LIVERPOOL.

This town, which, after London, is the most considerable place of commerce in the British empire, or perhaps in the world, is situated in the hundred of West Derby, on the eastern bank of the river Mersey, in 53° 22' 30" of north latitude, and 2° 57 ’ of longitude west from Greenwich, at a distance of 30 miles west of Manchester, and 205 miles north-west of London. The town is bounded on the west by the river Mersey, on the east by Low Hill and Everton, on the north by the township of Kirkdale, and on the south by Toxteth Park.

The limits of the ancient borough were defined by marks called mere-stones, within which its liberties were included. It occupied an area of 2202 acres, of which about 1000 belonged to the Corporation, and the rest to individuals; but under the Parliamentary and Municipal Reform Acts, the limits of the present borough have been greatly extended, and now include a large part of Toxteth Park, Edge Hill, Low Hill, West Derby, Everton, and Kirkdale.

The name of this place has given rise to much discussion. The most ancient record in which it is mentioned, is the charter of Henry II., where it is called Lyrpul or Litherpul, either of which is inconsistent with the fanciful derivation from the heraldic bird called the liver. It seems to be agreed that the latter part of the name designates a pullum, or pool of water; and Camden, who gives a Saxon derivation, explains only the termination.^[1. Ubi Litherpοοle floret, Saxonice Lyferpok, vulgo Lirpool, a diffusa paludis in modum aqua, ut opinio est, nominatus. Camden Britan, p. 614. 1590, 8vo. ] But as the name Lyferpole does not rest upon any Saxon authority, its correctness may be questioned. To account for the more ancient orthography, however, it has been supposed that the name Litherpool was formed of the words lithe pol, signifying gentle lake. In an assessment of Lancashire, made in 1245, when Lancaster was charged thirteen merks, and Preston fifteen, Liverpool paid only eleven. In Leland’s account of his journey, made about the years 1515 and 1516, we find this passage: “Lyrpole, or Lyr-poole, is a pa vid towne, hath but a chapel, Walton a iv miles of, not far from the se is paroche chirch. The king hath a castlet there, and the Erle of Darbe hath a stone house there. Irisch marchants cum much thither as to a good haven. At Lyrpole is smaule custom payid, that cau-sith marchants to resort. Good marchundise at Lyrpole, and much Irisch yarn that Manchester men do by ther.”

A charter was granted to this town by King John in 1203, and renewed by Henry III. in 1228, by which he constituted Leverpolle a free borough. In 1272 a census was taken of the town, when it was found to consist of 168 houses, and occupied by about 800 inhabitants. Some records of the year 1555 represent it as a poor and obscure place, having only 138 householders and cottagers; but six years afterwards, the number of vessels belonging to the port were twelve, of 177 tons, and manned by 175 seamen.

In 1626 Charles I. granted a new charter, by which a-corporate and politic body was created. At the levy of ship-money, in the early part of that reign, this town was assessed for L.25, whilst Chester was rated at L.26, and Bristol at L.1000, which may be some guide to the relative importance of the several places. During the civil war, in the latter part of this reign, it was the scene of several conflicts between the royalists and the parliamentarians; and, after a siege, when it was taken by the former, it suffered severely by the plague, which carried off 200 of its inhabitants. About this time, the ships in Liverpool and the dependent ports had increased as follows:

Liverpool . . ships, 24 . . tons, 462 . . men, 76.

After the restoration, and the internal national peace that followed it, Liverpool seems gradually to have gone on increasing in extent, population, and trade. It appears that, in 1753, there were 3700 houses, and 20,000 inhabitants; and that in 1760, the houses were 4200, and the population 25,000. Dr Enfield, to whom we are indebted for these two comparative statements, does not give any data that can be implicitly confided in, but they have every appearance of approximating to accuracy.

Till the year 1698, Liverpool was included in Walton parish, but in that year it was separated from it. In 1699 it became an independent parish. The first newspaper was established in the year 1756; and in the year 176θ, the first stage-coach was established between Liverpool and London. In 1770, the public library commenced, and about the same time the Society of Artists of Liverpool was founded.

The African and West India trade had been rapidly growing during seventy years, and all other branches had also been increasing. In the year 17 54, there were

83 ships in the African trade.

124 ... in the West India trade.

28 ... in the American and foreign trade.

21 ... in the London cheese trade.

101 coasters and Irish traders.

80 sloops and flats on the river.

At this time a new dock was constructed, and received the name of the Salt-house Dock.^[2. The first dock constructed was the Old Dock, as it is called, which had been formed in 1699. ] From that period, the progress of Liverpool has been truly without example in any other British port, or perhaps in any other age or country.

On the site of St George’s Church, formerly stood the ancient castle of Liverpool. According to Camden, it was built as early as the year 1076. Whatever may have been its origin, it was demolished by order of Parliament in the year 1659; but it existed in a dilapidated state from that time till the year 1721, when it was razed to the ground. There was also a building denominated the Tower, which occupied a site of about 3700 square yards, and was situated near the bottom of Water Street. It served for ages as the residence of the Earls of Derby, then as an assembly-room, and afterwards as a prison. It was demolished in 1819, and with it disappeared the last remaining vestige of the ancient days of Liverpool.

The state to which Liverpool has arrived, and the gradual steps by which it has been accomplished, within the present century, may be most accurately shewn by the returns obtained in the four decennial enumerations of Great Britain, which, by the diligence and acuteness of Mr Rickman, have been collected, arranged, and presented to the two houses of parliament. Every ten years exhibits more fully the state of the country than was to be found in the volumes that preceded it.

Population of Liverpool, including that of Toxteth Parh.

1801. 1811. 1821. 1831.

79,722 100,240 131,801 189,242 [7:13:389]In the last of these years, the families were 38,122, of whom 227 were chiefly employed in agriculture; 18,881 were principally employed in trade, manufactures, or handicraft; and 19,014 were not comprehended in either of the before-mentioned classes.

The number of males who had attained the age of twenty years was 44,726. Of these, the portion employed in agriculture were, 39 occupiers of land, employing labourers; 165 occupiers of land, not employing labourers; and 132 employed as labourers in agriculture. The remainder are thus classed: 359 making manufacturing machinery; 21,208 employed in retail trade, or in handicraft, as masters or as workmen; 5201 capitalists, bankers, professional and other educated men; 16,095 labourers employed in labour not agricultural; 1214 others not particularly classed, and 313 domestic servants. The number of female servants was 9033.

Of the whole population, as before stated, of 189,242 individuals, the males were 87,919, and the females 101,323. The excess of the latter over the former may be attributed to the number of seafaring people, a part of whom must necessarily be much absent from their residences.

The rapid increase of the town will be observed from what has been stated; but the most authentic record of this increase is to be found in the bills of mortality, as preserved in the parish registers, and from them the following results are derived :—
[table]

Exclusive of the baptisms, marriages, and burials in the places of public worship in Toxteth Park and Everton, and of the burials at the Necropolis, which, in 1834, amounted to 1586.

It appears by the bills of mortality that the increase of the population, as shewn by deducting the number of burials from the number of baptisms, would have been only 22,108 individuals in the ten years, from the year 1821 to the year 1831; whereas the returns shew an increase of 59,441; thus proving that besides the increase from itself, there must have been an immigration of 37,333 persons at Liverpool. The increased salubrity of the town is also observable. The whole of the burials in 1821 were 3267, out of a population of 131,801, or about one in forty; and in 1830 they were 3620, out of a population of 189,242, or one in fifty-two.

The increase in the population since 1830 has been remarkably steady, although the town has been twice visited by the cholera, and on one of the occasions very severely. The births in 1835 were 8145.

