The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-10-16 00:00:00

" BUSINESS.

" To select a fit and proper Person to represent this
Ward in the Town Council."

What would any man infer from reading such a
document, with " National Confederation" at its
head, in imposing type, and dated from " Liverpool"
in general, and no where else in particular; but
that it emanated from that Confederation, of which
the Ward Committee, holding its sittings at no
place in particular, were the working hands. Mr.
Macdonald may rest satisfied that the public see
very well through all this attempted mystification
of pretended Ward Committees aping the style of
the Head Body, and the Head Body disowning the
Ward Committees, whenever it is convenient to
do so.
Mr. Macdonald continues :

" Permit me further to add, that all your assertions in
the same article, with reference to the Confederation, are
equally without foundation, and to suggest that it is due
to that body to disabuse the public mind of the impression
which such misstatements are calculated to make."

Now one of the statements, thus said to be with-
out foundation, related to the conduct of the
Confederation, or the Confederation's "Ward Corn-
mittee"—if that style please the gentlemen better—
in St. Peter's, in selecting Mr. Richard Harbord
as candidate, at a meeting convened according to
rule, and afterwards overruling the selection in
favour of a candidate of opposite political opinions.
Does Mr. Macdonald deny this ? We give him
the version of the story furnished us in the letter
of Mr. Callis

" With respect to St. Peter's Ward, I was present at
the meeting which carried Mr. Harbord, and was not
summoned again till Mr. Fernihough had been brought
out. I hare expressed my str ng indignation on the con-
duct of one or two men who caused the mischief, but it
was not the Confederation Committee, neither must you
blame the Reformers as a body, for some of them have
expressed themselves as strongly as I did, and the nomi-
nation of Mr. Harbord was seconded by one of the oldest
Reformers in the ward, whose name I hand you privately.
Having seen Dr. Harbord, who stated his brother was
coming out for the Park, and who advised me not to
disturb the peace of the ward through the conduct of one
or two men, I did express myself satisfied with Mr. Fermi-
hough, after having heard his address. At the same time,
my opinion of the conduct of the parties is the same."

Notwithstanding a little special pleading, our
statement is thus evidently admitted.

Mr. Macdonald continues :

"There is not a man connected with the confederation
but could have informed you that the confederation in no
way interferes in the choice of candidates, and that the
' party bias' of which you speak has really no existence
but in the minds of those who arc at a loss for a better
point of abuse."

Well, but we have shown, and Mr. Callis, a
member of the confederation, has admitted, that
party bias has been used by one of their ward coin
mittees—we say theirs advisedly, for how are these
subsidiary bodies formed ? Mr. Callis again shall
speak for us :
"It is the duty of the Council to see that there is a
branch committee formed in every ward ; that having
been done it is left to manage its own business. Every
ward has its members on the central board, and they
would not allow the central body to dictate, even if such
was attempted, which to my knowledge has never yet
been done. The ward committees are, or should be,
composed of an equal number of Conservatives and Re-
formers; and if such a committee should select a candi-
date, and that candidate receives the support of the Con-
federation, it ought not—it cannot be called dictation."
The Confederation, then, forms the "ward com-
mittees," who have to do the work; and in the
performance of that work they have the support of
the head body. This is surely interference direct
enough, if it is not actually " dictation." Mr. Cal-
lis, by the bye, does not seem quite certain as to
whether they are impartially selected. They only
"are, or ought to be !"
A word, by the way, to Mr. Callis himself. He
asks, in his letter :

" Does not the Constitutional Society support its own
friends, and are there not branch committees in several
wards ; and is it not reasonable to suppose that its influ-
ence was at work in favour of Mr. Horsfall ?"

Of course, the members of the society do, as I
individuals. They issue, however, no such circu-
lars as we have given above. They give no aid, as
a body, to any of the wards. Each ward is self-
acting and self-supporting. No ward councillors
are appointed by the association. All that the
association does is to supply information as to du-
plicate votes, and to facilitate the making of returns
made on the day of polling. What it is "reasonable
to suppose," we do not know. What is actually
done, we do know; and it would be well for
the Confederation to follow the example.
We are content here to leave the question for the
decision of the community, merely recommending
to the secretary of the confederation to use a
somewhat more modest tone towards those opposed
to him. That gentleman might have satisfied him-
self within the past few weeks, that the body which
he represents is not composed of the most impreg-
nable materials. The public, at all events, are very
much of the opinion that it is held together only
by the popularity of a few of the local objects
which it proposes to have in view, whilst it abuses
its powers and prestige to advocate national pro-
jects of a very dangerous character. Like Mr.
Callis, who " has not identified himself with the
national part" of its projects, we believe that the
majority of its members would leave it to fall in
pieces by its own weight, if compelled to regard
themselves as pledged to the absurd views of its
prize essayist—views, of which, in the course of
considerable opportunities of observing the opi-
nions of the public, as reflected by the press of the
country, we are not aware of having met with a
single influential supporter.

