The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-07-15 00:00:00

CURIOUS CASE.-BLACK VERSUS WHITE

On Tuesday, Stephen Simpson, a man of colour, was put
forward at the police-court, on a charge of having refused to
support his alleged child. Harriet Simpson, a white woman,
deposed that she was the prisoner's wife, and that she had
been relieved by the parish. The prisoner (who was a sailor)
had refused to do anything for her, and was at present about
to ship on board a vessel for the East Indies. He had also
refused to provide for the baby she held in her arms, alleging
that the child was not his own. The grounds he had given
for this allegation were these—that his own colour was black,
while that of the child was white.

On her cross-examination by Mr. Wardle, she stated that
herself and her husband had been parted by Mr. Hall, of
the Liverpool Police-court, about four or five years ago.
She had another child at that time, but that child had since
died. It was then arranged that the prisoner should pay her
ss. a-week for the maintenance of the former child. She
had never lived with the prisoner since that time, nor had she
received any sum of money from him with the exception of
the first ss. The present child was about ten months old.
The prisoner was positively the father of it, although it was
white. She had seen the prisoner while she was in the family
way with it. She had seen him about four months before
the child was born. The child was born on the 9th Septem-
ber. She saw the prisoner in the month of May preceding.
She also saw him on the sth of the preceding December. He
did not remain with her that night, but on the following
Monday he called for her to go with him to the Social Hall.
(A laugh.)
Mr. %Vardle asked whether the prisoner had slept with her
on this latter occasion ?
Mr. Rushton said that it was unnecessary to have the
question answered.

A. female witness deposed that upon one occasion the pri-
soner had come to a house where his wife had been employed,
and declared that he would break the windows if he were not
permitted to see his wife.
Mr. Rushton said that the case had been cleared proved.
If the wife had been in the habit of committing adultery the
fact was capable of easy proof.
Mr. Evans of the parish-office, stated that the prisoner
had, upon one occasion, given £3 to provide for his wife
during a voyage.
Mrs. Simpson was again examined. She stated that she
had been at the house of a Mrs. Manners since the prisoner
had come home from sea upon the last occasion. The prisoner
was there at the time, and, after having looked at the child
for a long time, said, " I see you have got a young child."
She replied, " Yes, and you are the father of it." " What!"
said he, "am I the father of a white child ?" "
Yes," she
replied ; " the just God above knows that it is your
child."

Mr. Rushton said that no real attempt seemed to have
been made to refute the woman's story.
The prisoner protested that the child was not his own, and
said that his wife, in the presence of Mrs. Manners, had
openly admitted as much. " The child," said he, "is too
clear for me."

Mr. Rushton.—Do you rely on the colour?
Prisoner.—l should think so.
Mr. Rushton.—You are aware that there is nothing so de-
ceptive as the colour of children.

Prisoner.-13ut this is white, and lam black. (A laugh.)
Exhibit the child. Let his Worship see the difference.
The child was here shown to the bench: the colour of its
skin was perfectly fair.
Mr. Rushton.—Upon a view of this kind, the facts are
certainly rather against your being the father. Are you a
mulatto ?

Prisoner—l believe I am.
Rushton—You are not quite so dark as a mulatto

Prisoner—No_
'Mr. Rushton—lt certainly is a very difficult issue to try—
(a you know colours deepen with age.
Prisoner—That may be. The, other two children I had
were a little fairer than I am, but then they were dark like
me.

—Mr. Rushton—This child is a fair child, and not the usual
result in such cases.
Mrs. Manners, the witness alluded to by the prisoner,
was then sent for to give evidence. She refused to come,
but sent word that she knew nothing about the case.
A Doctor was then sent for, and, after a long delay,
Mr. Cripps, surgeon, of Dale-street, was examined. After
baying,- looked at the prisoner, and examined the child, he
though there was no doubt in the case as to the possibility
of paternity. He stated that the contour of the countenance
of the child was like that of the father.

