The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-10-14 00:00:00

MAGISTRATES ROOM.—YEsTEnDAY.

Mr. Justice CRESWELL took his seat i❑ this Court at
half-past nine o'clock this morning.
RIOT, &C.

Joseph Kitchen, Joseph Mills, Ralph Wolfenden, and
John Wright were charged with a conspiracy to turn out
factory hands at High Crompton, near Oldham, on the 18th
of August last. They were also charged with attending an
unlawful assembly, and with a riot.
Mr. J. S. WORTLY and Mr. POLLOCK appeared to con-
duct the case for the prosecution. Mr. WHIGIIAM defended
Kitchen. The rest were undefended.
The learned counsel for the prosecution in stating the case
observed, that he should not trouble the Jury with the charge
of conspiracy against the prisoners, and therefore their atten-
tion need only be directed to the other charges, namely,
that of attending an unlawful assembly, and a riot.
From the evidence then adduced it appeared, that about
one o'clock in the afternoon
.of the 10th of August, a large
mob assembled at High Crompton, near Oldham, which
visited several of the factories, and turned out the hands.
Kitchen was there and addressed the mob, advising them
not to go to work until they got a fair day's wages for a fair
day's work. The whole of the prisoners were sworn to as
taking part in the proceedings of the riot, but Wolfenden
and Wright did not appear to have taken any active part in
the riot.

They were all found guilty of the riot and attending an un-
lawful assembly. The prisoners all received good characters,
and at the intercession of Mr. Wortley, Wolfenden and
Wright were discharged on entering into their own recog-
niaa9ces of £4O each, to appear when called upon to receive
judgment, and to keep the peace for two years. His Lord-
ship, after addressing the others on the mischievous nature
of the offence of which they had been found guilty, sen-
tenced them to be imprisoned in the House of Correction for
twelve calendar months and kept to hard labour, and di-
rected that, at the expiration of that period, Hitchen should
find two sureties to keep the peace for two years.
Jonny Marcroft was found guilty of a similar offence, com-
mitted at the factory of Messrs. Butterworth, at Spotland,
on the 18th of August, and the learned Judge sentenced him
to six months' imprisonment in the House of Correction.

CONSPIRACY.
Isaac Hoyle, William Booth, Thomas Ogden, John
Chisenhale, and John Wolstencroft, were indicted for un.
lawfully conspiring together fo impede, by threats and in-
timidation, the carrying on of ti.z, trade and manufactures of
the country.
The prisoners Chisenhale and Wolstencroft, on the recom-
mendation of Dr. Brown, pleaded guilty, and the others not
guilty.
Mr. J. S. WORTLEY and Mr. PoLLOCK conducted the
case on behalf of the crown, and Mr. MATTHEWS that on
behalf of the defendants.
Mr. WORTLEY said the three prisoners were indicted for
conspiracy, together with other persons, one of them named
Taylor, who were included in a more serious charge, and
was not then on their trial for conspiring together, to pre-
vent her Majesty's subjects following their occupations, to
effect some private purpose of their own, either to procure
the charter, or soma other alteration in the laws of this
realm. During the period between the 12th and 20th of
August numerous meetings were held at Royton, near Old-.
ham, of considerable bodies of people, at all of which the
prisoners were present, and inflammatory language was used,
and they were advised not to return to their work until they
obtained the charter. They all seemed to have had one
common object in view, and had pursued that in company
with large bodies of people, who bad turned out workpeople
during the recent outbreak.
Several witnesses were then called, who proved that there
had been a number of meetings held every day, from the 12th
to the 20th of August, at which all the prisoners had generally
attended, and occasionally Hoyle acted as chairman. At
some of the meetings a person named Taylor was appointed
as a delegate to attend the meeting of that body iu Man-

cheater, that they should not go back to work until they had
obtained the Charter ; and at one of the meetings it was said,
if the people returned to their work they would visit them
and give them a good hiding (thrashing), and that the men
would use their swords, and the women would know how to
direct them. It was also said at one of the last meetings,
they would hear of something glorious in a few days. Evi-
dence was also given of the proceedings of some of the mobs
which had collected, as to their attacking the factories in the
neighbourhood, turning out the hands, and pulling the plugs
out of the boilers.

