The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-05-31 00:00:00

favourable reaction in public opinion, as regards the
Queen, is but too evident. The people of England hate
every species of intrigue : but of all others court in-
trigues are the most abominable. Our unsuspecting
Queen has been made the innocent victim of an in-
trigue the most despicable in its character and the
most lamentable in its consequences. But the Queen
shall not be allowed to suffer from these consequences
much longer. The hour of deliverance is nearer at hand
than many are wont to believe. The doom of the in-
famous palace camarilla is sealed. It will speedily be
swept away before the irresistible torrent of popular in-
dignation.

But while we perfectly agree with our contemporary
as to the anomalous position of the present soi disant
administration, and as to the prospective disrupture of
its incongruous elements, we cannot, "for the life of
us," see why that should be a reason for declaiming
so vehemently against the penny postage system. Our
contemporary cannot surely be afraid that the conces-
sion of a penny postage will regain for the present
imbeciles in office that popularity for which they have
so long sighed in vain. He surely cannot be ignorant
that a committee of the House of Commons, composed
of men of all parties, has unanimously recommended
a system of cheap postage—that Lord Lowther and
many of the staunchest conservatives in the house
have strenuously exerted themselves in favour of the
scheme—that the wealthy conservative merchants of
the metropolis and other places have memorialised
government and petitioned parliament on the subject
—that all the leading conservative journals, metropo-
litan and provincial (save and excepting our talented
contemporary), have advocated with zeal and perseve-
rance a uniform system of penny postage—and that
nine out of ten men in the whole community would,
if appealed to, pronounce themselves to be in favour
of so needful a reform. Our contemporary must
surely be aware of all these things ; and yet, after de-
claring that he " entertains no other opinion of the
penny postage measure than that of perfect indiffer-
ence," he proceeds to abuse all who are in favour of
this salutary change in our fiscal arrangements as
" the greatest blockheads" of the day. If our con-
temporary, will only take the trouble to inquire; he will
find that nine-tenths of his own friends and supporters
must be included among these " blockheads."

Our contemporary remarks that the penny postage
measure " would, of course, lessen the expenditure of
all correspondents—would 'be a bounty in favour of
idle gossip, the consumption of gilt-edged paper, and
fawn-coloured notes, and repeated interchanges of
sentimental fustian, perhaps also of family scandal and
tailors' circulars; but," he proceeds, "as a practical
measure we question its utility, and as a financial one
it is a compound of folly and madness." Now, in our
opinion, if this measure would "of course" produce
an increase of correspondence and an increased con-
sumption of paper, it must certainly be acknowledged
to be both useful as a practical measure, and wise and
prudent as a financial one. It is very easy to seize
upon a few of the practical effects of the measure for
the purpose of turning the subject into ridicule. It is
very easy to dwell upon the increase of " idle gossip,
sentimental fustian, and family scandal," which would
result from a greatly diminished rate of postage.
These are evils which no system can guard against.
But why did our contemporary neglect to enumerate_
the positive benefits which would be the inevitable
concomitants of a uniform penny postage ? Why did
he not dwell upon the immense—the almost incalcu-
lable amount of fraud upon the revenue which would
be prevented by the adoption of such a measure ? If
he wants any information on this subject, let him con-
sult the evidence contained in the report on postage.
Why did he not 'enumerate the increased facilities
which would be afforded by a cheaper rate of postage
to merchants, manufacturers, and tradesmen in gene-
ral ? As to the sneer about the " repeated inter-
changes" of tailors' circulars, (for such is the lucid
expression of our contemporary,) we can only say that
we would appreciate any measure which would give
tailors, or any other class of tradesmen, the means of
communicating to their friends their trade circulars at
the least possible expense. Perhaps our contemporary
has some grudge against "the tailors."
Our contemporary "disbelieves that the increased
conveyance of penny letters would compensate for the
reduction in the charge," and adduces, in support of
scepticism, the instances of the reduction of the
duties on tea and French claret. The cases are not at
all analogous. French claret is entirely an article of
luxury, and tea is, at least, partially so. In addition
to this, it should be remembered that the reduction of
!he duties on tea and claret produced little benefit from
the suppression of smuggling. The "contraband intro-
duction of these articles was only to a very small extent.
It was not possible, therefore, for the revenue to gain
much by reducing the duties. An increased consump-
tion of tea and claret could alone compensate for the
toss sustained by such reduction. Such is not the
case, however, with letters and circulars. These are
things of necessity rather than luxury; and the entire
suppression of smuggling would alone more than
" compensate for the reduction in the charge." The
evidence offered before the committee of the House of
Commons fully establishes this point. But we have
ither corroborative evidence in support of the cheap
postage system. A few years since the duty on malt
was reduced. Has the revenue from this source in-
:_Teased or diminished ? It has largely increased.
Cake, again, the stamp duty on newspapers. This
was still more recently reduced from about threepence
three-farthings to one penny ; and although three
;ears have not yet elapsed since the reduction took
dace, the revenue is already nearly three-fourths of
what it was under the old system. We might multi-
ply instances ; but these are quite sufficient for our
present purpose.

Again, in reference to the alleged defalcation in the
revenue, which our contemporary insinuates would
arise from a reduction in the rate of postage, we would
remark that the London committee of bankers, mer-
chants, &c., who have so zealously agitated this ques-
tion, have offered to indemnify the government against
any loss, by farming the post-office revenue at its pre-
sent average amount. We have no doubt that such a
speculation would not only be safe, but a source of
amazing profit to the farmers.

That a uniform penny postage would impose any
additional expenditure upon the post-office depart-
ment, we most " unhesitatingly disbelieve." The
" onerous duties" in the various post-offices, so far
from being multiplied, would be considerably dimi-
nished. The simplicity of the envelope system would
enable the present number of clerics, sorters, and car-
riers, to do ten times the amount of work that they
can get through at present.
In conclusion, we would beg leave to remind our
very astute contemporary that it is generally under-
stood that Sir Robert Peel is in favour of the proposed
penny postage measure, and that it was to have been
one of the first of a series of beneficial and practical
reforms which his government would have introduced,
if the bedchamber intrigue had not deprived the coun-
try of the benefit of his services.

Already have the symptoms of disunion begun to
manifest themselves among the ministerial ranks. The
whig ministers have been at their old tricks again—
cajolling and deceiving their radical allies by false pro-
mises ; and the latter have betaken themselves to their
old expedient of bullying the " squeezable administra-
tion" into compliance with their demands. The first
tokens of a fresh rupture—the ordinary prelude to a
fresh reconciliation—discovered themselves on Tuesday
night, on the second reading of the City of London
Police Bill. Sir Matthew Wood, the doughty cham-
pion of " the citizens," directly and emphatically
accused the noble secretary of state, and the right
honourable under secretary, of a " breach of faith,"
whilst that distinguished patriot, Mr. Hawes, instead
of " soap-sudding" his ministerial friends, declaimed,
in no measured terms, against their vacillation and
duplicity. He said, " I have been leaning, for some
time past, on unsound foundations." Bravo ! old soap-
suds. " Unsound foundations !"—vs e like the term
amazingly ; for what can be more unsound and rotten
than whig professions, whig promises, and whig prac-
tices ?

The new-born zeal of certain radicals in the House
of Commons, in defence of " ancient constitutional
rights," is truly edifying. Where were these spouters
for the ancient privileges of the city of London when
all the other corporations in the kingdom were handed
over to destruction ? It is to be hoped that the new
light which has dawued on the minds of the radical