Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-12-14 00:00:00

TWE EMIGRATION RUNNERS AND THE LIVER-
POOL CHRONICLE.

TO TEE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIMES.
Sir,—After ten days incubation the Chronicle has
hatched a very long tirade in reply to the letters
whieh appeared in your paper, signed " Free
Trade." It is rather to be regretted he has 'tot
condescended to grapple with and refute the facts
contained in them, rather than criticise the polith;
cal antecedents and social position of the writer,.
Perhaps he finds that a somewhat difficult matter.
facts being stubborn things. The disinterested
writer informs his readers that "Free Trade"
holds not her Majesty's commission. It will not,
however, be necessary for me to inform him that
neither have the penny-a-liners of that journal,
nor those who have subsidized them. been yet
adveneed to that dignified position. The British
public, I fancy, will respect the truth, whether it
be spoken by a man clad in homely frieze, or
delivered ex cathedra by the philanthropic Chronicle.
With regard to my political antecedents and
mariner of life, the worthy seribe in that print is
" quite at; see," and his low insinuations reepecting
both are es unfounded as his baseless assertions
regarding the emigration trade of this port. " We,"
says the Chronicle, "happen to know something
about what we are writing, he, meaning, Free
Trade,' knows nothing of the business practically."
I retort, by stating I have had almost twelve
years practical experience of the business,
and have no heshation in stating that the
gentlemen of the Chronicle know nothing of the •
business, either practically or theoretically ; they
are merely hired for the occasion, and, no doubt,
are trying to do the best they can for their task-
masters. The Chronicle, I perceive, is just now
reaping a rich harvest; it is being sent over the
country and distributed gratuitously to the clergy-
men of all denominations, and others, ever since
the gentlemen from the Cestie Garden, New York,
took the idea into their heads of forming a sister
establishment in Liverpool.
I have heerd it asked frequently, how it is that
none of the other journals of this town have taken
up this subject? Have all the other sentinels on
the watch-towers of the Press gone to sleep, while
these frauds were being perpetrated ? Was there
not one to sound the alarm, till the Rip-Van-Winkles
• of the Chronicle were awakened from their slumber,
by the electric touch of " almighty dollar," to bellow
forth, " Wolf ! wolf ?" These questions, Mr. Editor,
are easily answered. The reply is, " Pelf ! pelf
Is there a sane man in exh3tenee who would for one
moment believe the excellently-conducted Press of
Liverpool—the NORTHERN Ttsl ES, Mercury, Journal,
Post, Courier, and, although last, not least, the
Albion, would have remained silent while
those hankie, those bluude;ings, were being
committed at their very doors ? Not one.
Yet the Chronicle would have us believe such is the
fact, and that it is the leader of public opinion—
the real Simon Pure of the Press, and the only
watehfal arid disinterested protector in this port of
the homeless emigrant.
I am told that, in my first letter, I have descended
to use low vulgar scurrility towards Messrs.
Murrey and Sullivan, the paid officials of -the
Castle Gardens, and the paid advocates of an
Emigrants' Home in Liverpool. If asking Messrs.
Chronicle, Murray, and Sullivan why they did not
write down the other frauds with which society is
inflicted, and write up a remedy, be low and vulgar,
I plead guilty. I also beg Mr. Murray's pardon,
as I have lately understOod he does not write.
We ere treated with a circular of a broker, who,
according to our worthy scribe, is, in point of feet,
no broker, not being one of the select seventeen who
he considers only entitled to a broker's license.
He should revise his list—three of those highly
respectable seventeen, of means and reputation,
having fallen with an immense crash since he
made his selection, and it is not improbable that a
few more may soon follow. However that may be,
we have not hoard as yet of a small broker depriv-
ing any emigrant of a shilling, since the
money panic set in. In this circular I can
discover nothing objectionable, there is not the
name of licensed runner from beggining to end,
the emigtant is cautioned to go to the patty to
whom he is recommended, and no other; to make
a bargain beforehand, and strictly abide by it ; to
pay no attention to any one who would induce him
to turn away from the person he is in want of. Is
there anything wrong here ? Does any one deny
there are land sharks in Liverpool; and is there
anything improper in cautioning parties to beware
of them, and go to those to whom they were
directed ?
In my first letter I stated the fact that, from my
Own personal knowledge, I was aware of 600 letters
being in the hands of some 90 runners, written
by lieutenants of counties, gentlemen, and clergy-
men of all denominations, recommending emigrants
to those runners, and inquired if it were likely
those gentlemen, of known rank and standing, had
conspired to have the emigrant defrauded. Does
our worthy scribe deny the fact? No; ho shirks
the question in his approved style, by stating he
knows nothing of those gentlemen. In the Daily,
Post, 3rd instant, I observe a house advertised to
be let at the south end of Aigburtle rent,• 1501.
After describing the apartments, &e., •advertiser
states, those bringing a good tenant will be paid
the usual commission. If this be the recognised
custom with agents and owners of house property,
why make it nee al for the agent and owner of ship
property to pay commission to those who bring
passengers. In my last I enquired of the mouth-
piece of our modern emigration reformers, why it is
that those brokers who pay only 5 per cent. charge
£l4 for a steerage passage to Melbourne, when
those who pay 74 charge no more than £l4
Surely the former gentlemen, who, I understand,
are the waern supporters of our new lights, should
practice as they preach, and let the poor emigrant
have his passane at £l3 13s. Our hirelings of the
Chronicle pass over the question—it does not suit
them to reply. They dish up, for the second time,
the opinion of Alderman Holme in a case brought
before him by Lieut. Prior. I submit, Mr. Editor,
that until it be proved that the emigrants in that
case paid more than the advertised rate of fares,
there was neither fraud nor plunder; and whether
an erroneous opinion be delivered by Lord Camp
bell or Alderman Holme, matters very little to the
public:

The Chronicle produces a letter, written by a
gentietnan (?) in Ireland, for whose veracity it
pledges itself, attempting to point out how the
licensed runners of Liverpool obtain their influ-
ence in that country, I think, Sir, I have shewn,
pretty clearly, to any unbiassed mind, in my first
totter, how they really have obtained their influ-
ence ;—not by misrepresentation and fraud, but by
a strict adherence to truth and integrity—many
of them for the long space of from
.twenty to five-
and-thirty years ; and now, sir, in order to test the
disinterested Chronic/e'B disinterested Irish gentle-
man's motives and veracity, I am prepared to
place in your hands £5, to be handed to any of
the Liverpool charities, if it be proved this disin-
terested Irish gentleman is not a disappointed
Irish Emigration Agent. I should be prepared to
stake a larger sum, but that I do not happen to
be in receipt of a weekly stipend from any, either
in Liverpool or the Cas'le Garden at New York.
Your worthy coternporary states, I am endeavour-
ing to throw the apple of discord into this question,
by introducing the word "proselytising," and adds,.
he has not interfered with the religious opinions of
the licensed runners. I never said he did. What
I said was, that the Irish people never could be got
to patronise a " Home" in Liverpool. They dread
proselytising ; and, perhaps, that is not to be won-
dered at. Nei'her is it, when we find Verner
White—one of the brigade of fifty, who went
over, some years ago, to Christianise the Pagan
Irish •CathoFcs—corning out as an advocate of a
" Home," under lite surveillance of twenty-fire
policem n. We have had some experience of
how Roman Catholics were treated in a short-
lived " Home" established some years since
in this town. On. one occasion, a family
of Irish Catholics from County Kilkenny, the
night previous to their going on board, were
piously recitingone of the sacred prayers prescribed
by the Catholic Church, when a head official
bawled out. " Silence! let us hear no more of your
superstitious mummery." This, sir, can be attested