The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-04-04 00:00:00

deal of the chargea cannect3d with the war ; but he would
give them another instance. He would quote the op'nion of
a person, who was very celebrated some tina., ago. He did
not know whether any of them had heard of him, but he was
the member for Essex, and was well known as
W.E.' (Ifiughter.) He said he was opposed to a coalition
eovernment ; but, perhaps, he Ole. .Gladstone) ought to tell
them that Mr. Threatend knew a good deal more abput that
coalition than he did, and they would • believe him
when he stated that he was in total ignorance in regard
to it. Mr. Beresford, however, seemed to know a
good deal about it, and if they wished for infor-
mation respecting that point he had only to recommend
them to apply to him, (Laughter.) B,t that gentleman
said,that he was opposed to a coalition government going in,
because its first act would b 3 to cut down the military
establishment, and reduce the army to that state of
inefficiency from which it had emerged. (Laughter.)
The right honourable gentleman then proceeded : —so that
from that quarter also, which was almost the only
quarter of the house from which I have not quoted evidence,
from that quarter, and by those highflying politicians, you
are assured that if Lord Derby were to come into office,
the immediate effect would be that the military estimates
would be kept down. Well, now, when we recollect that
Lord Derby is the head of the Conservative party or Tory
party, and that the present Government is recommended as
being 'a Liberal Government, I must confess
it calms a very strange sensation • in- my mind
to be told that the first effect of this dis-
displacement of a Liberal Government and the entrance
into office of a Conservative Government would be a
great movement in favour of public economy. (Hear, hear.)
Gentlemen, I do not wish to address you as exclusively
Conservative or exclusively Liberal. It appears to me
that questions of economy, sound financial arrangements,
and proper regulations of taxation are matters in which
Conservatives and Liberals have a common interest, and
matters upon which Conservatives and Liberals ought to
have a c-immon view. (Hear, hear.) 'But this I say,
that I always thought the especial pride of the
gentlemen who call themeelves liberal politicians, was that
they were the strongest promoters of public economy.
And now we have lived into times, an enlightened age,
the year 18.57, when it appears, by the united evidence of
Lord John Russell, of Mr. Cibden and the Radicals, of
Mr. Disraeli an I the Conservatives, of Mr. Beresford and
the ultra teries, that,if a Liberal government should go out
and a Conservative government 001113 in, the first effect
would be a, great movement in favour, of economy, by
keeping down, the military estimates. (Hear, hear, and
cheers.) It is in my opinion dishonest to arnve the people
by talking abOut remission of taxation, unless you keep down
the expenditure. TO maintain such a high expenditure,
and then go to the country and talk of a repeal of this or
that tax, is either folly or roguery. (Hear, hear, and
cheers.) I am astounded at the coolness with which
gentlemen who always support this expenditure, are
perfectly ready to go to their constituencies, and when asked
" will you vote for the repeal of the income tax in
1860 ?" reply—" beyond all manuec of doubt I
wi11,," (Cheers, and hear, hear.) I come now to a most
serious quesition—the question of taxation. In 1853 there
was a pledge given by parliament to the country that the
income tax should be repealed in 1860. The estimated
amount of the income tax at sel in the pound, as then
Contemplated, would be five millions, and at 7d, as it now
stands, would be seven millions. I have told you already
that the increase in the last five years is about six and a
half millions of expenditure. I want to know how that
increase is to be met ? What is the use of talking of a
repeal of the income tax in 1860 if we have an addition to
our expenditure which is equal, or very nearly equal, to
the whole amount of the income tax ? (Hear, hear.)
Now, I will tell you in what condition I feel personally
With regard to that subject. In the year 1853 I was the
financial organ of the government of Lord Aberdeen, and
by the measures then adopted, Including a kind'of pledge
then given by parliament that parliament would prepare
for the remission of the income tax, or at. least put the
country in such a' position that they would be able
to dispense with it, the government earned at
that period very considerable popularity; and I well recollect
when Mr. Ilorsfall was elected for Liverpool, and a more
respected gentleman does not sit in the House of Commons.
