The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-05-23 00:00:00

power be reserved to her Majesty in Council to
withhold the privileges to be given by the bill from
any foreign countries who may refuse to accord
to us reciprocal advantages. This is sheer mockery.
There is not, we venture to say, a single maritime
country, whose trade is worth our notice, that will
be so insane as to throw away the opportunity of
participating in the vast trade which we throw open
to them. The foreigner is perfectly aware that our
competition cannot deprive him of half a dozen
cargoes a year.
And what is the pretext offered by ministers for this.
measure, and the evidence hywhich it is attempted to
be supported ? First, a portion of our colonists, dis-
gusted with their treatment by the home govern-
ment,
deprived of all the advantages formerly de-
rived from British connexion, claim to be relieved
from the burdens of such connexion. The claim
is reasonable enough, although we believe that it is
based upon much misunderstanding, and that the
irritated feeling which prompts it might be allayed
with ease. We have only to treat our colonies with
justice, and to legislate towards them in a paternal
spirit, to bind them to us once more as valuable ap-
panages of the British Crown. By this concession,
however, we strike away almost the last link of
connexion with us. With respect to British Ame-
rica, in particular, by opening the navigation of the
St. Lawrence to the shipping of the United States,
we prepare the way for its certain and voluntary
annexation by that republic, and should be acting
wisely, perhaps, if we were at once to withdraw our
viceroy and his staff, instead of allowing them to
wait until they are kicked out. Our West Indian
colonies, were they not already lost to us by our
previous injurious legislation towards them, have
now no British element left in them, except the
cruel mockery of a resident British governor-gene-
ral. Our other colonies are no longer colonies ex-
cept in name—except in the cost which we incur
for their maintenance and protection. We no
longer offer them an advantage over the foreign
producer in our markets, and we are now giving up
to the world the advantages which they have hith-
erto afforded us in return. _ _

It is urged also that we have lately been incon-
venienced by those provisions of our Navigation
Laws which prohibit the importation into this
country of foreign produce from a European port.
There was such inconvenience felt, we are aware ;
and a modification of that prohibition would not,
probably, have been objected to. But that this in-
convenience, arising from the operation of a portion
of the Navigation Laws, affords any warrant for
the destruction of the whole system we must deny.
Again, it is urged that we are threatened with reta-
liation by Prussia, and invited to concession on the
subject of these laws by the United States. It is
not certain now, however, that Prussia is likely soon
to be in a position to carry out her threat; and,
with respect to the American invitation, it is re-
garded by our astute brother himself as something
very like an attempt to coax a fool out of his house
and property. May we direct the reader's atten-
tion to the following letter, which we quote as per-
tinent to the subject, although it appeared in our
columns at the time ?

" Washington, Dec. 21, 1847.
" REPEAL OF THE NAVIGATION LAWS.—A corres
pondence has taken place between the British Secretary
for Foreign Affairs and our minister at that court, relative
to the repeal of the Navigation Laws of Great Britain.
Mr. Bancroft applied to Viscount Palmerston, early in
November, to learn whether ministers would consent to
establish with the United States a perfect system of reci-
procity, in making all vessels of either country fitting out
from any port in the world, free to trade to any port of the
other nation, whether home or colonial. Viscount Pal-
merston, after the lapse of some weeks, replied that,
although her Majesty's ministers did not feel at liberty to
advise her Majesty at once to make such a change in the
commercial system as was asked by Mr. Bancroft, with-
out the sanction of Parliament, yet, as soon as that body
should meet, a measure would be introduced which would
embrace all the views put forth by Mr. Bancroft in his
note. It is not doubted that Parliament will at once act
favourably on the bill. The importance to the United
States of such a measure cannot be exaggerated. The
British colonial system has been a most grievous restric-
tion upon our commerce, and its annihilation, as promised
by Viscount Palmerston, will open to our enterprising
merchants the lucrative trade of the East and West In-
dies, and of the other British settlements, from which
they have been hitherto debarred. This will be the great-
est stride yet taken by free trade, and it is not to be
doubted that all Europe will follow the example of Great
Britain. The liberal commercial treaty made by Hanover
with the United States has been, in no small measure,
instrumental in disposing the British Government to this
wise measure. The Rhine provinces have recently imi-
tated the example of Hanover towards the United States ;
*Pll..exervxbogesilPuk_Jlt..stgAsiiive.S.VirS WPOSoksgutCh-.
il The repeal by Great Britain of the laws restricting the
trade of the United States with her colonies will be far
more beneficial to this country than any commercial treaty
ever made by our Government."
