The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-10-19 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

THE bum DreraEss.—The astonishment that has
been generally expressed at the proposed subscription on
behalf of the Irish,on the day of thanksgiving has called
forth a semi-official explanation on the part of Mr. C. E.
Trevelyan, and General Burgoyne, one of the relief com-
missioners, in letters addressed to the editor of the Times.
Mr. Trevelyan asserts, that " the unhappy people in the
western districts of 'lreland will again perish by thousands
this year, if they are not relieved ;" and bears testimony
to three main points in the letter of Sir John Burgoyne.
The letter of Sir John Burgoyne states the case for the
Irish as strongly, we suspect, as the matter admits of ;
resting it chiefly on the imminent danger, nay, certainty,
of great scarcity during the approaching winter, many of
the small holders having been unable to cultivate their
lands, and a very small proportion of potatoes havingbeen
laid down. _ _

The Repeal rent acknowledged at the meeting on Mon-
day was but £4B 2s. 94d. for the week. Of this sum no
less than £l2 was subscribed by the " grocers' assistants,"
so that the funds are not very flourishing. On the £l2
being handed in by Mr. Ray, Mr. O Connell called for a
cheer for the Grocers' Assistants—(cheers)—and a second
cheer— Not because the foolish fellows had contri-
buted a fourth part of the week's receipts :—no ! gratitude
with the O'Connell's is " a lively sense of favours to
come." Not, then, because of what they had did
they receive the " cheers" and " second cheers" of the
persons they were feeding, but— Because the amount
was only an instalment of future contributions. (Re-
newed cheers.) He is his father's son, and is following in
his father's footsteps, though he has not yet acquired his
father's knack of coaxing contributions.
THE REPEAL RENT.—Considerable agitation is now
going on as to the way in which this fund has been spent.
lf, it is said, £65 suffice for the working of the Associa-
tion ',and latterly the receipts have been seldom more)
what became of the £60,000 or £70,000 which used to be
collected every year ? How was it disposed of ? Into
whose pocket did it go—fo what purpose was it applied ?
Will no honest Repealer ask for some account of it ?
There were audits, we know, and every shilling, we were
told, was expended ; but how How. if £6O or £65 a
week suffice now, could occasion have been found for
£l5OO or £l6OO then ? But even this enormous sum was
not enough, for that honest and fast-fingered gentleman,
Mr. Daniel O'Connell, at the very last audit before his
death, brought in the Association his debtor to the tune
of £7OO odd ! Now is there not a mystery in all this that
requires to be cleared up ? Can the most besotted con-
tributor close his eyes to the conclusion ? Can he per-
suade himself that his money was needed, and was
honestly applied ? Where £65 answers now, what could
have been heretofore wanted with £1,500 ?

