The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-04-23 00:00:00

not cease their warnings and their efforts until it

can no longer be said of this great country that her
imposing fabric of strength is rotten at the founda-
tion, and that her very existence amongst the nations
of the earth is purchased at the cost of the misery and
the degradation of the great mass of her people.
Such a spirit is abroad. It prevades all ranks,
all classes of men. It has spoken in Parliament,
intelligibly and loudly, its resolves. It has spoken
in these multitudinous meetings throughout the
factory districts; and its voice must not be disre-
garded, its will may not safely be thwarted. It

cares not for parties or for ministers, it values not
relationships or friendships; for it feels that the
righteousness, the justice, and the necessity of the
end which it has in view—the physical and moral
regeneration of an entire people—are paramount to
all these. We ask of Sir Robert Peel, can it be a
slight movement, a mere political or party whim,
which brings the peer and the labourer, the beneficed
clergyman and the Romish priest, the millowner
and the factory drudge upon the same platform to-
gether ? It cannot be such. It is a movement
which must go on ; which, if yielded to, in time, and
guided aright, may go on peacefully and safely,
spreading gladness and happiness along its path ;
but which, if madly and obstinately resisted, may be-
come a torrent, tracking its course with desolation.
Surely Sir Robert Peel is not the statesman by
whom such a movement would be resisted !

We have given in another column the proceedings
before the Parliamentary Committee of the House
of Commons upon the Liverpool Dock Bill; and
may now with some degree of confidence congratu-
late our readers that, notwithstanding the ques-
tionable manoeuvres by which it has been opposed
by certain gentlemen on the other side of the water,
the success of the bill is now placed beyond a
doubt. The evidence, and the address of counsel
for the opposition, were concluded on Friday, and at
about a quarter to four o'clock the committee was
cleared of strangers, and proceeded to consider the
question of the preamble. At four, however, the
speaker was announced to be at prayers, and an ad-
journment was carried until yesterday, when, no
doubt, the decision would be given. We are in-
formed, on good authority, that the principle of the
bill to its fullest extent is already acknowledged by
the committee; and that the adjournment was only
for the purpose of settling some details, not affecting
at all the measure itself.

We might have here offered a few remarks with
respect to the proceedings of the party who have
constituted the opposition to this bill ; but the sub-
ject is so ably treated elsewhere by a gentleman who
was present during the proceedings, and who has
given us his impressions, under the head of " A
Scene in a Parliamentary Committee," that we refer
the curious reader to the article in question, the
faithfulness of which we believe will be acknow-
ledged.

