The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-08-12 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS

The five per cent. to the im

eft duties was added during the
by the present Lord Monteagle.

Melbourue administration,

Cbt Zibrrpool tailbarb.

TUESDAY

MORNING, AUG. 12, 1845

The Ses'sion of 1845 has at length concluded;
one which, for good or evil, for its sins of omission
or commission, is likely to become a landmark in
England's history. We refer not, in attaching to
it this importance, to any great measure, affecting
social interests, which has been carried out or neg-
lected during its progress. We point to no impor-
tant class of the community whose welfare has been
affected—to no great bulwark of the Throne or of
the Constitution which has been thrown down.
But we point to the fact, palpably evidenced and
distinctly and vauntingly announced by the organs
of the Government itself, that as a nation we have
commenced our backward progress from the princi-
ples of the Revolution, and are in full progress
towards that state policy, whose offensiveness to the
feelings of the majority of the British people lost to
the House of Stuart the Throne of these Realms.
We overlook, in viewing the events of the Session
which has just passed, all minor objections, which
affect only the conflicting interests of different
bodies of the community. We pass by the con-
sideration of the Corn Laws and Poor Laws, Tariffs
and,Finance ; and rest the overwhelming importance,
with which this Session is to he regarded, upon this
one fact of the repudiation which it has witnessed,
by the present Government and Parliament, of the
prin7iples which brought to the throne of Great
Britain the House of Hanover.

Where, it may be asked, is the evidence of this
fact ? We point first to the endowment of May-
nooth as a permanent institition of the state. We
point to the admitted certainty that this measure is
but the precursor of the endowment of the Roman
Catholic clergy in Ireland, and the re-establishment
of the dignitaries of that church in all their ancient
splendour and rank. We point to their acknow-
ledgment, as an independent power, to be consulted
by Government in the framing of its measures, as
evidenced in the Bequests' Act, and the course
adopted in carrying the Academical Education Act.
The Reformation barely tolerated Romanism ; and,
perhaps wisely, succeeding ages have somewhat re-
laxed the restrictions imposed upon it by our fore-
fathers in 1688. We, however, have lifted it up to
a station even prouder than it enjoyed in the days
of the second James. And we are not going to

Who among Us dare say that he may
to see the day when the descendant of
Liam of Orange will be seen prostrating her
power beneath the feet of Rome—purchasing peace
by humiliation, which she ought to command in
the name of her noble ancestry, whose sceptre she

stop here

riot live

Hear upon this point a Jesuitical advocate of the
policy of the ministry, who writes (Proh Pudor !)
in the pages of that once staunch Conservative organ,
Fra.

shag

here is no aenying that these proceedings (Sir
el's Irish measures) have both alarmed and
>le portion of the Conservative party,
yes Tories, have all their lives advo-
cated the principles of 1688, and are now astonished to
find that their Tory leader has left both them and the
doctrines of the revolution era behind him. But, in
truth, Sir Robert Peel is not to blame for this; he has
only gone with the spirit of the age, which, whether mo-
narchical or not (an ominous doubt to suggest in favour
of the spirit of the ageY), is opposed to all religious ex-
clusiveness, and is so far but a copy of the Toryism which
cost the unfortunate family of Stuart the throne of these
realms. We freely admit, that the principles which
brought the house of Hanover to England, are scattered
to the wir"
Thi

Robert P,

ded a consider

As surely a complete admission, and ought
to be a fair warning. The apologist of Sir Robert
's prepared to throw the cloak from off his new
f Robert is not. We are to go back,
to that peculiar kind of
',.siveness" (!)—say

princi

spirit of the age,
)11 to all religious exc

rather, that fondling of the unclean thing, that set-
ting up of popery, that trafficking with Rome for
cardinals' hats—which was so exemplary in James
the Second, poor man, and cost him his crown !
As Tories, this ministerial apologist tells us, we have
been all along labouring under a grand mistake.
We have been using Whig principles—" stealing
the Whigs' clothes when bathing"—ever since 1688 ;
and Sir Robert Peel has found out this grand trii-
take, and—ever-consistent statesman (!)—is going
back to the principles which properly belong to the

not rate rare h; ,1.. tiro
..11-taut Rafe6omeil9
n-
and reasonings, throughout the article from
--incl. are too quibbling to be of