(H,ar, hear, and cheers.) He, although not a party supporter
of the government, yet upon the hustings declared, in the face
of the public of Liverpool, his approval of those financial
measures. (Cheers.) The government obtained credit for
them, and having obtained credit ter them, and enjoyed that
credit-, are we now to tarn round upon the promises which we
made to the people, and to refrain from, doing our utmost to
fulfil those promises_? (Hear, hear, and cheers.) I ask you
whether we are doing our utmost to fulfil those promises ? I
ask you whether Lord Palmerston, who was a par'_) to those
promises, for he was a member of the cabiaet at the time, is
doing his utmost to fulfil those promises, if ho continues to
speak about a repeal of the income tax in 1860. while he is
proposing to parliament an increase, beyond the
scale of expenditure of 1853, of no less than
six millions of money, which it requires 'no. witch or
wizard to show you must absolutely, unless we keep it
down, require something like an income tax to be main.
tained. (Rear, hear.) , Gentlemen, 1 frankly own that
having, at the period I spoke .of, been the organ of the
proposal, and having reaped the benefit of the popularity
which it brought upon the government, I feel like—l was
going to say a gentleman, but I shall not use that expression
—I shall say live a man who has drawn a bill at a long
date, who has received the profits, and who, when about six
or seven months of the twelve have elapsed, turns round
upon his engagement and entirely disavows his intention to
fulfil it. Well, gentlemen, I need hardly point out again
to you, as a commercial community, that another conse-
quence of extravagant expenditure is, that the finances of
the country are in a state of very considerable insecurity.
I shall state to you the reason of this, and then you ,will be
so kind as to judge for yourselves, whether you agree with
me or not : but I think I can anticipate your verdict.
According to the statement of the Chancellor of the' Ex-
cheqiier, the estimated revenue for the year 1857-8 is
£66,000,000. As at first proposed it was £65I 370 000
but in consequence of having made a change in the
budget, it is now taken at sixty six millions. The expendi-
ture on the other hand is 65i millions, Now, gentlemen,
that is not a very large surplus. Still, if it were a real
surplus, it might suffice ; ,hut out of that surplus we have got
to pay for the Persian and the China, war ; and your ideas of
the expenditures of war certainly; differ from mine, if you
think the expenditure you yet have to hear of for those wars
will fall short of half a million. lam afraid, gentlemen, you
have no surplus whatever; on the contrary, if you really pay
the charges of the year during the year, that you will find the
public revenue, as estimated by the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, will not be sufficient to meet 'those charges. But,
gentlemen, this public revenue is made up by appropriating to
the purposes of the year much that does not belong to it.
There is the half year's income tax at lad. You all know
that, although the income tax has been reduced to 7d, yet
you will have to pay a, the rate of 163 for the half year now
begun, because the taxes you_ pay for the half year will be
taxes due in respect of the half year gone by. That half
year's income tax now coining duo will amount to 4a millions,
This is going to be applied to the
in"
of the
present year. (Hear, hear.) But in the year 1855
Parliament authariaed the government to contract engagements
under the name of exchequer bonds, to bo met by means of the
half year's income tax. They were contracted upon the faith
of that tax which parliament had then. voted. The' bonds aro
now coming in, but instead of applying the money for that pur-
pose, only two millions are going to be so applied, and the other
two and a half millions to be applied to the ordinary expendi•
ture of the year. I frankly own that Ido not think that is a
proper way of making up an account. I do, not think is is a
way of dealing which any respectable house in. Liverpool would
tolerate for one moment. (Cheers.) lam bound to say that
it k not the way of making up accounts which any assembly of
railway shareholders would tolerate one mom nit. (Hear, hear,
and cheers.) Having urged at some length that the expendi.