THE MANCHESTER GUARDIAN AND THE LONDON
REPORTERS.—Our Manchester contemporary has taken
to task the reporters of the illnrning Post and the Times
for what he asserts to be the " dishonesty" of their resorts
of the various meetings which have recently been held in
the manufacturing districts upon the subject of the Ten
Hours' Bill ; and with respect to one of those meetings,
held on Thursday in Manchester, adduces a few alleged
"exaggerations," unimportant if they are exaggerations,
and gives by way of contrast to the report in the London
papers a garbled and one-sided report of his own, which,
if he had wished to prove his own utter unworthiness of
trust as a faithful reflector of men and opinions in his own
locality, could not have been better framed for bringing
about such a conviction. We do not suppose, however,
that the Guardian had any such object in view. He
aimed mainly, no doubt, to strike, by a sidewind, at the
advocates of humanity to the poor—to furnish something
which the utilitarians of the House of Commons could
lay hold of to advance their views ;—and possibly he might
be influenced by a slight feeling of spleen at observing
that, by the presence of competent reporters, of known
reputation, who could not be supposed to be warped by
local ties or party interests, his occupation, as a distorter
of facts and opinions in the manufacturing districts, was
interfered with. Our contemporary, however, surely for-
gets, though the public do not, how poor is the general
estimation of his accuracy and fairness as a reporter ; and,
that whilst it is quite reasonable that such journals as the
Times and the Post should prefer sending their own re-
porters to receiving the proceedings of important public
meetings from second-hand sources, the public wall not
believe art impeachment of their accuracy from such a
witness. It is not so very long since the Guardian, for his
grossly unfair, and dishonest reporting, was refused ad-
mission at all meetings of Conservatives in his district ;
and we are not aware that he is much improved at present.
His report of this Manchester meeting is, at 'all events,
no proof of such improvement.
ADULTERATION OF EXCISEABLE ARTlCLES.—lncon-
sequence of the adulteration of various exciseable com-
modities having been carried on to a serious extent, the
commissioners of excise have issued bills calling the
attention of the public to the existing legal enactments on
the subject, and notifying their intention to enforce the
penalties upon manufacturers and dealers in every case in
which they may be detected in infringing the law. For
this purpose the several acts of parliament on the subject
are quoted, and from these it appears that the articles
are tobacco and snuff, beer, tea, coffee, chocolate and
pepper, all of which, it seems, are frequently so seriously
adulterated, or made up with other ingredients, as to de-
fraud the revenue, and to cheat if not to poison the con-
sumers. The following are the heads :—ln manufacturing
tobacco no other material or liquid is to be used than
water, or water and salt, or alkaline salts only, or lime
water in Welsh or Irish snuffs, under a penalty of £lOO.
In manufacturing tobacco water only, or in roll tobacco
water and oil only are to be used, under the same penalty.
No person shall cut, grind, pound, colour, stain, dye, or
manufacture any leaves, herbs, or plants, moss, weed, or
wood, chicory, commings, or roots of malt, &c., to be
mixed with tobacco and snuff so as to resemble them,
under a penalty of two hundred pounds and the forfeiture
of all tools and utensils used for that purpose. Beer and
worts it appears are adulterated with molasses, honey,
liquorice, vitriol, quassia, coculus indite, grains of paradise,
Guinea pepper, opium, calx, &c.•' as a substitute for malt
and hops. The penalty here is £lOO with forfeiture of
the casks or vessels. The selling of these articles to any
brewer renders the party liable to a fine of £5OO, and the
Penalties extend to beer retailers. Adulterating tea with
terra japonica, or any oiher drug or substance other than
leaves of tea, £lOO. Using in tea sloe leaves, liquoirice
leaves, leaves of tea that have been used, &c., or dying or
colouring any leaves for that purpose, £lO. Using burnt,
scorched, or roasted peas, beans, or other grain or vege-
table substance to mix with or resemble coffee or cocoa,
£lOO. Manufacturing substances in imitation of pepper,
and mixing the same with pepper, penalty £lOO.

MEETING OF THE SHOPKEEPERS ASSISTANTS.-011
Wednesday last, at the early hour of six o'clock—the par-
ties being unable to attend during the day or evening—a
numerous meeting of the shopkeeper's assistants was held
in the Music-hall. Mr. Flower was called to the chair,
and after referring to the proceedings in the same place in
the last week, and urging. those present to maintain the
best feelings towards their employers, and to give them
their best services—no injury to them being contemplated
by the assistants.—He said that resolutions would be sub-
mitted to them ; one was a vote of thanks to a long list of
powerful friends, by whose means their cause had been
made to occupy its present proud position. The next is a
vote of thanks to the gentlemen who had been appointed
by the inhabitants to act as a committee to promote the
closing of all shops at seven o'clock on every evening, and
throughout the year. (Cheers.) The last was to agree to
a memorial to the employers. The first resolution was
proposed in an able address by Mr. T. A. Jackson, and be-
ing seconded by Mr. Reynolds, was carried unanimously.
The second was proposed by Mr. Mirams, seconded by
Mr. W. B. Jones and also carried. Mr. Murphey moved
a memorial to the employers, in doing which he took oc-
casion to eulogize, in very eloquent terms, the persevering
and unwearied labours of the chairman in the cause of the
oppressed assistants. His remarks drew forth loud and
long-continued cheering. The resolution was seconded
by Mr. J. B. Jackson, and was similarly carried, (These
resolutions will be found in an advertizement in another
column.) The chairman then read a list of subscriptions
collected on the platform at the last meeting, and which
amounted to a considerable sum. (Each name was re-
ceived with considerable cheering.) He added that he
had called on the mayor in company with Mr. John
Smith of the Mercury, and that his Worship has kind-
ly consented that the meetings of the commitiee should be
held at the Town-hall. This announcement was heard
with loud cheers. A collection was then made, and
amounted to a considerable sum. Mr. H. M, Addey
then exhibited a list of forty booksellers, who had signed
an agreement to close at seven in the evening, throughout
the year. A vote of thanks was then passed to the chair-
man, and the meeting separated at a quarter before eight
o'clock.

