The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-09-07 00:00:00

duties, would be

those articles cos'

Min, is.

d., amounting in the year to ztil3

Whether William Blaxland was

" accu
" the labourers lie under a weight of taxation-at least equal
" to that borne by the landlords; and if the latter class ought
" to have protection, much more should the former."
Now, sir, to a plain, plodding, but practical man, it does
appear to me very important to see "whether William Blax-
land was accurate in his calculation or not," as the whole
gist of your argument on this head hinges upon the truth or
falsehood of the statement ; and so strongly do I feel this to
be the case, that I will unhesitatingly declare my belief that
you were by no means justified in using William Blaxland's
statements until you had verified their accuracy. You have
adopted them in fact as your own, and have thereby given
them an importance by being circulated with the authority of
the Hon. and Rev. Baptist Noel, which they never would
have received simply as the statements of a William Blaxland.
But, sir, I thank you for having done so, as it will afford an
opportunity for showing upon what false grounds such state-
ments are made, and how readily they are caught at to serve

a one-sided view of a subject. But now to the matter of
fact. I have taken the various items at the respective duties
on each article, and I believe it will be found that the case
stands as follows :—On the three articles of meat, flour, and
ale, I have no means of accurately calculating the tax, but
to be quite on the safe side, I shall give an ample amount:—

-. , _____
s. d.
Duty, &c. on 2 oz. tea, at 2s. 2d. per lb., say 0 3.}
ff ft 2 oz. coffee, at CA. per lb.
If ff 8 oz. sugar, at 245. per cwt.
9 I /f :} pint brandy, at 265. Bd. per gallon 010
/9 t, 1 oz. tobacco, at 3s. per lb.
Tax, &c. on 7 lbs flour
~ ~ 7 pints ale I say
fl It 3 lbs. 8 oz. meat
Making a total of

The extreme amount of faxes, therefore, on the articles
named comes to 2s. 3d. instead of ss. 3kd., as stated. And
for one moment to analyze these taxes—of 2s. 3d. it will be
seen that above Is. is on articles of pure luxury, M. ou
brandy, and nd. on tobacco; this amount being deducted,
it will leave no room whereon to found so plausible art argu-
ment in favour of the poor man and against the rich : the
tendency of which must be to shew up the interests and feel-
ings of the one as opposed to the other, when the very oppo-
site should be the case. It would at first sight appear strange
why William Blaxland, in stating his grievances, should in-
clude this quarter of a pint of brandy and one ounce of to-
bacco in his weekly consumption ; but when that heavy duty
on those two articles is seen, the motive, (viz., that of swelling
the amount of tax,) is tolerably apparent. Now, sir, I appeal
shew the neces-
-hand statements,

pity of precaution, befo.

.dopting secon

as matter of fact? It certainly was your duty to do, that
which I have done, before using these calculations as argu-
ment. Your making it matter of no importance whether the
statement be accurate, appears almost as ridiculous as the
schoolboy's problem—" If one pound of butter buys two
pounds of cheese, what will a cart load of paving stones come
to ?"
Your quotations from Scripture, when twisted to suit the
case of the corn-laws, would almost make one shudder from
their misuse. You quote—" He shall judge the poor of the
people ; he shall save the children of the needy, and shall
break in pieces the oppressor." "He shall deliver the needy
when he crieth ; the poor also and him that hath no helper."
" He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls
of the needy ; he shall redeem their soul from deceit and vio-
lence,_and precious shall their blood be in his sight."

And you apply, or, as I am constrained to say, mis-
apply these quotations thus—" Agreeably, therefore, both to
the practice of the legislature, and, what is infinitely more
to be regarded, the will of Christ, should the weak and the
poor be freed from those artificial restraints upon their in-
dustry, and that unproductive taxation of their food, which,
without serving the country, inflicts sufferinr, on them."
How these texts of Scripture can be made to apply to the
operations of the corn laws I am indeed at a loss to conceive.
And if all the corn-laws hitherto in existence, from the year
1463 to the present time, have been enacted " without serving
the country," and have only tended to " inflict suffering on
the poor," we may well take a melancholy view, both past
and present, of the legislative wisdom of our country, and
hail the enlightened age when 600 reverend gentlemen can
be congregated to deliberate upon the question, and supersede
the legislative functions of our country. Be it remembered,
also, that these 600 ministers, meeting to discuss the question
in a religious as well as a political point of view, at five mi-
nutes per head each, could not, from the fear of man, ask a
blessing upon their proceedings. Thanks be to God, our
Commons' House of Parliament, heterogeneous as is the mass
it contains, has not yet fallen to this pitch of degradation, and
scandal to the name of a Christian deliberative assembly !
Regretting that your pamphlet contains much matter upon
which I shall have yet to comment, I beg to remain, reverend
sir, your very obedient servant, J. C.

To THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD

Sin,—l request the favour of your inserting the enclosed
letter in to-morrow's paper.
Had the matter referred' to in it come under the notice of
the Council last Wednesday, I should have given Mr. Aikin's
motion, for the reason stated, my decided opposition, as well
as answered Mr. Hornby's charge of persecution, by show-
ing, that no proceedings of any kind involving expense were
taken by Mr. Carson after Saturday, the 14th ult., the day
on which. Mr. Harvey (Mr. Quayle's solicitor) called upon
him for the purpose of withdrawing his plea of defence.
As I shall be unavoidably absent on Wednesday next, I
take this opportunity of conveying to the Conservative bur-
gesses of Everton Ward Mr. Hodgson's statement, together
with my own opinion on this proceeding.—l am, sir, your
obedient servant, WILLIAM BIRKETT.
Everton, 6th September, 1841.

Prince Edwin-street, 4tl: Sep., 1841

DEAR SlR,—The circumstances connected with, the pro-
posed motion in the Common Council, to return to Mr.
Quayle the £5O he paid to the Corporation, arc what alone
give importance to it, and seem to me, in an especial man-
ner, to claim attention.

You are aware that at a meeting of Mr. Quayle's political
adherents, some of whom are members of the Corporation,
it was decided to present Mr. Quayle with a piece of plate
for what was deemed his meritorious resistance to tory op.
pression in the case of Mr. Shand, whose party was assailed
in no measured terms with charges of persecution, and with
having finally succeeded in gaining possession of the seat for
Everton Ward, only from Mr. Quayle's fear of encountering
the further expenses. _ _

Under ordinary circumstances, such imputations might be
treated with the contempt of silence, and the legal decision
obtained on Mr. Quayle's own admission that he did not
lawfully hold his seat be an ample answer. And it might be
left even to those gentlemen, some of whom are magistrates,
to reconcile, as they might, the position, in which for party
purposes they appear placed, that of offering a commendation
to any of her majesty's subjects for having been instrumental
in obstructing the lawful and due exercise of such important
rights and duties as are involved in the corporate affairs of
this great community. But when an attempt is made, which
the motion insidiously involves, to obtain as it were a coun-
tenance to these imputations, it behoves the Corporation to
be on their guard, and examine carefully what they are about
to do.

Primarily, let us overlook what may be legal obstacles to
repaying the £5O, in order to ascertain whether there be any
case of hardship, or warrant for an assertion, that Mr.
Quayle has been subjected to persecution, or unnecessary
expense, whereby, as alleged, he may have been constrained
to abandon his just claim.
Mr. Shand was persuaded that he had a majority of good
votes, hut was not returned because of the rejection of Evan
Jones and of the personation of two others ; he therefore
applied to the Court of Queen's Bench, as the only course
open for redress.
The following are the facts as regards these votes :
Evan Jones, it is asserted, said at the polling booth, in
reply to the question had he voted before, that he had voted
before. On this allegation his name was erased from the
poll, though subsequently it is not made a question that he
voted before. It is clear that he had not, though a miscon-
ception may have arisen from his having said he had voted
at former elections. It is, however, unintelligible why such
a an altera-
tion toa
an error was not rectified by restoring this good vote to its
place on the poll, when, as you will see by referring
statement in the STANDARD of the 31st August
was made in the case of John Ashton, favourably affect-
ing Mr. Quayle's return. Parity of circumstances would
authorise the expectation of mutual rectificatiqn. As regards
the vote of Evan Jones, -there are other circumstances which
call for attention.
In section 34 of the Municipal Act, the law is in these
words :—" No inquiry shall be permitted at any election as
to the right of any person to vote as a burgess in any borough
except only as follows (that is
qtuo
irs
ay) that the mayor or
other presiding officer shall, if reed by any two burgesses
entitled to vote in the same borough, put to any voter, at
the time of his delivering in his voting paper, and not after-
others, the following questions, or any of them, and no
Questions 1 and 2 have no bearing on our case, but
" No. 3. Have you
" And no already voted at the present election?
person required to answer any of the said clues-

have answerec

presiding officer,
person according to the above-
lified to ask the question, did put it, he
so satisfied with the answer, as to admit
the poll; and we are not informed what

-ote until he shall

Now if Mr. Hamby, th

Jones's na