The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-12-22 00:00:00

which had been formed during the past year,

The address of the Governor Was extremely well re-
ceived by the House of Assembly, who, in their reply,
expressed a hope that his Excellency might be spared
to be amongst them for many years to come.
The Royal Gazette mentions that the quantity of
foreign sugar, refined in England, and consumed in
the West Indies, amounts to 10,567 cwts. The same
journal furnishes us with very unfavourable accounts
of the crops, which are likely, in consequence of the
drought which had been so long experienced, to show
a greater deficiency than last year.

We have received our files of the Guiana Chronicle
to the 26th of October, inclusive. From the paper of
the above date we learn that his Excellency the Gover-
nor would, on the following day, deliver his farewell
address to the Court of Policy. It is also stated that
it would be then announced, as the unalterable de-
termination of the Home Government, that all future
Governors shall be paid out of the British Treasury,
and that the salaries of the goverment secretary, the
judges, and all officials, shall be reduced one half.
Further, it is said that henceforth the produce of Bri-
tish Guiana shall be exempt from taxation. This
astounding news will excite no little surprise on this
side of the Atlantic. It is put forth without any sort
of qualification. The only conclusion that we can
draw from these mysterious hints is, that the editor of
the Chronicle has been eggregiously hoaxed, or that
he means to hoax his readers.
The Chronicle of the 23d of October mentions that
it was rumoured in Georgetown that Governor Light
had been re-called. We should not be at all surprised
if this rumour should prove correct. Few men have
shown themselves to be so incapable of governing so
important a colony as Governor Light. He has done
more to embroil the affairs of the colony than can be
remedied for many years to come. Under any other
than a Whig administration he would have been super-
seded the moment his memorable despatches reached
the Home Office.

The Chronicle rebuts, in the strongest terms, the
charges brought against the planters of British Guiana
by the official authorities of Barbadoes, respecting the
treatment experienced by those emigrants who had
returned to that island from Demerara. The state-
ments of these discontented individuals are pronounced
to be a tissue of falsehoods from beginning to end.
As an overwhelming refutation of these lies, so in.
dustriously propagated by the Barbadian vagrants and
their abettors, the Chronicle furnishes the following
graphic description of a fancy ball which had just
taken place at Georgetown :

FANCY BALL.
(From the Royal Gazette.)
When the actions and principles of individuals contradict
the character given of them by their enemies, and when the
visible, and therefore undeniable contentment, ease, plenty,
and even luxuries of a peasantry, flatly refute all the reports
and fabrications of their misery, poverty, and discontent,
surely the credit of the calumniators ought thereby to be de-
stroyed. Of the latter of these two circumstances, the pea-
santry of this colony are a remarkable instance.
Last night, in pursuance of extensive and expensive prepara-
tions, came off, at the house which was formerly the Victoria
Hotel, a splendid fancy ball, got up by labourers, house ser-
vants, and others of their rank in the community ; and it was
really difficult to know whether to admire most the splen-
dour of the dresses, the taste displayed in the decorations
of the apartment, or the boldness and grandeur of the whole
design.

Had the people who ground their opposition to immigra-
tion to this colony, on the poverty and ill-treatment of our
labourers, domestics, &c, been present at this fancy ball
last night, they would have seen any thing but the signs of
penury, oppression, and broken hearts. A more happy, joy-
ful, light spirited, and independent collection of people of the
same rank, could not perhaps, be assembled on any part of
the globe ; and the faithfulness of the designs in the various
costumes, proves, that they have been far from inattentive to
the usages and manners of their betters.
The dresses were substantially grand, and consequently
expensive. The cost of the whole being upwards of £5OO,
and the decorations and illumination of the ball-room highly
creditable to the taste of the planner; the design of the
whole aimed at nothing less than a miniature representation
of the entire British empire. There was a richly decorated

throne ascended by three steps, on which sat her Majesty
the Queen, on whose right was seated the Queen Dowager,
and Prince Albert on the left ; and among the other charac-
ters, we had a specimen of almost all the sections and de-
partments of the British commonwealth : navy and army
officers, common sailors and privates ; Lords, Squires,

country gentlemen, farmers, and clowns ; clergymen, lawyers,
and doctors; beggarmen, ballad-singers, and strolling players,
even Paul Pry was there, and we had a North American
Indian chief, with all the usual equipments of savage life ;
and to show that our peasantry are not unacquainted with
our political position, Mehemet Ali, the Pacha of Egypt,
was also there.