WE have more than once ventured to express
our opinion that Mr. Richard Cobden is a man
who is great upon one subject only. Take his

views upon any other matter than Free-trade, and
we find him disappointing all the expectations of
his friends, and miserably forfeiting the prestige
of his political renown. His whole career since
1846 has been a succession of failures ; of abortive
efforts to get up a new agitation, and to be original
in his political projects. His peace prophecies were
worthy only of an uppish schoolboy. They were
falsified before the ink which recorded them was
dry. His financial projects betrayed equal weak-
ness. We all remember his assertion, that Russia
would not he able to raise and maintain an army
in the field; that she was insolvent, and the weak-
est power in Europe. Yet the Czar a few weeks
afterwards trampled the victorious hosts of Hungary
beneath his feet. He is now embarked -in an agi-
tation against the effort making by Austria to raise
a loan amongst the capitalists of Europe ; and he
will fail in this as in all his recent attempts.
We are not advocates either of that Government's
proceedings towards the Hungarians, or of the
policy of embarking British or European capital in
Austrian, or any other foreign loans. It is sheer
folly, however, and what is worse, hypocrisy for this
nation to affect the character of purists, where mo-
netary operations are concerned. Wherever tempt-
ing terms are offered, and for whatever purpose
money is wanted, it will find its way. V 4 e have,
for example, been for years denouncing the sin of
the slave trade, yet we do not object to supply the
funds by which it is carried on. We make the
goods, which the Brazilian slaver barters for human
flesh. We eat the sugar which is wrung from the
labour of the deported African. We make, and
derive a profit from, the gyves which bind his
limbs, and the lash which galls his shoulders. Our
ultra humane will retire from the platform, where
he has been the loudest in decrying bloodshed, or
manstealing, to make an invoice of tomahawks and
bowie knives. The Sheffield article is to be found
in the hands of savages in every quarter of the
globe; the Birmingham musket in the ranks of
every contending host; yet we have never heard
that either the Sheffield or the Birmingham manu-
facturer sleeps any the less sound, or imagines that
he has any murder upon his soul.
Lord Dudley Stuart, a coagitator with Mr.
Cobden in this matter, remarked at the meeting on
Monday :

" The cruelties with which the Jews had recently been
treated in Hungary were notorious throughout the world.
Now, it was supposed that the money-lenders in Europe
chiefly belonged to the Jewish persuasion ; and would it
not be infamous if men of that race were to give to Austria
the means of continuing their persecution of their co-reli-
gionists ? (Hear, hear, and cheers.) The last time he
had addressed a public meeting in that hall it was on be-
half of the liberties of Hungary; and on that occasion the
chair was filled by a liberal and distinguished ornament of
the Jewish race—David Solomons. The city in which he
now spoke was represented in ParliamentbyaJew. (Hear.)
He rejoiced at these circumstances, indicative, on the
part of the people, of a determination to carry out to the
fullest extent the principles of religious liberty (cheers);
but he must say, that if Jewish capitalists now lent their
aid to Austia, infamy would be, and ought to be, their
doom. (Cheers.) Could it be said that they would dO so
merely in the way of business, and that anything in the
way of business was allowable ? What was that but to
declare that the first and only thing worth considering
was money, and that to get money they might do any-
thing ? Was that morality ? (Cries of I No, no.') Was
it religion ? (` No.') Was any man at liberty to sell
poison, without ascertaining whether it was required for
legitimate purposes or for assassination, merely that he
might make money ? Could any Englishman now invest
his money in a slave-trading speculation without being
exposed to the reprobation of his countrymen ?"

