The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-07-19 00:00:00

IC Lthtrpoot (-41,tanbarb.

limAy 3/ORATING, JULY 19, 1539.

NI
Feat We are to have the penny postage. This is a
i,t 4 air°o°oll, yvhose practical advantage and. importance
IN-e,t, 8t impossible to over-value. It is, par excel-
h,,
,Itt Measure of 1839.
), -iie,to of
"littlber happiness and improvement to countless
111441. 8 3--sit Will be an aid of inexpressible amount to
pot 'Ol. very „oweri
g.,
"I classes of the Queen's subjects.f
i'lklietBle reas°ns we heartily rejoice in this the first o
tot
trefor
, ros—the penny postage.
paid 1" every other benefit in this world, it must
teel4,B .for; and the old universal question painfully
tter
thaii ' oho isno one e
qiell!e-o r skim Ping Liberal tFr enforce-of theknows old tb etra-
It', a .
To jetitli eri good world this we live in,
kg , ' rto spend or to give in :
• it's 0 beg or to borrow, or hold a man's own,
AM
•,10,1,...
At aRe the only real question in the matter ? Why,
ttiNfile-4,iiine Whig, he shuffles and evades it. No
NI teed dig ever doubted that to pay a penny where
tlerts, t° Pay a shilling, is a magnificent, practicalt,s
et
of• T 1 elt
it ..Thigls used to sneer at Mr. Vansittprifi-
tip Parliament Guinea, and Mr. Robinson's art d
%e at:;Perity : rank humbugs were the one poun-
hrisoit the
Paper budget. But what are they in com-
a4l locale Mr. Rice's boon—the penny postage—with.
I'ly it , teldable deficit, and no means whatever to s p
, There ~
'lle coulci"4 a fine Lady who said she wonderedh any
Nes ar gturnble about dear bread, when such nice
Nessiol-e be bought for twopence. So thinks every
t4anlii" 4" the twopence. A penny postage is a
NI • ilg
tiling—for a nation whose finances can sup-
it
i11ie.t,,,;
'4l pl-'ltish Revenue cannot support it at'present. It
kktiie ~,aocellor's business, before he consents to the
4 ce)
t° provide for the deficit. Why does he not.
ea, h
Ut 't
%hit e cares not for the revenue. He is not fram- the,etita measures for the public. He wishes to have
'eNtie °I taking off this impost, and, with charac-
to Naeit .
1 the . -) and candour, he will leave his succes-
,7kay°ll9_lll,olll of imposing the new
.one. He knows
tkstielakes
`414311, u 1 tiger be steward; and, wise in his genera-
friends with the Mammon of unrighte-
!qv
Itllo,l,
that the history of the penny postage. Every body
1, it never originated with the Earl of Lich-
t':tr4ilid°l)lOdiv lays it at Colonel Maberly's door; who
tiqiee) i,taat the splendid conception was due to mr.
'ef°l.ll.l -,orc., Lowther was always a sincere Post-officer..
(1414(1:- ; Lord Lichfield never. While the comm.e n
t:i patty, es of the measure, without discrimination
,71"ciai : (and, who says the balance of British corn-
'Rill 41nuence is not essentially Conservative ?) were
0 g the ,
piNoe, , Plan both in and out of Parliament,
delay
,ee I.t r •
iza u„
----woo, by their well-practised arts of
it
tst:lte ,ittlis)etaravlesd it off to another Session ? Was
reet , of St. Martin's-le-Grand and Down-
i \Vh^t et,' ,
4111? 41arlee had the question in this present Ses-
14iklit have'r• Hill might have written, and
,Mr. Wallace
Ike in spoken, just as the one wrote and the other
,Itetlld }il the Session of 1838,—and the Chancellor
:Itted asave laughed at their enthusiasm, and have out-
l'itt•N their