Undoubtedly, a large slice of "the lucrative trade
of the East and West Indies and of the other Bri-
tish settlements" will suit our good brother very
well, especially as, having himself no colonies, he
has nothing to offer in return ; and heartily he will
laugh at stupid, old, doting John Bull, when Sa-
turday's mail from England reaches the United
States.
We referred in our last to the kind of statistical
evidence which had been got up at the Board of
Trade, and produced in the committee of last ses-
sion upon this question, and which we predicted
would be made use of to influence the decision of
Parliament. It has so been used ; not, however,
without being pretty well blown upon ; and we
find also that great stress was laid by Mr. Labou-
chere upon the other evidence brought before the
same committee, which, it will be remembered,
made no report, and broke up without hearing the
counter-evidence of the shipping interest. Let us
see who the witnesses for the repeal of the Navi-
gation Laws were. We quote from Mr. Young's
able letter on the subject :
" By the party hostile to British Navigation were sum-
moned 24 witnesses, consisting of the two secretaries and
the director of the statistical department of the Board of
Trade, all distinguished advocates of free trade; one col-
lector of customs in London ; another collector of cus-
toms in Turk's Island; one gentleman who described
himself as having been a merchant resident at different
times in almost every part of the habitable globe, but who
was merely the managing clerk of an Australian house ;
another of extensive mercantile experience connected with
a commercial firm, but who, when asked whether he was
a partner, replied, ' I do not sign the firm ;'—a Bremen
merchant ; a Swedish merchant, the Vice Consul, but who
thought it necessary to protest against the authority of the
committee; a calico and flax spinner, who turning mer-
chant, found it unprofitable and had retired ;—an owner
of copper mines in South America, who had been resident
there for twenty years ;—one South American merchant,
chiefly conversant with the trade in copper ores ;—a
smelter of copper ores, at Swansea, eager, for the benefit
of the people of England, that free trade should triumph
in the importatidn of the ore as well as the metal in cheap
foreign ships for smelting in Wales, but jealous to the last
degree of the consumers having the benefit of separating
the metal from the dross at the mouth of the mine, and
being spared the expense of the conveyance of the worth-
less dross across the ocean ;—a merchant of Hamburgh ;
a manager of a public company established for the sale of
lands in South Australia ;—A Canary Island merchant
engaged in the importation of cochineal ;—one merchant
resident in India ;—a German barrister ;—an American
-captain ;—four gentlemen unconnected with commerce,
who were examined only on incidental points arising in
the inquiry ;—and though last not least, one naval officer
of unquestionable respectability, hut having scanty claims
to rank as an authority, specially selected from his known
crotchetty opinions as to manning the navy, on which it
may well be doubted whether any single naval officer of
established naval reputation could be found to concur with
him. Not a single head of any mercantile house of emi-
nence in London, Liverpool, or Glasgow was called to sus-
tain the grievous allegations of injury to British commerce
from the operation of the Navigation Laws ; not a single
admiral, lord of the Admiralty, or individual 'of station,
experience, or authority, to prove that merchant sailors
were unnecessary for manning her Majesty's navy, which
astounding and novel declaration is left to the unsupported
testimony of Captain Sir James Stirling alone !"
What confidence can be placed in the representa-
tions of such a set of witnesses upon a question of
such vast importance? Little indeed; and, from
the indecent haste with which the bill is to be
pushed through parliament, whilst a committee of
inquiry is sitting in the Lords, we are led to sus-
pect strongly that ministers are afraid that their
whole case will be blown to the winds by that com-
mittee's report. We have however exceeded our
space, and shall probably have time to recur again
to the subject.

THE question is at length pressing urgently upon
us—are her Majesty's Whig Ministers fit to be en-
trusted with the conduct of the affairs of this great
nation at a crisis like the present ? We see around
us, on every side, the elements of social disorder
and of danger. Europe is convulsed to its centre ;
and, in Italy and Germany, actual warfare is going
on. In republican France, during the past week,
the commencement of a reign of terror—a reign of
the gullotine and the assassin's knife—has only
been averted by
a miracle, and for a time. The vol-
cano only slumbers, ready to burst forth at any
moment, and to desolate half the civilized world.
We have a vast colonial empire,
.e, in a large portion
of which the seeds of alienation have been sown,
and the plant has already sprung up—a colonial

empire which fatal and destructive legislation is
fast ruining ;—and, at home, we have Ireland, dis-
tracted with seditious agitation, and ready to plunge
headlong into a bloody and exterminating rebellion.
