The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-03-14 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

sists of six men, the fish are parted in seven lots, one for
each man and one for the boat. Each fisherman chooses
a small stone, conceals it from his neighbour, and puts it,
along with the others, into the lap of one of the women,
who- is hound in honour not to look down while this pro-
cess is in progress. The woman then lays a stone on each
lot, and as every fisherman knows his own stone, he is at
no loss to decide which is his lot. There is no dispute in
this mode of apportionment, and it has this particular
advantage, it prevents disappointment when at any time
one or two fishes of more than ordinary value are caught.
The seventh lot is for the purpose of maintaining a fund
ouf of which the boat may be repaired so long as she is
fit for sea, and a new one built when the old one is wrecked
or useless. When the fish are carried to the shed, all
hands set to work to dress them. They are, however,
generally cleaned and salted, or cured, by the women, as
many only being preserved in a fresh state as may serve
to supply the neighbouring market or the nearest farmers.
In the evening, and for the first half of the night, the men
go to rest. The women now bait the lines, or rather the
hooks on the lines, all of which had been carefully exa-
mined and made secure by the men in the afternoon.
In this employment every one has a part to perform.
For sixteen at least out of the twenty-four hours of good
sea-going weather, the fisherman's family are busied with
something or other, and when the prevalence of bad wea-
ther interrupts the usual routine, the time is spent in
making nets, mending lines, and preparing stock-fish for
the south markets. This description applies to what is
called home-fishing, which is conducted mostly in winter.
In the early part of summer, some five or six boats' crews
man their largest boats, and, accompanied by several of
their daughters, proceed to the Western Islands to pursue
the cod and ling fishery. When at the Lewis, or the
Harris, or at the islands of Tiree or Skye, these fishermen
pay a small sum of money, or a certain number of fish,
for the use of one or more huts, as circumstances may
require. The islanders have little or no communication
with them, and as their time is fully taken up either in
catching or curing the cod, the six weeks occupied in this
way are spent in comparative isolation. Having dried the
codfish on the rocks, they are carefully packed in the
boats about the middle or end of June, and carried to
Glasgow, where they are sold. The money thus obtained
is chiefly laid out in the purchase of clothing, coal, and
fishing-gear, all of which are to be had of better quality,
and at lower prices, in Glasgow than nearer home. Pass-
, lug through the Forth and Clyde canal. the boats return
in the beginning of July. This is a merry time for the
villagers, when all has gone well during the season.
Every preparation is now made for the herring fishery,
which is carried on at various points on the east coast.
To some one or other of these the fishermen now resort,
taking with them, as in the former case, some of the
women to cook and wash for them in their lodgings. In
prosecuting the herring fishery, the men are at work all
night and the women all day. This fishery continues for
six or eight weeks, and in fair average seasons yields good
returns. The usual stipulation is to fish for two hundred
trans or barrels, at a certain fixed sum for each barrel
caught. At the rates paid to the fishermen by the curer
last year, one boat's crew would receive for a full fishing
£230. On the faith of this, the fishermen often contract
debts, however, which they can seldom pay when the
fishery fails, and hence the practical advantages of the
system are in no respect to be compared with those which
result from the other modes of fishing either at the islands
or at home. In September, the fishermen are in their
own cottages again ; and, in prospect of winter, a club of
six or eight persons is formed, and a sum of money sub-
scribed, in equal proportion, for the purpose of buying
what they call a mart, that is an ox or fat cow to be
killed and salted as winter provisions; the marts are ge-
nerally purchased at one of the autumn fairs, and in one
day they are all slaughtered. A stranger entering the
village on this occasion would almost fancy that he was
amongst a set of savage barbarians, every strand being
filled with blood, and the women carrying hither and thi-
ther creels full of beef and offal. In dividing the marts,
the same mode of distribution is practised as in the case
of parting the fish on return from sea. During the dark
season, the salted meat is used alternately with fish ; and
as every fisherman calculates on growing a few bolls of
potatoes, the ground for which he obtains from the near-
est farmer in return for his fish-offal, there is generally
no want of good wholesome food all the season through.
—llogg's Weekly halructor.

