The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-09-07 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1852.

TO CORRESPONDENTS,

constituencies

parliament

the country a'

diminish the discreditable practices of bribery and
treating which have disgraced some of our English
Surely the approaching session of

will not be allowed to pass without some

serious attempt to remove even a more formidable
evil, and to deprive the Irish Roman Catholic Priests

of that great influence which they exercise so perni-
both as respects their immediate dupes and

proposes. We would not have the Improvement
Committee confine itself merely to opening tho-
roughfares from the river to the high parts of the
town, or to St. George's-hall, or to widening the
approaches from the suburbs. We want a few good
streets, running north and south, from Bootle and
Kirkdale to Toxteth-park. There would be ample
traffic along such routes ; and their necessity is
shown by the circuitous course through which cars
and other conveyances have now to pass in proceed-
ing from some parts of the town to others.
Upon one point we think that the public, in look-
ing at such a project, very greatly overrate its cost.
It is true that much valuable property would have
to be purchased and pulled down; but when re-
placed by a better class of houses and shops, which
would be built upon it, there is every probability
that the sacrifice in most cases would be trivial, and
and in many none at all. The question of cost,
however, in a community situated as Liverpool is,
with a large and increasing Corporate Estate, ought
to weigh lightly in consideration of the vast boon
to be attained.

AN EXAMPLE TO AMERICAN CITIZENS.

THE blustering tone in which Great Britain is con-
tinually spoken of by that portion of the press of
the United States which represents the opinions of
the democratic party, is calculated seriously to mis-
lead the people of this country. Any one accus-
totned to read the ravings of the New York Morning
Herald, for example, would suppose that BBOTHER
JONATHAN is only waiting his time and opportunity
to " thaw up," as his stump orators would say,

"the Britishers," and their monarchical institutions.
Those who have had an opportunity, however, of
observing the feeling towards this country of the
intelligent and moral portion of American society,
are aware that there exists amongst its members a
feeling of affectionate regard for the land and the
institutions of their fathers ; and that, however
unruly spirits amongst them may be disposed to
bully and bluster, the importance of friendly rela-
tions existing between the two countries is estimated
as highly in the United States as here. The occa-
sional swagger, which affrights timid persons, is
only the safety valve by which the passions of a
democratic community exhaust themselves. The
Yankee is essentially a trading and calculating
biped ; and he knows well that he cannot at present
afford to quarrel with his best friend and parent,
JOHN BULL. Independently of the feeling of
interest, old associations are strong in the breasts of
a large and influential portion of the American
people. This fact has probably never been evi-
denced more forcibly than in the following speech,
delivered by an American gentleman, on Thursday
last, at the Cutlers'-hall, in Sheffield. During the
proceedings, we find it reported that :
" Mr. E. G. Loring, a gentleman from Massachusetts,
United States, proposed " Prosperity to the town and
trade of Sheffield." After some preliminary remarks, he
said that an Englishman could form little idea of the feel-
ing of an American when he first visited England. Eng-
lishmen went to the United States on a visit,—Americans
• ame to England on a pilgrimage. (Cheers.) England
to every right-hearted American was entwined with ear-
liest and happiest recollections. The earliest books he
read were those which were published by Newberry, at
the corner of St. Paul's Churchyard, and the books which
had formed his education were the works of Shakspcare,
Milton, and Scott. In fact, and he said it in no boastful
spirit, he believed every right-hearted American was half
an Englishman. (Loud cheers.) And why not ? (conti-
nued Mr. Loring). Your ancestors were our ancestors.
" The fine old English gentleman," of whom you haye
been singing to-night, was my ancestor as well as yours.
(Cheers and laughter.) Don't we " sneak the tongue
which Shakspeare spoke ?" Don't we " the faith and
morals hold which Milton held ?" And are not your
churches, those noble monuments of art, the work of our
ancestors as well as yours? (Renewed applause.) It is
not the clod of earth beneath our feet which we call a
country, but laws, household manners, and institutions,
and religion. Have we not trial by jury, which was be
queathed to us by your Alfred and our Alfred ? I doubt
whether any person in this room to-night joined in the
anthem of " God save the Queen" with more fervour than
I, an American, did, and why ? Because, in the name of
your revered Queen the whole of your institutions were
included. I felt that her name represented England ; and
I understood " God save the Queen" to mean God save
glorious England. (Continued applause.) And is this not
a time, Sir, when the hopes of liberty are being elsewhere
crushed to the earth—is this not a time, I say, that the
two great nations who occupy the front rank of po ver and
civilisation, and are the only bulwarks of freedom, should
fraternise with each other; and I beg to assure you that
so far as the best-informed and most respectable part of
my countrymen are concerned, they do most heartily fra-
ternise with you." (Loud and prolonged applause.)
All honour to the man from whose lips such noble
sentiments were uttered ! They make us proud of
our common origin—proud of that Anglo-Saxon

race whose members, whether under monarchical
or republican institutions, revere in their heart of
hearts all that is great and good in the character,
and sacred in the feelings of human beings.

THE SHIPOWNERS

AND THEIR

GRIEVANCES.

