The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-03-20 00:00:00

taxation 1

But this would not be the only evil which the farmer
would experience. When we reflect that the small land-
lords own the greater part of the soil of Great Britain—
that they would be the greatest sufferers by a free trade
in corn—and that many of them, in consequence, would
be forced to become practical. farmers—when we bear
these things in mind, it is easy to conceive that a great
number of agriculturists would be forced to relinquish
their farms, and become labourers, or emigrate to other
countries. In short; the repeal of the corn laws would
be little short of universal ruin to the landholders
throughout the country.
A free trade in corn, notwithstanding the specious ar-
guments to the contrary, would he greatly injurious to
the manufacturing interests. It is scarcely necessary to
say that the landlords and farmers of this country consti-
tute the most important classes of customers for the sta-
ple manufactures of Great Britain. By depressing and
impoverishing these classei the manufacturer must ine-
vitably be a sufferer. It is preposterous to speak of the
inerease.of cur foreign trade from the repeal of the corn
laws, as if those laws had any tendency to diminish our
foreign exports. It is a well known fact that our foreign
trade has actually been more than doubled within the
last few years, notwithstanding the restrictive duties on.
the importation of corn. The tables of exports for the •
last seven years will show that our trade with Russia,
America, and all the corn-growing countries abroad,
have been steadily increasing. The exports to America
have been doubled within that period, whilst the exports
to Russia have advanced from £1,800,000 to £2,300,000.
The Same tables also show that in those years when we
imported most corn we exported least goods—a triumph."
ant proof that our existing corn laws do not operate in-
juriously upon our foreign trade.
But the tradesmen, labourers,' and mechanics .would
be the severest sufferers from a free trade in corn. It is.
Well known that the price of corn regulates the rate ofl
wages. A reduction in the price of corn is always fol-
lowed by a corresponding reduction in the rate of wages,
and vice versa. It is easy for our pllitical•economists to
assert that this does not necessarily follow ; but let them
ask any labouring man—any artisan or operative in the
country—whether what we have just now asserted is not
strictly in accordance with his own experience. We.
have no doubt that the answer, in every case, would cor-
roborate our views. In fact, the labouring classes are
better off when bread is dear, and for a very good rea-
son. When bread is dear wages are high, and the la-
bourer is enabled to purchase the other necessaries of
life with greater ease. -But when corn is cheap, and
wages are reduced, he finds that the prices of other arti-
cles of ordinary consumption are not reduced, and he,
therefore, finds'it more difficult to maintain its family.
What can it signify "to the labouring classes that they
get their bread cheap, if they find that their reduced
wages will only enable them to procure the same
number of pounds of flour per week, whilst all
other articles are as expensive as when their wages were
higher? From this reduced scale of, wages, which is
always the consequence of a reduction in the price of
corn, the tradesman must necessarily be a sufferer to a
great extent. The best class of his customers, because
the largest, will not be able to lay out as much money
with him as when corn is dear and wages high ; and this
loss will only be compensated for to a very insignificant
degree by his own saving from the diminished price of
ead.

But there would be another source of loss to the
tradesman. from a free trade in corn. The landowners
would nut be enabled to spend so much upon their
houses, carriages, &c., and would have to reduce their
establishments in proportion to their diminished incomes.
From all this the tradesman would be a sufferer, and that
to a very serious extent. -

We leave entirely out of consideration the conse-
quences which would result to the public charities of the
country from any scheme which would impoverish the
class by whom they are mainly supported. What care
our philosophical radicals about the claims of charity or
benevolence ?

The only parties that would be gainers by the repeal
ofthe.corn laws would be the moneyed interes tl
fundliOlder and the large capitalist. They would, no
doubt, find it very advantageous -to reduce the price of
14our to one-half its present amount. They would re-
joice to find the farmer ruined, the landlord robbed, and
the industrious classes ground down by the most abject
poverty, if their own profits were thereby increased, and
•their own means of enjoyment multiplied. But we very
much question whether the people of England would to-
lerate the perpetration of such injustice.

. -
We have only one further consideration to submit to
the notice of our readers before we quit this subject.
The repeal of the corn laws would be followed by an ac-
tual diminution in our national wealth. Under a system
of tree trade in corn, nea-ty one-third of the land at prp-
-sentin cultivation in G.cat Britain would b !con e an
linvrofi tabl e waste. The farmer could not produce corn
opon the inferior soils, at the same price as corn could
be imported, even if he got his land rent-free. And
where, we ask, is the man who would be so mad as to
recommend a plan invol7ing such an amount of national
loss—such a wholesale abstraction from the public wealth
of the country ? is there one so insane ? We are
sorry to say that ninety-five -members of the House of
Commons have been guilty of such insanity. That we •
41re justified in designating their conduct as insane will
be evident, when we consider that the immense wealth
which annually arises frotu the cultivation of inferior
soils—amounting to *several millions per annum—and
winch wealth is now expended in this country,-=
would be absolutely annihilated by the adoption of the
plan which these radical philosophers recommend. :It
would be almost as rational to propose the burning-of
our ships, or the des ruction of our manufactories.