'-'itoplicity. But there was the unhappy
ti, Not
4e:144d be of May. The ten Radicals, whose defec-
sks to
fear ellaStiSed by the resignation of Ministers,..r.
klootithey had carried the joke too far. SeNe
I,,(t)tliedse°,,fiicial Whigs had turned restive; and, if the
'r fore-e-4, eY.•
Were to stand at all, the Radicals must,
. : ear " r give way. By the agency of our friend " the
444%3 :Gt. which our readers will bear in mind we duly
114411Nt bed the
at the time)- some decent compromise
,°lltl Plaitbehed up. The Committee sitting at the
Pe'oao situl" must be brouolit into unison with the
titity.
ilg over the way in Conclave at the Trea-
ot..ll(ler b
. o,`-'4 q ei,..je" circumstances the Ballot was made an
p,eth,hoci-110-..f,t0,n,, (Lord Howick thinking this the safest
''''gr'e . °'l3°';'itig the said Ballot !) and the Penny
(i. 11141111 a%
resolved O. Who can say but that the
lls•tic, ao°,r °f
,the Exchequer reasoned like Lord Ho-
PPNitio4 th°llght the best method of continuing his
'QPfj? 4 to the scheme would be to bring it for-
-144(1
kit,: er, you ,
Wh-Ited b 1114 Y imagine that this is a mere sarcasm,.
. . a
h g, ,%‘, 4(1 discharged upon the base and faltering
-ot e d alo,
if t hot, ', however, know whether there
.mlay,
thio ..le rearnest truth,behind it : for, certain
ttliod hplizee C
Is ().
Pedlars had been contriving in his
he Iv, ow •te eluld • i defeat the measure
he ss atreeti: most certainly .
tk_ coUld is_,ig to support, we cannot imagine how
tv•Zeby ap;Lend.iainswe.red this sinister pursbetter
CJI rill it \v,w lgto it the ridiculous resolution with
INcutro accompanied. A p.edg,, by the House
°ns I A
i)i.4 til d g •
• '''• Pledge to what? Why, to make
dill e-ett !----vit'‘Out
oili g thetns I ' " saying how or when, or
:1.1 te of the e vei to anything whatever ! ! The very
4visin„ House of Commons obis is to see to the due
i,ot le of
1,,,,;(:. ic revenue : is ,
‘Nki
" °f
the
Publ. . this • - the very pre-
fe.ortlit the Peer ll they are so jealous that they will not
te'";. " Ili. Bto interfere in it at all: to say, tloiere-
h,tqing, ~ \i‘rnialte it good," is simply tantamount
,oheage, to
41: e do not mean, in passing the penny_
4 'l'at:a
nut: r:geattelnsOur
-411
}, - Naerize . paramount functions; and
Particular tax, we do not con-
tieegßar • 1"al bankruptcy." As well, if we gave
retittivne iii:ii:tneetietio4lo. old we say to him, "But, mind,
Ili -* ouiselr_ 11, in parting with this sixpence, of
N 0... e test of
,„ es to beggary.,,
‘7,- pose Vfi e
1,11:!Y po,to.ofne Matter is very simple. .-O.IW •-
(` ' • there hostage
carried ;
-v}1114., collies . suppose a deficit in the Reve-
be4, '4lB, 1„, a Dissolution, and a new House of
tliko ilonNe 1: hat has be'come of the pledge ? The
ilet,erileoe,ont4st niake the deficit good, " because
a I,:eettoee a Ikti Friday) 'tis their duty to do so,"
1400gti. pi t
do.
ePre e e din'
House of Commons had voted
attt:loljoe. Pledge
Where, then, is the pledge ?
b., led t., In 11 iteelf mere moonshine, it is however
, Mere
i'eLti,it il fol-v.erY baneful constitutional consequences,
litm°, trie,„l"an to our present purpose to discuss.
-,t.: i• kis of
I 111411 . the
kloo, e'er i . measure have caught the wily
b. 11t1 sw,,liri hl5 °WII trap. They have seized the
'tt l' ''°Wed th eel --e pledge. We rejoice. that Sir
. .
' . .P)4.
Cel
tj4e
trulttei.' upo4 record. in. al its

