The Express.
London, England, 1850-06-10 00:00:00

he Crory O.

OUTGOING MAILS.
TM mane fee British North America sad the 'Jutted
amen will he male ep ea the meets" of Jaw, 16.
The made be MAIM, Spars, sea Gibraltar Intl be made
lam 17.
The Wm laic, s rigudierr Beresuda, Briremal,
Netem, Hemlines, New Orlersaa, Meatto, sad lueludiell
Owes Ire Madeira, el. J•ea.4•46 'cassava. Neer Ovalle*
Chuff. sae !Nis. will bade tip ea the 11112t..frig
of June 17.
The tow's tor Gibraltar, Malta, Griot., tee lomat Mewl.,
ladia, Cates, flestbamparet, will
li=e up ea the meraiett el Jam 20.
The mole red 1411111111111. to the Meditemenesa, Irrypt,
fles.lo.llw, Neecleas. *c., will he made ap ea lb.
effialiat 111 Jam 24.
The Raab far llerieria, the Brarile, sad Durum Ayr" will
MUM, up is the amiss ofJely 4.

MOO WATIM AT LOP. DON 11111111 IL
Wv.
Te.was.....limposi. Alinawis. U. UNA

LONDON, MONDAY, JUNE 10.

Tea Grand Protectionist Demonstration at Liver-
pool has coins off. The Royal Amphitheatre was
crowded. There were two delegates Middlesex
and one from Manchester. The F. al of WILTON was
in the chair. The Marquis of Garotter appeared as
the represeutative of Intellectual Force. Lord JOHN
MANNER:, was the Spirit of the Age, Mr. NEWDE-
OATH personated Humility. Mr. Cmturrortiza
played the part of Public Opinino. Dr. MeNxin•
and Mr. Cnowuta enac'ed a tableau of the lamb
lying down with the bulldog, as illustrative of • pro-
tectionist millennium; aid Mr. G. F. Tome° danced
• sailor's hornpipe to the tune of "Sir Roger de Co-
verley."
There has been no meeting of • simlar kind which
has more glaringly expoird the disunion of its
promoters than this same Liverpool demonstration.
The chairman, who was, probably, not • little puzzled
to contrive • speech which might introduce the subjed
of protection without giving too ninth umbrage to
the Meant' of the Heaton estate, was very soon forced
oat of his qurstioos as to where " that hope, contest-
meat, and satisfaction were to b- found, whicheadothill
in the home of the mechanic and the ar:isan under a
system which entailed upon him the blessing of
dear 10. f," by an ill.omened shout of "Gone to Mae-
cheater ;" and he thenceforth betook himself to the
agriculturel distrie,s, and veered the necessity of
diminishing the burdens on real property. Perhaps
the home-bred portion of the meeting had some mis-
giving as to the effect of this proposed measure, bur
at all events we soon find that he changed his tone a
second time, and wound up by quoting ADAM SMITH
on Foreign Trade, a quotation for which he
was, of course, indebted to that mine of protectionist
speeches, Mr. Serjeant BTLES'S book.
One word as to this famous quotation. If the as-
sumption contained therein, as to the superior advan-
tage of home trade over ieeign, be true, how does
the noble lord explain the Liverpool Docks? Des
he think the merchant', some of whom he wee ad-
dressing, are such fools as de+bi:rately to prefer a leer
to a more profitable branch if commerce ? Or would
it not occur to any practical men—of merle not to a
nobleman who probably knows a great deal mere
about the Liverpool sieep'e-ehme than &boat the
Liverpool Exchange—but to ary practical man, that
there must be some error in a statement which all
elpetience has ever since been engaged in contradict-
ing? Home trade and foreign trade must both be
governed by the requirements of the consumers, and
we shall never alter those requirements by an abstract
argument, whether sound or uns-und.
But we must pass on. Mr. S. Houle, a name pro-
bably familiar to Liverpool eery, but not possessing
an European reputation, propee4 the first resolution.
The Ntzernis of the fortieth century will of
coarse see in • moment that his name, though
mis-spelt, is clearly mtthical, and that, like
the other great deities of the meeting, he is merely
the impersonation of the principle of domestic
industry. We, however, who live nearer to the time,
detect in him the currency duct" r; tot it is remark-
able that no person who is devoted to the opinions
which are held with a oonstnnce emulous of martyr-
dom by a certain elan ei gentlemen, of whom Mr.
SPOONER is one,llan ever speak on any subject within
the bounds of human research, without introducing
their favourite dogma. Still, Mr. Houtz does not
adhere with sufficient constancy to his monetary mis-
tress, to prevent him from giving utterance once more to
that cardinal truth of protectionism, that the produce
of other lands is amazed, and announcing himself,
tinder certain limitations, a free-trader—"a free-
trader of the morrow,"—as our neighbours over the
water would call it ; waiting only for the time when
perfect relief from taxation would render it more im-
portant for us than ever to buy in the cheapest and
mill in the dearest market.
But Mr. WooDwARD, seconder of the first resolu-
tion, not content with promising a theoretical ad-
herence to free trade, boldly avowed himself a free
trader in act. "He had at this moment twelve
cargoes on the passage, rimlti "l which were in foreign,
and four only in British ships." Oh, you wicked Mr.
Woonwaan! Oh, you horrible anomaly! Did not
the meeting mat you out as infected ? Did they not
bowl down your eloquence ? No, nothing of the
kind,—nay, they seem to hive listened to your state-
ments as to cheap freight and foreign corn with an
iaterest akin to sietistactiost ; and they permitted you,
unchallenged, to announce to them, with one breath,
that you were habitually in the employment of foreign
bottoms for the importation of foreign produce, and
with the next to second a resolution which denounced

