The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-06-05 00:00:00

ANTI--CORN-LAW FALLACY.

Our contemporary of the Liverpool Times devoted a long
article, on Tuesday last, to the purpose of controverting an
argument brought forward by Lord Sandon, during the late
debate on Mr. Villiers's motion. His lordship is reported
to have said, that, even supposing the supply of foreign corn,'
for the consumption of Great Britain, to be a regular quan-
tity of three millions yearly, still a drain for specie would be
the result, as there was no probability of that amount be-
ing paid for in manufactured goods. Our contemporary ar-
gues, that although this may not be the case at first, yet that
eventually the three millions worth of corn would be exchang-
ed for manufactured goods, and the trade between the corn-
exporting and corn-importing countries become simply one
of barter. We have some doubts of such an interchange of
commodities ever being broueht into operation with the con-
tinental or any other corn growers : but even admitting its
feasibility, we cannot see how Lord Sandon's position is se-
riously afl'eeted by it. _
Let us examine carefully the nature of such a transaction—
call it barter if you will. We import, say from Prussia, corn
to the amount of three millions, on condition that Prussia
takes from us, in return, the same amount in cotton yarns,
cotton manufactured goods, woollens, and silks. From this
transaction our contemporary would have us conclude that
no demand for bullion would arise. We must have the raw
materials for the manufacture of these goods, and eventually
we fear that the transaction will be one of pure barter only
so far as regards that portion of the commodities furnished
by us which consists of labour and skill. The difference—
the cost of the raw material—is still to be paid for ultimately
in bullion or its equivalent ; and that difference will be found,
blind ourselves to the fact as we will, to be just the amount
which we abstract from the pocket of the English agricultu-
rist, to place in that of the foreign grower.
It is sheer folly to argue that an import of foreign corn to
any extent can take place without causing a drain of bullion
from this country, unless we pay for that corn in some article
not only manufactured, but produced, by ourselves ; and if
even we could do this, we should .not, as a nation, be any
the richer by the exchange. The manufacturer individually
would be benefitted to the amount of his skill and labour,
and the foreign grower would reap the profit which otherwise
would have gone into the pockets of the British agriculturist.
It must be injurious to us as a nation to take from a foreign
country any produce which we are capable of raising ir\ our
own. No sophistry can disguise this fact. We are, how-
ever, sometimes obliged to import corn, and the question,
how the injurious consequences of this necessity can be best
alleviated? is one which is not to be disposed of so flippantly
as our contemporary seems to think. " Vivere fortes ante
Agamemnonem." There have been political economists be-
fore our contemporary, who have failed in satisfactorily set-
tling this difficult point.

FATAL ACClDENT.—Yesterday afternoon, a man named
Daniel Cull, who was employed on board a vessel in the
Queen's Doek called the Jane May, fell down the hold of
the vessel, and was mortally injured. Dr. Moore, of Park-
lane, was called, but the vital spark was extinct.
LECTURES ON ASTRONOMY.—We perceive that Mr
Walker intends to give a course of three lectures on the
sublime science of astronomy, at the Liver Theatre. The
first of the series will be delivered on Monday next. The
attractive nature of the subject, illustrated as it will be by
Mr. Walker's splendio orrery, will, we doubt not, secure a
numerous audience.—See Advt.

