The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-11-08 00:00:00

Eb 7Libtrpool &tanbarb.

TUESDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 8, 1842.

The cause of the deteriorated and still deteriorating
condition of the British labourer is a problem upon
which both the statesman and the economist have of
late exhausted their ingenuity. The increase of ma-
chinery, the mania for cheapness of production, the
corn-laws, the new poor-law, the currency—all these
have been dwelt upon as more or less conducive to
the result complained of by the working man, and
deplored by the philanthropist ; whilst one fertile
cause of the wide-spreading evil has, we submit, been
hitherto entirely overlooked, or, at all events, not
sufficiently considered.
It is impossible for any thinking man, residing in
or visiting frequently this great port, to pass along
the neighbourhood of its steam-docks without being
struck with the sight of the multitudes of half-clad
human beings whom every packet from the sister
island lands upon our quays. It is impossible during
the summer and autumnal months to enter Liver-
pool, from any point, without seeing the lanes crowded
with these immigrants, tramping, with reaping hook
or potatoe fork, to the farming districts around us.
Sturdy limbs they bring with them, though care is
marked upon their haggard and wild features. Indo-
mitable perseverance, too, they possess, or have put on
for the occasion; self-denial, the most rigid, charac-
terises every movement towards the end for which
they have visited our land. Onward they pass, from
village to village, from farmstead to farmstead ; and it
is not until the last sheaf is gathered from our fields,
or the last potatoe dug up from the furrow, that we
see them, still exhibiting the same weather-beaten,
tattered aspect, the same careworn features, the same
rigid parsimony, returning, troop by troop, to be once
more transported—haply by the guardians of the poor
of Liverpool—to the mud cabins and the bogs from
which the summer and the prospect of gain enticed
them.

These wretched-looking beings bear with them,
fast stitched up in some corner of their dilapidated gar-
ments, the winter comforts, the winter fuel, the warm
clothing for the aged and the schooling for the chil-
dren, of thousands upon thousands of the husbandmen
of England ! In times now past, the harvest of the
farmer was the harvest also of his labourer, and of his
labourer's wife and children. The mowing time, the
hay time, the reaping and the gleaning, furnished to
the cottager the opportunity, and the only one, of
laying up a purse to supply the exigencies of sickness
or the rigours- of winter. Now he lives under a
changed state of things. The ill-paid slavery of the
fields is his lot in health. He toils through the
winter's snow and the driving rain ; he ploughs and
he sows ; but when the change of seasons has brought
round the period in which his labour was once pro-
ductive labour, a band of strange men step between
him and his hopes, and, because at less cost to the
farmer, they reap and secure the harvest. The mea-
dows ripen for the scythe; the corn waves yellow for
the sickle; but he and they who, with him, in time
past, looked forward with joy to that gladdening sight,
stand now, with folded arms, by their cheerless
threshold, whilst others gather in the harvest and bear
away the reward !
The irruption of a swarm of locusts, covering and
eating up the produce of his fertile fields, could not be
more disastrous to the hopes of the farmer than is this
irruption of migratory labour to the hopes of the
British husbandman. The existence of that once
contented and happy race of men is now, in too many
of our agricultural districts, hut one long struggle
with the bitterness of poverty, unenlivened by even a
solitary gleam of joy's sunlight, which once visited his
cottage home, and brings with it the dreary pros-
pect of the workhouse as the probable refuge of his
declining years. Yet, does the stranger, who thus
snatches his comforts from his lips, enjoy himself that
good which he takes away ? Does the poor immi-
grant—and heaven forbid that upon his head an ill
feeling should rest, for that to which hard necessity
drives him !—does the poor Irish reaper fatten upon
the hard-earned store Nyhich he carries back to his
native bogs ? We fear not ! The spendthrift land-
lord, the griping middleman, the exacting priesthood,
and—worst extortioner of all—the selfish Agitator,
sweep away the gains for which their wretched serf
and dupe toils in a strange land, and for the want of
which the British husbandman starves in his native
fields, and occupies. at last, a union bastile and a
pauper's grave !
. . - _