RIOT AND DESPERATE COLLISION WITH THE

POLICE, IN LONDON,

(From the Sun of Monday.)
When our reporter returned from Trafalgar-square to
The Sun office, shortly before three o'clock, for the pur-
pose of framing the report of the Income Tax meeting,
which appeared in our last edition, he was led to believe
that the people would quietly disperse : indeed, a great
many left the place, but it seems that as many persons as
the number mentioned in our last edition—namely 10,000
or 12,000 remained, apparently with no settled purpose.
No expressions, as far as we were able to ascertain,
escaped the crowd that remained after the termination of
the meeting, from which one might judge of the settled
purpose which they had in view. He heard one man cry
out—in French—" Death to Guizot," " Long live the
Republic," but he seemed afraid that any one should
observe that he was the utterer of such sentiments.

At two o'clock, or a little after, a great number of the
police took up .their position in different parts of the
square, and proceeded simultaneously to clear away the
crowd, who resisted the rather summary way in which
they began to put their orders into force. In fact the
people—and it is right to state that a vast number of them
were young men and boys of the labouring class—did not
relish the interference of the police, who in order the
better to accomplish their object, smote with too much
violence right and left. They were assailed with the most
discordant yells, and we saw several stones thrown at
them. Some were severely punished, and the truncheon
of one was wrested from him and thrown into the basin
amidst cheers. A little boy was struck so violently across
the head by one of A division, of whose violence a great
many complained to us, that he fell, and the blood flowed
from beneath his cap. A young mdn was knocked down
like a bullock by one of, the same division, and carried off
for dead.

It is right to mention that the tempers of the police
were sorely tried. When we saw them strike, they did so
with unnecessary force, and seemed altogether to have lost
their tempers. Many respectable persons with whom we
entered into conversation, agreed in opinion that if the
police had not interfered, no acts of violence would have
been committed. Between thirty and forty men and boys
have been taken into custody for assaulting the police in
the execution of their duty. Some of them are severely
wounded about the head. A great many were taken to
the Charing-cross Hospitals to have their wounds dressed.
Inspector Baker, 19- A, bad his eye-lid severely cut
with a stone; he received also a severe wound at the back
of his head, and was obliged immediately to go to the
surgeon of the force.

About three o'clock that portion of the palings of the
Nelson monument nearest the National Gallery were torn
down, and a number of men and boys got on the plinth
of the column. Two or three persons who stood on the
margin of the basins were pushed in out of sheer fun, and
did not escape without a severe ducking. Police constable
48 A had his eyes severely cut, and the police are more or
less injured

he greater portion of the police were withdrawn at
half-past five o'clock, and as soon as they went order was
in a great measure restored.
We have seldom seen a mob more inveterate against
the police. Had they not mustered in such large num-
bers some must have been killed, for there were bitter
cries of " Throw them into the basin." The people
were exasperated at being struck with their truncheons.
The fierce rushing to and fro of large knots of people
chased by the police, now closing upon them, then strug-
gling fiercely, and shouting with all their might, with the
batons striking away in all directions, had the appearance
of a formidable riot, looking down upon it from the steps
of St. Martin's Church. The club windows, and in fact
every available spot from which a view of the conflict
could be obtained, were crowded.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, mobs of the lower orders
again assembled in Trafalgar-square and the neighbour-
hood of Charing-cross. They were composed of the low-
est class, and of boys from sixteen to eighteen years of
age. The police were, however, on the alert ; and though
many windows and lamps were broken, and the streets
I
3 ir'•-• cone-' furth

.ept in continual confusion, no aer outbreak took
place. At Bow-street police-office, on Tuesday, Mr.
Jardine was occupied the entire day disposing of no
_less

consisted Of assaults upon the police by boys resisting
them in the execution of their duty, throwing stones and
other missiles, and other acts of violence and resistance.

