The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-07-16 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS.-SATURDAY.

The House met at twelve o'clock for the furtherance of
public business, now that the session is drawing towards
its close ; and its attention was chiefly occupied by the
discussion of the clauses of the Poor Law Amendment
Bill in committee. Some progress was made, and even-
tually the chairman obtained leave to sit again this day,
at twelve o'clock.

After the house bad resumed, some observations made
by Mr. WODEHOUSE, conveying a personal attack on
Mr. WAKLEY while in committee, drew from that hon.
gentleman a complaint of the unfairness and injustice of
the attack upon his private character, and an explanation
of the circumstances so often publicly alluded to respect-
ing the unfortunate conflagration of his premises soon
after his first arrival in London.

Mr. WODEHOUSE admitted that he had alluded to the
occurrence referred to by the hon. member, said he was
perfectly satisfied with the explanation, and apologised for
what had fallen from him in the course of the discussion.
The house then adjourned.

FOREIGN AND COLONIAL.

AM ERICA.

Since our last we have received New York papers to
the 30th ult.

Congress adjourned on the appointed day, the 17th
ult., after having, upon the recommendation of the Com-
mittee on Foreign Relations, rejected the Zollverein
Treaty of commerce. The grounds upon which the re-
commendation is made are, that a measure such as the
one in question, revising the great subjects of trade and
revenue, should originate with Congress, not with the
executive, whose duties appear to them to be, to fulfil
the wishes of the people, as expressed through the agency
of their representatives ; and that the concessions made
by the United States are not repaid by those of the Ger-
man Unions. If, however, they say, Congress approves
of the arrangement, let them pass a law imposing the
duties contemplated in it. The Senate had also confirmed
several nominations, and, amongst others, the long-pend-
ing one of Mr. Cushing, as Minister to China.
Colonel Thompson, the special messenger to Mexico,
had returned to Washington shortly after the close of the
session; but the reply of the Mexican Government, in
respect of annexation, had not been made known. We
may, however, judge pretty accurately cf its general tenor
by a perusal of the following :-On the 18th ultimo a
messenger arrived with dispatches fr an Senor Bocanegra
to General Almonte, the Mexican Minister to the United
States ; of which the Spanish journal published in New
York, the Noticioso de ARbos Mundos, gives the text.
Senor Bocanegra informs the geneild, in the most empha-
tic terms, that Mexico will never assent to the annexa-
tion; that the Government and the nation are immovably
determined to resist the project and reject all proposals
for its consummation, whether accompanied or not by
offers of compensation ; and General Almonte is author-
ised and instructed to contradict, in the most formal man-
ner, any assertion or intimation of a different character,
which might be dissemi sated by the partisans of Presi-
dent Tyler for the purpose of producing a change in the
hostile feeling with which the people of the United States
generally regard the measure. We learn, further, that
the Diario del Gobierno, he Mexican Government paper)
of the 14th ult., contains an official notice in relation to
an extraordinary session of Congress, which had been
ordered to meet on the first of last month. The decree
of Senor de Bocanegra, Minister of Foreign Relations,
and which has been approved by Valentia Canalizo, the
acting President, sets forth, that the time of the Con-
gress will be occupied on the following important points :
" 1. In receiving the oath of the President, so that he
can enter at once upon the duties of his office.
"2. In giving to the government the power to increase
the army, and furnish the necessary means for so doing.
"3. In empowering the Government to procure ample
pecuniary means and everything else that may be deemed
necessary in order that Mexico may recover Texas, and
preserve the entire national domain. _ _ .

