The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-12-19 00:00:00

Before GILBERT HENDERSON, Esq., Becorder,

TILE General Quarter Sessions of the Peace were held ir

the Vice-Chancellor's Court, St. George's-hall, yest

There v
felon

1 prisoners for trial, of whom 68 were for
s, and 3 for misdemeanours. Of these 24 could
read nor write ; 16 could read ; 29 could read and
rfectly ; and 2 were able to read and write well
swing gentlemen were sworn on th(
GRAND JURY
William Raymond Houghton, gen
street, Foreman.
Thomas Reid Arnott, merchant, North John-street.
Thomas France Bennett, merchant. Lower Castle-street
James Blake, soap manufacturer, Kitchen-street.
Michael Belcher, cotton broker, Exchange Buildings.
Henry Barnes, merchant, Rumford-place.
Henry Case, insurance broker, Exchange Buildings.
Abraham Crabtree, merchant, Rumford-place.
William Kay Conbrough, merchant, North John-street.
William Edward Thomas Duncan, merchant, Cook-street
John Murray Gladstone, sailmaker, Everton-road.
John Gouldie, broker, Exchange-street East.
Thomas Twanbrook Glassbrook, merchant, Brunswick.
street.
Thomas Hibbert, merchant, Sackville-street.
John Middleton !falser', stockbroker, Tithebarn-street.
William Imrie, merchant, Rumford-street.
Archibald Kelso, merchant, Castle-street.
Edward Parry, broker, North John-street.
William Benson Rathbone, broker, Exchange Buildings
Lloyd Rayner, broker, Exchange Buildings

eman, Great Nelson

The prpclamation against vice and immorality having
been read, the learned RECORDER, in addressing the Grand
Jury, said :—Gentlemen, after a lapse of about eight weeks,
we have again to consider the calendar of crime as that is
brought before ns in relation to this borough, and from it
we find that 71 persons have been committed for trial.
Of that number three have been previously sentenced to
transportation, but have been set at liberty before the
expiry of the period included in their sentence. This is
the more worthy of remark, as it tends to show how diffi-
cult it is to deal with criminals, and how little reliance is
to be placed upon' leniency in dealing with that class of
individuals, and how difficult it is to ensure the re-
form of criminals, and to wean them from their former
places of resort, and from their bad habits. In
the cases referred to, two of them are no doubt of
a comparatively light character, and -the third, though
more serious, is not of a very marked nature. Of late
years it has been remarked that there has been an increase
in the criminality of females, and it has been found that
that increase has risen in its proportion from 25 per cent.
to 29 per cent. of the general amount of crime; but on
looking at the calendar before us, we find that the number
of females is 29, out of a total of '7l ; thus showing that
for 'Liverpool the amount of female criminality is con-
siderably above the average, and that here the amount of
female degradation is proportionately larger. In general
it is found that three out of ten of the criminals have
been females; in Liverpool it appears they amount to three
in-seven. This is a matter of no inconsiderable import-
ance, as under any circumstances female criminality in-
volves a large proportionate amount of male criminality,
as they induce young men in many instances to commit
crimes which probably they might not think of. A case
which occurred here not long ago was in pointed illustra-
tion Of this supposition. A young man, indeed a lad, had
stolen £450 from his employer at the instigation of a
'woman who kept a brothel. The young man had escaped
'to America, but was followed and brought back, and be
along with the woman had been tried before this Court
and sentenced to imprisonment, which they are now un-
•dergoing. Another woman, a sister to the one referred
to, has been charged as connected with that case, a sort of
sequel to it indeed, which will of course come under your
'notice and receive due attention, in the assurance of which
I shall not offer further remark. In this calendar there
are, as there almost always are, a good many charges of
pocket picking. This is an offence most frequently per-
petrated by juveniles, who are in the first instance sum-
marily punished by the police magistrates, but who con-
tinue on in their course of crime undeterred by short
periods of imprisonment, till they are at length brought
forward for such punishment as it is in the power of this
Court to award them. The object in punishing crime is
to repress it, and that chiefly by inflicting such punihh-
ment as will deter from its commission. But by deterring
from the commission of crime we do not mean to
deter the guilty ; it is the innocent we seek to deter,
as will be readily apparent if we look to the highest
class of punishments. In executing a murderer, we
do not seek to deter him from again committing
the crime, but to deter those who have not 'yet
committed crime from becoming criminal. In this
calendar it _is pleasing to remark that there is only one