Mr. Rushton then told the prisoner that the child was
like him, and that he had no doubt that the child was his
own. He concluded by directing him to pay five shillings a
week for its supportand that of his wife.
.....

The prisoner, who seemed to think the question of pater-
nity very doubtful even still, consented to make arrange-
ments for the payment of the money accordingly.

CORRESPONDENCE

ENGLISH MERCHANTS AND AMERICAN DEBTS

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD

SlR,—Lord Palmerston says (amidst loud cheers)—" Our
merchants' books were full of bad (American) debts; the
American merchants' storehouses. were full of good corn.
They would pay us with that corn, but we would not accept
that corn in payment. (Renewed cheers.)"—See Times of

to take the corn in

, what an opinion

gliih merchants, not

ad debts ! If leis lord:

ship would ask theprincipal English creditors, he would be
informed-that they would jump and snap at the proposition
i
of receiving payment in corn delivered n New York at the
market price on the day of delivery ; and thus his lordship's

mighty argument would vanishinto smoke.
It is true his lordship thinks the difficulty would vanish,
if the duty on corn were fixed at Bs. per quarter ; but the

same creditors would inform his lordship, that, even after
the imposition of the fixed duty, they would still be wil-
ling to receive the corn at the market price, and delighted
at having their bad debts thus liquidated. Lord Palmerston
may be a deep statesman. but he is a shallow merchant.
The American debtor does not pay his English creditor,
because he is either poor or DISHONEST, and not because
the duty on corn in England varies instead pf being fixed at
Bs. C.

-alt.
THE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTION,

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD

SIR,—As the great fault committed in placing the Col-
legiate Institution in a line with the street is now very gene-
rally admitted, it may not be amiss to suggest some mode
in which so capital a defect may be remedied. Many plans,
no. doubt, may be proposed, having a better claim to consi-
deration than mine ; but as a means of directing attention to
the subject, you may perhaps think it worth while to insert
it in your paper. It is this : to make a crescent on the op-
posite side of Shaw-street, having a wide passage leading
from its middle point to Salisbury-street. The tine effect
which the Institution would have at the extremity of such
may be judged of by any one who takes the trouble
nto Salisbury-street, and view the building from

an avent
to walk
that point.—l am, Sir
Liverpool, July 10.

AMATEUR

[We believe our correspondent's suggestion has been
already before the committee, but we are not aware of their
decision on the subject.]

At the recent audit of the Rev. Archer Clive, M.A., rec-
tor of Solihull, Warwickshire, last week, the rev. gentleman
was pleased to make a reduction in the rents of his nume-
rous tenantry to the amount of 20 per cent., in considera-
tion of the prevalent distress.

CRICKET.—KENT V. ALL ENGLAND.—TIIS match was
decided at Lords on Tuesday, by the players of Kent, with
11 selected from the various counties of England, and after
two days' play the former were proclaimed the victors by a
majority of no less than 50 run

EAT TAKE OF SALMON.—The salmon fishery in this
neighbourhood has been more successful this season than for

ars past. On Monday last, no fewer than 1000 fish
were taken out of the Dee, while the daily average take has
been about 500.—Aberdeen Herald.
RAPID TRANSATLANTIC COMMUNICATION.—A gentle-
man connected with this town sailed from Liverpool, by the
Columbia steamer, and his brother, Mr. W. Morley, who
resides in Sunderland, received a letter from him, advising
his arrival in Halifax, Nova Scotia, 20 days from the date of
his leaving England.—Sunderland Times.
Sit H. Hardinge has obtained leave to bring in two bills,
one for the establishment of savings banks in the army, and
the other to empower the Secretary at War to pay the out-
pensioners of Chelsea Hospital monthly, instead of quarterly,
as at present
Ti

many y

arge revenue of Greenwich Hospital is principally
derived from the estates of the extinct Earldom of Derwent-
water, in the north, which, under the management of the
,000 per annum, and the freight
broad, which realises on the

commissioners, produc

brOught froir

average £lO,OOO per annum

NEW WAR STEAMER ON LAKE Ei
building at Kingston a splendid war s
Chippewa. Her burthen is 700 tons,

E . —The English are
amer to be called the

xnd she will carry two
t the

our 32-pounders

It thus appears t

British continue to arm their frontier

—New York Herald.