One of the main causes of the increase and prosperity of Liverpool has been the construction of the docks for the reception of ships. The river Mersey, on the right bank of which the town is built, empties itself through a great estuary filled with banks, and crossed by a bar at its mouth, which is very shallow at low-water; but the tides rise twenty-one feet at neap, and twenty-eight feet at spring tides. The land around is low, and ships in the river are in consequence exposed to gales of wind. The entrance to the river is easy and safe, from some of the prominent objects on the peninsula which separates the Dee from the Mersey; and the nearer approach to the harbour has been facilitated by the construction of light-houses, by the erection of buildings called the Bootie-marks on the shore, by the establishment of floating-lights, and by an appropriate placing of buoys to mark the channel. The Mersey is navigable for vessels of sixty tons thirty-five miles above Liverpool, to the confluence of the Irwell. The river Weaver falls also into the estuary, and is navigable for vessels of sixty tons as far as Northwich, the great depository of rock-salt. It was to remedy the inconveniences felt after entering the harbour, that the docks here described were constructed. Between the town and the river, a tract of low land, nearly three miles in length, extending to low-water mark, was found adapted for the purpose of forming docks. The space thus recovered from the sea by persevering labour has been gradually converted into docks, containing 111 acres, and much of it is covered with warehouses and other buildings required by commerce.

In the notices of the docks, we shall follow their position from south to north rather than the date of their construction. The southernmost of these is the Brunswick Dock. It is the largest of all, being chiefly constructed for the use of vessels employed in the timber trade. The east and west ends are 430 yards long, and the north and south 140 yards. It is connected with another, called the Half-Tide Basin, the dimensions of which are 120 by 108 yards.

The Queen’s Dock, which is next to the Brunswick, has a communication with it by means of the Half-Tide Dock, of the latter. It was opened in 1796, and is now chiefly frequented by vessels from the Baltic and from Holland. The mean length is about 400 yards, and the mean breadth about 100 yards. The gates are 42 feet wide, and 28 deep. At the south end, and the east and west sides, there are well-constructed sheds, affording shelter from the inclemency of the weather, whilst the cargoes are receiving or discharging. The quay is very extensive, and between it and the river are two graving-docks, 170 yards in length, admirably calculated for the building and repairing of ships.

The King’s Dock, to the north of the Queen’s and with an opening into it from a basin common to both, was first used in the year 1788. It extends from north to south 270 yards, and from east to west 95 yards. It is surrounded by spacious quays, with sheds for discharging tobacco, which constitutes the cargoes of most of the vessels that repair to it. The entrance, which is on the south side, has strong gates, 28 feet deep, and 42 wide, with a cast-iron bridge turning on a swivel. On the west side of this dock is one of the most capacious storehouses in the world, intended as the warehouse for bonded tobacco. It is a plain brick building, with walls eighteen inches in thickness, extending from north to south 575, and from east to west 239 feet; being in extent fifty per cent, more than the internal area of St Paul’s cathedral in London, and containing three acres one rood and twenty perches. In this dock a vessel has been converted into a floating chapel, in which divine service is performed on Sundays. The pier on the west side forms a fine promenade, from which an extensive prospect over the river may be obtained.

The next dock, so called from the name of the constructor, the late Duke of Bridgewater, is small, but elegantly constructed. It has a range of storehouses upon an arch, under which vessels may enter and have their loading drawn up to the proper warehouses above them. This is private property, now belonging to Lord Francis Egerton, and used for purposes connected with his vast excavations and water communications on the Bridgewater canal.

Nearest to the Bridgewater, and to the north of it, is the Salthouse Dock, which was opened in 1753. The form of this dock is irregular, being on the east side 297 yards, on the south end 80 yards, and on the north end 150 yards; the whole, with the passage, comprehending an area of 23,025 square yards. On the east side is a range of extensive warehouses, under the front of which is a piazza for the accommodation of passengers. The vessels which chiefly occupy this dock are those from the Levant, and the coasters from the neighbouring ports, and many from Ireland.

The Dry Dock, next to the north, is also of an irregular [7:13:390]figure. The west side is 150 yards in length, the north end 64 yards, the east side 219 yards, and the south end 108 yards. It has connected with it the graving docks, which are made use of for the purpose of building or repairing ships. The vessels which chiefly repair to this dock are those loaded with foreign corn, or employed in the coasting trade; the former generally load back with different kinds of foreign or colonial articles with which Liverpool is at all times well stored.

George’s Dock, originally commenced in the year 1767, was repaired and considerably enlarged about ten years ago. It communicates at the south end with the Dry Dock by means of a canal 110 yards long, the gates of which are 25 feet long, 36 deep, and 42 wide. The dock is 246 yards long, and 100 broad, containing an area of 26,068 square yards. On the eastern side is a magnificent pile of warehouses, with an extensive piazza for the accommodation of foot passengers. The quay room around is spacious, and on the western side sheds are constructed to protect the goods, as they are landed, from the inclemencies of the weather. The basin belonging to this dock is at the north end, and its dimensions are, on the south side 163 yards, on the east and west sides 112 yards, and on the north side 154 yards. Within it is the Mariner’s Church, in which divine service is weekly performed to the seamen.

To the south of the pier-head of this dock is a smaller one, the property of the Mersey and Irwell Company, called Manchester Dock, which is appropriated solely for the purpose of receiving the flats belonging to the company, which are loaded or discharged with their articles from the adjacent counties.

The most beautiful as well as the most stable of all the docks, is that called Prince’s, which was begun in May 1816, and opened on the day of the coronation of King George I V., viz. on the 19th of July 1821. The length of the dock from north to south is 500 yards, and the average breadth from east to west is 110 yards, thus containing an area of 54,000 square yards. The total expense, as appears from official vouchers, was L.461,059: 19:4, exclusive of the land, which is valued at L. 100,000. At each end there is a dwelling-house, with appropriate offices, designed for the use of the dock-masters. There are two entrances; one from the George’s Dock basin at the south, the gates of which are 45 feet wide, and 34 deep; and another at the north end, whose gates are of the same dimensions. Each of these passages is furnished with a lock, so contrived as to admit vessels either in or out at half-tide. The dock and its quays are inclosed with brick walls, having gates at the north and south ends, and on the east side. Between the western wall and the river is the Marine Parade, which is 700 yards long and 11 yards broad, and protected on the side next the water by a stone wall about a yard in height. There are also three flights of steps down to the river, for the convenience of passengers, who may land or embark in any state of the tide. When the tide is in, this forms a most varied and delightful promenade. The basin belonging to the Prince’s Dock is situated at the northern end of it, and is 140 yards long, and about 134 wide at the centre, but differs a few feet at each end.

The newest, as well as the most northern of the docks, is that named the Clarence, in honour of William IV. It was first opened in September 1830. It consists of a principal dock, 250 yards long, 135 yards broad at the north end, and 111 yards at the south end, with a basin 160 yards by 100, between it and the river, furnished with gates, by means of which vessels may be allowed to pass either inward or outward at half-tide. The stone of which the walls are formed is of the most durable quality, and the masonry surpasses that of most works of the same description. On each side of the passage two beautiful circular offices have been erected, supplied with windows on all sides, through which a complete view may be obtained of every part of the dock and of the quays. A lofty and spacious shed extends the entire length of the eastern side, and the whole of these works is surrounded by a strong and lofty wall.

Between the Clarence and the basin of the Prince’s Dock, there are constructing three other wet docks, with an extensive graving dock, which is to be furnished with patent slips. One of them, the Waterloo Dock, is open to vessels, and requires only some additions to be made to the pier to complete it; the others are likely to be finished very shortly. They are to be called the Victoria and Trafalgar Docks.

The whole of these works arc defended against the force of the powerful tides, which twice in twenty-four hours assail them, by a strong sea wall more than two miles and a-half in length.

To this general description we are enabled to add, from an official paper, the following table, shewing the area of water contained in the stupendous excavations, and the quantity of quay-space which they afford :—
[table]

This forms a total, of dock-room of one hundred and eleven acres, and the quay-space extends to nearly eight miles in length. The whole length of the river wall is about two miles and a half, exclusive of openings.