which we I

much value. A fool, however, sometimes speaks
the truth, mal-apropos to his employer, perhaps;
and there is great semblance of our Frazerian
essayist having done so on this occasion. We have
. ,

knee on eiery side that, if the principles which
brought the House of Hanover to the throne are
not " scattered to the winds" already, we have
statesmen and politicians enough who would gladly
see them so scattered ; and if we are not going
back to the Toryism of the Stuart (Lys, we ask
where are we going. We cannot stand still it is
We are going, " with the spirit of the age,"
somewhere; and if we are neither going back to that
" opposition to all exclusiveness" which " cost the
unfortunate family of Stuart the throne of these
realms" nor abiding by those principles which
gained it for the House of Hanover, and which we
are told are scattered to the winds, we must be
drifting towards some undiscovered shore which
neither history nor political philosophy have ever
mentioned. Unless, indeed, we are to entertain
seriously the doubt, suggested in the above quota-
tion, that the spirit of the age—our blind leader in
this voyage of discovery--is just now a little " anti-
monarchical" in its views. That would be a subject
of rather unpalatable contemplation, which we do
not care, at present, to approach.
With whatever amount of placid contentment Sir
Robert Peel and his colleagues may have exchanged
the vicinity of Downing-street for the moors, or the
members of both houses washed their hands of
railway bills, and cleared their heads of gradients,
curves, tunnels, and traffic, for more pleasant and
healthy avocations, we cannot contemplate the
termination of their parliamentary labours with equal
satisfaction. They have left in Ireland, untouched,
an agrarian conspiracy, which is sprinkling the land
with the blind of assassination. They have left
there an organised agitation stirring up the passion
and misguided enthusiasm of the people to the point
of ebullition. This very day will witness in that
country a multitudinous gathering of men devoted
o the British throne, who meet to proclaim the
bitter wrong and insult which they have met with
at the hands of the British Government, and to
declare that, from henceforth, deserted by that
Government and exposed to a system of constant
terrorism and outrage, they are prepared to take
their lives and property into their own keeping.
And in England, even, that country upon whose
quietude and loyalty her Majesty has just con-
gratulated her parliament in the speech from the
throne—what is the position of affairs in Eng-
land ? We will tell Sir Robert Peel what he and
his majority will find, without taking any great
pains in the search. They will find disgust at his
apostacy and theirs, mingled with distrust of the
British constitution itself. We wish him and them
joy of the pleasant prospect.

An important bill, intended to be submitted to
Parliament next session, has just been printed, to
the provisions of which it is important that the at-
tentive consideration of the public should be drawn
in time, in order that we may be prepared to take
any steps which may be necessary to ensure its re-
jection or modification. The object of the bill,
which is to establish better drainage, sewerage, wa-
tering, and cleansing, in all large towns, and to re-
gulate the erection and proper ventilation of build-
ings,is excellent. Whether its machinery is the
best which could be devised for carrying out that
object—whether it is not somewhat too cumbrous,
may fairly be questioned. In particular, its appli-
cability to Liverpool is very doubtful. To render
intelligible, however, the few remarks which we have
to make, we must first put our readers in possession
of the general bearing and a few of the details of the
proposed measure.

The first step is the abolition of all public boards
connected with paving, severing, draining, &c„
whether existing under local acts or forming parts
of corporate bodies. The act then proceeds to re-
place these with a . machinery of its own, presided
over by inspectors, to be appointed by the Secretary
of State, paid from the consolidated fund and re-
sponsible to the Home-office. Her Majesty, in
Privy Council, is authorised to bring the whole