as revolurtonary the undue swots, agetnerd if the
foreigner.
Stolidity, like honesty, usually has its reward;
and this meeting at Liverpool bad theirs in
the shape of a speech, lasting we know
not tow many hours, Lam one of the most
accomplishe I orators in the kingdom, the Rev. Dr.
Mehinti.E. Dr. MCNEILL is, as every one knows, a
mixture of the enthusiast and the firebrand, and, es
such, he would probably no' feel much compunction
in tiring his acknowledged eloquence in almost any
decent cause. He seems, however, to have had great
doubts whether he were really in his place as a
minister of the gospel in supporting a resolution
which evidently tended to increase the necessities of
the thousands and tens of thousands with whom in
his daily reseanhes into the poverty of Liverpool he
must have become acquainted. He was evidently
',eyed by abolitionist, not lir protectionist, tenden-
cies; and his speech denounced, not free trade, except
weakly and feebly, but slavery, and the abominations
of the slave trade.
We must all honour philanthropy, even when
pushed to humanitarian excesses, and we will give
Dr. MeNails the credit for as much as he choose to
claim of this quality. But we must decline our ac
knowledgmeet of Dr. MeNnthe's claims to the title
cis protectionist, till we see him keep rather more
closely than in this speech he doss to the matter at
issue. He likes " a moderate fixed duty." We will
not remind him that a moderate fixed duty can be
for no other purpose than to enhance rents, nor will
we even suggest that intimate connexion which ex-
ists between rent and tithe. But we will tell Dr.
McNan.a. and we do so in the spirit of kindness and
respect, that be does not do his duty by mixing him-
self up with persons who are simply occup'ed in pro-
moting thief own eelfi+h class-interests under
the guise of sympathy with their fellows.
Barely his acute undertinding will suggest
to him what is so familiar to persona whose
studies he in the region of political science,
that if all these productions, necessary, or nearly so,
are to be enhanced in peke, it mast be for the benefit
of producers; that it can be no benefit to the con-
sumers, who are the whsle community, to pay more
dearly for the necessaries which they all require,
though it may be a benefit to the producers, who are,
after all, only a section of the community, to enhance
the prices of those articles which they respectively
produce, because, although they benefit at each other 'e
expense, they also benefit at the expense of the body
of consumers oute;de.
Of Mr. G. F. Willi° we have scarcely room to
speak; but any one who will take the trouble to look
at hie harangue will, we think, agree with us that,
though he accommodates his pace to the a'ricultural
pipe, his thoughts are of ireights, not of oorn ;
the voice is • farmer's yoke, but the hands are
the hands of the shipowner. It is tedious
to resount the fallacies of his system ; but
we must just ask him, if, us he says, a moderate
duty imposed on foreign articles also produced at home
—corn for instance—falls on the foreign producer, and
not on the consumer at home, how it an de so if It
✓am the price to the consumer; and if It do not rein

