The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-12-20 00:00:00

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

A MEMBER of Tkiti 'fRADEs' UNroNS.—A journeyman tai-
lor, named Sherwood, was brought before Mr. Chambers, on
Monday, charged with having violently assaulted a young
man belonging to the same trade.
The complainant's statement was, that, on Saturday even-
ing, he met the defendant, and was accused by him of having
procured his dismissal from a shop at which he hid been em-
ployed. Words ensued and he was struck and kdocked down
several times by the defendant, who continued to ill-use him
until the police came to his assistance.
The defendant, iu reply to the charge, said he certainly did
accuse the complainant of getting, him out of work, as he had
very good evidence that such was the fact. The complainant,
after denying the charge, abused him grossly, and struck the
first blow. The policeman who took him into custody certainly
witnessed him strike the complainant* in the street, but he did
not see the commencement of the affray, which took place in
Cooke's Circus, where they had ~,-rone for the purpose of being
" sworn in" as members of the Union.
Mr. Chambers—Sworn in ! and pray what is •the raature of
the oath you took?
The defendant appeared here to recollect hiniself, and endea-
voured to explain away his observation by saying that he meant
that he was " initiated."

Mr. Chambers then proceeded to put questions to the defend-
ant, to elicit the nature and the object of the Uuion, but the
answers were purposely evasive.
Mr. Chambers then asked the complainant, who was • also a
newly-elected member of the Union, what were the rules he had
been required to swear to?
Complainant—The rules are not yet printed. There is no
oath required to bz. taken that I am eware of ?
On your oath, was there not a Bible presented to you to
kiss ?—I did not see any Bible, nor was I required to kiss any
book. I was blindfolded when first introduced.
Mr. Chambers Were there any persons with swords ?
There might be such things.
What was required of you?—To maintain the interests of
our trade? _ _

I suppose by that was meant that our coats were to be 'made
as dear as possible. What was the price you fixed upon for
making a coat ?—We did not fix any price; we only agreed
that we would have six shillings a day f'or "day-work.
Is not one of your rules to this effect—that if a stranger.
not a member of your Union, is engaged by a master tailor,
you would not permit him to work?—'i es, it is. The members
would not work 'with any one who is -not a member of: "Owe.
of the a
Unions, and it would soon be, discovered if the appli-
cant was not Member, as all the Unions' are in "cOrrespondence.
Mr. Chambers said it was quite clear the parties had,become
members of one of those conspiracies which had so extensively
spread of late among the working classes.
The complainant declared that he would no longer be a .mern-
ber of a society to which the defendant belonged, as it would
be a disgrace to him. The defendant had deserted his wife and
family, and had taken up with a common prostitute.
The defendant denied this, but
Mr. Baker, inspector of the C division, informed the magis-
trate it was quite true, for a well-known prostitute had brought
him his breakfast to the station-house, and when his wile came
to him, to ask if she could assist him in any way, he treated
her with the coarsest brutality.
Mr. Chambers said, it appeared that the Trades' Unions
were not at all particular as to the character of the members
they admitted. From what had been stated, he thought the
defendant a very fit object of admission into one of these
Unions.

The defendant was, on the decision of two magistrates, fined
40s. for the assault.

PROTESTING CORPORATIONS.

The Corporation of Ludlow, following the example of that of
Norwich, Maidstone, Lichfield, and other ancient Protestant
bodies corporate, has recorded its protest against the legality of
the Lord Chancellor's municipal law commissioners.
On Friday last Messrs. Hogg and Wilkinson opened their
commission in the Guildhall of Ludlow, when

" Edmund Lechmere Charlton, Esq. said he must now intro-
duce himself. to their notice as holding the situation of High
Bailiff of the corporation of Ludlow; and he had to announce
in the first place that he was directed by that corporation to
protest against the legality of the present commission; he was
directed to do this not from any want of those feelings of respect
which ought to exist towards the authority under which the
commission was issued, as well as to those by whom it was in tha
course of being carried into effect, but lest, if this were as a
matter of course submitted to, further encroachments might
hereafter be attempted. If there was one duty that he had to
discharge under the oath that he had taken to 'the corporation
of Ludlow, by which he felt' more constrained than another, it
was that he should keep secret their records; and he therefore
felt happy that, in the terms of their resolution,by which the pro-
test against the commission was made, he should still be able
to place that part of his oath on the shelf, and to put himself
under the obligation of another oath which the commissioners
were about to administer, and thus,. as far as in him lay, to
facilitate the present inquiry, so that the Legislature might be
enabled to frame an act of Parliament that should hereafter
prevent the possibility of a corrupt corporation continuing in
existence, and that the name of a corrupt corporation should no
longer be known. He had but one further remark to make, and
that was, that in order to facilitate the iaquiry he trusted ail per-
sons present would preserve the most strict silence and decorum;
and he must ask the commissioners, as a favour, but with the
same object, and to prevent frivolous annoyances, ,that. ail
questions that were to be put to the members of the body cor-
porate or their officers, should be put throught the commis-
sioners."