towns of England and Wales, containing above
10,000 inhabitants, under its operation. The follow-
ing will be the constitution of the new body in Li-
verpool. Eighteen commissioners will be chosen,
for life, from amongst the existing bodies (we pre-
sume those appointed under local acts, as the high-
way board, &c.) ; twenty-seven commissioners, of
whom one-third will go out of office every three
years, are to be elected by the rate-payefs, £lO con-
ferring a vote, £5O and upwards two votes, and an ad-
ditional vote for every additional £25 of rental.
Twenty-two, viz., fourteen councillors, five aldermen,
with the Mayor, ex ajicio, are to be chosen by the
Town Council, and six magistrates to be elected by
the justices. The body will thus consist of 73 ; and
are empowered, subject to the control of the go-
vernment inspector of the Home-office, to pave,
sewer, water, and cleanse the streets, provide addi-
tional supplies of water gratis for the poor, appoint
an inspector or inspectors of nuisances, and a medi-
cal officer to report to them : in fine, to maintain
the sanatory condition of the town efficiently and
to tax the inhabitants by laying rates for the purpose.
The powers of this body, and the duties expected
from them, it will thus be seen, are somewhat
similar to those comprised amongst the powers and
duties of all our local bodies, freed however from
their present conflicting state—centralized in fact.
They are however of a more sweeping and stringent
character; and evidently contemplate placing the
town in an effectual and thorough state of sanatory
regulation whether we will or no ; and at any cost.
The regulation of buildings is to he most strict.
New streets are to be of a certain width ; no house
is to be built without proper drain !, ash pits, &c.
A complete system of sewerage is to be maintained ;
unwholesome houses are to be cleansed and white-
washed, and power is given to increase the supply
of water, having respect however to vested rights,
to lease the powers vested in existing water com-
panies, to purchase springs of water, or to take water
from public streams, by consent of the Secretary of
State. They are also given the complete contr3l of
the Fire Police and the Scavengers.

From this hasty and necessarily imperfect glance
at the provisions of a bill, which contains 353
clauses, the considerations which first strike us are
the serious inroad which it makes upon the func-
tions of the Town Council, the practical negation of
the right of self government which it carries with it,
and the probable expensive character of its operation.
We admit the utility of all which the act appears to
contemplate; and we are sorry to admit the neces-
sity of some little coercion to ensure its being
speedily carried out. We dislike, however, these
features of it which inflict upon us Government in-
spectors and the constant interference of the Home
Office. This body of 73 members, with all its com-
plication of election, and the expense which must
attend such election, involving a double registra-
tion of the municipal constituency every year, will
after all be a mere shadow without a corresponding
substance. It has neither a veto nor a will. The
substantial power will he wielded by the Govern-
ment Inspector and the Home Office, who can dip
their hands in our pockets, experijnentalize at our
cost, whilst the Council looks on powerless, and
with nothing to do, and the Commissioners have
only to register their decrees. As a whole, the bill
is a patronage-conferring affair throughout ; and,
however valuable its principles, we think all the ad-
vantages which it holds out could have been con-
ferred at a less sacrifice of our local independence.

So far as Liverpool is concerned, we are tolerably
assured that it can never operate satisfactorily, and
we trust that it will not be forced upon us. We
have the materials within ourselves for the erection
here of an efficient system. We require little more
than the consolidation of the existing bodies to
create one efficient for all useful purposes, with
perhaps a few additional powers which might be
conferred under a local act for the purpose. The
tendency of the present measure must inevitably be
to irritate and annoy, to receive actual improvement
as an intrusion of despotic authority, and to throw
amongst us continual discord and heartburning,
whilst we might be working by ourselves harmo-
niously and earnestly in the promotion of a really

good work.
Another objectionable tendency of the mea..
so far as Liverpool is concerned, arises from the po-
sition in which it will place our corporate body.
They have the revenues of a great and a growing
estate at their disposal, which we look forward to
see, at no distant date, devoted to some large mea-
sures of public improvement—to the formation of
public parks, and the widening of streets, for the
better ventilation and beautifying of the town. This
measure however, takes from them all care for tbg
lemizmidu 01 sueu onjects. It creates wnat win
prove a conflicting authority. If we are to be
yearly and immediately taxed by the Home (Vice and
1g —an (1

s virtually it ;ill he so—for their
crotchetty improvements, the Town Council is not
unlikely to withdraw its hand altogether from works
of improvement which another authority has arro-
gated to itself the right to carry out, or of which
they will dictate the execution.
We must pause here, however, we shall have an
opportunity of returning to the subject when we
shall have had more time to give it a fair considera-
tion. We should state that at the weekly meeting
of the highway board on Thursday, Mr. Deane, the
law-clerk, said it did not necessarily follow that the
new act would he introduced into Liverpool, The
town would first be reported by the inspector, and
that would be followed by an order in council.