..-for is the depreciation of the value of British
labour, caused by this continual influx of the semi-
. pauper labour of Ireland, confined to the agricultural
districts. In every large town throughout Great
Britain, that description of labour which is not
artisan labour is performed by an Irish population,
located in some filthy suburb, existing upon food
such as an Englishman would cast from him with
disgust, and working for a pittance upon which an
Englishman would vainly attempt to subsist. The
hands of Irishmen sink our sewers, pave our streets,
carry mortar and bricks for our buildings—perform,
in fact, the drudgery of labour, and subsist in content
upon its miserable remuneration—whilst able-bodied
Englishmen pine in our workhouses, or beg in our
streets. In our manufacturing towns, they compose
nearly one-third of the working population, toiling in
the worst paid departments, and ever ready to grasp
at employment at still further reduced wages. As
artisans, they crowd the workshops of the slopseller,
the puffing upholsterer or cabinet-maker, the shoe-
maker, the tailor, and, in fact, the second and third-
rate professors of every branch of handicraft; and by
the production, by their low-priced labour, of trashy
commodities, added to the effect of their constant
pressure upon the market for employment, they have
not only caused a ruinous reduction in the price of
moderately-skilled labour, but they have aided mate-
rially in damaging the reputation of every British-
manufactured commodity, and in circumscribing the
demand for the services of the best-remunerated and
best-skilled labourer.

No direct legislative measure, it is true, can now
remove the effect which this IRISH DELUGE upon the
British market for labour has produced. No legisla-
tive measure ought, directly, to attempt it. Yet the
evil is palpable. Ireland—pauperised Ireland—is
fast pauperising Great Britain, and is fast PAPALISING
her too ! Her lower classes, as they sink into poverty,
are sinking at the same time into the arms of the same
blinding superstition which is professed by those who
are depressing the market for their labour, and who
are fast becoming the majority of her working popu-
lation. Tell us of the spread of Popery amongst us—
of the increase of chapels, of nunneries, and of mo-
nasteries, in this Protestant land ! 'Why here is the
fertile cause. Popery and poverty—twin curses, who

go ever hand in hand—are trampling doltil the demo-
cracy of once happy PROTESTANT ENGLAND; and
the disastrous visitation comes from--not misgo-
verned,7 not " oppressed," but from—PoPISII, PLUN-
DERED, PRIEST-RIDDEN, and PAUPERISED IRE-
LAND !

Legislation, we admit, can do little to arrest this
disastrous visitation directly. But indirectly legisla-
tion can do much. Let its efforts be directed to elevate
the condition of the Irish labourer in his own country.
Let its efforts be directed to the PROTESTANTISING
of that blinded and wretched people ! And it is not
by a temporizing policy—it is not by playing into the
hands of an alien priesthood—that this consummation
Can be arrived at. Give Ireland A SOUND SYSTEM OF
PROTESTANT EDUCATION ! Remodel her electoral
system—that very system which sends annually the tens
of thousands of migratory labourers who reap the
harvests of the British farmer. Bind those labourers,
by the ties of interest and gratitude, to their native
soil ; and England, relieved of the drain upon her
resources, which is yearly made, to feed improvidence
and Popery in Ireland, may once more be able to
shew to the world

" A loyal yeomanry, their country's pride,"
and to raise her labouring masses from the poverty
which now threatens to ingulf them

Our Police-court is certainly one of the most im-
portant, and, on the whole, best managed establishments
in the town ; but we have, nevertheless, witnessed
much within its precincts, and particularly of late,
which, in our opinion, requires considerable amend-
ment—especially in practical details. On the present
occasion we can direct the attention of the public to
one branch or department only, connected with that
tribunal, to the conduct of which we hold strong

