The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-10-12 00:00:00

llings per share in the

rectors have in hand from

255. to

per sn

that the parties who
actual pos

ssion o

iced to some forward

Rawson, the convener of the
;ed that he was in the position
r, responsible for calls; and

)Id, he was not released from the
le had incurred, the parties who had

aemseives under such

,d, with a most tender regard

vidual convenience, that, under such
circumstances, the best plan would be to abandon
the undertaking altogether, and to divide the un-
n hand.
There are a few considerations which Mr. Raw-

expended fund

They forget altogether that they are incorporated
under an Act of Parliament to carry out the line in
question. They have made a direct contract with
the country, to which Parliament is an attesting
parts

What a mockery it would be if such a eon:
tract could be permitted to be broken, merely be-
cause the parties who have entered into it find that
they can pocket a few shillings more by so doing
than by submitting to take the fair market price
for their property r Again, how a -

parties

urd to com-

purchased

'ebrokers, such as Mr

Rawson and the gentlemen who composed the
majority of the meeting, ought to know better
than to sell stock, without bargaining for a proper
transfer. Gentlemen ought to remember too that,
if they have sold, they have most likely pocketed
a little sum in the shape of premium, which, if
handed back again to those parties who have paid
it, might probably coax them into registration ,•' and
moreover that there are many parties, some original
holders and others purchasers only, who are quite
in earnest and bent upon proceeding with the work
to which they have put their hand. Besides, we
may remind Mr. Rawson and his friends that it is
not strictly correct on their part to deal with pro-
perty which they acknowledge no longer belongs to
them.

We should not have troubled ourselves to notice
this rather immodest meeting, were it not that it
appears to us quite as unreasonable and uncalled
for as it is immodest. The Directors of the Com-
pany in question are not pressing their shareholders,
or pushing forward the undertaking in the face of

the existing difficulties in the money market. On
the contrary they have pledged themselves to pro-
ceed cautiously ; and to avoid as fg.r as is in their
power incurring the necessity of making an early
call. The line itself is no bubble project ; and we
cannot see why it should be shelved and the coun-
try deprived for years to come of the accommoda-
tion which it is calculated to afford,. merely because
a few individuals have miscalculated their means,
or otherwise acted imprudently.

Mr. Richard Cobden is at length on his way
home to the country which he has favoured by con-
ferring upon it the blessings of free trade. After
having been feted by the merchants of nearly every
city of Europe, handed round for inspection like
some curious specimen of the animal or the vege-
table creation, listened to as the promulgator of
a new system of philosophy, and lauded to his face
until one wonders that the man's features have not
attained the permanent red of one of his own
brightest prints, he is coming amongst us, no
doubt, to be met with an ovation, similar to
that with which he has been received by those for
the productions of whose industry he has procured
admission into the British market, to the exclusion
of similar productions of the native artizun. In
what condition will the great philosopher find the
duped community upon whose prosperity he has
been experimenting ?
We can imagine him entering his beloved borough

without any

meliminary annc

ment, to enable his old friends and iuglemen to
get up a demonstration, and. put the best side of
things outside. Two out of every three, chimneys
are guiltless altogether of emitting smoke; and

every other shop is either shut up or deserted. A
few pale emaciated beings are to be seen, huddled
up in their rags, standing listlessly at street corners,
or stealing from the pawnshop, where they have
just been leaving their last valuable, to their almost
desolate homes. There is hunger in every eye you
meet ; and the stillness of the air, and the bright-
ness of the sky above, have an unnatural effect.
There are no heavy lorries rumbling along the
pavement, no dyers' or packers' vans obstructing
the thoroughfares; no clang of machinery to break
the terrible dullness of the scene. Over almost
the whole borough, indeed, might be written up, to
meet the eyes of the returning philosopher, to
be let unfurnished—key at the Union Workhouse."
What must be the sensations of the honourable
member, when he finds in this dreary and desolate
condition, not Stockport alone, but nearly every
other seat of the national industry, we cannot even
guess, We might tell what would be the feelings
of shame which would assail ordinary men, on
witnessing such a lamentable falsification of the
hopes and expectations which they had raised. But
Mr. Cobden is not by any means an ordinary man.
No misgivings of his own pre-eminent wisdom
seem to strike his mind. His confidence has not
deserted him, but seems to increase as he approaches
nearer to the sight and sound of the sufferings of
his fellow-countrymen.
On the 4th instant the honourable gentleman
was entertained by a large body of the mercantile
people of the city of Hamburgh, when he took the
opportunity of delivering the impressions made
upon him, with respect to Free Trade, by his four-
teen months' tour over the Continent :-
-" He had met men of all parties—free traders as well
as monopolists—men of enlarged views, and men of nar-
row views ; but he was happy to state that amongst the
enlightened ones he had found no difference of opinion
about free trade. Almost all the governments were op-
posed to protection. He then drew a striking picture of
the salutary influence of free trade, by comparing the sea-
ports of Leghorn and Barcelona with each other. He
went home with the firm conviction that free trade would
make the tour of the world. He was not so sanguine as
to believe it could be done-in a year or two. It had taken
seven years in England, led to an expense of £400,000,
and they had distributed 120 tons' weight of tracts during
that period ; but the cause must triumph, because it was
the cause of justice and humanity."
We have not the shadow of a doubt that he has
found this wonderful unanimity amongst foreigners
in favor of free trade with Great Britain. The
agriculturists of the north of Europe and the Me-
diterranean will doubtless be delighted to pour into
the British markets as much of their grain as we
are willing to pay for. The protected manufac-
turers of Germany and Russia, upon whose ad-
vanced state of proficiency Mr. Cobden expressed
himself lately in such enthusiastic terms, are equally
delighted to be permitted to compete with our own
artizan in the British markets; but we have yet
to be pointed out to us any one " Government "
which is " opposed to protection," unless Mr.
Cobden means protection to the British artizan.
The main question, however, is not now with
respect to the opinions of the foreigner upon the
subject of Free Trade, but what are those which he
will find amongst practical men at home. Mr.
Cobden's nostrum has failed to bring prosperity to
any class or any interest in Great Britain or her
dependencies. After a year of Free Trade the
commerce and industry of the country are steeped
in ruin and suffering. No doubt he can explain
all this very satisfactorily. We have mis-managed
his measure, most probably ; and he will be pre-
pared to set us right, and guide the vessel of the
nation into smooth waters once more. One thing,
however, we must impress upon him to avoid,—he
must not ask us to wait for the better days which
are in store for us, until free trade " makes the
tour of the continent," and the common sense of
other nations is smothered beneath the weight of
another hundred-and-twenty tons of tracts, and
the annoyance of a six or seven years' agitation,
which were so effectual in deluding the statesmen
and the people of this kingdom. We cannot wait
• for so tedious an operation.