The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-10-13 00:00:00

.enjwned in story

ind dirrinled its glory

year the privy council refused the first application made
under the last act, and drew up minutes of discourage-
ment to such applications. And up to this time the
Crown has never thought fit to grant any one patent
conferring the privilege on a company of a limited lia-
bility. The last-named act made the members of com-
panies created by patent liable for three years in their
private fortunes for the debts of the company.
is a wholesome restraint, and is necessary to give pro-
tection to private traders and the public in their com-
petition and dealings with public companies.
Though companies are in these points incompatible
with the true principles of partnership in commerce,
they are not on that account without their use and
place, though their proper place is peculiar and very
limited. Giants would be awkward intruders upon the
" are beginning to foot pavements in Cheapside, at foot-ball, or in a cricket-
.4.w to its natural consequences. ground. But they might be useful to lift a heavily-
g, in short, to exhibit, without dis- laden broad-wheeled waggon out of a ditch, if they hap-
Jus character of that most revolution- pened to be passing at the exact moment, and could be
For some time past these worthies have quiet till another such occasion called upon them. Many
moderation, pretending that they a heavy-wheeled trade has been launched upon the
•han to act in the genuine spirit of broad road, and set going by a company, which, but
'After purifying that celebrated for the help of such giant arm, might never have had
which had crept into its admi- mc.
'ins were obviously forced.
. The poor law commis-
-, were watched, as never public
s were watched before, and they, accord-
'eding moderation in the exercise of

thy trance a

ath chall

e living's sake

D left thee free

.om the nations came

'‘,.;e listen to the call

tongue of flame

.ouse us all !

!MPORARY PRESS

'OOR LAW HUMANITY

the Mor

ty Herald.)

louse " Dictators'

The proper occasions which call for and warrant the
establishment Of a public company will require a separ-
ate and particular enumeration, together with the dis-
tinctive principles of each.
We have mentioned the chief points in which they
contradict the proper principles of partnerships. We

n by public opinion

Odious and revolting

functions

must exhibit those also in- which they oppose them-
selves to the sound and solid basis and principles of

THE CORN LAWS.
(From Berrow's Worcester Journal.)

We admit in the abstract the justice of the opinion
that a man has a right to take his abilities to the best
market and get as much money as he can for the ex-
ercise of them : nay more, we allow that even if an in-
dividual has been convicted of libel, yet having purged
himself of the offence by undergoing the penalties of
the law, he is not thereby precluded from all future ex-
ercise (A his literary or oratorical talents. It is not so
much to the system of paying lecturers that we object,
as to such persons, for the sake of gain, perverting
their powers by employing them in the most unfounded
assertions and unmeasured abuse against their op-
ponents. 'Thus when Mr. Acland declares that "the
Corn. Laws are most oppressive and unnatural; that

they are blasphemous, inhuman, anti-social, and anti-
agricultural ; —when he represents the landowners of
Great Britain as-individuals devoid of all patriotic feel-
ing, sordid, selfish, mean, and influenced solely by the
love of money, we tell him to his face that he is saving
that which is not true, and that he is perverting his
talents as a public speaker. It is the natural feeling of
man, whether he be a manufacturer or a land proprie-
tor, to acquire a fortune as rapidly as he can ; hut what-
ever may be the cupidity of persons of the latter class,
it is clear that they have not generally succeeded in
amassing great wealth : Mr. Acland himself says that
four-fifths of the landed property of the kingdom is
mortgaged ; and how therefore can he have the auda-
city to assert that the Corn Laws have put immense
sums into the pockets of the owners of land ? It is a
circumstance not depending upon mere assertion, but
the unimpeachable evidence of facts and figures, that
real property, such as farms, does not pay its posses-
sors more than three or three and a half per cent.
sd of Eli- i Would Mr. Acland's employers think such a return