ture of the country would then be in excess of revenue, the
right honourable gentleman then continued. But there is
one topie—it is the last upon which I shall touch,
and that is the increase in the tax upon tea and sugar, I feet
very strong indeed upon that question. It seems to me that
there never was a mare beneficial measure carried than the
eednction.upon tea and sugar, which was begun by Sir R. Peel,
and completed by Lord J. Russell. I can overstate the esti-
mate that I would make of the benefits that are derived from the
reduction of the tax upon,commodities of that class. I rejoice
at having been the means of inducing Puliatzkent to reduce the
tax upon tea ; but fair justice requires me frankly to state
that I did no more than adopt the proposals which had already
once been made, and would have been carried into effect by
the preceding governnaent of Lord Derby. (Hear, hear,)
One of these was to reduce the tax upon tea, and the other was
to increase the tax upon spirits. lam not a Maine Law man,
neither am Ia teetotaller. ((Hear), I am, opposed to all violent
and abstract doctrines in the matter, and to all violent
attempts to interfere with the habits of 'he people; and,
moreover, I am bound to say I am not able to accept
the doctrine,, that when god caused the vine to grow
upon the earth, He did not intend that the juice of that
vine should be used in moderation," to make glad the
heart of man." (Hear, hear.) But without entering
into controversy, I do hold this language, that in nly"
opinion, it is wise in Parliament to levy off spirituous
liquors, all the money they can get without giving 'a'
stimulus to smuggling, and, on the other hand, it is
wise in Parliament to reduce the tax on commodities like
tea and sugar, to the lowest point that is compatible
with the demands and exigencies of the public service.
(Hear, hear,) In so doing, the benefit you confer on the
labouring man is not to be measured merely by the money
you put into his pocket. It is with grief and shame
I have been accused 'in parliament of having used too
too strong langnage on this subject, but I cannot use
weaker, it is with grief and shame that I reflect that in a
time of peace, a proposal has been made to parliament not
indeed to raise at once the duty upon tea and sugar, but a

beginning is being made towards the undoing of this good
work of parliament, and I call upon you to take care that
no second step 'shall be taken in the same direction.
(Cheers.) It is quite true that during the
time of war we were compelled to make an increase
in the duty on sugar, •it is also true that in the
end of 1854 and the beginning of 1855, an increase
was made by parliament in the duty on tea ; b I have
already told you that war considered financially, is a
monster into the maw of which you must throw millions,
without counting theni. When you came hack to peace,
parliament promised that you should come back to the
duties on tea and sugar which prevailed before the war.
Now, the. proposal of the late budget was to this effect,
that the duty upon tea, instead of being reduced to
Is. 5d., should stand at Is. 7d., and that sugar, should
undergo a like proportionate increase. Well, gentlemen,
by dint of violent language, and in one way or other making as
much noise as we could, and offering as much resistance as we
could, we did check that part of the mischief, and in` place of
the duty being at is 7d, it now stands at Is sd. (Rear, hear.)
But that does not satisfy me. Let us have no increase 'at all.
(Applause.) Do not let us begin any bad course—(hear, hear),
and now that the question has come from Parliament to the
people, I hope you will aid us in our endeavour to stop this
Mischief, by sending men to parliament to assist us. (Hear.)
I may be permitted, gentlemen, to appeal to you upon
the subject. During the last fifteen years, I and many of my
most intimate politieal friends in public life, have been
naturally the object of much suspicion. It is.the natural
result of the breaking up of party ties and political con
nections to alienate you from some, without attaching
you to others. That position has, however, been, relieved
by one consolatioa—tha:. I have been enabled to apply
myself constantly and uniformly to the promoting 'of
beneficial changes in the commercial legislation of the
the country which—and du not believe there are now
almost two opinions in England upon the subject—have
contributed so immensely to the benefit of the people.
Well, gentlemen, I do beseech you to help us in this work.
I do beseech you to require that these things shall be
done—to speak intelligibly through your suffrages, upon
great questions of such importance. You are Conserva—
tives—then, I say, join me in attaching the people of this
country to their institutions—in giving them confidence in
the Parliament of the country by letting them feel
the benefits which ensue from just and prudent legislation.
(Cheers.) If, on the other hand, you be liberals in
politics, then do not forswear your name, but recollect the
strength of your party is laid in this—that peace and
retrenchment have been made their watchwords from an
early period. (Cheers.) Allow me to allude to an inci—
dent which, I am told happened in Liverpool last week.
I saw it stated in the Glcbe newspaper of last Friday
evening that when the people had assembed on your hust-
ings, the liberals being on one side, and the conservatives
or the other, it was found that a crash took place on the
Liberal side, and it was stated in the Globe that this was
conjectured to have occurred, because the Conservatives
had cut away all the supports. (Laughter.) Well, my
first thought was, what a diabolical order of Coaservatives
these must be. (Laughter) But after all I was rather
sceptical, and I believed in the crash, but I did not
believe in the cause of the .crash. (Laughter). But
if I may respectfully address myself, gentle-
men, to the Liberal party, I would say, that
in the way of a figure or a parable, there is very con-
siderable utility to be derived from the recollection of
that incident. The Liberals are all, collected as a party.
