The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-03-12 00:00:00

TED CORNLAWS AND POLITICAL ECONOMISTS.

A DIALOGUE BETWEEN MICHAEL MONEYMAN, ESQ., AND

JOHN PLOTJGHLAND, A FARMER.

Mr. Moneyman—Good morning, Mr. Ploughland ; I am
glad to meet with you—very glad indeed. Your crops look
very flourishing—very much so. By-the-by, since I have
resided in your neighbourhood, at Pecuniary Hall yonder, I
have never had an opportunity of talking to you on the sub-
ject of that abominable starvation-trade, and commerce-
destroying tax, called the corn-laws. I have a petition here,
praying the legislature to repeal them. I suppose you will
have no objection to just step home with me and sign it.
John Ploughland—Well, squire, I'd be glad to sarve ye if
I could; but I am afraid if they were done away with (I sup-
pose yow mean that by the fine word yow call repeal) it would
do us farmers a great deal of harm, and other hard-working
folks no good ; but I doant understand all your fine long
words. They tell me that foreigners, who have no taxes to
pay, and who doant pay their labourers more than sd. a day,
would bring their corn to England, and sell wheat as low as
30s. a quarter.
Mr. Moneyman—So much the better—so much the better.
Cheap bread, you won't deny, is a good thing for the people.
John Ploughland—Whoy yes, sir, it is for some people,
I've no doubt at all. It must be good for the people that
live upon the funds, or the interest of their money, and do
no work ; but it would be plaguy hard upon us farmers.
Mr. Moneyman—Not at all, not at all. Your landlords
must lower their rents.

John Ploughland--Lorcl love ye, sir, how yow do talk !
Whoy they can't afford to lower their rents. _ _

Mr. Moneyman—Why not, Ploughland—why not ?
John Ploughland—Well, now, I'll tell ye—but I think
yow know soment about it yorself. There's my old landlord
—as good a man as ever broke bread—when prices were high
whoy, of course, rents were high, and this estate brought the
squire in no less than twelve, thousand pound a year every
year of his life ; but prices, year after year, went on getting
lower and lower, and, as a matter of course, the squire was
obliged to lower his rent, till now, according as I calculate,
it can bring him in little more than four or five thousand
pound a year. .
Mr. Moneyman—Well, what of that ? Four thousand
pounds a year is: quite enough for a lazy, do-nothing country
squire to live upon.
John Plougbland—l doant wish to offend ye, sir, by any
means ; but may las ye what yow do ?
Mr. Moneyman—l am engaged in commerce ; I am a
mercantile man.
John Ploughland—J, doant know. the meaning of them
words, except by guess ' • but I suppose you are one of them
gentlemen that. deals inlending money, and that buy things
in foreign parts, and bring 'em over here to sell in our mar-
ket • but arter all you doant make anything to clothe back
or fill the belly with. Howsomever, 11l say no more about
that. You say that four thousand a yeal- is quite enough for
a country squire, but you see about thTee thousand a year
goes away from him to pay the interest on the mortgage
that's on his estate.

Mr. Moneyman—Don't you see that he had no business
to borrow the money if he could not afford to pay the inte-
rest on it. He ought to be made to pay the interest, and to
pay it too to the last shilling ; and when he cannot pay it any
longer the mortgagee has a perfect right to foreclose, and
seize upon it. Indeed he owes it as a sacred duty to his
country to do so. The great moneyed interests of the na-
tion must be supported or credit will be shaken, indeed to-
tally destroyed, and then the state would go to ruin—inevi-
table ruin would be the awful, the appalling consequence.
John Ploughland—Well, I doant know about that, for yon
see I doant know the meaning of them hard words, but they
make a big sound, and they not only puzzle me, but almost
make me afeard. You,say, sir, the squire had no business to
borrow the money if he could not afford to pay the interest ;
but you see he could afford to pay it when he borrowed it,
for then his rents brought himin. X 12,000 a year.
Mr. Moneyman—l understand ye, I understind ye. Prices
have fallen,.and low prices are good for the people. Fluctu-
ation is the soul of commerce—it is the fountain from which
our great capitalists draw their wealth.
John Ploughland—Well, sir, it may be so for all I know,
but low prices have made landlords farmers, and farmers' la-
bourers poor enough in all conscience. Now, there's poor
old Ned Nevergrumble and his wife—they worked upon this
very farm for nearly 60 years—ay ! they were a honest, in-
dustrious couple as ever broke bread), and they never had a
shilling from the parish as long as they could work; but
when they could work no longer, poor creatures, we allowed
'em out of the poor rates five shillings a week, and so, with
a little help from their children, they toddled on pretty well,
and hoped to die in their wedding bed, as I've heard the old
woman say many and many's the times ; but then the par-
liament in London passed the new Poor Law Act (I think
yow had soment to do with that, sir), and then they made
what they called commissioners, and one of 'em corned down
here ; he was a lawyer's chap, and so stupid and ignorant
that he didn't know a ploughshare from a counter ; or, for
the matter of that, I doant think he knowed a plough from a
harrow ; and as for knowing anything of the habits of the
agricultural labourers, as he was always talking about, how
should he know anything about them, for he had lived in
London all his lifetime. Well, yow knows, sir, as well as I
do, he formed a union and then made us as well as the other
parishes about here build that big union workhouse up
yonder, and it is as true as I am here alive if they didn't
oblige us to turn out Tom Nevergrumble and his wife (and
they are nearly 80 years a piece, and couldn't live long), and
put 'em into the big work-house prison, for it's no better
than a gaol (Mat Moonlight, the poacher, says its worse),
and there they parted 'em from one another, half starved
'em into the bargain, and wouldn't let 'em have some nice
little things that their children took 'em by way of comfort,
because they said it would be setting a bad example. Well I
did wonder at this more than a little, and I thought 'em no
better than the savages that eat one another ; or, for the
matter of that, not so good, for the savages do kill 'em at
once, and don't starve folks to death by degrees. Well, I
says to- myself, these poor law commissioners can't be
Christians, that's sartin, and they never could have read
their Bibles,- or heard a parson preach, or they would have
knowed better. Howsomever they are both dead, and God
rest their souls, for they had no rest in their latter days in
this world.