In the female part of the assembly, there were characters
suitable to the above ; and .of these there could not be less
than sixty couples. The music was excellent, and dancing
was kept up with spirit. The grandeur and novelty of the
scene attracted crowds of ladies and gentlemen of the first
rank and respectability in town to witness it. But the greater
number of these departed after a short stay, highly amused
with the somewhat extraordinary entertainment.

We may safely demand, where can such exhibitions
as that described above be produced in any part of the
United Kingdom ? What a conclusive answer have
the free labourers of British Guiana given to the
malignant libels of the Aldermanbury agitators ! Let

us hear no more about the misery, suffering, and de•
gradation of the emancipated Negroes of the Wes
Indies. Let us rather endeavour, by affording every

possible protection to British industry, to raise our
own labouring and operative classes to an equality with
the Negroes of the West Indies. There is much more
suffering and misery amongst our own population, to
call into active exercise our benevolent feelings, than
there can be found in any part of our colonial posses-
sions across the Atlantic.

It may be taken for granted, as an incontrovertible
axiom, that the best testimony to any man's character,
as an honest patriot, as a friend of truth and justice,
and as an enemy to all abuses, and, therefore, a true
reformer, is, the abuse of the Radical press. It is on
this ground that we congratulate Mr. Daniel Ledson,
a young gentleman whose firm, unflinching, and un-
deviating advocacy of sound constitutional principles
has induced the members of the Operative Conserva-
tive Association to select him as their President for the
ensuing year. The election of Mr. Ledson to that
office is alike honourable to himself and the Operative
Conservatives of Liverpool ; while the virulent personal
attacks that have been made upon Mr. Ledson, in the
columns of the Liberal papers, afford the strongest
additional proof that the choice of our operative friends
was wise and judicious.

It is a singular fact, that the individuals upon whom
the Radical portion of the press has been most lavish
in heaping its abuse, have gained, in consequence of
that very abuse, an increased measure of public respect
and confidence. We have no doubt that this will
prove the case with Mr. Ledson, who may, therefore,
well afford to smile at the puny efforts which have
been made, within the last week, to ridicule his con-
duct and to disparage his motives.
Whilst, however, Mr. Ledson, will best consult his
own reputation by disdaining to bestow any notice
upon the paltry attacks of the Radical press, we shall
always consider it our duty to repel such attacks to the
the best of our ability. Acting on this feeling we pro-
ceed to notice a few of the absurdities in which the
Journal, the Chronicle, and the Albion have indulged,
while remarking upon Mr. Ledson's speech at the
meeting of the Operative Conservatives.

The Journal takes sad umbrage at the pithy obser-
vations which Mr. Ledson made respecting the con-
duct of the magistrates in subscribing to the funds of
the Protector Society. The charge brought forward
against them by Mr. Bushell, as Mr. Ledson truly
remarked, is left unanswered to the present day. They
have called no meeting to take that grave and serious
charge into consideration. They have not directed
Messrs. Ellis and Shuttleworth to demand from Mr.
Bushell any avowal, explanation, or retractation of the
charge. They have passed no resolution exculpating
themselves from so serious a charge. They have, in
short, contented themselves with leaving the public to
draw the inevitable inference, that the charge of
" aiding those who were violating the law" is undeni-
ably true. The Journal, it is true, says " that several
of the parties declared that the accusation, as respected
them, was false." How many of the magistrates have
made such a declaration ? Is not the subsequent ad-
tnission of the Journal that " those who were silent are
fully prepared to justify their conduct whenever called
upon by proper authority," to he construed into an
admission that Mr. Bushell proceeded on information

These

societies would be found beneficial in promoting in-
dustry and improved methods of cultivation, and in
drawing out new sources of wealth, as well as in con-
firming a cordial union between the two great classes
of the agricultural community. He then briefly alludes
to the companies which have been formed for the cul-
ture of silk in the island, and expresses a hope that a
new source of benefit may thus be opened to all the
inhabitants. He then recommends the culture of the
tea plant, which is already found to flourish there
remarkably well.