TILE ELECTION COMMITTEES.—TiIe Dublin Ezeni%).
Post, the Dublin Castle journal, writes as follows :

" DUBLIN is safe—eight to three.
"CARLow COUNTY is safe—six l,,fice.
. ,
" WALSALL is safe—eight to three.
"low Borough is already secured.
." After all, the Greniille Act is not so eery sad. With ithe,
,deplorable exceptions of Belfast and Marylebone it has really
‘worked pretty well during the session."

•
The whir.,-radical journals on this side the channel in-
,dulge in a similar strain of exultation. The Morning
chronicle, the Globe, the Courier, and that abusive and
scurrilous print, the Liverpool Ckronicle, are equally
delighted with the results of the various election peti-
tions which have been already decided—excepting only
those in reference to which the committees have evinced
a disposition to administer justice.

AL the commencement of the session all the revolu-
tionary papers were violently in favour of the repeal of
the Grenville Act. Now their tone is altered—they
speak of it either in terms of approbation or subdued
moderation. And well, indeed, may they, and the fac-
tion whose interests they advocate, be satisfied with the
7"anner in which it is made to work. It is of no use to
'Teak mincingly on this question. There has been some
scandalous trickery practised in order to render the ap.:
Pointment of election committees subservient to the
41ccess of the ministerial party. We pass by the fla •
grant injustice perpetrated by those committees in which
the'‘-adiCals have preponderated. We pass by the arbi-
trary mode in which' they have stifled all inquiry into
the 'real merits of the petitions on which they were sworn
to adjudicate. We say nothin; as to their refusal to
open the registry in various instances. We take no note
of their gross partiality in coming to decisions complete-
Y. at ‘'.ariance with the evidence. We complain rather
ionhe mysterious manner in which the committees have
constituted—of the infamous juggle by which the
riitlicals have been enabled to prejudge the merits of
three-fourths of the petitions by obtaining a majority of
their Own friends on the committees. We do not profess
1() know by what means this end has been accomplished,
n6l. Whose duty it is to take cognizance of the mode in
‘
_ •lilich the committees iire struck ; but. whatever may
ve been the means employed, or whoe%er has been

guilty of conniving at the trickery practised, we do not
hesitate to say that there has been "foul play"—a tam-
pering in some way with the ballot-box. _That the com-
mittees have been unfaitly balloted fur must be quite
evident to any man who knows any thing of the doctrine
of chances. The conservatives have been sedulous in
their attendance in the Housethey compose one-half
of the House, within a trifling fraction—and yet, the
number of radicals on the committees have doubled those
of the conservatives Indeed, this is not the only sus-
picious circumstance connected with the appointment of
the election committees. There is a singular peculiarity
in the manner in which certain names have been called
over in close succession to each other. This is a subject
which ought to engage the attention of the House, as we
have no doubt it will, before another month has elasped.
We subjoin the following statement of the relative
numbers of Whigs and conservatives on the several com-
mittees, which have been already ballotted for, as far as
we have been able to ascettain the particulars :
Roxburgshire Committee ....Whigs B.... Conservatives 3
Salford ditto ....ditto 7.... • ditto 4
Ipswich ditto ....ditto 5.... ditto 6
Longford ditto ....ditto 8.... ditto 3
Belfast • ditto ....ditto 1.... ditto 10
Petersfield ditto ....ditto . 8.... ditto 3
Sligo ditto ....ditto 8.... ditto 3
Bristol ditto ....ditto 8.... ditto 3
Marylebone ditto ....ditto 3.... ditto 8
Tynemouth ditto ....ditto 5.... ditto 6
Youghal ditto ....ditto 5.... ditto 6
Taunton ditto ....ditto 4.... ditto 77
London 1 , ditto ....ditto 6.... ditto 4*
Queen's County ditto ....ditto 9.... ditto 2
Newcastle-under-Lyne ....ditto 7.... ditto 4t
Durham ditto ....ditto 6.... ditto 51:
Tralee ditto ....ditto 7. .. ditto 4
Reading ditto —.ditto. 6.... ditto 5
Evesham ditto ....ditto 6.... ditto 5
Carlow ditto ....ditto 7.... ditto 4
Carlow County ditto ....ditto 6.... ditto 5
Walsall ditto 8.... ditto 3
Dublin ditto ....ditto 8.... ditto 3
Shaftesbury -.1. ditto ....dittq 3.... ditto 8
Kingston-on-Hull ....ditto 8.... ditto 3
Saunderson, Tory, excused. ÷ Sir Charles Grey, doubtful.
• :t. Mr. Townley, doubtful.

Here we have a list of twenty five committees. On
seven of these the conservatives had a majority. On the
remaining eighteen. the whigs had a majority. Out of
the seven on which_ the former had a majority, two have
-deCided in layout' of the whigs; one came to no decision
'at all, in consequence of the retirement of the member
„petitioned against—two have decided in favour of the
conservatives!—and two have not yet terminatEd their
inquiries. In opposition to this, we have only to say,
that no committee in which,the whigs preponderated,
-has come to a decision favourable to the conservatives.