proper bearings ; and the day will come when the
Whigs will rue the subterfuge to which they have so
shabbily resorted.
Now mark the only real good which has resulted
from this notable pledge. It has displayed to the world
what sort of practical Reform you may expect from a
Liberal Minister. Urged by the strongest of all pos-
sible necessities, the very hazard of his Ministerial
existence, he consents indeed to promise : urged by
such a necessity, what is there that a Liberal would
not promise ? When the time comes for the perform-
ance, he says, " Yes, indeed, this is part of the Chan-
cellor's proper business, but I cannot deal with it : I
must make it an Open Question : I will .bring it for-
ward, but you must take upon yourselves the responsi-
bility." This is all that, after years of goading, a
nation can extract from a feeble Minister ! Does any
man in England believe that Sir R. Peel would hold
office for an hour on terms like these,—pocketing the
pay; and shuffling off the responsibility ? The people
of Liverpool are a plain and a practical people, and
will read Mr. Rice as he deserves.

Nevertheless, we heartily rejoice that this measure,
in which men of all parties have long been heartily
agreed, will be carried into effect. A heavy rate of
postage is the only real tax upon Knowledge. With
all our respect for our own craft, we thought the cry
about Newspapers a disgraceful humbug. A heavy
postage is the real Tax on Knowledge.
By the way, a Property Tax would suit the Radicals
to a nicety; but not so, we shrewdly opine, would it
suit Whig Proprietors.

The conversation which took place in the House of
Lords on Tuesday evening last, with reference to the

disgraceful riots which have made Birmingham a bye

word of reproach, was very interesting. It exhibited
the Queen's government in one of those positions so
familiar to them and so irremediably mischievous to the
tranquillity of the country. Although twenty-four

hours had elapsed since the rascally mob began its
work of devastation and plunder in the Bull-ring, and

,he peaceable inhabitants had for that period been in

momentary peril of their lives and properties while an
infuriated crowd was rushing through the streets,

unawed and unchecked by the appearance of any
opposing force, Lord ,Melbourne, in his place in par-
liament, confessed that he knew very little about the
matter—so little, that he could give no opinion upon
it; and that, although "with respect to those great
meetings which had been held throughout the country
in recent times, and with respect to the language and

opinions which were held by persons attending those
meetings, he had always disapproved of such assem-
blages, and had always said that, sooner or later, the
language which was used, and the opinions which

were advocated, would inevitably lead to violent re.

suits ;" yet no sufficient precautionary measures had

been taken to prevent an outbreak which the threats
and violence of the Chartist leaders, within the last ten

days, had rendered inevitably certain. The Duke of
Wellington read ministers a lecture which they will not
in a hurry forget. He declared emphatically, that

" he had, while with the armies of his country, seen

many towns taken by storm, but he had never seen, he
had never heard of, such outrages as had been com-
mitted last night, under the eyes of those magistrates
who had been appointed, not by the proper authority,
not by the crown, not by the noble and learned lord on
the woolsack, but by the Secretary of State for the

Home Department." His Grace is not a man given
to exaggerate. Such language from the •stormer of
Badajos is pretty strong, and will sink deep into the

mind of every Englishman who values the blessings of
security and social order. What means the whining
apology of Lords Melbourne and Lansdowne, that the
accounts they had received from the scene of tumult

and disorder were too vague to act with certainty upon,
and that the noble duke had no right to assume that
no measures would be taken for the future ? The

Prime Minister actually went so far as to quote what

he calls " the unfortunate affair" at Nottingham, as a
sort of justifying precedent for the fires of Birming-
ham. That government will do something now, we
make no manner of doubt—but we demand of them
an answer to the question put by every hous.eholder in
the country—why did they not, when the indications
of approaching riot were plain and palpable, take such
vigorous steps
,as to render its outburst impossible ?
This duty, we should have thought, even a Whig-
Radical Cabinet might have discharged. We know
that they have a difficult card to play when they seek
to disavow and discountenance seditious and inflam-
matory language—their strongest supporters are too
deeply implicated to allow interference with this—but
is it come to this, that they dare not or cannot raise