We have our own labouring masses idle, starving,
and imbibing the pernicious lessons of the dema-
gogue; manufactures prostrate, commerce almost
suspended, credit and confidence lost, and bank-
ruptcy and insolvency striking down, day by day,
the proudest, and lately esteemed most stable, struc-
tures of commercial greatness; and the considera-
tion is forced upon us—have we, at the helm of the
State, men capable of bearing us safely through
difficulties so vast, so complicated, so full of dan-
ger ? There can be but one answer—" No." How-
ever much we may differ as to the pilot to be chosen,
the captain to command, and the crew to work the
noble vessel safely out of the breakers upon which
she is drifting, the opinion is well nigh universal
that the Ministry of Lord John Russell are not the
men. Their intellectual proportions are those of
pigmies, when compared with the gigantic propor-
tions of the work which has to be done. They are
the inhabitants of a new Lilliput, straining at a
frail cord, to right and launch into deep water a
stranded three-decker.
We are not prepared to deny to Lord John and
his colleagues the possession of a certain sort of
cleverness. They can look the dignified, and mouthe
and gesticulate with all the energy of men in
earnest. They can worry and sting, like gnats on
a sultry day ; but the world resolutely refuses to
believe in them. They have no weight, no prestige,
no influence. Brawling treason laughs in their
faces and wriggles out of their grasp. The autho-
rity of the law in their hands is only a rush to
restrain an elephant ; a hair sieve to dam up a tor-
rent. They sit complacently watching the growing
storm, until it is ready to burst upon the land, and
then pelt it with protocols and law papers. They
are apt at poking their fingers into every body
else's business; are oracularly wise as to how,other
Governments should deal with passing events; are
fertile in advice, and not over modest as to the par-
ties to whom it is offered ; but here their capabilities
end. As a Government they are powerless for
good. The suffering masses look not to them for
relief; the merchant dreads their interference with
his affairs ; the active intellect of the country scoffs
at their feebleness and their petty selfishness; the
demagogue defies them, and the foreigner despises
them, whilst he endeavours to wile from them con-
cession after concession, fatal to the best interests
of the country, over whose affairs, unfortunately,
they hold, temporarily, a controlling power.
Thus far, with the spectacle of their utter imbe-
cility before us, we have tolerated these men. The
Conservative feeling of the nation has been shaken
by past betrayals; and not knowing in whomto place
confidence, or to adopt as its exponents and cham-
pions, party spirit has been in abeyance. The time
has arrived when this forbearance and lethargy
must be thrown off, if the-country is to be saved from
anarchy. Not satisfied with seeing their efforts to
repress sedition and to punish traitors in Ireland
frustrated; not satisfied with the spectacle around
them of prostrate commerce and almost universal
suffering amongst the trading classes ; not satisfied
with having earned the contempt both of friends
and opponents, her Majesty's ministers, that at least
it may be said that they are doing something for
their salaries, have just started the vessel of state
down hill, without a lock on the wheel to prevent
it from being dashed to pieces at the bottom.
Their boasted system of free trade has not produced
its expected results, It has been fertile only in
confusion and commercial distress; and its un-
happy authors, without the moral courage to con-
fess their error, or the wisdom required to trace the
source of the existing evil and to remove it, are
about to add to it by the sacrifice of one of the
last elemenrs of our national greatness, which their
rash hands have left hitherto not hopelessly da-
maged. They have sacrificed already at the shrine
of cheapness, and at the cry of a selfish avarice, the
native agriculture of Great Britain ; made bankrupt
her colonies ; ruined her merchants and beggared
her artisans ; and, at the same bidding, they are
about to throw away her maritime supremacy. and
to make a concluding holocaust of her shipowners,
her shipbuilders, her carpenters, and her merchant
seamen.
Nor is this the worst feature of the crisis which
r_\
is approaching us. Already we see the commence-
ment of a formidable agitation which has for its•
object extensive changes in the machinery of the
the late Anti-Corn Law League are again in the
field; and openly threaten to strip the Crown itself
of its splendour and its prestige. Chartism defunct,.
an able and equally unscrupulous set of leaders are
exerting themselves to spread dissatisfaction among
the masses, and to mislead them from inquiry into
the real causes of their present fallen condition, by
directing their attention to extension of the suffrage,
vote by ballot, electoral districts, and other specu-
lative and theoretical reforms, (?) whose achieve-
ment to-morrow would have no more influence in
raising them out of the deep abyss of suffering, into
which they have been plunged, than. a- painted loaf
would have in allaying the cravings of their hunger.
And this agitation will grow and must grow; for
drowning men catch at straws, and starving men
are the materials upon which demagogues ope-
rate most readily, and out of which revolutions
spring. We must give the working man employ-
ment and food, or he will become desperate and
dangerous.
The only hope for England in the present crisis
is the prompt formation of a powerful constitutional
party in Parliament, and throughout the kingdom ;
a party which will not be deterred by the sneers of
shallow sophists, or the jabbering of conceited politi-
cal economists, from raising the old watchwords of
" ships, colonies, and commerce," and re-opening
the question of protection to native industry.
