The National Register.
London, England, 1820-04-30 00:00:00

144

We have been titvoured with the following letter
dated

GLASGOW, Aratt.24, 1820.
" You have no doubt heard a treat deal about tot
Radicals in this quarter—it is exaggerated to a great de-
gree. y ,ou muDot believe a word about Uhl Ilaact
lug of pikes or nightly drilling. You need not wonder
at the necessities of the lower classes, when you think
ut thiry or forty thousand of weavers and others, with
their families, receiving of an average not more titan Is.
10d. to rr day. How can yon he surprised a:
their grumbling? They arc begining to entiaate, such
as can, in great numbers; and it is proposed to apply to
Government tOr a grant, to enable the most destitute of
them to go to Canada; for although the passage money
is no more than three guineas Efolli this to Quebec, that
is a SUM beyond die reach of the bulk of the starved
population, as they have to provide their oatmeal be.
sides for the voyage. in such a state of things no wonder
that:trade is so bad, the lower classes c n with the
greatest difficulty keep soul and life together, and there
fore there is Ito money to lay out in tea and sugar, or
other superfluities. Unless the Government do some-
thing this Parliament, either by commercial treaties or
otherw:se, to help the manufactming interests of this
country, the disaffictiou and distress most increase, and
the slumber of wretched lives sacriff:ed to the aws of the
suture, inereas:: also—for Government need not fear al-
ways having the victory; hay so far bout their being any
c use for alarm, I ant persuaded that a few, say a tenth
part of the force they now have, would be sufficient to
keep all the Radicals in the country in awe. I was in
Greenock a few days after the affair there: had the
scene of slaughter been in England, it would have
made twice the noise even of the celebrated Manches-
ter business; but in this country the authorities are so
corrupt, and the liberties of the sotti:ct so much less
than in Eogland, and those few they have, so disre•
garded, that the thing is not stated in half its real char-
acter in the newspapers, and every means is taken to
hush up the matter ; there are no Coroner's Inquests in
Scotland—no Habeas Corpus Act, for people are taken
up on the slightest suspicion, and liberated whet) the
Magistrates please, m as the time does Sot exceed thirty
days confinemetit , there is no opportunity as with you,
to brim„ an action for false imprisonment. lam prouJ
to thick you manage those popular disturbances better
in London than any where, and had the saute 'txic-
ration burn exeicised at Greeitock, as the Horse Guards
displayed at Picadilly, those few lads throwing stones
might have been repulsed witnout the loss of the
lives of so many innocent people. I counted eight bul-
let holes in two adjoining panes of glass in a window
at Greenock !I—What a pity these uproars are not
left to the regular cavalry to quell, who so perfectly un-
alerstand it."

MELANCHNLY SHIPWRECK.—Thc Quaker
.from Boston on the 48th of February, with cables
and cordage for the Columbus, 74, fitting for sea in
the Chesapeake waters ; she had on board 39 men,
which had been recruited for the Co!umbus, three
naval officers and six marines, inclnding Captain
Journagan-48 persons in all. On the morning of
the 6th of March the schooner was struck by a
squall, and in spite of every exertion capsized, and
the p issengers and crew were washed overbt ar.l by
the surge. William Miller, the mate, succeeded
in hauling himself into the main cross-trees, where
he found ibur others. Captain Jornagan, when last
seen was holding to the main chains ; the mate and
his four companions remained in this situation until
the 7th inst., when three of them perished from
cold and fatigue, and were washed away by the
surge, which was continually beating over the
mate and his surviving companions. They remained
without a prospect of escape from death, until the
forenoon of Wednesday, March 8, when they dis-
covered a vessel standing towards them; they con-
trived to hoist a signal of distress, and the vessel
approached, sent a boat, and took from the wreck
the two sufferers, who, after a lapse of 56 hours,
were nearly exhausted ; the preceding particulars
of this me lancholy shipwreck, by which 46 human
beings unfortunately perished, are derived from a
very minute statement drawn up by the mate.
When the Deputation of Merchants waited on
the Earl of Liverpool with their Petition, the Noble
Lord told them with candour, that if they expected
the repeal of the Corn Bill, they must not look for
the support of Government to the measure. There
were at that time meetings of land-owners and tilr
mars in many parts of the Kingdom, preparing Pe-
titions to Parliament, to pray tier further protection ;
and in this contest between the two parties, Minis-
ters were resolved to adhere to the measure which
had passed into a law—to give to the existing
arrangement the further experience of time. One
point which the Merchants urged with great force
of argument was, that all prohibitions should he
taken off, as most fatal to commercial intercourse
with other nations, and which was in itself a most
vicious principle. Instead of totally excluding arti-
cles of for,dgn manufacture front entry at our Cus-
tom-houses, let it be laid on them tier the protection
of the home manufactory, if thought necessary; but
let them at least be admissible. This wouid, in its
effect, op. n the eyes of fbreign States to the advan-
tages of the smite policy, and might lead to that in-
terchange of commodities by which they might all be
benefited. To this