test of the Poor-law Commissioners—
the workhouse test—we venture to predict that the
ratepayers of Liverpool will find ample reason, in
the increased drain upon their resources which will
be required, to pray for a relief from that unconsti-
tutional power which thus roughrides them at its
pleasure, and to feel anything but gratitude to that
Conservative government which evinces such won-
derful alacrity in working out its inhuman and op-
pressive suggestions.

May we call the earnest attention of the Select
Vestry and of the parishioners of Liverpool to this
" Amended Poor-law Bill," which proposes to visit
so severely the interests of this parish ? A host of
circumstances have recently occurred to shew the
extent to which the central authority of Somerset
House has fastened its influence—its dictation—
upon our town ; have all but rendered nugatory the
possession of a local act for the governance of our
poor, and taken from us all save the mere shadow
of control over our parish funds. It is time that
we should be up and stirring in self-protection---
that we sho Id oppose a resolute resistance to those

further encroachments of an alien and unconstitu- 1

tional authority, of which, it is plain, we are intended
to be made the victims. Already the various pa-
rishes of the metropolis, more alive to their interests
than the authorities of Liverpool, have made a stand
against the clauses to which we have referred ; and
the voice of the people of Liverpool should not be
wanting to aid in an effort for their defeat.

A return, containing some valuable statistical
details relating to the imports, exports, and con-
sumption of corn, grain, meal, and flour during the
year ended sth January, 1844, has just been pub-
lished, by order of the House of Common-, from
which we *extract the following statements, which
may be of interest to our readers :

I The total quantity of foreign wheat upon which
duty was paid for home consumption, from the sth
January, 1843, to the sth January, 1844, was,
according to this return, 843,739 quarters ; of
British colonial wheat, (under the Act sth Victoria,
cap. 14,) 12,406 qrs.; and of Canadian wheat, (under
the new duty of ls. per qr.,) 12,412 qrs. The latter
amount must not be regarded as furnishing a crite-
rion for our future trade with our North American
possessions, as the reduction of duty to ls. only came
into operation last autumn.
The total quantity of foreign wheat and wheat
flour imported during this period was 948,309 qrs.,
and of colonial, 119,239 qrs.; against which the
exports were 71,236 qrs. The quantities of other
foreign grain imported were as follows, viz., barley,
178,686 qrs. ; oats and oatmeal, 84,597 qrs.; rye
and ryemeal, 4,872 qrs.; peas, 39,668 qrs.; and
beans, 47,999 qrs.

The amount of duty received during the above
period, upon the various descriptions, was, for
foreign, £601,172 ; for British colonial, £2532; and
for Canadian, £620 ;—in all £604,324 this year,
against £1,093,340 during 1842. Thus, in these
two years, or rather from the passing of the Corn
Bill on the 29th of April, 1842, a revenue has been
derived from foreign grain of £1,694,512, averaging
£847,256 per annum.

The rate of duty during 1843, was, from January
to the end of July, 20s. ; in August and September
it fluctuated between 18s. and 14s. ; and in October,
November, and December it was 19s. to 20s. The
average rate paid throughout the year may be stated
at 14s. 3d. The largest quantity of foreign wheat
was entered in the month of September, viz., 600,846
qrs. in one week, at a duty of 15s. per qr. ; 46,396
qrs. were entered in the same month at 17s. per
qr., and 40,501 at 18s. Under the old Corn Law,
the greater part of the foreign wheat and flour im-
ported was thrown upon the market in the month
of September, at a duty of ls. only, the preceding
two months being employed by speculators in cre-
ating an artificial scarcity, in order to raise the
averages to the necessary height. During both the
years in which the new law has been in operation,
such attempts have failed. In 1842, the lowest
duty attained was Bs., and last year 14s. Thus a
large revenue has been gained from an article
which previously contributed little, whilst the supply
has not been diminished below the wants of con-
sumers; and attempts to extort extraordinarily high
prices have been checked by the gradual operation
of the scale. The highest monthly average price of
wheat in England and Wales last year, was 595. 7d.,
and the lowest 465. 2d., showing a difference be-
tween the two extremes of 13s. sd. per qr. The
real fluctuation, however, of the price of the whole
quantity consumed through the year has not ex-
ceeded a few shillings per quarter.
The total quantity of foreign and colonial wheat
and wheat flour in warehouse, at the end of De-
cember, 1843, amounted to 220,743 qrs.
The views of th• advocates of protection, as to
the low rates of freight at which foreign wheat can
be imported into Great Britain, are fully borne out
by this return. The largest wheat-importing coun-
tries to this kingdom during the past year have been
Prussia, (which has furnished two-thirds of the
whole,) Germany, Russia, Denmark, and the North
American colonies. This fact, also, in great part,
determines the question, whether, under any corn
law, the United States of America are able to con-
tend with the corn-growing countries of Northern
Europe, as we have been told by the Cobden and
Thornely school of politicians they would be. Under
what has, in effect, been almost a fixed duty, the
United States have furnished a mere fraction of our
supply.

