The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-05-09 00:00:00

THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE AND THE

GREEK THRONE.

WE have, as a people, so long been accustomed
to entertain a jealous feeling for what is called the
liberty of the subject and the privileges of English-
-men, 'that we have unconsciously been induced to
,consider the free action of the Royal Family as
:antagonistic to the preservation of constitutional
freedom, and to think and speak of the SOVEREIGN
r and her immediate relatives as beings whose con-
duct is especially under popular surveillance. This
'is no new idea, but the growth of many years ;
though-it can neither be justified by constitutional
:traditions nor reconciled in any way with a due sense
of propriety or consistency. It has long been the
popular belief that the SOVEREIGN has no legal right
to leavethe country, without special leave asked and
granted ; and for many generations the greatest
freedom enjoyed by a monarch ®f ;England was a
visit to'his Hanoverian .dominions.. To the credit
of'Queen VICTORIA., she dispelled the popular error,
broke through the trammels which had no stronger
authority than have those of fashion, and, by her
visits to France, to Belgium, and to Prussia, showed
that she was inclined to enjoy some share of that
freedom which all her subjects had so 'largely at
command. Ideas as little justified by reason, pre-

cedent, or common sense, prevailed also with re-
ference to the immediate heir to the throne. When
GEORGE 111. was king, the younger sons of the
Royal Family held a kind of nominal employment,
which involved little or no responsibility ; but the
heir-apparent was believed to be exempt frcrn, or
rather disqualified for, any useful occupation, and
pitilessly left to all the temptations of profligacy and
dissipation, without even the opportunity which his
great ancestor (HENRY V.) had—" to show the
incredulous world the noble change which he had
purposed." Our own Prince of WALES is yet at
an age when there is sufficient time to look forward
to, so that he may be saved from the quicksands in
which his great-uncle floundered, and realise the
fond hopes which are entertained of his future
career. There is, however, another member of the
Royal Family who, though now occupying an im-
portant position in the British army in the East,
may be destined for a far higher sphere of useful-
ness, It is stated in the Russian journals that the
visit of his Royal Highness the Duke of CAMBRIDGE
to Vienna, though ostensibly to do honour to the
nuptials of the Emperor of AUSTRIA, had the ulte-
rior object of negotiating his elevation to the throne
of Greece, in the room of King OTHo. 81101 an
assertion may not have a particle of truth, but there
is no solid reason why it should not be true. King
OTHo has not only shown himself utterly incapable
of governing the people entrusted to him, but the
avowed support which he has lent to the insurrec-
tion against Turkey has demonstrated the grossness
of his ingratitude towards the powers by whose aid
he obtained his ill-deserved dignity. As a Mo-
narch to secure the independence of Greece, and
resuscitate the dormant energies of its people, he
is utterly worthless ; and it is doubtful if any better
plan could be devised than to punish his treachery
by dethronement, and to confer the kingdom
upon the Duke of CAMBRIDGE, under the same
guarantees. If England, France, and Austria
were favourable to such an arrangement, no other
States need be consulted, for Russia has excluded
herself from the family of European nations, and
the others are too unimportant for their approval
or disapproval to be of any consequence. The pro-
gress of the war will necessarily involve new
territorial settlements by treaty ; and the long
misgovernment of King OTHo, consummated by
manifest treachery and open rebellion, will amply
justify a change which present every prospect of
being signally beneficial,

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD, AND GE,N.EILAI 0011DIERCIAL ADVERTISER

decent and orderly maintenance of God's service and the
relief of the poor. Proper arrangements will be made,
so that the time of service shall not be lengthened, and
sermons will occasionally be preached in the afternoon,
to collect the alms of those worshippers who do not attend
in the morning. The number of what are called " charity
sermons" will of course be diminished, but we must have
three : —two for the Moorfields school, and one in obedience
to the Queen's letter.

(Signed) AUGS. CAMPBELL, Rector.

PROPOSED MAGDALEN ASYLUM.