Mr. Moneyman—Come, come, Mr. Ploughland, you are
becoming very tedious. If I did'nt know that you go to
church I should have thought you a methodist preacher. It
is false pity to commiserate the lower orders ; it does infinite
mischief; they are a dishonest, ungrateful class of beings,
and don't deserve it.
John' Ploughland—Will yow be so good as to tell me what
ye means by the " lower orders," for I doant know the
meaning of them words. I never heard our squire or our
parson talk about 'em
Mr. Moneyman—l dare say, Mr. Ploughman, you never
did, for both your parson and your squire have lived all their'
life in the country, and must be ignorant. They are of the
old school, and therefore know very little. I mean by the
lower orders those persons who were sent into the world to
work for the higher orders, to toil for the accumulation of
capital, without which a nation never can be great or power-
ful. But lam wasting time. Will you sign the petition ?
if its prayer be granted, it will make bread cheaper to the
poor man.
John Ploughland—Well, and suppose it do, what good
will that do ? I know It will do no good to our farm labour-
ers, for yow'll see, if corn falls one half I shall be ruined,
and so will all of us, and then the poor fellows will be starved
to death. And besides low prices would do ,no good to the
manufacturing poor folks. Say their masters give 'em now
money enough to buy 20 loaves a week at Is. a loaf, why
that would be 205., I think, a week. Well, suppose wheat
fell one half, why then the masters would only give them 10s.
a week. But, now I think of it, they wouldn't be able to
give so much, for they would lose all the farming folks' cus-
tom, for we should have nothing to buy with, and we now,
1 take it, are pretty good customers. But it wauld ruin me
at any rate. We must take care of number one.
Mr. Moneyman—Your landlord must lower his rent, I tell
you.
John Ploughland—But I tell yow, sir, he can't, on account
of that mortgage.
Mr. Moneyman—He had no right to mortgage his estate.
John Ploughland—Well, for the matter of that, perhaps he
had not, and I as much as told him so when I asked him to
lower my rent, and he said he couldn't because of the interest
he had to pay. " John," says he, " I now think that it would
have been better, but you know I have one son and three
daughters, and I said to myself what am Ito do with these
girls ? I must give them something by way of portion. I have
always lived up to my income—my house was always open to
the people in the neighbourhood, and a beggar never left my
door hungry. I borrowed the money for the girls as they
got married, feeling satisfied that, after the payment of the
interest, there would be still enough left for my son to keep
up the respectability of the family. But, alas ! alas Here
the old gentleman burst into tears, I'll be—; no, I won't
swear—l could'nt help crying too.
Mr. Moneyman—All this comes from keeping open house
and feeding those villainous impostors, mildly called beggars.
I never give a farthing to beggars; but, as my duty prompts
me I ought to do, I send them to the treadmill whenever I
have an opportunity. But you know nothing of the great
and all-important science designated political economy.
John Ploughland—l never heared them words before. What
does political economy mean ?
Mr. Moneyman—l willtell you what it means. In one of
its branches it relates to the most profitable way of selling
and buying, and those persons who write or speak upon this
science are called political economists.
John Ploughland—Then I'll be hanged if my old woman
isn't a political economist. She is a good'un at driving a
bargain. When she goes to market to sell her butter and
eggs how she does Niggle for a high price from the shopkeep-
ers, and when she goes to the shopkeepers to buy their goods
she Niggles just as much to 'em at a low price. So that,
sir, is political economy, is it ? Wh3r, everybody knows how
to: do that, though some hav'nt impudence enough for it.
Mr. Moneyman—That is one important branch of it ; but
there are other branches of a vast deal more importance than
that. For instance, political economists have discovered
and proved, by incontrovertible arguments, that it would be
better for the people of this great and free country to throw
the land out of tillage and grow nothing but grass.
John Ploughland—Grow nothing but grass ! and live with-
out bread, upon nothing but beef and mutton. Why, we
couldn't even have a bit of bacon, and sartenly no bacon and
beans. Why, sir, you are joking.
Mr. Moneyman—Don't interrupt me, sir, I heard you talk
nonsense very patiently, and yet you will not hear me relate
the most profound and philosophical truths. Why, Mr.
Ploughland, that great politician and most eminent and hu-
mane legislator, Mr. Joseph Hume, has proved to demon-
stration that it would be better for the people at large if all
the land of Great Britain and Ireland was covered with six
inches deep of lava. •
John Ploughland—What's lava, sir ? is it a foreign sort of
manure ?

