The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-12-29 00:00:00

Dec. 29, 1846.

A deputation of the merchants, shipowners, and others
interested in the salt-trade to India, waited on Sir John
Hobhonse on Thursday week. The object was to urge
the abolition of the power monopolised by the East India
Company to manufacture salt in India. A memorial to
this effect was read by Sir Denis Le Marchant ; and se-
veral gentlemen followed with addresses of the same pur-
port. Sir John Hobhouse promised to bring the subject
before the Cabinet. He could not, however, hold out any
immediate prospect that the East India Company would
surrender £1,300,000 of annual revenue. The India
Board, being a concurrent rather than a directly control-
ling power, could not issue peremptory instructions; but
everything should be done which the case would permit.
The East India Company had already sent a despatch to
the Indian Government on the subject ; but he was not
at liberty to disclose the nature of the communication.
BURGLARY AT BRADFORD.—Three brothers, all des-
perate characters, have for some time been carrying on a
system of robbery and plunder in and near Bradford, and
have at length been secured, while in the act of com-
mitting another depredation. The names of the prisoners
are Silvester, David, and William Petty. Yesterday
week, early in the morning, they were discovered in a
butchers' shop into which they had broken. The three
sons of the owner attacked them, and a desperate struggle
ensued. The thieves were, however, finally secured,
though they were strongly armed. There were found in
their possession lucifer matches, pick-locks, a hammer,
a blunderbuss, and nearly 100 skeleton keys, and a dark
lantern. In their houses an enormous quantity of stolen,
property was found. They have all "been committed for
trial at York assizes, on evidence of several daring
burglaries.