IT has frequently excited remark that no institution
should exist in Liverpool, whose peculiar object is to
reclaim to the paths of virtue those erring and unfortunate
females who have been allured into the ways of vice and
the abodes of misery and shame. Within a brief period,
however, we are glad to learn that the attention of the
philanthropist and the charity of the Christian have been
attracted in this direction. A suggestion, which has been
warmly responded to, has been made to the Venerable
Archdeacon BROOKS and his colleague, the Rector CAMP-
BELL, to co-operate in the establishment of such an insti-
tution. Those gentlemen, ever alive to the true interests
of their countrymen and countrywomen, at once consented
to lend their countenance and aid in furtherance of the
objects of those who contemplate the establishment of a
home for the houseless —a refuge for outcast woman—an
asylum from the degradation and horrors of prostitution.
An advertisement in another column will apprise our
readers that a meeting of the friends of the proposed
Magdalen Asylum is to take place in the Savings' Bank,
Bold-street, this day, at three o'clock, when the plan on
which the proposed institution is intended to be carried on
will be submitted for the sanction and adoption of the
meeting. Though not fully acquainted with the plan in
its details, and even though we were, it would be impru-
dent to publish those details before they had been fully
digested by those through whose instrumentality they
will have to be carried into effect ; still we may safely say
that in their main features they bill be found such as to
merit the approbation and secure the support of all
Christians. The fact of so many of our clergy uniting
cordially in the formation of this much-needed charity
speaks favourably of its prospects, and affords a guarantee
that, under their united influence, a way will be found for
our fallen sisterhood to regain their lost place in society,
and through the adoption of which they may be enabled
to escape from an eternity of woe. The opportunity thus
afforded to the affluent and charitable Laity, to assist in
carrying out the benevolent intentions of the movers in
this charitable work, will not, it is hoped, be lost, but that
they will rally round the clergy and cordially aid in the
establishment of this most important charity.

INCREASE OF GOLD-ITS EFFECT
UPON COMMERCE.

How exceedingly rare are the occasions on which we
.find a priori reasoning fully borne out by the course of
subsequently occurring events, is an observation so fre-
quently made as to have become trite; and probably in
no instance has the fallibility of speculative theorists been
more palpably demonstrated than when those theories
were directed to the probable results of the gold discoveries
of recent years. According to the received opinions of our
curry theorists, the commercial equilibrium of the
world could only be maintained in its integrity by securing
the existing relative values of gold and silver, or so slowly
changing them that the difference would be imperceptible
and self-adjusting. Any sudden or extensive increase in
the quantity of one or other of those precious metals,
would, they said, be attended by suet= a ffisturbance in the
relative values of all commodities, ts these are measured
by money, as would lead to inextricable confuSion in mer-
cantile arrangements, and result in such commercial dis-

aster as inevitably follows pecuniary derangement. What
comment has experience enabled us to make upon this
theory ? Within the last four years, gold hasbeen thrown
upon the market of the world,--to an extent reaching
nearly £100,000,000 in addition to that derived from all
the other previously known sources of production, while
the amount of silver, during the same period, has ex-
perienced little or no perceptible augmentation. In the
face of this fact, and in defiance of the political economist's
theory, no commercial revolution has occurred. Gold has
not been depreciated in value to any sensible extent, nor
has silver risen in its marketable worth; the general
prices of commodities have not been enhanced, unless in
instances in which the cause of increase can 'be readily
traced to circumstances unconnected with the influx of
gold. If the hoc propter hoc form of argument is-to be
maintained, and,it is asserted, tbat:since gold has increased
greatly in quantity without enhancing the value of sih•er,
therefore the production of silver must have also increased

in an equal degree: waving every deduction which might

be made from the absence of any positive intimation of
the fact, as has been afforded in the case of gold, let us
see how the argument would then present itself. Iu that
view of the case we should find that instead of one hun-
dred millions' worth of precious metal we should have two
hundred millions' worth of representative value added to
the world's stock within the brief period of a year or two.
Such an augmentation, upon the economic theory, must
have produced a vast increase in the money value of all
commodities, or, that increase must have been warded off
by a corresponding increase in industrial production. In
other words, the world must, within four years, have
received an augmentation of its actual wealth to the extent
of X 400,000,000, over and above its ordinary production
and rate of increase ; a condition of matters too flattering
to be readily understood or safely adopted.

