The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-06-23 00:00:00

EFFECTS OF CORN-LAW REPEAL.

[The following extract we take from an excellent pam-
phlet just published by John Gladstone, Esq., whose
opinion on the subject of the commercial reforms now
before parliament is beyond all value. As has been well
remarked, " When we see such men as Mr. Gladstone
and Lord Ashburton, whose opinions have been matured
in the great commercial schools of Liverpool and London,
who speak, not of things they expect, but of those which
they know—who point to the experience of the past, and
the realities of the present, not to the dreams and sha-
dows of a future which rest upon presumptuous theories
and sordid self-interests—when, we say, the opinions of
such men are disregarded in order that those of the Cob-
dens, the Brights, and the Thompsons may prevail ; or

even the less worthy, because less sincere and less ma-
turely weighed, opinions of converted Cabinet Ministers,
and subservient apostates, we seem to behold the ominous

beginning of a change whose end will be the downfall of
our glory as a nation." The League has promised us a
glorious harvest of peace and plenty from tree trade, but
let us hear the sentiments of a gentleman " cradled in
commerce," and connected intimately with its interests
during a tong life. Here they are :—)
" It was wise and expedient to admit cotton and other
articles of raw material, necessarily required for the sup-
ply of our manufacture, free of duty, her which they are
dependent either on foreign growers, or those of our co-
lonies and possessions, as our climate does not admit of
their cultivation ; but surely these circumstances can
have no bearing on the facts, that we possess the power
of producing, within our own resources, all the food
necessary to supply the consumption of the people, which
is the only safe a,ld certain source of safety on which
dependence can be placed, and, therefore, in the experi-
ence of wise and prudent precaution, requiring special
protection, there are very few things we do possess that
might not, under circumstances of pressing necessity, be
dispensed with, but to which food is an exception, and
therefore the duty of every good and efficient government
has ever been considered to be to eecure, as far as they
possess the power, a safe and certain supply; but whilst
keeping that in view it certainly ought not to be made
subject to taxation for objects of revenue alone, whilst
necessary to be so for the purpose of protection to home-
grown corn, on which the supply of food must mainly,
and, while susceptible- of it, wholly depend. In this
country our great resources for •raising revenue from
taxes are unavoidably on articles of consumption, in con-
tributing to which more or less a power of choice is given
to the consumers, who, at the same time, contribute to
uphold the foreign trade, commerce, and navigation of
the country, which could neither be derived from, nor
supported by, direct taxation alone, which many advo-
cate; and therefore by much the greater part of our re-
venue is derived from duties on general consumption,
but from which, for most obvious reasons, corn requires
to be exempted where revenue alone would be the object.
For is it not clear that the more the pressure of direct
taxation is increased on the possessors of real property,
the more their means and resources for consumption will
be diminished?—since they are the great consumers of
foreign productions, which generally form the luxuries of
life, and producing a large amount of revenue to the
State, such as tea, wines, sugar, &c., &c.
" If, then, without any regular market elsewhere, but
dependent on such as was afforded in this country, in bad
seasons and unproductive harvests, of which the foreign
growers more or less availed themselves, they still raised
surplus crops, which we must conclude, from their per-
severance, remunerated them for their cost and labour,
and thus, without stimulus or outward encouragements,
whilst paid only very low prices for the supply of their
home markets, they have not only persevered under every
possible disadvantage, but so late as the years 1838.39-40
and 41 they shipped and sent to the markets of the United
Kingdom about ten millions of quarters of wheat and flour,
which was, in consequence of home deficiency, admitted
at very moderate rates of duty, and for which we paid
above twenty millions, chiefly in gold. With these facts
before us, and in the face of disadvantages, where such
results have arisen, may it not be fairly expected, not-
withstanding the improvements made in cultivation here,
the greater acreable production of our crops, and the
evident disadvantages to a hich the labour of the foreigner
is at present subject, that when we have opened and se-
cured to him the supply of such an immense market as
that which the United Kingdom'affords, he will study to
avail himself of it to the utmost, while we have means
left to remunerate in money for that bread for which we
are about to place ourselves in a state of dependence
upon him, possessing, as he does, soils at least equally
productive, i❑ many cases superior, great variety of cli-
mate, for the most part better and fitter for corn cultiva-
tion than ours, earlier harvests, with abundance of labour
at very low rates, in most cases not amounting to one-
half of those paid here, without tenantry to support,
without heavy taxation to bear, without being accustomed
to provide for those comforts so well known and pos-
sessed here, then will he not seek in addition and adopt
all our improvements in thorough drainage, in subsoil
ploughing, and in the use of improved manures where
required. when we are to afford him the most ample in-
ducements to do so He must be devoid of the ordinary
sagacity and foresight that belongs to human nature, if
he does not avail himself of the advantages we are about
to relinquish, and thus to make a voluntary transfer of
them to him !