NATIONAL EDUCATION.—We perceive that the radical
philosophers of Liverpool—the anti-bible agitators—the
enemies of our national religion—the abettors of Popery
and infidelity—have got up a petition in this town in fa-
vour of a system of national education. We are not in-
formed in what manner it originated ; but we know that
it did not receive the sanction of "the people" in a
Clayton .square meeting. Our impression is that it was
hatched in some hole and corner gathering of the Unita•
rian clique, and that it was submitted for approbation to
the Popish priests of the town, before any degree of pub-
licity was given to the matter.
The radicals, with their usual cunning policy, have
announced that the petition lies for signature at thirty-
three different places in the,town. The object of this is
palpably evident. It is done in order to enable those
zealous tools, whorl) they employ and pay for doing their
dirty work, to multiply their signatures at pleasure.
The plan answers well—for their purpose—that of ob,
taining a great number of names. Nothing in the world
can be more simple than the way in which ten or twelve
thousand signatures are procured for a radical petition.
They need not be obtained under false pretences, as the
names which were attached to Mr. Elphinstone's requisi-
tion. The trick can be done in a much more expeditious
Way. It is only. necessary for some twenty of the
"runners' of the faction to go round and sign their
names ten times at each of the places where
,the sheets
are lying—allowing a short4interval to elapse between
each period of signing. In this manner 600 signatures
can be very easily- obtained, which, with four• or five
thousand genuine signatures, will make a vety formidable
impressiOn in 'the House of Commons. We are not
joking. This trick is habitually practised by the radical
faction. We dare them do get up a petition in favour
of a God-denying system of national education, and let
the same lie for signature exclu4vely at the Exchange,
Athenaeum, Lyceum, and Union news-rooms, and let
the name, profession, and residence of every individual
so signing it be stated at length. We defy them to do
this. We pledge ourselves to produce a counter petition
signed at the same places, and in the same manner, with
four times the number of signatures. So much fur the
radical boast that the respectable and intelligent people
of this country are in favour of the Socinian nostrum of
a national system of education.

As to the object which the national education agitators
have in view we need say little. From the characters,
connections, and opinions of those itinerating philoso-
phers, who have rendered themselves most conspicuous
in their advocacy of this wily scheme, it is evident that
the end contemplated is the eradication of the Protestant
religion from the soil of Great Britain. Mr. Wyse and
his party have uniformly attacked all our scriptural
schools without exception—National, Lancasterian, Sun.
day, and Infants. The language of the petitions on
this subject, as well as the public add' esses of the
of the education committee, is totally irreligious. It is
true that Lord Brougham protested against the idea that
any one could be so mad as to introduce a system of
purely secular education—a system which excluded the
bible from the hands of the youth of Great Britain. But
the Bishop of Londoh confronted this eccentric peer with
evidence of an incontestable character, proving that such
was the " mad idea" of the leading men among the edu-
cation agitators. Indeed, no other plan could obtain
the sanction of the Popish priests and the Sucinian
teachers.

We need not travel out of Liverpool for an illustration
of the plans which the advocates for a system of national
education, based upon the principles to which we have
adevrted, intend to adopt. We have here seen an at-
tempt made upon a limited scale, to banish scriptural
education frow the public schools. That attempt has
been so, far successful as to make religious instruction
a separate thing from the business of the schools. 41 is
only permitted as an, act of supererogatory zeal. But any
such plan, we are confident, Will be met by a similar de-
monstration of Protestant feeling throughout the king-
dom to that which was provoked in Liverpool by the in-
troduction of the " Irish Extracts."

Two op' A TRADE.—We perceive that the proprietor
of the (Cork) Southern Reporter has brought an action
for libel against the editor of the Cork Standard. This
is certainly a very extraordinary proceeding, and can
only have its origin either in party spleen, or in motives
of lucrative jealousy. If we thought fit to adopt such a
mode of retaliating upon our contemporaries, by strain-
ing the law of libel in our favour, we could get up actions
enough to engage the judges andcounsel on the northern
circuit the whole year round. We trust, for the credit
of the press, that the proprietor of the Southern Reporter,
will see the utter absurdity of affording such an untr'ades-
manlike precedent.

RADICAL NOTIONS OF POPULAR ELECTIONS.—The
Journal of Saturday last, after alluding to the election of
officers for the West Derby Parochial Union, and ani-
madverting upon the appointment of Mr. Dolling, pro-
ceeds to remark that—

"The appointments by the guardians are not final, but are
subject to the approval of the Poor Law commissioners, who
possess and daily e.zercise a peremptory jurisdiction. Let the rate-
payers then, if they have any sufficient grounds for condemning
the appointment which the guardians have just made, state them
on memorial to the commissioners, and if their complaint be
well founded, it will not long be unredressed."

Now, as the Guardians have been elected by the rate-
payers, we contend that the appointments made by the
former are ‘'irtually those of the rate-payers. But the
liberal editor of the Journal prefers the " arbitrary juris-
diction" of the Malthusian triade at Somerset House to

the :expression of the rate-payers' feelings conveyed
through the recommendation of a vestry meeting. Such
is Radical liberality.