The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-12-12 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

CORRESPONDENCE.
- *
GEOLOGY OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF

LIVER POOL

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD

SIR,—Mr. Gladstone, C.E., has made a communication
upon the above interesting subject, and as his remarks
corroborate my views of the district, I will restate them.
In the year 1844 I published a " History of the Coal
Trade" in this district, as well as extensive notices of the
coal fields of Lancashire and North Wales, with which I
had become intimately acquainted by professional acquire-
ment, and in that work is contained the following passage :
" I am not aware that the Lancashire coal field is thoroughly
explored, especially in the south-western division; the collieries
of Halsnead, Huston, and Prescott, are the furthest advanced
in that direction, and which are approaching the old red sand-
stone, beyond which the country has been very little explored
by boring. _ _ .

" An opinion seems to prevail that the red sandstone which
extends from this neighbourhood to Liverpool, and across
Cheshire, is indicative of a deficiency of coal; but it does not
appear that any trials have been made to such an extent as to
ascertain the fact; and it is matter of curious speculation, as
to whether there be any well-grounded assurance against coal
existing underneath the Liverpool red sandstone. Iconfess it
does not appear to me that there is, and I think that deep bor-
ings will hereafter prove a continuation between the Lancashire
and North Wales seam."

Now since the above publication I have ascertained
that the south workings of Torbock Colliery, near Huyton,
in Lancashire, met the red sandstone in the form of a
downthrow tronble, and beyond which they explored lit-
tle. The workings of the Ness Colliery, also in Cheshire,
were interrupted on their progress north by the red sand-
stone intervening in the shape of a downthrow tronble.
Now the whole of the intervening space being covered
by the red sandstone, of various hues, in some cases ap-
proaching to white, and the carboniferous strata of both
districts being clearly depressed at this juncture, leaves not
the least room for doubting that an immense coal field
underlies the red sandstone throughout the district,
as represented by the accompanying profile ;

1,-: '.. E: 's 4
..2 Ai ' 8 9: rial 4
T, U ''
' : . =
e
--"up:os
...............
Redeo Sandstone : ::::11:17tei0....;
......._L: :::
it ii /0 j
Formation. `'`.....—"-..„,,z......--=:-•'.
..._
...,. ........... ~...
-E. -- --.. ...... ---- ~..... ~.....--, -..
and the soft nature of the rocks, and the favourable posi-
tion in which they lie with respect to level, would warrant
an opinion that the coal would be very advantageous for
boring and mining. I therefore consider that the whole
problem is contained in the thickness of the red sand-
stone in the heart of the basin which appears to be the
'Jed of the river Mersey, in a similar manner to which the
river Dee is proved to be the centre of that part of the
Welsh basin, before it is thrown down by the intervention
of the red sandstone formation.

If, then, there be any truth in the above theory, how
important might not the speculation turn out for a few
principal proprietors of land, or capitalists, to unite in
putting down a borehole, contiguous to the river Mersey,
to the depth of 100 or 150 fathoms, under the manage-
ment of persons of practical knowledge and respectability ;
for if once the coal strata of the district is ascertained to
exist there, an unlimited supply would be laid open in the
most cheap and convenient position either for home con-
sumption or export.—Yours, &c