We are told again and again by flippant "libe-
ralism" how mach of the wrongs and grievances of
Ireland is inflicted by the establishment of the Pro-
testant Church in that country ; but we much
question if it has ever entered into the heads of such
declaimers, to enquire to what extent the real
grievances,—the wretchedness and ghastly poverty
of the Irish people—are to be attributed to the exac-
tions of the Romish priesthood themselves, and the
pressure of that voluntary system (!) which is held
up to us as the perfection of human wisdom and
human justice. We have luckily at hand the means
of enlightening our English readers with respect to
the working of Popish voluntaryism in Ireland, its
intolerable pressure upon the poor Roman Catholic
population, and the cormorant avarice of those to
maintain whose usurped dignities it is employed.
The authority, from which we take our informa-
tion, is a letter which has just been addressed by a
Roman Catholic clergymen, through the medium of
a leading Irish Conservative journal, to his co-
religionists, complaining of the course which has
been taken by the Romish hierarchy in Ireland, in
rejecting, without any concurrence, or even consul-
tation, with the body of the priesthood, the proposed,
or at least mooted, Government provision in lieu of
the present system. The letter, we may premise,
was refused insertion in the Liberal papers. The
writer maintains that the great bulk of the Romish
clergy would gladly accept such state provision, or
any provision which would free them from the
rapacity of their superiors ; and he proceeds to show
the interested motives by which, on the part of the
bishops, such refusal has been prompted, by the
fact that "no ministry, however profligate of the
means of the slate, could dream of allowing them, for
the maintenance of their episcopal dignity," more
than they at present exact from the people ! We
give the heads of these exactions, as laid down by
the writer—remember, reader, a Roman Catholic

priest.
" 1. In the first instance, they must be paid 5s 6d. for
every pauper who marries in their diocese; and, no mat-
ter whether the parish priest, in the conscientious discharge
of the power vested in himself, marries a couple gratis,
seeing often that, unless he does so, the parties would live
in public sin, to the great injury of religion; yet the
parish pries. must account to the bishop for every mar-
riage, and pay him for every marriage, wheih••r rich or
poor. Should the parties be in good circumstances, the
bishops insist on a proportionate share of the marriage
fees."

A pretty large slice this of the charge for coupling the
males and females of an almost pauper population.
But proceed to No. 2.
"2. For dispensations in the prohibited degrees of
kindred both in consanguinity and affinity. According
to the proximity or remoteness of the relationship, bishops
get from £3 to £5, according to the state in li'e and na-
ture of the circumstances of the contracting parties."
Sad want of a Luther here

" 3. Bi,hops select and set apart two or three of the
best par shea in their dioceses ti:r their own u-e, which,
in ecclesiastic,! parlance, are designated as nit-nsal
parishes, that is, to enable those dighitares to support

their establishments and sustain the pomp of their high
stations in the church."

I-Lppy must be the condition of these " mensal
parish?s," whose inhabitants are bled and blistered
under the immediate eye, and for the benefit of, the
chief spiritual physicians.
" 4. Bishops get from £3 to £6 for every altar in.every
parish under their spiritual controul, and the money is
c.illed praxis money.' 5. Along with getting so much
from the parish priests, they also must get from one to
two guineas from every curate, according to the supposed
means of his curacy. 6. Bishops get from every clergy-
man whom they may appoint to a parish or parish priest
thirty or forty guineas, or more, according to the nature
of the benefice to which the clergyman may have been
collated. This is called collation money, according to
our language, and is the same as the money the tenants
give for the leases of their houses and farms. 7. In some
parts of Ireland it is the practice for every clergyman to
pay £1 or lOs for the bishop's servant. Thus it is noto-
rious that the servant only gets a small salary out of that
fund ; but the remainier goes, of course, to maintain the
dignity of the mitre ! 8. Bishops, in fine, have and take
to themselves the annual Christmas and Easter collec-
tions made at their mensal chapels, and do not allow their
curates or administrators one shilling of it to support
themselves."

A goodly collection of profitable items are here,
which our " Roman Catholic cl ergyman" instruct
us how to sum up—thus : . .

" There are in every diocese, arch and suffragan, with
very few exceptions—such as Galway, Kilmacduagh, and
Killala—at least sixty or seventy parishes, and every
parish produces at an average 100 marriages. Every
parish has three or four altars—the annual average num-
ber of vacancies may vary from ten to sixteen. Now, let
the marriage fees, the fees for kindred, the praxis money
for every altar, the collection charges, the receipts of the
mensal parishes, the nominal servants' collection, the
curates' episcopal dues—let all this money be added to-
gether, and the public will be able to say that the bishops
are right to oppose with all their power any state provi-
sion for the Irish hierarchy."
We will endeavour to make the calculation for
our communicative friend in our best arithmetic.
Here it is.

YEARLY REVENUE OF AN IRISH BISHOP.