4. In tb.t. ttie
Government may send to the Congress, to the end that
the Republic may be secured, and its independence and
honour preserved."
Such is the substance of the measures which will occupy
the attention of the extraordinary session of Congress of
the Ist of June; thus materially lessening, at least for
the present, the chance of a peaceable and amicable set-
tlement of the difficulties existing between the two re-
publics of Texas and Mexico.
The Diario is filled, for the most part, with govern-
ment documents and articles upon the all-engrossing sub-
ject of the annexation of Texas to the United States.
The Mexican editors, one and all, say that Texas alcviys
was, and always shall be, part and parcel of the republic,
and that the people will contend to the death before an inch
of the territory will be relinquished. General Tonnell
had resigned his station as Minister of War and Marine.
A new minister would be appointed on the arrival at the
capital of Santa Anna, who was on his way thither.
Various conflicting opinions were prevalent as to the
probability of an extra session of Congress being called.
The Washington correspondent of the New York Journal
of Commerce says, that the question was considered at a
special meeting of the executive, held on the 22d ult.
The Oregon question has been left in the same situation
that it voks at the meeting of Congress, no legislative
measure in reference to it having been adopted. This is
as it should be. So long as friendly negotiations are
pending, nothing calculated to produce unkind feelings
should be done by any party.
The treaty between the United States and France, for
the mutual surrender of criminals, others than political,
escaping from one country to the other, is now finally
ratified and completed.
Governor Polk has accepted the nomination of the
Democratic National Convention at Baltimore. It ap-
pears that the friends of the three candidates for the
Presidency are determined to sustain their respective
nominations; viz., Mr. Clay, anti-annexation; Mr.
Tyler, and Mr. Polk, annexation. Whether they will all
remain in the field to the end is matter of doubt ; but,
whether they do or do not, the result will be the same:
Henry Clay will, undoubtedly, be the next Preaylent of
the United States.
Philadelphia continues quiet.
President Tyler was married, at New York, on the 26th
ult., to a daughter of th elate Hon. D. Gardner, one of the
victims of the explosion on board the steam-ship Prince-
ton. The bride is described as young and beautiful, mid
twenty-four years of age. The President is upwards of
fifty.
Money continued abundant. The Exchange on Europe
dull at 1691 premium. In the Stock-market "fancies
had fallen, but stable and dividend-paying stocks had ex-
perienced improvement.
The New York American reports, that the yield of
wheat is likely to be immense.
Extensive conflagrations have occurred at Boston and
Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, the losses by which are
estimated at 100,000 dollars and £30,000.
The Canada parliament has been further prorogued
until the 3rd of August, and then to meet for the
" despatch of business." Sir G. Metcalf made his public
entry into the seat of government, Montreal, on the
24th ult.

Information has been officially received, that, by a de-

cree of the Mexican government, dated 31st March, the
towns of Taos, in New Mexico, and Paso del Norte and

Presidio del Norte, in Chihauhua' are declared open tot
foreign trade. All articles which can be introduced into
the Mexican Republic may enter those places on a menl
of the duties prescribed by the tariff and laws. pay The ment
of paper of Havana, of June the 10th,
contains an official announcement, that, in consequence
of the late calamitous drought experienced in the island,
the Custom-house duties on various articles of food are
reduced to one-half of the previous rates.
Letters had been received in Jacmel, on the 11th ult.,
from Aux Cayes, stating, that the new President had ap-
pointed one of his black generals governor of that town,
and that the new official had plundered the mulattoes and
put a number of them to death. President Gurrier had
chartered the Dutch brig Napoleon, put an ambassador
on board, and sent her to the city of St. Domingo, to
the Spanish, to induce them to acknowledge the Hay-
tian flag ; but they refused, and wished the Presi-
dent to acknowledge their independence. Still later
accounts from Aux Cayes state, that affairs were some-
what settled, but it was thought that tranquillity would
not long continue as the rebel chief Acaua manifested con-
siderable reluctance to submit to the authority of General
Guerrier, who appears to act with considerable energy.
His cabinet consists of Mons. Hypolite, Minister of War
and of the Exterior; Mons. Paul, Minister of the Interior
and Agriculture ; Mons. H. Ferg. Minister of Public In-
struction and Justice, and Religion ; Mons. Landin,
Minister of Finance and Commerce ; all coloured men,
well educated and influential, and popular with all parties.
On the 6th June the British Larque Dominican, Captain
Salter, from London for Jamaica, was wrecked on the
Voile, a coral reef in the vicinity of Aux Cayes, about
twenty miles distant from the port, and was found to be
totally abandoned. It is supposed the crew and passen-
gers took to the boats and steered for Jamaica.

SUMMARY JUSTICE.-At Caddo, Texas, on the sth ult,
a man was taken, chit, ged with murder, and bung by the
people, without trial. lie confessed that he had been
hired by some Texans to murder, ive men 1 for 1,000 dollars.

uai

.....T,Ja_King of Prussia has accorded 4 a renewed grant of
fifty-tEousand thalers (£7,500) for the completion of the
Roman Catholic cathedral of Cologne. His majesty has,
moreover, dedicated a sum of ten thousand thalers
(£1,500) to the works on the north tower.

At the assizes for the Department of the Seine, E. D.
Cadot, a youth of 18, was charged with procuring the
murder of his father, a rich banker, by the promise of
100,000 francs to his assassin. The temptations were his
father's wealth, and his father's mistress, the latter a
servant girl, to whom both were passionately attached !
The son was acquitted—the assassin convicted.
THE ITALIAN INSURGENTS.—The Gazette of the Two
Sicilies, of the 25th ult. states that five more of the insur-
gents who landed in Calabria have been arrested, and that
all are now in custody, but the names of only a few of
them are given. A Leghorn letter states that the two
sons of Admiral 3andiera are among the insurgents who
have been arrested in Calabria.

