The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-12-16 00:00:00

CHEATIWG AT CARDS

At the last sessions, a man who gave his name as Thomas
Rule, but whose real name is Davies, was, it will be remem-
bered, tried, convicted, and sentenced to eighteen months'
imprisonment, for having conspired with another man to rob
a joiner and builder, of Cheetham-hill, near Manchester, of
a sum of .C6l, by cutting at cards at Whitley's public-house,
Manchester-street, in this town. The case, which we re-
ported at the time, showed, even to the excitement of laugh-
ter, the extreme weakness of the prosecutor, in listening to
the improbable story of one of the conspirators, who repre-
sented himself as an ignorant country man, but who was not
then in custody. Since the trial of Rule, that man, whose
name is William Humphreys, was apprehended in Manches-
ter, and was yesterday placed before the recorder. The pro-
secutor repeated his former testimony, and fully identified
the prisoner as the man with whom he had gambled, with a
view to save the money of his antagonist in the contest,
and to restore it to him when he was sober, but in which
attempt he (the prosecutor) lost his own, with which the
prisoner decamped.
Mr. HENDERSON made a very ingenious defence for the
prisoner, contending that the indictment could not be sus-
tained, inasmuch as the statute required it to be shown that
some game at cards was played, whereas, in this case, there
was no playing at cards at all, the act of the parties being
merely cutting them and betting on the result. The RE-
CORDER, however, overruled this objection—holding that
the cutting was in reality playing. Mr. Henderson was very
happy in his address to the jury, in which he did not spare
the prosecutor for conniving at extracting the black cards
from the pack to win the prisoner's money, but in which he
was wofully disappointed. The case was, however, too
palpable to admit of any other verdict than that of guilty,
and the prisoner was sentenced to undergo the same punish-
ment as his comrogue—namely, eighteen months' imprison-
ment, without hard labour.
CHARGE OF AN ATTEMPT TO OBTAIN MONEY UNDER

FALSE PRETENCES

James Dixon and Thomas Crisp, both young men, were
charged with having attempted to obtain the sum of four
shillings, from Mr. Perry, druggist, of this town. We re-
ported the case when it came recently before the police-court.
Crisp had, it appeared gone to the prosecutor's shop, and
obtained leave to send a box, which he represented as con-
taining valuable clothing, and which he did not like to send
to his lodgings, lest it might be seized for rent due by a com-
panion on the premises. He also mentioned that it came
from Stockport, that the carriage was 45., and that he would
feel obliged if the prosecutor would advance that sum for him
on receiving it. He was told that on seeing the box the
favour would be granted. Dixon took the box afterwards to
the shop, by request of the other prisoner, and was told to
call again for the money. He said it came by his father's
cart, who was a carrier. Meantime the prosecutor smelt a
rat, uncorded the box, and found it to contain nothing but
a quantity of rags, an old Virgil, and other old school-books,
and several bricks. Dixon on returning for the money was
detained and given into custody, and the other prisoner was
afterwards apprehended. The prosecutor was cross-examined
by Mr. Ramshay for the defence; and having lost temper
under his drilling, that gentleman assailed him in humorous
terms with much effect—finally showing that the whole was
a joke or trick by Crisp and another person, with whom
Mr. Perry had been drinking shortly before, and that Dixon
was an unwitting partner, he not being put in possession
of the secret. Witnesses were giving the prisoners good
characters, when the jury stopped the case and pronounced
them not guilty. They were forthwith discharged.
After another unimportant case the Sessions' closed.

CORRESPONDENCE

THE M`NEILE TESTIMONIAL.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD,

suppose I ought to feel highly honoured by the
notice which your contemporary of the Chronicle has deigned
to take of my humble letter (which appeared in the Standard
of the 29th of November,) by occupying near a fortnight in
its consideration, and then devoting near a column and a
half of his valuable space, as a leading article, to his import-
ant lucubrations upon it. His observations, however, are so
far satisfactory, that, although coming from an avowed ene-
my, he is compelled to acknowledge that the object in which
we are engaged is nothing more than an act of justice to Mr.
M`Neile, and that so far from our having been too precipi-
tate in our movements, we ought to have performed it long