DREADFUL RIOTS IN SCOTLAND.-THE MILT-
TARY CALLED OUT.

(Prom our Second Edition of Tuesday last.)
The unemployed operatives in Glasgow were last week
in rather an excited state, and assembled in very
large numbers on Friday, to be addressed by one of the
leading chartists. They, however, separated peaceably •,
but it will be seen by the subjoined copy of a letter which
has been received by the master of the Exchange News-
room, in this town, that their peaceable intentions have
not been of long continuance.

Extract from a private letter dated Glasgow, Monday

evening:—
" The city is in great confusion and excitement. Seve-
ral shops broken into and gutted, by the unemployed,
who are marching about with guns, &c. The gunsmith's
shop in Exchange-square, and the goldsmith's shop in
Buchanan-street are forced in ; the former is cleared of
its contents, and the windows smashed. All shops are
dosed, and the streets crowded. Several shots were
fired in Buchanan-street a few minutes ago."
The following despatches contain the latest intelli-
gence :
MONDAY, 4 P.M.

" GLASGONV

•
" A chartist riot is at this moment taking place in this
city. The mob are breaking open the gunsmiths' shops.
The one next our office is now being pillaged. The cry
is, ' Down with the Queen!' The mob is composed of
1000 persons. Two policemen shot."
" HALF-PAST

"The city is now quiet, but from the number of guns
stolen it is feared that there will be fresh outbreaks during
the night. The military are posted in various parts, and
a large body in the Royal Exchange. The shops of jew-
ellers and gunsmiths have all been more or less pillaged.
Ail business is suspended."
"EDINBURGH, 11 O'CLOCK, P.M.
" 150 dragoons have just left for Glasgow. The mob
are increasing. They are pulling up the rails on the Pais-
ley and Airdrie railway. 600 of the 71st foot have just
left for Glasgow."
The turbulent mob renewed their hostilities on Tuesday
afternoon, though all appeared quiet when our last de-
spatches were published. The riots were recommenced
in Bridgeton, by an attempt to stop a mill which was at
work. Eighteen s.rmed out-pensioners were on the spot,
and having been ordered to fire, en old man was shot

through the head at the corner of Muslin-street. A
younger man was also shot, and three young boys, who
chanced to be near the place where the people were as-
sembled, were shot, but were still alive. The excitement
amongst the working population from the mills, who by
this time were collected in crowds, was very great. Soon
afterwards a troop of cavalry entered Bridgeton at a can-
ter, and were received by the populace with great cheer-
ing. In the midst of the display, one of the dead bodies
of the men who had been shot was carried down Main-
street on a deal board, supported on the shoulders of six
or eight men, and followed by a concourse of mourners,
who ever and anon shouted " A military murder !" The
dragoons at once made way for the passage of the mourn-
ful cortge, by taking the other side of the road, so that
the body and its followers passed without interruption.
The cause of the disaster was, that a number of boys had,
in the first instance, commenced throwing stones at the
out-pensioners, that one boy was made prisoner for so
doing, that the crowd effected hiscescue, and that Police-
captain Smart gave orders to fir, when five individuals
fell after the first discharge.
By the evening the excitement. increased to such a de-
gree that the shops and warehouses were closed. Large
bodies of military parade the leading localities in all parts.
The banks and principal public offices were guarded with
military.

The police-offices of the city were, towards night,
crowded with prisoners to the number of 100. Upwards
of sixty guns and other weapons were taken from the
rioters, and on the persons of the prisoners were found
quantities of cheese, butter, ham, barley, as well as pow-
der-flasks and powder.
During the greater part of Tuesday night the mob re-
mained in the streets, but they were quiet.
Every thing was quiet on Wednesday, and business
proceeded as usual, though the town was in a state of
excitement.

