The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-05-08 00:00:00

Po ttrp.

A HYMN.

(From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine.)

O unseen Spirit ! now a calm divine
Comes forth from thee, rejoicing earth and air !
Trees, hills, and houses, all distinctly shine,
And thy great ocean slumbers everywhere.
The mountain ridge against the purple sky
Stands clear and strong with darkeu'd rocks and dells,
And cloudless brightness opens wide on high
A home aerial, where thy presence dwells.
The chime of bells remote, the murmuring sea.
The song of birds in whispering copse and wood,
The distant voice of children's thoughtless glee,
The maiden's song, are all one.voice of good.
Amid the leaves' green mass, a sunny play
Of flash and shadow stirs like inward life ;
The ship's white sail glides onward far away,
Unhaunted by a dream of storm or strife.
Upon the narrow bridge of foot-worn plank,
The peasant stops where swift the waters gleam,
And broods as if his heart in silence drank
More freshening draughts than that untainted stream.
The cottage roof, the burn, the spire, the graves,
All quaff the rest of seasons hush'd as this ;
And earth enjoys, while scarce its foliage waves,
The deep repose and harmony of bliss. •
O Thou! the primal fount of life and peace,
Who shed'st thy breathing quiet all around,
In me command that pain and conflict cease,
And turn to music every jarring sound.
How longs each gulf within the weary soul
To taste the life of this benignant hour,
To be at one with thine untroubled Whole,
And in itself to know thy hushing power !

CONTEMPORARY PRESS.

MR. SCOBLE AND THE ANTI-SLAVERY
SOCIETY.
(From the Guiana Chronicle.)

The uncurbed sensibility of the abolitionists of
England, is doing more to rivet the chains of the African
in the foreign colonies, than they seem at all aware of ;
and excites an alarm which will retard, if not entirely
frustrate, the very object which they profess to have
in view.

That the peasant should endeavour to. make the
most of his labour ; is a maxim, which we will not
take upon ourselves to deny, but that his demands
should be limited within the bounds of reasonable
remuneration, in our present condition, we respectfully
contend. The interests of 'the employer and the
labourer, are so united, that ruin must be the con-
sequence to both, if the latter persevere in demanding
wages so exhorbitant, that the produce of the estate
will not warrant a compliance with the exaction. When
these humane enthusiasts of the Anti-Slavery Society
were lately here, did one of them ever attempt to im-
press on the minds of the laborers the wisdom of
moderation in their demands, even for their own
sakes ? Not one : on the contrary, we ourselves heard
one of them (Mr. Scoble) distinctly advise the audience
at a meeting convened by himself, not to take em-
ployment, unless they were paid well, and largely too,
and to leave the service of those, who did not concede
their demands.

What has been the result of all this ? Why, that
in consequence of the negroes adopting such advice,
the staple has been diminished ; and, to supply the
defficiency, a cry has been raised, that the produce of
slave-holding states will he admitted to compete with
that manufactured by the aid of free labour. This
alarm, we have, before said, we think unfounded ; but,
even so, its effect will be most disasterous to the cause
to which the Abolitionists ostensibly have devoted
themselves.

LORD STANLEY'S REGISTRATION BILL
(From the Times.)

There is no subject at this moment, foreign or do-
mestic, of such unspeakable importance as Lord Stan-
ley's bill, the second reading of which stands for Wed-
nesday, the 6th instant—of importance to the country,
because the question of an independent and effective
constituency, or worse than none, is involved in the
good or bad success of the measure—of importance to
the ministry, because, if the bill passes, they are at
once annihilated. •

We. make no apology, therefore, for so repeatedly
directing public attention to the nature both of the dis-
ease and of the remedy.
That the Irish franchise is in a state so corrupt and
gangrened to its very centre, as to call for some prompt
and decisive remedy, is acknowledged by every man
in Parliament. We are not sure that O'Connell him-
self has ventured to deny that glaring fact. But it is
a vague acknowledgment which costs nothing, and is
worth nothing, inasmuch as when these gentry come
to particulars, there is no specific evil connected with
the existing practice, and exhibited in the present state
of the constituency of Ireland, for which any cure has
ever been proposed that is not, when you come to touch
it with the caustic, held by the priests and agitators to
be essential to the " fair working" of the elective fran-
chise, while every provision for practically purifying or
amending it is exclaimed against as " an audacious at-
tempt to rob the people of Ireland of their vested
rights, and to curtail the just enjoyment of the fran-
chise." Certainly, a more " audacious" calumny than
this was never before palmed upon mankind. The au-
thors of the turbulent outcry against this measure ne-
ver risk even the shadow of an argument, pro or con.
They never Even pretend to inform us what one "ves-
ted right" the bill attempts to meddle with—of what
franchise lawfully obtained it obstructs or harasses the
possessor—of what real qualification it impairs the use,
or renders the legitimacy unavailing—against what
honest, conscientious man, it operates. They can, in
fact, show none of these things; they are well aware
that the sole purpose of Lord Stanley is to protect the
real elector against the fictitious, the upright against
the fraudulent, the fair trader against the pirate, the
constitution of Parliament itself against a constitution
set up in defiance of Parliament by a power which
jobs for its own sordid and insidious ends the authority
of religion, the credulity of superstition, the scruples
of conscience, and the deathbed agony. By that un-
holy power has the persecuting war against Lord Stan-
ley's remedial measure been begotten, and wickedness
and falsehood worthy of such a parantage are stamped
on every feature of the offspring.