They bear upon certain props. What are the props of
Liberalism ? In my opinion, its best props 'are the credit
which it enjoys with the country, for a disposition to
promote political reform—to encourage activity in the
discharge of legislative duties in parliament—to keep
peace with all the world, as far as the honour of the
country will permit, as the best means of promoting liberty
and to carry the principles of public economy and retrench-
ment :into every department of the public expenditure
(Cheers.) I say that if there is one principle of Liberalism
more characteristic than another, it is, and it ought to be, a
jealousy of inordinate military expenditure. (Hear, hear,
and cheers.) Well, I must confess it does appear to me
that there is very great danger indeed that unless the
-
oinctLtt
huohoietabennteasttprebniarielvi
Conservatives.
iHityagaviroovEtuueuytessi
Parliament
ogltalool:alkfaown(
sewodLmuhlttoeh,rrjre.edaraopsslmcrl.
Lord.
isu—at
bransaD9tpeiureiryintrioiebdptiys;:deewo ho -prettyi
Derby—(cheers)
sleealrybees ees)hars_ansei
)utapthyt
Disraeli—(cheers)—to
plain
osibuwnfre agtormitatmbor
encyuefoun?tmloohhl
ehynee:
exclusive champion of the working classes, by carrying
done—

A Voice : When in opposition. (Laughter-)
Mr. Gladstone: Not alone when in;opposition. (Cheers.)
I have voted as often against Mr. Disraeli as for him. I
have no personal or political relations with Mr. Disraeli,
but I am sure you would wish me to do him justice.
(Cheers.) It is not exclusively when in opposition. for I
have stated only ten minutes ago, in this meeting, that Mr.
Disraeli was the man who, at the end of 1852, on the part
of Lord Derby's government proposed a reduction of the
duty on tea, (Cheers.) Now, having done an act of
justice, I am quite sure you will not be displeased with
me. (Cheers.) But I say, if you allow Lord Derby or
Mr. Disraeli to identify their names in the popular mind
With the cause of pacific foreign policy, of respect for the
rights of other nations, of reduction of undue
expenditure, of the maintalnauce of moderate taxa-
tion. Why, gentlemen, I tell you , frankly that
the props of your Liberal party are cut away by these
abominable and diabolical Conservatives (laughter) ;
and that the crash which the Globe described on Saturday
last, and which was imputed to these horrible politicians,
was not a tenth part so forrnidable as the crash of
Liberalism, which will take place throughout the
country when it loses its credit, when it
becomes a name without a reality, and when it
gives over the most valuable part of its creed to become
the inheritance, and to become the glory of its adversaries.
(Loud cheers.) Mr. Gladstone then having again com-
pared and analysed the addresses and claims of Sir Stephen
Glynne and Mr. Mostyn, thanked the meeting for the
patience with which they had heard him, and resumed his
seat after an address of nearly two hours' duration.
Several questions were then put to the right hon. gentle-
man, as to supposed Puseyite leanings of Sir Stephen
Glynne, particularly in contributing to the defence of the
Hon. and Rev. Mr. Lidd,ll, of S;, 13:rnabas • and also
as to whether or not he ell.' oppose the grant to
Maynooth.
Mr. Gladstone denied that Sir Stephen Wynne belonged
either to the High Church or Low Church party,
and claimed for him the character of a sound
churchman in holding by the doctrines of the
liturgy, and the laws of the Established Church. '
That, he held, should be the criterion of a
Churchman. As to Maynooth, he felt assured that Sir
Stephen Glynne would come to the consideration of the
question perfectly unbiassed. It was a question which
was assuming graver importance every day, and one upon
which even he (Mr. Gladstone) would by, no means pledge
himself.
Mr. Ald. Toulmin : Will he support the Liverpool Town
Dues?
Mr. Gladstone : I have not heard him say a word on
the subject.

A Voice : " Will you."
