The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-05-15 00:00:00

TUE LIV`•R'ILP'OOL STANDARD.

in the pound in the shape of churchrate. The produce
of this was not sufficient for the ordinary repairs and in-
cidental expenses of the church, and, if it were collected
by itself, would certainly not cover the expense of collec-
tion. Accordingly, the churchwardens did not cAlect
the rate, but defrayed their expenses out: of various other
resources,—among the rest, out of the: revenue arising
from the hire of four parish hearses. Three of these
hearses were in use at a time, and therefore three only
were taxed. But being compelled to apply the profits of
the hearses to the current expenses of the church—the
provision of bread and wine for the sacraments. and so
forth—the churchwardens were unable to pay the govern-
ment taxes for 1848-9, amounting to £lo`:l4s. 6d. The
consequence of this has been that the other day the four
hearses—certainly three of them were not in the best
condition—were seized and sold for £lO 114. 24 ! And
thus one decent, and, in bad weather and for long dis-
tances, almost indispensable means of conveying the
remains of their deceased relative, and friends to the
parish grave yard, is denied to the people of Rochdale
by the patriotic haters of the church, at whose head is
Mr. Bright. One would have supposed that the church-
wardens might have prevented this final and most dis-
gusting
outrage; but we are not to forget the recent
successes in the parish vestry of " Tom Livesey" and
Mr. Bright's other subordinates in agitation. The con-
sequence of that success is, that with the exception of
the vicar's warden, the churchwardens now in office are
Socialists and Chartists, or little better. The ~t could not,
therefore, be expected to protect the church from insult,
or the feelings of churchmen from outrage. They have
another and a totally opposite part to play,—probably,
among other things, to provide Mr. Bright with " facts"
for the ears of a parliament. Well, now here is a " fact,"
" damning," not to the church, but to its enemies in
Rochdale. We wonder whether friend Bright will be
moved to make use of it when next the subject of church
rates is broached in the House of Commons !—Manches-
ter Courier.

WHO'LL BE A MEMBER ? OR, A KEW MODE

OF RAISING THE WIND

Every age and community has had its peculiar impos-
ture—its particular mode of raising the wind. The
unwary have been duped by all kinds of false wares, from
popish indulgencies down to painted sparrows, from the
elixir vitae to galvanized rings. We have lived, however,
to see a new sort of commodity dealt in by the clever
practitioner in the art of humbugging—to see a seat in
our reformed House of Commons hawked from door to
door, or counting-house to counting-house, of our mer-
chants and tradesmen, with the same insinuating mystery
as " real lace" and " French silks and gloves, warranted
smuggled," are occasionally offered to the notice of their
ladies. " Nice snug constituency, sir—only four hundred
voters—majority safe—your eloquence, sir, great experi-
ence in public business—sure to make a hit in the house,"
and similar persuasions, are breathed into the ear of the
intended victim, whilst he blushes, and his heart beats at
the honour paid him by the discerning deputation, and
the equally discerning constituency who sent them. " Must
have read my last speech," is the flattering thought of the
assailed ; and for awhile he is, in imagination, walking
down to the honk, just dropping in on the way to speak
to Palmerston, at the Foreign-office, or Sir James, at the
Exchequer, or exchanging how d'ye do's with the Premier
himself. The deputation, having tickled their trout, try to
hook him. " Expense a mere trifle, sir—the hustings—
twenty or thirty down for placards and address—a mere
trifle, sir—sure to be returned," &c. A few parting bows
on both sides, and the first interview terminates, to be
followed up or not, according to circumstances. In nine
cases out of ten the intended victim goes home an inch or
two taller. He has been offered a seat in the house !
A case of this description has recently come to our
knowledge, in which a gentleman of our town was thus
obligingly offered parliamentary honours. He was not
ambitious, however; and fancied that he smelt a rat. In
short, be thought that the privilege of contributing the
" mere trifle" to the deputation was that chiefly sought to
be conferred upon him, and he declined the offer. Another
gentleman of similar political opinions—conservative, we
understand—was in the same way waited on, with the
same result. So far, we might have regarded the transac-
tion as legitimate; and the borough offered—Rochdale—
did itself no discredit in either of the selections. But we
remembered that the same borough was recently said, by
one of our contemporaries, although since contradicted, to
have been offered to two whig-radicals, Messrs. William
Rathbone and William Earle ; and the question therefore
arises, is this constituency really thus hawked, like had
mackarel, to be sold at any price, to any buyer—is Roch-
dale really in the market, crying, after the Scotch fashion,
" Wha wants me ?"—or are the alleged deputation Jere-
my Diddlers, playing a new version of " Raising the
wind ?"

FACTS AND CONSEQUENCES,
DEDICATED TO THE ADMIRERS OF FREE TRADE

That capital or wealth is accumulated labour.
That the government taxation in this country is much
heavier than in any other.
That the local taxation is ditto ditto.
That the poor's rate is ditto ditto.
That the capital of this country is increasing every year.
That, therefore, the taxes cannot he paid out of the
capital ; consequently, it must be the labour that pays
them. . .

That, consequently, labour in this country cannot com-
pete with that in countries where the taxes are light, and
where there are no poor-rates.
TLat almost the only articles in which we can success-
fully compete with the foreigners are Manchester goods,
and that is only owing to the superiority of the machinery,
which has been brought to a degree of perfection to which
foreigners have not yet attained.
That the comparatively untaxed foreign labour must
supplant our heavily-taxed labour, even in the home
market.
That, therefore, the only classes which can possibly
benefit by free trade are—
The fundholders, who, receiving the same amount of
dividend, will purchase foreign labour at a lower
rate than British.
The Government officials, and pensioners of every
description, for the same reason.
The MANCHESTER MILLOWNER, who may have more
foreign demand for his manufactures, but who will
most certainly procure labour cheaper, in conse-
quence of the thousands of men its other trades,
that will be thrown out of employment.
His agents in Liverpool, or elsewhere.
BALLINGRY.