ago I Hear his own words :
" There is nothing in the idea of such a thing either to ex-
cite astonishment or to awaken ridicule. We have long
wondered at what has appeared to us to be the backwardness
of the Low Churchmen and ultra Tories in raising some such
evidence of their regard for their mighty champion."
But what must we think of the principles or consistency
of this writer, when, after thus admitting the call for the
duty, and blaming us for our tardy performance of it, the mo-
ment we set about it, he tries to awaken an ungodly jealousy
in the rest of our clergy, as if we, by paying ajust compliment
to an individual amongst them, were thereby attempting to de-
preciate the rest, in the public estimation! Sir, the ministers
of the established church, generally, I am happy to say, and
especially the highly respectable body of clergy in Liverpool,
are by their birth, education, and habits, of too gentlemanly
minds and dispositions, to be influenced by such base and
degrading feelings. So far from it, Sir, they have them-
selves been frequently amongst the foremost, in availing
themselves of, and doing justice, to Mr. M'Neile's services,
particularly on various occasions connected with Scriptural
Education and the Church Building Associations; when our
worthy Rectors have alternately occupied the chair, and have
gladly sought and acknowledged his powerful advocacy—so
that we do not say of Mr. M'Neile, (in wishing to show him
the proposed mark of our esteem, as the Chronicle " slan-
derously affirms") that " ALONE he did it ;" for we thank-
fully admit that, on many occasions, the clergy, as a body,
were " fellow workers together with him ;" but what we do
say, and thankfully claim for him, without fear of contr
"adic-
tion, is, that he was the " Instrument", raised up by THE
AUTHOR and GIVER of every good and perfect gift,' at the
time these questions required to be publicly agitated, "to
stir up their pure minds" (2d Peter, 3c. 1) to engage with
him in the contest, in the hearty manner, which enabled
them to achieve the glorious triumph, which, through God's
blessing, was at last so nobly won. Away, then, with all these
base and grovelling notions of the Chronicle!
This writer further endeavours, in the outpourings of his
spleen, to revive amongst us the foolish cry of " high and
low church ;" to which it must be confessed that the Tracta-
rian party, at Oxford, has of late given but too much encou-
ragement. But I have searched THE BIBLE in vain, Sir, for
any such distinctions there: on the contrary, I find it ex-
pressly written, in that blessed book, that " whosoever ex-
alteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth him-
self shall be exalted ;"and that" God resisteththe proudbnt
giveth grace unto the humble;" all that I can further say on
this subject, therefore, is, that as MY MASTER was "meek
rind lowly of heart," so, if such vain and unscriptural dis-
tinctions are still to be kept up, to vex and divide the church,
I pray that my lot may be always cast with "the humble
and the lowly," ' both for time and eternity.
As to the Chronicle's attempts at wit, (although he admits
that there is nothing in.the subject to " awaken ridicule,")
we will let that pass. It is enough for our encouragement,
in the work in which we have engaged, that it is admitted,
even by our enemies, that " SOME TESTIMONIAL IS CER-
TAINLY DUE TO MR. M'NEILE." Whether it shall be car-
ried out by founding a PRIZE ESSAY (as I ventured to sug-
gest), or to whatever other object the funds may be applied,
is a matter of perfect indifference to me. I merely threw
out that hint, because it seemed the most likely mode of
permanently connecting Mr. M'Neile's name with the town
of Liverpool and the Collegiate Institution, as well as with
the Protestant cause, of which he has so long been the fear-
less advocate. But. of course, that is a matter which will
be most properly left to the judgment of the committee. My
only desire is, that whatever it may be, the subscribers may
be able to say, individually, whenever it shall be accom-

ished—

" Exegi monumentum cere perennita."
Yours, &c.,
A CATHOLIC (BUT NO ROMANIST).
P.S.—The Chronicle's sneer at the poverty of our opera-
tive friends, and his shrewd question, " Don't you wish he
may get it ?" were best answered by the hearty manner in
which so many of them came forward, with their half sove-
reigns and crowns, immediately after the late meeting on
Monday.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.
Sin,-1 shall feel much obliged by your inserting, in your
paper to-morrow, the following simple statement of facts,
in answer to the remarks that fell from Mr. North, in his
peech in council, on Wednesday last.
Extract from the committee-book, page 183, October 25,
.841 :
Average attendance at the schools during the past month.
North. South.
386 .. 235
284 .. 191
205 .. 164

Gitls.. ,
Infants,

Average attendance
North. South.
.. 252 • • 212
.. 207 • • 133
..184 • • 180

80y5...
Girls...
Infants,

643 • • 525—T0ta1.. 1168
I am, Sir, your most obedient servant. ~R
JOHN H. TU•KP4'
Rodney-street, December 15, 1842.

875 590—Total.. 1465
Extract from the committee•book, page 242, November
30, 1842:

[Mr. Turner must remember that the first extract in his
letter applies to the attendance at the schools after the opera-
tion of the system for sixears, and
that the latter one refers
to the state of the same sychools ivhen there had not been a
twelve months' trial of the present course of instruction ;
and it must also be borne in mind, that from the moment it
was determined to adopt scriptural education, to the present
hour, there has been the most sedulous exertion on the part
of the opponents of that education to keep the attendance at
the schools as low as possible ; whilst it is a well-known
priests
wi
ave issued a for
fct, that topish
a thdrawalhe of all Roman Catholic children.command The numberthe of
children has, we believe, gone on progressively increasing
The
since the present system of instruction was commenced;
and after it has been in operation for the same period as the
former course, we anticipate a much more gratifying state-
ment than our opponents were able then to exhibit..
ber of children on the books at the schools, on the 27th
Janus
January, 1842, was only 536, whilst on the 30th ult. it
amounted to 1,581, or an increase of two-thirds in ten
months. Surely this is satisfactory and encouraging.--En.
L. S.]

STRANGE STORY.—The following strange story appears
in the Journal de Mayenne :—" A lady, fashionably dressed,
and speaking with the greatest propriety, descended from
the Laval diligence, at Mayenne, and, with a light parcel in
her hand, proceeded to the station of the Gendarmerie, and
besought the officer in command to arrest her as a vagabond,
without papers, and unknown. The officer, who was much
embarrassed at such a demand, at first tried to persuade her
not to act so strangely ; but, as she insisted, he took her to the
Procureur du Roi. That functionary complied with her de-
mand, and she is now in one of the romps of the prisou,
where she appears perfectly contented with her situation.
She declares that her name is Bretagne, and that she comes
from Brest."