The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-03-23 00:00:00

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TUESDAY MORNING, MARCH 23, 1847.

THERE is something in the impudence of
Irishmen which is unapproachable ; but, when to
*that impudence ignorance is added, the native of
the sister isle beats the world. The debate on
Thursday evening, upon the motion of Mr. W. G.
O'Brien, the cellar martyr, for the imposition of an
absentee tax, afforded a rich specimen of the first
quality—impudence. Mr. John O'Connell was the
• exhibitor on the occasion. The twist in this young
gentleman's intellect is, of course, well known.
Every evil, real or imaginary, under which Ireland
labours, is, in his estimation, attributable to the
union between• the two countries. The absentee
drain, he says, commenced after the revolution of
1688, and increased until 1782. From that period,
when Ireland was managed by an Irish Parlia-
ment, it had considerably diminished." We cer-
tainly do not know whence Mr. John O'Connell
derives his data. Most likely, however, it is cor-
rect, that more money was spent in Ireland during
the existence of the Irish Parliament, than either
before or since. The history of the period informs
us how rapidly the gentry of Ireland were then
squandering their fortunes in idle ostentation,
semi-barbarous hospitality, and dissipation. How
many a fine estate the orgies of Daly's club, in
Dublin, saw dissipated in gambling, or subjected
to the necessity of being pawned to the harpies
who ever hang about the improvident ! Within
the period from 1782 to the Union, when all this
wanton extravagance was going on—when the
peer, the baronet, the squire, the squireen, and the
simple yeoman, were one and all congregated for
half the year in Dublin, haunting the avenues of
corruption, which was more rife at that period in
Dublin than corruption has ever been in any ci-
vilized country, and spending their incomes in an-
ticipation, in the hope of some prospective golden
employment—we verily believe that nine-tenths of
those encumbrances were contracted, which at pre-
sent obstruct the improvement of the social con-
dition of the Irish people ; which keep the Irish
landowner in the position of an insolvent pos-
sessor of rank and station—a kind of lackered in-
cumbrance upon the soil, of which he is the merely
the nominal and powerless possessor. Mr. John
O'Connell and other repealers may well talk to the
dupes of Conciliation-hall of the glorious times of
the Irish Parliament. They were glorious times
for the pimp, the clever gambler, the intriguing
place-hunter, and the reprobate of every degree
and kind. They were glorious times too for the
Dublin tradesman they were bad for honest
tradesmen in other localities. They were glorious
times for the money lender, the aspiring middle-
man, and the acute lawyer, who could draw up a
deed in an hour to supply a gambler's or a spend-
thrift's necessities. But they were bad for the
racked tenantry of Ireland ; and the curse has
fallen upon their successors. They were bad for
the wives, the widows, the sons, and the daughters
of the men who were enacting the farce of do-
mestic legislation. Superlatively impudent as arc
Mr. John O'Connell's complaints thus far noticed,
the following passage of his eech betrays igno-
rance not easily to be surpassed:
" What was it that caused the want of a good market
mad of rich customers for Irish manufactures. The
absence of rich proprietors ; and it was with a view to
remedy this evil that his honourable friend had brought
forward the motion now before the house. They ought,
he contended, to do all in their power to restore to Ireland
the use of her own money ; and if then she could not
develope her resources, and thereby vivify her manufac-
turing and commercial industry, she deserved to be poor."
Certainly the young gentleman must imagine
that Irish manufactures' are glued to the soil, or to
the looms in which they are wrought. Perhaps he
runs away with the idea that Irishmen, whether
"rich proprietors " or not, will give more for Irish
manufactures than for others of better quality,
which can be sold for a less price. This kind of
s'atriotism, however," we haVe not yet seen. Let
Ir land produce goods which will compete with the
manufactures of other countries, and they will find
markets for themselves, wherever her " rich pro-
prietors" may live. She has labour cheap enough,
facilities for production enough, and a fair chance
of buying the raw material upon the same terms as
the people of other countries. If her manufac-
tures are equal in quality, and as reasonable in
price, as those of other countries, they ought to
sell not only in Ireland to resident proprietors, but
to the world at large. Scarcely any man in the
present day thinks it necessary to confine his pa-
tronage to the bootmaker or the tailor next door.
The Irish ladies, we dare say, think that the con-
stant wear of Irish poplins savours rather too
closely of the " toutjours perdria'." To attribute
to the effect of the Union the fact that Irish ma-
nufactures arc not sufficiently encouraged is per-
fectly absurd. Before residents in Ireland confine
themselves to the wear of Irish fabrics, one of two
events must take place. Either Ireland must pro-
duce more cheaply than other countries, or steamers
must cease running between Great Britain and the
Irish ports. If Mr. John O'Connell can bring
about the former result, he will confer a greater
benefit upon his country, than by spinning inflam-
matory • harangues ad infinitum. If he can bring
about the latter, he will be, what very few people