SUDDEN DEATII.—An inquest was held before Mr.
Curry yesterday on view of the body of Thomas Mc
Mahon, aged 21. He had for the last fortnight com-
plained of a pain in his head, and on Saturday morning
when he was in the act of going to shave himself, be
put his hands to his head and said, " God bless me !"
and was about to fall, when he was caught hold of. He
immediately became quite insensible. A surgeon was
sent for but he never rallied, and died in about five
hours afterwards. Verdict " Death from natural causes."

VESTRY AFFAIRS.

It has long been apparent that the principal animus in
the radical faction in our Select Vestry was a feeling of
violent hostility to the principles and religion of the
Established Church. Wherever an opportunity has of-
fered itself of levelling insult against the clergy of that
church, such opportunity has been eagerly seized upon ;
and, in particular, it has delighted certain gentlen..en, who
are in the habit of selecting the question of education for
their stalking horse, to worry and misrepresent the rev.
chaplain of the Workhouse—Mr. Cragg. Against this
gentleman the -radical guardians—the superlitively en-
lightened of the Vestry—have again and again imputed
neglect of the spiritual and moral training of the children
under his care, which, as a minister of the Gospel, anxious
to fulfil his highly responsible office, must have injured
him seriously in the estimation of the world, bad that
world not valued at their proper worth the motives and
spitefulness of his accusers. Such charges, however,
Mr. Cragg found no difficulty in rebutting to the
satisfaction of the board, bis vituperators being
alone impervious to conviction ; and at length a more
direct and specific accusation—one, too, of a grave cha-
racter—was raked up by the very erudite ex-member for
Gibraltar Ward—Mr. Bright. This wise and most
modest individual, at a recent meeting of the Vestry,
charged the chaplain with having improperly omitted
to carry out a resolution of the Workhouse Committee,
directing him to supply certain books to the Low-hill
School. Such a charge, involving as it did an amount of
delinquency which would have rendered him unworthy of
the responsible office which he filled, Mr. Cragg thought
it his duty to rebut by immediately calling upon Mr.
Bright, at the Workhouse Committee, to withdraw it, as
founded upon a complete misrepresentation of facts, or to
afford him an opportunity of being heard in self-vindica.
tion. In reply to this demand the worthy vestryman only
shuffled (in which course we are sorry to learn that he was
justified by the dictum of the conservative chairman of
the committee—Mr. Riding—to the effect that the chap.
lain " had no right to come into the room as he had done,
nor to call upon any member to account for his conduct")
—no right to repudiate a false imputation !—and, as the
only resource left him, Mr. Cragg was driven to make a
statement in his own defence in the Liverpool Standard.
It must here strike any unprejudiced mind as a most
preposterous principle to be upheld by any body of men,
that a minister of the Church of England—holding, too, a
situation which for its efficient discharge calls eminently
for the confidence and support of those having the manage-
ment of the parish affairs, and of his flock as well—should
he compelled to submit, without even the attempt to re-
pudiate it, to whatever unjust or unfounded imputation
radical malignity may choose to forge against him. Yet
such is the principle attempted to be set up by Mr. Bright
at the last Vestry meeting, the proceedings of which ap-
pear to be reported in the Mercury by himself, the mantle
of Mr. Urquhart—we should perhaps say the post of pimp
for the Popish press—having fallen upon his shoulders.
We contend that a gentleman in Mr. Cragg's position
has every right to take care that his actions are not mis-
represented to the world, and his character as a minister
of the Gospel injured by false statements of facts. He
was accused of having designedly—or at all events repre-
sented in the one-sided reports of the Vestry proceedings
furbished up by the radical papers as having designedly--
acted in direct contravention of an express instruction
conveyed to him ; and however much we may on all occa-
sions be disposed to pay deference to the opinions of Mr.
Rector Campbell, we cannot think that a man is to be
termed " over sensitive " because he is not disposed to
rest quietly under a charge so grievous and damaging.
Even so far as he has been permitted to go in his effort at
vindication, some portion of the truth has oozed out—
quite sufficienttoshow theincorrectnessof M r. Bright's ori-
ginal statement. In the report referred to, the admission has