Mr. MATTHEWS addressed the jury at considerable length
in behalf of the defendants, contending that the objects of
those who attended the various meetings was purely of a
peaceable character, or, at all events, if they had any object
in view, it was to obtain the Charter; and, as they were in-
dieted for conspiring to prevent her Majesty's subjects from
pursuing their lawful occupations, they could not be found
guilty, even if the jury were of opinion that they were guilty
of unlawfully conspiring to obtain the Charter.
Mr. WORTLEY replied, and the learned Judge proceeded
to sum up the case, stating what he conceived to be the
law of the subject, and the bearing of the evidence which
had been adduced as applicable to to it.
The Jury merely turned round in the box, and then pro-‘
nbunced a verdict of guilty against all the prisoners.
Mr. WORTLEY then addressed his Lordsbip on behalf of
Chisenhale and Wolstencroft, who had pleaded guilty to the
charge. He sa'd he certainly should not have been able to
have shown that they had taken any active part in the recent
outrages, and as most probably they had been made dupes
of by others, and he believed had some good characters, he
was not desirous for calling for any judgment against them.
He understood also that their masters were willing again to
take them into their service, and, therefore, he should be
satisfied on their being set at liberty on giving sufficient
security to appear when called upon to receive judgment.
His tourismr then se'itenced the prisoners to eighteen
months' imprisonment in the County Gaol, and ordered
them to find sureties to keep the peace for two years after
that period. Wolstencroft and Chisenhale were the liberated
on giving two sureties to appear for judgment when called
upon.

Thomas Ashcroft, Thomas Marshall, and Joseph Fletcher,
tried on Wednesday, were then brought up and sentenced to
six months' imprisonment in the House of Correction.

This terminated the business of the Special Commission,
and the learned JUDGE, in discharging the Jury, said, he
hoped, as long as he had the honour of having a seat on the
bench, not to be again called upon under similar circum-
stances to try persons who had been guilty of such outrages
against the public peace.

QUALIFICATIONS OF MASTERS AND MATES

An adjourned 'meeting of the shipmasters of the port of
Liverpool was held on the evening of Tuesday, in the Ship-
masters' Rooms, Oldhall-street, for the purpose of taking
into further consideration the provisions of the bill intro-
duced into parliament by Capt. Fitzroy, R.N., for appointing
boards for the examination of masters and mates in the
merchant service. Captain MIDGLEY was unanimously
called to the chair. The meeting was very numerously
attended.

The CHAIRMAN opened the proceedings by stating that
the meeting had been assembled for the purpose of proceed-
ing with the business relative to Captain Fitzroy's bill, which
had been left incomplete at the previous meeting. On that
occasion the bill was considered as far as the 21st clause;
and they would now commence with the discussion on the
23d clause, which made provision relative to the age and time
of service requisite to entitle parties to apply for certificates
of qualification.
Captain LOTT, of the steam-ship Caledonia, objected to
the bill in Coto. He considered it a one-sided measure.
holding out great assumed advantages to the shipowners and
underwriters, and subjecting the masters to annoyance and
expense without affording them any equivalent.
Captain BISSETT said, he did not go so far as his friend
Captain Lott, in objecting to the bill altogether. He saw no
valid objection to an examination as proposed by the bill,
provided it could be arranged so as to have the desired effect
without injury to the means of masters and mates. He
considered, certainly, all the advantage in the bill to be
upon the part of the underwriters ; and he strongly objected
to the masters and mates being called upon to pay for their
certificates.

The CHAIRMAN explained that the Shipmasters' Asso-
ciation having with other public bodies memorialised govern-
ment to bring in a bill to establish boards of examination,
the question of the propriety of the bill could not now be
entertained—and more especially so as the meeting had been
called for the express purpose of considering its details.
Mr. RoNvErr stated it as his opinion that the bill would
tend very much to the benefit of the shipmasters, by raising
them in society ; and that it would ultimately conduce to
their pecuniary welfare by securing them a better remunera-
tion for their services. Indeed he had no doubt that the
time was not far distant when shipmasters, like officers in
the navy, would be pensioned for their services.
Captain CALDBECK approved of the bill as a general mea-
sure, but he objected to the classification of certificates as
proposed by the 22d clause as invidious.

