The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-02-02 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD

q..ree of imposture; all that we can do, a$ historians of the pass-
im' !War, is to sketch faithfully the manners as they rise.'
We have done this, and the doing so has led to our possession
of more than one portrait of the same individual, as remarkable
for their perfect truth as for their total want of resemblance to
each other. We pregent :two of theee sketches for the enter-
taimnentof our readers.

' " On the 3.1 of December, 1833, there appeared in the morn-
ing newspapers of this city the followintr advertisement:—

TO THE RIGHT HON. THE LORD MAYOR OF THE CITY
OF DUBLIN.

_ .
.we, the undersigned bankers, merchants, and traders,
request your Lordship will convene a meeting of our fellow-.
citizens, to be held at the commercial Buildings, at as eddy a
(lay as will anseer your lordship's convenience, to take into
consideration the most effectual'means of bringing those per-
sons ,to justice Who conimitted, and also those a# were con-
cerned, in those barbarous and violent outrages, recently com-
mitted in our city, arising out of combination; and also to take
into consideration the propriety of petitioning parliamegt to
enact such laws, as may prevent a recurrence of those outrages
-so disgraceful to our city, and sO injurious to the general in-
terests of trade.'

" This document bore the signatures of more than 120 of the
first commercial houses of this city, and we find amongst them
'John Hutton and Sons.' It is imputed, as far as we can 'see,
no crimes to the tradesmen of Dublin.

The Lord Mayor named the 10th of December. Mr.
O'Connell was then the representative for Dublin, and then, as
now, we presume, the president of the trades' union. If so, be
can recollect whether the Evening Post was accurately informed
as to the pains taken to procure a meeting.

" We have been informed that a not►ce from the committee
of the union of trades has been served on all workmen, order-
ing thein, on a penalty of one guinea, to quit work t-i-day at
nine o'clock to attend the meeting to-day at one.'—Evening
Post, 10th Dec., 1833
"However collected, at least 5000 persons were present to
oppose the objects of the requisition. At this meeting

‘" Mr. O'Connell rose amid reiterated cheering. and said—
Fellow-citizens, I beg leave most respectfully on my own part,
and upon Yours, to thank the Lnrd Mayor for having called
thisineeting. (Load cheers for the Lord Mayor.) It was the
Lord Mayor's duty, when a requisition with so many respecta-
ble names attached to it was presented to him—it was his duty,
I say, to call this meeting, and for having done so I return him
my thanks. I concur, however. with those who are inclined
to censure the requisitionists. ( Hear, hear.) They should not
have cast the imputation of crime upon the people, and then
shrunk from coming forward 'to substantiate their charges.
(Hear, hear.) They should not have convened such a meeting as
this—they should not have stuck the Lord Mayor in the chair,
-and then have left him to be joined by such as chance might
have called together. (Cheers.) This, my lord, should not
have happened—it will not, 1 trust; ere, happen again. It has,
however, shown that. the Lord Mayor is ready to discharge his
duty to his fellow-:itizens, and the requisitionists should not
have shrunk frptn theirs. (Hear, hear.) I hare come here to do
.my duty. ( Hear, hear.) I have read the requisition, and when
I did so I saw that it called for new penal laws, and I come here
fur the purpose of showing that the present laws ate quite sufficient
to repress illegal combination,, should it exist.' * •
" ' Why, lam a month in the city, and I have not heard of
any instances of it; and I was two months in the country. and
I did not hear of any instances where this spirit of outrage
manifested (Hear, hear.) To be sure, I heard that one
gentleman—of whom they say that some one was jealous—
(laughter)—had been beaten. This I was told this morning.
• But no one came tbiward to substantiate, by particular charges,
the accusations against the operatives of Dublin. lley.hure pre-•
ferred a general bill If indictment against as all, and I think, as
the case stands, we are entitled to a verdict of not guilty.' * C •
"'Charges have been made, and those who have made them
have nut come forward to support their allegations. These
..charges are of a very grave nature. Let me read them for you!
—tHere he read the requisition, as abovel
I am of opinion 1/tat you have a right to combine. (Cheers.)
In point of law you are allowed to do so—in point of common sense
you are bound to do so. The poor man's labour is his property as
touch, nay more, than the rich man's estate, for it often. hap-
pens that
.the rich man's estate is procured for him by somebody
else, but the poor man's labour is completely his own. (Hear,
bear.) It it the highest species of property, and the law recog-
nises labour as property. I agree in the propriety of olienuirea
* • •
Igo the full length of approving of open combination. • •.
lread, then, this requision with feelings of horror, and
deep sorrow. -I.3ut you have cheered me. (Cheers.) The
shrinking away of the requisitionists convinces me that they are
calumniators. We are free.; the charge is false and foul, and
they were right to shrink from attempting to support it. (Con-
tinued cheering.) When I say you hare a right to combine, why
" say You have a right to do so? Because your labour is
your property, the parliament would be criminal if it made a law
against combination , • because. by so doing it would inieVere with
.
the poor man's property. (Cheers.)
•