case of dock-pilfering. A large class of thieves, in rich a
town as Liverpool, live by stealing the ropes and other
stores belonging to ships in dock, and also the clothes of
sailors. I think that this class of criminals would be
much better employed in working at the various emtloy-
-ments to be found in Her Majesty's. dock-yards. Gentle-
men, I do not hesitate in saying that I think severity of
punishment has a considerable effect in repressing crime,
espeCially- such crimes as are not prompted by the press-are
'of 'distress and destitution. This may be particularly seen
-in regard to cases of stabbing. At last sessions there were
four Charges of this description, And all of them were
proved. In each of the cases I sentenced the prisoners to
eighteen Months' imprisonment ; and there is not one
Similar charge in the present calendar. For this, 'no
doubt, other causes are also in operation, but I cannot help
thinking that, in this class of cases, the amount of punish-
ment 'inflicted has had something to do with it. lam
glad to see that there is not a charge against a clerk. or
warehouseman for robbing his employer ; and also to
observe that there is no case of cotton robbery. There
are -several cases of housebreaking, but none of them pre-
sent any features of peculiar importance. There are a
considerable number of young people charged with crimes
of various kinds, which leads me to regret that I have-it
not in my power to send some of them, at all events, to a
Reformatory 'lnstitution. This, it. is to be hoped, will not
be so 'long. The Town Council of this borough has
liberally determined to give £2,000 in aid of such an in-
stitution ; but as the Government depends much on the
amount of voluntary assistance in fully carrying such
institutions into effect, it is to be hoped that many of those
benevolent and philanthropic gentlemen, who took an
active part in originating such an institution for this town,
will come forward and assist in getting the object forward-
ed. Still, however useful such institutions may be, and
no doubt 'in many instances they would be, I am of opinion
that, for every class of juvenile crime, Reformatories are
not the most salutary means of eradicating crime. In
several instances, I am of opinion that solitary confine-
ment is of more efficacy, especially where the delinquents
on their liberation, can be brought under the influence of
parental amft domestic control. To ensure success for the
great experiment of Reformatories, much must depend on
the proper selection of those who are to be subjected to
their discipline. By reference to the records, it appears
that during the -past year not less than 4l6juveniles had been
committed to prison for the first time, in this town. From
this we see clearly that juvenile crime is a great and
growing evil ; and we are led to enquire, how does it
happen that the domestic obligations of parents and guar-
dians are so much neglected ? Various causes of this have
been pointed out, and various remedies have been sug-
gested ; and in all cases it is found to be most truly de-
sirable to induce parents to do their duty, and to
strengthen in them those feelings which ought to govern
them in relation to their .children. Drunkenness is no
doubt a fertile source of that neglect' of parental duty,
and in aiding to shut up the lower class of public houses
much good in this way will no doubt be effected ; 'still that
is not all, the means must also 'be provided for teaching
them their higher duties. We abound in public houses,
but are extremely deficient in churches ; yet much is un-
doubtedly in progress to remedy the evils alluded to, and
many other good agencies are at work for their counter-
action. One object it is of importance to allude to, and
that is, to inculcate a little more'liberality on the part of
employers. The want of this not infrequently induces
crime, and at the last sessions a lad was charged with
stealing £lOO when it turned out he that he had only five
shilling a week, which was evidently an inadequate provi-
sion for ",a, grown lad exposed to such temptation. Com-
merce is undoubtedly much indebted to the intelligence
and ability *of the commanders of merchant ships ; they
have.already done much to shorten the duration and lessen
the risks of sea voyages ; and though much has no
doubt been done already in this way, it is not at
all unlikely that the voyage to Australia will yet be con-
siderably shortened. But if any one undertakes such a
duty as the conduct of a ship on so important is voyage,
and neglects it, it is obvious very serious consequences
and heavy loss mint ensue. In consideration of this, the
legislature has made gross or wilful neglect of such duty
a misdemeanor, and one case founded on the statute will
be brought before you, in which the captain of
charged with drunkenness and gross neglect of duty. '
will have the case under your consideration, not with a
view of trying the guilt or innocence of the prisoner •, but
to ascertain whether there is such evidence as 'will lead you
to bring the master forward on his trial. You will of
course give it your best and impartial considers“---

present accordingly.
The learned Recorder then dismissed the Grand Jury to
their duties, and the trials were proceeded with.

AT BOW-STREET, last week, Mr. Edward Arthur
Welch, tobacco manufacturer, of John-street, Clerkenwell,
was fined £3OO, for adulterating tobacco with treacle, to
increase its weight, and £2OO for having three tons of
treacle on his premises.
THE Chester Chronicle has every reason to believe that
Her Majesty and the royal family will honour the Marquis
of Westminister with a visit at Eaton-hall in June next.
SALES OF IRISH ENCUMBERED ESTATES.—There were
some heavy sales of property on Tuesday, the most im-
portant being that of the residue of the Earl of Aldbo-
rough's estates, situate in Sligo, Wicklow, Leitrim and
Kildare. The entire amount realised in this matter
was £50,390, being at the rate of about 21 years' purchase
on the net yearly rent.

1 ECCLESIASIT

TITE LIVERPOOL STANDARD, AND GENE

E NCR,

nass, when prZijected, being

capable of projecting 1

ition tc

Is fluid than A

ill found to Mars

that rings were
or: more, of which is dis-

sses pre

which constitute the moons

er moon, I. feel confident that such

be surprised if Venus and Mercury completed the uni-
formity, throughout our system, of primaries and satel-
lites, although their satellites would be very small
BIRICENIIELD TEMPERANCE SOCIETY,
of this society have announced that the

The members

annual soire

will be held in the schoolroom of the United Presbyterian
Church, Grange-lane, this evening. Mr. James Towers,
is to preside; and amongst the speakers announced, are
Messrs. Richard Rawlins, of Wrexham ; Thomas Crosfield,
of Liverpool ; and John E. Littleboy, of Rock Ferry. The
" band of hope" movement and the Maine liquor-law
question are to be specially brought before the meeting.
THREE powerful iron steamers, just built by Messrs.
Marshall, of the Tyne, called the Earl of Durham, Hespe-
rus, and Baron Von Humboldt, have been taken up to
convey. the railway plant of Brassey and Peto for the con-
struction of the proposed line at l3slaklava. The number
of navvies to go out in these vessels is 120
CHESTER AND HOLYHEAD RAILWA
the week ending December 10th, 1854

The traffic for
as follows :

Passengers, parcels, &c., £1,730 19s
£290 19s. 2d.; goods, £2,420 ls. 8d
Carnarvon traffic, £4,442 Os. 9d. Corresponding week
last year—passengers, parcels, &c., £1,842 13s. 10d. ;
steam-boats, £202 9s. Od.; goods, £1,492 17s. 10d. Total,
including Carnarvon traffic, £3,538 Os. 8
£904 Os. id

11d. • steam-boats,
Total, including

Increase,