their paralysed arms to check the brute force of an
enraged multitude ? And, after the mischief has been
done, and property has been destroyed, and the central
town of England has been suffering the horrors of a
fortress taken by storm, are we to be mocked by assu-
rances that vigilance will be used for the future, and
justice will be nicely administered, and inquiries will
be set on foot, and censure properly bestowed ? We
maintain fearlessly.that under a Conservative Govern-
ment such outrages as these would not have happened.
We do not say that they would not have been at-
tempted, but they would have been promptly met with
efficient resistance, and every .man would have felt that
the omnipotent arm of the Law was shielding him and
his family from harm, despite the blustering of the
ragamuffin demagogues who excite the populace to
these acts of fury.
But the evil lies deep. It will be said, of course,
that there is no connection between Feargus O'Connor
and Lord John Russell; none between the speeches
and conduct of Ministers and the riots of Birmingham.
We assert, on the contrary, that there is ; and we
should be justified in saying this, even although our
charge against the Ministry were merely that of. des-
picable weakness. It is the bounden duty of every
Government to see " ne quid detrimenti respublica
capiat ;" and if, from timidity, or inadvertence, or
incapacity, it omits to do this, then it is responsible for
every shock given to the peace of the community.
Supineness on the part of the Governing Power, and
excess on the part of the Governed, stand in the rela-
tion of cause and effect; and it is vain, by expressions
of sorrow and 14egret, to deprecate the' censure which
such consequences drawn down upon such conduct.
But there has been more than mere negative indiffe-
rence and neglect. The insensate mob of Birmingham
is only translating into practice the lessons inculcated
by the Whigs when they sought to carry the Reform
bill, and every now and then repeated by them when
they wish to terrify the Church or bully the House of
Lords. While they are perpetually preaching up the
power of the people, and seeking to bring into con-
tempt the higher classes of society, in order that they
may attain their own selfish ends, and by cajoling the
masses climb up into a station from which they look
down upon their unwashed followers with sovereign
contempt, the people themselves are determined to
show that this power is not an empty sound, and with
daggers and torches they put their own interpretation
on the mode in which they are to exercise it. We can-
not exculpate Lord John Russell from the charge of
having abetted the Warwickshire rioteys, when we
recollect that in this very town, at the time when the
Chartist ruffians were in the near neighbourhood utter-
ing their wild harangues, he, the Secretary of State
for the Home Department, declared that he saw nothing
illegal in the public meetings of Englishmen—(a stupid
truism as regards assemblages different in spirit and
character from those to which his attention was then
called, viz., the Chartist gatherings)—and gave the
countenance of Government to the seditious crowds
which were then congregating in different parts of
Northumberland and Lancashire. And the proof that
we are justified in so charging the Home Secretary is
this, that in the South-west of England the Chartist
leaders have over and over again declared that they
were acting in conformity with the opinion and advice
of Lord John Russell, publicly volunteered by him in
the Town-hall of Liverpool.
Again. When we look at the composition of the
Magistracy of Birmingham we can feel no surprise at
what has occurred. " Set a thief to catch a thief"
may be a very good maxim as applied to a police agent,
but will never do upon the bench. What respect can
be entertained by mob-leaders and their followers for
men who a short time ago were demagogues as reck-
less as 'themselves. One of two things will happen
when such men are made magistrates. Either the
rabble will look upon them as still friendly to their
violence, and will proceed with greater confidence to
the perpetration of their lawless ne,e4 pr they WW re-

gard them as traitors and renegades, and seek to
thwart their measures for the preservation of the peace
with all the bitterness of personal resentment. Lord
John Russell sought to win a little popularity by putting
such a man as Muntz into the Commission of the
Peace—a man who, a short time back, was an active
member of the National Convention—as well as others
of a like stamp ; and the consequence is, that either
this quondam Chartist and his colleagues do not wish
to act vigorously against their old allies or do not dare
to provoke their dangerous hostility. Thus our towns
are to be plundered and burnt that low demagogues
may be propitiated by this most wretched of miserable
governments.

Another point we must notice is this. Why are the
military not sooner called into action ? The firm front
of forty well-mounted dragoons would scatter the mob
to the winds. A police force is to be cooped up within
prisons and town-halls, not daring to face the infuriated
crowd assembled outside, and the work of destruction
is to go on with impunity, because, forsooth, Lord
John Russell prefers a body of blue constables from
London to the efficient services which a commanding
officer with a few troops would instantly render. We
would rather see soldiers parading through our streets
as they do in . the towns and cities of the continent,
than have our houses in flames and our property de-
stroyed, because the constabulary force is inadequate
for our defence.

On the wretches who have directly instigated this
outrage we will not waste a word. We trust that the
gallows and the hulks will teach them that'in England,
even under the most imbecile of Executives, the law
cannot be violated with impunity.

