The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-07-19 00:00:00

THE LIATERPOOI-

THE MERCANTILE MARINE,

IT was the great mistake of the various classes
interested in the maintenance of protection to British
industry and capital, when the first assault was made
through political treachery upon the Agricultural
Interest, that there was no unity of action among
them to resist the common enemy. The Shipping
and Colonial Interests stood aloof, the former
perhaps judging that they might derive some advan-
tage from the increased importation of Foreign
grain. The latter were the next attacked in the
equalisation of the Sugar Duties ; and then the
crowning capital was to be placed on the pillar of
Free-trade, by the repeal of the Navigation Laws :
so that, one by one, each great interest has been
exposed to foreign competition, and compelled to
surrender to the vigorous assaults of an enemy more
united than the party assailed. With supplies of
foreign food admitted at a nominal duty, the produce
of slave labour admitted upon equal terms with the
free-labour produce of our own colonies, and the
carrying trade, once the source of England's
maritime greatness, thrown open to the cheaply-
built and cheaply-manned ships of foreigners,
British industry had but little to fall back upon ;
the last rag of protection, excepting that enjoyed by
the manufacturers, being the restriction which com-
pelled the crews of British ships to be manned by
three-fourths British seamen. The great money
interests which originated the system of unrestricted
competition were the chief sufferers, but the hardy
seamen were spared, as they might be wanted once
more to perform the glorious deeds which NELSON
taught them. They must, however, now surrender
to a more formidable foe than ever they met with in
a hostile flpet, and the modern science of political
economy will accomplish that
unable to do in his palmiest days. By the 29th
clause of the new Merchant Shipping Bill, the
restriction on the manning of British ships is
removed, and shipowners may, if they please,
employ all foreigners, to the total exclusion of our
own sailors. The clause was feebly resisted, but it
received the support of the representatives of the
Shipping Interests, and was carried by a large
majority. We can readily admit that, simply
regarding the interests of the British shipowner, it
is a manifest injustice that he should be exposed to
unrestricted competition with reference to freights,
and yet be compelled not only to pay a heavy duty
on most of the materials which constitute his stock-
in-trade, but also be hampered by regulations which
force upon him much heavier expenses than those
borne by his competitors. It is not, however, the
question of his right to a remedy, but the natters of
the remedy, which here constitutes the grievance.
The alteration appears to have been made on the
delusive principle that •relief is only to be found in
community of suffering—that because one class has
been injured, another class must also be injured,—
and that the first false step must be followed by a
succession of false steps, in order to restore the
equilibrium which has been needlessly destroyed.
There is a want of moral courage in our Represen-
tatives; they should make a bold stand, and,
uniting their forces, should refuse to go further in
the downward progress which is rapidly sapping
the foundations of all our ancient institutions under
which this country arrived at the foremost place in
national importance. The Conservatives, as a body,
have not shown that unity of purpose which was
never more necessary than now, in order to preserve
their footing; and they have allowed an imbecile
Ministry, who have not one idea-in common, and a
hostile faction, to defeat them in detail. The injury
to British Shipowners by the repeal of the Naviga-
tion Laws has only been delayed through the
impetus which has been given to emigration by the
gold discoveries in Australia; but every oEcial
return shows a far greater increase in foreign
shipping, and the remedy now attempted 'to be
applied is the submitting' our. race of hardy-seamen
to the same'ruthless ordeal. "We do not anticipate
any immediate injury to them, or any corresponding
gain to shipowners; bet the -change .is made at a
time by no means propitious for the experiment,
and the day may not be far distant when we shall
have bitter cause to regret that ever it was
attempted. We have now &fleet in the vicinity of
Turkey expecting to be called upon for active
service, and, though diplomatic negotiation may
prevent the anticipations of present war being
realised, delay may but -serve to embitter the
hostility, and result in Europe being once more
involved in, deadly conflict. 'With such a ,contin-
gency, .amounting to something more than bare
possibility, it -would have been prudent to pause
before committing so important an element of our
tnaritime strength to the same destructive influence
as that to which our Agriculture, our Colonies,
and .our Shipping have been exposed.

from which so much was anticipated, we may fairly
pronounce the union of " all the talents" to be a

miserable failure. Months have elapsed since Lord
JOHN RUSSELL proposed his Education Bill, and,
having enjoyed the slight credit which he received
for it from some members of the Church, it is to be
given up on the absurd plea of want of time,
though on several days the House has been counted
out, and other sittings have been occupied in dis-
cussions which were never designed to proceed
further. Even the Merchant Shipping Bill and the
Pilotage Bill, for which the Ministry claimed the
everlasting gratitude of the Shipping Interest, have
been delayed until their details are hurried through
in day-sittings, when few members attend, and they
will not be ready to go up to the House of Lords
until the approach of the prorogation leaves no
time to correct the blunders of the Commons ; so
that they must he passed without consideration, or
thrown out for another Session. The all-important
business, however, from which so much was
expected, was the Financial Statement of the CHAN-
CELLOR of the EXCHEQUER; and if the real object
of Mr. GLADSTONE was to raise a cloud of dust '
under the confusion of which he hoped to escape
censure, and to provoke discussions on petty details
which should have the effect of spinning out the
time, he could not have been more successful. The
reduction of the duty on Tea and the abolition of
that on Soap were but simple items, which required
nothing more than an affirmative, and they, of
course, have become law ; but his pet scheme of
levying a tax on successions to real property has
formed a fertile theme for discussion, and even now
that the business in Committee has been got
through, the efficient woritino of the measure is
b„,wie probability, and its productiveness
as a source of income rather problematical. The
alteration of the Stamp Duties was another feature of
the Budget, and the expedient has been resorted to of
dividing it into two bills, in order that there might be
some show of progress in passing the unopposed part,
leaving the other to the chances which may turn up.
In the latter is included the proposed reduction of
the Advertisement Duty to sixpence, which the
CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER had neither the
power to carry nor the grace to surrender; so, like
an angry child, he resorted to the petty spite of
doing nothing,—a kind of threat by implication,
which betrays mortification at his humiliating posi-
tion.