60 parishes, averaging 100 marriages
each, at ss. 6d. per marriage £1650 0 0
Say " praxis money," for 60 parishes
with 3 altars each, at £4 each 720 0 0
Ditto from curates, at £l. 10s. each 270 0 0
12 vacancies per annum, collection
money—or quere, bribe ?—from each
fortunate candidate, 30 guineas 378 0 0
Bishop's servants, say 60 parishes with
3 altars, at ss. each

Ascertainable regular income of each

" titular," therefore £3063 0 0
A sum considerably more than he would receive as
his share of any government provision ; and this,
too, well paid, for each bishop receives his money
all in a bulk at the several visitations from the seve-
ral parish priests, or from the " vicars foreign,"
generally appointed in the several deaneries to dis-
pense in " bans" and collect the episcopal fees.
Three thousand and odd pounds per annum of
regular income for each of the bishops under a
" voluntary system ;" and this with the items taken
at the lowest estimate. The highest would give us
four thousand, at least. And then add the proceeds
of the two or three mensal parishes—the best in the
various districts—and which may fairly be put down
at seven or eight hundred per annum ; the feelofor
dispensations, which we have no data for estimating;
and other miscellaneous and casual sources of epis-
copal income ; and without doubt it will be seen
that an Irish Roman Catholic bishop is a much
better paid personage than the world has generally
imagined he could he in a country so miserably poor
We cannot at this moment remember how many of
them there are drawing at this rate directly from the
packets of the Irish people; but it is clear that their
exactions constitute no small amount of the moving
cause of the poverty and privation endured by
that people.
And now let us see, from the same authority—
who can be contradicted if he has spoken more than
the truth—how their reverences, th • priestood, con-
tinue to maintain themselves in good case. We
quote verbatim from the writer :
"1. In the first place, parish priests charge every
householder, rich and poor, 2s. 2d. a-year as their confes-
sion dues, and a day is set apart for every village twice a
year, at Christmas and Easter, to receive the people's
confessions, and to collect the s. 2d. from every head of
a family. 2. It is also a matter of course, whether rich
or poor, to have a good dinner and breakfast, with plenty
of whiskey, for the clergy and their clerks on that day.
3. The parish priests charge 2s. 6. for every baptism. 4.
parish priests get £1 10s. or £2 for every marriage they
perform, and, if they have not the cash, they are allowed
to cohabit in sin until they make it out ! 5. The parish
priests make collections at every wedding; and (6) at
every funeral, and insist on the relatives contributing very
largely on those occasions. No notice is taken of any
person, nor is any respect shown for him, who does not
pay 2s. 6d. or ss. at the plate collections ! 7. They make
large collections at their chapels at Christmas and Easter,
and read out from their altars the names of all who con-
tribute, and non-contributors also. 8. They collect corn
from every village in their parish, and in some parts they
oblige their curates to gather it for them without any
thanks. If we add together the 2s. 2d. station money,
the 25.6 d. baptism fee, the marriage money, the collections
at funerals and weddings, the offerings at chapels at
Christmas and Easter, the result of the • borane scouring,'
—if all this be reduced to one item, it will appear that
they will join the bishops in opinion, and say that a state
provision would be a great evil. It would be a sore one
to them, and hence their maxim is, nihil innovetur.

Beautiful voluntaryism this ! Wretched people
who are condemned to groan under its exactions !
Profound philosophy which imagines that a flock of
cortnorants, thus battening upon the flesh and blood
and prosperity of Ireland, would leave their hold of
even so attenuated and exhausted a subject to grasp
at the poor offering of a State provision !

THE FUNDS OF SATERDAY NI GHT.—Consols were
done at par to-day, bat only for an amount under £l,OOO
stock, and it is not supposed that any large sum could
have been done at that price. After that bargain the
quotation fell to 994, sellers, and so remained until the
close of the market at 2 o'clock. In other respects Eng-
lish securities exhibited little variation. and values were
in most instances much the same as those current on
Thursday last. Bank Stock was quoted this afternoon,
this being the first day of private transfer, 1981 to 199 ex.
div.; Three per Cents. Reduced, 99 to lex div.; Three-
and-a-half per Cents. Reduced, 102} to 4ex div. ; Long
Annuities, 12 7-16 to 4 ex div.; India Bonds, 88 to 90
premium ; and Exchequer-bills, 72 to 74 premium. The
Foreign Stocks were steady, without any great increase
of business, and the house was thinly attended in conse-
quence of the Easter holydays. Spanish Five per Cents.
left off 264 to # ; Portuguese, 46 to 47 ; Peruvian, 304 to
to 314 ; Mexican, 36* to 47 ; the Deferred, 161 tot ;
Dutch Two-and-a-half per Cents., 614. to ; the Five per
Cents. 1001 to # ; Danish, 864 to 874; Colombian, 15f
to 3 ; Chilian, 102 to 104 ; Brazilian, 80 to 81; Belgian,
104 to 105 ; Buenos Ayres, 37 to 38.
RAILWAY DOINGS.—As spring opens upon us, the va-
rious railways are beginning to get their blood in circula-
tion. and to all appearances the traffic on the leading trunk
lines seems likely to prove much greater than has ever
yet been seen since the first establishment of the railway
system. The month of April seems to open most auspi-
ciously for them, and we notice a general improvement in
all the trunk lines, and in some of those, hitherto regarded
as uncertain, and to which the public have been indiffer-
ent, there is a very marked improvement. The South
Eastern and Dover may, perhaps, be mentioned as the
most remarkable in this latter respect, and, according to
the traffic returns, is making rapid strides. Its receipts
for the week, ending Friday las', reached the sum of
£3,581, which is an improvement of nearly £l,OOO on
the week preceding, and exceeds by nearly £l,OOO that of
the London and Brighton for the same period. One thing
greatly in favour of the Dover Railway's prospects, is,
that it has only just been opened, and, even yet the Brick-
layers' Arms branch, which must add greatly to its reve-
nue, is not completed. These Improvements in railway
receipts must give them increased recommendation to
public notice as the best and most certain investment for
capital. We see by the American papers that our Ame-
rican friends are beginning to get vastly inclined toward
railway investments. All kinds of American Sta'e Stocks
had fallen in price, varying from 1 to 5 and 6 per cent. ;
railways on the contrary were daily progressing, and the
rise was even greater in proportion than the fall in other
securities.