" A great and hazardous experiment is about to he made,
novel in its character, and without the support of experi-
ence to guide or direct it, embracing and extending over
unbounded interests, and pregnant with results that may
prove fatal in their conseaueoces. and. that in the iudg-
ment of many are considered to have been uncalled for,
in so far that it could not be acted upon in time to make
any provision against the deficiency of the potato crop,
to meet which the only means we possessed were, in the
admiss'on of Indian cora, duty free, as a suitable substi-
tute for potatoes. which has been resorted to with good
effect without disturbing the ordinary operation of the
existing laws.
" The progress the Bill has made in the Lords, and the
support it has received there, leads to the conclusion that
it must be considered as having virtually passed. leaving
no choice but to wait patiently for the results, whatever
they may be; but it is to be hoped, also, with the deter-
mination to retrace our steps, should it hereafter appear
to have become necessary to do so."

LORD G. BENTINCK'S CHARGE AGAINST SIR
ROBERT PEEL.
(From Mr. D'lsraeli's Speech.)

The noble lord (G. Bentinck) stated, that in the year
1829 the right hon. gentleman had admitted, or rather he
announced, that in the year 1825 he had informed Lord
Liverpool, that what was called the Catholic question
must be settled; that it was no longer possible to resist
those claims, and that if they could be settled by his leav-
ing office, he was prepared to make the sacrifice. The
noble lord. remembering the right hon. gentleman's con-
duct in 1827 to Mr. Canning—remembering the effect
which that conduct had on the career. probably on the
life, of Mr. Canning—the noble lord taking the position
laid down by the right bon. gentleman himself, that it was
base in a minister to conceal a change of opinion, asked
him how it was that when, in 1825, he changes his opinion
on the Catholic question, in the year 1827 he rose in that
house and made an explanation with respect to the causes
of his severance from Mr. Canning, which he never would
forget. The right hon. gentleman made an answer which
I need not recapitulate, but which I recapitulate only
from a desire not to be unfair towards the right hon.
gentleman, because it will be fresh in the recollection of
every one who listened to it. The right hon. gentleman
said that in the year 1829—not, of course, denying the
communication with Lord Liverpool—when he announced
that communication to the House of Commons, he an-
nounced nothing more than he had explained in 1827 in
the presence of Mr. Canning himself. Now, it is a re-
markable circumstance that the right hon. gentleman did
not read this speech. He read the speech which he had
made in 1827, in presence of Mr. Canning ; but the house
will recollect that he never read the speech which the
noble lord alleged contained the great admission, and
which was the only question before the house. (Cheers.)
He referred to that speech, but never read it. I thought
it due, however, to the right hon. gentleman to read it,
and the following is a passage from that speech, as I find
it reported in Hansard :—" So far as my own course in
this question is concerne.l, it is the same as that which
suggested itself to my mind in 1825, when I was his Ma-
jesty's principal minister for the Home Department, and
found myself in a minority of this house non this ques-
tion. When I then saw the numbers arrayed aeainst me,
I felt hat my position as a minister was untenable. The
moment, sir, that I, the minister responsible for the go-
vernment of Ireland, found that I was in a minority on
the question which was of paramount interest and impor-
tance to that country, that moment I sought to be re-
lieved from the duties and responsibilities of office. I
stated to the Earl of Liverpool, who was then at the head
of the Administration, that in consequence of the deci-
sion given against me in this house, it was my anxious
wish to be relieved from office." Now, sir, I am perfectly
ready to admit that that perfectly bears out what the right
hon. gentleman said the other night ; and he did not ,ay
anything, according to this report (cries of" hear, hear")
which he did not say in 1827 in the presence of Mr. Can-
ning, hut that certainly contradicts all that many gentle-
men who were connected with Mr. Canning, and who
were members of this house at the time, believe. That
speech was made in 1829, remember of it. (Cheers.)
Now, sir, I make no charge against the right hon. gentle.
man (hear, hear), but I say that the speech I have read
from is a garbled, a mutilated, or, to adopt the language
of this house, a corrected (cheers and laughter) report of
the right hon. gentleman's speech : and that it omits and
entirely omits that important statement which is the great
question to night. (Loud cheers.) That I will proceed
to prove. It so happens that in those days there were
two reports of what was said in this house; fir there was
then not merely Hansard, the speeches of which are ge.
nerally corrected by hon. gentlemen themselves, but there
was also the Mirror qf Parliament, the speeches of which
were taken in short hand, verbatim, by the most able
short-hand writers, most of them b'ing men of education
and intelligence, and at that time the speeches were pub-
lished every three days. Now, sir, I call the attention of
the house to what it appears from the Mirror of Parlia-
ment, the right hon. gentleman really said in that famous
speech of 1829. (Loud cheers.) "Su far as I am per-
sonally concerned, I beg to say, my own course, is the
same as that which suggested itself to my mind in 1825,
when I was his Majesty's principal Minister for the Home
Department, and found myself in a minority on that
question. I felt that it was no longer advisable that I
should continue to he charged with the responsibility of
Irish affairs. I stated to the Earl of Liverpool,vr ho was
then at the head of the administration, that in conse-
quence of the decision against me by the voices of the re-
present Alves of the country, the time was come when
something respecting the Catholics ought, in my opinion,
to be done, or that I should be relieved from the duties of
the office I held, as it was my anxious wish to be.' The
words left out of the report in Hansard are these :—. I
stated to the Earl of Liverpool that in consequence of the