" ' Yost have a right t 6 refuse workhy with any man you don't
like- You may say, " I don't like that fellow's lace, and I won't
work along with him." • (Laughter.) * * *
" ' lam (continued Mr. O'Connell) a combinator myself—
There is only one regret 1 now have. 1 may, perhaps, have
spoken a little tooharshly of the
,requisitionists (no, no, no) ;
but really, my
lord, I could but feel strongly nutter the circum-
stances. You have Called this meeting; such an immense con-
course of people having attended, and not one of the requisi-
tionists having come forward. Oh, but they may say, perhaps,
that they were afraid. What was there of which they could
have been afraid, unless indeed they were afraid of being
laughed at.? (A laugh.) They would have been listened to so
long as they had anything, to say pertinent to the subject, and,
perhaps, a little longer. (Laughter.) But it is too bad that
the) should throw out this .accusation ap:lSt. the people, and
shrink friiiii 'coming forward to discuss it. (Hearrhearl'
* * * tit * * * .

" On the 18th of January, 1838, there appeared in the morn-
ing newspapers of the city, the following advertisement :

" 'lO THE RIGHT HON. THE LORD MAYOR OE DUBLIN.

"0 111; Luau,—iNie,theuntiersiine7l, request that your lord-
ship v‘ill be pleased, at as early a day as may suit your con-
venience, to call a meeting of your fellow-citizens, to take into
considetation the evils arising from illegal combination, and
also the best mode of preventing a repetition of the outrages
and murders recently committed iu Dublin; and its vicinity.'

" The first signature to this requisition is Daniel O'Con
nell.'

"The Lord Mayor named Saturday the 20th of the present
month.

"The proceedings at this meeting are too recent, to require
mare than the following extract :
"' Mr. O'CoNNELL—Why have I undertaken this subject?
(the putting down combination.) Because I consider it my
duty; and I am careless what popularity I forfeit, so long as
can attain my wishes. When I talk to other men upon other
subjects I am successful, because the hearts and judgments of
my auditors are with late, but I cannot succeed with combinators,
because they are bound by a tie which prohibits them front
listening to reason, to common sense and argument—they will
not listen to common sense (yes, we will, we will assist you.)
Then go with me, and put down your own illegality first (fright-
ful hissing.) lines any one deny that the limiting apprentices
is an offence against the law? (hissing.) You confirm every
charge I have made against you.'
- .

