The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-10-09 00:00:00

LONDON POLICE REPORT.

THAMES POLICE-OFFICE-MONDAY.

EXPENSIVU JUSTICE IN THE lifs.swl,Jso,tes.—Captain John
Lawrence, the master of the ship Caleb Angii, appeared before
Mr. Combs, on a summons to show cause why he refused to pay
the sum of £4 10s., the balance of wages claimed by Benjamin
Cooper, a seaman, for his services on Ward as a mariner from
Loudon to lionduras and back.
It appeared that the seaman had signed articles for £2 ss. a
mouth, and the net amount of his wages from the Ist of May,
1833, to the 22d of last month was £lO Ils. 6d. After deduct-
ing the amount of money advanced, tobacco, and hospital dues,
he claimed the balance above-named. The captain, however,
said there was a balance owing to him of £3 2s. 6d., and that be
had paid £7 9s. 6d, equal to £l2 Os. Rid. Jamaica currency, at
Belise, for Jaw expenses, incurred by the apprehension and
committal of the complainant ,to prison for Way slays, for an
•
assault on the captain.
. _ _

Cooper said he had ,been wrongly convicted, and objected to
paying such a large sum for law expenses.
The captain here handed up the vouchers for the payment of
the money, and a certificate under the hand and seal of Henry
A. GraY., Assistant Keeperof the Records at Belise, from which
it appeared that " Benjamin Coupe, had been brought before
William Muskat!, William H. Coffin, and William Walsh,
Esqrs: magistrates, at the Court House, Belise, on the 15th of
July, 1835, charged with baying ,asiaulted.Jobn Lawrence, cap-
tain of •the Caleb Angus, without cause or provocation. The
cOuziplaint was fully substantiated, and the prisoner was ordered
to be lopt in solitary confinement for four days, and to be fed
on bread and water only during that time, and then return to
his duty on board the said vessel. The expenses which have
beenincurred on the warrant to be 'Said in the first place by the
captain, and then to be deducted from the wages of the prisoner.
—H. A. Gray, Assistant Keeper of the Records, Record Office,
Belise, Honduras, Aug. 1, 1835."
Mr. COmbe said that with this document before him he could
not order the payment of the wages, but he could help remark-
ing that the law expenses were most exorbitant. The gaol fees
amounted to £1 16s. 81., inciudiug las. for four days' rations
(bread and water), and then he fouud that D. B. Lockward, au
officer of police, charked El for Cooper's apprehensiou, Ws.
fotl/4the warrant, audDs. for examining him. (Laughter.) 'l6e
bill of the Clerk of the Court, Thomas Miller, amounted to £4,
as folloWs :—Warrant and examination, '£l' lOs, ; attending
'magistrates at examination, El ;two subpoenas issued on part
of defendant, 10s.; and a certificate of order, £l." The last
bill made out was by L. M. Leman, Postmaster-General, "For
warning magistrates, &c., £3 2s. 2d." lie dmst say that it was
an extremely hard case on the sailor that he should be compelled
:to pay such enormous fees, which had swallowed up the whole
or his hard-earned wages. In London the expenses of a war-
rant, "apprehension, &c:, would only amount to 4s. or ss. He
was compelled to dismiss the case,
The sailor, who said he did not mean to deny the justice of
all the worthy magistrate had said, complained bitterly that he
had been dragged to a prison, he knew not for what, in the West
Indies, where anything urged by a common seaman was never
attended to as it was here, and that he had not a copper to
receive. . _ _

soon afterwards Mr. Broderip took his seat on the hen h, and
his colleague referred his attention to the documents, and the
enormous amount of the fees, amounting to £l2 West Indian
currency.
Mr. Broderip perfectly agreed with the decision of Mr.
Coombe, and also that the charges were most exorbitant. There
was one item very amusing, if it was possible to be amused at
such a charge—" For warning the magistrates, £3 2s. 2d."
(Laughter.) A reform was certainly wanting here.
Several cases of a similar nature have come under the notice
of the Thames Police magistrates, in which the whole amount
of seaman's wages have been swallowed up in fees to clerks and
police-officers in the West Indies in cases of trifling disputes
between sailors and captains. In one case which came under
the notice of the magistrates a short time ago, upwards of £l5
had been charged to the account of three seamen for fees in a
matter. disturbance on board ship at Jamaica. Among other
charges was one of £3 15s. "for apprehending three seamen
with a silver oar," "tor taking the men to gaol,16;" "for luck-
ing up the cage, 105.,_. " "copy pi' indictment £4.," and ether
exorbitant fees, including £5 for conveying tie men from the
gaol to the Court House and back.
Mr. Broderip said he recollected the case just referred to.
The situations of clerks of the peace and constables in the West
Indies must be very profitable ones.
.