for their m

self consider that he was committing a robbery by re-
ceiving such a rate of interest upon his own capital ?
There are one or two other fallacies in these lectures,
for the refutation of which we must claim from the
reader a moment's indulgence.
The corn laws are neither blasphemous nor anti-
social. The landowners say to the government, "We
are British subjects, dependent upon the soil for our
support, and we claim your protection. All that we
require is, that as the cost of production and the amount
of taxation in foreign countries are less than in Eng-
land, we shall not be placed in a worse position than
our rivals in other nations." Is there any thing un-
reasonable in this ? We sometimes hear allusions made
to the dark ages ; but surely the person must be la-
bouring under worse than Cimmerian darkness who
denies that it is the duty of every state' to protect and
encourage its own subjects. This principle is adopted
with respect to manufactures, and the relaxation of it
even in a degree has, as we too well know, been pro-

ass of

ductive of the most direfu.

consequence

But we

more particularly desirous of exposing- one absurdity
uttered by Mr. Acland, as it may produce a prejudicial
effect on the minds of the humbler classes, though it
is most creditable to the agricultural labourers that
they have hitherto been uninfluenced by the improper
attempts to cause discontent and resistance among
them. Mr. Acland instances the case of a poor man,
who worked for seven shillings a-week in an agricul-
tural district, and who, being taken ill, went to the
workhouse, where he died. The result he does not
hesitate to attribute to the corn laws ! Many heavy
charges have been brought against the supporters of
these protective duties, but we certainly did not antici-
pate that they would he accused of being liable for all
the diseases to which human nature is subject. But
what is the remedy which Mr. Acland proposes for low
wages ? Why, to reduce the incomes of the landowners
and farmers, and thus enable them to give more ! !
With respect to wages, a child in political economy
knows that they are wholly dependent upon the supply
of, and demand for, labour. In the accounts from the
colonies, we frequently read of labourers being scarce,
and that wages were in consequence high; and, vice
versa, there were plenty of labourers, and the remune-
ration was less.

The lecturer seems also to have considered that the
breaking up of the smaller farms has been productive
of great injury. We last week had a conversation with
an intelligent gentleman from Ireland, who dwelt much
upon the ill consequences which had resulted to that
country from the division of the land into very small
The reason is obvious : the occupiers hav-
ing no capital to lay out are unable to adopt the most
improved modes of culture, and the produce therefore
is greatly diminished, or perhaps the crops altogether
fail.

takings

We might go on showing the absurdities of these anti-
corn-law lecturers, but time and space admonish us
to stop. There is one illustration of the effect of free
trade which Mr. Acland had close at hand, but of which
he does not appear to have availed himself—that is, the
present state of the glove trade. We have read an
anecdote of a very respectable looking gentleman who
in disposing of a horse said he had but one fault, which
was, that he would not without much difficulty pass
an inn which he mentioned, and therefore it would be
advisable for the purchaser always to avoid the spot.
The secret of all this advice was at length found out :
the animal had been stolen from the inn for which he
had such strong predilections. To dwell much upon
the advantages of preferring the interests of foreigners
to our own, might in such a city as Worcester awaken
some awkward reminiscences of the wrong done to a
mostimportant branch of its trade. 'We sincerely trust
that we shall never see the British farmers reduced to
the same condition of unmerited distress and difficulty.

BERKSHIRE.—GROSS NEGLECT ON THE PART OF THE
OVERSEERS.—Great loss of time has been occasioned to
the revising barristers, Mr. John Kempson and Mr. John
George Phillimore (who are now making the circuit of the
county of Ilerks, for the revision of the list of voters), in
consequence of the gross neglect of the overseers of parishes
throughout the county generally. The county contains up-
wards of 140 parishes, and, out of this number, the over-
seers of only six made returns of the list of voters, &c., to
the clerks of the peace within the time prescribed by the
reform act. The consequence has been, that in many places
two and three days have been occupied by their revision,
when as many hours would have been sufficient. At Wind-
sor, for instance, on Saturday last, the revision of the county
lists did not occupy half an hour; but the revising bar-
risters, not having been made acquainted with the small ex-
tent of business to be got through, appointed (when the days
and places were fixed) the following Monday for the revision
of the borough lists. That occupied about an hour and a
half only. The whole of the business, which was thus
(through the neglect of the overseers) spun over two days,
could have been completed before one o'clock on Saturday.