---------
the pries to the tronsamer, how can it benefit the
hems producer; and if again it do not benefit the home
producer, who pies ? 4t
Oar limits do not persoli tp to pear 91 gni,
CM, that attention whisk. Ms merits ret de.
elks
serve, nee do we op 4rig. is
--
Wrest sa Irish beeristes\ Gee wt. in a
protestiosist o.akt Li ', silos
It be with a to 'resist the of
that place is what he calls "improving their lefialr
live representatives in the Howe of Commons. In
that, however, he would meet with a formidable op-
ponent in Lied Joint bLeintrits, although he would
piebald, he mom toetanate than his lordship in w-
earing the support of thorn pests of Liverpool, the
Irish tramps.
Below Mr. BUTT then seems to have been aslid-
ing wale of speakers, the wooden spoon having
appropriately promoted to the Marquis of GRANBY ;
and the mantels separated after having been in la-
bour for nearly eleven hours.

Tax Cateetu.Loa of the EXCHEQUER is evidently
dealing with the Savings Banks Bill with a view to
beat an honourable retreat under cover of that well-
known ministerial tatoo, "this late petiod of the
session." Sinus Whitsuntide the bill has been put
upon the paper every government night, but net the
slightest wish bas been exhibited to bring it on.
Meanwhile, petitioeshaes showered upon the table of
the house evening after evening, until it has become
obvious that the Savings Banks are unanimously
opposed to the bill se it stands, and that in the face
of their oppositioa the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHE-
QUER cannot hope to carry it.
Seeing the way the carnet sets, the nines, the
other morning, condescended to refer to the subject of
this bill. The object of its article was to show how
small is the skill exhibited by those who prepare the
meantime( the government. But this was only a
flimsy covering for the real object of the article. Tbe
design obviously was to palliate the CHANCELLOR of
the EXCHEQUER'S failure, by attaching all the
blame connected with this measure to some
one who advised him. Now, we doubt if
the public are at all prepared to admit this
plea an justification. So long as we have a system
of government, which monopolises all the great posi-
tions of the state for men of power and connexion,
whilst those who really do the work are kept in the
background,—whilst this is the system which pre-
vails, we object to a man like Sir CHARLES Woon,
who wouli have assumed the entire credit of swoons
eedeavouring to shift from his own shoulders the re-
sponsibility and disadvantage connected with his
failure.
But if the bill in its present shape is to be alma-
doned, it is important to consider what else is to be
done. This is not, like the Stamp Bill, a case in
which the government have volunteered a legislative
m.asure. They were celled upon to do something
with a view to increase the security of depositors in
Savings Banks. The public desired that such additional
seventy should be given ; the savings banks managers
themselves were anxious that everything should be
done to satisfy the depositor. Tame managers are
not themselves anxious to escape reopens:bill:s ;
they have no desire to avoid complete in-
spection into the mode of dealing with the funds
entrusted to them. In our experience of public
questions we never knew a cue in which soy body
of men associated for a great common object have
pursued a more straightforward or honourable policy.
We will do anything, say the savings banks mana-
gers, that you require. We will publish accounts,
permit inspection of accounts, consent to bear a large
share of responsibility, ourselves : in fact, anything
that we can do to satisfy the nation and increase the
efficiency of our system, we will willingly consent to.
Now, the Creexcimeoa of the EXCHEQUER will
certainly neither do his duty nor fulfil the expecta-
tion of the people on this question if he omits to avail
himself of the feeling prevailing with respect to it.
The opportunity is open to him of improving the
savings bank system, and at the same time of afford-
ing increased security to the depositor. It has ap-
pendto mall along that this might be accomplished
Ei namuch more simple machinery than that pro-
limed in the bill lately introduced.
Ti.. managers of savings banks have entirely ac-
quieted in the government proposal to appoint
inspectors. Those inspectors must, necessarily,
have full powers ever the banks. Tony might
from time to time be authorised to require from the
