The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-02-06 00:00:00

population, to

cheaply-built and cheaply-manned shipping of the
Swede and the Dane. " If," indeed ! Why, where
will be in time to come the nursery for that power-
ful navy, which has borne the flag of England in
triumph from pole to pole ? It will be gone for
Tike the shorn Samson, we shall have parted
all our greatness, and exposed
) be trampled upon by the first maritime

with the source o.

ours elv

power
It m

chooses to assail our shores

be that some modification of these laws
le, without materially impairing their
ess. But even such a change ought not

bmitted to without our insisting upon re-

concessions from our maritime rivals; and
we are not certain that any great disposition at pre-
sent exists on their part to making such concessions,
or is likely to exist so long as we voluntarily offer
to surrender the whole fabric without an attempt to
Take an example of the way in which
one of those rivals—France—from
wing letter, which appeared in a recent
number in the Shipping Gazette
"Sir.—Your valu—

make tern

foil

-uzette being always ready to
that may occur on shipping, I will
give publicity to the following :—The Mag.
lie, from St. Ann's, Jamaica, for London,
is port during a hurricance as a place of
instant, (as per our report of the 15th),
'Tig in good order and health; nn the
broker here for his clearance, he
_rged with the an-
.,w, sir, I will thank you, in
incorrect, to give it as much
I,hr masters of vessels should be
the ncur by taking a French port
Ignet being laden with a
If my views on the
Republican government.
e made a great blunder in

expose an
thank you

iter applying to tl

was surprised Co find the vessel was char
nexed P

nous impc

ial produce)

treating this vessel as a foreigner, having no claim of re-
ciprocity. If the Magnet, being a British-built vessel,
belonging to a British subject, had come from a foreign
port, laden with foreign produce, then she would have been
dues ; but coming from a
duce belonging to British
im cc be substantiated.

Briiisl

Or iNol

_ the same as a Smede
vegian delivering the same cargo in a French port.
.
,ort windbound, either
e in and out, with pro-
further information.
ervant,

be compelled to r

iters putt

g into this p,

the pil

YOUR CORRESPONDENT.
In the Magnet, M'Credie, from
;he port of Boulogne-sur-Mer :

the vessel coming
vithout a pilot ..

524 25

51 25
4 50
15 0
10 0

P. 659 85

£26 Bs. 21d."

S is certain!

iecimen of reciprocal
to our proposed libe-

it is clear, will only
.t we may be able to

from her hands

dimmer of hope dawns
fate of these laws. It
;y's advisers may have

5 deal with an interest,

which has ever been a favourite one with the British
nation, and which we trust will not permit itself to
be sacrificed without a struggle. It is a notorious
fact, and has been proved again and again, that the
tatistics by which the agitation for the repeal of
vs has been aided, are full of
nd fictions ; that the committee
upon which the government's
based, was a grossly partial one, and the

sses examined of little standing in the corn-
mercial world, and s3lected for their known hostile
bias ; and hence, that not the slightest confidence

tion I

witne

can be placed in it
inquiry is indispensable b
gislate at all upon the que

esterday, from a highly intelligent
corresponu,._ Montreal, the following letter,
which gives an interesting report of what has
recently taken place there, together with the pre-
sent position of parties in our important colony of
Canada :

• A new and an honest
fore parliament can le-

We received, yo
a-nt at

MONTREAL, JAN. 20.
On the 18th instant, the parliament of this province
assembled for despatch of business. It was opened by
His Excellency the Governor-General, the Earl of Elgin
and Kincardine, who delivered a speech from the throne
in the English and French languages. It may be said to
be the first meeting of the present parliament for despatch
of business since the elections, for, when called together
after this period, it was immediately prorogued
mediately prorogued on the
formation of the present ministry. It is essentially radical
in its composition. The radicals, or reformers as they
style themselves, have a more overwhelming majority
than have had the conservatives since the dissolution of
that parliament which passed resolutions condemnatory
of the conduct of Lord Metcalfe, on the occasion of his
celebrated "antagonism" with his ministry, on the sub-
ject of responsible government.
Without stopping to enquire in detail the cause of this
revulsion of the public feeling of the province, as main-
fested at the last elections, in favour of the party now in
power—suffice it to state, that it may be attributed to the
defection of a part of the conservative party, owing to dis-
gust caused by the weakness and vacillation of the late
conservative ministry, rather than to a penchant of
Anglo-Canadians at least towards the radicalism of this

country, which Lord Metcalfe in his day charged as
having a tendency towards republicanism, and the separa-
tion of the colony from the mother country. The terms
tory, conservative, radical, and reformer are not synono -
mous with similar terms used in England. English whigs,
and even radicals, when they come to this country, gene-
rally join the conservative, and oppose the party bearing
a name similar to that to which they were attached when
at home. One example—Lord Metcalfe, a whip at
home, and whose mild rule in other dependencies of the
British empire caused him to be hailed as a benefactor,
and monuments raised for the perpetuation of his memory
and fame, was in this province greeted by the party now
in power with such epithets as " Indian despot" and
" tyrant."