ROBBERY AND SPEEDY APPREHENSION OF THE
THIEVES.—On Sunday afternoon police-constable Ste-
venson, No. 522, had his suspicions excited by three
equivocal-looking fellows in Richmond-street. He ques-
tioned them, and not being satisfied with the account they
gave of themselves, he removed them to Bridewell. On
being searched a silver castor was found in one of their
porkets, and on consulting the police notice of alarm, it
was discovered that the house of Mr. Higgins, Hope"
street, had been entered and robbed half an hour betore.
On further inquiry another of the thieves has been appre-
hended. They were all brotight before Mr. Rushton i n
Monday, who committed them to take their trial at the
sessions.

NISI PRIUS COURT.-YESTERDAY.

GOSLIN v. BIDDER.—This case was resumed at the
sitting of the court this morning, and several witnesses
were examined ti prove that the money had been lent,
arid tnat the plaintiff and defendant were on terms of close
intimacy. At the close of the plaintiff's case,
Mr. KNOWLES addressed the jury for the defendant,
contending that the latter was not indebted to the plaintiff
to the extent of a single shilling—that he could have bor-
rowed money from his relatives if he wanted any, and that
the plaintiff was not in such circumstances as that he
could afford to lend the large sum of £1,300 in the short
space of 12 or 18 months.
Witnesses were then examined for the defence ; after
which,
Mr. WATSON replied.
His LORDSHIP, in summing up, said that although this
was a claim for £1,370, no evidence had been offered to
an extent exceeding £BOO, and £3O for rent. The main
question in the case was, whether the evidence given in
favor of the plaintiff to show that at four different times
sums of money to the amount of £BOO had bt en lent, was
evidence upon which the jury could safely rely. He
thought juries were quite warranted in saying that they
would always require pretty conclusive evidence in order
to justify them in finding for the plaintiff when a case of
this description, without the ordinary vouchers and docu-
ments, were not forthcoming, and where oral testimony
alone had to be relied on. The four loans said to have
been made came in order of date in this way. The plain-
tiff said he lent the first sum of £l2O at Christmas, 1840 ;
£l5O in April, '4l; £490 in August, '4l ; and £4O in
December, '4l ; making altogether £BOO.
The jury retired, and, after an absence from Court for
20 minutes, returned a verdict for the plaintiff for £B3O.

OLIVZRSON AND ANOTHER V. BRIGHTMAN AND
OTHERS.
This, which was a special jury case, was called on at
6 o'clock. Only one of the special jury (Mr. Robertson)
answered ; and in consequence his lordship directed that
the absent jurors should be fined in the sum of £2O each.
A. tales was accordingly prayed for, and the case was tried
by a common jury.
Mr. Knowles, Mr. Wortley, Mr. Martin, and Mr.
Tomlinson, appeared for the plaintiffs; and Mr. Fitzroy
Kelly, Mr. Dundas, Mr. Watson, and Mr. Crompton, for
the defendants.

