The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-08-17 00:00:00

TUESDAY MORNING, AUGUST 17, 1852

HE CODFISH AND MACKEREL
CASUS BELLI.

VOLTAIRE, in one of those exquisitely witty tales,

with better

norals," would have been as

ney are delightful to the

to mankind as 1"1"

A MANUFACTURING ELYSIUM

DISCOVERED.

WHOEVER has been in the habit of watching
attentively the tortuous course of the London
Times, must have remarked how singularly happy
it is in finding correspondents to bear out its views.
Some people have probably suspected that its "con-
stant readers" were "men in buckram," and thattheir
felicitously timed letters were got up in the office of
the Times itself. One of these productions appeared
in its columns on Tuesday last, and served as the
groundwork of an article highly laudatory of the
effects of the Free Trade measures of 1846 upon
the social condition of our manufacturing popula-
tion ; and so ridiculously distorted are the state-
ments both of the writer and commentator, that we
are seriously inclined to believe that they are the
work of one party.
The writer commences by proclaiming the great
prosperity of all descriptions of trade in the manu-
facturing districts, the "steady progress of sound
and useful knowledge amongst the operative classes,"
as shewn by the increase of mechanics and other
kindred institutions, and proceeds to state that
" the good wrought by such means has been
pleasingly shewn in the recent elections through-
out the manufacturing districts, where the con-
duct of the working population has been an example
to the nation." He adds :
" Look back upon the electioneering excitements of the
past few weeks, and not even an assault has occurred.
Parties have been ranged against parties ; warmth and
enthusiasm have been displayed by the opposing electors
i n favour of their respective candidates ; but the elections
have closed, as all English elections should terminate, in
good humour and perfect cordiality. For these gratifying
facts we are indebted in no slight degree to the healtny

state of trade and manufactures since IS-1S; and the cause
of that commercial and mlnufacturing prosperity may he
readily traced to the liberal trade policy of the lamented
Sir Robert Peel, and especially to his abolition of the
Corn-laws."

In the first place, it is not correct that the elections
in Lancashire have been conducted in the pleasant
manner described. Wherever there has been a
contest, the usual features of electioneering have
been exhibited. In Blackburn, the Free-trade mob
were guilty of the grossest intimidation ; and it was
notorious that had the result of the polling been the
return of a Tory candidate, serious violence would
have occurred. In Clitheroe, the same disposition
to riot was shown ; and the member for that place
owes his return, in a great measure, to the physical
force demonstrations of his supporters. In Bury,
although the candidates were both Liberals, ex-
clusive dealing and bitterness have prevailed, both
during and since the election. There has certainly
not been much "good humour and perfect cor-
diality" displayed in Stockport, although it may be
urged that there the gaound of quarrel was a reli-
gious one. 'We are prepared to admit that much
improvement has taken place in the social condi-
tion of the manufacturing districts during the past
few years ; but we are as yet by no means in the
Arcadian state described by the Times correspondent,
and certainly our progress has not been caused by
the measures,of Sir ROBERT PEEL. We owe much
of the improvement which has taken place to the
Factory Act -of 1844, and its system of compulsory
education for Children under 13 years of age, which
is now producing as its fruits a more healthy and
better educated -class of operatives.
The comment of the Times upon a portion of the
letter before us, is written in a most imaginative
strain. Our contemporary says::—

" The truth is, that the measures of 1846 have effected
a mighty social revolution, and in six short years have
produced an effect on our population which might well be
mistaken for the work of centuries. Were it possible to
reproduce for a few minutes the state of society existing
in 1846 in the manufacturing district referred to, we be-
lieve the most bigoted advocate of monopoly would stand
aghast at the 'hideous aspect of the system which he
laboured to perpetuate, and ashamed and confounded at
the sight of the good things which have been forced upon
the country in spite of his most strenuous resistance and
most emphatic reclamations. On the one side he would
see a miserable hovel, children clothed in rags, and
parents scarcely more decently apparelled; wooden clogs
or bare feet, no drainage, no cleanliness, no comfort—
everywhere repulsive sights and odious smells—every-
and scanty diet, barely supplying the strength necessary
for daily toil. and a bed common .to the whole family,
which seemed to mock the desire rather than invite the
enjoyment of rest. After our Protectionest had feasted
his eyes on this dreary spectacle—the natural result of
that policy to which his soul still 'cleaves as a weaned
child—we would beg him to survey this district as it is
now, after-Coe ruin which he predicted has been fully ac-
complished, after the country has been brought into de-
pendence on foreign nations, and native industry has been
overwhelmed in the unfair contest with the untaxed
foreigner. Meat, bread, and vegetables of the best quality,
differing rather in the manner of preparation for the table
than in any other respect from the viands which adorn the
rich man's board ; neat and comfortable clothing ; shoes
and stockings, instead of bare feet and wooden clogs ;
houses warmand comfortable, furniture simple but ap-
propriate and. cleanly , good drainage, good ventilation—
these things-he will now find in the dwellings of the ma-
nufacturing operative, and these things he must feel
might have been there years ago but for the narrow feeling
of a party width refused to recognise any guidance from
the truths of-science or the results of experience when
those truths and results demonstrated the enormous ini-
quity of offering up the necessities of the.rnany to augment
the luxuries of-the few."