Much is promised, and much is expected from the pre-
sent parliament ; and the province has much need of
legislation. The Governor's speech is rather a wordy
document : it alludes to several of the more important
bills the ministry intends to submit, and measures to be
taken for improving the country. Among the more im-
portant bills which the ministry intends to submit, are a
judicature bill, and a bill for reforming the representation
of the province, by increasing the number of representa-
tives in parliament from 84 to 150. What of the latter
is generally known, is variously regarded, and is produ-
cing angry discussion. The English conservatives say,
that the preponderance it will give to the French portion
of the country will swamp their influence ; the French
Canadian ministerialists parade, that if it be successful
and themselves united, they may '` reign " ; while the
more ultra still French Canadians, the avowed republi-
cans, and followers of Papineau. are dissatisfied with it.

The position of the Earl of Elgin is doubtful, and per-
haps anomalous. Not his high position as the represent-
ative of our Sovereign, nor the historic fame of his long
line of royal,ancestors, has been a'jle to shield him from
the bitter invective of the conservative press, and sarcas-
tic allusions to the poet's " Curse of Minerva " on the
father being fulfilled in the impotent weakness of the son.
While the ministerial journals have been at very little
pains to defend him, those which have ceased to support
the late conservative ministry say never a word on the
subject. If weakness have characterised some of his
conduct, there is little doubt but that his position has
been difficult. It would not be reasonable to expect,
that with the large majority the ministry has now in
parliament, it would have learned very much from the
failure of its grasping demands from Lord Metcalfe; and
the excuse, if such it be, that may be made for him is.
that it might be better to submit to some arbitrary acts
of minor importance—such as the dismissal of one public
officer and not keeping faith with another—than go to
the country upon them.
There was a large public meeting held in this city a few
days ago, for the purpose of taking into consideration the
protection of Canadian industry. The meeting was
large, and resolutions were passed to the effect that pro.
tection was necessary. They intend to organise an agita-
tion, and it will be favourably looked upon in the country.
It is their intention not to make English manufactures
an exception, unless England consents to grant some pro-
tection to Canadian bread-stuffs. In the speeches at the
meeting a good deal was said of the capabilities of Canada
for a manufacturing country : in the eastern townships
alone there is an endless amount of water power, at all
seasons of the year. And much was said of the present
general distress of the country : it is true that bankruptcy
and ruin are now as common as was formerly prosperity.
The board of trade of this city has petitioned her majesty
to grant a protection of five shillings per quarter on
Canadian wheat, and that this petition may be accorded
seems to be the general wish of the country. If it be,
the leaders of the protection movement have agreed to
make English manufactures an exception, and to have
them admitted at a nominal duty. It is not probable
that the people of this country will be satisfied without
some protection in the English market, or protection of
their own manufactures. There also seems to be a general
feeling of the necessity for repealing that part of the
navigation laws which has reference to Canada.
The Board of Directors of the St. Lawrence and At-
lantic Railroad Company has published its annual report
and statements of accounts. The whole seems favourable,
and a portion of the road as far as St. Hyacinthe, a dis-
tance of thirty miles, is completed, and in operation. The
estimate of cost from Montreal to boundary line, including
engineering, office expenses, and furnishing the road com-
plete for operation, is as follows :
From St. Hyacinthe to Shipton, opposite Melbourne, .t
at .4'5,500 per mile, making, in round numbers, for
that distance, 42 miles

From Shipton to the Salmon River, '6,000 per mile,
for a distance of 28 miles
From the Salmon River to the point of junction brthe
Coaticoke Route, £6,500 per mile-26
To which add the cost of the Montreal Di
ballasted, and the amount expended which is of com-
,

ion when

mon advantage to the remainder of the road,

Making the total cost of the road, from Montreal to
the Boundary Line, per mile, at .'16,070—0r in the
aggregate

231,000

168,000

173,674

198,000

This approximates closely to the original estimate by
A. C. Morton, Esq., late chief engineer of the company
The capital which the Company is empowered to raise
by the Act of Incorporation, by 12,000 shares of ~50
each '

600,000

kdded to which, they are, in the event that that sum
prove insufficient, authorised to raise a further sum
for completing the undertaking with its branches, of 500,000

Making a total capital of
The winter has now fairly set in, which means here that
sufficient snow has fallen to cover all the roads, to afford
good sleighing, and that the rivers are everywhere bridged
with ice, to allow driving over them with heavy teams.
The cold has been steady and severe for some time ; the
thermometer yesterday morning at 11 below zero.