managers, balance-sheets showing the assets and lia-
bilities cf the hanks; and we think the bard of ma-
nagers collectively and individually might be made
responsible for the accuracy of those financial state-
ments. Thus a complete responsibility would be
established ; the state would be responsible for all the
mattes paid over in compliance with the act,—the
treasurer, as at present, fur all balances in his hands,
—the managers for defalcations by their own officers
arising from any laxity of management of their own.
For deficiencies arising through the acts or careless-
ness of the inspector, the authorities who appoint him
and superintend the performance of his duties, would
necessarily be responsible.
The great and obvious difficulty of this question,
that of creating a sufficient respon-ibility without a
proper check upon or guarantee for the proper admin-
utration of the bank affairs, would, we thick, by some
such simple plan as this, be effectually met. We do not
believe that such a modification of the present plan
would be viewed with disapproval by savings bank
managers. The liability to which it would expose
them would be liability for the unchecked acts of their
own onions. But all the trustees and managers of
savings banks agree in saying that under a
proper system of superintendence and revision the
liability arising from this cause is not great ;
that it is only in laxly managed institutions that de-
falcations can possibly arise; and with regard to
them it is scarcely too much to say that the public
would be much better off were they abandoned
altogether.
But then the question is to be looked at as it con-
sents thegovernment. Will the state be responsible foe
deficiencies arising from the laxity and reimesseas of
inspectors? This naturally brings us to consider the
pigment superintending power, and we are bound to
es/ that the National Debt Commission, as at present
meditated, appear. a very improper bAy to be in-
vested with the sole management and control of
savings banks.
A return recently presented to parliament, on the
notion of Sir HENRY WILLOUGHBY, throws some
as the real constitution of this National Debt
. It appears that there are seven com-
, ultieners, via., the Speaker of the House of Com-
mons, the Ohoosellor of the Exchequer, the Master
of the Rolle, the LIM Chief Baron, the Accountant
General of the Court of Chancery, and the Governor
and Deputy-Governor of the Bank of England for
the time being. The meetings of the commission
are quarterly, in the first weeks of January,
March, July, and October. The place of meeting is
the official residence of the CHANCELLOR of the Ex -
CHEWIER, In Downing-street. With rare excep-
tions, the board is composed of the CHANCELLOR of
the Excneetuse and the governor and deputy-
governor. Ot late years the Master of the Rolls has
once or twice deemed it his duty to attead, bat ex-
cept at two of the m sting* in 1838, no other mem-
ber of the Commission has taken the slightest interest
in the busicess appointed to be transacted.

The natural deduction from all this is, that the national
debt transactions of the country are merely formal
transactions, dispeed of by the comptroller, chief
clerk, and other officials of the department, who take
powers at the formal quarterly meetings, and in-
demnify themselves on the same occasions for all
tDry may have done without authority. As regards
the business appertaining to the reduction of
is
na-
tional debt, which unfortunately fur all of la snostly
more a matter of theory than practice, this sort
of arrangement may be all very well. But
when real responsibility, in the shape of actual mil-
lions of real golden guineas and solid mine shillings,
comes to be pleoed at these gentlemen's disposal, the
matter assume another shape entirely. What is
needed in regard to savings banks is active, constant,
and careful administration, and we are inclined to
think it would be far preferable to 1 lace the savings
tankinspectors under a really responsible authority,
than to continue the control of savings banks in the
present hands.
Indeed, if Sir CHARLES WOOD'S bill pawed, the
National Debt Commissioners, as a responible body,
would no longer exist in any Tel. Small as is the
responsibility at present eonasting in this oomnds-
mon, the CHANCELLOR of the lisenacion, by the
measure now before the House, proposes to relieve
them even of that little. The Savings' Bank Ads at
present in force delegate powers to the National Debt