The plot is thickening. The Reform Bill, carried
into operation by the fools who organised the masses
of the manufacturing districts, is doing its dirty work,
and the tinkers of Newhall Hill, who were courted by
the Whigs, when those tinkers were necessary as their
tools, are turning again on their former patrons, and ere
long they will " rend them." If the vengeance of the
Birmingham mob had been confined to the municipal
knaves whose treasonable and inflammatory harangues
raised them to the seat of justice, although we might
have lamented such proceedings in England, nobody
would have pitied them—they raised the storm, and
they ought to abide its peltings. But when the mob
deliberately set to work to demolish the dwellings of
innocent and unsuspecting persons—to throw out into
the public streets the property of poor widows and
others, probably their all—to burn that property, and
afterwards to fire the houses, we think it is high time
that such a state of things should be put an end to,
and an immediate enquiry be instituted as to who is to
blame. Mr. Muntz, the Don Whiskerandos of the
Political Union, is now a magistrate on the bench of
justice ? and it is said that more than one of the
rioters have declared he ought to change places with
them, as he was himself the leading spirit of the union,
and the marshal-general of the sooty forces. Through
the folly of the ten-pounders, our magisterial benches
are filled with Muntzes, and unless new lists are forth-
with made throughout the land, a social convulsion
is inevitable in England. The prime minister is
dangling at the heels of royalty—his subordinates are
engaged in the work of infidelizing the country, and
doing thz work of Papal Rome, and the first account
that reaches the government, when one of the most
important towns in the kingdom is in a blaze, is
through a newspaper ! The order of Jesuits is scat-
tered throughout our land, and much, if not most of
our national trouble may be traced to their wily and
fomenting spirit. Rome triumphs in the degradation
of England, and laughs at the flames of Bristol, of
Nottingham, and of Birmingham. It is indicative of
a falling nation when the lowest of the people are
enabled to bear rule; and truly when we see our
seats of justice polluted by the creatures who now
form the majority of our magistracy in boroughs,
created by the Reform Bill, li7e may well tremble for
the fate of England. The country seems paralized
and unable to help itself. No mighty spirit stands at
the helm, but discord reigns throughout the land.

Distrust betwixt all classes—mercantile, manufacturing,
and monetary distress—perplexity and feebleness in
our national councils—riot, bloodshed, and arson in
our streets ; these are a few blessings of Whig govern-
ment. But affairs are coming to a crisis : either
the present men must be driven from office, and a
strong government be formed which is able to quell
insurrection and vindicate the law, or we must go on
to a republic, and the masses must rule, till a military
despot rules them. This town is so far, and we trust
ever will be, clear of such degradation as we witness
in Birmingham; but we fancy that if a mob were to
pay agrarian visits to some of our Whig rulers, and
Whig shopkeepers, and throw their goods into the
street, gut their dwellings, and then set them on fire,
they would not be so enamoured of what are called
liberal principles, but would have a surfeiting of de-
mocratic rule, that might act as an alternative for the
rest of their days. There are men in this town, who
are. playing the part of Muntzes, and leading the pc-
palace onwards to dissatisfaction, who spend their days
and nights in persuading the people that they are
plundered and oppressed, who are the convenient tools
of the papists, and who are put forwards (or probably
thrust themselves forwards) on every occasion when
those more respectable than themselves are to be
abused : and as their conduct in the present day in-
variably leads to the magistracy, or perhaps mayoralty,
some of these mischievous creatures, through their
own vanity, and the unworthy fears or cupidity of
their more respectable coadjutors, may probably,
ere long, sway the civic sceptre of this borough; and
we beg our readers to prepare themselves for a want
of protection to person and property, if such should
unfortunately happen ; for the late proceedings at Bir-
mingham are a convincing proof, that when political
agitators are pitchforked into magistracy, the time has
arrived when every man and his property are at the
mercy of a mob.