The action was brought against the General Maritime
Insurance Company. for the recovery of the amount of a
policy of insurance effected on part of the cargo of the
Penang, which left Liverpool for China, in November,
Mr. KNOWLES stated the case. He said this was an
action in which the plaintiffs sought to recover the sum
of £3,000, being the amount of loss upon a policy of in-
surance effected with the defendants, who were the repre-
sentatives of the General Maritime Insurance Company.
To the terms of the policy he would call particular atten-
tion bye and bye, at present he would only say that the
policy bad been effected on a cargo of goods, shipped on
board a vessel called the Penang, which sailed from this
port for China, in November, 1840. The Penang was a
Liverpool vessel, and the property of gentlemen resident
here ; but the cargo, which was a very valuable one, was
the property of different mercantile houses in this coun-
try. and among others, Messrs. Garnett and Horsfall, of
Clitheroe, had a part, and they were in reality the plain.
tiffs in the present action, the nominal plaintffs being
brokers. The cargo amounted to between £BO,OOO to
£90,000 in value ; and when the Penang sailed in Novem-
ber, 1840, her port of destination was altogether uncer-
tain, as the jury would be satisfied when they heard the
evidence in the case. No doubt the vessel would have
made Canton, if Canton had been open at the time; but
it would be seen that the state of relations between this
country and China, were at the time such, that no depen-
dence could be placed on any existing peace, and that
there was no knowing what port in China was open.
Those matters were now recorded in history ; for
some years uncertain relations existed ; trade was in-
terrupted ; and all the openings to Canton had been
seized by the Chinese government ; and though there
was talk of a treaty it was found that the Chinese had no
disposition to concede, and that Mr. Elliott, the British
representative there, had not either the power or the in-
clination to force the Chinese to a concession. It, there-
fore, became a matter of importance to all who were send-
ing out cargoes to China to take care and see in their po-
licies that all contingencies were provided against. Shortly
before the sailing of the Penang, it was ascertained that
there was a prospect of more amicable arrangement—that
the opium, he believed, had been given up and the hos-
tages restored ; but, beyond that, all was uncertainty, and
nobody was aware as to the state in which things would
be found when the vessel arrived. Before the sailing of
the Penang, the plaintiffs insured their goods with the de-
fendants ; and he would now call attention to the terms
of the policy, for the policy itself helped to explain the
case very much. The learned counsel here read the terms
of the policy, and proceeded to say that it was impossible
to draw up a policy in more general terms, or to invent
one that was more likely to give general protection to the
cargo, as the risk was to continue upon the goods until
the same should be discharged and safely landed. Under
those circumstances, the Penang sailed ; in the bay
of Biscay she encountered some bad weather, but
no material havoc ; but when off the Cape of Good
Hope she was attacked by a violent storm, which
did her considerable injury. One of the yards fell upon
her deck; it stove in some of the deck-planks; and in
consequence of the vessel being on her beam-ends for a
considerable time in stormy weather, the water got ad-
mitted into the aperture made by the stoving in of the
deck ; and of course considerable injury was done to the
cargo. The captain did all he could under the circum-
stances ; he had lost his masts, but got up what were called
"jury masts," and made the best of his way to Singa-
pore, where be arrived on the 13th of April ; and there he
consulted parties as to the length of time it would require
completely to refit the ship and continue his voyage. He
was told that in three weeks or a month the whole of the
repairs might be finished; and this determined him, not
to unship the goods and to examine the damage done to
the cargo, but rather to proceed as fast as be could to
China, where the examination might with greater ease
and safety take place. Had he examined the cargo at
Singapore, it would have been necessary to unsh p the
whole of it, to incur considerable expense in getting it
into warehouses, and also to incur considerable delay ;
and little doubt would exist in the end that the cap.
tain exercised a very wise discretion in determining
not to unship the cargo there, but to get the repairs
done, and to put off the work of examination until he
arrived in China. Accordingly the repairs were done ;
this took up a much longer time than was contem-
plated ; and it was not until about the Bth of June, when
all the repairs being finished, the Penang sailed to Macao ;
but, in the meantime, the captain had communicated with
the parties in China to whom the cargo was consigned.
The bulk of it was consigned to M`Viccar and Co., an ex-
tensive house, having establishments there, at Calcutta,
and also at Bombay. Their resident partner was a Mr.
Byrn; and to him the captain wrote, informing him of
the accident, telling him that beyond doubt the cargo had
sustained damage, and poneing out the necessity of having
meetly examination at the first opportunity. One of the
partners, Mr. Fisher, had been at Singapore while the
vessel was there ; and tnerefore he also would have ac-
culled and communicated information on the subject.
The Penang reached Macao on the 22d of June. M r.Byrn
was there; and so far from affairs in China having as-
sumed a more favorable appearance at the time, they
were even more unsettled. About a month before, Can-
ton bad been stormed by the British forces; a treaty had
taken place, but a treaty which the Chinese were show-
ing every disposition to avoid; they were repairing their
forts on the river; Mr. Elliot bad issued a procla-
mation advising all the British residents to leave the
place; and accordingly Mr. Byrn lett Canton, and
when the vessel arrived be was residing at Macao.
SO soon as Mr. Byrn saw the captain, the accident to the
cargo came under consideration ; but it was impos-ible to
land the goods at Macao, which was nominally a Portu-
guese settlement, but, in point of fact, entirely under the
dominion of the Chinese. It was connected with the man.
land, and it was dependant for its supplies of fresh provi-
sions on the Chinese. It would, therefore, have been an
act of imprudence to land ; and it was equally impossible
to go to Canton, for no prudent man would have sent goods
to Canton at the time. But it was necessary immediately
to examine the cargo, because, if damage were done, it
was every day increasing ; and accordingly Mr. Byrn
took the resolution, which was best for all parties,—that
of sending the Penang to Hong Kong, to tranship the
goods and examine the cargo there. At that fime Hong
Kong was the only harbour to which vessels could go
with any safety. It was a good harbour, partially sur-
rounded by the land, protected from the winds, and al.
ways supposed a secure place ; and, in point of fact, all
the British vessels wet e then lying there—the vessels of
war as well as trading vessels, to the amount of 200 sail.
Having taken this resolution, and having a vessel called
the James Lang. both her and the Penang sailed fir Hong
Kong on the 27th of June. The Penang came to an
anchor in that harbour ; the James Lang was lashed to
her; and without loss of time the examination of the
cargo was commenced. It was found necessary to take
the whole. of the cargo out. At that time the James
Lang had on board 500 chests of tea, which it was the in-
tention of M`Viccar and Co. to send to Europe; and with
the view of supplying the want of ballast, those chests
were put on board the Penang, and the cargo of the latter
was transhipped to the James Lang, When the cargo
had been the most part discharged, and the damaged bales
separated from the rest, and only about 200 bales remained
in the Penang, an occurrence took place, to which he bad
now to call particular attention. The Penang began to
discharge on the sth of July, and on the 20th there was a
storm called the typhoon. On the 21st it was apparent
that this storm would speedily be in active operation ;
and accordingly the James Lang cast herself off from
the Penang, and dropped anchor a short distance off, but,
by the force of the storm, which was one of unparalleled
violence, she was driven on an island, where she was
shattered to pieces, and where the greatest part of the
cargo had been lost. Unfortunately, there wis on b.iard
her the part of the cargo shipped by the plaintiffs, and
upon which they had effected the insurance. Means were
t,
ken to collect the cargo, and altogether that part of it
which was recovered amounted to £1129 14s. 21d. The
insurance with the defendants was foi £4,000 ; and by
deducting the sum saved from the amount of the policy,
there would remain a balance of £2Bio ss. 91(1., which,
with the addition of about £2OO or £3OO of interest,
would be the amount of the verdict they sought to reco-
ver. The defendants had pleaded three pleas. The two
first might be treated pretty nearly as the same ; and the
third was that the James Laing was unseaworthy when
, the goods were placed on board her. He believed that
his learned friend (Mr. Kelly) would not rely neon the
third plea, because he was in a position to show that she
was seaworthy. The first plea was, that the goods were
not lost in the manner alleged during the continuance of
the risk ; and this would give rise to the question. whe-
ther, the risk was at that time determined ? he
second plea was in substance the same as the first -
namely, that The goods were landed at the port o