There is nothing quixotic in such an effort. There
is a broad basis on which to raise such a con-
stitutional structure amongst those very working
masses whom, by our lethargy, we are abandoning
in their sufferings, and handing over to the delud-
ing and treacherous councils of a party which has
ever been their worst enemy. The trading and
middle classes—the great strength of the town
constituencies—and the loyal yeomanry of the
country, to a man, would be with us. These
classes have felt where the spur goads them. They
have watched the growth of the bubble—Free
Trade—and its bursting. They have seen one
powerful interest after another sacrificed—handed
over to the foreigner—to prop up a griping manu-
facturing interest, and to enable the capitalist to
swell his hoards ; and if calmly and resolutely
appealed to as intelligent men, capable of under-
standing their own interest, and of weighing the
hard dry facts of their position, divested of the
empty jargon in which our politico-philosophers
seek to conceal them, we do not fear but that
they will come nobly to the rescue.
Let us not be mistaken, however. We do not
seek to fall back into reliance upon what is termed
" the old country party'—the men of acres and
game laws, petty sessions, and union bastiles.
These men have been too long the mere blind fol-
lowers of the prestige of great names; the led
horses of astute and designing statesmen. We
must have men who have gone a little way with
the spirit of the age, who have eyes and use them,
who have experience, judgment, and discretion to
guide them in unravelling the tangled cords in
which we have permitted the industry of the nation
to be bound down. We want men of intelligence
and honesty,; men who can use the pruning knife
as well as prop the tree : above all, men who will
not convert politics into a trade for the advance-
menf of their own selfish interests. Such men
there are to he found amongst our mercantile
bodies, amongst the members of our aristocracy,
and even amongst the more humble trading classes.
We want no regularly apprenticed statesmen—no
political prigs, who have hung on the skirts of
party, and chattered and toadied until the world
has taken it for granted that there is something in
them. Our confidence should he placed only in
known and tried men, whose ranks we ought to
endeavour to recruit from amongst the intelligence
and worth of the nation, irrespective of the tradi-
tionary claims of birth or of past party connexion.
Nor shall we meet with any insurmountable
difficulty in finding leaders for a party thus
strengthened and, above all, united in a firm de-
termination to do justice and to exercise their com-
mon sense, irrespective of theory and philosophy.
There are gems still in the mine as bright and pure
as any which have been drawn out ; and great
emergencies seldom fail to bring forward command-
ing minds. The able subaltern of a skirmishing
party is overlooked, although he display the talent
and bravery which make the general into a hero.
The humble clerk, toiling at his desk, is often the
achiever of the wealth which makes his employer

millionaire. Let the constitutional spirit of the
nation be once stirred up ; let petty differences
amongst conservatives be got rid of, and a power-
ful and united party be formed in the country and
in parliament; and we shall see ample statesmanlike
ability developed, which has hitherto been only
feebly displayed in desultory and abortive skirmishes,
or totally obscured by the destructive nepotism of
great and recognized party leaders. Give to such
a party in parliament a commanding influence, in
the support which they receive from the voice of
public opinion out of doors, and its members will
speak and act with a ten-fold confidence, and the
nation may yet be preserved from the dangers with
which it is at present menaced.

THE LIVERPOOL FINANCIAL REFORM ASS°.
CIATION.-LETTER OF LORD KINNAIRD.

The Liverpool Association continues to increase, and
derervedly so, in the number of its members, and its pe-
cuniary means. Without reference to party it takes up
the great cause of reducing and equalizing the general
taxation of the country, which has, from popular apathy been
swelling out, even in time of peace, to a weight and mag-
nitude that absolutely crushes the enterprise and energy
of every class, and especially of the commercial and the
working community. Our merchants and traders have
prepared a memorial to the Mayor, requesting him to call
a public meeting, to petition parliament for a general re-
vision and retrenchment of taxation ; and it is understood
that he is prepared to comply,—so that we may expect a
legitimate monster" gathering on this all-important
and absorbing subject. The example will, we doubt not,
be followed in all great and even moderately sized towns,
if not indeed in villages, for all are sufferers in proportion.
The salaries of Government officials must be reduced ;
all sinecures must be abolished; pensions unmerited
withdrawn, and others reduced to merited proportions.