Where has Lord Dudley Stuart been during the
last few years to imagine that such scruples as he
points at will prevail with the present generation ?
True, the money lenders of Europe chiefly belong
to the Jewish persuasion ; but what money-lender,
Jew or Christian, thinks of anything besides the
interest and security for his loan ? Infamy may be
the doom of such men ; but profit will bring down
the scale against any such consideration. What,
said his Lordship, was advancing money to such
a nation as Austria, but "to declare that the first
and only thing worth consideration was money,
and that to get money they might do anything."
We have declared this long ago. The principle per-
vades all our recent legislation. We already provide
the materials and the instruments of war and
assassination—of civilized slaughter and savage
butchery—for profit. We provide the means and
encourage the results of " slave-trading specula-
tions," yet consider eitirQelvea still the pattern
Christian nation of the world.

But to return to Mr. Cobben : the principal
ground of his appeal we find to be the alleged want
of security offered by Austria for this loan. Mr.
Cobden says, that Austria has, on three occasions,
been guilty of something like repudiation ; and
prophecies that the parties who contract for the
loan will not do so with the slightest intention of
a permanent investment. They will, in fact, shuffle
their stock upon the shoulders of green people, who
know as much of the affairs of Austria as of the
solvency of the man in the moon. When we ask
was it otherwise with a foreign loan? The Stock Ex-
change people—the Jews of Lombard-street---have
done the same thin° from time immemorial; and
all the Cobdens will not prevent them doing the
same thing again. Money would be invested, by
both Jews and Christians, in anything that pro-
mised a gambling issue.
We would suggest to Mr. Cobden a much better
direction in which to exercise his talent for agita-
tion. Let him, instead of of railing. against Russia
and Austria, direct public attention to the causes,
by which, periodically, these and other countries
are enabled to drain Great Britain of her accumu-
lations, whilst her own industry is thrown into a
state of prostration andsuffering. At this moment
we have in our realm a population of some four
millions of paupers, some confirmed in their habits,
but the majority willing to work. We have food
of every description unprecedentedly cheap ; and
yet millions who cannot procure a meal We have
markets glutted with manufactures, and yet thou-
sands unable to procure clothing. We have money
seeking employment at from 2 to 23 per cent., and
yet thousands complaining of its scarcity. We
have a population willing to dig, to build, to weave,
to mine, and to produce, and anxious to be enabled
to consume; and yet the capital, which ought to
enable this population to produce and to be-
come consumers, leaving the country seek em-
ployment in other lands—to enrich our rivals, and
to promote objects which we regard as detestable.
Let Mr. Cobden get rid of the cause of the present
unnatural cheapness of capital. in this country, and
we shall neither have to complain of suffering at
home, nor to agitate in order to prevent capital
leaving our shores.

THE confidence of the public in the soundness
of Railway Investments has again given way;. and
prices of almost all stocks have further receded.
This result, however, is not attributable to any fresh
revelations of the misconduct, or the mismanage-
ment, o: Boards of Directors, so much as to the
publication of the weekly accounts shewing, in the
case of almost every line, decreased receipts_ from .
their traffic. With respect to some lines this-
decrease is startling in extent. Thus the Great
Western receipts for the past week were only
£15,864, against £20,983 in the corresponding week
of 1848 ; the York and North Midland has fallen
off from f 9,584 to £6,521 ; the Eastern Counties
from £16,428 to £14,906, notwithstanding 27 miles
of line have been added. The London and North
Western, with 42 miles of new line opened, has
fallen from £42,848 to £40,018 ; and the York,
Newcastle, and Berwick from £13,860 to £12,996,
with 21 miles of line added. We take the figures
from the weekly statement of the Times, of
Saturday.
It is worthy of enquiry, however, whether the
mere fact of this decrease is sufficient to warrant
the somewhat gloomy views entertained with re-
spect to this description of property. In some
instances such enquiry would probably elicit the
existence of special reasons for the decrease in a
particular week. With respect to the Great West-
ern for example, we can scarcely conceive that a
decline of 25 per cent. in the week's traffic of
1849 is a fair index of the average decline of the
year. Some special reason must have caused this
great discrepancy. The average decline on the
York and North Midland cannot amount to thirty
per cent., as shewn in the weekly returns, for the
Midland would surely in that case have been some-
what similarly affected ; and the return only shews
a decline of £5OO in a traffic of £24,656 per week.
With respect to the London and North Western
Company, we can readily account for the decrease
exhibited, of £2,830 in the week, by the fact of the
recent considerable reduction in the rates of the
merchandise traffic, and the severe competition to
which the Company have been exposed from the
opening of the East Lancashire and Lancashire
and Yorkshire Companies, and the Canals. Taking
, these circumstances into consideration, it is

THE LIVERPOOL itAND-Aitb.