GRATITUDE.—A very poor aged man, busied in planting and
grafting an apple tree, was rudely interrupted by this interro-
gation :
"Why do you plant trees, who cannot hope to eat the
fruit of them?" He raised himself up, and, leaning upon his
'spade,. replied—" Some one planted trees for me before I was
born; and I have eaten the fruit; I now plant for others, that
the memorial of my gratitude may exist when I am dead and
gone."—Education Journal.
PLAN OF FINANCIAL REFORNI IN PRIVATIi
know. the extravagant career of Mr. H—, but all are not
aware of his ingenious plan for stopping it. "Why do you riot
'do something or other ?" said a friend "you will he ruined if
you go on so." " r know ii," replied Mr. H—, "but I'll tell
you what lam going to do. I shall put an advertisement in
the papers, telling the people not to trust me, fur if they du they'
will certainly not be paid.

IN 'nit; PRESS.—" I am going to write a work on popular
ignorance," said young F. D. to Doctor F—e the other day..
"I know no one more competent," was the M.D.'s reply.
AN ARISTOCRATIC OSTLER.—At the late Doncaster races
an ostler had one a the small bones of 'Ms leg fractured by a
kick, and was making sad lamentationg during the time the sur-
geon was setting it to rights. "Do not make such a fuss about
a trifle," said the mendicus, "you will be right again in a few
days." "Do not think, Doctor," said the sufferer, " that I
should have uttered one word of complaint if the Queen of
Trumps, or any real good thortiugh-bred had broken both my
legs. iu a playful kick ; but to have even a small bone broken
by'a brute of a jackass is really too bad, and more than any re
spectable ostler can endure without complaining."

GOURMANDISM.—A man of property, who had for years been
abusing his stomach, at last found his health in a rapid decline.
Nature could endure it no longer. He went to consult the ce-
lebrated Dr. Spring, of Watertown, Mass. lie stated the symp-
toms of his case so clearly that the learned physician could not
mistake the nature of the disease. " I can cure you, sir," said
he, "if you will follow my advice." The patient promised most
implicitly to do so. "Now," says the doctor, "30A must steal
a horse." "What! steal a horse ?" "Yes, muststeal a horse.
You will then be arrested, convicted, and placed in a situation
where your diet and regimen will be such that in a short time
your health will be perfectly restored."—Literary Gatette.