Where our ,contemporary or his correspondent met
with any of the spectacles described in the first
passage, which ,we have given in italics, we cannot
guess. From our own knowledge of the manufac-
turing districts, the cottages of the operative classes
have been generally, in previous years, with a few
exceptions amongst the Irish portion of them, more
than ordinarily •comfortable. The majority of the
mill-owners in the rural districts of Lancashire
provide dwellings .for their hands, allotting one to
each adult male employed. As to the -" -repulsive
sights and odious smells," the " wooden clogs and
bare feet," the " poverty, squalor, misery, and
'discontent," we assert unhesitatingly that they are
-purely imaginary. Cleanliness has ever been the
characteristic of the Lancashire people ; and, if
clogs are worn, it is quite as much from local habit
as from any want of the funds required to procure
shoes. In the northern division of the county, and
in Westmoreland, clogs are the preferred wear of
many amongst the more respectable classes.
The Times contrasts the present state of things
with that which existed in 4846 and 1847. This is
most disingenuous. Every one knows that in those
years the manufacturing population were com-
pelled to be put upon short time, partly owing to
scarcity of cotton, and partly to the operation of
our absurd 'monetary system. With discounts at
from ten to fifteen per cent., and cotton at nearly
double its ordinary price, there is little wonder that
the operative classes were reduced in those years to
a condition of great suffering. That they have
recovered themselves since is to be attributed
mainly to abundant crops of the raw material, and
to the extension .of the basis of our currency
brought about by the discoveries in California and
Australia.

Another circumstance should have been taken
into consideration by the Times and its corres-
pondent, when commenting upon the improved
condition of our manufacturing population. We
have had their numbers seriously decreased by
emigration, and wages, in consequence, have been
kept up, It was, certainly, not intended by the
Free-trade party, when reducing the price of the
loaf, that the working classes should have the sole
benefit of the change.

MR. FRENY'S THIRD TREAT.—A visit to the Mer-
chants' Dining-rooms this week will delight not only the
sight, but the palates as well, of the visitors. Fancy
Mr. Feeny's noble saloon, hung with splendid bunches
of British grapes, with the taste for which he is noted,
and afterwards being allowed to partake of the rich fruit
for an almost nominal charge. This is a revolution.
MR. E. THOMAS'S CONCERTS.—The lovers of classical
music will have much pleasure in reading the announce-
ment in our advertising columns of the resumption, dur-
ing the ensuing winter, of these fashionable reunions.
The names of the artists who will appear include those of
some of the first musical celebrities, and ensure an un-

. -..—.—..
questionable treat to those who may attend these concerts.
QUICK PASSAGE FROM QUEBEC. The New Ship
"Emigrant," McGregor, master, which arrived here on
Saturday, has made the passage from Quebec in 19 days;
and would have made it in 15 days if she had been in
proper trim, as she made the distance from Cape Race to
Cape Clear in ten days two hours meantime. The Emi-
grant passed a number of homeward bound vessels during
the run. She now lies at anchor in the river, and will
dock to-day.

EAST LANCASHIRE RAILWAY.—The directors of this
Company have made arrangements for establishing the
electric telegraph over the whole of their line.

THE 11.11 ES, IN SELF-DEFENCE, ON THE

BURY ELECTION.

WE have little inclination to reveal editorial mys-
teries—to initiate the " profanum vulgus " into the

arcana of the newspaper art

We doubt not

however, that among the reading public there are

many who have discovered that the most successful

journalists condescend occasionally to what sever

critics might term charlatanism, and tha

leading journal".

'—the JUPITER TONANS of the