Connected with this subject it is pleasing to find that
some of the nobles of the land are wisely, for their own
sakes, taking part with the people. Lord Kinnaird has
addressed a long letter to Mr. A. H. Wylie, upon the 13-.)-
sect of the association alluded to. His Lordship, who
has ever had commerce and the rights of industry at
heart, does not go the full length aimed at by the associ-
ation, but he admits the accuracy of many of the princi-
ples sought to be brought into play, and expresses
opinions with firmness and candour. He addresses him-
segf to the four objects in view, and first to " a general
retrenchment of national expenditure." On this point
he states that only about twenty-one millions of the re-
venue can be touched, and he questions the policy of any
large reduction of our forces in the present disturbed state
of Europe. He anticipates much, however, from the en-
quiry now entered into by the parliamentary committee.
He does not think the navy can be materially reduced,
but that there is no necessity for so large a standing army.
With respect to our colonies, we ought when they received
the twenty millions compensation, to have made a proviso
that it should be devoted to improvements there, and not
encourage the recepients to a baneful dependance on the
mother country. He thinks great retrenchment' may be
effected' in our diplomatic arrangements, and trusts' we
shall cease to intermeddle too much with the politics of
other countries. On the second head, the assessed taxes,
he thinks that many articles are of luxury and fairly tax-
able, but a- fairly-apportioned house tax would be a-good
substitute for window and other assessed taxes. He does
not believe the abolition of the malt tax would be bene-
ficial to any-class. The revision of the whole excise and
customs' taxes are, he conceives, well worthy of attention.
On the other two heads—that taxes are imposts that in-
terfere with industry and should betransferred to direct tax-
ation, and " the equitable apportionment of all needful
taxation" his lordship to a great sxtent:coneurs with the
association. The property and income tax should be
more equitably proportioned. The loss on the tea duties
would be fully compensated for by the additional con-
sumption of sugar. The navigation laws required
amendment, also the restrictive clauses in the Bank-
Act of 1844. His lordship concludes by saying :
" I hope your association will keep clear of the question
of reform in the representation, although it requires very
extensive alteration and extension; yet the two questions
are quite distinct, as, even in its present defective state,
the decided expression of the country's opinion in favour
or against a measure, cannot remain long unheeded."

COMMERCIAL. CRISIS.-UNFOUNDED

RUMOURS.

At a time like the present, when the commercial world
is but just recovering from a season of disaster and suffer-
ing, it is lamentable to find that there are among us
thoughtless people, whose idle tattle is continually pro-
ducing renewed distrust;. and pointing at, or insinuating,
the names of fresh victims, often without the slightest
ground beyond their own senseless conclusions. There
can obviously be no security for commercial men—no
revival of commercial activity—no confidence amongst
capitalists—so long as such wanton practices are in-
dulged in.
We know, however, that it is difficult to put a stop to
them. From the press, however, we ought to expect
better things; and, although generally, want of circum-
spection as to the promulgation of reports of an unfa-
vourable character, affecting individual houses, cannot
with truth be alleged against our contemporaries, instances
deviation from this wise and proper course do occasion-
cOntemporary last week, in.wl;ich a firm -wap-51;ifetf fat;
by name, as having suspended ; and although, as it hap-
pens, the firm in question no longer exists, the report
was calculated to do serious injury upon the house which
has succeeded to its business. Of course the report was
promptly contradicted. In a Manchester paper, the Ex-
aminer of Saturday week, we find an instance of a diffe-
rent kind in the following paragraph : "We have
information from Liverpool, this evening, of rather an
unpleasant character. Rumours have been prevalent
there, during the day, with reference to parties whose
affairs are understood to be in such a position as to render
a public announcement of difficulties not improbable
within a few hours. We refrain, in the meantime, from
mentioning." No names are mentioned here, certainly,
although our contemporary, affecting a great degree of
credit for concealing them, intimates that the names are
in his possession ; but the paragraph is, on that very
account, only calculated to produce the more extensive
distrust. It is not one house, definitely pointed out,
which is in difficulties, but more than one ; and every
Manchester manufacturer, who has business transactions
in. Liverpool, is left to surmise whether one or more of
the particular houses, in whose stability he is interested,
may be the tottering houses in question. Our contempo-
rary must by this time be convinced that he has been
misinformed.

'Loral P.M:I9.

The connection between the new North Docks and the
Leeds and Liverpool Canal is now completed.
On Wednesday, as James Halsall, a carter, was walk-
ing at the top of Seacombe Slip, he fell down dead, in a
fit of apoplexy, the result of natural causes.
Fort Anne Hotel, so beautifully situated at the entrance
of Douglas harbour, and commanding an almost unri-
valled prospect, has been taken by parties from Liverpool,
and will be opened immediately as an hotel.
Mr. Brown, Sir Thomas Birch, and Mr. Cardwell, with
a deputation from the Liverpool Operative Porters, had
an interview with the Right Hon. H. Labouchere, ors
Tuesday, at the office of the Board of Trade.