"I..ieutenaat TRACEY, R.N. supported the bill. It would
raise the character of the shipmasters, and give them a status
in society which they did not appear to have at present ; but
at the same time he thought it bore rather hardly upon
officers in the royal navy, because, after they had undergone
the examination requisite for naval officers, they must un-
dergo a second examination before they could be entitled to
command a merchantman. This was an obvious defect in
the bill, which he should think only required to be pointed
out in order to insure a remedy. He also considered the
fees to be paid upon examination rather too exorbitant, when
compared with those paid by naval officers under similar
circumstances. He had passed his examination upon the
same day with Captain Fitzroy; and although it might have
escaped the memory of the gallant captain as being too trivial
to be retained in it, he (Lieut. Tracey) well recollected that
for his two certificates he was called upon to pay only
£1 2s. 6d. He was further of opinion, that three masters in
the merchant service would form a very proper tribunal to
conduct the examinations.

After some further discussion a resolution was carried on
the motion of Captain CALDBECK, and seconded by Captain
Lon', to the effect that the 22nd clause embraced provisions
inimical to the interests of the shipmasters in general, and
that it also contained undeserved reflections upon their
ability as a body.
The 23d and 24th clauses were then read and approved of,
without eliciting any remarks of importance.
On clause 25 being read,
Captain RISSETT repeated that he had no objection to the
examination for qualification; but he certainly did object
most strongly to the fees proposed to be paid for certificates.
The fee, it must be remembered, was charged at a time when
the master or mate was least able to afford it, he having,
perhaps, at the same moment his outfit, chronometer, and
nautical instruments to purchase. The underwriters, in
fact, would derive all the benefit which the bill was likely to
give, and on that ground he thought they ought to be re-
quired to pay for the certificates of qualification.
It was then resolved, on the motion of Mr: ROWETT, se-
conded by Captain BISSETT, that clause 25 ought to be so
altered as to provide that all examinations should be made
entirely at the expense of government.
The 26th and 27th clauses were next read and approved
of.

On clause 28 being read, which gives a power to revoke
and cancel certificates in cases of misconduct,
Captain BISSETT objected to the clause, on the ground
that it would subject any shipmaster to double punishment
for-one offence—first to punishment by a civil power, and
next to punishment by this clause.
Mr. ROWETT supported the clause. It was intended as a
protection of the really good man; and he instanced two
cases in which such an enactment might have been enforced
with advantage. One was a merchant captai❑ who had be-
come a pirate ; and another was a recent case where a captain
had taken a ship out for the express purpose of losing her, in
order to defraud the underwriters.

On the motion of Captain CALDBECK, seconded by Cap-
tain BISSETT, it was resolved that it was desirable to expunge
clause 28 from the bill ; and that if the master or mate of a
merchant ship were tried by a jury and convicted, he should
be deprived of his certificate for such period as the court
might award. _

The 29th and 30th clauses were approved without ob-
servation.

On the 31st clause being read, which enacts that persons
having or being entitled to certificates of exemption, under
the bill, might apply for certificates of qualification--a long
discussion took place. At the end of the debate the clause
was left as it stands in the bill.

Captain LOTT pin protested against the whole bill; and
he announced his intention of leaving a memorial against it
in the rooms of the Shipmaster's Association and other pub-
lic-places.
Captain CALDBECK endeavoured to impress upon Captain
Lott the propriety of confining himself to the especial pur-
pose for which the meeting was convened ; and instead of
opposing the measure in toto, to lend his aid in making it a
good bill.

- Thanks were given to the Chairman by acclamation for his
able and impartial conduct.

The meeting was then adjourned till Tuesday next, the
18th instant, at seven o'clock in the evening, on the motion
of Captain CALDBECK, seconded by Captain CHALMLEY.

