The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-04-16 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

"JUSTICE TO PUBLICAN3."—We are aFked if it can be justice
that, where an information is laid agezinst the keeper of a beer
shop of having had in his house at a quarter to one o'clock in
the morning about forty people, some of them in a state of
intoxication and the remainder drinking, the pun'slnent
should be a mere admonition to the offender, when a re-
spectable publican, for having sold a small quantity of spirit
after hours to a sick person, is fined five pounds. We should
say certainly not; but of course we speak without any fur-
ther knowledge of the circumstances of the two cases than
those given above, which, we are assured, however, are sub-
stantially correct.

We have received from John Crowther, Esq., of Birkenhead,
for the family of the late Rev. Mr. Bush.
We are compelled reluctantly to postpone until next week the
caustic letter of " An Observer."

Eiberpool &tanZarD.

TUESDAY 1110RAING, APRIL 16, 1844

The anti-Church faction of Liverpool have made
their long-threatened effort to obtrude themselves
into the management of our parish affairs; and they
have been defeated ignominously, as we anticipated,
and as they well merited. Despite of the energetic
earnestness with which they have worked,—despite
the long series of misrepresentations and slanderous
scurrilities with which, through the medium of their
press, they have sought to injure in the estimation
of their fellow townsmen the Conservative members
of the select vestry,—the result has proved that the
rate-payers of this parish appreciate thoroughly the
value of their pretensions to honesty, patriotism,
and superior wisdom, and have no longing for their
interference in our local affairs. The overwhelm-
ing majority, both of property and numbers, upon
the two days' poll, is quite sufficient proof of the
lamentably fallen condition of this once arrogant
and powerful faction. Alas, for Radicalism in Li-
verpool ! Its day has gone by. It is " USED UP !"
A condensed report of the proceedings at the
Vestry on Tuesday last, and of the subsequent pol-
ling, will be found in another column. If the
reader wishes for a more "full and particular" ver-
sion of the blackguardism by which the sacred edi-
fice, in which the law ordains that such meetings
shall be held, was desecrated, we must refer him to
the oracle by whom they were reported : we shall
not sully our pages by their repetition. We must,
however, offer a few words of comment upon some
circumstances connected with those proceedings,
which it is important should be brought prominently
before our readers and the public of Liverpool.
It may be said,—and no doubt will be said, that
the respectable portion of the Radicals present, in-
cluding such men as Mr. Hugh Hornby, are not to
he held responsible for the vulgarity with which
Messrs. Bigham, Urquhart, and others of the Radi-
cal and Infidel faction comported themselves towards
the respected rectors of our parish ; and to some
extent we are quite ready to admit the force of the
plea. Mr. Hugh Hornby, a gentleman by station
and in habits, could not perhaps be fairly deemed
guilty of sympathizing with the coarse tastes of the
Radical pawnbroker. To the former we may accord
the possession of some little respect for the sacred
character of a clergyman and the unimpeached
honour of a gentleman, or of reverence for the place
in which the meeting was held, whilst from the
latter we look for none of this. In his utilitarian
eye, accustomed to value objects according to the
security they afford, the mantle of the prophet
or the veil of the temple would apparently be of
no more account than a flannel petticoat or a cotton
shawl ; whilst the sacred edifice of the church is only
regarded as a preferable place for the holding of a
parish meeting, because it affords an-opportunity for
rabid dissent to trample upon its seats, and the
more deeply to hurt the feelings of churchmen and
of their clergy. Mr. Hornby, however, by his
proceedings on the occasion, —his moving of
one of the amendments, afforded quite sufficient
sanction to the coarsenesses of the Bigham and Ur-
quhart party to render him morally responsible for
their offensiveness and indecency. He might not
prompt the insolence used; he did league with the
authors of that insolence.