Mr. Moneyman—Manure ! No. It is of the nature of
molten glass, and is occasionally thrown out of the craters of
volcanoes, or great burning mountains.
John Ploughland—And do you really mean to say that this
Mr. Hume said that it would be better for the country if it
_

was covered with glass six inches deep ? Pardon me, sir,
but I doant believe ye ; I can't, upon my soul !
• Mr. Moneyman—Believe me, or not believe me, he cer-
tainly said it, and proved it, too, that it would be for the good
of the people. He uttered this most profound truth before
the assembled wisdom of the nation, or, as it is generally
called, the House of Commons.
John Ploughland—And wore'nt sent to a mad house ?
;• Mr. Moneyman—Sent to a mad house, man ! Why, Mr.
•.:.Hume is one of the most intellectual men in the kingdom,
%:; and he has devoted, for many years, his great intellect to the
r. consideration of the more than divine science of political
t, economy.
John Ploughland—Will you be kind enough to tell me
what intellect ineari; ?
Mr. Moneyman—lt means great understanding—a deep
wind.
John Ploughland—A deep mind ! I should think that a
man who talked in that way must have a very shallow mind.
It makes me recollect what I once heard our parson say.
" Some things," said he, " are like puddles—they only seem
deep because we can't see to the bottom of 'em.' Why, if
the land were covered with glass, we shouldn't have a bit of
ground to grow a turnip on, and we should all be starved to
death together. The very thought of it makes my hair
stand on end.
Mr. Moneyman—lt by no means follows that we should
be starved to death. There would be a transition—a change
from an agricultural people to a manufacturing one. We
should by that case, get our food from abroad in exchange
for our manufactured goods.
John Ploughland—But we farming folks could never be
made into manufacturers. We 'must starve. I read some'ut
about transition in the newspaper sometime ago, but ]'didn't
know that it meant a change from life to death, which it
sartinly did according to your account. Good morning, sir ;

I'll have nothing to do with your petition. I'll never sign
mY own death warrant.
Whereupon Mr. Moneyman walked away, deprecating the
ignorance and selfishness of farmers and landowners.—
Morning Herald.

ON MARITIME POWER, COMMERCE, &c., ITS
'USE, FLUCTUATION, AND PRESENT STATE, 1811.

A prince employing his navy with spirit and courage, is
arbiter and lord of the world. Arms upon land threaten and
strike in one part only, but upon the sea, everywhere ; for
no prudence can: keep a coast always provided and upon its
guard ; nor can any power sufficiently protect it.
A maritime power is more convenient to some than other
kingdoms, according to their situation and circumstances.
The monarchies of Asia always secured land forces rather
than a navy; though Sidon, Nineveh, and Babylon, by
means of commerce, abounded in wealth and armies. Rome
and Carthage of old, with Venice and Genoa of late, rose to
a great accession of power by sea; the Dutch Republic
emancipated itself from the slavery of Spain by trusting to
the oar and sail, by which Britain has obtained the dominion
of the sea ; France also rendered herself formidable ; but
naval power has been always fluctuating, because it is depen-
dant upon trade, which has frequently shifted its quarter ;
whereby rich and great states have become poor and mean ;
and by such revolutions, weak and indigent states have be-
come potent and wealthy.
_ _ _

We see and know (says a judicious writer) that whatever
state and power is possessed of extensive trade, must have a
great naval force, the effect of which will render her consider-
able ; yet it is very requisite to know how this arises, and
why the strength and dominion of a maritime power is firmer
and more durable than that which arises from a great extent
of territory, multitudes of subjects, and rich and fruitful
countries.

Trade is extremely serviceable to any nation, let the form
of its government be what it will, because it introduces in-
dustry and arts, by which the manners of a people are
entirely altered; for it is not absolutely the number of sub-
jects, but the 'number of useful subjects, that makes any
state powerful. In the next place, it introduces property ;
for without security in that respect, it is impossible that
trade should flourish. And lastly, it draws an inconceivable
flux of people whenever it is thoroughly established.
Hence we may easily assign the true causes of the long
duration of republics famous for trade ; such as Tyre and
Carthage, in ancient times, and the Venetians and Genoese
in later ages. •It is impossible that a 'nation, active and
industrious, rich and populous, an at the same time living
under a mild government, should not exert a greater force
when employed in attacking others, and have much greater
resources in case she is attacked herself, than other states
that want these advantages.
Hence it may appear how the state of Holland rose to such
power in so short a time, and how her subjects were able to
thrive and grow rich under taxes and impositions, which
must have beggared them in any other situation than that of
a trading republic.
Trade alters the comparative strength of states and king-
doms, by creating such advantages that, if a state is on the
continent, she can fortify ,her great towns so as to resist a
power ten times stronger in respect to people ; she can also
maintain great numbers of regular troops, and hire mon;
from her neighbours.
Thus, the Athenians were too hard for the Persians, the
Lubeckers for the greatest powers in the north, the Vene-
tians for the Turks, and the Genoese for the most powerful
princes in Italy. Thence, the league. of Cainbray, formed
by the greatest princes in Europe for the destruction of Ve-
nice, came to nothing in 1509, and the confederacy, in 1672,
between Great Britain and France against Holland, proved
ineffectual.