THEATRE-ROYAL—The performances this evening, it will
be seen by the advertisement in another column, are for the
benefit of that talented actress Mrs. Keeley, whose delinea-
tion of the character of Jack Sheppard has drawn overflow-
ing houses during the past week. In addition to this will be
introduced a new piece, entitled the " Devil in London, or
Sketches in 1840," which we believe will be found well wor-
thy of the attention of our play-going townspeople. We
trust that Mrs. Keeley will not be disappointed of that sup-
port of which her anxious endeavours, added to her ability,
to please, render her so justly deserving.
INQUESTS, BEFORE P. F. CURRY, ESQ.—On Wednesday,
on view of the body of a young man, aged 19, named Joseph
Mason, belonging to one of the pilot-boats, who fell overboard
in the Crosby Channel, on the 17th May. It will be recol-
lected that a reward was offered for the finding of the body.
Verdict, " Accidental Death."—Yesterday, on the body of
Catherine M`Kendrick, who died at the Infirmary on Tues-
day, in consequence of being severely burnt through her
clothes taking fire on the previous night. There was no evi-
dence as to how her dress became ignited. Verdict accord-
ingly.—Same day, on the body of Catherine Sparks, Chris-
tian-street, who hanged herself in a fit of temporary insanity.
Verdict accordingly. The deceased was a respectable lodg-
ing-house keeper.
MEETING OF THE DOCK CosfinITTEE.--The weekly meeting
of the Dock Committee was held in the office, Custom-house,
yesterday. The following members were present :--Mr.
Thomas Holt, Mr. Barclay, Mr. Brooks, Mr. Holmes, Mr.
Gladstone, Mr. Smith, Mr. Hornby, Mr.Bulley, Mr. Segar,
Mr. Horsfall, Mr. Mellor, Mr. G. Holt, Mr. Martin, Mr.
Dixon, and Mr. Tobin. In the absence of the chairman and
deputy chairman, who are in London prosecuting the new
dock bill, Mr. Thomas Holt was called upon to preside. The
accounts having been read and passed, the secretary read a
letter from the north harbour master relative to the remune-
ration to be paid to the ship carpenters who had rendered
valuable assistance to him on the occasion of the accident to
the ship Tweed, in the Clarence graving dock. The harbour
master recommended the sum of twenty shillings to be given
to each man. In reply to a question from one of the com-
mittee, the harbour master stated that eighteen men were em-
ployed on the occasion. Several members expressed an
opinion that twenty shillings would be too much, but on time
harbour master stating that it would be desirable to show
that useful body of men that their services on such occasions
in future would be properly appreciated, it was ordered to be
paid. The committee then separated.
COMMITMENT TO THE SESSlONS.—Yesterday, Hugh
Pardon, was placed at the bar on a charge of having com-
mitted a serious robbery. Mary Livingstone, a widow, who
keeps a public house in Parliament-street, said that on Fri-
day morning, about eleven o'clock, she put eight sovereigns,
a half-sovereign, and twenty sixpences into a small tin box,
and also nineteen half-crowns, twenty-two shillings and six-
pence into a purse. The purse and box she wrapped in paper,
and put them into a safe in the kitdhen, near the fire. There
was no lock on the safe. Soon afterwards, the prisoner, a
a man named M`Donough and another, went into the back
parlour, and ordered some ale. She went to the cellar to
to draw it, and when she returned the prisoner was not in
the room. M`Donough went out and fetched him. They
had more ale, and she went to draw it. On her return, she
found the prisoner in the kitchen, which he left, and walked
out by the front door. She afterwards found the safe open,
and the parcel and money were gone. The prisoner was
afterwards brought back by a police constable. There had
previously been found the tin box in the prisoner's house.
On being searched, there were found upon him eight
sovereigns and a half-sovereign, also a quantity of silver
money, the whole corresponding with that missed. The
prisoner was seen stooping near the five in the kitchen of Mrs.
Livingstone. He was fully committed for trial.
TILE ATHEN,EUM NEWSROOM.—This room has recently
been altered, and much amended in shape and appearance.
It will be recoilected that the door was originally in the mid-
dle, and a boxed-off inside door was required, which had an
unsightly appearance. The bar was also partitioned off from
the room at the south-west corner, which left only a sort of
large recess at the back, and destroyed the uniformity of the
apartment. The original door has been removed, and the
space it occupied made into a round-topped window precisely
similar to the others ' • and a spacious lobby, with a door to
the street, from which the room is entered, is taken off at
the east end, in lieu of it. The original bar has also been
taken away,—so that the room is now nearly a perfect
square, with four windows to the street, and four others op-
posite to them, facing the area behind. Three handsome lonic
fluted columns run across the centre, supporting a beam
formilig an entablature or cornice. This beam, which rests
at each end on fluted pillars to correspond with the columns,
is for the support of a wall in the library of the institution
above. The colonnade thus formed is highly ornamental.
The room has been entirely repainted of a light salmon colour.
New chimney-pieces of black marble, and new grates, have
been provided, and new furniture has been substi-
tuted for the old, handsome round mahogany ta-
bles on circular pillars, and round-bottomed massy
arm-chairs of the same material, the seats covered
with crimson embossed velvet. New carpets have also been
laid down, and three handsome bronzed chandeliers of five
lights each are suspended from the roof. The new principle
of ventilation adopted is found to be efficacious and agreeable.
The fresh air is introduced by pipes from the lower part of
the front wall under the floor, and passes into the room by
oblong brass gratings fixed betwen the columns in the middle
of the room, after passing through which it is carried out by
ventilators through the roof. In the lobby is placed one of
Dr. Arnott's stoves. The bar is forined at one side the
room, and is at once compact and commodious. The general
improvement produced by these alterations is obvious at a
glance, the news room being now perhaps the lightest, and
for its size the handsomest and most commodious in the
town.
WITNEssEs.—It is a curious fact, that persons who in
their usual vocations can speak so as to make themselves
heard at the distance of half a mile, lose their voices the
moment they enter a witness-box. For instance, a sailor
who is able to stand on the poop and hail the forecastle in a
gale of wind ; or a bullock driver who could very conveni-
ently stand at the Queen's wharf and hold a conversation
with a man on the new jetty, can never be coaxed to speak
so as to enable tire jury who are about twelve feet from him,
to hear a word. "We can't hear a word," complain the
jurors ' • " Speak up sir," says the Attorney-General ; " You
shan't have a farthing of your expenses if you don't speak
louder," says the judge; but it's no use, the witness will
keep mumbling on in about the same pitch that " soft non-
sense" is whispered in a ball-room, and, generally speaking,
the counsel has to stand close to him and repeat every word
he says.—Sydney Herald.