HISTORICAL NOTICE OF BEYROUT.—Beyrout is the an-
cient Beryta, which was originally colonized from Sidon. In
566 the town was destroyed by an earthquake. It was no
sooner rebuilt than it had to sustain a lengthened siege by
the Saracens, who finally obtained possession of it. It sub-
sequently fell into the power of Baldwin, King of Jerusalem ;
but in 1111 Saladin succeeded in driving all the Christians
out of it. After a frequent change of masters, Beyrout at
length became the residence of the Emir Fakir Eddyn,
Prince of the Dances, who perished there in defending his
dominons against the powerful Amurath IV. Since that
period, Beyrout has constantly belonged to the Ottoman
empire. Beyrout coktained about 10,000 inhabitants—ac-
cording to some accouncs, 12,000. It was the principal
trading port of the central part of Syria, and the point by
which Damascus, the entrepat of Europe and Asia, received
all its merchandise, and to which it directed all its expedi-
tions. By this same point all the products of the soil of
Syria, and more especially the silks of the Lebanon, were
transmitted to Europe. The commerce of Beyrout amounted
annually to a sum of 4,000,000 or 5,000,000 f. Tuscany in
the first instance, and after her France, were in possession of
the major part of this commerce. The exportations of
France to Beyrout amounted annually (says the Messager)
to about 2,000,000 f. ; the importations from Beyrout to
France to nearly 1,000,000 f. As a military point (observes
the same paper) Beyrout was insignificant. It is true that the
harbour of Beyrout is the best harbour for merchant vessels
on the coast, but it is inaccessible to ships of war. The means
of defence of Beyrout seaward were a small fort, some bat-
teries constructed on the mole by which the port is sheltered,
a small bastion, and fortified gates. Landward the sole for-
tification is a wall flanked by towers, to which a few intrench-
ments were recently added by the orders of Sams, Bey.

Aggregate average of .the six weeks.
Wheat .. 665. 7d. I Barley.. 355. 7d.4 Oats.. 276. 7d. I Rye
Beans.. 465. 4d. I Pease.. 435. gd.

Duty on Foreign Grain, Szc. this week.
Wheat 205.8 d. I Barley 9s. 4d. I Oats .... 6s. 3d. I Rye .
Beans, Is. ad. Pease.. ss. Od. Ind. Corn gs. 4d Flour

65;77d. 1 26;:i id. I 228

Wheat Qrs. 1358 2119 2042 5519
Barley Qrs. 1403 1403
Malt Qrs. 2062 2062
Oats
Rye Qrs.
Beans Qrs, 30 204 1223 1457
Pease. Qrs• 8
Shelled Barley . Qrs.
Indian Corn . . . Qrs.
Rapeseed Qrs.
Oatmeal ... . Loads 5238 2
Flour. Sacks 666 34
Ditto

850 I 850
5240

EXPORTS.—Foreign. Wheat, qrs. ; Barley, 12 qrs. ; Oats, 417
qrs. ; Pease, 59 qrs. ; Indian Corn, 33 Ids. ; Flour, 629 brls.—
Ireland. Wheat, 2728 qrs.; Oats, qrs.; Rye, 25 qrs.; Indian
Corn, qrs. ; Oatmeal, loads ; Flour, sacks.—Coast-
wise. Wheat, 330 qrs.; Barley, 20 qrs.; Malt, 76 qrs. ; Oats, 735
qrs. ; Indian Corn, qrs. ; Beans, qrs. ; Pease, qrs. ; Oat-
meal, 110 loads ; Flour, 180 sacks, 1603 brls.

Average prices of Grain, for the week ending Oct. 2, 1840
Wheat.. 61s. 7d. I Barley 365. Od. i Oats.. 255. id. I Rye.
Reams.. 453. 7d. I Pease.. 433. sd.

Liverpool Averages, week ending 6th October, 1840.
Wheat. I Barley. I Oats. I Beans. I Pease
039 I 3g 3086 f