Proper precautions are adopted for clearing -these docks from the mud, which every influx of the tide carries into them, and this purpose is effected by the aid of improved machinery, worked by steam. Strict rules are established and enforced as a guard against fire. No ship is allowed to have any gunpowder on board, nor any combustible articles on the deck. No fire is allowed in any ship, nor a candle to be lighted, except in a lantern, and these only to be used in the presence of a custom-house officer. The arrange [7:13:391]ments for admitting, or for the exit of vessels, and for their - position when in dock, to forward their loading or discharging, are all well known and simple, and are executed under the authority of a dock-master, who is placed at the head of the officers of each dock, with proper persons under him to open and shut the gates at the proper time, and to execute such other business as may be required for facilitating the business to be transacted.

These extensive works have been accomplished by means of loans raised by the dock-trustees on bonds, for the payment of the principal and interest of which the rates are appropriated agreeably to an act of Parliament. When these bonds shall be discharged, or when the income is greater than the expenditure, the duties are to be reduced, so as to leave an amount equivalent to the expenses of the establishment, and to the necessary reparations. Such bonds are safe deposits for the savings of the inhabitants, and for the property of widows, orphans, or any trust-money; and thus great numbers in and around Liverpool are interested in the prosperity of these valuable works.

By means of these establishments, the cost in wear and tear of ships, and the expense of loading and unloading, is less at Liverpool than at most of the other ports of the kingdom. The celerity, also, with which every operation relating to the dispatch of ships is carried on, is greater than elsewhere, and thus an additional saving is effected in the wages and provisions for the masters and crews.

The warehousing or bonding system has tended very essentially to increase the commerce of Liverpool. The number of warehouses and vaults for bonded goods are very considerable, and there are a number of yards for bonded timber, as well as ample granaries under the King’s Lock for foreign corn. The estimated value of bonded property is one million and a half Sterling.

Our limits do not allow of tables to shew, for a series of years, the increase of the exports and imports of the various commodities which form the trade of Liverpool. The following table gives the amount of the dock duties received, and will shew the progress of its trade.
[table]

This account includes not only what is paid for the space and the time which the vessels occupy, but also for the storage of goods in the several warehouses belonging to the docks. In fact, the dock duties and storage duties are about equal, but the latter somewhat exceed the former.

The following official tables will shew more distinctly the manner in which the dock estate is raised, and also the nature of some of the other principal charges to which the commerce of the port is subject.
[table]

The amount of the different duties, as stated above, for the present year (1836) is L. 244,814: 5: 9∙

The dock estate is at present under the management of trustees, who give an annual statement of the receipts and payments. The trusteeship, after the lst November 1836, by the Municipal Reform Act, falls again into the hands of the corporation of the town. From the printed accounts for the two years ending June 24, 1832 and 1833, we give the following abstract :—
[table]
[table]
[7:13:392]
[table]

The debt due by the trustees, 24th June 1833, was L.1,353,157. 2s. 10d., and the income on an average amounts to nearly L. 180,000 per annum.

The countries with which the extensive commerce from Liverpool is carried on, could be best exhibited by shewing the arrivals and departures of vessels in a series of years; but ,as such accounts would be long, and to many uninteresting, one year is selected to shew in what proportion the arrivals have been from the various quarters of the globe. The year 1832 is selected because it was one of about an average trade.
[table]
[table]
[table]

As the business of the shipowner is not an accurate criterion of the commercial importance of places, neither is the amount of custom duties an actually certain standard. The imports of articles which are brought from one part of the United Kingdom to another, and consequently pay no duty, may cause an enormous trade, and be highly beneficial, but nothing of it would appear in the returns of the amount of duty collected at the custom-house. Although we exhibit the means of making comparative estimates, yet, in the case of Liverpool, the imports from Ireland must not be omitted to be recorded in taking a view of the state of its trade. It appears that their imports of agricultural products alone, consisting of live cattle, corn, flour, malt, bacon, pork, beef, hams, butter, hogs-lard, and eggs, amounted, in 1832, to l L.4,444,500, 6s.; in 1833, to the estimated amount of L.8,179,844, exclusive of linen, feathers, hides, wool, and porter, to at least the value of L.50.000 of the latter article.
[table]

The number of bales of cotton imported into Liverpool, in the year 1835, from the United States, were, 491,271 bales in 396 foreign ships, and 180,870 bales in 157 British ships.
[table]
[table]
[7:13:393]

The salaries paid to the officers at the Custom-House for 1835, wera L.46,447: 18: 0; and the incidental expenses amounted to L-47,541: 3: 7.

The vast extent of the commerce of Liverpool, as here in some measure exhibited, has in a great degree been indebted for its progress to the capital, the skill, and the industry of the inhabitants of the counties in its vicinity, as well as to the convenience of its port and its docks. With these counties the facilities of intercourse have been constantly advancing, chiefly by the numerous internal canals which branch out from the river Mersey. One of these, the Leeds and Liverpool, which brings Hull, by the Aire, in communication with the Mersey, forms a way for conveying the woollen and cotton goods made in the West Riding of Yorkshire to the great shipping port for America, where are the greatest number of the consumers of them. In the course of this canal, either by direct or indirect communication, it is brought in contact with the manufacturing towns of Wigan, Chorley, Preston, Bolton, Blackburn, and Rochdale, in Lan cashire, and with Halifax, Huddersfield, Bradford, Leeds, Wakefield, Barnsley, and Sheffield, all towns of great manufacturing activity. By the Duke of Bridgewater’s canal from Runcorn, Liverpool is brought into direct contact with Manchester and Stockport, and with that vast mass of coal on the duke’s estate, which could easily supply the whole fuel for these and the surrounding populous places, but it is surprising how little of that valuable commodity comes down to Liverpool by the canal. By the Grand Trunk Canal, the Mersey is supplied with the rock and refined salt, both articles of very great export, from the towns of Middlewich and North wich, in Cheshire; and the cheese of that county is by the same channel brought to be shipped for London, and other ports of the southern divisions of the kingdom. The same canal passes Staffordshire, from the northern part of which the potteries of Burslem, and the large new built towns in its vicinity, convey thousands of crates of their ware annually, which are dispatched from Liverpool to all parts of the globe; whilst, in its progress to the south, it touches Wolverhampton, the head-quarters of the heavy iron manufactory; and then, by other canals to Birmingham, with its innumerable articles of hardwares of which every country in the world receives a portion. The canal navigation to the south joins the two great rivers, the Severn on the west, and by the Grand Junction with the Thames on the east; and thus a water communication is maintained internally with almost every part of the south of the kingdom.

The annual revenue of the corporation in 1793 was L.25,000, which, valued as capital, was estimated at L.1,044,766. The debts due by the corporation were also valued and found to amount to L.367,816, 12s., leaving a balance in favour of the corporation of L.676,959, 8s. The revenues have, since that period, materially increased in value. The income is now about L. 150,000 per annum, and the debt is upwards of a million.

The most abundant source of revenue to the corporation is in the town-dues,—a rate levied generally on all merchandise imported or exported into or out of Liverpool. Freemen are exempted from this tax. The following table shews the amount of the town-dues every tenth year from 1731 to 1831, each year ending 12th of October :—
[table]

There are few towns which have their parochial concerns of such magnitude as Liverpool, or have the affairs connected with it better conducted.

The Workhouse, perhaps the largest in the kingdom, was erected in 1771, but has been much enlarged since that period. The paupers in it are well supplied with the necessaries of life, and the aged amongst them are allowed many additional comforts. All that are not sick are employed in some trade or useful manufacture, such as joiners, blacksmiths, wheel-wrights, shoemakers, tailors, &c., but their labour is not very productive. The boys are instructed in some trade, and the girls above nine years of age are taught to knit, sew or spin, to make straw bonnets, or to weave calicoes or other cloth.

The local taxes for this and other purposes, assessed and collected in Liverpool, are shewn by the following table, and clearly prove that neither pauperism nor taxation have increased in the same ratio as the population, and, it may be presumed, not in the same ratio as the wealth.
[table]

The valuations of the several premises were, in the years 1820, 1821, and 1822, about equal to the rack rent. From 1823 to 1830 they were about four-fifths of the rack rent, and from 1831 and 1834 they were nearly equal to the full value.