exception.
Our present remarks refer to a secondary officer of
the court; and lest it might erroneously be supposed
that we have in reserve some serious reprehensions to
address to his superior, it were but candid to prevent
such impression by admitting, in the outset, that, in
our thinking, our present Stipendiary Magistrate—
considering his short experience as compared with that
of his accomplished and popular predecessor, and the
difficulties arising from the multiplication of cases
amidst the rapidly increasing, and for the most part
uneducated portion of the community in which the
majority of delinquents naturally arise,—it were but
fair, we say, to admit that, under such circumstances,
Mr. Rushton's conduct of his court has, with slight
exceptions, been highly creditable to him as a man and
a lawyer ; that he has greatly improved himself, not
only in his acquaintance with the locality in which he
holds jurisdiction, as regards criminalities and mal-
practices, and with the laws affecting offenders; but
in aptitude to deal with the numerous cases that come
before him, so as to effect, within reasonable hours,
"a daily Bridewell delivery," if we may so term it.
We believe, indeed, that his decisions—though, per-
chance, sometimes rather hastily arrived at—are
founded on his belief of the preponderance of evidence,
and that his errors are those of judgment, his purpose
being to administer the law with impartiality—a praise
which, from us, who have a vivid remembrance of his
previously strong and antagonist opinions, may be
considered great, as it is sincere. There are some
points, however, on which, from want of a personal or
correct knowledge of facts, circumstances, or charac-
ter ; and the too easy credence given to certain classes
of witnesses in preference to others, this gentleman is,
we think, occasionally led into mistakes. On these we
shall hereafter remark, with a view, if possible, to the
future avoidance of such aberrations.
We have now, we repeat, to deal with another func-
tionary of the police-court, inferior in rank and infi-
nitely so in general talent to our stipendiary. We
allude to Mr. Matthew Morris George Dowling. We
know nothing ourselves, and have heard Dale or nothing,
of Mr. Dowling as a private individual. Our business
with him is as a public officer only. Mr. Dowling
originally belonged to the Bow-street Police Establish-
' ment, from which he came to this town, and filled the
post of Superintendent of the Dock Police. He was
promoted to the office of Commissioner of Police of the
Borough, which he has held for a number of years, at
a salary of £5OO per annum. His duties are—and we
believe we are correctly informed—to take clown all
charges of felony; to Submit to the magistrates reports
of transactions in the town involving police enquiry;
to investigate and prepare evidence affecting parties
implicated in, or suspected of, crime, in the locality
especially; and to conduct the necessary correspond-
ence with other police establishments, or other persons,
throughout the country, for the purpose of bringing
to justice offenders known, suspected, or escaped. Mr.
Dowling, we are bound to believe, has executed these
duties to the satisfaction of the magistrates, and of the
town council, by whom he is appointed, otherwise he
would doubtless have been superseded by a more effi-
cient individual : and we may add that we remember
some serious cases (and among them that of "the
Laurel-street gang") in which he evinced praiseworthy
activity, in conjunction with assistant officers, in clear-
ing up the facts, recovering much of the property, and
bringing the several charges home to the delinquents.
Stars will, however, sometimes shoot from their
spheres ; and whether Mr. Dowling's ambition soared
above his rank in our constabulary force, or he was
actuated by other motives, we know not ; but he as-
pired to a higher station some few years ago. He be-
took himself for a short season to the metropolis—
began to study the law, and on payment of the accus-
tomed fees and feeds in due time arrived at the rank
and title of barrister. It is somewhat to be lamented
that gentlemen should so far mistake their forte as to
aim at situations in life, for which their abilities, natu-
ral and acquired, do not qualify them to arrive at emi-
nence. But this is a matter with which we have little

or nothing to do. If an evil at all, it affects only the
individual himself; for, in the moral as in the physical
world, brain as well as water abhors all elevation beyond
its natural and proper level ; and this truth would
soon, we opine, have been discovered by Mr. Dowling
had he taken his place at the bar, like other aspirants,
immediately after his preparatory digestion of Coke
upon Littelton, and sumptuous dinners in the Temple.
He probably, however, entertained a prudent presen-
timent that without considerable previous practice, his
career, a priori, would probably be brief—or rather
briefless; and retaining, therefore, his commissioner-
ship, with its comfortable emoluments, he has since
continued to insinuate himself into a sort of practice in
advocacy at the Police-court,—the better, we presume,
to qualify himself for the higher station which he holds
in expectancy—but to the frequent hindrance and un-
necessary prolongation of the business of that estab-
lishment. He began by endeavouring to enlighten the
court occasionally, by opening speeches on selected
cases, on which evidence was to be submitted, and in
the management of which (always contriving to con-
nect himself with the case) he desired to shew off his
vigilance and legal acumen; but these essays were ge-
nerally (as they are yet on similar occasions) blunder-
ing and clumsy, and 'the disjointed matter of his
addresses was much better and more legitimately
conveyed by the witnesses themselves. Not con-
tented with this sort of display in a small way, Mr.
Dowling has of late frequently come into court
" big with speech," and forthwith—relieving the ma-
gistrate of his arduous duties for the time—has pro-
ceeded to interrogate the witnesses seriatim with all the
formality pertaining to a final court of adjudicature,
but with such singular irregularity and want of tact, as
fully demonstrate a very slender study of "Roscoe on
Evidence." If the first 'testimony adduced is in-
sufficient, and leaves the matter in doubt, a tail-piece
or after-clap is introduced to clench it—a questionable
sort of justice. • We have long marvelled that Mr.
Rushton should suffer this gentleman to assume
the magisterial functions which belong solely to
the bench—that he should tolerate any thing ap-
proaching to this special pleading against an unfor-
tunate prisoner in, after all, a merely preliminary court
of enquiry, as regards felonies and serious charges in
particular. But we take our stand on higher grounds.
We question in toto the strict legality of such inter-
ference. If we are not greatly mistaken, Mr. Dowling
has no right to interrogate the witnesses. It is his
duty to collect all the evidence he can against a pri-
soner, and to sift it before it is adduced—retaining
what may appear valid and culpatory, and rejecting all
that is redundant and irrelevant. But it is not his
province to erect himself into an advocate in that court.