So much, then, for the manner and tone of this
assault of Dissent, infidelity, and vulgarity upon the
rectors and the Church of which they are the repre-
sentatives ; and now a few words with respect to
the alleged necessity of infusing Radical leaven into
the present vestry. We are informed by Mr. John
Smith that the members of that body are behind the
present age in intelligence; and that some of them
are "utterly incompetent to the discharge of their
important duties ;" and that gentleman insists that
they should be removed, on the grounds of " their
neglect of the education of the poor, their neglect of
the means of depanperizing the poor, and their neg-
lect of the workhouse, which was a scandal to the
town." Now we really do not know in what respect
the majority of the gentlemen now on the select ves-
try are so far behind Mr. Smith himself in intelli-
gence; and we utterly deny the assertion that they
have shewn any want of attention to the proper edu-
cation of the poor children under their care. They
may not, however, possess so many new lights upon
the stibject of education as some of our modern phi-
losophers. • They may never have discerned the ad-
vantages to be derived from converting pauper chil-
dren into parrots of the penny knowledge school.
They have never attempted to cram such children
with political economy, mathematics, or classics ;
but have confined themselves to the plain and com-
mon-sense duty of teaching them to read and write
their mother tongue, and to perform their duty to
God and to their neighbour. Such an education is
surely all that is required, if it is not also the best
that can be given.
But, the vestry neglect the means of "depau-
perizing the poor;" and, with every respect for Mr.
Smith's sagacity, and confident that he is not likely
to be guilty of the folly of using claptrap phrases,
which have no meaning, may we ask, what are those
means by which the poor are to be made to "cease
in the land ?" By what magic would he convert
paupers,—decrepit old men and women and helpless
children, into setf-supporting English men and wo-
men ? "Would he screw tighter the heartless severity
of the new poor law system ? Would he depopulate
our workhouse by driving its wretched and tortured
inmates to the highways and the ditches, and even to
death itself, as preferable to life in a Whicr-adminis-
tered pauper's prison ? Or what else would' he do ?
for to plain men, like ourselves, it appear a matter
very difficult of accomplishment by any body of se-
lect vestrymen, or any board of guardians, who, of
course, cannot legislate beyond their very confined
sphere of action, to depaupexize their poor by any
other method than that now pursued, of giving to
the young a useful, a practical, and a Christian edu-
cation, unless they resort to the very hopeful project
of compelling those poor to starve out of doors or
become felons !
We might, were the subject more worthy of no-
tice, bestow a few words upon the long tirade of

senseless and rabid abuse directed by M. Urquhart
against the present management of the affairs of the
parish, and especially against the rev. chairman of
the meeting,—the senior rector. The character of
Mr. Brooks, however, requires no vindication of
ours against such an assailant. A long life of virtue
and of usefulness devoted to the service of the peo-
ple of Liverpool, ought surely to protect that reve-
rend gentleman from the aspersions of an individual,
of whose mind it can scarcely be determined whether

ignorance or spiteful impudence is the prevailing
characteristic ; and it only appears therefore surpris-
ing that his insulting remarks could be uttered with-
out rebuke in the presence of any respectable portion
of the parishioners of Liverpool, whatever their poli-
tics or their sectarian leanings.
They have, however, been so uttered. The re-
volting scene of Tuesday was enacted in the presence
of respectable members of the Whig-radical party,
and the very calumnies and coarsenesses of the
speakers cheered by them ; and we are scarcely
sorry that the exhibition has been made. It is good

that-the world should see Whiggery in its true co-
lours,—how it can bring itself to consort with any
instrument, however contaminating, for the gratifi-
cation of its malignant hostility to the noblest insti-
tutions and the best interests of the country; and
as the result of Tuesday's proceedings, we do confi-
dently hope that it will be long,—very long,—before
an Urquhart, or any other prating utilitarian of his
class, will be permitted by the parishioners of Liver-
pool to foist himself upon the public service.

The " Great Free Trade Banquet," of which we
have had such puffiing► anticipations for the last few
weeks, took place on Friday last; and has fallen as
flatly upon the public as any effort of Whiggery we
ever remember in this town. Where were the
great men who were to have graced the boards upon
this occasion ? They were absent ; and with the
exception of the Right Hon. Fox Maule,—if by any
stretch of courtesy he can be called a"great man,"—
the speakers were the old and stale performers,—the
cobdens and the Brights, the men of calico and

twist, and the little lights of our own Anti-Monopoly
Association. We ought to beg.pardon, by the bye,
for an unintentional slight which we might be
imagined to convey here to a distinguished fellow-
townsman. William Ewart, the present M.P. for
the enlightened borough of Dumfries,—our own
William Ewart,—the rejected of Liverpool, Wigan,
Marylebone, and EVERY other constituency which
has twice had the task of pronouncing judgment
upon his merits, was present ; and made one of
those wishy-washy orations which only such a man
can make, and an assembly of Liverpool Radicals
can listen to.