MRS. ALFRED SHAW.—The story of this accomplished
vocalist, who has recently made so successful a debut at the
Covent-garden, is an odd one. She was a factory girl in one
of the manufacturing towns of Lancashire--Rochdale, we
believe—and some cne, noticing that she had a fine voice, had
her taught singing, and she is now unquestionably the first
contralto of the day. Mrs. Shaw was engaged at the Liver-
pool festival in 1836, when the town was thronged with fac-
tory girls (her old companions), who had come from Roch-
dale to " hear Peg Postans sing,"—for by her new name
they had not schooled their tongues to call her. The lady's
husband is an artist of some celebrity, and a brother of Mr.
Shaw, the architect of Christ's Hospital, under whose super-
intendence the new wing of Eton College was erected, and
who has also been appointed architect for the proposed Royal
Naval School. Dramatic and Musical Review. [This
story is denied, and Mrs. Shaw's family are stated to be
highly respectable.—E. L. S.]
THE INDIAN PRISONERS.—Lady Sale has written two
very interesting letters, while they (the prisoners) were at
Lughnan. The first was written in very good spirits just
after receiving clothes, &c., from Jellalabad. "They had
not changed," she said, " since they left Cabul, and there
was such a scramble for them ; some (the weakest) got none,
which, when she heard, she had them divided more equally.
They were living 12 in one room—herself and Mrs. Sturt
(who were expecting to be confined), Mrs. Trevor and her
five children, and Ayahs ; and poor Captain Mein, who lay
at the foot of their bed, was so frostbitten he could not move."
But the most interesting anecdote she tells was, " that they
picked up a Bible and Prayer-book on their road from Cabul,
and in this poor Mein reads the lessons &c., to them every
evening; but the evenings were so long and dreary, they
wanted candles more than anything." Her last letter is very
desponding, as they were going to be removed behind moun-
ted horsemen, they knew not whither, but not very far off;
and that Akhbar Khan was willing to treat. Lady Sale says
if she escapes she wili publish everything, as she has taken
notes of the whole proceedings ; but there are painful tales
already hinted at—of officers following their wives, instead
of staying at their posts. Calcutta Englishmen.
EXPORT OF MACHINERY FROM ENGLAND.—The English
Government have just come to an important determination.
It has permitted the exportation, hitherto prohibited, of
machinery for spinning worsted and cotton. The permission
may extend to other machines; those alone now expected
are such as are used for flax and hemp. This decision, which
may be considered as the contre coup of the augmentation of
the rights imposed by France on English linens and linen
threads, has caused quite a sensation among French
machinists, and they have just addressed a letter to the
Minister, demanding that tho duty on foreign machinery,
which is now 15 per cent. shall be raised to 30 per cent. ; and
further states, that even with this !heavy protective duty,
they shall not be able to go on. Two years ago, the manu-
facturers of machinery, attributed their depressed condition
to the dearness of the raw materials ; in their present com-
plaints they have forgotten that old grievance, and now con-
fine themselves to the one just alluded to. One of our
Ministers recently complained that, since the formation of
committees in all the different branches of industry, it was
impossible for any government to bring forward measures to
the satisfaction of them. For our own part we are far from
looking on those associations with such terror. If they give
us any uneasiness, it is because we see the weakness and the
powerlessness, of the Government. With a strong Ministry,
on the contrary, these committees would be useful, for they
form a sort of permanent jury on the state of French industry.
Besides it is the duty of the Government to listen to all the
grievances of every branch of trade and industry ; and it is
their duty to watch over the interests of all—La Siecle.

Lljr Eibtrpool &tantarb.

FRIDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 14, 1842.

The charge of the Lord Chief Baron, which we gave
at length in our last, is an instructive document
throughout ; and we know not at this moment by what
means a greater service could be rendered to the work-
ing classes in the manufacturing districts than by its
circulation amongst them. If we were to form our
judgment from recent events in those districts, a
strange misconception exists amongst the population,
not only with respect to its own power, but with
respect, as well, to the power of the law. The notion
is almost universally entertained that displays of phy-
sical force, congregations of masses of people pro-
fessing regard for " peace, law, and order," yet
avowedly endeavouring to intimidate the government
and the sovereign of the country, will not only he
tolerated, but are perfectly legal. The exposition of
the law by his lordship will go far to dissipate this
unfounded idea, propagated by designing men, to
subserve their own bad purposes; and its general cir 7
culation would warn, if it did not effectually convince,
the working classes of the folly and danger of listening
to the councils of men who thus act in direct viola-
tion of the spirit as well as of the letter of the
constitution.