decision against me by the voices of the reprepentatives of
Ireland, something respecting the Catholics Aght, in my
opinion to be done." But this, sir, is only the com-
mencement of the proof. Hon. gentlemen may under-
stand that though you may alter your own speech fur
Hansard (laughter), you cannot alter the answer to it.—
(Renewed laughter.) There may be .two versions of a
speech—the speech for the house, and the speech for pos-
terity. (Cheers.) An lion, gentleman, who was then at
the head of a party who had also been betrayed (loud
cries of " bear, hear"), the head of the Protestant varty
in this house, and who had since been a member of Her
Majesty's Government, in answer to the speech of the
right hon. gentleman, as anneared in the Mirror of Par-
liament, though not in Hauaard (hear), used this lan-
" If at that period the policy of conceding the

Catholic question was clear to the right hon. gentleman,
I say that in justice to himself, in justice to his friends. in
justice to the country, in justice to Mr. Canning himself,
wlio has always been the able, powerful, and consistent
advocate of the Catholics, he ought not to have concealed
it. (Loud cheers.) If, as he now soya, he had discovered
in 1825 the necessity of passing this question, I ask why
he did not say so in 1827, and give his support to Mr.
Canning then, when the supposed difference between him
and Mr. Canning obtained for him the support of many
hon. gentlemen who differed with him only on that, which
I confess was the case with me ?" (Vociferous cheering.)
Sir, that was a memorable speech. It was the speech in
which Sir E. Knatchbull used the phrase nusquam luta
fides. (Loud cheers.) It appealed to the feelings of the
house, who were almost carried away by the feelings of
the speaker. The right hon. gentleman was obliged to
get up and notice it; but he should not notice that pas-
sage (loud cheers) ; he never denied that he had proposed
to Lord Liverpool, in 1825, that something should be done
respecting the Catholics, though Sir E. Knatchbull had
repeated that statement. No, sir, the right hon. gentle-
man admitted his guilt, if guilt it were, and it is only in
1816 that he vindicates himself by referring to a different
speech, and quotes a report which I have proved is not a
correct one. (Continued cheering.) Now, sir, I have a
right to speak of that report of the speech I have read
from in Hansard, as being corrected by authority (cheers),
for I find a note—and every one knows how seldom one
finds notes in Hansard—on the sth of March, 1829. ap-
pended to the beginning of the right bon. gentleman's
speech, in these words, " Inserted with the permission
and approbation of Mr. Secretary I'eel." (Vociferous
cheers.) Now, I have inquired, and been informed that
the report I have quoted from the Mirror of Par!iament
was made by Mr. Barrow, one of the finest short-hand
writers in the country, and a man of ability and intelli-
gence. But, after all, it is Sir E. Knatchbull's speech
that proves the truth of the matter, and would prevent
any imputation being substantiated against Mr. Barrow's
accuracy, if there was any made. But not satisfied even
with this, I thought it discreet to refer to the report of
the most eminent newspaper of the time—The Times of
the 6th March, 1829, and there the right hon. gentleman
was reported thus :—" He stated to Lord Liverpool, then
at the head of His Majesty's Government, that in his
opinion the time had come when something respecting the
Catholics ought to be done, and that he must be relieved
from the duties of his office " (Much cheering.) There-
fore. sir, it appears also by this report that, in 1825, in the
opinion of the right bon. gentleman the time bad come
when something respecting the Catholics ought to be
done. After this, I think it is unnecessary to offer any
more evidence : I have accomplished the vindication of
my noble friend, who had not the power of speaking again
in this debate.

