The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-11-01 00:00:00

PHILHARMONIC HALI

GRAND SUBSCRIPTION CONCERT
MENDELSSOHN'S WALPURGIS NIGHT.
THIS EVENING (TUESDAY),
QUARTER BEFORE EIGHT

Nov. IST
['See Advtl

TO CORRESPONDENTS

"SIBAS" need be under no apprehension as to the conse-
quences. To do right never results in wrong.

E. G. M.—The only Corporations which boast a Lord Mayor
are the cities of London, Dublin, and York.
A PROTESTANT.—By the Romanist Emancipation Act, which
was passed in 1829. monasteries in this country were for-
bidden, but the law had no such regard for helpless females,
and permitted the existence of convents or nunneries.
G. H. S.—A will requires no stamp, except when proved after
f l the death of the testator, when the stamp will depend on

the value of the property

*,.* Owing to the pressure upon our space, we have been re-
luctantly compelled to postpone the insertion of several in-
teresting communications.

Letters addressed to the Editor should be accompanied by the
real name and address of the writer, not for publication,
but as a guarantee of good faith ; this is indispensably re-
quisite in any statement of facts. The Editor wishes it to
be understood that be does not hold himself responsible
for the opinions or statements of his correspondents.

03. We shall be happy, at all times, to receive communica-
tions on subjects of local or general interest.
BOOKS, &c., FOR REVIEW, may be left at Mr. C. Mitchell's,
Redlion-court, Fleet-street, London, addressed "to the
Editor of the LIVERPOOL STANDARD," when they will be
forwarded and receive attention.

The ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION to the LIVERPOOL STANDARD
is 20s. in advance—or 221. on credit.

;XI
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7." v.
4;>
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Kiberpoot ,-ztattbarbt

TUESDAY MORNING, NOV. 1, 1853

WHILE those who can discern nothing that lies
deeper than the surface are felicitating themselves
on the great advantages which they choose to
beliprp have been gained by Free-trade, there are
many circumstances which tarnish the spurious
gilding, and give occasion to the judicious to ques-
tion whether it was worth while risking so much
to gain so little. There is hardly an additional gain
that has served to swell the note of triumph raised
by these Manchester politicians, which may not be
clearly traced to causes over which human wisdom
or foresight could have had no control. If Free-

trade promoted emigration, it was not on account of
the blessings which it produced, but directly the
reverse, for the miseries which it occasioned com-
pelled hundreds and thousands to forsake the land
of their birth, an order to seek in other countries
a home and subsistence which were denied
them in this. The census of 1851 tells the
melancholy tale of our rural villages almost depo-
pulated, and most of our country towns show-
ing a diminution of numbers, while the only
evidence of increase is in the seats of manufac-
tures and the shipping ports, to Whi©h the peasan-
try had been driven as a last resource. If the phase
of internal affairs was a revival of manufacturing
industry, it was owing to the increased emigration,
and the demands of our distant colorists, stimu-
lated by the extraordinary discoveries of gold, 'to
which Free-trade contributed nothing. All that
our modern policy can claim credit for is the

impetus which has been given to our foreign trade,
and when this has been examined with an impar-
tial eye, the doubt may fairly be raked whether it
is not ,a source rather of loss than of gain.

The first step which was taken was to • discou-
rage the raising of, oar food on our own broad acres,
by admitting to ow markets the produce which
contributed nothing to our Revenue, and did not
even give us the .benefit of exchanging one pro-
duct for another, as .every increase of importation
has led to a decrease of exportation 1n 'the same
direction. The consequence was a depreciation of
agricultural property, by far the most important
interest in the Kingdom, and such a ,discounage-
ment to the cultivatiai-of wheat, that now,:after
only a few years' experience, we are dependent for
the greater proportion of the most important
.article for our subsistence upon the surplus pro-
ductions of other countries. This is an evil of
such magnitude, that a quarrel between Turkerand
Russia has augmented .the price of bread beyond ,
-the average during the lunch maligned times ,of,
protection, and so all the dream of cheapness :in
which the Manckester orators so fondly indulged
has proved a delusion. But this is by no means
the extent of the eve, for in dealing with foreigners
we have co oppose the principle of common honesty,
which was once the peculiar characteristic of
English trading, to the crag and fraud which
appear inseparable from the dealings of our new
foreign customers. This is particularly the case
in the corn trade from the ports on the Black Sea,
where it is a common practice to commit wholesale
frauds by having bills of lading signed in blank,
and transmitted to England with bills drawn
against these imaginary shipments ; and should
merchants here be weak enough to accept on the
faith of such securities, they afterwards find large
discrepancies between the actual and the alleged
quantities, and may seek for a remedy in vain.

Last week we called attention to the risk in-
curred by British merchants in shipping by foreign
vessels, owing to the difference between our laws
and those of other nations, and the difficulty, if
not impossibility, of obtaining redress for the
grossest injustice. This is one of the evils spring-
ing out of the repeal of the Navigation Laws, and
can only be met by merchants refusing to employ
vessels owned by foreigners, notwithstanding the
apparent temptation of lower rates of freight.

The trade in foreign fruit is another source of
dishonest practices, wherever they can be at-
tempted, through the ill-deserved confidence of
British merchants. An instance of this kind was
brought before the Liverpool Court of Passage, on
Tuesday last, which shows, at the lead, the animus