The proportion of these rates, which are actually collected, has varied in different years between 70 and 74 per cent, of the amount assessed.

The corporation, which is one of the most ancient and wealthy in the kingdom, has been altogether remodelled bythe Muncipal Reform Bill. Previous to the passing of the act, the Body-Corporate consisted of forty-one persons, chosen by the freemen of the borough. These formed the common-council, and from amongst whom were chosen annually a mayor and two bailiffs: vacancies were filled up by the members of the council, as they occurred. By the Municipal Reform Act, the old corporation was abolished, and the town was divided into sixteen wards, returning forty-eight councillors and sixteen aldermen, who are to be elected on the 9th of November by the resident rate-payers[7:13:394]. The councillors remain in office for three years. The mayor is elected from amongst themselves; the whole corporate body being thus sixty-four. They are required to meet quarterly, but they generally meet once a month, and often more frequently. The council is empowered to enact laws for the better regulation of the police of the town, of the port, and of the dock, as well as for watching and lighting of the town, and other public purposes.

Since the accession of the new council to office, a new and improved system of police has been formed; old laws have been consolidated; and preparations arc now making to extend to the new extended borough, the advantages enjoyed by the inhabitants of the old. There are twenty-nine justices of the peace for the borough of Liverpool.

At the registration of 1836, the total number of persons qualified to vote for members of parliament was 10,600.

The districts in immediate communication with Liverpool have within the last thirty years increased from 2,000,000 inhabitants to 3,600,000; and there can be no doubt but that their wealth has been augmented in a still greater ratio. It has, too, been brought into indirect communication with a much larger district, as the advance extends the limits of supply at every step on both sides its course. The increase of the import trade, or of foreign commodities, including colonial, is thus very naturally acounted for.

The recent introduction of steam navigation has been extended amply to Liverpool, and been found of the greatest benefit. In the supply of the markets with every kind of provisions from the adjoining districts on the shore, but especially from Ireland, the accuracy of their arrival when loaded with perishable products, has had a manifest good effect in reducing their prices. Steam-boats are constantly passing between the Mersey and the ports of Ireland, of the Isle of Man, of Scotland, and of North Wales. They are used at the ferry to the city of Chester, and, in contrary winds, to tow vessels into or out of the river. The celebrated rail -road, with its steam-carriages, between Manchester and Liverpool, has given a wonderful impetus to communication. A particular account of this railroad will be given under the article Manchester.

No place can be better supplied, or at lower rates, with all the necessaries and comforts of life, than Liverpool. Water, one of the first of those necessaries, is furnished by two companies. It is raised by steam-engines to the due height, to convey it to the upper floors of the dwellings. They also supply large reservoirs and many tanks, in different parts, which have always abundance of water ready to extinguish fires.

It has been observed that the markets are well supplied; to which may be added, that they are well calculated for the display and preservation of the commodities, by the appropriate nature of the buildings. The most extensive market is St John’s, containing an area of 8235 square yards, being 183 in length and 45 in breadth. It is very light and clean, and at night is lighted by gas. The roof is lofty, supported by cast-iron pillars, and against the walls are nearly sixty small shops, eighteen feet long, and twelve feet wide, with a fireplace in each. There are besides upwards of 500 stalls or compartments, allotted for the exhibition of vegetables, eggs, poultry, fish, fruit, and potatoes, and on the basement thirty convenient storehouses. The whole is supplied with pumps of hot and cold water, and every evening the floor is swept and washed, and then shut up under the care of watchmen. The regulations for weighing, or otherwise ascertaining the quantities of the articles sold, are simple and cheap; as are those for the regulation of the porters, who are known by a badge, and carry the purchases from the market to the residence of the buyers. It is perhaps the best and neatest market of any city in Europe. There are others. St James’s market is neat, but has an area of only 3000 yards. At the end of the same street is a commodious fish-market, opened in 1826. A new market, with an elegant front, has been built in a situation convenient for those in the neighbourhood of Scotland Road; and besides these are Islington, Pownal Square, and Cleveland Square Markets; one for hay and cattle in Lime Street, and one for pigs in Great Howard Street. There is a market for live cattle three miles from the town on the London road.

The streets in the centre of the town are generally narrow, and rather gloomy in their appearance; but many of the recently-built portions are handsomely, and some elegantly arranged, and contain very excellent houses. There are abundance of good hotels and inns. The streets are well paved, and lighted with gas furnished by two companies; and the police, for the preservation of the peace and of cleanliness, is well arranged. The public buildings deserve notice. The first of these, in point of extent, is the Town-Hall, built on the site of a former one which was consumed by fire in 1795. It is of a quadrangular form, with a rustic basement, on which rises a range of columns and pilasters, having rich and finely-finished capitals. Between the pilasters are handsome well proportioned windows, with semicircular heads. On the western and southern sides the spaces between the capitals are ornamented with various designs, executed in bas-relief, emblematic of commerce. The whole is surmounted with a large and stately dome, in strict keeping with the rest of the building, and supporting a massive figure of Britannia in a sitting posture. The principal entrance is through a portico which leads to a splendid staircase, illuminated from above in a manner to produce a highly pleasing effect. It is adorned by a fine white marble statue of the late Mr Canning, by Chantrey. The principal story is laid out in a fine saloon, two drawing-rooms, and a ball-room of great dimensions; and in the former are excellent portraits of his present Majesty William IV., when Duke of Clarence, by Shee; of George III., by Sir Thomas Lawrence; of George IV., when Prince of Wales, by Hopner; and of the late Duke of York, by Philips. The painting and other ornamental finishing of the apartments, as well as the furniture, are tasteful and appropriate, and executed at an expense becoming the liberality of the second commercial city of the world. The dome has a gallery surrounding it, whence a very fine view may be obtained of the whole of the river and docks, and of the country around.

This building forms one side of another mass of erections, executed about twenty-five years ago, for the purpose of an Exchange. It is of great extent, being 197 fleet long and 178 broad, thus forming a quadrangle of 3500 square feet, being nearly double the space occupied by the area of? the Royal Exchange in London. It has upon one side a finely-proportioned Doric front, with three rusticated arches, one forming the entrance to a large and splendid vestibule, composed of thirty-two columns, from which spring richly ornamented groined arches. The architectural beauty of this arcade attracts universal admiration. In the eastern wing is the new room 94 feet in length and 51 in width, in which are to be found the papers relating to knowledge in general, of either politics or commerce, that are issued in the several countries of the globe. Over this is another apartment, used by the insurance-brokers and underwriters, where insurances of shipping are effected. The rest of the building is used as offices, and the exterior consists of large and convenient warehouses.

In the centre of the area a splendid bronze monument to the memory of Lord Nelson was erected in 1813. It stands on a circular marble basement, at the top of which is the principal figure, in an erect attitude, receiving from Victory a fourth naval crown, whilst Death is aiming the fatal blow from under the folds of the enemy’s flag, whilst [7:13:395]a sailor is seen grasping a battle-axe about to revenge the death of a hero, and Britannia leaning on her spear, with laurels in her hand, seems overwhelmed with a sense of her loss, and apparently regardless of her glory. The pedestal is beautifully adorned with designs in bas-relief, descriptive of some of the admiral’s great naval battles. The whole is a fine piece of workmanship, executed by Westmacott, from a design by Wyat, and the expense, about L. 9000, was collected by public subscription.

The Sessions-house is a fine building, with a front of i74 feet in length. Its architecture is a specimen of simple elegance, whilst the interior is skilfully contrived to form an excellent court of justice, with easy access, and appropriate places for the magistrates, council, attorneys, witnesses, jurors, and prisoners. It contains also convenient apartments for committees, and a gallery for auditors.