Mr. Gladstone said he could not give them any pledge
upon the subject. He had had a communication with
Mr. Horsfall upon the subject, and would refer them to
that gentleman for his opinion on the subject. (Hear
hear, and laughter.) Mr. Horafall would tell them that be
Orr. Gladstone) was disposed to do justice to Liverpool,
and Liverpool asked for no more. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. Alderman S. Holme, after declaring his resolution
to vote for Sir Stephen Glynne, moved the thanks of the
meetinito Mr. Gladstone.

Mr. Duncan Gibb seconded the motion, which was
carried by acclamation.

Thanks were then voted to the chairman, and the meet-
ing geparated.

INTELLECT AND PARLIAMENT. —ln Our last number we
indulged in a hope that some effort would be mdae to get
a few of our really intellectual men into parliament; but
judging by se much of the elections as has yet been con-
summated, it seems as if the constituencies were doing
their best to wipe out the stain of intellect from their repre-
sentative parliament, What ! are, we really so well
supplied with clever legislators that we Can afford to
dispense with a Cobden, a Bright, a Milner Gibson, an d
a Layard ? A Turner or a Potter may indeed be better
specimens of the Manchester mind than two such first rate
men as (touse Mr. Cobden's most justifiable expression)
did that City the honour of representing it; but it need not
have so conspicuously confessed its own inanity. What
vain and idle dreams we have been indulging in We
were picturing to ourselves a better Parliament than
before; a parliament that would make less war and waste
less money; a parliament that would encourage art and
literature; that would repeal the paper duty and give
larger grants to the Royal Society and the British Maseum, ;
that would build a national gallery, and pass a good educe-
tienal measure, and grant a little reform, and do, in fact, a
little of the work which the country so sorely wants doing ;
and lo ! the free and independent electors have excludeed
some of the very best men who leavened the whole lamp;
and have sent up, in troops, those who have talked so much
and done so little for them. And Riche rd Cobden!
Though this be only a literary summary, and has no BP;rt
of act or part in affairs political, shall
we not say for 'eien
that he has written his name upon the brightest peige in
English history; that theee stands in his heenour a statue
upon every breakfast table, to which every fellow; country.. man should look with grateful eyes,--a statiete modelled
ou t of wheaten flour, and called
,by the
relsar, quartern
loaf." And. this is the man who, leis leeen rejected by
Huddersfield Well, let it pass. History is just, if man
be ungrateful : and we may be peteeitted to express a
fervent hope that this election:of 18F,7 will not, in the end,
prove so discreditable to the intelPigence of the country, as
for the present it, 'wean likely tg Critic.

nix MIIRCITAN'T SLIIPPIAta ACT.

15eer5
Yesterday, a public meeting of masters and 0 ,ed
n the merchant service, shipowners, and others conne,e,'„
with the mercantile marine, was c. nvned in the Co. 1,,,',1
Salesroom, immediatel over the Exchange Nevvsroo.tre i;
the' purpose of "taking into consideration the aehl;
and oppressive powers vested by the Merchant SHPI3I to
Act in the Board of ,Trade, in cases of casualities
merchant ships, and the manner, in which such investi,
gations are conducted." The room was densely crowd
by master mariners.
The following were amongst some of the gentler,
present :—W. Inman, J. Bibby, W. M. Moss, Ron% tic
Cunard, William Langton, James Beazley, Gorge Kenea.,
J. Taylor, Charles Holland Henry. Fernie, W. Tettlituo;
H. Church, J IC,-Rotinthwaite, Job, and e
Captains : Judkine, Campbell, Corbet, Atkins, Paton, ot,
Cumming, Jeffery, Jellard, Ken'nedy, Wylie, Haratn,4l,
son, Ord, Sharp, Brown, Boyd, Smith, Lautit, C°T.
Langlands, Little, Sale, Sutherland, Szalker, B Jug, gall'
son, Joseph Cooke, T. Main, Howard, and Thompson. et,
On the motion of Mr. C. Holland, seconded hY ie
Paton, Ralph Brocklebank, Esq., was invited to ti
the chair.