AN important document has just been published, con-
taining the views of the Committee of the Shipowners'
Society of Sunderland ,as to the course to be adopted in
order to enable them to meet the competition to which
they are at present subjected. The Committee state that
they have had under their consideration three classes of
grievances :

" The first aro those which are purely the result of le-
gislative enactments, and which the legislature has it in
its power at once to remedy. Another class involves in-
terests which may have to beconciliated, or their opposition
overcome. And the third class consists of evils which
arise out of the present state of our relations with foreign
Powers, and the removal of which depends mainly upon
the Executive Government and its treaties and negotia-
tions."

Under the first head the Committee complain of those
provisions of the existing law which prevent the Ship-
owner from manning his vessels with British or foreign
seamen at his discretion. It is certainly inconsistent in
any government to maintain such a restriction, after hav-
ing exposed the Shipowner to competition with foreign
vessels, paying little more than a third of the cost of na-
vigating them which British vessels pay. But, after all.
it will be found that this portion of the Shipowners'
grievances is practically an unimportant one. There are
few men who would not prefer British seamen to fo-
reigners, even although a higher rate of wages had to be
paid. Lascars, Portuguese, and other men of the kind,
who can be picked up at most of our leading ports at re-
duced rates, are not the sort of persons amongst whom
proper subordination can be maintained, and with whom
Shipowners and underwriters would like to entrust their
property. _ _ _

. _
The next complaint of the Sunderland Committee is
against the existing system of pilotage. They contend
that vessels, when in ballast, should pay no pilotage dues,
and that, whether with cargo or in ballast, they should be
exempt if they have a captain on board who is himself
competent to perform a pilot's duties. The committee
appear to us to remark upon this part of their subjectwith
no very great amount of knowledge of its bearings. Sup-
pose the case of a captain sailing from the port of Liver-
pool for a long voyage, and being at the time perfectly
master of the intricacy of our channels and banks. When
he returns, after twelve months, he will probably find that
he has all to learn over again. Sandbanks have shifted ;
new buoys have been laid down ; in short, changes have
been taking place which render his previous local know-
ledge dangerous, rather than useful. Our pilots them-
selves are compelled to survey the approaches to the
Mersey once a month ; and if such survey is necessary to
enable men to perform their duty efficiently, who are
daily navigating our River, Low can it be expected that
any eaptain,'homeward bound, after a year's voyage, will
be trustworthy where a valuable cargo, and human lives,
may be lost by the most trivial mistake ? There may be
a show of grievance, no doubt, in the fact that vessels in
ballast, merely moving from port to port, are compelled
to pay pilotage. Shipowners may say, too—we are our
own insurers ; why not let us do what we like with our
vessels and cargoes ? There are, however, two potent
objections to such an arrangement. In the first place, if
taking a pilot on board is to be optional on the part of a
captain of a ship, how is the service to be kept up for the
benefit of others, who require the valuable assistaLce of
such a man ! The pilots of Liverpool, when fully branched,
do not earn more than from £l7O to £lBO per annum.
For this they expose themselves to all the hazards of a
very difficult channel in all weathers. It is calculated
that the service wears itself out, by deaths from ex-
posure, independently of accident, in 21 years; and, if by
adopting the suggestions of the Sunderland Shipowners,
the remuneration afforded to the men engaged in it

should be materially diminished, we might be at a loss to
find respectable parties willing to recruit its ranks.
With respect to another ground of complaint, viz.
the stamp duty on charter parties, we admit that it ought
to be abolished. An alteration should also be made in

the system of exacting toll

from ships passing part

ports, whether they use them or not

Thus, the com-

mittee say,

" Whitby not only levies 'a toll upon ships passing, it
levies a toll upon ships proceeding to Newcastle and Sun-
derland northward, and which do not, therefore, come
within forty miles of the port, to the repairs and beautify-
ing of which they are obliged to continue. Bridlington is
another example; Dover another. The combined influ-
ence of these ports may offer a formidable opposition, but
your committee are of opinion that the injustice of the
toll is in every instance so glaring that a vigorous effort
cannot fail to be crowned with success."

ght dues are le

cc'. on a

ciple ; and the Establishment of Tri

onerous infliction upon the

rly unjust prin-

House is an

'owner. The most im-

portant portion of the report, however, is contained in the
closing paragraphs, which we quote in extenso

" Your committee have further to complain that while
this country has opeued its ports freely to every nation in
the world, other nations take advantaze of our generosity,
but refuse to reciprocate. Of this France is a notable
instance ; Spain is another. Your committee recommend
the selection of individual cases in which the iniquity is
apparent, and let these be set forth in detail for the
information of the Legislature and the public., in order
that the question may he fairly raised and considered,
whether it is expedient for this country to continue to
other nations the enjoyment of privileges which they
pertinaciously refuse to us.

" But if the shipowners of the united kingdom have a
right to complain when other nations impose distinctions
to the disadvantage of British shipping, how much more
reason for complaint is there when such distinctions are
actually made by our own Government ? A case has been
stated to your committee that came recently within the
personal experience of one of its members, in which, while

a British emigrant vessel, taken up by the Government,
had to be surveyed by the Government inspector, at a
cost to the owner of £32, a foreign vessel was at the same
time taken without inspection, thereby making a distinc-
tion in favour of the foreigner to the extent of the fees
payable on the survey, besides the invidiousness of the

accepti

n vessel on more

ect that these and other similar demands for