A new custom-house was begun to be erected in 1828, and is now nearly finished. It is a large and magnificent building of fine freestone, of the Ionic order of architecture. It is composed of three facades rising from a rusticated basement. The porticoon the north front forms the principal entrance, and is 470 feet in length, and the wings from north to south are each 220 feet. When the interior is finished it will be one of the most convenient, as it now is one of the most splendid edifices in the kingdom; and the Excise-office will be removed to and occupy a part of it, which will give great facility to both the revenue departments, as well as to the merchants and masters of the trading vessels.

The Dock-office, the Public Baths, where cold, tepid, vapour, and sulphur baths are always ready; the Corn-exchange, where sales of grain are made; are all, as buildings and as conveniences, worthy of observation.

The whole town of Liverpool constitutes but one parish. The mother church, dedicated to St Nicholas, is said to be on a site with a chapel built at the time of the Norman Conquest, but to have been kept by repairs in a state for public worship till 1774, when it was rebuilt. It is chiefly to be noticed on account of an accident which happened to it in 1810. Whilst the bells were calling the congregation to the morning service, the tower fell down upon the body of the church. Few adults were yet seated, but the children of a charity school had entered when the tower fell. Twenty-eight persons were taken out from among the ruins, of whom twenty-three were dead, or expired soon afterwards, and seventeen were of the charity children. A new tower has since been erected, in the ornamental Gothic style, which is a fine object, 180 feet high, and furnished with a peal of twelve bells.

Besides this there are twenty-seven other churches, and two chapels, in the Docks, for the adherents of the established religion. Many of them are elegant, most of them recently erected, and all commodious and spacious. They are capable of seating from 1200 to 2000 persons each, and in most of them the free sittings bear a very great proportion to the whole of the seats. In one of these, St David’s, the service is performed in the Welsh language.

If our limits allowed it, many of these would be entitled to elaborate descriptions, but it can or ly here be said that, in combination with their spires, they produce a very striking effect on the appearance of the place, whether looked at in walking the streets, or viewed from the gallery of the Town-Hall, or any similar height. Some other churches are now building or projecting.

The several classes who differ from the established religion have their respective places of public worship. The Roman Catholics have five chapels, one of them a handsome Gothic edifice in Hawk Street, and another, equally spacious and neat, in Seal Street; the remainder are less striking, and are attended chiefly by the Irish of the lower classes. There are two churches of the Scotch establish-1 ment, and two for seceders from it. The Wesleyan Me- " thodists, including their several sections or subdivisions, have twelve places of worship; one in Pit Street is large and commodious, and furnished with an organ; another in Moss Street is spacious, with rows of seats one above another like a theatre. The others, though of somewhat less dimensions, are neat and clean. The Independents have five chapels, one of which, the largest, in Great George Street, is a very spacious building, capable of seating 2000 persons; and being very commodiously arranged, the galleries contain nearly 1000 children of a Sunday school. One of the other chapels belongs to the Welsh Independents. There arc eight chapels belonging to the different sections of Anabaptists, three to Welsh Calvinists, two to Unitarians, one each to the Quakers, to the Sandemanians, and the Swedenborgeans, and the Jews have also a synagogue. There is also a place of public worship for converted Jews. Several of the places of worship have their separate burying-grounds, and most of them, like all the churches of the established religion, have charity schools, either on Sundays or week days, or both.

Very few of the churches have burying-grounds attached to them, but an extensive cemetery has been formed, with the chapel of St James’s within it for reading the funeral service. The ground contains 44,000 square yards, and was originally the stone quarry from which much of the materials for the buildings of the town was drawn. It is laid out with taste, and kept in good order, and recently a handsome house has been erected for the officiating minister. There is another cemetery at Low Hill, which is open for the entombment of persons of every religious denomination.

Besides the institutions for communicating religious instruction, Liverpool is not deficient in others for the promotion of general knowledge, and the diffusion of a taste for the fine arts, and other objects which give grace to human society. One of these is the Liverpool Royal Institution in Colquit Street. It was first opened in 1817, with an appropriate address from that celebrated and estimable native of the town, the late William Roscoe. On the ground-floor there is an elegantly furnished reading-room, ornamented with several ancient paintings, formerly part of Mr Roscoe’s collection, the production of the early masters, shewing the progress of the art to the commencement of the fifteenth century. The apartment is provided with a library, and most of the periodical works. In connexion with it is a lecture-room, 30 sect by 50, with seats for pupils in an ascending order. The upper stories are formed into a museum, containing collections of natural history, casts of the Elgin marbles, and of other Grecian antiquities, and a few specimens of statuary.

There are other institutions for the diffusion of knowledge, which may be noticed without entering into the minute details of their more peculiar objects. These are the School of Arts for the benefit of the artizans of the town; the Athenaeum, a library of 14,000 volumes, with a newsroom; the Lyceum, with a library of 30,000 volumes, and a spacious and elegant news-room; the Union News-room, with a select library, and an apartment used as a school of arts, in which lectures are delivered; the Apprentices’ Library, and the Law Library, whose names designate the purposes to which they are applied. The Blue-coat Hospital was founded 125 years ago, and then maintained, taught, and clothed 40 boys and 10 girls, and the number is now increased to 350 of the two sexes. There are besides upwards of twenty free day-schools, mostly supported by bequests from, or subscriptions by, the members of the Established Church, and the children are instructed in the doctrines and worship adopted by it. One of these is a Welsh school, with 300 boys and 100 girls. The dissenters [7:13:396] of every class are not behind their neighbours in providing means of education for the poorer members of their communion. The Wesleyan Methodists have more than 1000 children in the schools connected with their chapels, and the other sectaries display an equal degree of zeal, in proportion to their numbers, in this cause. There are six infant schools established, where those too young to receive much instruction are amused, kept from mischief, and are taught to acquire docility before they become prepared to enter the free schools.

The Infirmary is a public hospital, open to patients of every age, country, complexion, or creed. It is a fine building, capable of receiving 220 patients, if its funds were more ample than they are at present, of which the expectation is sanguinely indulged. There are two dispensaries, where advice from the ablest medical men can be obtained, and where medicines are supplied gratuitously every day. There are besides, a lunatic asylum, two ophthalmic institutions, an institution for relieving diseases of the ear, a marine humane society, an institution for teaching the deaf and dumb, a female penitentiary, and above all, the Blind Asylum, in which 120 beings are maintained and instructed, and occupied in such employments as are suitable to their melancholy condition.

Like other large towns, Liverpool has its places of amusement. The Theatre-Royal was built in 1772, and was enlarged in 1803. There is also an amphitheatre for equestrian and pantomimic performances, which open in some months of each year. A little but neat theatre has also been built in Church Street, for exhibiting dramatic pieces.

The Wellington Rooms, opened in 1816, are adapted for balls and for public dinners, or other social assemblies, having a ball, supper, and card room of elegant appearance, and tastefully furnished.

See Baine’s Valuable History of Lancaster.