INSTINCT OF A TCETLE.—A ship, which touched at the Island
of Ascension on her way to England, took in several large tur-
tle, and amongst them one which from some accident had only
three fins. It was in consequence called and known on board
the ship by the name of the " Lord Nelson." It was marked
in the usual way by having certain initials and numbers burnt
upon its under shell with a hot iron, and which marks are
known never to be obliterated. Owing to various causes the
ship was a long time on her passage homewards, a circumstance
which occasioned many of the turtle to die, and most of the rest
were very sickly. This was the case with the "Lord Nelson,"
and it was so nearly dead when the ship arrived in the channel,
that the sailors, with whom it was a favourite, threw it over-
board, in order, as they said, to give it a "chance." Its native
element, however, appears to have revived it, for, two years
afterwards, the very same turtle was again taken up at the
Island of Ascension. The proofs brought of the accuracy of
the statement place its authenticity beyond a doubt; and it
affords a mostextraordina_ry instance of that wonderful instinct
possessed by animals. When we consider the vast tract of
waters this turtle had to pass through, and that the Island of
Ascension is only a speck in the mighty ocean, it is impossible
not to reflect with wonderupon the uxexplained instinct which
enabled so unweildy and apparently so stupid an animal to find
its way back to its former haunts.
CELIBACY.—The following great names are enlisted in dis-
like of matrimony:—Newton, Locke, Boyle, Gibbon, Hume,Adam Smith, Harvey, Leibnitz, Bavle, Hobbes, Hampden,
Sir F. Drake, Earl of Essex, Pitt, Michael Angelo, the three
Caraccis, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Haydn, Handel,-Wolsev, Pas-
cal, Feuelon, De Henry, Pope, Akenside, Swift, Golaswith,
Gray, Collins, Thomson, and Jeremy Bentham. Among the
ancients, we find nearly all their gseatphilosophers:—Plato,
Pythagorus, Democritus, and Diogenes, The following distin-
guished mcu, though married. were unhappy in that state:—
Aristotle, Socrates, Pittacus, Periender, Eunpides, and Aris-
tophanes. Among the moderns:—Boccaccio, Dante, Milton,
Steele, Addison, Dryden, Moliere, Racine, Sterne, Garrick,
and Lord Bacon.— Womas as she is and ds she should be.
STEALING A PURSE.—Friday, at the Police Court, a woman
of decent appearance, named Elizabeth Sothern, was placed
before the magistrates, charged by Mary Bowman, a widow,
wbo keeps a grocer's shop in Toxteth-park, with having stolen
a purse, containing two sovereigns and eighteen shillings in
silver. From the statement of the prosecutnx it appeared that
the prisoner came to her shop on Thursday last, and offered for
sale a pair of scales, which she agreed to purchase, the prisoner
to receive a quantity of groceries in part payment, and the rest
in money. The bargain being thus concluded, the prisoner in-
quired whether she had any old scales or loose metal in her
possession as she had no objection to purchase it. She promised
to look, and went into the cellar fur that purpose, leaving the
prisoner alone in the shop. She (the witness) returned im-
mediately with an old pair of scales, which the prisOner
bargained for, and then went away. "ShOrtly. afterwards Mrs.
Bowman missed her purse, which she recollected laying on the
counter a short time before the prisoner came to her shop, shei
having but a short time before made a payment from it. Her
suspicion fell upon the prisoner, and upon information of the
robbery reaching the
.police, Davison, the officer, went iii
search, and succeeded in tracing her to a house iu Moor-fields,
where he found the prieoner.drunk in bed.- The stolen purse,
containing ss. lid. was found upon the prisoner, as well as a
large bundle of prints and some wearing apparel, which it is
supposed she had purchased with the money which was defici-
ent.—The prisoner acknowledged the theft, but excused herself
underthe plea of poverty. She was committed to the sessions.
ADVANTAGE OF A LARGE NEWSPAPER.—There is a curious
exposition in the Temps of the advantages of the larger size of
the English over the French journals. It is said, very justly,
that a sort of impartiality and comprehensiveness of view Of
the various interests of society is secured by this circumstance
alone. The English papers cannot be filled by mere party
politics; and the taste of readers for general news and variety
of topics is partly cause and partly effect of their present form
and dimensions. A French newspaper, on the other hand, is
althost filled by its leading article, and that is the manifesto, fur
the day of the party,to which it belongs. The French journals
are, therefore, much more exclusieely.political, and much more
made than ours of mere provocations to the party in power.
TtIR DINNEit TABLE.,—ho order dinner well is a matter of
invention and combination, It involves novelty, simplicity, and
•
taste ;'whereas in the generality of (tintless there is no character
but that of dull routine, according to the season. The same
things are seen every where at the same periods, and as the
rules for providing limit the range very much, there are a great
many good things which never make their appearance at all,
and a great many others which, being served in a fixed order,
are seldom half enjoyed; as, fur instance, game in the third
coarse, This reminds me of a dinner I ordered at Christmas-
day for two persons besides myself, and which we enjoyed very
much. It consisted of crimped cod, woodcocks, and p um-puct-
ding, just as much of each as we wanted, and accompanied by
champagne. Now this dinner was both very agreeable and very
wholesome from its moderation; but the ordinary course would
have been to have preceded the woodcocks by some substantial
dish, thereby taking away from their relish, and at the same
time overloading the appetite. Delicacies are scarcely ever
brought till they are quite superfluous, which is unsatisfactory
if they are not eaten, and pernicious if they are. When the ma-
terials and the cooking are both of the best, and dinner is served
according to the most approved rules of comfort, the plainest,
cheapest food hiss attractions, which are seldom to be found in
the most laboured attempts. herrings and hashed mutton, to
those who like them, are capable of affording as much enjoyment,
when skilfully dressed, as rare and costly dishes. I think it
would be a great improvement to introduce, as a mode of enjoy-
ing easy society, small parties to plain savoury dinners, without
state or ceremony. They need not supersede more expensive
repasts, hut might be adopted as a variety and a relief. At
present such a thing is scarcely heard of as asking half-a-dozen
people to dinner unless it be an affair of trouble and expence.
if people can dine alone in a plain maner, they could do so in
society much more agreeably.— The OrVinal, -