have ever considered him, a conjuror.
It is revolting to find such an appeal to popular
prejudices and ignorance, as Mr. John O'Connell's
revival of the agitation in Parliament of the Repeal
of the Union, resorted to in the *sent disastrous
crisis of Ireland. Repeal the Union indeed Why,
there is scarcely an English rate-payer or tax-payer,
who, in his heart of hearts, would not thankfully
hail his riddance from all connexion. with, and
proximity to, that unhappy island, whose fortunes,
had not such mercenary agitators as Mr. O'Con-
nell and his dying, and we hope penitent, father,
never interfered to mar them, ought to have been
at the present hour as promising as the most fa-
voured portions of this country. Such a cry
comes with an ill grace, at a time when those
against whom it is levelled are expending thou-
sands, the product of individual charity, and mil-
lions contributed by the state, for the sustenance
of their revilers.

JOURNALISTS, like other people, will sometimes
meddle with matters which they, do not understand,
and with the facts connected with which they are
entirely unacquainted. Our contemporary the
-Albion is in this predicament with respect to the
Factory Bill, which we are happy, whilst he is
sorry, to see almost carried by acclamation in the

House of Commons, and certain to be similarly
treated by the House of Lords. His human
feeling cannot get the better of his political eco-
nomy. The end of all legislation, he seems to
think, is to enable the capitalist to amass gold.
The prosperous working of the iron machine is
everything in his eyes; the soul's and the body's
health of the flesh-and-blood watcher and slave of
that machine is nothing in comparison. By
allowing the poor factory worker two hours per
day additional for bodily rest, for the proper super-
intendence of his family, and the cultivation of his
mind, we are swamping, our contemporary ima-
gines, the manufacturing interest of the country.
We are doing no such thing. If necessary, we
could prove to our contemporary that the factory
worker in ten hours can effect more both for his
employer and himself than by working twelve
hours. An overtoiled operative cannot compete at
piece-work with one in full breath, and with all his
energies at command.
We are not, however, going to argue the ques-
tion with our contempory. It is a settled one
already. Our object in referring to it is, merely to
contradict one of the many flippant assertions which
he has put forth in his last publication. The
following is that to which we refer :

" All the idle and dissolute among the working classes
are for it, because they would rather cramp the energies of
their more industrious fellows than put forth their own to
emulate and imitate them."

We can state distinctly, authoritatively, and
prove that it is not the idle and dissolute who are
advocates of this Bill. The idle and dissolute can
do with the system as it is. They can sit at home,
whilst the wife and mother or the child is worn
down by inordinate and destructive toil. The idle
and dissolute desire none of the opportunities of
social amelioration, for which the short-time advo-
cate contends. They care not for improvement of
their domestic comforts—improvement of the health
and the morals of their families. We are borne
out by fact, in asserting that amongst the advo-
cates of the Ten Hours Bill are the best men in
the factory districts—the most industrious and
moral men—the best sons, husbands, and fathers,
and the best workmen. Our contemporary, if he had
known these men, watched their strivings for years
in behalf of this measure, mingled with their fa-
milies, and observed the orderly state of most of
their households, with the limited opportunities at
their disposal, he would not have inflicted upon
them the very uncalled for epithets " idle and dis-
solute."