Liverpool, Charles Jenkinson, first Earl of, was the eldest son of Colonel Jenkinson, the representative of a family which had been settled at Walcot, near Charlbury, Oxfordshire, for above a century. Mr Jenkinson received his education at the Charter-house School, and at the University of Oxford. In early life he published verses on the death of Frederick prince of Wales, a dissertation on the establishment of a national and constitutional force in England, independently of a standing army, and a discourse on the conduct of government respecting neutral nations. In 1761, having obtained an introduction to the Earl of Bute, he became one of the under secretaries of state, and in the same year was returned to parliament for Cockermouth. In 1763, he was appointed joint secretary to the treasury, and having shared with Lord Bute the marked favour of his majesty Geor III. he, on that nobleman’s sudden retirement from office, became a conspicuous member of the party then commonly called the King’s Friends. On the accession to power of the Rockingham administration, in 1765, he resigned his public appointments; but about the same period he was nominated auditor of accounts to the Princess-dowager of Wales. In 1766 he was appointed a lord of the admiralty by the Grafton administration; and the following year he became a lord of the treasury. Under Lord North’s government new honours awaited this steady aspirant for promotion. In 1772, he was appointed one of the vice-treasurers of Ireland; and, in 1775, he was allowed to purchase the patent office of clerkship of the pells in that country. He afterwards succeeded Lord Cadogan as master of the mint; and, in 1778, he became secretary at war. In 1783, he became a member of the Board of Trade; and, in 1785, he published his Collection of all the Treaties of Peace, Alliance, and Commerce, between Great Britain and other Powers, from the treatypf Munster in 1648 to the treaties signed at Paris in 1783. In 1786, he was made chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster; called up to the House of Lords by the style and title of Baron Hawkesbury of Hawkesbury, in the county of Gloucester; and appointed president of the Board of Trade. The commerce of the country formed a prominent object of attention to Lord Hawkesbury, and though his theoretical views were confined, his practical knowledge was extensive. He is said to have drawn up the commercial treaty with America, and to have facilitated the establishment of the South Sea fishery, to which he had been the first to direct the attention of the government. In 1796, his personal honours were carried au comble by his advancement to the dignity of Earl of Liverpool. His lordship was twice married, and had two sons and a daughter. After obtaining his earldom, he rarely quitted his retirement; but whenever he spoke in the House of Peers, the extent and accuracy of his information, particularly on commercial subjects, procured him marked attention. In 1805, he addressed a letter to the king on the coins of the realm, containing a concise and distinct statement of most of the facts deserving of notice in the history of British coinage. Lord Liverpool died on the 17th of December 1808. (a.) Liverpool, Robert Banks Jenkinson, second Earl of, son of the preceding, was born on the 7th of June 1770. At an early age he was placed at an academy at Parson’s Green, near Fulham, where he remained until his thirteenth year; he was then removed to the Charter-house School, where he continued between two and three years; and soon after leaving the Charter-house, he was entered as a student at Christ Church College, Oxford. Mere he became acquainted with Mr Canning, the most distinguished of his contemporaries, and formed for him a friendship which proved of an unusually permanent character, and had more than once an important influence on the fortunes of Mr Canning’s public life. About the period of the breaking out of the French revolution, Mr Jenkinson paid a visit to Paris, and was in that capital when the Bastille was demolished. This sudden ebullition of popular fury against one of the strongholds of tyranny, and some other excesses which he is said to have witnessed in the streets of Paris, appear to have excited in his mind apprehensions which clouded his judgment, and led him to form the most distorted and incorrect notions of the events which the progress of the revolution evolved in France. Soon after his return to England, he was introduced to parliament as one of the representatives of Rye, and took his seat under the avowed patronage of the minister, Mr Pitt. On the 27th of February 1792, he made his first speech, in opposition to certain resolutions proposed by Mr Whitbread, on the subject of the claim urged by the Czarina Catherine to the fortress of Ockzakow and the adjoining territory. His address was praised as manifesting considerable knowledge of the question in dispute, as well as of the affairs and prospects of Europe generally; and as the protege of a powerful minister always finds indulgent critics, it was prognosticated that Mr Jenkinson would rise to be a distinguished parliamentary speaker, and an efficient member of the British cabinet. His next public appearance was one which reflects no honour on his memory. His father had been one of the opponents of the abolition of the slave-trade in the House of Commons; and the son was scarcely warm in his seat in the House of Commons, when he joined the ranks of those who, without venturing to defend the principle, sought to perpetuate the practice of this enormous iniquity. On the 2d of April 1792, Mr Wilberforce moved, in a committee of the whole house, “that the trade [7:13:397]carried on by British subjects for the purpose of obtaining slaves on the coast of Africa, ought to be abolished.” This was met by an insidious suggestion of Mr Dundas, who proposed to insert the word “gradually,” before the word “abolished ;” but Mr Jenkinson, whose zeal was too hot to be satisfied with mere evasion, moved “that the chairman should leave the chair.” The amendment was, however, rejected by a large majority, and Mr Dundas’s more adroit proposition agreed to. Never, perhaps, was so much splendid oratory displayed in the House of Commons, as in the debate which followed on Mr Wilberforce’s motion.

Mr Jenkinson’s next appearance was in a more prominent and less questionable position. The king of France had been deposed, and the British ambassador, Lord Gower, recalled. On the 15th of December 1792, Mr Fox moved an address to the king, praying that a minister might be sent to Paris to treat with the provisional government of France, touching such points as might be in discussion between his majesty and his allies, and the French nation. In the temporary absence of Mr Pitt, who had vacated his seat by accepting the wardenship of the Cinque Ports, Mr Jenkinson replied to Mr Fox, in a speech which, though warmly complimented by Burke, is more remarkable for rambling and vehement declamation, than any quality of a higher order. Mr Fox was much more effectually answered by an overwhelming majority. His motion was negatived without a division. In April 1793, Mr Jenkinson was appointed one of the commissioners of the India Board; and on the 6th of May he stood forward in opposition to Mr Grey’s memorable motion on the subject of parliamentary reform, defending the state of the representation as it then stood, and maintaining that the House of Commons, constituted as it was, answered all the ends for which it had been designed. On the 6th March 1794, he opposed Mr Grey’s motion for an address to the king, expressive of the concern of the House that his majesty should have formed an alliance with powers whose apparent aim was to regulate the affairs of a country with which they had no right to interfere. On the 10th of April, he undertook a more difficult task, namely, to justify the measures of the ministry, and to palliate the failure of the army commanded by the Duke of York at Dunkirk. Mr Jenkinson was long twitted in parliament and elsewhere, with an observation which fell from him on this occasion. He declared that “the marching to Paris was attainable and practicable; and that he, for one, would recommend such an expedition.” The ridicule which this excited was unbounded; it became a stock topic of derision. “The conquest of France !” says Mr Fox, in his letter to the electors of Westminster. “Oh, calumniated crusaders, how rational and moderate were your objects! Oh, tame and feeble Cervantes, with what a timid pencil and faint colours have you painted the portrait of a disordered imagination !” Yet, such are the accidents of war and fortune, Mr Jenkinson, contrary to all human probability, lived to see his notion realized; and what seemed, in the year 1794, like a sick man’s dream, or the vision of a disordered imagination, was effected in 1814, and repeated in little more than a year afterwards. On the 30th of May 1794, he made one of his best efforts, in opposition to Mr Fox’s motion for putting an end to the war with France. This was perhaps the most active period of his life.

In the next session, Mr Jenkinson was absent from his place in parliament, love having superseded politics. On the 25th of March 1795, he married the third daughter of the Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry. At the opening of the session of 1796, the address was seconded by Mr Stewart, afterwards Lord Castlereagh, in the first speech delivered by him in the House of Commons. He was answered by Mr Sheridan, who strongly censured ministers, at the same time advising them to declare themselves willing to treat with the French republic. Mr Jenkinson replied to Mr Sheridan, repeating his former arguments in justification of the government measures. Upon commercial subjects Mr Jenkinson entered with confidence, conceiving, perhaps, that he had some claims to “hereditary knowledge.” On Mr Grey’s motion in the House of Commons (10th of March 1796) for an inquiry into the state of the nation, he descanted on the effect of the war upon our commerce, contending that, notwithstanding its pressure, the situation of Great Britain, in a commercial point of view, was more prosperous than at any preceding period. On the 28th of May 1796, Mr Jenkinson participated in the honours of his family, exchanging its surname for his father’s second title of Lord Hawkesbury. When the great measure of the legislative union with Ireland was proposed, it received his entire concurrence. The subject was introduced by a message from the crown, on the 22d of January 1799; and, in the discussion which ensued, Lord Hawkesbury warmly supported the views of government respecting it.