The prisoner will be pretty ivell hedged in by the rigours
of the law without him. We know, indeed, of no
parallel assumption in any court of petty sessions.
He (or the magistrates' clerks), in order to elicit
the whole truth, may suggest questions to, or advise
with, the bench, on particular points that arise or may
have been overlooked, but nothing beyond this. The
practice noticed—a novelty which we strongly repre-
hend—is moreover inconsistent with his own higher,
and as they ought to be unsuspected and impartial,
functions as " the public prosecutor," which, in fact,
he is. His name, in this latter capacity, appears upon
the face of every indictment against a prisoner in the
borough, preferred in courts of quarter sessions and
assizes. If he is an advocate in the Police-court, he
has an equal right to be so in the other courts in
which the case is finally disposed of; but if he should
there present himself in his wig and gown in such
capacity, and take upon himself the conduct of the
prosecution, we imagine that his "learned brother "
for the defence, and even the judge himself, would
soon give him intimation that he was stepping beyond
his authority. On the other hand, if he be an advo-
cate for the crown (which we do not admit), he has no
right to be public prosecutor with his name on the
indictment. The thing, indeed, appears to us to be a
monstrous perversion of the constitutional principles
acknowledged and acted upon in reference to accused
persons in our higher courts of adjudicature. It might
pass smoothly in France, where the system goes even
to entrap a prisoner into admissions ; but it is not, we
think, either English feeling or English law.
In the anxiety to procure commitments, Mr. Dowling
frequently permits his zeal to overstep his discretion :
and be is thus sometimes placed
,in the unenviable
position of having discovered what are vulgarly known
As " mare's nests"—of which we have some recent
instances. The town was ransacked by him to procure
evidence on two late occasions of suspected arson; and
Nye venture to say, that no one who reads the evidence
Yet adduced, in either case can, for a moment doubt
that—if nothing further be forthcoming—the prisoners
will be acquitted; if, indeed, the Grand Jury do not
cut the bills. This sort of work may be carried further
than justice demands. The charge is one of great
seriousness, affecting even the lives of the prisoners;
and should they be acquitted, on the very doubtful
evidence that has appeared—(and which is not only
possible but highly probable)—and their innocency
established in candid and intelligent minds, a gross
injustice will have been inflicted : for the world at large
is harsh-thinking and suspicious, and a stigma will
attach to the characters of the accused from the very
accusation, which even a long course of rectitude of con-
duct on their part may not be sufficient to remove.
We admit that there are strong grounds for suspicion,
and that the offence is one which, for the public safety,
requires the strictest investigation. We do not blame
the committing magistrate, who, under the circum-
, stances, had no other resource—pushed as matters
were to the extreme. But the pursuit for justice, like
the exercise of mercy, should not be overstrained ; for
then—besides the cost of the subsequent proceedings
, to the public—the law, in case even of acquittal, be-
comes a two-edged sword, from the cut of which the
; innocent themselves cannot escape.

We have received another communication from Mr.
David M'Clellan, the chairman of Mr. Fawcett's com-
mittee, upon the subject of the placard referred to in
our last publication. 'lhe communication in question
will be found in our advertising columns. We have a
few remarks, however, to make upon it, to which we
beg the attention of the electors of Pitt-street Ward,
and of Mr. David M'Clellan in particular.