We had occasion to comment, a few weeks ago,
upon the undue harshness with which the publicans
of this town have, for some time past, been treated
by the stipendiary magistrate. It appeared to us at
the time that there were other and better means of
securing improvement in the mode of conducting
the business of a tavern-keeper, and advancing the
moral improvement of the population, than that of
placing the whole body of publicans under an irri-
tating police espionage, which might be converted
into an odious system of exaction, and even perse-
cution, at the discretion of the members of the
police force; and we particularly deprecated the
announcement, made by Mr. Rushton from the
bench, that against this class of tradesmen he was

prepared to administer the law " fiercely." A case
has just occurred, which appears to us to justify our
previous remarks, the particulars of which we shall
now bring before our readers.

On Friday last, a publican named John White,
of the Globe Hotel, Copperas-hill, corner of Russell-
street, was charged by Inspector Gregg and Police-
constables Threlfall and M‘Farlane with having
seventeen men, six of whom were drunk, in his
house at 20 minutes to 12 o'clock on Wednesday
night, the 23rd July. There was also a second in-
formation. Messrs. Maxwell and Booth (in the
absence of the stipendiary) were on the bench.
Mr. James, barrister, appeared for the defendant.
We may remark that Mr. White is the party who
successfully appealed against a previous conviction
at the last sessions. To exemplify the mode in
which these informations are got up, we give the
evidence and cross-examination of the first witness
entire from our reporter's notes :

Thomas Threlfall, policeman, being called, said that on
the evening of the 23rd July, at 20 minutes before 12
o'clock, he visited the defendant's house, along with In-
spector Gregg, and M`Farlane, and there found seventeen
men, all standing up, and six of them drunk.—Cross-
examined by Mr. James : I have been generally con-
cerned in informations against publicans, and four times
in matters of this kind against Mr. White. I believe
there was a supper there that night. Mr. White said so
himself. I went into the parlour. I don't call it a room,
but a parlour. I " nudged" police-officer 47, for him to
see whether there were any drunken persons. I meant
that he should look at this man and at that, to see whe-
ther he was drunk or sober, and I took his opinion. The
parties we looked at were very disturbed; they were run-
ning one amongst the other. I did not go up stairs, but
went into the parlour, and the men then all rose. I have
given evidence against Mr. White twice before; in one
case he was convicted in this court, but that was quashed
by the Recorder. I received 18s. for my last week's wages,
and the same sum the week before, with 3s. additional
for over-time. Two persons, Birkett and Greenwood,
were shown to this witness, and he was asked if they were
present, but be said he could not swear to their being pre-
sent. .2\rone of the policemen went up stairs. A man
was drunk when he staggered."

Now let us just glance at the bearing of this evi-
dence, and of the system itself. In the first place,
the party informed against has just succeeded in
quashing a conviction laid, we believe, by the same
officers, and thereby, to some extent, damaged their
character as persons to be trusted with such busi-
ness. The officer Threlfall has informed against
Mr. White no less than four times. For his acti-
vity in this informing business, (or, as he styles it,
" for overtime,") he received, last week but one, 3s.
in addition to his ordinary wages. Then mark his
notion of what constitutes the kind of drunkenness
which renders a man liable to be fined. "A man
is drunk when he staggers "! But proceed to the
next witness—the inspector. That person, having

corroborated the previous evidence in its main
points, admits the fact of having " frequently lis-
tened under the windows of White's house, and not
afterwards gone in." Listened for what ? He says
—" I have done this about four times within the
last five weeks." No wonder that robberies are
committed with impunity, when a police-inspector
systematically employs his leisure in listening at
publicans' doors ! He concludes his evidence with
the following naïve admission of extra-officiousness
in laying this very information :