The circumstances which attended the temporary retirement of Mr Pitt from power early in 1801, are too well known to render it necessary to say any thing respecting them. In the new ministry, the formation of which was announced on the 14th of March, with Mr Addington at its head, Lord Hawkesbury was appointed to the office of secretary of state for the foreign department, and took a prominent part in the debates which ensued. The great business of the succeeding summer and autumn consisted in the adjustment of preliminaries of peace with France. Lord Hawkesbury, as foreign secretary, was of course intrusted with the interests of Great Britain in the negotiations which followed the signature of the preliminaries; and, on the 28th of March 1802, a definitive treaty of peace was concluded at Amiens between the French republic, the king of Spain, and the Batavian republic, on the one hand, and the king of Great Britain and Ireland on the other. In the important debate on this peace, which took place on the 13th ofMay 1802, Lord Hawkesbury defended the treaty at great length, in a speech which was considered as the ablest that had been delivered in either house of parliament on the ministerial side. He also distinguished himself by the part he acted in reference to the remonstrances of the First Consul respecting the strictures made on his person and conduct by the newspaper press of Britain; and, in the correspondence which ensued with Μ. Otto, he ably vindicated the public character andliberties of his country. The evil complained of, though certainly calculated to keep alive national animosities, and to provoke a renewal of the war, was not one for which the government could afford any redress. The constitution of this country admits of no previous restraint upon publications of any description. But there exist judicatures, wholly independent of the executive government, capable of taking cognizance of such publications as the law deems to be criminal, not only of libels against the government and magistracy of this kingdom, but also of publications defamatory of those in whose hands the administration of foreign governments is placed To these the French minister was with strict constitutional propriety referred. For, as the government of this country neither enjoys nor requires any other protection than that which is afforded by the laws, it could never be expected to consent to new-model laws, or to change its constitution, in order to gratify the wishes of a foreign power. In October, Lord Hawkesbury, in his turn, remonstrated against the occupation of Switzerland by the French under Ney, in order to enforce the reception of a new constitution for that country, prepared by the First Consul in his own cabinet. This he did in a note addressed to Μ. Otto, in which he expressed the deep regret excited in the breast of his majesty by the proclamation of the First Consul to [7:13:398]the Helvetic people, and declared that his majesty could view the recent exertions of the Swiss cantons in no other light than as the lawful efforts of a brave and generous people to recover their ancient laws and government, and to procure the re-establishment of a system not only favourable to their domestic happiness, but perfectly consistent with the tranquillity and security of other powers.

At this period, the management of the House of Commons had, in a great measure, devolved on Lord Hawkesbury, who, of course, spoke on every topic involving the character of the administration, as well as on the political questions which were brought under the consideration of the House of Commons. At the opening of next session, he was called to the House of Lords by writ, as a peer’s eldest son; but the only measure of importance which in that session he brought forward in the new situation in the legislature where he had been placed to defend the measures of ministers, was the volunteer consolidation bill. About the same time, he addressed a circular to the ministers of foreign courts resident in London, disclaiming indignantly the charge that his majesty’s government had been a party to plans of assassination, and describing the recent seizure and execution of the Duke d’Enghien as “a sanguinary deed, perpetrated by the direct order of the First Consul, in violation of the rights of nations, and in contempt of the most simple laws of humanity and honour.” That the British government were innocent of the crime imputed to them, is beyond a doubt. But, on the other hand, it cannot be denied that the life of the First Consul had been openly attempted in the streets of Paris; that Pichegru, Cadondal, and their associates, avowedly meditated assassination; that these conspirators had been landed on the coast of France by an English vessel, commanded by an English captain; that the English press continued to revile in unmeasured terms the head of the French government, if not to insinuate that taking him off would be a meritorious act; and that, consequently, appearances unhappily seemed to give some ground to the charge which the First Consul preferred against the government of the country, in justification of a deed which, however it may be viewed, was, if not the greatest crime, at all events the greatest error, he ever committed.

On the 12th of May, the administration was dissolved, by the resignation of Mr Addington; Mr Pitt returned to the head of the ministry, and Lord Hawkesbury received the seals of the home department. The renewal of the war being now inevitable, the first effort of the new government was to place the military establishments of the country on a more enlarged and efficient footing; and with this view, Lord Hawkesbury exerted himself in the House of Lords in support of the additional force bill. At a later period of the session, Mr Wilberforce renewed his attempts to put an end to the detestable traffic in human flesh, and a bill for that purpose passed the House of Commons; but, on its transmission to the House of Peers, it was postponed, on the motion of Lord Hawkesbury, for more mature investigation in the ensuing session. The pretext was worthy of the cause in favour of which it was employed. On the 10th of May 1805, Lord Grenville moved the order of the day for taking into consideration the petitions of the Roman Catholics of Ireland. This motion Lord Hawkesbury also opposed. He would neither consent to break the fetters of the enslaved African, nor agree to remove the disabilities which placed millions of our fellow-subjects beyond the pale of the constitution. In the autumn of 1805, Mr Pitt retired to Bath, his health being then in a state of rapid decline. On the 11th of January 1806, he returned with difficulty to his house at Putney, where he died on the 23d, two days after the meeting of parliament. The death of Mr Pitt afforded Lord Hawkesbury an opportunity of placing himself at the head of the cabinet; but being well acquaint-1 ed with the relative position and strength of parties, his ambition yielded to his good sense, and he declined the' flattering offer. His majesty, however, appointed him to the situation of warden of the Cinque Ports, vacant by the death of Mr Pitt. On the return to power of that minister’s friends in 1807, Lord Hawkesbury resumed his station in the cabinet as home secretary, and took a prominent part in defence of all the measures of government, particularly of the questionable expedition to Copenhagen, and the famous orders in council. Towards the close of 1808, Lord Hawkesbury was, by the death of his father, placed at the head of his family, as second Earl of Liverpool.

Lord Liverpool was the political heir of Mr Pitt, in all except his talents. Reposing a just confidence in the stability of our institutions, which had safely weathered the conflict with democratical principles, he adhered to the system of his early patron and master; and although Mr Pitt had died despairing of his country, Lord Liverpool was one of those who had the temerity or the courage to brave the concentrated power of imperial France, wielded by the most wonderful genius that any age or country has produced. True to the principle of eternal war with France, as long as a man sprung from the Revolution presided over her destinies, though the prospect was still dark, the immediate peril great, and the future shadowed out by portentous omens, he had still faith in the ultimate approach of a day of crowning triumph; and fortune at length smiled upon counsels which the ordinary inspirations of human wisdom had disclaimed. With these feelings, Lord Liverpool warmly advocated the cause of Spain, in the session which commenced on the 19th of January 1809. His doctrine was based upon the principle of tenacity. He contended that, according to all the lights furnished by history, nations, after maintaining such contests for ten or twenty years, have eventually succeeded, in spite of frequent and severe reverses, in securing the object which they struggled to attain. In a few days (23d January) he had occasion to move the thanks of the House of Peers to Lord Wellington for his conduct in the Peninsula. This motion especially related to the battle of Vimicro.

When the quarrel and subsequent duel between Lord Castlereagh and Mr Canning induced both to resign, and led the Duke of Portland to withdraw from his situation as nominal head of the administration, Mr Percival united in name, as he had already done in effect, the offices of first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer; and, in this new arrangement, Lord Liverpool became secretary of state for the war department. The illness of George HL, the introduction of the regency bill, the difficulties which beset the prince regent in his endeavours to form a new administration, and his final determination to abide by Mr Percival, are all too well known to require any detail. In the two succeeding se'ssions the exertions of Lord Liverpool were unremitting, but not marked by any thing of prominent importance. At length, on the 11th of May 1812, Mr Percival fell by the hand of an assassin, leaving the ministry in so disjointed a state, that, after some abortive negotiations with the Marquis Wellesley and Lords Grey and Grenville, Lord Liverpool yielded to the request of the prince regent, that he would place himself at its head. The only additions made to the ministry upon this occasion were Lord Sidmouth, and Mr Vansittart, afterwards Lord Bexley.