On Tuesday Margaret Johnson died from the effects of
poison taken whilst she was in a desponding mood, in
consequence of her husband having left her, his circum-
stances being in a disordered state.
Dr. Reynolds has been compelled to vacate the premises
in Leeds-street, which he occupied as a dealer in pikes,
&c. The sale of the articles had been latterly extremely
languid.
WOOLTON FLOWER Scow.—The first of these inter-
esting exhibitions for the season will take place on Thurs-
day. A splendid display of the products of the garden
and conservatory is expected.
It is stated that the Theatre-Royal will open on the 10th
of July next, under the management of Mr. Simpson, with
the new play of " The Wife's Secret," in which Mr. ana
Mrs. Kean will act the principal parts.
The railway from Southport to Waterloo will be opened
on the Ist of July, and passengers can then go from Li-
verpool to Southport, including the omnibus stage, in
one hour.
The packet-ship Tuscarora was discharged, in the
Waterloo Dock, in the short space of thirty-five working
hours, by Messrs. Brown, Shipley, and Co.'s men. Her
cargo consisted of 10,700 packages.
The magistrates have lately been investigating certain
charges against Mr. E. R. Highton, Governor of the
Borough Gaol, and the result is that Mr. Highton has
been allowed to send in his resignation. This he did on
Tuesday.
On Tuesday last, Mr. Cardwell entertained Sir Thos.
Birch, M.P., Mr. J. Bramley-Moore, Mr. Ambrose Lace,
Mr. Wm. Mann, Mr. Wm. Cubitt, and several other
gentlemen engaged in parliamentary business connected
with the local bills now pending, at his mansion in
Whitehall-gardens.
COLLISION ON THE MERSEY.—FLAMBEAU V. WIRRAL.
—The trial in this case, which arose out of a collision
between the above-named steamers on the Mersey a short
time since, in which the Flambeau went down, was settled
on Tuesday by the Lords of the Admiralty, who gave their
decision in favour of the Flambeau.
SUSPENSION OF A BANKRUPT'S CERTIFICATE.—At
the Court of Bankruptcy, on Tuesday, Mr. Sergeant
Ludlow suspended for six months granting a certificate
to Richard Taylor, a bankrupt, who had given a warrant
of attorney to one of his creditors, thereby giving a pre-
ference over the rest of his creditors.
FIRE.—On Wednesday a fire broke out in the building
shed of Mr. Pendleton, Joiner and builder, Whitfield-
street, Toxteth-park, and though every effort was used by
the neighbours to extinguish it, scarcely a vestige of the
place remained in three-quarters of an hour. In addition
to the destruction of the shed and other property, the
woodwork complete for nine houses was consumed.
WOMAN DROWNED.—About half-past two o'clock on
Saturday afternoon a middle-aged woman, named Betsy
Davies, who kept a stall in the Fish Market, in Great
Charlotte-street, leaped from one of the Birkenhead ferry
steamers into the river. The tide was receding at the
time, and she was rapidly drifted down. Two boats were
put off to the rescue, but she soon sank to rise no more.
SALES OF WOOL.—We are informed that the public
sales of East India wool held here on the 18th instant,
brought a large attendance of buyers ; the competition was
spirited throughout, and the whole was disposed of at
prices fully equal, and in some instances higher, than re-
cent sales made by private treaty, which is a complete
contradiction of reports that appeared in:several of our
contemporaries.

In the Court of Bankruptcy, on Friday, Messrs. Henry
and William Davies, the extensive sharebrokers, passed
their final examination, to which there was no opposition,
after a complimentary allusion by Mr. Sergeant Ludlow
to their clear and intelligible balance sheet.
FATAL FALLS.—In March, 1847, a man named Peter
Murray was engaged in taking down a sign in Burroughs-
gardens, when he fell off the ladder. He was taken up
insensible, and was never able to follow his employment.
He died on Monday.—On Saturday week an old man
named John Evans, living in a court in Smithfield-street,
slipped down whilst going up the court and broke his
thigh, from the effects of which he did next day.
TAKING POISON BY ACCIDENT.—Last week a poor old
woman who earned her livelihood by cleaning offices,
found a small parcel under the fire-grate in one of the
offices which she was in the habit of cleaning, and suppo-
sing the contents were Epsom Salts she took them home
and swallowed them as a dose of medicine. It °unfortu-
nately happened that the contents of the paper were oxalic
acid, and not Epsom salts, and the consequence was, that
the poor old creature was poisoned. The paper in which
the oxalic acid was wrapped was marked " Poison," but
it appears the old woman could not read.