We shall not trouble our readers with any re-
marks upon the sayings of these sages. They will,
of course, take the wings of the Radical press, and,
as quickly as their crippled condition will allow them,
go forth to the east and the west, the north and the
south, wherever soporifics are in demand. 'Pea-in-
spired dowagers will doze over them : mothers will
use them to still their restless offspring, fretful from
the pains of teething or the cholic. The only curi-
osity which we ourselves feel is with respect to. the
amount of the moneys which the exhibition hag
brought in to our anti-monopoly " young men."
Our worthy townsman, Mr. Lynn, we imagine,
would furnish the half-guinea feed so as to leave
the projectors a fair margin of profit, as we learn was
fully calculated upon and provided for
.; and the five
shilling tickets for the ladies,—ungallant " young
men," to charge ladies a farthing for such patient
endurance of the infliction of their speeches !—must
have left at least 4s. 9d. per head, reckoning the
cost of the edibles provided at the rates in the latest
price current from St. John's market.
On Saturday evening the same performers held
what they facetiously termed, an " Operative Free
Trade Party," at the same place—theAmphitheatre—
to which the working classes were invited to eat up
the scraps which had been left from the " Banquet,"
or the cold feed, which, upon the principle of locus
a non lucendo, was styled by that magnificent name.
To the credit of the working men of Liverpool, how-
ever, and as a proof that they possess discernment
enough to know that little that was worth picking
up, at the low price of Is. 6d, would be left, after
Radical appetites had been satisfied and pockets filled,
the attendance at this tea party was scarcely one man
to each teapot and plate of bunloaf, the number pre-
sent being about seventy, including the "young
men" of the Anti-Monopoly Association on the
platform, and fourteen ladies in the boxes ! This
little lot, accordingly, huddled themselves together,
and listened, mosuatiently, to an oration from John
Bright, Esq.,—ad other example of the /ucus a non
lucendd style of nomenclature,—which lasted, or
rather, was endured, for two mortal hours, in which
the honourable representative of the beer barrels of
the city of Durham discovered that he had said so
little that he could scarcely be persuaded that he had
held forth for more than half an hour !

The sapient quaker was followed by Mr. R. R. R.,
—we forget how many more Rs,—Moore, who in-
formed the meeting that it was through the work-
ing classes that the league expected to carry the
representation of Liverpool ;—the slender attendance
of those classes must have shewn him how hopeful
an expectation this was ;—and entreated the opera-
tive anti-monopolists not to be cast down by the
many defeats they had sustained, as he had attended
many meetings where tables and chairs had been
thrown at the speakers upon the platform, whose,
hard heads had stood the encounter. Mr. Black-
burne followed Mr. Moore ; and the speakers hav-
ing failed to produce much light, the farce concluded
with,—what does the reader imagine ? Why, a
discharge of fireworks ! Ex fumo dare lucem !

THE FUNDS, SATURDAY NIGHT.—The market for
English stocks to-day was steady, without particular
feature, and prices left off tolerably well supported, not-
withstanding the house closed early. Bank Stock was
last quoted 200 to 201 ; Consols for money and the ac-
count, ma to s ; Three per Cents. Reduced, 99j to a ex
div. ; Three-and-a
-Half per Cents. Reduced, 103 k to a-;
New Three-and-a-Half per Cents, 104 to k; Long An-
nuities, 12, 7-16; and India Stock, 294 to 295.

A MALAPROPOS CRITIQUE.--Our contemporary, the
Albion, gave yesterday a notice of a musical entertain-
ment given by H. Phillips, the celebrated vocalist, in the
large room of the Adeiphi Hotel, on Saturday last, and
which the writer of course must be supposed to have at-
tended. Unfortunately, however, for his correctness,
although he might be present, the entertainment did not
take place, having been postponed until last evening.
People who are so amazingly clever as to write critiques
by anticipation, should take care that the performances
eulogised have not dropped through.
AMAZING INFLUENCE OF THE LIVERPOOLMERCURY.
—Our contemporary of Friday, in an article upon the
subject of the Easter Elections, which, as being, in his
opinion, very wise, he headed " IMPORTANT," remarked
that if " two hundred of his readers " would come up to
the poll at once, they would be sufficient to neutralise the
majority which the conservatives had gained up to Thurs-
day afternoon. But alas for the influence of the " tiny
Mercury" ! Notwithstanding the fact that the paing
in question had been mainly caused by " John Smith,
Esq., of the Liverpool Mercury," as be pompously styles
himself in his own paper, how many of the " two hundred
of our readers " obeyed the summons of our magnificent
contemporary before the closing of the poll on the follow-
ing day ? .Just ONE!! Yes—and it is creditable to the
intellect of his fellow-townsmen—one individual only was
found within the borough of Liverpool stupid enough to
follow the blind leading of this pothouse oracle, whose
ravings upon any subject are as far beneath contempt as
any modern impersonation of a Roman senator is inferior
to the genuine ancient character, or the dressed-up goose
of a pantomime is beneath the meanest of the geese of the
Capitoline Hill, whose fortuitous cackling saved Rome
from the invader.