A KEEN ENCOUNTER OF WITS : STANLEY
AND BROUGHAM.

(From Tue9day's debate in the Lords.)

Lord ilroiigham had been listening to some able
speeches upon most things except the question before the
house—upon the bill in general, but not upon a fixed
duty—and speeches by supporters of the bill against the
government and against the bill. (A laugh.) They had
been making speeches precisely like the protection speeches
on the second reading, attuned on the same gamut. (A
laugh.) He was forcibly reminded of those choral sym-
phonies which bad sounded in their lordships' ears for
three long nights, with a loudness he never remembered
to have heard equalled (hear, hear), and producing, es-
pee'ally in one not now in the prime of life (a laugh),
much the same sensation of fatigue as most persons ex-
perience late in the evening at a public dinner, after being
made to bear the cheers of those at table (a laugh), and
the music in the background. (Laughter.)

Lord Stanley.—My noble and learned friend, I think,
commenced his speech with this observation—that for
two hours (" hear, hear," and laughter) he had been lis-
tening to a discussion, of which not the whole, no—nor
the major part (a laugh), no—nor a large portion, no—
nor any portion whatever (renewed laughter), had been
directed to the subject matter of the amendment now be-
fore us. After that preface, my lords, I naturally con-
cluded that my noble and learned friend was about to di-
rect his attention and that of your lordships' strictly and
exclusively to the speech of my noble friend behind me,
who proposed the amendment. (A laugh.) But no, my
torch:, I have listened with the deepest attention—and
with the most amused attention (a laugh)—not for two
hours, but certainly for one hour, to the. speech of my no-
ble and learned friend ; and I may venture to repeat his
own words, that not the whole, no, nor the major part,
no nor a considerable part (laughter)—l may almost say,
no, nor any part at all (loud laughter) was directed to the
subject oh; pis' • con sid erattorr.-
(Laughter.) Al y noble and learned friend has done great
injustice to his own individual person. He began by re-
gretting the fatigue which, in common with your lord-
ships, he experienced, and whieh, as the noble and learned
lord said, was vverely felt by one who, like himself, was
not in the prime of life and beauty. (Roars of laughter.)
Now, my noble and learned friend did himself injustice.
(A laugh.) lam sure when your lordships look at my
noble and learned friend you will be reminded, as I was
myself, of these lines of Nlilton

' And now a stripling cherub he appears (loud laughter),
' Not of the prime (renewed laughter), yet such as in his face
' Youth smird ceie-tial (laughter), and to every limb
Suitable grace diffused." (Great laughter.)

Lord Brougham.--With respect to the remarks of his
noble friend (Lord Stanley) applying to himsel, he must
say that a less fair or more extraordinary course—he
would say, with all kindness to his noble friend, a more
unscrupulous course, than his noble friend had taken he
never saw in any place ; for his noble friend, in order to
introduce his quotation—a very excellent joke, he ad-
mitted (great laughter)—had put in a word which he
(Lord Brougham) had never used (loud laughter), which
he never had an idea of using (continued laughter), and
which his noble friend could not have imagined that he
used. Ile never dreamt of using that word—a word
which he, at his time of life, as well as his noble friend at
his less advanced time of life, bad both of them the great-
est possible interest in rasing out of their vocabularies.
(Great laughter.)