It is not, however, to this point that we purpose
now directing the attention of our readers. In the
charge before us, we conceive that Lord Abinger has
spoken only a portion of the truths which, it is evi-
dent, were pressing upon his mind. He has darkly
hinted, however, at the remainder; and we shall en-
deavour, here, to bring- his lordship's meaning into
more full and prominent light.
The seditious and inflammatory speeches of the
chartist demagogues, O'Connor and others, were
evidently pointed •at by the Chief Baron as having
aggravated the danger of the recent disturbances, and
as calling for the prompt visitation of the law. It is
a crime, we are told, almost, if not actually, amounting
to high treason, to conspire to restrain or force the
will of the Sovereign. It is a crime, then, by inflam-
matory speeches or publications, to excite others to
such conspiracy. The demagogues of the chartist
party are for this abiding the award of a jury of their
country. Are they, we ask, the only offenders whom
at this moment the law can reach ? Are these men,
whose trade is sedition, and who live by it, to be
visited by punishment, whilst the amateur in sedition,
is permitted to escape ? To speak plainly,—is the
chartist leader, with his tools and dupes, to be punished,
whilst the Anti-Corn-law Leaguer walks away free in
the impunity of his crime ?
There is not a question that, up to the very hour of
the recent outbreak, the members of the League were
sedulously engaged in that very seditious speaking
and writing which is denounced as illegal and dan-
gerous by the Lord Chief Baron. They have again
and again proclaimed their wish to excite just such
demonstrations of physical force, to " impose a re-
straint upon the will of the Sovereign," as are by his
lordship considered to amount to the crime of high
treason. The aim and tendency of their entire pro_
ceedings are to effect their particular objects by a violent
action. upon the will of the legislature; and, with Lord
Abinger, we " are at a loss to know what distinction
there :is: between a conspiracy to subvert the govern-
ment; and have a particular measure passed into a law;
and the crime of high treason." The Anti-Corn-law
League is, of itself, A CONSPIRACY ! It has through-
out its existence contemplated intimidation of the
government, by the excited masses, as its chief weapon.
To effect this intimidation, it has agitated ; levied, and
is now levying, funds from the pockets of its dupes
dispatched its hired lecturers—its Thomsons and its;
Aclands—to all parts of the empire; congregated its
"ministers of all denominations," and even held its
convention at the very doors of the House of Com-
mons : and, if Lord Abinger's be the correct interpre-
tation of the laws of Great Britain, there can be little
doubt, that such a body so conducted is an illegal
body—a seditious and highly-dangerous CONSPIRACY!

Nor, we believe, is evidence wanting to connect the
League, sufficiently for the satisfaction of the law, with
the recent outbreak of the manufacturing masses. It
is not necessary that the particular proceedings of the
turn-outs should have been advised by it ; that the
League, in its capacity as an organised body, should
be proved to have provided funds and advice to their
leaders—although perhaps even that might be proved.
To meet the interpretation of the law furnished in the
charge before us, it is sufficient that its conduct has
been such as was designedly calculated "to excite
disaffection, sedition, and insurrection ;" and with the
atrocious placards of the League fresh in our memory,
coupled with the incendiary speeches of numbers of
its members, their threats of coming insurrection, and
heir prophecies of the exact time at which it would
break out, need we go far to seek for evidence which
would be satisfactory to any honest jury l Assuredly
we need not.

What may be the intention of Government upon
this matter we have no means of ascertaining. We
should certainly not be surprised, however, to see its
condemnation visited upon certain gentlemen in Man-
chester, upon whom we have our eye, in a very intel-
ligible shape, if •not precisely in that of a criminal
prosecution. By the spirit of English law the posses-
sion of intelligence and station has always been regarded
as aggravating the offence of an accused party ; and
we are confident that an honest Government, whilst
punishing the misguided and ignorant dupes of these
men, will never overlook the crimes of those so far
their superiors, merely because they write " coun-
cillor" or " alderman" after their names, and by a
profligate ministry have been permitted to exhibit their
ignorance upon the magisterial bench. We speak ad-
visedly when we say this. The conduct of these men
cannot be passed over; and, perhaps, it might be wise
in some of them to make the attempt at least to mol-
lify the offended justice of their country by retiring
from the prominent and responsible position which they
occupy in the public eye. They may live to thank us
for THE HINT !