Mr. Fawcett's chairman says, alluding to the article
upon this subject in our last—

" In that article you have misrepresented (of course, un-
intentionally) the statement, to the truth of which my honour
was pledged. What was that statement? Not that no such
donation"—viz., of five pounds to the Strangers' Friends
Committee—" had been given, but that the committee had
ascertained that neither the secretary nor the treasurer had
auy knowledge of such donation having been .received, either
last year, (and, mark', that was Mr. Taylor's assertion,) or
even in this. How had the committee ascertained this fact?
" In the case of the secretary, by positive assurance on his
part, that he knew nothing about it ; and in the case of the
treasurer, by the strongest inferential evidence, both oral and
documentary.
• " It was not asserted, that either the treasurer or the se-
cretary had been seen, or that either of them had directly or
indirectly authorized the publication of the placard com-
plained of."

Now, we.ask, how did we misrepresent the state-
ment, to the truth of which Mr. IVlTlellan's " HO-
NOUR" was pledged? We gave THE STATEMENT
ITSELF, verbatim et literatim, in which that gentleman
says—" Mr. FAWCETT'S COMMITTEE are enabled to
STATE POSITIVELY, that neither the Secretary nor
the Treasurer of the STRANGERS' FRIEND SOCIETY
have any knowledge of " the donation in question—
" NO SUCH DONATION OF £5 having Come to their
hands, EITHER DURING THE COURSE OF LAST YEAR
or EVEN in the PRESENT YEAR." Mr. M'Clellan
explains now, however, that his statement was " not
that no such donation had been given, but that neither
the secretary nor the treasurer had any knowledge of
such donation having been received." And how does
he proceed to prove that he was justified in stating that
" neither the secretary nor the treasurer" had any
knowledge of , the fact ? In the case of the secretary,
he says, " by positive assurance that he knew nothing
about it." Did the secretary consult his books, we
ask ? No ; we hear nothing of that kind. But, to
Mr. M'Clellan's inquiry, as to the impertinent inquiry
of any other busy individual, made in the street or
elsewhere, he stated that he knew nothing whether
Mr. Taylor had given such a donation or not. And
upon such information, so far as the secretary was
concerned, the committee could "STATE POSITIVELY"
and PLEDGE THEIR HONOUR to this fact or any other
fact

But what of the treasurer ? What warrant had they
for giving his authority to their denial of Mr. Taylor's
assertion of his having made this donation ? Mr.
M'Clellan says " the strongest inferential evidence both
oral and documentary." Most strongly we suspect
that Mr. David M'Clellan does not understand the
meaning of the language which he uses. Inferential
evidence ! What right has any man or any set of men
to " STATE POSITIVELY" or " PLEDGE THEIR
.HONOUR" upon "Inferential Evidence 1" No jury
would hang a cat upon " Inferential Evidence"; and,
most assuredly no honest and respectable man's cha-
racter should be damned in the estimation of his fel-
low-toWnsmen upon such authority. Had Mr. David
M'Clellan seen the treasurer, as he says he had seen
and catechised the secretary upon the subject ? No I
He had not; and we marvel at the hardihood with
which he now talks of his " inferential evidence both
oral-and-documentary" in support of this statement.

" The committee bad ascertained," &c., &c. The
committee had ascertained no such things as are com-
prised in these etcatera. The committee had ascer-
tained NOTHING ! It was a trumped-up story from
first to last.

The concluding portion of the letter quoted is, how-
ever, the most quibbling and Jesuitical of the whole.
"It was not asserted that either the treasurer had been
seen, or that either of them had, directly or indirectly,
authorized the publication of the placard complained
of." So says Mr. David M'Clellan in his letter in our
columns of this day. But can that gentleman per-
suade any dozen men, who understand the English
language, that the placard did not convey or was not
meant to convey the fact that the repudiation of Mr.
John Taylor, as a subscriber to this institution, was
made upon the authority of the parties in question. We
say unhesitatingly no man can deny that such was its
obvious meaning, and that such meaning must have been
intended!

