The Express.
London, England, 1848-09-22 00:00:00

while reeognishig the Odd Mein mum
of the prosperity of Liverpool, 'weld yet at-
awrit to dry up that Mikes by coition lug it to
as bartheia of load tanatien. In many other ports
l lithe kiwis, at We memont efforts are being
made to MIMS aeasaegve to their harbours, by inn-
I toting the exaapb hithmto so successfully est by
Liverpool in redwing the amount of dock thpeomd
hremoilag loyal realities' to commercial Firm
But the rate-popes of Liverpool seem resit.
Les of • all coaesquences, In their desire le
Imindw from their own shoulders to those of their
eammersiel and manufecturing onetoaners the balk ofl
Obeid taxation in their borough. To the
Ire vre tibtflak tad ehort-eighted amongst them the bait'
held out is undoubtedly a tempting one ; but to the
mere enligidemed and reflecting peril is clearly per-
ceptible broth the gilded surface artfully covering
tie Impielie dewy.
of the opposition which the adva-
eateerature kirserise naturally anticipate to their
scheme Item these centres of industry to which
Limped is the outlet, they must count upon
the memesproodsing opposition of the present im-
posing minority in the town council Thsss gen-
tlemen may be ejected from office, and supporters
of the dock taxation scheme returned in their
oboe. That this is in the power of the ratepayers to
dhst is certain. But the opinion of such men will
have equal weight with parliament whether they are
in or eat Gloats. Besides, allowing that the rate-
mess may secoewl in ejecting them from office, by
"hum can their places be as efficiently filled Can
the trading classes of Liverpool funiish men of wealth,
intelligence, commercial experience, public and pri-
valletatogrity, impaling or equalling tse they would
dies drive from the direction of their local affairs?
Om the Ramona, the Hoursus, the Havre, the
Moons, the Alum, and the eminent mercantile
same whisk mat with them in the minority on the
newt Maiden, be succeeded by any party bringing
with them higher claims to public confidence than
them with which the public and private acts of these
mss invest them? If practical intelligenceof the high-
est eider is a qualification for the efisotive diecharge of
duties, and unsullied integrity. a guarantee
ehonesty of conduct, the minority in the council
have no superiors in any municipal body in the em-
pire ; and their retirement from office would be a
public calamity to the community of which they form
a ;wt.
The trust reposed in the council and dock com-
mittee of Liverpool is one of immense im=
sad which should not be in
er inefficient hands. Unlike the large communities in
oar inland towns, that of Liverpoo derives a great
Vortfaeits corporate revenue from a Bourse entirely
nt of the rate-paying contaibuters. The
princely income of the dock estate mime keen the
commerce of the country; and if the Wanness of
Liverpool seek to transfer their strictly local
burdens to that commerce, they mast not expect that
the general legislature will connive at the at-
tempt. Parliament will never sanction the levy
of what would in fact be a national tax in order
to lessen the weight of not unusually heavy local
burthene.
The supporters of the proposal to subject the
Liverpool Docks to local taxation are wasting their
time. They are labounng for what it is not in their
power to attain. And their policy, were it at-
tainable, would be suicidal Railroad communication
has gone far to equalise the advantages of position
of poets for the manufacturing districts of
the Mersey, the Severn, and the Humber. Hull
is active and watchful. Bristol, conscious of past
errors, is reducing its charges, to say nothing of New-
port or Swansea. Even Birkenhead is quietly no-
ting the progress of events in Liverpool. To sub-
ject the dock estate to local taxation is to render
miscued dock charges inevitable; and these cannot
fail to be instantly met by reduced charges in the
other ports we have named. The docks bring wealth
into I.iverpool: to tax them is to kill the goose that
lays the golden eggs.

THE Standard of last night propounds an argu-
ment for keeping up a large army and a large navy,
which hu at least novelty to recommend it :
Oar soldiers and sailors ere Englishmen, men in their re-
spective ranks taken oat of the terrible crowd of competitors
foe employment, which is the overwhelming evil of oar time,
the result of the surrender to foreigners of all our opportuni-
ties of exercising productive industry. Surely it is a gross
contradiction to complain of the number of soldiers main-
tained at a comparatively cheap rate, at the very time when
the country is gromunr under the barthen of rates MCP-
airy to support the population upon a helfutarving scale,
and when the tables of parliament are mused with schemes
of expensive easignidon.
So in the eyes of the Standard the army and navy
are mere supplementary establishments, to relieve the
pressure upon the poor-rates. Every barrack is an
additional union workhouse, and every ship of war a
pauper hulk. We shall have our oontemporary re-
commending some of these days, in a fit of mainly,
that the Horse Guards, with the Boards of Ordnance
and Admiralty, be abolished, and the Paymaster-
General placed under the immediate contrail of the
President of the Poor-law Board. Oar gallant de-
fenders cannot but be delighted with the entirely new
light in which their profession is presented to the
' public by the Standard. Will a uniform prove as
attractive to the fair sex as it used to be, when it
comes to be considered a mere variety of the work-
house dress?

The Standard proceeds:
Ws have aver held that our countrymen in the navy and
army, so far from being an unproductive slam, ire fully as
productive as any clam of the community—issoomparably
Mtge productive than the manufadwrisey dame we speak
of those in large manufactories), who produce no but
money for a few employers, to be lent to foreigners, and
paupers for our workhouses.
The construction of this montane is rather intri-
cate ; it does not clearly appear whether the paupers
are produced by the manufacturing classes, or
whether they are of the number of thole to whom the
few employers lend their money. The probability is
on the side of the former alternative, for it may
be doubted whether our moneyed men are in the
habit of investing in such securities as paupers can
offer. But the propounder of such novel and original
views ought to have taken care to make them
clear. For the same reason it could have been wished
that he had stated what 'oldish and sailors do
produce. The hypercritically *disponed too may
object that the manufacturing classes di? not, in point
of fact, produce money; in other words, they are not
coiner, but honest makers of the materials which men
nes as breeches and women as petticoats.
And in connexion with this lase remark a conside-
ration of some weight comes into play. Our work-
house pace have of late been productively employed
to a noble extent in the manufacture of shirts.
They have been engaged in this productive industry,
not with aview to positive profit, but to the diminution
of workhouse expenditure. The consequence is, that
the shirts they have made have been forced upon the
market at a price far below what would compensate
self-supporting workers. And it would appear from
a statement made on Monday tisk at the Worship-
street police office, by the secretary to the Society for
the Relief of Distressed Needle women, that the un-
exampled sufferings of these unfortunate females are
mainly attributable to this forced and artificial com-
petition. Now, if our army and navy—the @apple-
=eatery paupers of the Standard—are to be converted
into ateliers nationaus, and brought in like manner
into competition with others of the productive chases,
they are little likely to be raised thereby in the affec-
tion of the public.