The maritime power of Europe surpasses anything of the
same kind in other parts of the world, and whatever was at-
tempted that way in former ages. But though the term
maritime power, which is given to such nations as are most
considerable for their naval armaments and commercial in-
terest, has been more particularly applied to Great Britain
and the States General of the United Provinces, who have
long acquired and supported this character, yet the French
have been also entitled to a share in it, as their naval arma-
ments were very formidable, and their trade so very exten-
sive, that they lost upwards of 2,000 ships during the Ame-
rican war, and how many more since that period have they
lost !

It is no uncommon matter to find one maritime, state rising
upon the ruins of another. We find no navigators in history
so ancient as the Egyptians and Phoenicians, who seem to
have divided the commerce by sea between them, the former
possessing themselves chiefly of the trade of the east, and
the latter of that of the, west, by the Mediterranean. The
commerce of the Phoenicians was much more to the west
than that of the Egyptians ; it is no wonder that they are
mort celebrated upon that account by the Greek and Roman
authors.

The Phoenicians possessed a narrow tract of land upon the
sea coast, and Tyre itself was built in a very poor soil. It
was like. Amsterdam, and had it been richer or more fertile,
it would not have been sufficient for the support of the great
number of inhabitants which the early success of its com-
merce drew thither. But Tyre, after a siege of thirteen years,
was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar ; a new Tyre was esta-
blished, which soon repossessedltself of the empire of the
seat and cond• ued its commerce with more success and splen-
dour than before, till it was taken by Alexander the Great,
who deprived it of its maritime strength and trade, which
were transferred to Alexandria.

Whilst both the old and new Tyre experienced such great
revolutions,. Carthage, the most considerable of their colonies,
became very flourishing. Traffic had given it birth, traffic
augmented it, and put it into a < ondition to dispute the em-
pire of the world for many years with Rome. This people
spared neither pains nor expense to bring navigation to per-
fection ; that was their only study, for the other arts and sci-
ences were not cultivated at Carthage. Address in commerce
was a kind of inheritance in the families, and was the best
part of their fortunes ; the young people heard nothing in
conversation but merchandise, accounts, ships, and voyages ;
and the old people professed neither, poetry, eloquence, nor
philosophy. By this means they rose to such a height of
power, that it would have been alMost impossible for them
to have put their design in effect, if fortune, who always es-
poused their cause, had not accidentally instructed them in
the method ; for a Carthagenian galley, which was out a
cruising, venturing too near the shore, chanced to be strand-
ed, and before they could get her off, the Roman intercepting
them, took her, and by the model of this galley they built
their first fleet. Their resolution in enterprises of the great-
est hazard and moment was wonderful ; they had hitherto
scarcely dreamt of navigation, yet now suddenly undertook
the first proof of their skill in a naval battle with the Car-
thagenians, who held the dominion of the sea uncontested
derived down to them from their ancestors. The Romans
were successful, and the Carthagenians, after several engage-
ments, gave up to Scipio above 500 vessels, which he caused
to be burnt within sight of Carthage, and that republic was
thereby entirely destroyed.
The battle of Actium gave the Roman empire to Augustus
Crew, and Egypt fell under the power of Rome after the
death of Cleopatra.
Under the emperors, as there were legions established in
most parts of the Roman dominions, so they had constantly
fleets in those seas which lay conveniently for the defence
of neighbouring countries. Thus Augustus kept a navy at
Misennm, in the Mare Inferum, to protect and keep in obe-
dience France, Spain, Mauritania, Egypt, Sardinia, and
Sicily; another at. Ravenna in the Mare Superum to defend
and bridle Epirus, Macedon, Achata, Crete, Cyprus, and
most of Asia; nor were their navies only maintained on the
seas, but several too on the printipal rivers; as the Ger-
manica classes on the Rhine, the Danubiana, the Euphratuses,
and others to be met with in Tacitui and other historians.
So late as the year of Christ 307, when the Roman empire
was united under Constantine' there was an officer in Bri-
tain called the Count of the Saxon coasts, who was to guard
the eastern and southern coasts from the frequent inroads of
the Saxon pirates—but in 416 the Romans quitted Britain,
and Rome itself was reduced by Alaric the Goth, who tri-
umphed over everything that was chiefly Roman, such, as
learning, eloquence, history, trade, civility, even language
itself.
Upon the fall of the Roman empire, the trade of Europe
seemed to be in some measure extinguished, but very • soon
revived again among the Saxons, who upon their first land-
ing in Britain in 449, appear to have been the strongest
maritime power in Europe, though their civil. dissensions
soon extinguished their naval glory ; whlle a new race of
people succeeded them in those plans which they had aban-
doned in Germany, and in that naval power which has always
conquered, or preserved the island of Great Britain from the
invasion of Julius Caesar, to the happy reign of King
George 111.
The Danes in 787 invaded England with only three ships,
but they afterwards landed in suchpowerful tlee's, as to con-
quer the whole kingdom in 1016, after 38 enz-ig --rents at ,ea.
The Saxons having lost their naval power coa_ het withstand
the Danes, though Alfred in 874 revived the Sm.-n marine,
which was brought to such perfection by Edgar in 961, that
his fleet consisted of 4800 ships. The Saxon line was re-
stored :in 1041, but in 1066 William Duke of Normandy
invaded England with 900 ships and conquered Harold H.,
from which time commerce and maritime power, retired
southward among the Italian states, particularly the Venetians
and Genoese ; in the 13th century it settled among the seve-
ral free cities of Germany, whose confederacy was known by
the title of Hanseatic League ; and in the 15th century the
maritime trade of Europe and its chief naval power were
thrown into the hands of the Portuguese and Spaniards, by
their discovery of 'and conquests in the East and West Indies.
The United Provinces in 1579 shook off the Spanish yoke,
and soon became so considerable at sea as to acquire the ap-
pellation of the maritime power. England, under Henry
VII., began to revive her commerce, which, in the reign of
. .