destination before the loss ; and these two pleas would
raise the question which would be ultim 'rely sub-
mitted to the jury, and upon which they would hive to
say, whether, under these pleas, the goods had been land, d
at their final port of destination at the time the loss took
place? He contended, that it was perteetiv idle to say
any port of destination had been reached. The object of
the policy was to enable the parties to take their goods to
any port in China—any port where the goods might be
disposed of. All was doubt when they left ; there was no
certainty as to what part they should go ; the intention
was, to send them to some port where they might be dis-
posed of; and it was pefectly idle to talk of Hong Kong
as a place where the parties sending the goods even con-
templated that the goods should stay. There were no
warehouses at Hong Kong ; if there had been, it would
have made no difference, because, under circumstances,
they would be just as much under the protection of the
policy in a warehouse as they were when on board the
Penang. The only part, where a sale could then be
expected, was the port of Canton ; and that was not
open. Attention had since been turned to the more
eastern ports ; but, in 1840, Canton was the only place
where a market could be expected for goods. Hong
Kong was not such a place ; in point of fact the great
motive for going to the latter place at all was, the ne-
cessity which existed for having the cargo examined ; and
therefore the goods were under the protection of the
policy when lost in the James Laing. Mr. Knowles con-
cluded by pointing attention to three period; from which
the interest might be calculated, and by stating that inas-
much as the defendants had thought fit to send a commis-
sioner to China, they had delayed the tr al of the cause,
so that the parties in favor of the plaintiffs, who were
present on a former occasion, were necessarily absent
now.

HIS LORDSHIP thought the real point involved in the
case was this—with what intention the transhipment had
taken place at Hong Kong ?
Mr. KELLY said, not exactly, as the intention of the
parties might admit of doubt. The question would be
this, whether, assuming all his learned friend bad stated,
the goods were landed with the intention of waiting until
the hostilities should be at an end,—whether that was
not, in point of law, a determination of the voyage? He
contended that it was.

His LORDSHIP thought the questions would be—what
was the intention of the parties in the act they did at
Hong Kong ?—and next, whether the policy_ had been de-
termined by that act ?
Mr. KELLY said that when the intention was once be-
fore the court, on which, he believed, he should not raise
any doubt, the following question would arise :—as-
suming that the goods were transhipped under the cir-
cumstances with that intention, did that, in point of law,
determine the voyage or not ?
His LORDSHIP.—The only question for the jury is, what
was the intention ?

Mr. KELLY.—Suppose there be a question of intention,
that would be the question, but I don't think there will
be any.

The evidence of Hugh Cumming, the captain of the
Penang, and that of Thomas H. Pritchard, the captain of
the James Laing, having been read, the court adjourned
at twenty minutes past eight o'clock.