By the packet-ship Garrick, Captain Palmer, which
arrived here on Tuesday evening, we have received
New York papers to the 25th of June, inclusive. The
Liverpool steam-ship was hourly expected at New
York, having been out twelve days. The most impor-
tant intelligence which the papers contain is the account
of the trial of William Lyon Mackenzie, before the
District Court of the United States for the Western
Division of the Northern District4of New York. The
trial occupied three days. On the 21st the jury re-
turned a verdict of guilty, and the prisoner was sen-
tenced to eighteen , months' imprisonment in Munroe
county jail, and a fine of ten dollars. Mackenzie, who
was indicted for a violation of the neutrality law of
1818, conducted his own defence, without the aid of
counsel. The trial of James Sparks succeeded. He
was indicted for enticing a United States soldier to
desert from Niagara. He was acquitted.
Great preparations were making at New York for
the reception of the President of the United States,
who was expected to pay that city a visit about the first
of July.
The command of the Niagara frontier has been con-
ferred upon Lieut.-Colonel Eastcourt. The British
forces on the boundary have been strengthened.
Active preparations were in progress by the Texian
government to establish a blockade along the whole
line of the Mexican coast. Mexico has not a single
ship of war. Texas, it is stated, will soon have three
sloops, two brigs, - and two schooners of war, besides
an armed steanr. This force will be sufficient to
blockade the three principal Mexican ports Vera Cruz,
Tampico, and Matamaras—at least they say so in
Texas. The probable result of such a warlike mani-
festation on the part of Texas would be that Mexico
would be compelled to acknowledge the independence
of Texas.

The news from Mexico is important. The reserve
of the Federalist army, amounting to 2,000 men, under
General Lemos, has at last had an engagement with
the government troops under Cavaliro. A severe bat-
tle was fought between them at Monterey on the 27th
of May. The loss was most severe on the part of
Cavaliro, although both parties claimed the victory.
The result was that General Lemos took possession of
Durango and Santilla, and was marching upon Zace-
tacas. The whole interior was in arms against the
government, and it was supposed that General Busta-
mente would have to quit his station near Tampico,
and proceed to the interior. Matamoras was still in
possession of the government party, consisting of about
1000 men, who, instead of rejoicing at the death of
Genera), Mjia,.were ee 4iNustAKl with-410 v4lany- and

cruelty of Santa Anna, that it was supposed they would
offer their assistance to the Federal army in case of an
attack, which was daily expected.
On the 4th of June a party of Camanche Indians,
500 in number, attacked the Mexican residents on the
north side of the Rio Grande, killed 30 of them, and
plundered and destroyed everything they could lay
their hands on.

The news from Florida is gloomy. Repeated attacks
were made by the Indians on the persons and property
of the citizens. Mutual retaliation seemed still to be
the order of the day.
The Morning Herald of the 22d ult. states that pri-
vate letters had been received at New York bringing
the intelligence that the French blockade of Buenos
Ayres would soon be raised. It was so believed in the
diplomatic circles of Rio de Janeiro. The excitement
against the English at the latter place still continued.
The money market at New York was in a depressed
state. In Philadelphia money was scarce, and com-
mercial affairs appeared gloomy. The monetary affairs
of Baltimore were in the best condition of any city in
the Union. Money was two per cent. a month in New
Orleans for the best of paper. Business was conse-
quently curtailed, and the banks required additional
securities for their advances to plpters.

The Morning Herald of June 24 remarks—" The
commercial and monetary affairs of this country were
never before, perhaps, in such a curious, interesting,
and singular condition as they are now. The wild and
unholy transactions of the speculators have been
checked in mid career by the regular and healthy ac-
tion of nature. After the terrible and severe revulsion
of 1836 and 1837, a clique of speculators, millers, and
the like, commenced monopolizing all the grain upon
which they could lay their hands. This gradually in-
creased and expanded till, with the aid of banking ca-
pital, they begun the monopoly of grain, pork, cotton,
lead, and butter. This busiriess was enlarged so much
that nearly every bank in western New York and Ohio,
together with the State and Exchange Banks of this
city, were engaged in furnishing the means to carry on
the trade; and, for one year and more, they sent up
the price of every description of produce to an enor-
mous height ; but the action of nature will cause a
greater and more terrible revulsion among them than
was ever before known. The- great disruption in the
commercial world in 1836 and 1837 was created by
extensive over-trading and the action of the Bank of
England in throwing discredit on American bills and
drawing back from this country into her coffers an
immense amount of bullion.