Queen flizabetb, was brought to such a height, as to render
that princess the arbitress of Europe, and the naval power
of Britain has ever since been increasing, while that of France,
shut up suddenly, and (previously to 1794) has been more
than once gazed at 'with adtniration. In 1662 Charles 11.
sold Dunkirk and Mardyke to Louis XIV., whereby the
English monarch incurred, the shame of selling that for mo-
ney which had cost the English the price of blood. Before
the reign of Louis XIV. France had no marine, and even
under the ministry of Richelieu, she thought herself power-
ful at sea with 60 vessels in all her ports, of which only one
carried 70 ,guns ; but Louis with incredible diligence, aug-
mented his navy, and filled his sea-ports with 60 large men-
of-war. He sent a strong fleet, in conjunction with the
English, against the Dutch, but Ruyster engaged them both
with success four different times, and three of them happen:
ed on the 7th, 14th, and 21st of June, 1673.
However, in 1676, the French fleet, commanded by
Dugnene, defeated the combined fleets of Spain and Holland
on the coast of Sicily. In 1681 the French fleet was increased
to upwards of one hundred ships of the line, manned with
sixty thousand svamen ; and in 1690, Tourville' the French
admiral, with seventy-two ships fell in with the English and
Dutch fleets, consisting of sixty sail, when a desperate en-
gagement ensued which lasted ten hours, wherein the latter
was defeated, and the former for two years were sole masters
of the sea ; when they were defeated by Admiral Russell off
La Hogue. But Lewis soon repaired this loss, though in 1704
Sir George Rook beat Count Toulouse off Malaga, which put
a final period to the marine of Lewis XIV., so that it sunk
again into that weak condition whence it had been raised, in
the same manner as many other grand things which had their
rise,and fan during his reign. Of all those formidable fleets
which Lewis had raised, there remained scarce thirty-five
ships ; yet we know how they were increased under his suc-
cessor, and how formidable the French fleet were off Toulon,

in 1743. Their navy was again brought to nothing in 1748,
but how greatly has it been increased since that time, until

the beginning of the French revolution ; but the memorable
victories gained by the English admirals—Rodney, Hood,
Howe, Duncan, Nelson, &c. over the Spaniards, Dutch, and
French, places Great Britain most completely mistress of the
seas.

From the whole, it appears, that commerce and power are
always in a state of fluctuation ; there is no permanency in
either, and therefore a maritime state ought always to be
jealous of every power that appears formidable at sea, and to
be perpetually upon the guard, instead of despising the weak -
ness of others and relying too much, however great, upon its
own strength.

HIGHWAYS BlLL.—This bill was considered in a com-
mittee of the house of Commons on Wednesday. Instead
of the management of the highways being placed under the
board of guardians in each poor-law union, a separate board
of Directors of the highways is to be constituted in districts
co-extensive with the limits of the several unions.

The weather since our last has been extremely variable.
Saturday and Sunday were unusually warm and mild for the
season, but on Monday a cold frosty wind ensued, and on
Tuesday it began to snow, and it has continued to snow
ever since, with very little intermission. In some places
the snow is much drifted ; but hitherto the communication
has been very little impeded.—Leeds Intelligencer.

THE BEER BILL.

(From the Morning Herald.)

To describe the moral and social evils which have flowed
upon the country from the pernicious gift of a " free trade"
philosophy to the people the beer shop act, is only to repeat,
with the addition of the past tense, our own predictions,
long since unhappily verified, of the mischievous results of
that act, when it was under discussion in the legislature.
Those predictions, or anticipatory statements, supported by
reasoning, which the advocates of the unhappy measure did
not and could not answer, we urged in vain upon the atten-
tion of parliament.
The flippant and shallow sophistries of what is called " free
trade," had at that time possessed the understandings of
conservatives as well as liberals. There was a charm in the
name which seemed to bereave men, even of superior intel-
lect, and of more than ordinary knowledge, of the accurate
and discerning use of the reasoning faculty, and to render
the information, which ought to have shed some illumination
upon the subject, utterly useless for their own instruction.
It seemed, indeed, as if the spell of some strange sorcery
had beguiled the minds of statesmen and legislators, who,
one would have thought, would have sternly resisted, under
a sense of sacred duty, every attempt to debauch the morals
of the people, varnished over by whatever philosophical
pretence it might be, instead of allowing themselves to be
made the instruments of opening ten thousand new channels
of popular licentiousness and moral contamination on the
land.

