Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-06-16 00:00:00

WRONGS OF SHIPMASTERS.

TO THZ EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIMES.
Sir,— The Mercantile Marine Association are so
able to vindicate their own cause, that one may
well hesitate in offering opinions on their case. In
me, however, whose published opinion was issued
before the present movement commenced, a few
remarks may possibly be permitted. Your own
comments, in a leading article of last week, among
other energetic appepls from various quarters,
might alone have served to bring the general ques-
tion of the wrongs or shipmasters' before the
public with sufficient plainness. But to me, the
evils referred to, appear so deeply rooted, that no
general statement of defects in the Board of Trade,
can reach the vitality of the question, in its.per,
sonal and individual application to ship captains.
While I hold myself to be quite free to scrutinise
the acts or practices of the Board of Trade, as of
any other public body, nothing has, I believe,
fallen from my
.pen which should imply dis-
respect, either for that board or for naval
officers ; nor, from the same feeling, can I be
supposed to entertain a thought of depreciating
Mr. Horsfall's earnest attempt to amend an obnox-
ious law ; but on' reading the debates on Mr. Hors-
fall's motion I had penned a few comments which
your own remarks anticipated. I cannot, however,
think, Sir, that the wrongs of the parties whose
cause we consider, have been fairly the subject of
more than a passing thought in the minds of a
very large majority of members of the House of
Commons; nor need the association for a moment
feel that their claims have been rejected. What ?
Shall it be echoed from shore to shore, through the
realms that nourish commerce—shall loyal British
seamen in far distant parts, whose work of toil and
hardship fills the public purse, and spreads luxe
rious
_wealth through ; a kingdom like Old
England, governed by a wise, and just,
and good, and deeply-feeling Monarch—
shall they who plume the feathers of the
wings of trade, and urge our interests through the
very wars of the elements, to root and blossom in far
distant soils, and bring us back its hundred fold of
profit. Shall these who bore the " heat and
burthen" of a slave-like yoke, and strove to endure
the odious and unwise enactment which barred
their rights as English subjects—when heavily
they feel the galling chain, the pinching shoe, shall
these ask for relief, redress, or scrutiny, and not be
heard fr Impossible ! By British senate, never—
unless from misconception. Our children, who grow in
nurture, based on the High command of " Render
unto Caesar the things whieh are Caesar's,"
must not lose their deep respect for all our
country's laws, and think that those who
watch the scales of justice, turn from
oppression's stifled groan, and thus connive at
wrongs. The sacred flame, which warms a loyal
heart, but scorches England's foes, is fed by con
sciousness of social safety, the fuel of contentment.
Why do men unite but to support each other ?
What is our " common interest" but a bond which
throws around us each his privilege—immunity
from social danger—freedom from persecution—
protection of our rights each in his proper sphere.
I really, sir, think that the very comprehensive
ability with which Mr. Horsfall introduced the
general subject to the house last week, was, of itself,
detrimental to the cause he advocated. Had Mr.
Horsfall been an ordinary man, he might
probably in this instance have devoted his
energies to the accomplishment of one object
—of one which more than any other claims
attention. But in charging a large and useful
department of the executive with defects, so much
was required at the hands of Mr. Horsfall, that, of
necessity, the whole had to be marshalled as if in
" battle array," and Government with its sup-
porters, feeling that an onslaught was meditated
on a stronghold of public protection, mustered
their ready bayonets, and manned their works to
the discomfiture of the supposed assailant. Now
the cry "aux armes" within the fortress was barely
called for • and had not the " Liver" appeared in
Mr. Horsiairs manner, ills proname CH CL.a Irienaly
and successful parley might have been held before
the walls. The maritime, agricultural, and railway
—...k.ined in one appeal, are however, a
weighty column, in which the precise grievances of
shipmasters (the main source of the present move-
ment), appeared but as a mere speck in this
phalnax of remonstrance ; and in the onward
march of so large an influence, the plough and the
locomotive were more conspicuous, by their
banners, and better understood by the mass, than
the scarcely distinguishable, yet proudly worn,
" pennon" of the shipmaster, which is, and I trust
ever will be, the national flag itself
The Mercantile Marine Association of Ship
masters, in its local distributions, need not, there-
fore, be discouraged in their laudable attempt to
purify the law, by removing well-grounded dis-
content from the minds of shipmasters. Nor can
it be doubted that their demeanour will still be
marked with that propriety which has hitherto,
and that firmness which has at length, distinguished
them.

As regards my unimportant self, I would disclaim
all connexion, except in sympathy, with this, as with
every political body, and intend to remain an inde-
pendent spectator of events—however deeply long
convictions, and long published opinions may at
times urze, me to defend what I conceive to be the
rights of a class of men whose real position I know,
and which has been, and is most grossly misunder-
stood by our rulers, and I fear by the public
generally.
Nor is the Board of Trade within the focus o'
every one's telescope. The eyes of some of us are
week—we dwell in differing, media as influenced by
circumstances, hence a species of refraction or
mirage distorts and tricks our vision—as seen by
some, the Board of Trade is hut a shapeless mass
heaped up by erring; Statesmen, bearing an aspect
which forebodes no good to commerce ; inviting
another form, of motley hue, forbidding shape, and
doubtful purpose, to plant and cherish in its ferti!e
soil its offspring centralization, as seen by others ;
the vaunted Board of Trade is like a high-paced
snorting steed that gallops through the land, quite
disregarding property, and fence, and rights—
tramples on fields, peeps into houses, workshops,
mills,• factories, and mines—watches our ware-
houses and docks, scans ‘sith a fiery and no
friendly eye our ships, our Town-halls, and
counting-houses—steals into taverns, farm-yards,
and granaries—grows too sleek and knowing, and
soon may " kick'' us all.
As seen by .me, however, it is a stately edifice,
erected in the heart of Britain, towering to a giddy
height. From its lofty summit is surveyed the
whole huge commerce of the world. A vigilant
Argus -like protector guards from thence the " Io"
of free trade, while two eyes sleep by turns. (This
" Io " will some day prove an" Isis.") The sleeping
eyes on some °cessions left unguarded gates—thus
faults crept in—continued undetected until, ab-
sorbed into the wide routine of daily work, they
formed a portion of the law itself. All that sur-
rounds the edifice employs the waking ninety-eight.
No eye is turned within—the sense of touch and
contact rules the ant-like workers, and as to detach
a lenity wheel from - a large machine must stop or
check the whole, so to remove the blunders from the
law must needs require cessatiou, other defects
might on inspection appear, and all might require
revision. But enough of allegory ; the very men
whose work had raised this stately pile, could soon
perceive the mischief, and being themselves the
chiefly injured, sought to eradicate the evil, and
amend the law. Shipmasters, therefore, have
complained that justice by the Board of Trade
cannot, from inappreciation of their wrongs, be now
expected. The Board of Trade mistake Shipmasters,
and think them hostile. But what say the suf-
ferers? Remove the load which presses on
our minds, impoverishes our hearts, and binds
our hands, and makes us discontented. Even as
the recognised and constituted rights of English
subjects, or, if we really have no cause for loud
complaint, convince us in what our mistake con-
sists. it is enough that we feel oppressed." Now,
the main source of all their dissatisfaction is the
use made of their certificate, and the manner in which
a decision is formed which enables the Board of
Trade to suspend it.
Before entering, as promised, upon the important
subject of " examinations," I should like to be