" The revulsion which will certainly visit a portion
of the United States ere two months have passed, will
be entirely of a different nature than that of 1836. It
will be brought about by a superior and greater power
than that which created the commercial troubles three
years since, and one that can and will regulate the mer-
cantile transactions of the whole world, and place them
on a solid and sure foundation. There is now a black
cloud in the horizon that increases in size every day,
and wears at this moment a threatening aspect. It
hovers over this country—it extends over the entire
States of Ohio and New York, and its occasional mut-

terings are already heard."
United States Bank shares were quoted at 118. Ex-
change upon England ranged from 9 to 9/ and 91 per
cent. premium.

We have been favoured with a file of Sydney papers
to the 23rd of March- They contain much interest-
ing news, for which we regret that we cannot make
room to-day, owing to the crowded state of our co-
lumns. The continued drought experienced in the
colony was the cause of serious apprehensions. The
late favourable accounts of the English 'Wool Market
had added materially to the value of sheep. The Go-
vernor, in order to decrease as much as possible the
consumption of wheat, had issued a government no-
tice, authorising all contractors for the supply of con-
victs' rations to issue an increased supply of animal
food, in lieu of flour. We hope to give extended ex-
tracts from these papers in our next.

CORRESPONDENCE.

DISTRESS IN WESTPOR.T, IRELAND.

[The following letter has been addressed by the Rev.
Joseph Baylee, of Westport, to the Rev. Fielding Ould, of
this town. It is unnecessary for us to add anything to the
statements which it contains.]—

WESTPORT, JULY 14, 1839.

MY DEAR FETEND,—I feel so reluctant to trespass on
the bounty of our kind English friends, that I have delayed
till the last moment to make an appeal to their compas-
sions for our starving countrymen. The wages of a la-
bouring man here, are Bd. per day, and potatoes are 63d.
per stone. So that those who have employment, are un-
able to procure more than one meal a day for their families.
A steward over a new line of road in this neighbourhood,
informed me to-day, that when he dismissed the labourers
for dinner, they took an hour's cessasion from work under
the ditches, having no food to go home to till evening.
But the case of the far more numerous class of those
who are unemployed is still more melancholy—huadreds
aroind here are almost literally starving, their counte-
nances and whole appearance are those of men pining from
hunger. _

The Rev. P. Pounten, the rector of this union, has,
from his private resources, and the assistance of a few
frie Ids, been giving a quarter of,i stone of meal for the
support of a family for two days. Wretched as this pit-
tance is, hundreds of able-bodied men, who would thank-
fully take employment, have been crowding around his
door from morning till evening to receive it.
He assisted in this way 300 families yesterday, but
many more went away unrelieved,
We hope to be able to raise sufficient funds here to al-
leviate the people's sufferings for another week, but beyond
this we have no prospect from local resources. The pre-
sent scarcity will continue three weeks ; we are therefore
compelled to solicit the bounty of those whose hearts the
Lord bath taught to remember the grace of Him who be-
came poor for our sakes.
Any contribt flow; will be most thankfully received and
duly accounted for in the London Record, and iu the Mayo
Constitution. Please address an answer either to " Rev.
P. Pounder, Glebe, Westport ;" or to " Rev. J. Baylee,
Westport." Faithfully yours in the Lord,
JOSEPH. BAY LEE.

Any Subscriptions will be thankfully received and ac-
counted for by Rev. FIELDEN OULD, Islington, and at
Mr. JOSEPH CRISP'S Office, 38, Church Street.
Subscriptions will also be received at the STANDARD
OFFICE.

PARRIS'S CORONATION PICTURE.