When it is recollected that statesmen of the usually just
perceptions and clear and cautious judgments of the Duke
of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel were cajoled into con-
ferring the fatale donum—the beer act—as a great boon on
the labouring poor, by the empty babblers about " free
trade," one cannot be surprised that the herd of small poli-
ticians on the tory side of both houses fell into the liberal
" trap," and became the dupes of the worst enemies of the
working classes, in assisting them to demoralise the people.
It is remarkable that, two years before Sir Robert Peel
became the supporter of the beer bill brought in by the ad-
ministration of which he was a member, the righthonourable
baronet adduced the most irrefyagable reasons against the
principle of such a theasure, in answer to some shallow
dogmatism on the " philosophy" of a free trade in beer by
Mr. Hume. What a lesson to statesmen does this example
afford of the danger of abandoning high principles of mo-
rality in legislation for the fleeting advantage of any transient
popularity !
The beer bill was undoubtedly a popular bill at the time,
but that did not make it less unjust and demoralizing. It is
the duty of wise statesmen, as it is of honest journalists, to
protect the people when they blindly call for a destructive
measure—to protect them from themselves. The popularity
of the beer bill did not prevent us from opposing it in every
stage ; yet though we predicted all its evil consequences, to
the letter, we have no pleasure in finding that our anticipa-
tions were so severely prophetic. The lamentable experience
of its effects, which has attested c-ir foresight, has brought
ruin to many, and scattered Nide--pread demoralization
through the villages and hamlet of England.
There is now before us a e lall pamphlet, intituled " A few
plain Questions and Answers elucidating the working of the
Beer Act," well worthy the serious attention of the members
of the legislature, to whom it is addressed, and to whom we
earnesrly recommend its instructive perusal. It shows, that
as to t,.e improvement which its authors and the free traders
anticip red from the act, as to the rendering beer better and
cheaper, it has been a decided failure, while the effect of the
beer houses upon the lahouring classes has been disastrous
in every possible point of view. We will here quote the in-
troductory observations of the intelligent writer of this cle-
ver tract :

" An act more powerfully calculated to operate upon the
moral destinies of this country was never passed than the
beer act. For years has it been working a silent, but most
disastrous, revolution in the ancient, orderly, honest, indus-
trious, and moral habits of the people of this country ; and,
in this respect, what nothing else could have performed in so
short a time, it was left for the beer act fully to realize. While
the good and enlightened of our day have been seeking, by the
aids of religion and education, to throw a moral grandeur and
safeguard over all our national institutions and character, this
simple and little-heeded beer act has been allowed to sap the
very foundations of the superstructure upon which so many
minds, labour, and expense, have been employed. The public,
however, seem at length to have awakened to a sense of the
danger threatened by the operations of this act, and the subject
stands for investigation before both branches of the legislature.
Let that investigation be fall, free, and dispassionate, and, in-
stead of an alteration, we shall have a repeal of the beer act.
There are, however, two small points which.seem to stand in
the way of so desirable a consummation. First, the revenue;
next, an abstract attachment to the principle of free trade.
The writer's conviction is, that if all the drawbacks appertain-
ing to beer-shop revenue could lie placed fully in review ; if
the expense of prosecutions, imprisonment, transportation,
and execution of parties, whose offences are traceable to the
operations of this act ; if the expense of supporting whole
families (by their respective parishes), whose indigence has
been brought on by the improvident habits contracted in the
beer house ; if these, and the numberless frauds practised
upon the revenue in the manufacture and sale of illicit spirits
by beersellers, would admit of calculation, it would be found
that beer-shop revenue was of very questionable utility. With
all deference to the principles of free trade, I would ask, will
it be contended that an act, at the best but experimental,
which haS produced insolvency to the licensed victualler, no
good to the beerseller, and dissatisfaction to the public at
large, ought to be allowed longer to disgrace the statute-
book ? Few who have turned their attention to the opera-
tions of the beer act have had better or more extensive op-
portunities of observing its workings than the writer of this
article, and his experience to now set before you in question
and answer, with a full knowledge of the truth of all that is
there stated."
It has rather surprised us, we confess, to hear Lord
Brougham now state that he always objected to any beer bill
which allowed the beer to be drunk on the premises. Our
impression, but we suppose we were mistaken, was to the
contrary. We well recollect that the Duke of Richmond,
when it was found that opposition to the bill at a whole was
fruitless, moved a clause to prevent the consumption of beer
on the premises, which was lost. Previously to that clause
being moved by his grace, in committee on the bill in the
lords, we called the attention of the legislature and the public
once more to the mischievous character of the measure which
they were about to pass, in the vain hdpe' of having the sting
extracted from it by the adoption of the Duke of Richmond's
clause. Lord Brougham was then a member of the Houie of
Commons, and we do not recollect"his -moving any similar
clause in that house. However, we are glad to see that the
noble and learned lord is so little bigoted at present tb the
doctrine of a free trade in beer, as to be willing at length to
put some legislative check,upon the social and moral evils
which the beer act has been working for nearly ten rong years,
by prohibiting the consumption "of the vile stuff -usually sold
as beer on the premises. •
It is the advantage of maintaining consistent opinions that
we can refer back ten years to show that we took then the
very same view of the beer bill which we do to-day. Indeed
any arguments which we can urge now, either in support of
Lord Brougham's proposed amendment of the beer act, or in
favour of its total repeal, which would be better, would only
be a repetition of what we uttered in the session of the year
1830. We therefore intend to republish to-morrow the argu-
ments which we used to induce the legislature to adopt the
Duke of Richmond's clause ; from•which it will be seen that
if parliament committed a great error on this subject—an
error most prejudicial to the morals of the people, as well as
destructive of the property of a respectable class of trades-
men—it was not through want of being forewarned of the
consequences. We will also show how the dreadful machi-
nery of the scaffold has been worked to punish the crimes
which the legislature itself created by passing an act to
debauch the morals of the people.

OVERLAND MAIL FROM INDIA.

(From the Sun, of Saturday.)