"We believe it was at this stage of the proceedings a trades_
man exclaimed—what, owiug to the confusion and uproar, is
omitted from our report—

" Mr. O'Connell, every trade in Dublin sent you'a copy of
its regulations when we were repealing !he Union—you found no
fault with them then, and they are the same now. •
•"Mr. Fitlich—lf you leave the matter between us and
our employers, we will consent not to limit the number of
apprentices, if they conceive such to be right. •
" • Mr. O'Connell.—l cannot permit or sanction any thing
that would violate the law. Oh, heavens! are we so degraded?
I want to leave the talent of Ireland its full scope. I want
that you should not come with your iron monopoly and your
illegal limitation between the intellect of Ireland and its fair
and fultdevelopement.
" 'Mr. Kirwan—Mr. Chairman, allow me to ask one ques-
tion—does that resolution require any extra law, and if the law
is sufficiently strong already, it requires no resolution to
strengthen it, it is merely saying that a quart bottle shall hold
a quart. lithe law at present be sufficient the resolution must
be foi something else. (cheers.)
"At a meeting at the Corn-Exchacge on the 17th instant,
Mr. O'Connell declared, in speaking of combination—
"' That this state of things should be put down; if the law
had any efficacy in doing so.
" And on the 24th inst., at a parish meeting held at Mur-
ray's Great Rooms, South George's Street, he announced
that—

"` He meant to hare a parliamentary inquiry upon the subject
of comlunation, wheu he %vault' demonstrate the evils of the sys-
tem. He would persevere in the course he was taking, until he
demonstrated to the people' themselves, that he was, as he had
ever been, their hest friend, haein!, led them to prosperity in peace
and honesty."'

Our spirited contemporary then proceeds to account
for this new-born zeal against combination in this loath-
some hypocrite. There can be no doubt whatever that
the right cause is assigned, as the following extract will
prove :

" We would now respectfully ask a question of the many
respectable merchants who placed their signatures to both the
foregoing requisitions, and which they will answer truly. Why
was it that they "skulked away" from
°the Lord Mayor's meet-
lug iu 1833—and to whom was it owing that "they dared not to
show their faces" upon that occasion ? We will ask them fur-
ther, have they ever considered why the combinator" of 1833
heads the requisition against combination in 1838? We will
hazard a conjecture.
"In 1833 the Marquiss Wellesley was our Lord Lieutenant
and Mr. Blackburne our Attorney-General. At that time Mr'
O'Connell had not the patronage, much less the government of.
Ireland. So far from it, on the 27th of November in that year,
just One fortnight before the meeting to which we have alluded,
Mr. Barrett, the Editor of .Mr. O'Connell's newspaper, was
tried in the King's Bench, and convicted of a libel written by
Mr. O'Connell himself. • Its 1838 Lord Mulgrave is our Lord
Lieutenant, and Mr. Wolfe our Attorney-General. Mr.
O'Connell dines at the Castle, and his relatives and dependents
have tasted the sweets of office. An investigation is threatened
into the origin of outrage in this country—it is inconvenient to
Lord Mulgrave to have it traced to its true source. A rebellion
in Canada has broken out before its time—it is inconvenient to
Mr. O'Connell to observe the solemn pledge which betted given
to the agent of Canada, to stand by him to the last upoa that
question. The tradesmen of Dublin are the same in 1838 as
1833—their regulations are the .same—the law is the same—
they made M r; O'Connell their representative then as they have
done now ; {jut because the Whigs, under whom Mr. O'Connell
anti his Lieutenant enjoy their salary and their patronage, must
abandon oflit•e, if the former will only exercise, for one hour, as
an honest and honourable man, the power which the people of
Ireland have given to hits—the people who have given that
power are to be sacrificed to this worthy,' anddisinterested pair.'•

What will Englishmen think of such base conduct?
W hat opinion will the liberal press Of England now ex-
. ~ • _1 1 1 -1--I'__- 1. fly r - _lll

Will they continue to uphold hint as a consistent pa
triot ?

We cannot dismiss this subject without once mote ex-
pressing our regret that this singular compouna of vul-
garity, mendacity, and insolence, who has done all he
could to involve his country in civil war, should have
been welcomed to a public dinner in the loyal town of
Liverpool. His sun has, however, set. His own coon-
trymen have found him out. The people of Liverpool
also will hereafter treat him after a very different fashion.
We know of no asylum for him, excepting it be among
the Salons of the Town hall. By Wein he may be
feasted ; but from " the people" he will receive nothing
but contempt, to the full measure of his deserts.