The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-09-13 00:00:00

ore us

Before we proceed to notice the advice which Mr.
Walmsley has offered his quondam friends the Chartists,
we must convict him of the offence of falsely repre-
senting the sentiments of the Chartists. He cannot
forget " the shop," even while writing a magniloquent
letter " to the working men of the United Kingdom."
He begins his letter with a sly hit at the Corn Laws,
in the abolition of which he is largely interested. But
this is quite in keeping with the character of a modern
patriot, with whom selfishness is ever an all-prevailing
and engrossing principle of action. He insinuates
that the Chartists complain "that they eat dear bread"
—that " their skill is cramped in its exercise by mono-
polies"—that " they are thus debarred that easy access
to the comforts and conveniencies of life, which their
skill and industry could earn for them"—that " there
are barriers, maintained by iniquitous laws, against
their possession of those immunities, to which, as free
men, they are entitled." Now we deny most empha-
tically that such are the "grievances " against which
the Chartists complain. They have systematically re-
sisted the anti-Corn Law agitation. In proof of this we
need only remind Mr. Walmsley of the ignominous
defeat which the anti-Corn Law delegates sustained at
Manchester. The Chartists know that the repeal of the
Corn Laws would make no difference whatever in their
condition, unless, indeed, it would tend to depress
them still further, by ruining their best friends, the
farmers and landowners. The abolition of the Corn
Laws forms no part of the Chartist agitation. But we
beg to remind Mr. Walmsley of one practical grievance
of which the Chartists do complain. They complain
with bitterness of the new Poor Laws. This they look
upon as the very chief of their grievances. Is Mr.
Walmsley prepared to say that their doing so " is a
matter for praise, not for censure ? "
We have said that Mr. Walmsley's letter smells
rankly of " the shop." The more we examine it, the
more convinced do we become, that Mr. Walmsley's
sole object in addressing " the working men of the
United Kingdom " is, to enlist them into the ranks of
the anti-Corn Law agitators. With this view, while
endeavouring to demonstrate to the Chartists the folly
and futility of seeking to oppose, by physical force, the
constituted authorities of the country, he says that
they would have to contend " against a yeomanry,
drawn from an agricultural population, between which
and them there exists no sympathy ;". and " against an
aristocracy, eager at all times to keep them depressed."
The animus of all this is perfectly clear. Mr. W:lms-
ley only seeks to prejudice the Chartists against the
landed interests—an attempt in which he will never
prove successful.

But we have still more matter in this letter that re-
minds us of " the shop." Mr. Walmsley proceeds,
in terms as terse as those of Sir Andrew Aguecheek's
challenge, to explain the historical fact that there is "no
instance of a successful revolt of a people. much less
of a mere section of the people, unaided by military."
In the course of his remarks on this subject he sup-
poses that the first vigorous onset of the Chartists
might be attended with success—might put them in
possession of the manufacturing towns. " What
then ?" he exclaims, and he then answers the question
by stating that the " results would be more disastrous
than if they had been totally defeated"—that " a bur-
densome population dependent on their labour for
sustenance would soon try out for bread"—but that
" the total quantity of grain and flour in store in the
Kingdom would not suffice for more than a month's con-
sumption." Upon what authority the last assertion is
made we cannot conceive. If Mr. Wahnsley states
the truth, there is no reliance whatever to be placed in
official returns. We do not charge Mr. Walmsley with
deliberately uttering " the thing which is not," but—
we do not believe him.
It is instructive to learn that the Chartists, in case
of any outbreak, would be likely to wreak their ven-
geance on " the manufacturing towns." How do you
account for this, Master Walinsley ? Why should the
manufacturers be more the objects of Chartist hosti-
lity than the aristocracy, against whom you and your
political associates so vehemently declaim ?
We have been greatly amused with one axiom which
the oracle of the Reform Association has laid down in

this letter to the working classes. He says that
" abortive rebellion has never failed to throw back the
cause of liberty." If this be true, the converse must
be true also. Mr. Walmsley says, in effect, that
" successful rebellion would not throw hack, that is,
would promote, the cause of liberty." According to
this monstrous doctrine rebellion must be a blessing
when successful. Mr. Walmsley, we presume, would
have no objection whatever to a rebellion, if the mili-
tary could be prevailed upon to co-operate with the
Chartists.

Mr. Walmsley is peculiarly felicitous in his enumer-
ation of the great and beneficial political changes which
have taken place within the last few years, and which
he asserts were consummated by " the moral force of
public opinion." Among these he enumerates Catho-
lic Emancipation—the repeal of the Test and Corpo-
ration Acts—the passing of a (not the) Reform Bill—
and the Municipal Bill. Of course our friend Joshua
means the Reform and Municipal Acts : but let that
pays. Now, we should like to have some reasons in
support of the assertion that these several measures
were "incontestibly calculated for the advancement of
the public good." What good has Catholic Emanci-
pation done ? Has it clothed or fed the starving
peasantry of Ireland ? We know of no effects that it
has produced, other than that it has helped O'Connell
and his brother demagogues to the good things of
office—that it has placed Great Britain in subjection to
the sway of the Popish priesthood—and that it has in-
troduced into the house of Commons some forty or fifty
perjured representatives. What, again, has the repeal
of the Test and Corporation Act effected ? It has cer-
tainly enabled some score of Socinians to creep into the
legislature, to co-operate with the Papists in the work
of demolishing the church. What; again, has the re-
form act done to benefit the great mass of the people ?
We pause in vain for a reply. Those who were most
vociferous in the praise of this measure when it was
first propounded—those who pronounced it to be the
very acme of legislative wisdom—now ridicule all its
provisions, and denounce it as a grand specimen of
bungling—as an unsightly abortion. But, then, there
is the Municipal Bill, " through which," as Mr. Wahn-
sley says, "we feel daily the beneficial effects of a form
of government thoroughly responsible." Let the peo-
ple of Liverpool give Mr. Walmsley an answer on this
subject. What good has this measure done in this town?