Mr. Waghorn's establishment in Egypt has put us in pos-
session of Bombay papers to the 19th, Madras to the 12th,
and Calcutta to the 7th of January. It appears, that a change
has come over the Affghans, and the Chief of Herat has
joined Dost Mohammed and his brothers against us. Mr.
Campbell, who was formerly in the East India Company's
service, and now in that of Dost Mohammed, is busily occu-
pied in fortifying the passes on our proposed line of march to
Kandahar. Russian intrigue appears to be as actively at work
as ever. These circumstances, taken in conjunction, will ac-
count for the conduct of Persi towards our ambassador, Mr.
M`Neil, and the recent decline of British influence in Cen-
tral Asia. A considerable force, under the command' of
Major-General Bowen, was taking the field against Jhansee,
which, it was expected, would be shortly reduced. An en-
joy from Hydrabad had arrived at Sir John Keane's camp,
with the avowed object of arranging for the peaceable advance
of the British troops to that city, on their way to Cabool ;
but it was more than suspected, that is object was to recon-
noitre the strength of the British army. As, however, his
arrival at the English camp was followed by no perceptible
change in the previous arrangements of the Commander-in-
Chief, an impression prevailed, that his real object was dis-
covered, and his mission, therefore, rendered unsuccessful.
The Madras papers state, that the probabilities of a war
with Burmah increase fast. Tharrawaddie shows increased
obstinacy against our resident. An extensive manufactory
of gunpowder and bullets was carried on at Rangoon, Mar-
taban, and Bileng, and 1,000 " invincibles" had arrived at
the former place ; as had also, happily for the British resi-
dents, her Majesty's ship Favourite.
Another account states, that a rebellion of rather an ex-
tensive nature was spreading on the mountains N.W. of the
capital of Ava; headed by a cousin of the usurper, and thar-
rawaddie had so far become civil as to allow the Woonghees
to meet Colonel Benson at the Lootaw, or Vale of Justice.

About the end of November three of a party of seventy
conspirators, who were taken a few leagues below Prome,
were crucified at Rangoon, having their mouths cut from ear
to ear, and a sticlt run down their throats. One lived about
six hours, the other two about twelve hours. . Their bodies
remained on the cross three days. On the Bth December five
more were crucified, they all dying like martyrs to their
cause.

Everything appeared quiet on the Nepaulese frontier,
although it is alleged Ghoorkha emissaries were busy in every
quarter of Hindostan, exciting the native chiefs to dis-
affection.

From Jeypore accounts state, that matters at that city had
been settled satisfactorily. The mutineers (from 4,000 to
5,000 in number, with 18 pieces of cannon,) after standing
their ground till arrangements had been made for attacking
them in position, laid down their arms, gave up their guns
and other materiel, and had been disbanded, selections of
them having been received into the new levy to be incor-
porated with Foster's brigade.
The transportation of Indian labourers had been put an
end to at Calcutta, agreeably to the instructions forwarded
from England. . _

Accounts from the Red Sea state, that the expedition which
sailed from Bombay on the 31st of December, had taken
possession of Aden, after storming the place, the loss on the
part of the British being 12 killed and wounded, and on that
of the Arabs about 150 killed.

Sir Peregrine Maitland, late Commander-in-chief at Ma-
dras, embarked for England in the ship Columbo, on the 4th
July. The ships Berkshire and the Tay had arrived safe at
Bcmbay, from England. The Malabar sailed for London on
the 4th of Jinuary. The Aurora was to sale on the 24th of
the same month for England, with invalids from the several
British regiments in India, under Lieutenant Poore, of the
4th Light Dragoons.
The next overland mail for England was to be despatched
from Bombay on the 26th ult. The mail sent from Bombay
on the 19th of January, via Falmouth, will not reach London
before the 26th inst. The public will thus perceive the great
advantage which the country derives, in the obtaining early
intelligence, from Waghorn's unpaid services.

ATTEMPTED SUICIDE.—NOVEL MODE OF PRESERVA-
TION.—The other morning, as Messrs. C. Howard and Bro-
thers' watchman was putting out the street lights in Port-
wood, which would be about five o'clock, he heard a loud
splash in " Dean's Dam," which is full of warm water, and
on approaching the dam, for the purpose of observation, he
found that a middle-aged female, having more cares than
cash, had adopted that plan of self-destruction, and thus
extinguish " the ills that flesh is heir to." The watchman,
not knowing at the moment how to render any effectual as-
sistance in a case of such imminent peril, neither manual help
nor ropes being at hand, had recourse to the ladder which
he had with him, and, contriving (with the guidance of the
light of the moon) to pass the head of the female through the
staves, succeeded in drawing her out of the water by the neck,
partly drowned and partly hung ! The rash woman, we un-
derstand, having recovered from the effects of her folly, does
not feel inclined, upon reflection, again to attempt so wicked
dire for her cares.—Stockport Advertiser.

THE COURT AGAIN,

(From the Standard.)