THE REV. DR. M'Neren.—Last Sunday, 14th instant,
the Rev. Dr. M'Neile, of Liverpool, preached two ser-
mons in this town in the morning, at Trinity Church, and
in the evening at Great St. Mary's. The sermon in the
evening was a continuation of that in the morning ; both
were preached from the 15th chapter of Ist epistle to the
Corinthians, that in the morning from part of the 4th
verse—" And that he rose again on the third day, accord-
ing to the scriptures ;" that in the evening from part of
the 55th verse —" 0 grave, where is thy victory ?"
Crowded congregations attended to hear this eminent
preacher.— Cambridge Chronicle.
MRS. PARKE'S LAST GRAND CLUB SUBSCRIPTION.—
W e once more beg to call the attention of our readers to
the distribution of this spendid property, which is posi-
tively fixed to take place at Exeter-hall on the 29th inst.
As:we before-mentioned, this scheme will be the final dis-
posal of the celebrated Bowyer Gallery, and containing
as it does, some of the most superb works of art in this
country, cannot fail to attract the attention of those who
lay any claim to refined taste. The tickets are one
guinea, for which the subscriber has a chance of an allot-
ment of the value of one guinea and a-half up to 3,100
guineas. There are several pictorial cabinets, of the
value of one, two, and three hundred pounds. Immedi-
ate application for shares should be made to the agents,
whose names appear in the first column of our front page.
THE NEW tANDING-STAGE.—At the meeting of the
Dock Committee the chairman stated that as a wish had
be3n expressed by the committee that the landing-stage
should remain where it now is, and not be removed further
to the north, he had had several interviews- with Mr.
Cubitt on the subject, and the result was, that Mr. Cu-
bitt considered it might remain where it was, seeing that
there were now three places for the bridges. He said if
the committee passed a resolution authorizing him to
moor the landing-stage at the south end, he would do so,
and undertake that the stage could be removed at any
time at a day's notice to the northern point, and without
the expense and trouble of taking the bridges of the
stage. After some conversation, the chairman was re-
quested to write to Mr. Cabitt, with the view of obtaining
his opinion in writing.
NEW HOISTING Powers.—A machine, of a very singu-
lar construction, invented by Mr. W. G. Armstrong, of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, has; within the last few days, been
put in operation at the Albert Dock, for the purpose of
raising goods from the quay into the warehouses above.
The moving power is the pressure of the water supplied
from the mains of the Green-lane water-works, and, by
the action of this power, nearly two tons of goods can be
hoisted up on a sliding stage in a few seconds to the
highest floor of the building. The engine works with
great precision and delicacy, both in lifting and lowering,
and its movements are very easily controlled. We per-
ceive, by a paragraph from the Newcastle Journal, that
an engine upon the same principle, but for a different
purpose, and more closely resembling a steam-engine,
has been recently put in operetion at Newcastle.
THE NEW CHURCH AT SEACOMBE.—The Reverend
Dr. Byrth, rector of Wallasey,. has circulated amongst
the subscribers towards the erection of St. Paul's Church,
Seacombe, a statement of the treasurer's account, and
tenders his cordial thanks for their generous liberality.
He says :—" The church container 450 sittings, one half of
which are entirely free ; and on the other portion a
moderate rent has been placed, upwards the minister's
stipend. The division of the pew is not only a numeri-
cal, but a real, equality. Those that are free are in
situation as advantageous, and in structure and appear-
ance as commodious and respectable, as those upon which
aecharge has been affixed. Thus only has it been at-
tempted to avoid all unnecessary distinction between the
worshippers in the house of God, where " the rich and
the-poor meet together;" but an approximation has been
made as far as possible, to the principle which seems in-
volved in the very idea of a National Church, namely,
that a place of worship should be provided, free of ex-
pense, for every member of the community. In the
present incumbent, the Rev. E. Roberts, the district
possesses an able and zealous minister of the Gospel of
Christ, and a no less devoted member of our Apostolical
Church." The list of subscriptionsurnounts to £3,114.
The sum of £lOOO has been invested as an endowment
fund, and stands as a Great Western bond. To meet the
sums now owing there is a deficiency of £157, and £25
has been subscribed for the erection of a spire, which it is
proposed to add to the church.
MR. HA'WKSLEY'S LETTER ON THE WATER QUES-
TION.—Mr. Hawksley has addressed a long letter to the
Journal, complainine of misrepresentations and inaccu-
ells own AriPQ in aTD'inagepter,?s-
- " hitherto made to ascertain the yield of the Li-
verpool wells, have not, he states, been completed, and
the permanent supply is not ascertained. Liverpool re-
quires—" 1. A peculiar supply for the extinction of fires.