MAIMIAGES IN HIGH LIFE.—The nuptials of the Hon,
Capt. F. W. Child Villiers, third son of the Earl of Jersey.
and Lady Elizabeth De Rede Ginkle, daugher of the late
and sister to the present Earl of Athlone, were celebrated at
St. George's Church, Hanover-square, on Tuesday. Mar-
ried, at St. Mary's, Bryanston-square, on Tuesday. the 12th
instant, by the Lord Bishop of Derry, Sir Henry Harvey
Bruce, Bart., of Down Hill, Londonderry, to Mary Ann,
only daughter of Sir Juckes Granville Juckes Clifton, Bart.,
of Clifton Hall, Nottingham, and Trelydon Hall, Montgo-
meryshire.

Mr. Thomas Banks, engineer, of Manchester, has lately
obtained a patent which bids fair to enhance the safety of
the travelling public, and also to effect a considerable eco-
nomy in the expenditure of railway companies. This inven-
tion consists in a simple and effectual method of manufac-
turing or renewing the working surface of that most impor-
tant article in railway transit, the tire of the running or
travelling wheel, and is accomplished by the application of
steel to the peripheries of either old or new wheels, in such
a manner that Increased durability is insured at an inconsi-
derable cost in the first production, and a permanent eco-
nomy in the ultimate result.

bonded
millers, and bakers; who have
it has been adopted by the government. The quantities of
biscuit and flour to be exchanged for every hundred pounds
of wheat taken out of bond, have been arranged, we under-
staud, as follows :--
Flour 7Blbs.
Cabin biscuit 681bs.
Navy biscuit
Commonest shin biscuit
'There is also to be a power of requiring a certificate of the
depOsit, and of using it for the taking out of the corn at any
port of the kingdom, for the space of six weeks.

ention among corn-factors,
arned with satisfaction that

A great improvement has taken place in flowers for head
dress—which are no longer made of silk or cambric, but of
velvet. The feuillage de velours nuance resembles nature
much more than its predecessors. Her Majesty had given
the example a short time since; when an imitation of the
leaves of that domestic but useful esculent, the potato, were
adopted in the young 'sovereign's dress, these leaves having,
besides the advantage of their colour, that of the grace with
which the stems connect the shoots together. The foliage is
made in velvets of different shades of colour, and when dia-
monds are placed amidst them the effect is beautiful and
highly becoming.

DIABOLICAL ATTEMPT.—Friday morning, whilst a man
named William Evans was lying asleep on the bank of a
burning lime-kiln, near Rugeley, two drunken navigators.
who had been working in that neighbourhood, came up, one
of them placed his foot under the body of the sleeping man,
and threw him on the burning lime, and they both immedi-
ately ran away. Providentially another man was sleeping on
the bank, and being awakened py the cries of the poor
fellow, assisted in rescuing him from his perilous situation.
He was conveyed to the Stafford General Infirmary ; and al-
though dreadfully burnt, hopes are entertained of his reco-
very. Had the lime been in a calcined state, his death would
have been inevitable.—Staford Advertiser.

TREATY OF COMMERCE WITH BRAZIL.—The following
is the article of our commercial treaty with Brazil, to which
Mr. M. Forster, the hon. member for Berwick, referred on
Friday night, in his question to Sir R. Peel (Article
XXVIII.):—" The high contracting parties agree that the
stipulations contained in the present treaty shall continue in
force for the term of fifteen years, to be reckoned from the
date of the ratifications of the treaty ; and further, until
one or other of the high contracting parties shall give notice
of its termination. In which case this treaty shall terminate
at the end of two years from the date of such notice."
Brazil gave notice two years ago that she would terminate
the treaty at the end of 15 years, but we say it was not com-
petent for her to give notice till after the expiration of the
15 years, and on this point hinges the dispute.

