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

THE LIVERPOOL.

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 admit?ed 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 mere formidable foe than ever they met with in
a hostile fleet, and the modern science of political
economy will accomplish that which NAPOLEON was
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 nature 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
rational 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 Navrg• a-
tion Laws has only been delayed through the
impetus which has been given to emigration by the
gold discoveries in Australia; but every official
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.; bat the change is matlerat a
time by no means propitious for the experiment,
and the day may not le far distant when we shall
have bitter cause to regret that ever it was
attempted. We have •now a fleet in the vicinity of
Turkey expecting to be called upon for active
service, and, though 'd:plomatic negociation 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, more than bare
possibility, it would have been prudent to pause
before committing so important an element of our
maritime strength to the same destructive influence
as that to which our Agriculture, our Colonies,
and our Shipping have been exposed.

THE BUSINESS, OF LEGISLATION.
WEEN Lord JOHN RUSSELL was asked, a few
-days since, if some means could be devised for
closing the sitting of the-House of Commons at an
earlier hour than three or four o'clock in the morn-
ing, he replied that it was impossible. They must
be-content to sit through half the day and almost
all the night, or else prolong the Session without
any vacation ; and he added that he did not believe
there „was a Legislature in 7 the world that got
through so much business. This is the opinion of
an experienced legislator—a man hackneyed in the
ways of:Parliament ; but we may ask the nature or
value of that business which he claims so much
credit for :being transacted. So far from his statement
being correct, we would back our own Town Council
against the,-Reformed House of,Commons, not only
for the importance of the business done, but for the
economy of the time in doing it. ,We have now
reached the latter half of July---a time•when a pro-
rogation is confidently looked forward ,to—and it
,-,vould require even more ingenuity than,Lord JOHN
.EussELL can boast of, to discover that immense
amount of businers for which he claims credit.
The six months that have elapsed seem to have
-been literally wasted in idle talk, and already has
commenced what is -.:amiliarly styled " the.slanghter
of the innocents," or the withdrawing from further
progress all those Bills -which have been discussed
for no other purpose than to waste time, and,to
make a show of doing business when nothing was
intended to be done. It has sometimes been
attempted to ke argued that this delay in legislation
is unavoidable; but it is in reality the old game of
the Whigs, whose political capital is made up of
promises which are never intended to be realised.
They are truly political impostors, obtaining credit
upon false pretences, and the misfortune is, that the
people who return representatives to support them
cannot see through the delusion of which they are
the victims. The Whigs never came into office

without a flourish of trumpets, which rair.edmag-
nificent hopes that were certain to be disappointed,
and never left office without the execrations of the
people, who were angry at being duped, and yet
suffered themselves to be again cajoled by the same
means. The infusion of the PEELITE element into
the present Coalition Ministry has not improved the
features of the system, though it reconciled the
waverers and the pretended Conservatives into a
lukewarm support. From the antiquated imbecility
of the Premier, the truckling expediency of the
parliamentary hack, Lord JOHN RUSSELL, the
weather-cock turning about of SirJAMES GRAHAM,
the ingenious blundering of Mr. GLADSTONE, the
legal ignorance of the ATTORNEY-GENERAL,
down to the rampant Radicalism of Sir WILLTANI
MoI,ESWORTH, the Ministry has all the worst faults
of Whiggery, without a redeeming quality; and
having now nearly reached the close of a Session

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 working of the measure is
almost beyond 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 DERRY, 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
Ifinds himself the mere tool 'of a desperate faction,
his character gone, 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 infinence 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
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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 heir 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
prerogativEtr of the 'Grown, 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 thave been
the faults of the old Tory system, the Reformed
HQIISe of Commons loses infinitely in comparison
with the Parliaments which boasted of PITT„
BURKE, FOX, WYNDH,AINI, SHERIDAN, and a host
of others, for whose successors we look in vain.
Then the business of legislation was transacted
in a manner worthy of a
_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 shows us some few bungling Acts of
Parliament, which require.amendment another year,
because, judges construe them differently than their
framers intended; and a long list of impossible
-schemes and embryo measures, which, having been
talked over :id nauseam, are at length indefinitely
postponed.