EQUALIZATION OF THE SUGAR TRADE.
(From the Guiana Chronicle.)

A great deal of unfounded alarm appears to prevail
among our island neighbours on this subject ; and
several meetings have been held in Trinidad ; Grenada,
&c., for the purpose of petitioning parliament against
any attempt to carry it into effect.
We can not imagine that the British nation would
act so unjustly, so unwisely, as to contemplate any
such movement as to admit into the market, the pro-
duce of slave holding countries, on an equalify with
that manufactured by free men in her own colonies.
If such a measure were adopted, the boon of emanci-
pation would be at once neutralized, and an impetus
given to the slave-trade, which would cause it to flou-
rish with redoubled success, not merely as regards the
Brazils, Porto Rico, Cuba, &c., but as a consequence
it would for ever rivet the chains of the slaves in Ame-
rica, and in the colonies of France, &c., when it would
be seen, that so far from the emancipation of the ne-
gro working well for the mother country, a decided in-
jury had been inflicted by that measure on her depen-
dencies, and, consequently, on herself.
The injustice of such a proceeding is so apparent,
that all consideration of it must be laid aside, when we
approach the discussion of the subject, and the bane-
ful consequences to the people of England themselves,
should-be placed before them.
The ruin that would ensue from the abandonment of
the sugar manufactory, would be felt not merely by
those concerned in that trade, but immense loss would
be entailed on the country itself, through the navy,
which as far as the \Vest India trade is concerned, has
already considerably decreased, but which, in the event
of such a measure as the 'equilization of duties"
passing, would dwindle away almost to nothing, in
these latitudes, thereby depriving the Treasury of se-
veral millions per annum.
But the arguments against this measure are so nu-
merous and so.well-founded, that we cannot conceive
any minister hardy enough to propose it, and, there-
fore shall not follow up the subject any further—nor
indeed would we have noticed it at all, but"that the
proprietary body in sonic of the islands seems to enter-
tain serious apprehensions that the attempt will be made
by some pseudo-economists, early in the next session
of Parliament.
We, however, entertain no such fears.

THE ROODEE-CHESTER.

(From flee Chester Gazette.)

The establishment of the races at Chester is of great anti-
quity. We find mention made of them in our annals at a
very early period. There is a remarkable note of them in
the year 1609, when, we apprehend, the present races were
commenced. During the mayoralty of Mr. J. Leicester,
ereothtoer
Mr. Amery, the sheriff of the preceding year, gave three sil-
ver cups to be run for on St. George's Day. Two of the
I):%'•asgitvoenbeto r theati
fo firstthe andsam
same,
uponcond the horses,said
Roodee, upon St. George's Day—being thus decreed " that
cups yohrohrseel puttti
ds o
had muchthe moniemoaie
washirenhadheortshees
didvaluwe
with
hf thethe
same, and the use of the cups, till that day twelvemonth,
being in bond to deliver in the cups that day •, soe also the
cup for the ringe, which was yearly continued accordirigl
until the year of our Lord 1628 " This custom. at the sug-
gestiony of the mayor, John Bre; eton was then dropped. He
caused the three " cupps" to be sold, and a collection Made,
vbr run for, thhee d
retained by the winner "freely fore
so that a cupp value £B. mightpisritazneeetowbaes
also altered, the course being " fronei
Tower, a great distance, and soe to runYouvd the new (Water)
place rowed about the Rood dee." In hua,times from that
was made towards "'St. George's Race,i,t-4;j411 contribution
Icon, panies .
In 1640 the sheriff gave a piece of plate, value 13s. 6s. Bd.
in lieu of their annual breakfast.
At the Roodee the ancient city games were 1 b
ce e rated.
The Roodee takes its name from the Saxon word Rood, a
cross ; Dee, from the River, distinguishing the cross that
stood upon it from the cross which stood at St. Peter's
Church. The cross marked the boundary of the land belong..
ing to the Nuns at Chester; opposite what is called the Nuns'
Gardens the shaft still remains.
" The Roodee contains about ninety acres ; the course is
more than a mile; the grand stand was erected in 1817. It
was very much enlarged in 1827. The Rood-dee was en-
closed about the year 1587, and sold to one Thomas Lymal ,
a merchant, who paid £2O. per annum to the Corporation of
Chester for it. In consideration of his making a quay, it
was stipulated that that person was to receive 2d. per ton for
every boat passing in and (mt.