It is stated in letters from Turin that the railway be-
tween that city and Genoa, with two branches between
Venice and Milan, has received Royal sanction. It is to
be executed at the expense of Government, and the Coun-
cil of State have given directions that it shall be immedi-
ately marked out. L' Industriel Calaisien alludes with
regret to the rejection by the Chamber of Deputies of
the branch line from Hazebrouck to Arras, even on the
second application.
MOROCCO.—According to some of the Paris papers au-
thentic accounts have been received of the dismissal, by
the Emperor of Morocco, of the two general officers who
headed the Moorish troops in their late attacks on the
French camp at Lalla Magronia. It is also said that
strong hopes are entertained of a speedy arrangement, as
the French government does not demand the expulsion of
Abdel Kader from the Moorish territory, but his immedi-
ate removal from the Algerian neighbourhood, and the
assignation of a fixed residence for him under the respon-
sibility of the Emperor, in one of the towns of the most
distant frontier.
QUICK TRAVELLING.—Extract of a letter dated Co-
logne, Monday evening, July B.—" The rapidity of tra-
velling between this place and London is now wonderful
in the extreme. I left the Tower yesterday at eleven
o'clock, and here I actually am on the second evening at
Cologne on the Rhine. There has, besides, been nothing
like hot haste' in the matter ; on the contrary , every-
thing has been done quietly and comfortably. You are
aware that I embarked on board the steamer Antwerpen,
having been assured at the office in London that we should
arrive at Antwerp on Monday morning in ample time for
the railway train for Cologne, and I certainly was not
misled. Ike landed before eight o'clock, and all of our
passengers who wished to do so, and they were certainly
almost the whole, including many persons of high rank,
got away by the train and reached Cologne with me alter
about 30 hours' travelling. Who would have believed
this even 10 years ago ?"

NEW ZEALAND CANNIBALISM. The Journal des
Debuts publishes the following from Akaroa, in New Zea-
land, dated January 28 :—" Probably, before my letter ar-
rives in France, you will have learned that the Mahouris,
a tribe of Zealanders, have killed thirty English of this
colony; but you, perhaps, will not know that the bodies
of these unfortunate men were eaten. This is but too
true. We had been out on a hunting party for a week,
when, one evening, we arrived among the friendly tribe of
Terauparaa, or Mahouris, and found them regaling on
human flesh. We all conceived that they were eating
some captives or slaves of their own nation. As I under-
stood the language I could not resist expressing my indig-
nation, and threatened them with chastisement from the
crew of the corvette. The savages, alarmed, endeavoured
to appease me by saying, They are not men of Mabouri
that we are eating, but some Yes, yes,' for it is thus, they
call the English. They then showed us the head of.their
victims, and among them I recognised that of Captain
Wakefield, one of the distinguished inhabitants of Port
Nicholson, who had entertained us at his own house
when we went to the town to procure provisions. I was
seized with horror at the sight. My companions blamed
me for having risked irritating the cannibals, as we were
only five against two hundred. But they gave us con-
fidence by saying, ' 01 the Oui, oui, (for so they distin-
guish us,) are good people, but the Yes, yes are very
wicked.' They then related that they had killed the Eng-
lish because they wished to establish themselves in a bay
which they had not purchased, and which the Mahouris
are unwilling to give up. We then retired, with our hearts
full of horror and disgust."