It would be as fatiguing as it-is unnecessary to demon-
strate, what every one is' aware of, that in all instances in
which commodities have not been affected by inclement
seasons, or by war, or the approach of war and its conse-
quences, they have not risen in price, notwithstanding the
great and admitted influx of gold. In many instances,
indeed, they are cheaper than before the auriferous ple-
thora, as in the case of coffee, sugar, wool, and cotton ;
arrd if corn and other breadstuffs are dearer, scant crops
and a deficient. harvest throughout Europe and America
are sufficient to account for the rise, without reference to
the relative plenty or scarcity of gold. Such being the
case, the conclusion forces itself on us, that although the
world is unquestionably richer than it was before the dis-
coveries of such prodigious quantities of gold as have been
met with in California and Australia, the results to be
drawn from preconceived theories have not accompanied
those discoveries nor flowed from their consequent wealth.
If the question be asked, in what direction has the ad-
vantage flowed, and who are the parties chiefly benefited ?
The answer must be, to the first query, in a greatly aug-
mented, permanent, and increasing market, for the pro-
duce of our industry and skill—to the second, the great

family of man, savage as well as civilised. As an example
of the former, take our Australian colonies. Prior to the
gold discoveries, our exports of British produce to Aus-
tralia were for the year, £2,600,000, and that was con-
sidered great; now they reach £9,000,000, which, calcu-
lated for the population at per head, gives a consumption
nearly thirty fold higher than that of any other country
in the world. Large as this is, the prospective view, as
respects that country, is yet more encouraging. Before
the gold fields lent their impetus to increase the number
of their inhabitants, the population of all the Australian
colonies did not exceed 400,000 ; by this time, so far as
can be ascertained, it is double that number. Nor is it
from gold alone that those noble colonies derive their
chief consideration in this point of view. If ever the
" diggings" cease to be productive on a limitless and ex-
travagant scale, the plough and the sheep-crook, corn and
cattle, sheep and wool, will prove other and less precarious
mines ; and the population of that land will go on increas-
ing, secure in the prolific capabilities of the colony; uniting
their exhaustless treasures—animal, vegetable, and mineral
—which shall distribute more equally and more equitably,
a wealth derived from honourable and well-directed
industry. Consumption in every article of our produce
is still on the increase, the rate of increase being also
rapidly augmenting. So far as present appearances war-
rant the conjecture, within ten years Australia will have
a population as large as that of the United States at the
declaration of their independence, and considerably more
wealthy.

If the gold discoveries have already done so much and
promise so much more for the colony, what, let us ask,
have been their effects on the mother country ? On a recent
occasion, Mr. JAMES BAINES pointed out the action of these
discoveries on the trade of Liverpool, and incidentally on
that of London, in the following pregnant observation.s
"In 1851 London sent out 224 ships, of 114,217 tons ;
during the same year Liverpool sent out 32 ships, of
23,224 tons. In 1852 London dispatched 341 vessels, with
a .burthen of 186,289 tons; and Liverpool in the same
period dispatched 128 ships, of 99,347 tons, The increase
in the Liverpool trade being 96 ships, and 76,142 tons.
On the 27th. April, 1850, there were on the berth at Liyer-
pool only four ships, having a burthen of 2,948 toils ; on
the corresponding day in 1851 there were three ships,.
burthen 2,716 tons ; but in the ptesent year there were 39
ships, of 36,721 tons burthen. By many persons the
American trade had been looked upon as greater than the
Australian trade, and probably they would be scarcely
prepared to believe him when be said that there were at