LIVERPOOL CHORAL SOCIETY'S CONCERT,

On Tuesday evening last, this deserving society favored
us with a performance, for the first time in Liverpool, of
Handel's fine oratorio of " Deborah." The Music-ball
was crowded on the occasion—inconveniently crowded—
by a highly respectable audience. The orchestra and
chorus, which were very extensive and complete, contain-
ing upwards of 150 performers, were conducted by Mr.
G. Holden, Mr. J. Richardson presiding at the organ.
The opening " double chorus" was excellently given,
as indeed were the ehorusses throughout, which are fine
compositions. The recitative which followed Miss Leach
seemed a little at fault; but recovered herself in the duet
with Mrs. Armstrong, and throughout the rest of the
evening carried her audience completely with her. We
understand that, with a liberality most creditable to her,
the services of this young lady—and most valuable they
are—are given on these occasions gratuitously. The chorus
"Oh blast with thy tremendous brow," was grand, both
in composition and execution, and was deservedly encored.
Mrs. Armstrong sang the recitative and air which fol-
lowed, very chastely and prettily.
In the opening recitative of the second scene, Miss
Holden seemed to us to be a little off the key, and of
course embarrassed a little Miss Leach, who followed her.
In the other pieces allotted to her, however, this young
lady acquitted herself most satisfactorily. A fine air in
the second scene, " Awake the ardour of thy breast,"
was beautifully sung by Mr. Armstrong, whose fine deep
voice was displayed in it with great advantage. The cho-
rus in the same scene was finely executed, and even finer
still the chorus in the next, " Despair all around them."
Indeed this may be called one of the best choruses in the
oratorio ; that of " See the proud chief" being the other
competitor for the palm of excellence.
Mr. G. Holden, jun., we presume a son of the able
leader, sang a recitative very neatly; and, Miss Holden
appeared to great advantage in a recitative and air, but
was too much drowned by the orchestra. Indeed we may
remark upon this as the prevailing fault of the instru-
mental performers. There seems to prevail amongst each
of these gentlemen an excessive ambition to be heard above
his fellow,—fiddle vieiug in loudness with clarionet, and
double bass scraping to overpower trombone. As the
result of this contest of strength, the airs throughout were
sadly marred ' • and, unless in the case of powerful singers,
almost lost. It would be far better if a selected portion
only of the instruments played in accompaniments.
The whole performance went off extremely well, and
was throughout loudly applauded.

LICENSED VICTUALLERS.—A metnorialemanating from
the committee of the Licensed Victuallers' Association,
of this town, and having attached to it the bona fide sig-
natures of 1,050 members of the trade, complaining of
the partial operation of the window-tax, as levied upon
them, was, last week, forwarded to Lord Sandon for pre-
sentation at the Treasury. The Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer in his reply states that " the innkeepers and li-
censed victuallers of Liverpool appear to be in error as
to the extent of exemption granted to other tradespeople.
The window in the bar-room of a publican, if used solely
for the sale of their goods, and not for the entertainment
of guests, is considered as a shop window, and there does
not appear to the Chancellor of the Exchequer any reason
for. extending to these parties any further exemption."
Mr. Wainwright in enclosing this reply expresses the sin-
cere regret of Lord Sandon and Sir Howard Douglas
that the Chancellor of the Exchequer should have found
himself called upon to come to so unfavourable a deci-
sion.
LIVERPOOL SHIPWRIGHTS.—Under this heading the
Albion, of yesterday, contains a paragraph, furnished, no
doubt, by some anonymous scribbhq-, (for we take it for
granted that our contemporary would not deliberately in-
vent,) to the effect that the agents of the mail steamer
Britannia, " being extremely anxious that her repairs
should be completed without delay, wished the carpenters
to work on Good Friday, to which those individuals had
no objection provided they received double pay ;" and
proceeded to found upon this alleged fact various charges
of blindness to their own interests, obstinacy, political
bias, &c. against this body of men; their chief offence,
however. consisting in their refusal to consent to " a rect•
sonable reduction (!) of wages." Of course with the ques-
tion of what are reasonable wages and what are not,—
whether or not ss. a-day is more than a fair puke for the
labour of a hard-working and skilful carpenter, we have
nothing to do. Our business is with this Good Friday's
fact, which we are enabled distinctly to state is grossly
untrue. The agents for the Britannia never " wished the
carpenters to work on Good Friday." They only asked
them whether they intended to work and were answered
no. With respect to the latter portion of our contempo-
rary's half abusive and half wheedling paragraph, we can
assure hitn that the car enters of Liverpool are not the
men to mistake chaff for corn, chips and shavings fur so-
lid timber or the Albion's scribbler fora great philosopher.
MERCURIAL IMPUDENCE.—The following appeared in
the Mercury of Friday last, and was copied approvingly
into the Albion of yesterday. We give it for the sake of
shewing the extraordinary glee which these twin lumina-
ries exhibit whenever they imagine they have caught the
LIVERPOOL ST kNDARD tripping :
" NEW BUILDINGS IN LIVERPOOL.—Under this title
a very swaggering paragraph appeared in the tiny Tory of
Tuesday, containing exaggerated statements of the abun-
dance of employment here for all operatives connected
with building, while, in fact, though business is tolerably
brisk, numbers of men have just been dismissed for want
of sufficient work. If the statement should be copied
into papers of circulation and influence, considerable
mischief may be done to parties who may flock hither and
experience nothing but disappointment."
The truth of the statements in our " swaggering pare-
graph"—what, pray, is a " swaggering paragraph"?—we
are quite content to lease to the decision of the public on
our respective credits. We must, however, 'have a laugh
at the Mercury's crowing over his superior " circulation
and influence." as compared with our own. Happy man,
who has for his readers such a multitude of bricktnakers!
He should really wear his honours upon his face, and
" swagger" as
THE LIVERPOOL MERCURY ;
and _ . _