THE ODDS.—A gentleman whO wishes to be employed
in the collection of rents, and advertises his terms in some
of the Dublin papers, has proposed a scale of remuneration,
which well illustrates the moral condition of Ireland. He
sets forth three rates of payment, according to the quar-
ters of our land in which his services may be required,
regulated after the manner of the Fire Insurance offices,
under the heads of " Common Risk," " Hazardous,"
and " Doubly Hazardous." Under the first denomina-
tion, he comprehends Ulster, of course—and which is
very liberal of him—the whole of Leinster, not excepting
Kilkenny. In both those provinces he will work for six-
pence in the pound. Across the Shannon the services
becomes Hazardous, and must be paid double. To Con-
naught he will go (Grceculus esuriens—see Samuel John-
son), but must get a shilling in the pound. But, as for
Munster, that is Doubly Hazardous. It demands an ad-
ditional pound per centum, to cover the expense of
making an agent's will before he sets out to intermeddle
with the " tenant-right" in that rich vein of country.
He must have six per cent. in Munster. This appears to
us the most reasonable calculation of all.—Dublin Mail.
LIVE STOCK FROM IRELAND.—We learn from official
returns, that in the year 1845-6, 78,224 pigs, 6,050 horned
cattle, and 20,750 sheep, were sent to England from Cork;
in 1846-7, 19,510 pigs, 17,532 horned cattle, and 88,010
sheep, were exported. Thus we find that the deficiency
in the number of pigs exported in the last year, owing to
the loss of the potato crop, was 58,714, which, taken at
their average value in the previous year, would give a
loss, in that item, of £176,142. We find, however,
against this loss, an increase of exports, within the last
year, of 11,482 horned cattle and 67,260 sheep—or about
four times the number of each within the past year, com-
pared with the previous one, and with an increase in
amount at the same rate, of £68,892 in the value of
horned cattle, and £84,075 in that of sheep. The money
value of the stock of 1845-6 was £296,909 ; in 1846-7 it
was £294,243, showing a decrease of only £2,666, a
smaller difference than any one would have supposed.
While the loss of the potato crop causes a deficiency in
the returns from the sale of pigs for one year of £176,142,
the extended cultivation of green crops and feeding of
cattle produce an increase, within the same period, of
£172,967; thus nearly making up the loss. These facts
must command attention, illustrating, as they do, the
immense value of the green-crop system.
IRISH LANDLORDS.—The Lord Lieutenant has replied
to the memorial of the Tipperary magistrates, setting forth
the causes of Mr. Roe's murder, the high qualities of the
murdered man as a landlord, the existence of a conspiracy
among some of his tenants to deprive him of his rents, the
general danger which arises to the community from the
indiscriminate possession of fire-arms by the poorer classes,
and the necessity of some vigorous measure for the re-
pression of the evil. His Lordship very properly com-
mends them for the willingness they express, to repay
to the best of their ability, the advances made for
the relief 'of the poor, and passes a high encomium on
the great majority of them for the admirable energy,
the humane and indefatigable zeal displayed by them
during the lath disaster_ Guul indeed. will English-
men be to find that Irish landlords are beginning to be
aroused to a manly sense of the difficulties and peril of
their position, and to display the courage and resolution
that will overcome them. Lord Clarendon holds up the
memorialists of Tipperary as an example to their class, as
well for the honourable fidelity with which they cleave to
their engagements, as for the humane spirit they have
evinced in ministering to the sufferings of their tenantry.
He rebukes, with proper severity, that mischievous oppo-
sition to the payment of rent, which has led to the mur-
der of Mr. Roe ; and declares his fixed resolution to call
all the energies of the law to his assistance for the repres-
sion and punishment of any outrage it may produce.
STATE OF CLARE.—The Clare Journal contains the
following list of outrages, chiefly upon persons who had
ventured to bring their corn to market :—On Friday week,
Patrick Frawley, who, as reported in our last post, was
waylaid and cruelly beaten by a gang of assassins on his
return from this town, died from the wounds he had re-
ceived. On the morning of this cruel murder, deceased
was engaged in serving ejectment processes on the part of
Mr. Guinnees, land agent, Dublin, and to his faithful dis-
charge of this duty is his assassination attributed. The
deceased has lest a helpless family of nine children.—On
the 9th instant, about six o'clock, as Thomas Morony
was returning from Ennis market, on a car, after having
sold corn, he was pelted with stones from behind a wall
on the road side at Ruan, by two men unknown. He
was struck by two of the stones, and injured so as to con-
fine him to his bed.—On the same night, about seven
o'clock, as John Hehir, of Caherkine, was returning from
Ennis market, seated on a car, a shot was fired at either
him or his horse, by a man unknown, on the road at
Coolshamrogue, but the shot did not take effect. It is
supposed that Hehir was mistaken for some person who
had sold corn in the market, as he had not done so, and
there is no other reason to assign.—On the same night,
about eight o'clock, as John Butler, of Derryhulla, was
returning from Ennis market, where he had sold corn, he
was met on the road at Mohery, by two men linknown,
one of whom fired at and shot his horse, which died soon
after.—On the night of the 4th inst., the greenhouse at
Moyreisk, the property of Lord Fitzgerald, was broken
into by some persons unknown, who destroyed the grapes
and injured the vines, broke eleven panes of glass, and
posted a threatening notice on the door, warning the
steward, John Frost, to leave his employment, or he
would be shot.—On Wednesday, the pound of Clondigad
was broken open, and a cow, distrained for rent, taken
away. On the same night, a quantity of corn and hay,
under seizure, belonging to the same person who owned
the cow, was forcibly taken away from the man who had
charge of them.
„_
IN HAT IS THE TRUE POLICY TOWARDS THE IRISH.--
Mr. T. C. Foster, the " Times Commissioner," has just
addressed a letter to that journal, in reply to Sir J. Bur-
goyne's further appeal for more assistance from England.
Mr. Foster says,—" What does all this painfully faithful
description of Sir John Burgoyne indicate, but the uni-
versal prevalence of contented laziness and apathy, and
want of enterprise amongst the Irish people? A ' few
days' labour, without a sixpence expense,' procures the
Irish cottier his cabin ; ` a very little labour supplies him
with a sufficiency of potatoes for food,' with which he is
perfectly content,' end ` occasional labour' pays his rent
and buys his clothes ! What ! and is the Dorsetsbire
peasant and the Suffolk labourer, to whom twelve hours of
daily labour the year round scarcely affords sufficient
bread, and who has more than once within recent recol-
lection been rendered desperate by the insufficiency of the
pittance of 7s. a-week, the price of his labour, to pay £2
or £3 rent for his cottage and to provide bread for his
family, to be asked by his clergyman to contribute his mite
for the " poor and starving Irish," who live habitually
contented with the cottages and food with which a very
little occasional labour' supplies them? But the response
is, they are starving. They cannot now starve by law;
there is, therefore, an end to that plea. But it is said they
are wretchedly poor and distressed. Our answer is, let
them work as we do, and their poverty Will become wealth,
and their distress will be changed into abundance. But it
is replied, Give them time, and they will work better
presently.' Give time to a people to voluntarily increase
the amount of their labour who for ages have been con-
tent 'to live on potatoes ? The proposition carries on the
face of it a contradiction. Potatoes were got with a very
little labour ;' a little more labour, voluntarily given,
would have procured them a better food, and would have
made the slovenly farms' yield a better return—would in
fact have been the first voluntary step out of poverty and
wretchedness towards comfort and independence. But
that voluntary step has never been taken. Why? Be-
cause the Irish people preferred poverty and wretchedness
and dependence, with a very little labour,' to comfort,
and independence, and wealth, with hard work. And it
is expected that they will take that voluntarY step now,
if we only subscribe alms enough to provide them with a
sufficiency of food ! Oh, admirable insight into human
nature !—Oh, perfect conception of the Irish character !
It did require, in past times, ` a very little labour' to pro-
cure them a most wretched subsistence, wherewith they
were content ;' give them that subsistence without any
labour at all, and think you not that still therewith they
will be ' content ?' It is apparent that if ' a little labour'
would procure subsistence to in Irishman, hard work (to
which Englishmen are accustomed, and to which, for the
sake of the benefits which accrue to them from it, they
voluntarily yield themselves) would have procured some-
thing beyond mere subsistence ; the continually accumu-
lating value of which surplus production over consumption
would loug- since have changed the poverty of Ireland into
wealth."