been made that the resolution said to have been wilfully
evaded "was not so specific as it might have been ;" that
"it was drawn up so as to appear to justify Mr. Cragg in
what he had done—namely, in ordering a few more Testa-
ments and Catechisms into the school" (it is not said too
few); and the public know sufficiently the danger, where
radicals have the power to carp and cavil at the actions of
their officials, of exceeding the requirements of unspecific
resolutions, to enable them to justify that gentleman in
confining himself to their strict letter.
We refrain from entering into any lengthy comment
upon the remarks of Mr. Rector Campbell upon this
matter,—to the effect that "it was not proper either in
him or any other person holding office under the Vestry to
call upon any member of the board for any such explana-
tions as Mr. Cragg had done, when, as in this case, Mr.
Bright had not exceeded the just and proper bounds of
free discussion : it was better to let such things pass as
matters of course, than to embroil himself in any such
controversy,"—because we much suspect that no such
language can have been uttered by that reverend gentle-
man. Mr. Campbell must be aware of the hostile animus
existing, on the part of certain officials within the Work-
house, towards the chaplain, as the representative there
of the clergy of the Establishment ; and the proceedings
at the recent Easter Vestry sufficiently show to what
length the indulgence of that animus would be protected
by the radical portion of the Vestry ; and we are confident,
therefore, that he would not have every insolent and lying
story which can be trumped up by such men, for the pur-
pose of damaging the objects of their bitter hate, to go
forth is the public, through the medium of the distorted
reports of the radical press, and at the same time deny tothe
injured parties such redress as the eliciting of the truth
would afford them.
Before leaving the subject of these Vestry proceedings,
we must submit that the time has arrived ..hicb entirety
justifies, if, indeed, it does not insist upon, the admission
of reporters-for the press to their meetings. It is plain
that, notwithstanding the retirement of Mr. Urquhart, we
are still to have those proceedings conveyed in a partizan
form to the public ; and it appears that there is no alter-
native left for those who wish the truth only to be reported
than the resort to authorised and responsible reporters.
We should gladly have escaped the adoption of this course.
We have already, as journalists, sufficient employment of
the kind, and plenty of talkative bodies ; but we do begin
to think that it would be conducive to the public good
now to yield to the necessity of our position. Such a
course would not, as is imagined, lead to any great in-
crease of speechifying. The sensible business men of the
Vestry would certainly not talk more than at present, and
the little which they do say would go forth ro the world
and produce its proper impression : whilst the chattering
jays of the radical fa,;tion would perhaps talk less if they
knew that the world would have the opportunity of
canvassing their inflated nothings, genuine as uttered.
Another point, too, we would seriously and strongly
urge, and welhave a right to do so as having first mooted
its propriety and justice. Admit the respectable news-
papers of the town—all the newspapers—to the Work-
house. Allow the unfortunate victims of poverty to learn
what prospects there are for them in the world outside
their prison-house. Let them feel that they are still our
fellow-men—still citi ens—still human beings with human
feelings and interests. Let the Vestry obey that
sacred ordinance that they should do to others as
they would that others should do unto them. It may be
that such indulgence should not be indiscriminatingly
granted ; that it should not be permitted to interfere with
the proper industrial regulations of such an establishment
as is a workhouse under the new poor law system. The
privilege may, however, be made a reward of industry
and orderly conduct; and, so far from being calculated to
produce disorder or disaffection, the reflection that they
are still recognised as belonging to humanity may infuse
right feelings and virtuous energy into the minds of many
who are now hopeless and despairing. We urge this re-
spectfully, in the full conviction of its propriety and
justice; and though we know the source from which op-
position will be suggested, the Vestry maw depend upon
it that there are motives for such suggestions other than
those so plausibly put forth. It is an evil and a cruelly
administered prison-house into which the light of day is
not sometimes permitted to enter