CHRIST CHURCH, LIVERPOOL.—On Friday evening
last, the members of this congregation met together at a
tea-party in the school-rooms, Christian-street. Nut-
withstanding the unfavourable state of the weather, there
was a numerous and highly-respectable attendance, and
the arrangements made by the managing committee of
ladies, assisted by the master of the boys' school, were
the theme of general admiration. The fine upper school-
room glittered with flags, and garlands of rich evergreens,
and baskets of fruits and flowers ; appropriate mottoes
adorned the walls, and two small tables of fancy-work,
contributed by ladies for the benefit of the schools, drew
around them a throng of willing purchasers. The Rev.
Fielding Ould being unavoidably absent from Liverpool,
a large portrait of him (recently, presented by the congre-
gation) was placed over the fire-place; while on one of
the side tables stood a beautiful time-piece, a memorial
from the teachers of the girls' school to their valued minis-
ter. Soon after six o'clock grace was sung by the whole
party, and the social meal went on, enlivened by the sound
of music, and the busy hum of animated voices. After
singing a concluding grace, the Rev. E. Wolfenden read
a report upon the large adult school under his care, and
drew attention to the wants of tbe fund connected with it,
for the relief of sick members. Reports were also made
by the Rev. T. C. Cowan on the state of the Christ
Church tract society, district visiting, daily and SundaY
schools, clothing society, district and school libraries,
and branch associations for the church missionary, Jews,
Protestant orphans, and Sunday school society for Ireland.
On these various subjects suitable and effective addresses
were delivered in the course of the evening by the Revds.
W. Butler, A. Hume, and G. Gibbon. At half-past nine
the doxology was sung, and the meeting separated highly
gratified with all that had passed, with increased cordiality
of feeling among themselves, and renewed interest in all
the efforts to do good connected with their church acid
minister. The tea-tables were supplied by Mrs. Harris,
confectioner, Clarence-street, to the entire satisfaction of
the whole party.
THE WORKING OF WOMEN IN FACTORIES VINDI-
CATED ON SCRIPTURAL GROUNDS !—The public may
remember the perversions of Scripture, amounting almost
to blasphemies, with which the " ministers of all deno-
minations," at their celebrated gathering in Manchester,
attempted to overwhelm the advoc_tes of protection, and
to prove that free trade in corn was expressly ordained for
every country ; but they would scarcely have expected to
find the slavish toil of English females in factories vindi-
cated from the sacred writings. Yet such is the case. A
memorial, bearing the signature of 200 manufacturing
firms, was presented to the House of Commons during the
debate upon the Factory Bill, by a Conservative minis-
ter (I) Sir James Graham, deprecating all interference
with infant and female labour in factories, and endea-
vouring to show, with respect to females, that the drud-
gery of the spindle and the power-loom—the unwholesome
atmosphere and the vicious contact of the cotton
were ordained for them from the beginning! Here is the
precious morsel, which contains a perversion so detestable
of Scripture, and an aspersion so daring and impious
against the beneficence of its author, that we cannot but
wonder that respectable men could sign it, or a minister of
the British Sovereign present it to Parliament:—" We can-
not see why there shouldbe a greater objection to the employ-
ment of women in spinning and weaving than in knitting and
sewing. The Scriptures inform us, and their authority is
confirmed by the Homeric Poems (I) that spinning and
weaving have been female employments from the earliest
ages. Female organization gives a delicacy of touch which
enables women to piece a broken yarn, to tie a weaver's
knot, or thread a kneedle, with much greater facility than
men :" ergo, women should be compelled to endure twelve
hours of dreary toil per day in the factory—for that is the
only intelligible conclusion of the argument. Can
.any-
thing be more disgusting than this ? Are they christian
men who thus read the sacred volume, to cull from its
pages apologies for their own cold-blooded avarice, whilst
they close their eves to the teaching therein, that woman
was made "as a helpmate for man"—for the duties of
companion, wife, nurse, and mother? She has " a delicacy of
touch" forsooth ! She spun and wove by her own fireside
in the patriarchal times. And because of this " delicacy"
and the domestic pursuits practised of old, she is to cease
to be what God created her for, and to become the slave
of any grasping miser who has gold to lure her, or power
to coerce her, within the walls of his unwholesome and
contaminating factories or loom shops ! These be your
philosophers ! These your reformers of the human
race !