The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-05-22 00:00:00

er of the-cr

of Lords,

by a majority of fourteen of those who were
rresent, and carried by a majority of ten—by the
proxies of men who were not present, and never heard the
arguments used, either on one side or the other.
(Loud laughter.) Gentlemen, I might protract these

that there are persons to follow me who will have to tres-
pass to some length on the attention of the meeting, and
I will, therefore, only say, in conclusion, that if this bill
passes into a law, God grant that we may not find, when
too late, that we have forced away the mainstry of our com
mercial greatness—that we may not find when too late that
we have thrown down the bulwarks of this sea-girt isle, but
st the peace, V--

_ , ...e prosperity, arm .he power oi
ye, of Old England, may still continue—(cheering)—that
rur gracious and beloved Queen may not only reign, as

reign she does, in the hearts and affections of her people,
but that. she may reign—through the medium of the
British Navy—mistress of the seas. (Vehement and
continuea cheering.) Mr. Iforsfail concluded by prone-
'ng the first resolution, which, with the others, will be

a our advertising columtu
Aid. ROBERT SELLER I

DRSO

chairman of

rising to second the lc
- -
and Gentlemen, I have listened with great attention
to the excellent speech of Mr. Horsfall, and cordially
second the resolution which that gentleman has proposed.
Having been engaged in business all my life, being a ship-
► having now the honour of being chairman of
ommittee, I think I may fairly claim to have

owner, an,

vu Luis subject. (Hear.) It is my not compete with foreigners, but that if it were re-
belief that if any enemy of this country had to devise a moved they would be able to do so. Parliament listened,
plan to ruin our maritime commerce and our colonial cm- and the consequenC3 is that the manufacturers of Man-
pire, he could not find anything so effectual for that pur- chester receive their cotton duty free. This was to enable
pose as the repeal of the navigation laws. (Cheers.) The them to compete with the manufacturers of France and
great body of the inhabitants of Liverpool had deprecated Germany. Now, Mr. Mayor, I wish to ask whether ship-
this destructive measure. Forty-seven thousand of our building is not a manufacture as well as cotton-spinning ?
fellow-townsmen have signed a petition against the bill, (hear); and I say if this bill passes, the shipwrights and
and that that opinion is unchanged, the intense interest shipbuilders of England have been most unjustly dealt
. .

think that the representations of this important town
ought not to be disregarded. (Hear.) Mr. Mayor, if
ever there was a time when it would be impolitic, when it
would be unsafe to press forward a measure materially
end -'-bq our shipping interest it is at the p -t

~, every
farthing of it—unless the duty be taken off iron, hemp,
and everything which has to undergo the manipulation of
the English artizan. (Loud applause.) Sir, I have some
statistical statements here. only I know how imnroner it

. .
is to occupy time when others have to speak after us ; but
I do protest, in the name of my fellow-townsmen, against
victimising the operatives of Liverpool for the exclusive
benefit of those at Manchester ;—I protest against their
throwing shackles on us, they being left free; I protest
against protection being given to the cotton-spinner,
while no protection is given to the hardy shipwright,
rigger, and other classes connected with them. (Loud
applause.) Sir, if this measure is passed, Ido not
hesitate to say that the property of Liverpool will be de-
preciated. I thought it right the other day to move in
council that the corporation should petition parliament
not to pass this bill. We did right to petition on the
subject. We are the representatives of the town, and as
a large portion of the corporate revenue is derivable from
letting shipbuilding yards, and as the bill might deprive
us of the power to aid, as we did last year, the parish
funds, we had, in our corporate capacity, as every trades-
man had in his individual capacity, an interest in the ques-
tion,—for the property of all will be depreciated in a re-
lative degree to that of the shipowner. (Hear, hear.)
Then there is another matter, and I throw it out to the
peers of England who voted for the bill. Their noble
oaks, in stately magnificence, may adorn their forests ;
but I beg to tell them, that if they pass this bill, they
won't get 3s. 6d. or 4s. per foot for the timber. It may
grow as ornament, but when felled will be brought into
competition with foreign. (Hear, hear.) Sir, fill up the
catalogue of the nation's folly ! but I tell you there will
be one Interest which will not be unscathed—it is the in-
terest of the 400 or 500 manufacturers who have forced
this bill upon government, with Mr. Ricardo at their
head, and I don't know whom at their tail. (Laughter,)