EMIGRANTS, &c.—Over 3,000 people landed in the city of
New York in the last two days, including agriculturists and
all kinds of mechanics. In the city they cannot remain.
We have 4,000 persons of our own already out of employ, and
the number lately thrown adrift by the navy orders has added
to the calamity. To the country then they must go, end
there is room enough for all if they will but follow good ad-
vice. The counties, of Delaware and Ulster, 50 to 100 miles
west of Catskill, on the North River, offer the best pros-
pect to the settler—good land and fine health on the moun-
tains. To these people we say, go to the mountainous parts
of Delaware and Ulster, and see the Scotch and Welch set-
tlement in the vicinity of Delhi. The lands recommended
may be reached in two days. It is folly to go to the far west.
away from all kindred, friends, and connexions.—New York
Herald.

LORD AUCKLAND.—A great deal is made by two wbig
papers of the historical fact, proclaimed to the world with
sound of trumpet by Lord Palmerston, that Lord Auckland
was asked to continue at his post in India for some time
longer, by the tory government. Mr. Escott's perhaps
random denial elicited from Lord Palmerston a more mea-
sured account of the matter ; and it now seems that his
" authority " is a gossiping family letter, and that the re-
quest of the government is nothing more than a friendly wish
of Lord Ellenborough's. But even allowing the largest con-
struction to Lord Palmerston's exclusive information, what
does the fact amount to? The new ministers found Lord
Auckland engaged in a war : they may not approve of that
war, either in its origin or object, but once begun it must be
prosecuted to an issue ; and unless Lord Auckland's manage-
ment had been thought bad indeed, it might naturally have
been considered better to let him finish the job, without
bringing in another workman, who would have to learn his
business in the midst of an emergency.—Spectator.

" Ah ! Mr. Hogg—happy to see you—how are the little
piggies?" " Quite well, thank'ee, Mr. Colt ; how do you
do—and how's the old mare ?"
Humility is the great ornament and jewel of the Christian
religion. Let the face, like that of Moses, shine to others,
but make no looking-glasses fqr thyself.

ANECDOTE OF GEORGE lII.—At a recent public dinner
of the governors of St. Luke's Hospital, Mr. Layard, one of
the governors, stated a curious and interesting fact most
creditable to King George 111.. In the list of benefactiors
for the year 1793 is the following insertion .—" A benevolent
gentleman, who desired his name might be concealed during
his life, gave £5,000. Four per Cents, by Robert Drummond,
Esq." The " benevolent gentleman," Mr. Layard stated
he had been assured by most respectable parties, was no
other than his late Majesty King George 111.

PROGRESS OF PARTS.—" Pa, do they plough the prisoners
up at Sing Sing ? " (the Penitentiary) " No, my son ;"
what made you ask that question? "' "Cause it says here
that one of their faces was furrowed."

Ornament is only valuable when it does not interfere with
what is useful. The frost which congeals water adds much
to its brilliancy, but destroys its utility. Children may
admire how it sparkles in the sun, but men will reflect that
it slakes no thirst; it revives no fainting heart.
ORIGIN OF THE HALO OVER SAINTS' HEADS.—TiIe
Pagan fashion of protecting the heads of deities—often, even
in Temples, expsed to the outer air—from the insults of
birds, each by a metal dicus, had by degrees so associated
with that head-piece an idea of dignity, that the Chrisotsie
ns
the
character the form in order to mark, even
character of saintship. Thence the nimbus, introadu
ics,
so
far
saints in the more ancient paintings and in
in
Painctiendg' over
from being intended to represent a mere aureple or glory of
intangible rays emanating from- the wetter
er or gold, often
himself, is only
the representation of a solid platter._ of fitting the skull.—
adorned with scrolls, foliage. gems'
Hope's Historp qf Arehtteeturs.

SECOND

XlOl

Standard-office, I