STREET ROBBERY.—A young man, named William
Ratcliffe, was yesterday, at the Police-court, committed
for trial for robbing a lad of a ss. paper of copper. The
boy (Brebner) is in the employ of Mr. Morris, butcher,
in Byrom-street. On Saturday night he was sent with a
loin of veal to a customer, and received the money. On
returning he was held by one fellow while the prisoner
took the money from him. It was found on the prisoner's
person when he was apprehended.
ROBBERY IN A HOUSE.—A young man of the name of
Edward Wright, was yesterday charged before Mr. Ruth-
ton, with having entered a dwelling-house inhabited by a
boot-closer and his wife, on Sunday night, and made
" preparations" for a theft. The wife had locked up the
front door and another, but was not sure that the back
door was bolted ; she went out at seven o'clock in the
evening, and returning about nine, she heard a nOiSe; and
called some neighbours, one of whom saw the prisoner
lower himself from a window above, and secured him.
He (prisoner) had removed some clothing in the upper
room, and threw down six skeleton keys. A small crow-
bar or " jemmy," which he had brought, was also picked
up, and it corresponded with marks on a chest which he
had attempted to force. A knife was also found. The
prisoner was committed for trial at the sessions.
PRESTON AND WYRE RAILWAY, HARBOUR AND
DOCK COMPANY.—The half-yearly meeting of the pro-
prietors was held at the company's office, Fleetwood, on
Thursday last, Clement Royds, Esq., in the chair. The
report showed an increase in the receipts for 1844 over
1843 of £3,847 ; and a decrease in the expenditure of 1844
compared with the previous year of £1,738. A satisfac-
tory arrangement was anticipated with the contiguous
lines leading south, by which irregularities in the trans-
mission of goods would be avoided ; and the directors have
therefore determined on providing, on an economical sys-
tem, increased harbour accommodation. Much advan-
tage to the company was also anticipated from the forma-
tion of the railway between Preston and Blackburn—for
which the required capital has been subscribed. The bill
for the Furness railway had also pissed the House of
Commons ; immediately on its receiving the royal assent
the pile pier will be commenced, and then open the traffic
of the district of Furness to Fleetwood. The report ob-
serves with satisfaction the commencement of additional
buildings in the town—noticing particularly the large
works of Messrs. Payne and Co. for payanizing timber.
From the encouragement that concern had received, both
from government and the public, it was hoped that a large
quantity of timber would be brought to Fleetwood to be
subjected to the process.—Sir PH. Fleetwood moved the
adoption of the report, which wa's unanimously agreed to.
The six retiring directors were re-appointed. In the
evening a large party of the
proprietors and their friends
sat down to a sumptuous dinner, at the North Euston
Hotel, Sir P. H. Fleetwood in the chair. The company
enjoyed themselves exceedingly, and separated, hoping
the nest half-year's report would be still more favorable.