A man named Campbell, one of the persons wounded
on Tuesday, by the fire of the pensioners, died on Thurs-
day, in consequence of the injuries then received by him.
This is the third death which has now resulted from the
fatal collision between the populace and those armed for
the preservation of the peace.

On Tuesday an attempt at disturbance was made in
Edinburgh, of the same kind as that of Glasgow. The
Riot Act was read, and the military obliged to be called
out before the mob dispersed. The town, at the latest
intelligence, was quiet, but considerable mischief was
done to property. About a thousand street-lamps were
broken. About fifty persons have been apprehended.
On Friday, a body of colliers paraded the streets of Air-
dree, about ten miles from Glasgow. They seemed dis-
satisfied, and evidently meant to create a disturbance.
They were joined by one or two agitators from Glasgow.
LEITH.—A chartist !fleeting took place on Friday. The
following paragraph from the placard will show the cha-
racter of the proceeding Working men—To you espe-
cially we say come forward and hear what republican
France is now doing for the good of the sons of the soil."
The building was densely crowded ; but the people con-
ducted themselves throughout in a very orderly manner.

EXTENSIVE FLOODS.—Durit
ing to the very heavy rains, lie
pearance about Reading to an z
ceeding those for many years pi
along the banks of the Thames,
to the Kennet, are covered wit!
depth, and many bridges and Ix
hie ; in several parts the grount
It is feared, also, that no incon
perty is lost, from having been
present, no loss of life has been

I.
0
0-
to
2' g
z
•

mg the last few days, ow-
oods have made their ap-
alarming extent, and ex-
previous. All the meadows
1, as well as places adjacent
h water to a considerable
Dads are rendered impassa-
ds are completely swamped.
nsiderable portion of pro-
washed away ; though, at
heard of.

HULL.—A meeting of Chartists assembled onThursday,
when a chartist lecturer, named. Kidd, and others, ad-
dressed the meeting in praise of France and republiCanism,
and in special denunciation of our aristocracy. The people
were called upon to arouse from their apathy and to imi-
tate the noble conduct of the French people, and so en-
franchise themselves and their posterity. Hard words,
much noise, enthusiasm for everything French, and de-
precation of everything English, were the characteristics
of the meeting, which broke up in perfect satisfaction with
itself, and without any de facto, outrage against the rest of
the world.

GROSS IMPOSTURE.—On Saturday last, John Dawson,
an able-bodied Irishman, about 30 years of age, was
charged at the Glasgow Western District Police-office
with stealing a halfpenny-worth of bread from a baker's
shop in Main-street, Anderston. On being brought to
the office he declared that he committed the crime from
being out of employment, and consequently in a state of
starvation ; but, having been minutely searched, there
was found on his person six sovereigns, one Irish pound
note, one shilling in silver, and 21d. in copper. Bailie
Brown, on hearing evidence, sentenced the fellow to 60
days' imprisonment.—Edinburgh Witness.
IMPORTANT MEETING.—On Thursday night a public
meeting of the most influential inhabitants of the parish
of St. James's, London, was held in the vestry-room of
St. James's Church, presided over by the churchwarden of
the parish. The meeting was addressed by the Earl of
Eglintoun, Earl De Grey, the Hon. F. Byng, and Mr.
D'Eyncourt, M. P., when the following resolution was
unanimously adopted :—" That they should assemble on
the first alarm, and act in conjunction with tke police in
suppressing any disturbance against the public peace."
On Friday the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Surrey, and.
other noblemen and gentlemen of rank and influence,
were sworn in to act as special constables.
The cattle and corn markets at Norwich were attended
on Saturday by a Russian nobleman, Baron Firks, who
is exceedingly interested in agricultural pursuits, with
which he is largely engaged for the government in leonr-
land. The baron spoke of wheat being at this time, in
Russia, the same price as our own, and barley
fly
shillings a quarter less,