Total I £4,561 8 6 I £BB 0 6
This table shows that Churchmen have given FIFTY-ONE
rouNos for every one given by Dissenters.
STAMFORD & RUTLAND INFIRMARY. 1833-4.
Sums subscribed.
I Churchmen. Dissenters.

Annual Subscriptions ...
Benefactions _

£426 0 0
5.566 0 0
932 0 0

Donors deceased
Legacies
Bequest by H. F.
Collections and Donations.

Total

This table shows that
HUNDRED AND TWENTY-
POUND given by Dissents
WORCESTER

760 0 0
8,219 0 0
2,318 0 0

1 £18,221 0 0
Churchmen have
;EVEN POUNDS
INFIRMARY.

£8 8 0
42 0 0
5 5 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0

I £55 13 0
'e given THREE
for every ONE

At Churches.

1833,

At Popish and
Dissg. Chapels.

Congregational Collections( ze1,128 18 941 £59 12 1
EIGHTEEN POUNDS to one in favour of the church.
The grand total produced by these sums respectively is as
follows :

SUMS SUBSCRIBED
By Churchmen. By Dissenters.
£169,995 0 6 I £5,722 8 9
Shewing a clear balance in favour of the Church of the enor-
mous and overwhelming Wm of ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-
FOUR THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-TWO
POUNDS.
With the uncancelled part of the lecturer's charge of illi-
berality against the National Church, viz., that " Civil esta-
blishments destroy the grace of liberality, as it respects the
support of Gospel ordinances, and the diffusion of Gospel
truth," I shall deal on a future occasion. I have not yet
done with the general charge. lam waiting for the return
of the respective contributions of Churchmen and Dis-
senters to the various charitable institutions of
Liverpool. In the mean time, let the young men
of this town who have formed themselves into
a " Voluntary Church Association," ponder over the above
astounding facts, and not forget that it is written, " is not this
the fast that I (the Lord) have chosen ? to loose the hands
of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens•—to deal thy bread
to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out
to thy house ? When thou seest the naked that thou cover
him ; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine
health shall spring forth speedily, &e.,ls. 58, 6, 11.
I remain, sir, your obedient servant,
D. JAMES.

Kirkdale, June 4, 1840.
* Mr. John Kelly.

Go II BooTs!—A Mrs. Boots, of Pennsylvania, has left
her husband, Mr. Boots, and strayed to parts unknown.
We presume that this pair of Boots are rights and lefts. We
cannot say, however, that Mrs. Boots is right, but there is
no mistake that Boots himself is left. At the last accounts
he was pursuing her with all his might. Go it, Boots.—
Picayune.