After some little delay, occasioned by the vast number
of persons endeavouring to obtain seats,
The Chairman said, the time had arrived when it :1,1
their duty to proceed with the work they had hei°,o
them. For his own part he felt .sin; the honour "to
meeting bad conferred upon him, in asking hie' be
preside over them on that day, but at the same times
di,l regret that some person better qualified than he o
or
had not been selected to take a part in the council bt
that day: But before proceeding any further, he thoug,,
that he had better read the letters that he or the secretco''
had, received on the subject. (Hear, hear.) There se„e
one from' John Williams, which was read, and vibl,
expressed his full concurrence in the moveree;
and regretted that he could not be present. (11e.seol
h .ar.) They were all aware of the 04,,,t
for which they had been called together on tu-
occasion, it was to take into consideration the arbill?c
and oppressive powers vested by the " bferchaot VI;
ping Act" in the Board of Trade in cases of casualtiee 8,
merchant ships, and the manner in which such investigo
tionSare conducted. The act was passed in the year 185494
the clause they had the greatest objection to was the °el°
which related to the conducting of investigations tits
wrecks and other casualties. He, was entirely oPPcse
that clause. and considered that it was a disgrace to t ,
mercantile marine of this great country. This m° Ito
went had his entire approbation, and he would fis'sbe
them that no exertions on his part should et
spared to remedy the great evil under which 'this eis
body laboured. (Hear, hear.) A series of resolutis„to
would be submitted, and he trusted that the sentimel!
and arguments of each speaker would be let
heard. He did not see there was any necessity for fif
to detain the meeting with with any further remarki!ssi
they would be addressed by professional and prae
men, who were much better qualified to impart. infer7o)
tion on the subject, than he could possibly be. (Cbeefet
Captain Judkins on coming forward, to move the set
resolution, was received with great applause by the rilr;p§
ing. He said he had seen with great pleasure the °jet
that had been taken by some of his brother cowman
mee
at Southampton, and the resolutions that hat' .oe
adopted by them in reference to the Mercantile 7.',41,;
he did think it was exceedingly hard and oP
Shipping Act. With regard to the investigatio7e
to say unjust, that an officer in the re,erci„nt corm)
Should have to be tried be a naval outer. (Hear, 1184 1
He thought it was unjust, fog it eels quite imnossible 1/
they should know anythi f
ig the routine of aal the
vessel. He did not wish to sagainst r
naval officers--he w aY
anything
'lst th
as 'proud of them—and so rn oeet
country be—htek stilt he did not think that a naval o
cry
shpuld be aliowe,l to preside over any enquiry as to wrerite
or casnalties tat might occur to the mercantile winer
_(cries ell:- no, no")—he thought the mos, fit and pro
persons to preside over such enquiries should be. 017051
their own body. (Cheers.)'' They "were surely
Tiliese
competent to judge of the' merits of the case. ()8e
hear.) He then briefly alluded to the hardships of
ing their certificates taken from them, and (lief
prevented from going to sea, even before re
had been found guilty, and he concluded by Illeviliger
-oressiret
" That, the powers vested in the Board of Trade by the •01
chant Shipping Act of 1854, of instituting enquiries in ca'teheit
wreck and casu 'Ries to merchant ships, are unjust in ticli
operation towards officers in the merchant service; inasai'oo,l
as by these powers the government board place the prat's,' nici
character and entire worldly prospects of merchant ell'Pnr.,,h
officers at the mercy of a tribunal incompetent, thromiso
ignorance of nautical matters, to form a just or correct
and thatePl•bo
on questions submitted ••to 'their, investigation,
appointment of an officer attached to the Board of TradeP•l4
as nautical assessor, is, in the opinion of this meeting, trw'
sistent with an impartial trial, more especially as egain!t,r
decision of the Board of Trade.there is no court of appeal t
f,e
Mr. W. 0. Campbell was then called upon to second
resolution. He said ho thought the resolution itself li,Ped
explained the way in which the investigations were conduc •
by the board. He then went on to contend that 611:0
tribunal was not a fit tribunal- for the mercantile service
0„
come undei, as they were men who were equal, if not supeirolso
to the royal navy. What had the merchant service ;hi,
in the late war ? Why, they had conveyed
troops and all the horses over the Black °ea
ot
a sea that was said not to be navigable "lot
the winter ; but they had done it, and had net to
any men or vessels, except that which occurred on the
00
of Nov., and which was occasioned by the Powers over $0,,0t
they had no control. He would tell the Board of Trade;tt
the services of the merchant seamen could bear to bo bacoula
in comparison with any of the Royal Navy. What sll'
they do, then ? Why, act for themselves. They a'iy boa
doubt, remembered what Hercules said to the waggoner,
10
he got stuck fast in the mud. Why, he told him to gets
whip his horses, and put his shoulder to the wheel. That the
his advice to the meeting. Let them put their shoulders to
01,
wheel, and they would soon have their grievances re3resod
(Cheers.) Let them recollect that union was strength,
that a house divided against itself must fall ; therefore,
called upon them all—not that meeting alone, but all cono.o
with the service—to be united, and they would be irbei
position to command success— (hear and cheers)--and jar
must recollect that they were all in a position to de, bi
it ° it. (Cheers.) He concluded an animated spec
seconding the resolution.