And now, in conclusion—and we trust that Mr.
David M'Clellan will have the good sense to let the
matter rest here—we give the letter of Mr. Ashton, the
treasurer to the Strangers' Friend Society, to which
we alluded in our last. We give it the benefit of si-
milar type to that which has graced Mr. M'Clellan's
perpetrations
" To JOHN TAYLOR, Esq., Edge-lane.
" SIR,—In answer to your note, 1 beg to state that I re-
ceived from you, through our mutual friend Mr. Thos. Kaye,
ON THE 11TH JANUARY, 1842, a donation Of FIVE POUNDS,
Which, I believe, was ACKNOWLEDGED in the LIVERPOOL
COURIER OF THE DAY FOLLOWING.
"I am, Sir, your most obedient servant,
" MICHAEL ASHTON,

" Treasurer to the Strangers' Friend Society.
" Liverpool, 3rd Nov., 1842.

" The Sentende in the placard uhieh has been spewed td
me I HAD NO KNOWLEDGE OF WHATEVER before I saw if
in print. No person whatever communicated with me on
the subject, directly or indirectly ; therefore no one had, or
COULD HAVE, any authority from tie. " M. A."

A comprehensive outline of the scheme of education
which is about to be adopted at the Collegiate Institu
tion is inserted in our columns of this day, to which
e invite the attention of our readers. The pecuniary'
gradation appears admirably adapted to the wants of
the community, and will enable all classes to procure
for their children at home a sound education based
upon religion.

The Institution will be opened at the end of January,
and there is reason to believe that the schools will be
well filled. Indeed, it would be unreasonable to sup-
pose for a moment that a population of 300,000 souls,
which has, on so many occasions, proved itself so feel-
ingly alive to the importance of religious education,
would withhold its warmest support from an Institu-
tion, in which, by a fundamental law, religious instruc-
tion will for ever be indissolubly connected with secular
knowledge.

The appointment of the Rev. Principal, Mr. Cony-
beare, has, we are happy to learn, given general satis-
faction to the friends of the Institution, and it is con-
fidently expected that, under his able superintendence,
the Institution will speedily rank high among the edu-
cational institutions of the country. And knowing,
as we do, in addition, the unanimity of purpose and
feeling which pervades the directors, and the perfect
reliances which the public place in their disinterested
zeal for the success of the Institution, we await the
period of its opening with a perfect confidence as to the
result.

It will be observed that the committee are anxious to
ascertain the number of pupils which may be expected
to attend the schools : and we trust that parents and
guardians will at once comply with their request, by
which
,they will be rendering material assistance to-
wards perfecting the numerous arrangements :which
must necessarily be required prior to the opening of so
important an Institution.

LOCAL NEWS.

At the Quarter Sessions, held on Thursday last, Mr. Wm.
Cleaver was appointed clerk to the visiting justices of the
Lunatic Asylums in this division.

PREFERMENT.—The Macclesfield Courier states that the
Rev. James Dixon, of Trinity Church, in this town, has
been appointed incumbent of Marple, Cheshire.
THE CHASE.—Sir W. M. Stanley's hounds will meet 00
Thursday, 10, at Trafford Village.
Saturday, 12, at..
Tuesday, 15, at..
at eleven o'clock.
FEVER IN LIVERPOOL--The population of Liverpool is
stated at 250,000; and of this number the working classes
are said to comprise about 175.000• Of these Dr. Duncan
calculates that no fewer than 7,000 are annually afflicted
with fever, "giving an average of 1 in 25 of the working
population annually affected with fever : a higher ratio, I
believe, than is afforded by any other town in England."
•