mArrs. DUNN,
Colliery Viewer

Newcastle-on-Tyne, Dec. 6, 1848,

ELIHU BURRITT ON DOING AWAY WITH

THE POLICE

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD,

SIR,—I went last night to hear Mr. Burritt, and as I
consider our police just bearable because they are neces-
sary, I think the community at large would feel most
grateful to that gentleman if he would favour the magis-
tracy with a few of the working details of his plan.
Mr. B.'s theory is a very beautiful one, if all seen were
virtuous, which remark will apply to many other modern
hallucinations. He very prettily illustrates the progress
of society, from its foundation by a single family to its
present enlarged and comprehensive structure, by com-
paring it to a sequence of concentric circles. Firstly, the
family circle, spreading into a village or township; se-
condly, the circle of towns, constituting a province or
county ; thirdly, the circle of counties, organized into a
state or nation ; and, fourthly, the circle of nations,
whose welfare can only be promoted by the cultivation of
the arts of peace and commerce. So far, so good. Peace
is always preferable to war. But Mr. Burritt says the
notion of an " armed peace" is an incongruity ; that con-
sequently the hedgehog has no need for his prickly coat,
or the rhinoceros for his bulky covering—that the lion in
future may be treated with as much respect if he doff his
shaggy mane and thrust himself into an ass's skin, as it
he still strutted with all the proud and dignified demean-
our of the forest king. Perhaps Mr. Burritt may be
right. Bat as he has shown us how society was origi.
nally formed, he had better endeavour to establish his
principle on the same basis, and begin with the first of
his concentric circles. Let him curb a wilful chilli with-
out the rod; let him keep a township in harmony without
a police; let him establish order in a county without a
magistracy ; let him rule a nation without law ; and then,
but not till then, I will acknowledge that there is some
probability of organizing peaceful relations throughout
the world, without the necessity of standing armies, or,
in other words, without the existence of au international
police.—l am, sir, &c., PAX.
December Bth, 1848.

But the statesmen of this enlightened age think that
they have devised a safer and a surer plan. It is this.
The Pope's co-ordinate authority is to be legalised, and
over him an influence is to be gained, through which the
Roman Catholic subjects of the empire are to be managed.
Now, the interests of the Papal See, and those of a Pro-
testant Monarch, are certainly not identical. Ordinary
minds believe them to be opposite. Roman Catholic
states find it necessary to defend themselves against Papsi
encroachments by the strictest regulations. And is it
likely that between our Protestant state and the Papacy
no causes of difference will arise ? What if they should
arise ? Could the state, in common justice, then turn
round and punish its Roman Catholic subjects for obeying
an authority which, for its own purposes, it would itself
have deliberately legalised ?
So long as the state refuses a division of authority, so
long it can justly assert its own, but let it once sanction
that division, too late it will discover its error.
The accidental weakness of the Pope, either personally
or as a temporal Sovereign, must not be confounded with
the spiritual strength of the Papacy. The Pope may be,
as some of his predecessors have been before, a dotard, a
captive, or an exile ; but, notwithstanding, the Papal
system has never ceased to enthrall its thousands in Eng-
land—its millions in Ireland. Impotent at Rome, the
Pope may still be all-powerful in Connaught.
The Papacy, be it remembered, has survived two infal-
lible co-existing Popes. During three parts of a century,
the Italian Pope was cursing the French Pope, and the
French Pope the Italian. The Papacy has survived the
captivity of Fontainebleau, and the insults of Napoleon ;
and even now, whilst trembling before the Roman rabble,
the Pope, notwithstanding the deprecatory language of
the Irish Viceroy, fears not to place under his ban the
whole government scheme of Irish education.
We say, therefore, be not betrayed into surrendering
the Queen's supremacy in the hope of furtive gain ; and
fear not to avow your wish that the Papal system may
disappear from Ireland, because you know that it cannot
co-exist with loyalty, happiness, and peace.
Further, do not confirm and strengthen that system by
making to it continually unprincipled concessions—by
giving " heavy blows and great discouragements to Pro-
testantism"—by placing on an equality with our British.
Queen the Roman Pontiff, or by truckling to a priest-
hood which despises you for your pusillanimity, and hates
you for your faith. _

The National Club is sometimes accused of a childish
fear of the Pope, through an exaggerated estimate of his
power. But, we ask, who are most fairly obnoxious to
the charge of over-rating the Papal power ? Those who,
denying the Pope's pretensions, would repel his inter-
ference, and despise his displeasure; or those who would
compromise our Protestant faith, and our English honour,
by crouching to that faith's inveterate foe, in invoking
extra-national assistance for managing the internal con-
cerns of the Queen's dominions ?
By the Committee,
W. H. BELLAMY, Sec.
Nov. 28, 1848.