k
;fseoapeti.
sod.
u,i_lrr(nsesy,
treemeei:thado?aoeettitnulitruiseo.rd..,
ewrssutratlichp;)aepuoeobmaarrnl
ffecfdisho,tTreo,nai,trffptssuhecgpstreii,alt:f.
Brickmakers', Bricksetter7, and Hodmen's Chronicle.
THEf
VESTRY MEETING.—The announcement by Mr.
Urquhart, at the la:t meeting of the Select Vestry, that
that " would probably be the last time he should have an
opportunity of addressing them," must have fallen as
gratefully upon the ears of the members present as a
tshower t
aurpeodnateliiiesepaaercf htebdefta,ecee
occupant
t uegfuastd,
roarwsiielgen.
rcaeeumpoine
Lord-street or Castle-street. The " drurnly" sound of
the eloquence of the leeberal Mr.. Urquhart—the philoso-
tp,hmiiitrirgiionti'etgh.etaodbmeiar,eartoefl phhay;racball,eamaeo,rela,.nasnlidmianitaetlileenci
And, almost as blessed, to be spared the infliction of read-
ing, week utter week, the manufactured sp.eee.htheseßaneniwoddatherhesiest,
emti st rheep e seer netuarttia.t,n sw of the
reteh
ye
afraidesaatm Vestry
thatree individualiweeedm,
euarsntdtaehawebactko,
elausbm,d, columns
h
Rnebosaestdical faction
fromtheptuhbeli
witla their. own consent, to favour us with
vending
ut aobusrengcaea
radr,o itibrartatrhi sehy board. They
aTblhee ytearreetourriel y
eppueteti nags
oagnea,r,dreint lndeor;v7tlie,
,nirggem,o
going,
everys off
er e b Conservatives
Conservative friends
,A,aafrtl
,iielevenegrinsdi
sstali
art, oet.
like a thunder lap, when we are not in a state to defeat
eir
atthrilt:
s,
l the ieinigseti,utysta'eal
mtii
0174 Wituehesd:teeit.
succeed.
caereed .
L et straining
there
be ult.ind active THIS DAY ; to be in attendance and force
e
upine,
enneolvdeivtoissioencu_re
pull energetically it we would not have this Conservative
parish dragged through the mire of Radicalism.

DAYS.

Tuesday 9
Wednes. 1 •
Thurs... 11
Friday.. 12
Saturday 13
Sunday 14
Monday 15

TIDE TABLE.

MAN

E'er..
3 46
4 58
6 25
7 46
8 48
9 35
10 15

HSI a DTI HOLYDAYS, STC•

3 15
4 21
5 42
7 8
8 19
g 12
g 56

14 8 Jupiter risee 4h 4finl.
13 3 Mars sets 10h. 14M.
12 6
12 6 Venus sets lih 12n1 et.
13 4 Saturn rises 3h Om 03'
14 8 Ist Sunday after Easter
15 5 Easter Term begins•

- -
4EETINGS OF CREDITORS von LIVERPOOL`
APRIL. goer
10, Isaac Eck ersley, (Ist)

Is, Joseph Ridgwir,.(lst)

Ditto,

(audit)'
1122:.
Thomas(Proo mantdmcdrivo.v)e;
13, James Stuart, (proof and div.) Ditto, 0
1,, Michael Devine. (Ist) Ditto, jt
Ditto, 50
16. Ralph Lewis (2d)
SWeitihl (aFtnl i t cHransfkt anifid.
1167,, Henry James
v,_ilWilliam
B
mSproule,Jackson,
o
onj
,(
(anpuer
Jones,
(audit) )
f)
16, William Evans. (audit,
1$
16. (proof and div.) Ditto,itto'
:01
17, Samuel Ball, (Ist) Ditto, il
17, William Whitley
... ... Ditto, if
Ditto, 11
17, Edward Gibson, (Ist)
17, Donald Nicholson, (proof and div.) Ditto, 1
17, C. Humberston and Co. (proof and div ) Ditto, if
18, Thomas Maim, (2d, District Court, Manchester, II
19, Thomas Brewer, (3d)
9. David Rowlands. (proof and div.).... • Ditto,
19. eth Flitcroft and Thomas Musgrove, 10
(proof and final div.) Ditto, 1
19, John Molyneux Bird, (special) Mr. Kalel
_4

LIVERPOOL:
TUESDAY, APRIL 9, 1844.

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED
EVERY TUESDAY MORNING'

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