The prevention of the destruction of property,
warehouse or of other descriptions, by fire, is un-
doubtedly an object well worthy the attention of every
inhabitant of this community. But there is another
species of destruction going on daily around us, and
attributable, in part, to the same cause, to which it is
equally the duty of every lover of his kind to direct
his earnest attention, and to endeavour to devise a
check. We refer to the lamentable destruction of hu-
man life arising from the crowded, ill-ventilated, and
ill-cleansed dwellings in which the labouring poor of
This town are compelled to locate themselves.
From a publication, just issued from the office of
the Poor-law Commissioners, containing the result of
an enquiry into the sanitory condition of the labour-
ing population of Great Britain, and from which we
propose, on a future occasion, to quote largely, we
find that in 1840, the number of deaths in Liverpool
were, of "gentry and professional persons," 137; of
" tradesmen and their families," 1738; and of " la-
bourers, mechanics, and servants," 5597. The ave-
rage duration of life in the first class was 35 years ; of
the second, 22 years ; and, of the third only 15 years !
Of all the towns to which the commissioners have di-
rected their attention, the sanitary condition of Liver-
pool appears to be the worst. The labouring classes of

Manchester, of Leeds, of Bolton, of Birmingham, of
'Bethnal Green, and Whitechapel Union—the worst

districts of the metropolis—are apparently in the en-
joyment of a larger amount of health than the labour-
ing classes of this, which might be made one of the

most salubrious localities in the kingdom !
And why, we ask, is this the case ? Have we no
medical charities to which the poor labourer can apply
in his sickness ? Is there anything peculiarly unhealthy
in the employment of that class in Liverpool ? We

have medical charities, and the employment of our

poor is not of a peculiarly unhealthy kind. The evil,

we are satisfied—and the report before us hears us out
in our conviction—is solely in the filthy and wretched
character of the dwellings in which the labourer is
confined ; in the damp, unwholesome cellars, the un-
ventilated courts, and unsewered streets, in which he
is doomed to breathe out a miserable existence. A
report presented to the commissioners, by Dr. Duncan,
states that " there are upwards of 8000 inhabited
cellars in Liverpool," the occupants of which he
estimates at 35,000 to 40,000 in number. Add to
these the vast number of courts, most of them closed

up at one end, and the dark and ill-severed streets
which abound in some localities, and are even filthier
than the filthiest courts; and we have presented to our
view the residences of the great bulk of the labouring
population of this town the second port in the
empire !

" Few of the cellars" in question, continues Dr•
Duncan, " are entirely free from damp; many of those
in low situations are literally inundated with a fall of
rain." And " with regard to the courts, I doubt
whether there is a single court in Liverpool which
communicates with the street by an underground
drain, the only means afforded for carrying off the
fluid dirt being a narrow, open, shallow gutter, which
sometimes exists, but even this is generally choked up
with stagnant filth." He continues—

" There can be no doubt that the emanations from this
pestilential surface, in connexion with other causes, are a
frequent source of fever among the inhabitanti of these un-
drained localities. I may mention two instances of corrobo-
ration of this assertion :—ln consequence of finding that not
less than 63 cases of fever had occurred in one year in a
court in Banastre-street, (containing 12 houses,) I visited the
court in order to ascertain, if possible, their origin, and I
found the whole court inundated with fluid filth which bad
oozed through the walls from two adjoining ash-pits or cess-
pools, and which had no means of escape in consequence of
the court being below the level of the street, and having no
drain. The court was owned by two different landlords,
one of whom had offered to construct a drain provided the
other would join him in the expense; but this offer having
been refused, the court had remained for two or three years
in the state in which I saw it; and I was informed by one of
the inhabitants that the fever was constantly occurring there.
The house nearest to the ash-pit had been untenanted for
nearly three years in consequence of the filthy matter oozing
up through the floor, and the occupiers of the adjoining houses
were unable to take their meals without previously closing
the doors and windows."