"Mr. Wilkinson asked if there was a corporation meeting held
to authorise the protest referred to ?—Mr. Charlton- said there
was; and then tho commissioners requested a copy 'of the pro-
test, and that the entry of the same on the books of the corpora-
tion should be read.

".John Williams, Esq., the town-clerk, read the,entrT as fol-
lows:—' It being a subject of notoriety that a coMmission • has
been issued, directing an inquiry into divers matters connected
with corporations of cities and boroughs within Great Britain—
Resolved,—That it is desirable the officers of this corporation
should have instructions for their guidance in the event of the
commissioners arriving in this town.—That the high and low
bailiffs be requested to wait upon the commissioners and record
the solemn protest of the body corporate assembled this day, to
the commission, as being illegal; but, having discharged that
duty, they be directed to inform the commissioners they are dis-
posed, under the circumstances, to offer no impediMent whatever
to every fair investigation.' "

The commissioners, then proceeded in the inquiry secundem
artem.

If Mr. Charlton be a lawyer he must know that the oath un-
der the obligation of which he voluntarily placed himself, is a nul-
lity; and that an oath administered on any but a legal occasion,
and before a legally constituted authority, is a direct violation
of an act of Parliament formed expressly to prevent illegal oaths.
If, therefore, the commissioners.have no right to compel him to
give evidence on oath, no prosecution for perjury can be main-
tained against him, supposing that he perjured himself. Again,
suppose Mr. Charlton were cognizant of, or a party to, any mal-
practices in the borough of Ludlow. An exculpatory or a self-
criminating oath is in either case bad, and contrary to all our
received notions of English law and justice.

The chief commissioner, Mr.Blackburne, who is now engaged
in executing bis office on the Corporation of London, begins to
entertain doubts, or perhaps Sir Edward Sugden may have sup-
plied the learned gentleman's noble and learned friend with a
little law on the subject. However this may be, in his address
to the good people of London, he said,

" He understood that some difficulty had arisen from the
clause in the commission empowering the cbmrnissioners to ad
minister an oath, and that it would be objected to by some
necessary witnesses to be sworn. The commissioners had not the
slightest wish to administer an oath, for he was quite sure that
no man would come forward to state anything which was not
founded in truth, and therefore the cornmisstiiners would not
pucany party to his oath."

We hear that the Earl and Countess of Chesterfield intend to
remain about six weeks in Paris.

Earl Cadogan, or Lord Radstock, is expected to succeed the
late lamented Viscount Exmouth, as naval aide-de-camp to his
Majesty. Both their lordship s bold the same rank, that is, cap-
tain, and are at present at the head of the list of extra aide-de-
camps to the King. There are no emoluments attached to the
office of naval aid .de-camp to the sovereign.
The Marquis and Marchioness of Londonderry have given
up all idea of visiting the French capital this,Winter; they will
remain at Wynyard until after Christmas, at Which festive sea-
son they will keep open house. A select party of friends, in-
cluding the
.young Earl of Eglintown, Viscount Chelsea, son
of Earl Cauogau, the lion. Arthur Trevor, &c., have been
recently visitants at Wynyard. The youuffiSeount-Seahani,
an 'Eaton scholar, hai left -tioldernesse Hottie, to spend the
holydays with his noble parents in the north.

Viscountess Canning has taken on lease (orTurchased) the
mansion in Grosvenor-square, so many years the abOde of the
late Lady Julia Petre, at whose demise it beeame the property
of the present Lord Petre. Her ladyship, we believe, and her
daughter the Marchioness of Clanricarde, are now on a visit to
.the Duke and Duchess of Portland, at \Velbeek, Nottingham-
shire.