THERE has been no argument which has been
more strongly urged by the Colonial-office, and the
advocates of free trade, in opposition to the claims
of the West India proprietors for aid, than the al-
leged bad system of cultivation in the West India
colonies. The planters were rebuked as ignorant
and prejudiced. They were told that they were the
authors of their own suffering; and that if they
would only introducD more capital, employ scientific
modes of agriculture, and economise in their pro-
cesses, they would be able to compete successfully
with free labour against slave labour, and no addi-
tional immigration would be required. One of the
authorities upon this point, caught hold of eagerly
by Earl Grey, was a Mr. Smith who, being employed
in the construction of a railway in Jamaica, turned
his presence there to account in a series of letters
upon the subject of Sugar Cultivation, in the co-
lumns of Mr. James Wilson's paper, the Economist,
facetiously styled in a letter before us his lordship's
saccharine adviser. This gentleman, in addition to
numerous calumnies against the management of the
planters, had the hardihood to assert, as the result
of his own experience, that " free labour was actually
cheaper than slave labour;" and he referred, as
contradictory of every complaint on the subject
which has reached us from the colonies, to the evi-
dence of " Mr. Dickon, of Thorseway, near Caistor,
Lincolnshire, who has been long and extensively
an experienced and scientific agricul-

known as

t urist

in a letter which will be ound
in page 565 of the Economist, of 1846 :—" I saw
upon several estates" (proofs of the falsehood of
the planters' assertions) "and certainly they are
completely refuted by our experience in the con-
struction of the railway between Kingston and
Spanish Town."
We shall trace these two gentlemen's subsequent
proceedings, as detailed in a letter signed " a West
Indian," which appeared in the London Times of
Wednesday last, addressed to Earl Grey. The
writer says :

" Fortified by his own experience as a railway contrac-
tor, and by the scientific and practical knowledge of Mr.
Dickon, Mr. Smith originated a joint-stock company in
Liverpool, for the purpose and better cultivation of 20 or
30 estates in Jamaica, which Mr. Dickon was to conduct
r him, as agriculturist, at a salary of £lOOO a year.
ie and Ewart, of Liverpool, were the
uty-chairman, and the capital of the
of £400,000, in 16,000 shares, of £25

each. Here. the
You tot

lord, was yo

tne country a year ago that you could not con-
ceive any better investment for capital than a scheme of
this sort ; that it was your firm conviction that five or

six men of capital and science emigrating thither, with a
resolution to assist each other, and establish a central
manufactory, could not fail of perfect success.'
" I will now briefly expose to you the success that has
attended the speculation you suggested so earnestly to
British capitalists. That it has not failed from want of
capital, or intelligence, or enterprise, or energy, you your-
self must admit.

" Mr. Smith, on his arrival in Jamaica, decided, in-
stead of purchasing, as his prospectus had announced, 20
or 30 estates, on purchasing one and leasing another. The
deposit on the original allotment of the shares of the
company, and a subsequent call, had placed at his dis-
posal £22,901.
" Out of this he paid for Retreat estate £5050, including
all stock and implements upon it. Cornwall estate he
leased for seven years at £4OO a year ; he had therefore
£17,851 money in hand for the current expenses of the
two estates, for improved machinery, additional stock,
&c. It is fair to assume that Mr. Smith, advised by Mr.
Dickon, a scientific man, at £lOOO a year, did not select
two of the worst or most exhausted estates in Jamaica ;
during the last five years of apprenticeship Retreat had
averaged annually 200 hhds. of sugar and 97 puncheons
of rum, and during the subsequent seven years of free-
dom 103 hhds. of sugar and 40 puncheons of rum. The
buildings on both estates were in excellent repair when
taken over. . _

" Two years have elapsed since Mr. Smith started as
planter. No dividend whatever has been paid to his
shareholders. He himself has not paid the single call
made on the 2,000 shares which he holds himself.- The
whole £17,851 has been sunk on the land. The company
now owe £2,000 in the island, to cover which they have
on hand 140 hogsheads of sugar, valued by Mr, Smith, at
£1,960. -

The prospects for the crops 1848-9 are estimated by
Mr. Smith, whom your lordship has probably discovered
to be a sanguine man, as likely to amount, on the two
estates, to 335 hogsheads of sugar and 170 puncheons of
rum• The expenses of the current year he computes at
£8,900, exactly £1,830 less than the produce will at the
present prices realise; and these mortifying facts have
been forced from Mr. Smith and are now before the public,
because he wants to extract £6,400 more from the share-
holders, without which the cultivation of Retreat and
Cornwall cannot, according to him, go on.
` Retreat, which in 1845 produced 125 hogsheads of