We print the folfowing letter with reluctance, and with a
feeling of pain, which we are sure will be participated in by
all who may read it ;—it is one of (we may say) hundreds,
that have been addressed to us on the same subject. Hitherto
we have been silent from a sense of loyal duty, and of the
reverence due to the pure and high delicacy of our young and
lovely Sovereign. Rumours have, however, got into circu-
lation—rumours of which we shall say no more, than to avow
our conviction of their utter falsehood, which compel us to
know that, though censure has not dared to attack the Sover-
ereign herself, the court of Queen Victoria is by some belie-
ved at least to be in its conduct what it ought not to be.
How, indeed, can opinion be otherwise when the public hears
of the description of persons whom Lord Melbourne has pla-
ced about the Queen, and of his lordship's own unbecoming
assiduity in attendance upon her Majesty?
We do not affect to calculate much upon Lord Melbourne's
sense of duty as a good man or a Christian. or upon the in-
fluence of loyalty upon his actions—but if he is a gentleman,
if his heart acknowledge the claims of a young, inexperienced,
generous, and therefore confiding woman, to have her future
life protected from difficulties of the most painful character
to a woman, though the woman be a Queen, he will give due
weight to the, communication of our correspondent, and
retrace a course, the effect of which must be to destroy the
comfort of the Sovereign, whom an unhappy concurrence of
circumstances has placed too much at his mercy :

" TO BE EDITOR OF THE STANDARD.

" Sir,—l have just seen in your valuable journal of Mon-
day a paragraph touching the dismissal of one of her Ma-
jesty's household, which has given rise to some very painful
reflections. It is not quite two years since the people of this
country greeted her Majesty's accession with their warmest
sympathies. Many ,were the anecdotes which got abroad re-
lative to some of her first acts, and they were hailed as augur-
ing well • for her future career. Amongst those which came
to my ears was an, account of her selection of the lady who
has just been dismissed, which as I had from authority which
may_ be depended upon will now relate to you. At the time
I heard it it,gave me unmixed satisfaction. The Dean of
Chester, Dr. Davys, was the tutor of the reigning Sovereign.
To that truly- pious man was confided the, education of this
precious charge from her, earliest years. lam told that he
has steadfastly refused several offers of Church preferment,
that he might be near her when she most needed the sage
counsel of one whom .she would naturally regard with respect.
Quiet and unassuming, of deep but simple piety, the Dean
would be the last person to obtrude himself beyond his proper
sphere. Soon after her accession the Queen sent for her
aged preceptor, and said that she wished to have some person
about her to set a good example to the ladies of her Court,
feeling that the strictest. propriety should be observed in the
presence of one so young, so inexperienced as herself. She
therefore requested that. the Dean would allow his daughter
to attend upon her.person, which honour was positively de-
clined. He was ready, to make any sacrifice, he said, but
that his daughter had a Soul to save, and he knew the tempta-
tions of such a situation would be very great. He did not
feel justified in sacrificing the highest interests of one so dear
to him, even for such a purpose. The Queen, bursting into
a passionate flood of tears, declared that Miss Davys should
not be compelled to do anything against her inclinations, and
pledged her honour to that effect. The good old man yielded
upon this. She would have been a maid of honour, but Lord
Melbourne objected to her filling that situation, on the score
of her rank. Her Majesty, determined to carry her point,
made her her Private Secretary. Since that time, I have
often looked to the court news to see what traces I could dis-
cover of her movements. Last summer I heard that the
Dean was out of favour, and I now read of his daughter's
dismissal under very painful circumstances. I fear the Hope
of our nation is surrounded by very baleful influences, when
she can thus be prevailed on to part with one to whom she is
said to have been once tenderly attached, and who from her
sterling virtues formed one of the brightest ornaments of the
Court. " PROTESTANT."

(From the Morning Post.)

When we see a minister ndt satisfied with an office of such
deep responsibility at the present moment as that of British
premier, become an inseparable and directing member of a
young' sovereign's domesticity, it is impossible for those
whose duty it is to, watch the course of events not to ani-
madvert upon the pianful rumours that circulate in the me-
tropolis. They pervade the conversation of every class of
society ; the only difference being that. we have heard them
with more positive detail in the higher circles, and that they
acquire, as they descend, a degree of grossness and exaggera-
tion calculated to impair the loyalty of feeling. As to the
grounds of these rumours, they are such that we will only
sketch their outline in the most distant manner language will
admit of. It would appear that a young lady of rank at-
tached to an illustrious duchess had rendered herself an ob-
ject of jealousy to the party in power at court by her friendly
intercourse of long standing with persons who, since her
Majesty's accession to the throne, have lost their influence.
It is added that this malevolence, which had produced much
family difference, has assumed within a few days a more
decided and virulent form ; that an imputation of an odious
description was raised against the honour of the noble maiden ;
and that the name of a certain member of the faculty was
introduced into the intrigue in corroboration of the foul and
unfounded insinuation. A noble marquis, however, nearly
connected with the lady in question, is said to have forthwith
repaired to Buckingham Palace, and, requesting an imme-
diate audience, to have repelled with respectful indignation
the base charge, and duly vindicated the fair fame of his
maiden relative. We most sincerely hope that the above
alleged facts may proi'e totally devoid of truth. We have
but mentioned the gentlest of all the statements we have
heard, and it has reached us from one of the highest reunions
in this town. But whilst we should see with the most
poignant regret that the august lady—the object of universal
affection and solicitude—had, at her tender age, been made
by court intrigue a party in the affair so abhorrent to delicacy,
we cannot but think that, even should all these rumours
prove utterly groundless, the influence now guiding the court
must be of a very injudicious nature, when such reports are
rife in the metropolis. It is understood that the rashness of
the member of the faculty above alluded to has been visited
with such marks of serious displeasure as will relieve him of
future trouble and attendance at the royal palace.