" There was not much disturbance in the house on the
night in question. A few minutes after we went into the
house, all the men left it quietly, and there was no dis-
turbance in the street—not any. They walked away as if
they were drunk. I consider a man drunk when he can-
not walk, is noisy, and has to be passed home by a police-
man. We did not apprehend them, or pass them borne.
One of them was put out, and the others walked away!"
The other officer (one employed in laying the infor-
mation recently quashed) admits to listening. He
says "he had had conversations with Threlfall
about this house"; admits that the parties, on the
night in question, left the house orderly ; and con-
cludes by saying—" I visited the house every half
hour: I was instructed to look after it " !
Now glance only at the conclusion to be formed
from this last admission. This man knew there
was a large supper in the house on the night in
question ; and he visited the house every half hour.
For what purpose ? He " was instructed to look
after it." By whom ? He had been talking with
Threlfall about it. Threlfall had " had some talk
with Inspector Muir about it." Inspector Gregg
had listened at the windows four times during the
last five weeks—during a part of which time an
appeal against an information laid by these very men
was pending, which was at length decided in favour of
the persecuted publican. What does all this mean ?
Very properly, the information against Mr, White
was dismissed. But can matters remain here ?
Can a system such as this is proved to be, any
longer be tolerated ? Let us look at the evidence
for the defence, and see what that discloses. Two
waiters employed for that evening to wait upon the
company—nearly seventy in number, and respecta-
ble tradesmen and gentlemen we are informed, al-
though the policemen find it convenient only to call
them " men "—gave a flat contradiction to the offi-
cers on all points. These parties stated that

" The officers came into the house and went up stairs,
not into the parlour at all ; and that there was no one
drunk in the house except one man, who was refused any
drink, and who had come in drunk, but was immediately
turned out, by the orders of Mr. White. who had strictly
enjoined them not to allow any drunken man to remain in
the house or to have any drink."

Two other most respectable witnesses deposed to
the perfect good conduct of the company at White's.
The hour itself was comparatively an early one.
And yet, upon a charge so trumpery, a respectable
tradesman is to be dragged up before a bench, and
the very license of his house—his living—put in
jeopardy, by what is apparently little short of a
conspiracy. We must really see this state of things
reformed. Had Mr. White not possessed the means
of employing a legal advocate, be might at this
moment have been a ruined man.

" Defend me from my friends !" is a prayer
which few men, who occupy any space in the pub-
lic eve, have not occasionally to utter. Most espe-
cially unhappy in this respect is Mr. Eyre Evans.
Not a little escapade of temper can he be guilty of;
nor a paper pellet, or other similar weapon of of-
fence, can he let fly at the head of colleague or poli-
tical opponent—and he is not particular in the se-
lection of those against whom he directs his ire—
but the whole Whig press is up in the stirrups,
lauding, right or wrong, his amazing talent and
transcendant wisdom. And even when it would be
kind and charitable to let the particular matter be-
fore them go to sleep—when, having blown off his
steam, the ex-alderman himself is disposed to sit
down quietly to his ordinary avocations—one after
another, his cruel friends come forward to gibbet
him afresh with their injudicious goose-quills, until
what might have passed off and been forgotten as
an isolated piece of folly, or childish petulancy, is
perpetuated into a bore.
A more than usually injudicious attempt of this
kind appears in the columns of a contemporary of
Friday last. The public were flattering themselves
that the recent ebullition of Mr. Evans, in the Dock
Committee and in print, might be allowed to sink
into oblivion without any great disaster occurring to
the world, or any great injury to the parties imme-
diately interested. The question between them was.
well understood. The position of the parties them-
selves correctly enough appreciated. So, apparent-
-17, v cll toe Mercury; and thus he an-
nounced his view of the matter:--
" In private conversation we have heard but one opi-
nonno,—itsfroin the
01/o'clik committer:,
jettae t
o which Radical, or Tory,—respecting
cryh w
e briefly
, —r esp e
alluded
c the
o lo
in oui• last, as disgraceful alike to that notty tud Itb

stituents. That opinion was in conformity with our own.
We met with no attempt to justify the Dick Committee,
for the most silly, petty, and childlike suppression of dis-
cussion that ever was heard of since deliberative t
blies were first invented "

Very well : here, then, it might have rested. If the
opinion, " in private conversation," of the Mercury's
Whig-Radical and Tory friends was so unanimous,
what need of further discussion ? If Messrs. Aikin
and Evans, and the Mercury, are satisfied that " the
party to which they belong are not defeated, sunk,
annihilated, never to rise again," they didn't need
the Mercury's effort to galvanize them into lively
vitality.