The Indian papers, brought by the last overland mail,
record a shocking instance of mortality in a " Cooly ship,"
employed to bring back from Mauritius a number of
Coolies whose time had expired. When she left Calcutta
to go to the Mauritius with 210 Coolies (the full number
permitted,) she only lost three of them, including a wo-
man, who died in child-birth. When she returned, she
brought 270 Coolies—nearly a third more than her per-
mitted number—and of these she lost 17. To the fact
that so much more than the proper number were carried,
do the local writers, who take the humane view of the
question, attribute the increase of mortality, and the
melancholy. event gives them an opportunity of contrast-
ing the conduct of the public authorities at the Mauritius
with that of the authorities at Calcutta, to the disad-
vantage of the former. At Calcutta, as we have seen,
no more than the right number could be shipped, and
there are at the same place a variety of regulations
concerning the supply of provisions for the voyage.
At the Mauritius, on the contrary, no such regula-
tions seems to exist, or, if they did exist, they are
completely inoperative, and the assertion is well borne
out that after the engagement of the Coolies have expired
all concern for their welfare ceases. There appears to be
no necessity for providing medicine or medical attendance,
and all that the captain is bound to furnish is a pound and
. a half of rice daily, two pounds of salt fish per week (which
is found positively ir)urious) and some salt and wood,
with accommodations lor cooking. No regard is paid to
the number of Coolies put on board, and the owners may
cram their vessels as much as they think fit. Thus, while
every precaution is taken on the voyage from India to the
Mauritius through the humane exertions of the Bengal
authorities, the very reverse is the case on the voyage
back. The Government of India is totally powerless in
this matter, and the local writers urgently call for inter-
ference of the home government. In two ships, it seems,
no less than 61 persons have perished.
EXECUTION BY THE GUILLOTINE.—On the Bth inst.,
Pierre Lescure, who was accused of the murder of his fa-
ther, but not brought to trial for want of sufficient evi-
dence, and who has since been condemned to death for
making away with his uncle, was executed at Riom (Puy-
de-Dome.) The circumstances attending the execution
were most horrifying. Being a man of herculean strength,
he was bound in prison with an unusual weight of chains.
It required at least half an hour for the smiths to unrivet
them. Lescure was much weakened by his confinement,
and assistance was offered to him in walking to the
scaffold ; but he declined it and went forward, and
even ascended the ladder with a firm step. Fearing
resistance, the executioners of St. Fleur and Moulins
were called in to aid the executioner of Riom. When
Lescure appeared on the platform, his tall and athletic
person towered above them and the priest who attended
him. Unfortunately he was not bound with sufficient force
to the swing-board, which was also too short for his length,
so that his neck went beyond the groove, and the axe,
when loosened, fell on the wood of the frame, and only
wounded its intended victim. Upon this, the executioner
from St. Fleur got astride on the bead of Lescure, but
the convict struggled from the grasp, and breaking his
bands, rose again, with his shoulders and breast covered
with his blood, his face flushed, and his eyes haggard,
uttering cries that struck terror to the breast of every
spectator. The priest approached the wretched man,
and, presenting to him the image of Christ on the cross,
succeeded by his exhortations in prevailing on him to again
submit to be bound. Again the axe fell, and sgain
missed its mark, only enlarging the first wound. Lescure's
cries became st ll more astounding. The people shouted
with indignation, and, pressing round the scaffold, were
on the point of overcoming the Gendarmerie in attend-
: ance, while the priest, whose surplice was covered with
blood, embraced and did all in his power to console the

mutilated man. The three executioners were for a time

paralysed but at last one of them mustered resolution
to fix the devoted head in a proper position, and the axe,

already streaming with blood, fell a third time, and com:
pleted its task. The three executioners are, it is said, to
be dismissed from their offices.—Galignani's Messenger.

IRELAND.

It is calculated that the O'Connell tribute this year wil
reach £30,000.
REPEAL ASSOCIATION.—Tbe proceedings at the Con
ciliation Hall, on Monday, were totally devoid of all in,
terest, save the amount of the rent, which was £2,135.

On the 24th ult. two soldiers and a girl of bad charac-
ter were drowned in the Shannon by the upsetting of a
boat.

LORD Dc GREY.—The Earl and Countess De Grey
will leave the Viceregal Lodge this (Tuesday) morning,
and go by railway to Kingstown, and embark at half-past
eleven for Liverpool. Lord Heytesbury is expected to
enter on the duties about the 21st instant.

" On Saturday morning," says a writer in the Warder,
"Mr. O'Connell commenced his great literary labour—
his Life and Times,' or by what other style and title his
projected autobiography is to be distinguished, employing
Mr. O'Neill Daunt as his amanuensis."

BRUTAL OUTRAGE.—The Claddah men, as a race of
fishermen, in Galway, are called, brutally attacked a rev.
gentleman and others, last week, for attempting to fish in
the bay, the monopoly of which they claim. They cut
away the sails, &c., and sent them adrift. Fortunately,
the rev. gentleman and his companions were picked up by
a vessel passing.
DISCOVERY OF PIKES.—On the 25th ult. a girl named
Murphy went into Kildavin Grove, Carlow, to gather
broken sticks, and while walking on a ditch in the grove,
she saw secreted among the briars some iron bound up
with hay-ropes. On unfolding the parcel, she discovered,
to her astonishment, two newly-made and completely-
finished pikes, such as those so much in requisition in
1798.

PoTA.TOIC RIOTS.—On Thursday a very serious riot
took place at the Quay. Mr. Thomas Dobbin was ship-
ping potatoes for Liverpool on board a vessel, and the
quay-porters and townsmen gathered, and prevented the
shipment. The police were sent for, and directed the
owners of the potatoes to proceed with them to the ves-
sel, and that they would be protected. They refused to
do so, being afraid of the mob. Had they attempted to
go on with the shipment the consequences would have
been serious.—Sligo Journal.
BARBERISING PAUPERS.—We often said God help
the poor ! And who is there that will not respond Amen,
when we tell him of the prison discipline of the Dunman-
way guardians of the poor? It was resolved last Satur-
day by those humane, Christian gentlemen, that all the
women were to be " cropped," their hair cut close—thus

THE ‘LIV,,,ERPOOL STANDARD,