TO MR. MERCIER,

SIR,—An Unwillingness to obtrude upon the public mat-
ters with which they have nothing to do, induced me to take
no public notice of your first advertisement, in which I am
charged with an " unwarranted appropriation" of your
painting-room during your absence ; it is, however, neces-
sary that I should set myself right with the public in reply
to your fraudulent statement in yesterday's paper.
A month previously, you knew that the Coronation Exhi-
bition was to commence on the 28th of June, amd, at my
request, you readily rendered your engagements elsewhere
subservient to the period so fixed. You purposely left
town a few days prior to the arrrival of the picture, having
arranged your portraits as you wished them to remain, and
as they did remain until your return. You asked me to
affix a card to them, which I did, intimating to the public,
that "communications for Mr. Mercier may be left with
Mr. Lacey." This plan you had never adopted before,
although absent for ten days together. It was done in this
instance because you knew that I was about to issue 1500
printed invitations (which you saw) to the public to view
" PARRIS'S GRAND CORONATION PICTURE," and "TUE
QUEEN'S FIRST COUNCIL," by SIR DAVID WILLIE, and
that the Exhibition could not fail to be highly advantageous
to you. I studiously made my arrangements so that every
one must see your portraits as you left them ; and they were
seen by between•six and seven thousand persons who visited
the Exhibition, hundreds of whom can bear me Witness,
that I anxiously replied to enquiries made of me about
them • as you know, with some immediate results. On the
fifth day of July, knowing that to be the first day of closing
the Exhibition, you returned to Liverpool ; as the room
would not be ready for you before three o'clock, I offered
you the use of my parlour, which you accepted, and took
your painting materials into it. I then, at your request,
gave you the names of three persons who had desired to see
you on your return to Liverpool ; you then went out, ex-
pressing to me your intention of calling upon them. While
1 was assisting in packing up the Coronation Picture, and
clearing the room, you came in and removed your portraits
entirely away from the premises, without giving me any
kind of notice whatever; leaving a quarter's rent, and ano-
ther claim I have upon you, unpaid. This plain statement
of facts, all of which I have ample proof of, will show how
far I am justified in having characterised, as a "gratuitous
falsehood," your designation of the recent Exhibition as
" an unwarranted appropriation of your late painting-room ;"
occupied, upon your own showing, jointly with me.
I am, Sir, yours, &c.,
HENRY LACEY.
Bold-street, .Tuly 18th, 1839.

DEATH OF THE SULTAN MAHMOUD.—The Times of yes-
terOay announces the death of Sultan Mahmoud on the 30th
ult. The eldest son' although only 17, had been declared of
age, and proclaimed Emperor by the Divan.
THE WEATHER.—On the night of Tuesday, the barometer
began to fall rather rapidly from 30 33; and from noon on
Wednesday to six o'clock yesterday morning it fell from
30 00 ;to 29 55. This indicated a change of weather.
Throughout the night of Wednesday, we had, accordingly,
severe squalls, accompanied by heavy showers,—wind chiefly
from the S.E. and E.S.E. Yesterday, we again experienced
squalls and showers, and intermediate sunshine, with an at-
mosphere inclining to sultry. The afternoon was, however,
rather finer, though still occasionally stormy. The river was
dashed into waves rather unusual in the Mei._ ey at this sea-
son of the year. and presented a very animated and inter-
esting scene—the vessels under sail being generally close-
raefed, and the whole afforded no bad miniature of the ocean
in a gale, We have hpard of go accidents ou tne river or
441000 00€144,

ST. GEORGE'S HALL.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD,

SlR,—Having heard many complaints against the decision
of the St. George's Hall Committee, which we are inclined
to believe have emanated from some of our professional com-
petitors in this town ; we feel that we are only doing an act
of public justice, both to the committee and to our success-
ful opponent, when we state, that we have seldom been ac-
quainted with a competition that has been conducted on a
more straightforward principle, and where the design selected
has exhibited more taste and discrimination on the part of
the judges.
We are, however, free to admit that many parts may re-
quire alteration, before being carried into execution ; and
where, we would ask, is the design which would not need
some emendation, either to suit the internal convenience of
the building, or the local ideas of a committee ? We are
certain there are few ; and, after carefully examining the de-
sign of Mr. Elmes, on Thursday and Friday last, at the Ex-
hibition-room we are of opinion, that as a whole, it dis-
plays greater t.aste, combined with a more excellent arrange-
ment for the intended purposes than any other in the room ;
and most happy shall we be, for the credit of Liverpool,
(although ourselves on the list of disappointed competitors),
if the building can be erected for the stipulated sum ; but
we trust, from the honour and integrity of the committee,
that this important restriction of the prospectus will be
faithfully adhered to.
We remain your obedient servants,
CUNNINGHAM and HOLME.
Wood-street, 18th July, 1839.