The Chairman then put the motion, which was Os
mously adopted.
Captain W. C. Paton said he rose for the purrilbe
moving the second resolution, , and in doing so, 'illy 55'
would assure, them that he felt Considerable eenbarrSse
went, as he had never, before addressed a public meetle
and he did wish that it had
_been placed icy abler bie -riio
The motion he had to moveevas, "That it appearif'oe
accordance with equitable principles, and it heinbefore
ccustomin the navy to investigate similar charges L ere.eel
courts of naval officers, justice demands that such clear be
in the case of officers of the merchant service shoal", 011
tried' before like tribunals of their owls class, or, 11;ee
events, so far resembling naval courts as to givecen6uetfle
of evenhanded justice equally to the shipownerl,,oce
officer, and the public," With regard to his exeer'tes'
in the mercantile service, he would make a 05
remarks. In fact, the resolution, be had to mere,
much the same as the one that had preceded
it alluded to the courts and the casualties in easeheo
wrecks ; and he would say 'that lie thought that W
the public became acquainted with the facts of the d
that they would sympathise with them, and say that the
had no right to be under such a controlling power frog.
Beard of Trade, and that they should be relievede is
such an ordeal. He went on to say that he thoug'.'4s,•
selecting a naval officer to preside at such investieotle)ooV
without saying anything disparaging of that noble ;
ere
right i d tibhienek thatih t
hteh ewßoard p
place. (Clio Trade
Thatopflailiinegna'rtrhhaenegement was a great mistakq. est'
proceeded to say, that in his opinion, the.proper Per
„45
to hold such investigations would be some merube'-e„estS
wereearly p at.
much o !:h e
tttheeri r
the loCal marine board, who were practical and base
men, and men, some of whom had devoted • 're
hliarletosedto
tethekeseea,w andthe thperodift°l
in which a master of a vessel was p)- ced inee
used to the routine of a man of war, -
time of trouble than a naval officer, who, he iways tog
where to
plenty of hands, and the master he?
only to say flits
seamen do such and such a thieest-d - done, n' d
word could be backed by t* ; rand it was
marines t
ie hundred ~cpe
thus he was obeyed—'►et •
"-- • with regard to the We' se
service, it did RD
1111fr.equently happen that white it
order was eiv
ee.-- -et.-d; he 'was told by the sailor to exec°
himself. "eke concl'aded b moving tit I don. id,
w . y, e reso shat
n Hen'
y Cox, in seconding the proposition, bet
a there rt-o
thee, he had
a few remarks to make to the meitills'
'what he '?'td say should be short, and to the pointebich
said, tkat by the objectionable clause in the act to ,
yere
alhis!lon had been made, the masters of vessels 511 to
deprived of the same privileges which were allow -If
other members of the community.. (Hear, hear')s if°
lawyer did wrong, the punishment to which I'd, theliable, was to have his name struck °"e 11511 rolls, but before that could be done,
of vessele;
to be tried by his peers. Not so with the masters O.
((Jules of " Shame.") If a •medical man did wrong' f toe
through his ignorance or negligence be caused the deaths °f bid
or twelve persons, before his diploma could be taken fosorn
with.
he had to receive a fair trial. • (Hear, hear). But net Aid tbs`
their own class. (Cheers.) If an officer of the navY %"o no la
which was wrong, be was tried by a jury of those Pei:4oer!
whom he had the greatest confidence—a jury of his ow ...
if
—(cheers)--but with them the case was very differe oAye
they happened, by accident, to do wrong, or even if