RODNEY-STREET WARD.—We have heard that a certain
alderman, who has frequently shewu that he has no mean
opinion of his own influence and power, has boasted that
Mr. Birkett shall not be returned as representative for Rod-
ney-street Ward, at the next municipal election. Of course
such an empty boast can be pardoned, whilst the party is
smarting under, its late ignominious defeat; and their only
consolation left, is the indulgence of envy against the leading
gentlemen amongst their apponents, and the imitation of the
conduct of children who forget the past thrashing in an un-
availing threat, "I'll be up to you next time."
THREATENING SHIPWRIGHTS NOT NATIVES Or TO
TOWN.—Yesterday, three journeymen shipwrights applied
to Mr. Rushton for summonses against a number of others,
who had threatened them and flung stones at them while the
were at work in No. 5, Graving Dock. They each stated
that a crowd of shipwrights assembled, some of whom threw
stones at them to compel them to give up work—stating that
the society had come to the resolution that none should work
at the trade but natives of Liverpool. Mr. Rushton granted
three warrants, stating that the magistrates would never per-
mit such conduct, and if they persisted they would them'
selves be the greatest sufferers.
SINGULAR OCCURRENCE : A VESSEL SAILING AWAY !"-.
The schooner Edward, Captain Hughes, with a cargo of coal,
was lying at anchor off Woodside. On Wednesday last, the
captain and crew having gone on shore, she was driven in the
course of the night, by a fresh south-easterly breeze, seaward.
Fortunately, about half-past six o'clock next morning, sbn
was descried by three boatmen, namely, Richard Clapcoat,
Thomas Fell, and Richard Blower, close to the ForinbY
Lightship, and brought back to port. Had these men not
fallen iu with her, she would, it is probable, have driven on
the North Bank, and become a complete wreck. Much cre-
dit is due to the three boatmen for their exertions in saving
the vessel : they will, no doubt, be well rewarded.
HEROIC CONDUCT.—On Saturday afternoon, as a female
was stepping on board one of the Woodside steam-boats ber
foot slipped and she fell into the river, when Mr. William
Pike, a young gentleman who resides at Woodside, who
happened to be on board the packet, instantly threw ir 1115
coat and jumped into the river to rescue the female, and suc-
ceeded in grasping her when she was sinking the second time,
and safely brought her to land, amid the congratulations °I
a large number of persons who were on board at the time.
She was conveyed home without sustaining any other incon-,
venience than the loss of some trifling articles and a good
ducking. The parties who witnessed the conduct of IVlr.
Pike are about raising a subscription for the purpose of pre-
senting this young gentleman . with a testimonial of their
esteem for his praiseworthy conduct.
EYE AND EAR is with regret that, in
drawing the attention of the public to this charity, we hoe
occasion to allude to the present inadequacy of its funds.
We are given to understand that the debt, with which it com-
menced this year, has been considerably increased, and the
committee are fearful they will have to curtail its usefulness,
unless prompt assistance is afforded. On reference to the
last report, it appears that near ten thousand applications
bad been attended to, and medicines found, at an expense
under £250, which alone is a convincing proof of the great
good:resulting at so small a cost. When so many workmen
from the various trades and public companies of the tool
receive the benefits of this charity, our astonishment is gree
at finding so few of the wealthy individuals who employ these,.
labourers amongst its subscribers ; and we trust this shoo
notice of its embarrasments may prove a means of bringing
it fresh aid.
MEETING OF THE COUNCIL.—To-morrow the first
meeting of the town-council for the present municipal year
will be held, when the following, amongst other subjects,
will be brought forward :—The election of mayor ; the elec-
tions of two members of the council to he members of the
committee for the affairs of the estate of the trustees of the
Liverpool docks, upon two vacancies, caused by James
i
Mellor and Henry Robertson Sandbach Esqrs. having cease
to be members of the council ; the,efection of four of the
twelve auditors of accounts under the dock acts; tbe
mayor's allowance ; the appointment of the three following
quarterly meetings of the council for 1842-43 ; the appoint:
ment of committees, with such powers under the local ac”
of the last session, in addition to former powers or other'
wise, and such instructions, general or special, if any, as 01!
council may think proper ; the appointment of a commissioner
untie' the local act for paving, &c.. the township of Birken-
head, and for regulating the police thereof, in lieu of Thoin,a,s.
Bolton, Esq. who has ceased to he a member of the cannel' '
the appointment of a trustee under the local act of 7 GO',
IV, for establishing St. James' Cemetery, in lieu of Danie'
Mather, Esq. who has ceased to be a member of the coup
the appointment of ten members of the council as comnurr
sioners to carry into execution the local act of 5 Geo. 11r.
the better regulation and encouragement of pilots for tut