THE CHURCH OF THE CATACOMBS WAS ESSENTIALLY
PROTESTANT.—The merely classical student, unless in
search of the vernacular language of ancient Rome, will
find little in these inscriptions to repay the trouble of
perusing them. A few obsolete and barbarous expres-
sions. the gradual origin of the cursive character, and the
uncertain pronunciation of some consonants, indicated by
the varied modes of writing the same word, are not the
mcst interesting point of investigation suggested by these
monuments. B tter purposes are served by their ex-
amination, inasmuch as they express the feelings of a
body of Christians, whose leaders alone are known to us in
history. The fathers of the church live in their volumi-
nous works; the lower orders are only represented by
these simple records, from which, with scarcely an ex-
ception, sorrow and complaint are banished ; the boast of
suffering, or an appeal to the revengeful pastions, is no-
where to be found. One expresses faith, another hope,
a third charity. The genius of primitive Christianity,
"To believe, to love, and to suffer," has never been better
illustrated. These "sermons in stones" are addressed to
the heart, and not to the head—to the feelings rather than
to the taste ; and possess additional value from being the
work of the purest and most influential portion of the
"Catholic and Apostolic Church" then in existence. The
student of Christian archaeology must nev.r lose tight of
the distinction between the actual relics of a persecuted
church and the subsequent labours of a superstitious age.
When Christianity, on the cessation of its troubles, eurier-
ged from those recesses, and walked boldly on the soil
be neath which it had been glad to seek concealment, the
humble cradle of its infancy became a principal object of
veneration, almost of worship. To decorate the chapels,
adorn by monuments the labyrinths of sepulchres, and
pay an excessive regard to all that belonged to martyrs
and martrydorn, was the constant labour of succeeding
centuries. hence arises a chronological confusion, which
calls for caution in deciding upon the value of any infer-
ence that may be drawn from these sources, respectng
points of doctrine. Yet it may not be amiss to premise
generally, that in the inscriptions contained in the Lapi-
darian Gallery, selected and arranged under Papal super-
intendence there are no prayers tor the dead (unless the
forms, " May you live," " May God refresh you," be so
construed); no addresses to the Virgin Mary, nor to the
Apostles or earlier Saints; and, with the exception of
"eternal sleep," "eternal home," &c., no expressions
contrary to the plain sense of Scripture. And if the bones
of the martyrs were more honoured, and the privilege of
being interred near them ne re valued, than the simplicity
of our religion would warrant, there is, in this outbreak
of enthusiastic feeling towards the heroic defenders of the
faith, no precedent for the adoration paid to them by a
corrupt age. Perhaps it may safely he asserted, that the
ancient church appears in the Lapidarian Gallery in a
somewhat more favourable light than in the writings of
the fathers and historians. It may be that the sepulchral
tablet is more congenial to the display of pious feeling
than the controversial epistle, or even the much-needed
episcopal rebuke. Besides the gentle and amiable spirit
every where breathed, the distinctive character of these
remains is essentially Christian : the name of Chr'st is
repeated in all endless variety of forms, and the actions of
His life are figured in every degree of rudeness of execu-
tion. The second person of the Trinity is neither viewed
in the Jewish light of a temporal Messiah, nor degraded
to the Socinian estimate of a mere example, but is inves-
ted with all the honours of a Redeemer. On this subject
there is no reserve, no heathenish suppression of the dis-
tinguishing feature of our religion : on stories innumer-
able appear,' the Good Shepherd, bearing on his shoulders

beep, by which many an illiterate belies er
eepr, 8-ea his s• nee of pers,nal salvation. One, according
t his " sleeps io Christ ;" another is buried
with a prayer that "she may live in the Lord Jesus."
Bar most of all. the cross in its simplest form is employed
to testify the faith of the deceased : and whatever ignorance
may have prevailed regarding the letter of Holy Vt tit, or
the more mysterious doctrines contained in it, there seems
to have been no want of apprehension of that sacrifice,
" whereby alone we obtain remission of our sins. and are
made partakers of the kingdom of Heaven."—Dr Mail-
land's Church in the Catacombs.