The first important measure of Lord Liverpool’s government was rendered necessary by the disturbances which had taken place in the manufacturing districts, where, owing to various causes, great distress prevailed; and it assumed the form of a bill to prevent the rioters from pos- [7:13:399],sessing themselves of arms, to guard against tumultuary meetings, and to give more extensive jurisdiction to the magistrates of the disturbed districts. Towards the close of the session, his lordship signalised himself by the explicit and unqualified opposition which he gave to a resolution proposed in the House of Lords by Marquis Wellesley, that the house would, early in the next session of parliament, take into consideration the state of the laws affecting the Roman Catholics. Upon this occasion the premier came boldly forward as the champion at once of injustice and intolerance. He would not consent that the question should be entertained in any shape, or that even so much as a hearing should be given to those who were suing to be relieved from the galling and ignominious stigma of bondage. He declared it to be a maxim of his political life, that, with respect to a great constitutional question, if a stand were to be made, it should be made in limine ; and, in such a code of political morality as that which Lord Liverpool had espoused, there can be no doubt whatever that this is a maxim which Macchiavelli would have himself recommended as the only safe rule of conduct. When free scope is once allowed to formal inquiry, perseverance in injustice is no longer possible. On the 20th of September parliament was dissolved.

Meanwhile the transactions in Spain and the north of Europe were highly favourable to the cause of legitimacy. In the Peninsula, Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz had fallen; the victory of Salamanca had been followed by the advance of Lord Wellington on Madrid; the siege of Cadiz had been abandoned, and the whole south of Spain evacuated by the enemy. In the north of Europe events of a still more decisive character had occurred. The burning of Moscow, and the premature setting in of the frost, had sealed the doom of the French grand army; the former event had rendered retreat inevitable, and the latter soon converted that retreat into a scene of the most appalling horrors and disasters. What the fire had begun, the frost consummated; General Morosow did the work which General Kutusow could never have accomplished; and the Scythian wilderness was covered with the wrecks of that mighty host which had swept onwards in the proud confidence of superior power. These disasters became known in England during the bustle of the elections, and contributed to augment the public confidence in the war policy of ministers, which the elements had thus unexpectedly crowned with success.

The first session of the new parliament opened on the 28th of November 1812, and closed on the 22d of July 1813. The principal subjects brought under the notice of parliament were, the Marquis Wellesley’s charge against the government, of not affording sufficient force to his brother; a proposition for granting relief to the Russians; an explanation of the causes of the rupture with America; the sinking-fund; the renewal of the East India Company’s charter; and the treaty between Great Britain and Sweden; in the discussion of all which Lord Liverpool took part. The military campaign was one of still greater activity. Lord Wellington, after gaining the battle of Vittoria, taking San Sebastian, and blockading Pampluna, entered France, beat the French on their own ground, and fully established himself on the “sacred territory.” In the north of Europe, where nations rather than armies assembled to combat the French, the campaign opened favourably for the allies; and the subsequent loss of the battle of Leipsig threatened the French emperor with utter ruin. The administration was duly sensible of the importance of the crisis. Parliament was assembled, principally to sanction loans of large amount to foreign powers; and before Christmas it was adjourned until the month of March. In the intoxication of victory, it was to the executive rather than to the legislative body; that the eyes of the country were directed. The government had become omnipotent. The great events which followed were the entrance of the allies into Paris, the abdication of Napoleon, and the signature, on the 30th of May 1814, of a definitive treaty of peace between France and the allied powers. On the 24th of December a treaty was concluded at Ghent, which put an end to the unfortunate contest with America; and thus terminated a year as fortunate for Great Britain as any in her annals.

But the peace was destined to be short-lived. On the 20th of March 1815, Napoleon, having left Elba, landed in France, marched in a sort of triumphal procession to Paris, drove out the Bourbons, and replaced himself upon the throne, without firing a shot or spilling a single drop of blood. No sooner had intelligence of these astounding events been received, than messages were sent to parliament by the prince regent, and corresponding addresses moved by Lord Liverpool, who, in his speeches, dwelt much on the fortunate circumstance that Napoleon had undertaken his dangerous enterprise whilst the confederacy of the allies remained undisturbed, and they were still in a condition to act in concert. The result is universally known. Britain made gigantic efforts, both financial and military, to overthrow the man whom France had again placed at its head; and she was rewarded by the victory of Waterloo, where Napoleon drained the cup of misfortune to the very dregs. This was ere long followed by the treaty of Paris.

In the session of 1816 the principal subjects to which Lord Liverpool directed his attention were, the defence of the military establishment, explanations of the recent treaty, the transactions between government and the bank of England, and the state of the silver coinage. The meeting of parliament in 1817 was, from various causes, anticipated with much anxiety. The distress which prevailed amongst the manufacturers had produced disturbances in the inland counties, and a riot had occurred in the metropolis itself. The suspension of Habeas Corpus was proposed by the government; and Lord Liverpool had the unenviable task assigned him of defending that measure in the House of Peers. In seasons of distress, suffering naturally renders men credulous, and there are always persons ready to take advantage of this adjunct of misery; but there is too much reason to suspect that, in many instances, the starving people were first misled and afterwards betrayed by the agency of characters of a still more odious description, who were not altogether unknown to the government. The Catholic question having been brought under the consideration of the House of Lords on the 16th of May, by Lord Donoughmore, the premier restated his opinions concerning it, adding that “if the demands of the Catholics were complied with, the parliament would cease to be a protestant parliament.” At a subsequent period of the session, ministers found it convenient to urge the continuance of the Habeas Corpus suspension act, which Lord Liverpool declared that he called upon parliament to vote, because “he considered the measure essential to the preservation of property and morality.”

The death of George III. and the accession of George IV., who had already exercised the sovereign power for nearly eight years, made no change in the government, the ministers being immediately reinstated in their several offices. It is unnecessary to enter further into details, which more properly belong to the general history of the time. The principal affairs in which Lord Liverpool took a prominent and leading part were, the proceedings against Queen Caroline, particularly the bill of pains and penalties; the bill for the resumption of cash payments; the conduct of France and the allies in regard to constitu [7:13:400] tional Spain; the Catholic bill of 1825, with its two auxiliary measures, commonly termed “wings the state of ’the country, especially of the circulation, produced by the unexampled panic in the money market that followed the blind rage for speculation which distinguished the year 1825; the corn laws; and some other measures of less magnitude and importance. The Earl of Liverpool was in his place in the House of Lords on the 15th of February 1827, having brought down a message from the king recommending a provision for the Duke and Duchess of Clarence; and next day he moved an address expressive of the willingness of the house to comply with his majesty’s request. This was the last occasion upon which his lordship appeared at his post. On the 17th he experienced an apoplectic attack, accompanied with paralysis, which at once prostrated both his mind and body; and, after lingering for a considerable time in a hopeless state, he expired in convulsive agony on the 4th of December 1828.

The public character of Lord Liverpool belongs to the history of that period, crowded with events of tĥe greatest magnitude, during which he was either an influential member of the British government, or placed at its head; and he will be variously judged, according to the preconceived opinions of those who attempt to decide as to the character of that system of policy of which he was so long a prominent exponent. He was not a man of brilliant genius or excursive fancy, but he possessed useful talents, inflexible perseverance, and unimpeachable integrity, and towards the close of his life manifested a disposition to accommodate his policy to the advancing knowledge and opinions of the age. Excepting on a few points, he was perhaps the least bigoted and impracticable of the party which, after the death of Mr Pitt, recognised him as its head. As to his style of speaking, if it had little to recommend it in the form of eloquence, it commonly impressed the hearer with a conviction that the speaker was in earnest. He was vehement rather than energetic, and more noisy than forcible, but never intemperate. He entertained no angry feelings towards his parliamentary opponents; he never refused to others the tribute of applause which he thought they merited; and his gentlemanly deportment, unruffled by the rude collisions of party warfare, frequently disarmed his fiercest adversaries. In private life Lord Liverpool was justly respected for his amiable deportment and irreproachable conduct; sincere in his religious belief, and unobtrusive in the fulfilment of his duties as a member of society. We are far from entertaining any admiration of the principles of the minister, but it is a pleasing task to render homage to the virtues of the man. (a.)