conducting of ships and vessels into and out of the pot
of Liverpool, in lieu of H. R. Sandbach, Daniel Mather'
Thomas Bolton, James Mellor, Thomas Robinson, Francis
Jordan, John Smith, Richard Bright, John Barton, aes
R. E. Harvey, Esqrs. who have ceased to be members of tit
council; the appointment of the various committees for the
ensuing year.
CHARGE OF ASSAULT AGAINST A CAPTAIN.--At tije
Police-court yesterday, Captain Kennard, of the 11
Thomas, (who was last week, it will be remembered, ti?e„.
for an assault upon his mate,) appeared to answer enotLta
and more violent assault, while at sea, on the person of Tlie
of his crew, who Was witness on the former occasion. I.le,
complainant, Lorenzo Tichate, who appeared to be very "!.
and who came from the Infirmary, in which he is still ti
patient, was permitted to sit while he gave his testimony'
Mr. Fischer was sworn as his interpreter, and a geittlel.
of the Consulate of Austria, (of which country he is a sa,e
ject,) was also present. The complainant (a Venetian) gai.
a long account of the homeward voyage as affected Ilims.el;,
but a-few of the facts (as his testimony was afterwards 10
pugued, will suffice.) He sailed with the vessel from VT;
pico on the 26th of July, He was then well, but about_ ,
days after was seized with fever. On the 15th Septet:lD:.l,
the captain struck the mate, and afterwards hire, end eon
"
nued to heat him every clay- -on one occasion using a r`l,
then a piece of iron, and finally, when he was knocked I
dolce
trampled on and kicked him with the heels of his boots.
struck him all over the body, and be had been ill ever sineer,
At one time he struck him in the abdomen, and he site
wards became ruptured in consequence. A formation a 5
peered four days after, which ended in the rupture. He lilt.
no such rupture before.—On cross-examination by. I. at
Wardle, he stated that he had a truss given to 1111" „0
the hospital, but admitted that he had an old one .'d,
board before, given to him by the passenger who the $
and that he had also, while on shore at Vera Cruz, wornde
truss as far back as three years ago, but only when he r° • ,
on horseback. He also admitted having committed a oolitic
sauce on board on more than one occasion, for which s°
pd
of the floggings were given.—The log-book was here referr:i"o
to, to show that, at the time the first flogging was given,
rK
the crew were in a state of disobedience, and refused to w
the ship, so that " the captain was driven out of his wits.'l,
and had to " flog all hands round." The mate (Colthurste
who last week charged the captain with assault, and in wh,°J,
writing the log was, was called on this point; but he sta?„,
that although he had written the account there given, itearo
from the written copy and directions of the captain (u,'as
he was obliged to? obey), was not his own thoughts, and die
not in fact true. This put the log-book, as evidence
iii
°r
case, overboard.—After some further testimony of
n,
importance, Mr. Brandreth, house-surgeon of the Infix
was called, and described sundry injuries, including the
. '
tare, on the person of the complainant; also infiamseala
of the chest, which last, from what the man himself had thy it
him, he conceived to be produced by violence, though',"
might have arisen from cold or other natural causes.
rupture appeared to be an old one, of considerable start
din"
—The French boy called in the former case was then ean,!;,e
and spoke to continual beatings given by the captain to /4;1.
complainant, some for his filthy habits, and many otherS ca
the least things possible.—Mr. Rushton said no depend lied
could be placed upon the testimony of the Italian, who
that
evidently been ruptured before he went on board, so that
part of the case fell to the ground, though the circumsta
were highly suspicious. It was clear to him that the captaa!e,
had treated his crew—all of whom were ill—with unnecess
violence—with, indeed,. a wanton abusebutn ootfhainugthtoorlutys.tify'rshoecri;
was some extenuation in the case, then'
conduct to men who, in their illness, struggled. to do _„t
best. He was not satisfied, moreover, with the treatrnuou,
given to the poor man, Gray (who went overboard), butu
this therm was no distinct evidence. Under the cire.
stances, the captain must he released.—The mate oufial_i:s
vessel, and also the Italian, yesterday applied for ammo !,!,,
against the captain for their wages. It was stated that_tasii
first case would be heard hereafter, and that he agreed to
the Italian his demand.

bA!•;cr:
nrrangenat
his resides
the genen

.1311 EAR
night last,
broke intc
dealer and
all(l.carrie
Is low, an
effected ar
noise was
tween one
could disc
reutly on]
taken hay
the same
than thre(

It will
column, tl
sieal Salrn
Bed that I
Vauxhall.
I?eculiat li
tre,lneixtei
lord. Th
Nlingard,
deservedll
ballad- me;
exquisite
wany atti
We can o
and judge

TILE Bi
tree near
fifty sere:
belonging
following
Bruxelles
it had alsi
also the n
It has sin
tempts to
since its 1
Possessiot

TIMAT
season las
ournstano
It will be
the public
he is a ste
Mr. Thal
art, win ,
!iiderable
its hundr
loud and
Possessing
Mr. J.
A treat o
the conce
the name
Play a du,
Is general
Panoforl
of the ar
anticipate
PerFormai
tested ; ii
would no

that the li