The Hon. William Henry Tennison Pery; second son of
Lord Gleutworth, and grandson to the Earl of Limerick, fills
the comparatively subordinate office of clerk-to_-the post-master
at Sydney (New South Wales). Mr. Pery is a young gentle-
man, in his 22d year, and his aunt is Latlylleodosia Spring
Rice, the lady of the secretary of the treasury._
BERWICK.—ECONOMY !—Some weeks ago government sent
down the Hon. Captain _Duncan to inspect the state of the
Ordnance Department here. It is well knaWn that the" walls"
which belong to the Ordnance office are a very great bar to the
improvement and prosperity of the town. Captain Duncan, we
understand, stated that, he would it:commend government to
give the whole, or at least a part of them, up. 'I he north wall
at.least ought to be taken down, and the sooner the better.—
Whether crovernment intend to give up the -walls or nut we
cannot tell; but they have done sotnethingthe,y have made a
beginning—they have ordered the flag-staff. to be struck, and
the flag and the pJe awl the rope to be laid in-store !—" the
poor flag-staff!" says some one ;'but it is. not the poor flag-
staff, ij is the poor government. This is economy. It will save
(we suppose) the sixpences or the shillings which some old
veteran was wont to receive for hoisting the flag on Sundays
and on holydays. IVl'e are strong advocates for economy, and
would have had_government to carry it a little farther. We
would have had theta to sell the pole and the flag, and the rope,
. instead of laying them in store.—Berwick Advertiser.

STIRLING tIERIFF'S COUR T.—COMB INA ZION LA WS.—A
Criminal Court was held at Stirling on Wednesday week, at
which the Sher' -Depute, Mr. Macdonald 'of Staff's , presided.
Thomas Stoddatt, James.Roup, and William Marshall, all, ap-
prentices in the .ernplovment of Messrs. D. and H. Inglis,
calicd-Printers at I..irti..ai-d9eld, were accused at the instance of
.
the Procurator with having, upon the 30th day of No-
vember last, by threats and intimidation, molested and obstruct-
ed, in :.he regular cours 1-Ofhis business, Hubert Taylor, foreman
to the said Messrs. afand 11. Inglis, for the purpose of forcing
him to give, or contilibute , or pay a certain sum or sums of
money for the supporZ.:,-.0 certain journeymen orother printers,
•
at least to a common iumNor the support of these printers. The
prisonerspleaded nut but the evidence adduced was so
.ult in finding the prisoners
clear
that
the sheriff had- no alt
guilty, who were sentenced. tok be imprisoned .in Stirling Gaol
bt. the period of one month.

Ebt Eiberpool Atantlarb.

FRIDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 20, 1831

A morning ministerial journal of London has been la-
bouring hard for some time to provoke a war between.,
England and Russia. Whether the war-note which it
sounds is composed in Downing:street we are unable to
tell. Whether the complaints it utters, or the griev-
ances it dwells upon, or the abhorrence of autocratic
despotism which it now deprecates almost daily, receives
its impulse from some craven minister behind the cur-
pin, is an important question which we must leave time
and events to decide. All we know is, that the Times is a
ministerial paper, and that it never drops a hint or -
sounds an alarm without cause, whether that cause be.
merely instructions to threaten, or instructions to inti'
mate the course of policy about to be pursued. We ob-
serve also by the journals received last night, that the
Russian and Austrian ambassadors have had an inter-
view with Lord PALMERSTpN, and it LS stated that the-
object of the conference was the unsettled position of af-
fairs in the east of Europe.
Questionless the affairs, in the east, as far as •Englalld•
is concerned, are, in a very disjointed state; but in what
other part of the world, where the people of this CO'llo
-try are interested, are they otherwise ? In our immen'e
territories beyond the Cape—in our western possessi°lls
—in Portugal--in the Low Countries--and, last not least!
in Turkey and Greece—we are embroiled by revolution-
ary movements, acts of usurpation, rash innova.tiolg'
discontented subjects, or by Some hostile and injurions
interruptions of our trade and commerce. Whatever
the Whig ministers of England have touched, they have
polluted or destroyed. Wherever they have interfered'
mischief and civil war have sprung up. Whatever the,
have failed to overthrow by hostile aggressions, theY
have injured by their ignorant 'interposition. For years.
to the serious detriment of our trade, the have covertly
supported the pretensions of a mercenary adventurer rn
Portugal—who has already been kicked out of one killg-
dorn seemingly to produce confusion in another—who i"
supported by foreign bayonets, in the hands of foreign
miscreants, and whose confederated object—the object at
the employer and the employed—is plunder. In -1101-
land and Belgium the same pernicious interference of
the Whigs has produced 'the same disastrous conse-
quences. They have placed a worthless and heartleso
pensioner of England upon what is'waggishlv called the
" throne" of Belgium, and they connive at the payment
of his pension, which he Pretended to resign, in order
to support him upon that mockery of a throne. Thief
well know that the so-called KING of the Belgians is a
mere satrap of Lours PHILIPPE-a paltry tool in the
hands of a revolutionary tyrant, who is governing France
at this moment with a more iron rule than ever was ex-
erted by the most absolute of its BOURBON monarcbs'