We shall not remark at any length upon the arti-
cle in question, which is rather too tedious and un-
meaning to affect the placidity of the gentlemen
against whom it is levelled. The following piece of
impertinence will afford our readers a sufficient idea
of the spirit in which it is written :
" Since his elevation to the chair of the Dock Com-
mittee, Mr. J. B. Moore, or Bromley Moore, as he is
fond of styling himself and being styled, has, like all per
sons of little minds lifted by fortuitous circumstances
above their sphere, been puffed up with an overweening
sense of his own importance, and, " the dignity of the
chair." Under this feeling he has, on several occasions,
assumed an authority which does not belong to him, and
he has not scrupled, now and then, both in the Council
Chamber and the Dock Committee, to treat with domi-
neering insalence men, his equals in station and character,
and infinitely bis superiors in intellect."

Mr. Moo-re has committed the unpardonable of-
fence of exhibiting his eminent capability of con-
ducting the affairs of the Dock Committee efficiently,
and with enlarged views of the public requirements
from that body. He has shewn himself equally
above the indulgence of petty crotchets and petty
spites. He has no particular wheels in his head,
which must go round, whatever becomes of the vast
interests connected with the estate under his ma-
nagement and that of his colleagues; and for these
qualifications—because at once a man of great bu-
siness capacity, mingled with amenity of manner—
' he has been raised by the votes of the majority of
the Dock Committee to the distinguished office
' which he holds, and upon which he bestows so
much of his time and his mental and bodily ener-
gies. It is because he has thus worthily earned the
high consideration of his fellow-townsmen, and of
the Dock Committee, that he is regarded with feel-
ings of jealousy and irritation by Mr. Evans, and
those who think with him ; and not because he is
a "person of little mind, lifted by fortuitous cir-
cumstances above his sphere." To such a character
it is a folly and a libel to suppose that the gentlemen
who composed the Dock Committee would for a
moment pay deference. We shall not insult our
readers by any detailed comment upon an article
such as this. We feel, indeed, that an apology is
due to the Chairman of the Dock Committee, for
having in some measure lowered him by offering
a word in his defence against his present antagonist.
We are not so "puffed up with an overweening
sense of our own importance," as journalists, to
imagine for a moment that he could here stand in
any real need of our advocacy. We may, however,
in all sincerity and kindness, repeat the advice
which we cffered in our last to Mr. Evans and
Mr. A ikin, to refrain from the manifestation of that
contentious disposition in the Dock Committee
which so materially impairs their usefulness. Men
of business we know they are both, possessing
worthily the esteem of their own party and the
respect even of those who differ from them in
opinion. Why can they not meet such parties, at
the board of what is eminently a Business Com-
mittee, with the same amenity of manners and
temper which they extend to those who have
private business with them on 'Change or else-
where ?•

FREE SCOTCH SECEDERS.—The Moderator of the
" Free Church" in Scotland was last week requested to
preach to a congregation in Manchester, but the Court of
Chancery having made an order to the effect that the
building where they meet belongs to the Established
Church of Scotland, the Moderator refused to officiate in
the place, declaring that he thought the "Free" parties
holding the church were doing so illegally and unrighte.
ously.

1 LIVERPOOL SHARE MARKET.-YESTERDAY.

Our market for shares, yesterday, was a little depressed,
some anxiety to realise on most stocks being manifested ;
and prices took a downward turn. This was particularly
the case in the lighter descriptions, which have been re.
cently the principal subjects of the inordinate speculation
which has been witnessed in our own and other markets.
As will be seen by our quotations, a considerable—though
generally a forced—business has been done at the reduc-
tion quoted. This state of the market is attempted to be
accounted for from many causes. The state of the wea-
ther is the leading one, accompanied by a tightness of the
discount market. Some difficulty in procuring settlements
of the recent large transactions bas also had a share in
producing it. In part, too, it may be attributed to the
prorogation of parliament, and the cessation of the ex-
citing business of the committees, which will naturally in-
duce speculation in the lighter stocks to lie over until
the approach of active operations for the next parliamen-
tary campaign, whilst the coming meetings of the pro-
prietors of the established lines will draw speculation to-
wards their stock. The permanence of the favourable
change of weather, which we have this day, it is thought
will du much to restore confidence ; but anything like the
mania we have just passed is much to be deprecated, and
will, probably, not be witnessed, for a time at least,