Has it not retarded the progress of public improve-
ments ? Has it not introduced among us an infidel
system of education ? Is it not likely to give us the
blessing of an additional rate in the course of the pre-
sent year ? Certainly, the Municipal Act has enabled

the honest, independent, impartial, and patronage-
hating Reformers to discard the old and tried and faith-
ful servants of the Corporation, and to substitute in

their places the subservient creatures of the Reform
Association, of which Mr. Walmsley is the distin-
guished President. Certainly, the Municipal Act has
enabled sundry Socinians to climb up to the long-
envied magisterial bench. But what else has it done ?
Echo answers " What ?"

The remainder of our friend Joshua's epistle is ar-
rant nonsense. We find nothing intelligible in it but
the repetition of such phrases as " the delegation on
the repeal of the Corn Laws"—" taxing the nation in
the article of food"—" ..he supply of food unrestricted
by artificial regulations"—" the repeal of the Corn
Laws," &c., &c.—all smelling strongly of "the shop."
Keep to your sacks, Mr. Walmsley, and do not offer
your advice to the working people of Great Britain—
until you are asked for it.

We learn from the Gazette of Tuesday evening that
" Her Majesty has caused letters patent to pass the
great seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, constituting and appointing Baron Mont-
eagle Comptrollor-General of the receipt and issue of
Her Majesty's Exchequer," in the room of Sir John
Newport. We confess that we have been fairly puzzled
in our endeavour to discover the reason for this extra-
ordinary appointment. A more bungling and incom-
petent person than this same Baron Monteagle never
disgraced the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer :
and yet, strange to say, his Whig friends are shower-
ing honours and emoluments upon his head as if he
had been a statesman and a financier of the first water.
The people of England will naturally inquire " what is
to become of Sir John Newport ? " Is he to be pen-
sioned on the public in order that the blundering
Mount-Kite (as he has been designated by O'Connell)
should be provided with a snug sinecure for life, as a
reward for pursuing a line of policy which has made
him the laughing-stock of every mercantile man in the
community ?

We perceive from the Salopian Journal of Wednes-
day last that ten conservative candidates are already in
the field, and stand pledged to contest each ward in
the town at the next municipal elettion. To ensure
their success, committees have been formed in each
ward, for the purpose of commencing an immediate
and active canvass. This is just as it should be. We
like this timely organization. We hope it will result
in the final emancipation of the town of Shrewsbury
from the tyrannical domination of the radical faction.
We hope, also, to find ,the example thus nobly set by
the conservatives of Shrewsbury followed and emulated
in every borough in the kingdom, and in none more
particularly than in the good old town of Liverpool.
What are our conservative friends in this borough
about ? Have they formed committees in each of the
wards ? Have they got candidates in readiness ? It
is high time for them to commence operations. The
radicals are on the alert, and, when the day of trial ar-
rives, will we be found fully prepared. Our friends
must bear in mind that eight of the sixteen outgoing
council-men are conservatives. To secure their re-
election, as well as to displace some of the radicals,
will require the most strenuous and persevering exer-
t tions. Let the work be commenced immediately, and
success will be inevitable.

The annual visit of the Revising Barristers is close at
hand.. We earnestly hope that the Conservatives of
Liverpool, and of the Southern Division of Lanca-
shie, are prepared for the occasion. The Radicals
must not be allowed to benefit by the apathy and in-
difference of the Conservatives. A very short struggle
will suffice to rescue this country completely and per-
manently from the accumulating evils of Whig-Radi-
cal misrule. The results of the elections which have
taken place within the last six months afford the most
irrefragable proof of the steady progress of Conserva_
tive re-action in every part of the kingdom. In the
agricultural districts the cause of Lord Melbourne and
his administration is utterly hopeless ; while in the
manufacturing towns (Manchester and other places to
wit) liberalism is already in articulo mortis—in the
last throes of its existence. Nothing is now wanting,
in order to secure the advent of Sir Robert Peel to
office, and to obtain the blessing of a constitutional
and Protestant administration, but a prompt degree of
attention to the memorable advice given by the great
Conservative leader, when he emphatically declared that
" THE BATTLE OF THE CONSTITUTION IS TO AZ
FOUGHT IN THE REGISTRATION COURTS.

It will be seen from an advertisement in another
column that Mr. Peachey has been elected to the
office of assistant-overseer, in spite of the unscrupulous
and unprecedented opposition to which he has been
subjected. The issue of this contest, assuming as it did
a political character, is not without instruction. It

affords the most conclusive evidence of the ascendancy
of conservative principles in Liverpool. It cannot be
said that the " old freemen," as they are derisively
called by the radicals, have been the means of securing
Mr. Peachey's election. It cannot be asserted, as has
been done on former occasions of a similar nature,
that although Mr. Peachey has a majority of votes
there is a majority of persons opposed to him. The in-
ference from this is, undoubtedly, that the conservatives
have a numerical majority among the householders.
Let us hope to find our conservative friends equally
strong when the next municipal election takes place.
If they do not carry almost every ward in the town
on the first of next November it will be their own fault,
and not owing to any superiority which the radicals
possess.

LORD FRANCIS EGERTON.—On Monday morning last,
his lordship left Worsley, accompanied, we believe, by his
eldest son, for Cowes, Isle of Weight, where his yacht is
stationed, in which he is to sail for Italy, whither also his
lady and other members of his family will proceed in the
course of a few weeks ; and we believe it is their intention to
winter there.

Madame Grisi has cleared this season, £4000; her annua.
income, it is said, exceeds £lO,OOO.