Evidence in every way similar is given by the
medical officer of the West Derby Union, who, how-
ever, attributes a portion of the disease; by which the
lives of the labouring poor of Liverpool are reduced
to an average duration of 15 years, to other causes be-
sides their residence in these wretched cellars and
courts, still setting down, however, that high rate of
mortality to the nature of their places of dwelling-
The cottages of the poor, he contends, are almost uni-
versally ill-built ; and the practice of crowding whole
families into one or two apartments, in streets no-
sewered and unprovided with the means of ventilation
and cleanliness, is fatal to health, and productive of
disease in every form : and not only is this the case in
Liverpool, but in every town throughout the kingdom
similar results are observed to flow from similar causes.
In whatever particular localities in any of our large
towns, and even in the country, the drainage of dwell-
ings has been found deficient, there fever and epidemics_
have been found to prevail, and the mortality of the
population to he in fearful disproportion with that of
places, even less favoured in situation, but better
cleansed and ventilated.
We directed attention a few days ago, in connexion
with this subject, to the pressing importance of some
comprehensive measure, by which this dreadful mor-
tality, and the immorality with which it is accom-
panied, as well as the danger from fire, could be
removed from the immediate neighbourhood of our
principal public thoroughfares. We again call (men—
tion to it ; and in particular that of the committee
delegated by the Council to enquire into the steps to
be taken for the prevention of such a calamity as that
by which the town has lately been visited. If that
committee inspect in person the neighbourhoods to
which we refer, the wretchedness, the immorality, and
positive vice which pervade them, will come as
glaringly before their eyes as any danger to mere
property can do ; and we trust that it will not be
thought a more important matter to provide for the
safety of the cotton and other produce which loads
our warehouses, than for the health, the lives—nay,
the ouls—of thousands of their fellow-creatures, who
are yearly swept, as by a pestilence, into premature
graves.

We have not of late thought it worth our while to
bestow even the trouble of a perusal upon the prosY
rubbish administered, in anything but homoeopathic
doses; in the columns of the Liverpool Mercury. We
saw our contemporary busily engaged in writing kin?'
self down; and we anticipated, and still anticipate, the
time when his soporific effusions will become unfailing
nightcaps for the sleepless; and a few doses of Mercury,
administered over a pint of sixpenny, will fix the
recipient in a trance deeper than either Animal Mag-
netism, Braidism, or any other ism can produce.

With all our toleration, however, we cannot allow
our dozing contemporary to blunder out in his sleep
such indecencies as disgraced even his columns on
Friday last without recording the disgust with which
they inspire us, in common, we believe, with nine-tenths
of the people of Liverpool. We refer to an article
upon the subject of the thanksgiving recently offered
up in our churches for the abundant harvest with
which we have been blessed. It has entered into the
head, or the inkstand, of this sapient personage, that a
proceeding so full of propriety—so touchingly expres-
sive of the gratitude of a people to the Giver of all
good—presents a subject upon which he may, with.
decency, exhibit, under the guise of an anti-corn-I0
diatribe, his sectarian hatred towards the established
religion of the land and its revered dignitaries. With
a twenty-dissenting-parson-power of nauseous cant,
our contemporary denounces any public thanksgiving
as a " loud and ostentatious display," and its authors
"hypocrites"—men who "pass their lives in devising
schemes to defeat the bounty of God"—to "stop the,
bounty of the Creator in its way to his creatures.
The form of thanksgiving itself is not only, in the
opinion of this organ of Popery, hypocritical, but
" impious," even. It " conveys an insinuation that the
Deity is to blame for the deficient harvest of preceding
years"!

We shall certainly not attempt to controvert the
extraordinary positions of our contemporary, our object
being fully answered when we have called public atten •
tion to their grossness. The spite of Popery, disguised
though it may be, is still too apparent to do serious
injury to the object,against which it is launched. The
sarcasms of an abler writer than him of the Mercury
would be required to turn away the affections of the
sincere Protestant from one of the most becoming
practices of his church. Conservatives, do read the
prosy columns of the Mercury. It finds its way int°
the family of many a Churchman; and although we
have no fear that its ribald mockery of ordinances
which they hold dear and sacred will turn a single
mind from THE TRUTH to the abominations of the
idol which itself worships, yet we cannot but suggest
to those Conservatives, if they must be supplied with s
dish of Liberalism once a week, the prudence of select-
ing- one whose concocters can distinguish between
politics and profanity, and whose hatred to their church
and themselves is a little less intense and obtrusive.

