The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-05-03 00:00:00

UNITED STATES.

We have received New York papers to the 4th ult., and
Philadelphia to the sth, by the Susquehanna, from the
latter port.
The Loan Bill had passed the House of Representatives,
and would, it was expected. soon pass the Senate. The
amendment authorising the sale of a six per cent. stock upon
the best terms to be obtained would, it was thought, bring
the money which, without it, could not have been obtained,
while the Land Bill remains unrepealed. The stock is to
be issued, as may be agreed on at the time of issuing it,
either redeemable after six months' notice by the treasury, or
for any period of years not exceeding twenty, from the Ist
of January next. The stock may also, if desired, be made
transferable by delivery instead of by assignment. The
whole amount authorised is the original twelve millions, less
than what has been already obtained (about four and a half
millions, if we recollect) of that sum, and an additional
five millions, if deemed necessary, that is to say, still about
twelve millions. The committee on manufactures had pre-
sented a report to thehouse on the tariff. The report recom-
mends, or, rather, lays a duty on woollens of 40 per cent.
ad valorem ; on coarse goods, 30 per cent. ; on fine goods, a
specific duty ; on rolled iron, English iron, 25 dollars per
ton ; on hammered, or Swedish iron, 17 dollars ; pig metal,
8 dollars per ton ; coal, one dollar and sixty cents per ton.
The Philadelphia banks continued specie payments, but in
the share market not much business was done. The New
York stocks had improved, but we forbear our usual quota-
tions, as the Independen -e, with three days later news from
New York, was off the port last night, and we hope to give
what news she may bring at an early hour this morning.
Later intelligence has been received from Texas. The news
that the young republic has been invaded by an overwhelming
Mexicali force is confirmed in accounts from Galveston to
the 22d March. It appears that the retreat of the Mexicans
from San Antonio was a devise to allure the Texan troops,
assembled in haste, to go in pursuit, before they were fully
trained and disciplined. Shortly after the steamer Neptune
left Galveston, which vessel reported the retreat of the
Mexicans from San Antonio, an express arrived bringing
intelligence of the advance of 9,000 men on the Matamoras-
road towards Victoria, and reporting 12,000 additional troops
on the upper road marching upon San Antonio. The forces
which recently captured San Antonio constituted the van-
guard of the 12,000 under the command of Vasquez.
The impression is, that the Texan army of 1500 men, under
Burleson, will follow the retreat of the vanguard, until
brought within the power of the main army. Upon the re-
ceipt of this news, which was brought to Matagorda from a
different direction, rendering its truth indisputable, the Com-
mittee of Vigilance in Galveston despatched a pilot-boat to
New Orleans, and, a few hours afterwards, the steamer
which brought the intelligence. The pilot-boat had not ar-
rived. The Galveston Advertiser, of the 22d March, con-
tains the address of the committee to the citizens of the
eastern counties, in which the facts relative to the Mexican
invasion are set forth, and an opinion given, that, if there is
not a prompt turn-out by the middle and eastern counties, th,
e' wil, T'-

ravage and overrun the country _.ie same paper
contains an address from the Committee of Vigilance to the
friends of Texas i❑ the 'United States, stating that they look
with confidence to them for prompt assistance in repelling
the invaders. Hitherto the Texans have stood on the de-
fensive; but now the spirit of the people is roused, and, ere
long, they will bend their footsteps towards the capital of
Mexico. " We, therefore," says the committee, " cordially
invite to our aid all who desire to be instrumental in the
bands of Divine Providence in extending the blessings of
civil and religious liberty over one of the fairest portions of
the globe. We invite all who are desirous to aid in breaking
the chains of Papal superstition and bigotry, and opening the
door for the introduction of Protestant Christianity into a
long benighted portion of the earth, to rally round our stan-
dard ; for we wish the lone Star of Texas and the Star of
Bethlehem to travel in unison in their westward march :
wherever the one shall be stationed, we trust the other will
be found close by its side.

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMITTEES

(From the Cambridge Chronicle.)

" Talk of an inquisition under the income tax, indeed!"
says the Standard—and the Standard is right—" Why that
at worst only ascertains what a man has, and stops there.
But the House of Commons committee would go farther;
it would extract also the ' how came he by it.' ,' The South-
ampton election committee gave occasion for this remark.
Mr. Fleming was examined as a witness on the petition
against the conservative members for Southampton, whose
seats were attacked on the ground of bribery. It appeared
that Mr. Fleming had been applied to on account of an in-
sufficiency of the election fund to cover the expenses in-
curred ; and six weeks after the return was made he col-
lected £5OO amongst his friends and paid it into the bank at
Southampton. The charge against the sitting member was
that of bribery, therefore it is difficult to conceive how the
payment into bank of £5OO six weeks after bribery could
have been committed, could in any way affect the question
at issue. The whole inquiry as to this £5OO seems totally
irrelevant. But the counsel for the petitioners wanted to
carry his inquisition somewhat further. He was not content
with learning that Mr. Fleming had collected £5OO, but he
must needs know " how he came by it." Mr. Fleming,
however, being a man of honour and a man of spirit, too, as
we can testify, refused to satisfy liberal curiosity. He saw
at once that the question was pressed for party, and not for
legal, purposes. "It would be derogatory," he said, "to
the man of honour and a gentleman to betray the names of
parties from whom he had confidentially received the money ;
and, especially as such betrayal could have nothing whatever
to do with the subject under investigation, he would not, be
the consequences what they might, give up the names of his
friends."

TO CORRESPONDENTS

The brains of the dirty fellow who sent us the sawdust query
are composed, we should imagine, of that wooden material.
If the writer who proposes a discussion with the two parties
whose letters recently appeared in the columns of the
STANDARD will affix his real signature to his communi-
cation it will be much more likely to be attended to.
A paragragh appeared in our last headed " Blowing Veal,"
in which it was stated that a person of the name of " Wil-
son" had been brought before the magistrates for that
reprehensible practice. The name of the offender was
"Thomas Gilkes," and the error is the more provoking
as there is a highly respectable gentleman of the former
name in the branch of business to which the paragraph
related.

In correcting the errors of our contemporaries, in giving a
report of the accident on the river, our compositor mistook
the manuscript, and the thickness of the plank of the boat
was stated to be five-eighths instead of five-sixteenths of
an inch. A correspondent who has addressed us on the
subject wishes the young gentlemen attached to aquatic
sports to consrruct their boats on the plan of a man-of-
war's gig, and then they might race with safety.

Ebr Eiberpool &tanbarb.

TUESDAY MORNING, MAY 3, 1842

This evening, we observe, is fixed for the appoint-
ment of the committee, moved for by Mr. Ferrand, for
the purpose of inquiring into the prevalence and the
effect of" the truck system at present in operation
throughout the manufacturing and mining districts.
That a vast mass of fraud and injustice will be brought
before the public through the labours of that commit-
tee we cannot doubt. The practice of paying the wages
of the labourer in goods prevails extensively in every
branch of industry. Our own town is not exempt
from it. In many trades carried on in Liverpool, the
hardworking operative is mulcted of a portion of his
wages by being compelled to receive the dear and
trashy goods of his employer instead of money; and
we trust sincerely that our own town will not be per-
mitted to escape the eye of the committee and the mal-
practices which prevail in it, because small, perhaps,
when compared with the giant impositions which will
be developed in other places, be left unvisited with the
notice they deserve.