There was a time when Mr. GLADSTONE
occupied a promising position, and bid fair to
become a leading Statesman among men of mark
and character. His false pride deterred him from
taking office with the Earl of DERBY, because he
could not brook to be subordinate to Mr. DISRAELI.
His eager ambition led him to join the coalition,
because he thought the adhesion of the Peelites
was too valuable for him to be slighted; and now he
finds himself the mere tool of a desperate faction,
his character gene, and no hope for the future but
to aspire to the wretched position of a popular
demagogue, courting the sweet voices of hungry
Radicals, whom he must inwardly despise. He
regained his seat for Oxford university from the
belief that his influence with the Ministry would
enable him to further the views of the High Church
party, with which he has been always allied ; but he
dare.not stir a step in this direction, without injuring
himself with his Radical colleagues; so, that like all
renegades, he will become a more virulent enemy
to the party he has left, than those who have been
always their opponents. This defection from the
Conservative ranks is another of the evil con-
sequences springing from the political treachery of
the late Sir ROBERT PEEL, of which we have not
yet seen the worst, and renders more urgent the
necessity that strict attention should be paid to the
forthcoming Registration. The Conservative ma-
jority gained at the last Election has melted away
through the falsehood of pretended friends, but the
prize is worth the exertion of recovering, and the
Electors throughout the kingdom should be ready to
-fallow the example of those of Liverpool when they
have the opportunity. The dearest interests of Eng-
land are in the hands of an unscrupulous faction, who
have-shown their utter disregard to any other object
than the retention of their own places. The pro-
gress of legislation during the Session almost closed
has sufficiently demonstrated not only their want of
ability, but their unwillingness to do any thing
good; and as the clamours of their disappointed
partisans begin to make themselves heard, we can
only anticipate that one by one the safeguards of
the Constitution will be surrendered as -a --sop to
CERBERUS, until the real powers of the State, the
prerogatives of the Crown, and the privileges of the
Aristocracy are virtually placed in the hands of the
lowest class of the -community. Much was pro-
mised-.and expected from the passing of the'Reform
Bill, and the abolition of close Boroughs and the
purity of Election ; but whatever may have been
the faults of the old Tory system, the Reformed
House of Commons loses infinitely in comparison
with the Parliaments which boasted of PITT,
BuRKE,TON, WYNDII-AM, SHERIDAIc, and a host
of others; for whose successors we look in vain.
Then the business of legislation was transacted
in a manner worthy of t great nation, and
.great
results were achieved ; whereas now, -under the
auspices of Whig-Radical leaders, more time is
occupied, more speeches are made, and -the end of
the Session -chows us some few bungling Acts of
Parliament, which require amendment another year,
because judg,,ez construe them differently than their
framers intended; and a Icng list of impossible
schemes and embryo measures, which, having been
talked over ad 2auseam, are at length indef nicely
:postponed.

-- -
LAW REFORM.

WHEN we remember the immense amount of
prz.,ctical good which was effected last year in -the
reform of the Court of Chancery and other depart-
ments of jurisprudence, under the auspices of a
Conservative Administration, the pre.?ent session of-
Parliament presents a melancholy-picture of broken
promises and mental imbecility. Well might Lord
BRO.U.GIIAII complain on Friday, that alter all had
'been done, which could be-done in the Upper House,
to effect ,n admitted improvement in the Law of
Evidence, the Bill had been shelved in the House
of Common-s through the indolence of Ministers,
although there was no opposition to its detaile. In
every other particular there has 'been the -same
shameful procrastination ; and though the _session
commenced with a show of legal -reforms, whichwould have made the reputation of a Ministry, we
are now practically in the same state as when Lord
DERBY resigned his office and Lord ST. LEONARDS
left the woolsack. The SOLICITOR-GENERAL
promised a comprehensive measure for the re-
form of the Ecclesiastical Courts ; but though
it has been made the excuse for putting off
the Probate of Wills and Grant of Administra-
tion Bill, and other Bills promoted by private
members, not a step has been taken to realise
the promise. The reform of the statute law, with
which Lord CRANWORTII marked his elevation to
the woolsack, is just where it was six months ago,
and the session is about to close without the slightest
advance having been made in the revision, which,
if words had been deeds, seemed likely to have
been accomplished before the Easter recess. We can
come to no other conclusion than that, if we would
see the reform carried out in the administration of
the law to which so many have been anxiously look-
ing forward, we must wait for the restoration of a
Conservative Administration, and the return of Lord
ST. LEONARDS to the place which he filled with so
much credit to himself and advantage to the
Country.