We have never presumed to interfere in the question
as to the party best fitted to occupy the post of Chief
Magistrate of Liverpool for the ensuing year; and we
should not do so now did we not find such an unain-
mity of feeling upon the subject, that we run no risk
of offending or being deemed intrusive. We believe
there is a very general opinion in all quarters that Mr•
Robertson Gladstone should be the gentleman fixed upon'
The long connexion of the family of that gentleman will'
the commerce of this great port ; the respect in svhich
its various members arc held by all classes of the"'

fellow-townsmen ; the admitted high talent of that
member who continues to reside amongst us ;—all point
to him as the party on whose shoulders the highest
honour in its power to convey should be conferred by
the Corporation of Liverpool ; and we trust that we
shall have to congratulate himself and the burgesses of
the town upon an appoiatmeut alike honourable to
both.

We give this day, in our advertising columns, a cir-
cular addressed by Mr. Robinson, of Great George's
Ward, to his constituents ; and a strange affair it is—
a hodge-podge of incongruous professions, such as,
We beg to assure its talented and discreet writer, will
scarcely impose upon one burgess of the ward pos-
sessed of more intellect than William Earle's walking-
stick. It will not do, Mr. Robinson. Wa must have
in the Council, now-a-days, men who determine their
conduct on important questions upon some intelligible
Principles. Our advice, given in kindness and cha-
rity, is this :—Retire at once, and do not, pray do not,
expose yourself to the indignity of being kicked out as
One proved unworthy of the confidence of the consti-
tuency which you have mis-represented
We congratulate the burgesses of this ward upon
the determination to which they have come, to return
to the Council, instead of this shifty personage, a gen-
tleman of known good principle, possessed of firm-,
!less sufficient to withstand the insidious coaxing or
the blustering of the Radical and Popish faction. In
Mr. Thomas Royden, the candidate fixed upon to op-
Pose Mr. Robinson, should that gentleman be ambi-
tious of defeat, we are confident that they have found
such a one. In addition to his other excellent proper-
ties, Mr. Royden is, from the nature of his business,
well informed upon the shipping and shipbuilding
trade of the port ; and we esteem the circumstance of
his being him-self a builder as a valuable qualification,
and one which will render him an acquisition to the
Council, as the representative there of one of our most
important interests.

A Correspondent asks us whether any change is to
be made in the representation of West Derby Ward ;
whether Mr. John Smith will still continue to occupy
a seat which he must know he is only permitted to do
from a fear on the part of Conservatives lest a contest
in that ward should operate injuriously upon their
prospects in other wards. We cannot answer the
question, for we know not the amount of Mr. John
Smith's sense of decency. We ourselves, were we in
the position of Mr. Smith, would not condescend to
occupy a seat in the Council. Some men, however,
are less nice in their notions of things; and Mr. John
Smith, we fancy, is amongst the number. He will
Cling to the elevated position which he holds, and
Which only serves to render his extreme silliness more
Conspicuous, until the kind burgesses of the ward re-
lieve him of his cares. We say to them, Do it at
once ! Take example from the burgesses of West
Derby ; and though the total obscuration of the
Council be the result, send John Smith to keep com-
Pan), with his brother luminary—Castor with Pollux—
into the retirement of private life.
In the other wards of the town, we are happy to see
that our friends are upon the alert. Mr. Ambrose Lace,
We learn, has consented to become a candidate for South
Toxteth ; Mr. John Sheppard starts for North Tox-
teth ; and in both wards with almost a certainty of
success. Mr. S. Holme is at present unopposed, and
it. is his own chimney to Mr. Councillor Bright's yard-
Stick that he continues so. The canvas in Castle-street
and Exchange Wards goes on favourably. St. Paul's,
it Will be seen from the report in our columns, met last
night. On the whole, matters wear an encouraging
look; and we trust that, with exertion and activity,
the contest will not be fought in vain. •