—2. A supply for watering streets, flushing sewers,
cleansing courts, &c.-3. A supply for shipping.-4. A
supply for cranes and hoists.-5..i supply for public
baths and washhouses." He enters upon each of these
heads, showing the supply required for each ; the gross
total being 892,000 gallons per day for domestic use,
while he believed it was probable that only 300,000 could
be supplied for this purpose. The question at issue re-
lates not to the gross yield obtainable at any particular
period, and under temporary conditions, but to the avail-
able quantity permanently distributable to the inhabi-
tants at the time when their wants are the largest and
their resources the smallest." In a postscript the writer
says—" The discussions now going on relate to a differ-
ence of opinion as to the aggregate yield of six stations,
a difference amounting in the whole to only a few hun-
dred thousand gallons per day; although the ultimate
decision must have reference to a source from which it is
proposed to derive a supply of at least sixteen million
gallons per day—a quantity which, however apparently
large, is certainly not more than is due to the present
necessities and growing importance of the borough of
Liverpool. Manchester has taken powers to obtain a
supply of 30 million gallons per day ; Glasgow 22 millions,
and actually delivers 101 millions e Gorbals (a small por-
tion of Glasgow) 2e- millions ; Lambeth (half the size of
Liverpool) 7 millions; Bristol (one-third the size of Li-
verpool) 4 millions."
ROSCOE CLUB.—On Saturday, a special meeting of the
members was held at the Royal Institution, Colquitt-
street. Mr. H. R. Sandbach presided. Mr. Leighton,
the secretary, read a report from the Council, and from
this it appeared that there had been a falling off of the
members in the last quarter, ascribed to the deficiency of
accommodation, and that, from preliminary inquiries which
have been made, the council consider it most desirable that
the club shouldbel emoved to more suitable and corn modious
premises. The annual gross rent now paid amounts
to £270; some premises offered, in a more central situa-
tion, and which were in every way more convenient,
might be had for a rent not exceeding £350 per annum.
Removal, &c., was estimated to entail a cost of £6OO,
and this capital it was proposed to raise by the accept-
ance loans of £5, at ten per cent. interest, from
such of the members as might be disposed to ad-
vance that sum. The average number of members
for the last three quarters approaches to 700, but such
has been the decrease that there are not at present
more than 607. On the motion of Mr. Tinne, seconded
by Mr. J. R. Jeffery, it was resolved to remove, as early
as possible, to more eligible premises near the Exchange,
and to raise the required capital in the mode suggested.
The unpleasant fact transpired that the institution
had lost considerably by the coffee-room ; but it was
stated that effectual measures had recently been taken
to render the department self-supporting, and that,
what with the experience acquired, and the thorough
revision in the entire management, which was now
completed, the future prospects of the club were never
more hopeful. It being one of the principal reasons for the
projected removal, to secure the means of developing the
higher objectsior which the institution was raised, we sin-
cerely trust that the important class for whose benefit it was
established will, by giving it their strenuous support, pe-
cuniary and personal, do what in them lies to render it
capable of achieving its original design of increasing the
physical comforts, supplying the social wants, and above
all, forwarding the moral and intellectual improvement of
its members.
ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.—The opening pyrotechnic gala
at these favourite grounds came off on Thursday evening
last, and, though we regret the weather was notso favour-
able as might have been wished, the attendance was great,
and sufficiently marked with enthusiasm to give the scene
represented the character of " a decided bit." In a great
maritime port like Liverpool, where the influx of foreign-
ers—more particularly Americans—is to be taken as the
great addenda!to the patronage bestowed on public amuse-
ments, it requires some degree of judgment to select for
representation a subject suited to all. New York admir-
ably fills all requirements, not alone from the magnificence
of the city, but from the beauty of the panoramic scenery
with which it is surrounded. The view is taken from
near Chatham-street, and thus commands all the ancient
and picturesque portion of the city, the East River and
the Hudson, Long Island, Jersey, &c. In the painting
there is a distinctness of delineation and breadth of colour-
ing, with a judicious introduction of light and shade, but
the artist (Mr. Fenton) has been more peculiarly successful
in catching at one glance, without disturbing the general
effect, all the important buildings of the city. General
opinion,
which does much for ultimate success, pronounces
the painting excellent, while " Brother Jonathan,' being
more than delighted to point out to his European friends
each attractive feature, says much for the accuracy with
which it is pourtrayed. The pyrotechnic works by Mr.
J. Atkins, were, in colour and design, splendid. The
Gardens are now in excellent order, and the late refresh-
ing rains have given to vegetation additional beauty ; in-
deed, there is not out of London any resort more worthy
of a visit; and we think we will be borne out by the
public in awarding to the proprietors that meed of appro-
bation that is the dessert of spirited enterprise—and
wishing that the ensuing season, like those past, will
command that support that has prompted them to seek
rather public praise than pecuniary profit—to giee, with
increased patronage* increased attractions.