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week,. just as Stockton market was about to be opened,
a vehicle of a novel description, drawn by two horses,
was seen wending its course from the Yorkshire side of
the Tees towards the shambles. It attracted much at-
tention,. and, on close inspection, appeared to be a tub of
huge dimensions, which had been used for the purpose of
scalding pigs, and in which eight goodly sized grunters in
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re than he would have obtained the preceding
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DEFECTIVE MEANS OF EDUCATION.—The Rev.
Richard Burgess, B. D., hon. sec. to the London Dio-
cesan Board of Education, has published, in the form of a
pamphlet, a " Letter to the right hon. and right rev.
the Lord Bishop of London," on the want of means
for educating the middle classes in his lordship's diocese.
The importance of the rev. gentleman's suggestions may
be inferred from the fact that the bishop has offered to
contribute £5OO, and an annual subscription of £25
towards a fund for supplying the deficiency of education
in the metropolis. Mr. Burgess suggests the erection
of fifty schools, to contain 250 children each, which
will provide for a daily attendance of twelve thou-
sand five hundred ; but, taking into account the occa-
sional absences, one-fifth additional may be placed on the
register. In other words, the fifty schools contemplated
will bring fifteen thousand children under education. It
is calculated that the schools, with rooms for the resi-
dences of masters and mistresses built over them, may
be erected for an average sum of £BOO, exclusive of the
cost of sites and fittines.
THE ESQUIMAux.—The young stranger, yclept rookie
Ekie, brought to Kirkaldy some weeks ago by one of the
whale ships, has, since his sojourn in that town, not only
become an object of attraction to the community, but has
been taken under the special patronage of the gentry, who
have bestowed on him every kindness and attention.
They have metamorphosed his condition of life, from that
of a rude denzen of nature's wilderness to a smart look-
ing sprig of gentility, by having dressed him in a new suit
of fashionable :clothes. His savage dress of seal skin he
only resumes when invited to visit any of the baronial
seats in the neighbourhood, such as Raith, Dysart, Bal-
birnie, Wemyss Castle, where he has shown with what
dexterity be can use the bow and the spear, and, when
convenient, manage his canoe, which implements he al-
ways takes with him on such occasions. He seems a lad
about fourteen or fifteen years of age, stout made, broad
features, dark sharp eyes, 'jet black glossy hair, with a
little tinge of sallow in his complexion, and seems quite at
home. As he is apt to learn, it is to be hoped that the
experienced teacher under whose tuition he is placed will
use every endeavour to pour instruction into his untutored
mind. Capt. Kinnear, with whom he is domiciled,
pledged himself to his parents to take him home on his
return to the country next spring.
STAND AGAINST POPERY IN YORKSHIRE.—A Com-
mittee is in active operation in the West Riding with a
view to check the rapid advancement of popery. In the
circular which they have put forth they say—" The fact
forces itself upon our attention that the church of Rome
is at this season putting forth all her energies to prosely-
tise our people from the profession of Protestant truth.
On every hand, and by every means, her emissaries are
zealously employed in commending Romattism and de-
preciating the Reformed Faith as maintained by the
church of England. Her cathedrals and churches, her
colleges and schools, are rising amongst us throughout
the country, and the success which attends her efforts is
too manifest in the apostacy of many from the Protestant
church." They propose, by means of sermons, lectures,
meetings, &c., to call attention to the subject ; and adopt
the language of the late Bishop Barrington, namely :
"As Protestants, we are bound from the king to the
humblest of his subjects, by an imperious duty, to the
Reformation ; if the Reformation was worth establishing,
it is worth maintaining; and can only be maintained by a
mateet vigilance to support of those - principles which
effected it in the sixteenth century." The document is
signed by most respectable clergymen of Sheffield, Wake-
field, Barnsley, Doncaster, &c., who invite cooperation
in the cause.
A BANKRUPT COURT IN "A FIX."—On Tuesday
week the Newcastle Bankruptcy Court presented an ex-
traordinary scene throughout the day, being filled with
attorneys, debtors, creditors, &c., in momentary expec-
tation of the arrival of the Commissioner, who never
made his appearance. He resides near a station on the
Newcastle and Darlington Railway, and was unable to
come up, the road being blocked up by snow. From
time to time his honour was telegraphed from Gateshead
station, but no answer was returned. Meantime, in
anxious expectancy, creditors looked at bankrupts, as
much as to ask when a dividend would be paid ; and some
bankrupts seemed to ask creditors " if they would have
the dividend now, or wait till they got it ?" Expectant
assignees began to look " big ;" reporters forgot, or at
least confounded dinner with copy ? insolvents at last
smothered their grievances in a wish for a good dinner ;
defendants rejoiced to think they had been brought from
home to sit over a good fire, but wondered how they
would be paid for their atter,dance : attorneys wondered
how much they could charge for so long an attendance,
and if so, whether the estates or the commissioner were
liable; but one of their own number declared candidly,
that the snow being in legal phraseology " the act of God,"
barred the right to recover. Finally, all hope of his ho-
nour arriving having fled, the parties were fain to run
home, helter-skelter, to dinner.
EXTRAORDINARY SUPERSTITION AND SUICIDE.—
On Thursday, an inquest was held before Mr. Carter, one
of the coroners of Surrey, on the body of John Gruff, a
German and Dutch clockmaker, aged twenty-four, who
committed suicide under very peculiar circumstances.
It appeared that the deceased. who lived with another
young man, a countryman of his, named Ruff, in No. 17,
Cross-street, Newington, had last week complained of
slight illness, and on Saturday night he received some
grapes from a young woman who had been in the habit of
washing for him. On eating a part of the grapes he
fancied himself poisoned, and subsequently declared. that
the fruit had been charmed by the young woman, in order
to increase his affection for her. So strong was his belief,
that be got out of his bed on Sunday night, and went a
considerable distance to the residence of the young woman,
to request that she would revoke the charm. He re-
turned home more reconciled, and went to bed, but about
two o'clock he got up, exclaimed to his fellow-lodger
that 11:s time was come, that the devil had hold of him,
and he must destroy himself. Ruff, his fellow-lodger,
ran up stairs to request the assistance of his landlord, and
on both coming down, they found the deceased lying on
the floor, with a deep wound in his thro at, and a razor
tightly clenched in his right hand, and death rapidly
followed. A verdict of "Temporary insanity" was
returned.
LORD MORPETH ON STATE EDUCATION.—,The annual
meeting of the York and Ripon Diocesan Board of Edu-
cation was held on Tuesday, in that city; Lord Morpeth,
M.P., in the chair. Lord Wenlock, G. Hudson, Esq.,
(Lord Mayor of York,) the Bishop of Ripon, the Arch-
deacon of Cleveland, Archdeacon Wilberforce, and others.
took part in the proceedings. Lord Morpeth, in return-
ing thanks at the close of the prcceedibgs, said—Of
course, I feel that in this place, andon this occasion, it
will not be fitting in me to enter into any of those con-
troverted questions which have excited public attention of
late, to a considerable extent, and which may be made
the subject of discussion, and possibly of difference in the
legislature. I will not encounter the topic as to how
far the state ought to act—how far the state ought to
move—or how far the state ought to stand aloof, with
respect to the education of the people. I may, perhaps,
without incurring the imputation of great rashness, ven-
ture to conjecture that the fittest course to pursue would
be not that which is indicated by an extreme view of the
case. I think it certainly possible that the state may
meddle too much ; for, in dealing with such a question. as
in the case of the dinner which we are not to eat (re-
ferring to a dinner projected, but postponed in conse-
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and applause.) But I will certainly further venture to
say, that with respect to the country at large, I am not
satisfied with the exact state of things which prevails at
present. I think there is a call for more schools than we
have. I think there is a call for better schools than many
of those we have. (Hear.) I think that many of our
systems are still imperfect ; that many of our masters are
ill-qualified for the office, and almost all less well paid than
we should wish to see. (Applause.) And speaking here,
in the midst of this institution, and in this comely and
suitable building, in which 1 am now glad to see it housed,
I, for one, do not regret the assistance which has bees
conferred by the state, in addition to local contributions
and private munificence. But one thing, I think, is ab-
solutely clear, and in stating it I m.y challenge contra-
diction, that whatever the state may do—whether it
shall leave the work of education entirely alone, or whe-
ther it shall proceed so far as the most venturous inter-
ferers would wish,—it is quite plain that there would
still be much more left to he done—there would be still
much more which private effort, private superintendence,
private generosity, must always do the best, and will fre-
quently 00 the moat. (Applause.)