The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-06-06 00:00:00

many of the Whig attempts at legislation. It wi

be necessary, however, to watch the details of the
measure' with some caution, as measures brought
in towards the close of session are often hastily
concocted, and passed without deliberation, and
the party from which this bill emanates is not to
be trusted either for profundity of wisdom or sin-

cerity of purpose.
With regard to the second bill, it is hardly pos
sible to over-estimate its importance or necessity

Now that transportation has been virtually

abolished, and all criminals punished within the
country by what is called penal servitude, some.

more effectual means should be adopted for thei

reformation than the ticket-of4eave system so re

cently tried, but which has proved so abortive. It
is not sufficient that the discharged offender should
have leave to work, the work must be found for
him, or his loss of character will operate as an

effectual bar to his obtaining it from private

sources, and want will drive him to a repetition o

his offences. The refuge for discharged prisoners

should be placed upon a footing sufficiently ample

for the many demands which must be made upon
it, and by this means all excuse for crime would be

;alien away, and the really penitent would be

enabled to return to the paths of honesty, and

recover the position which they had forfeited.

Should this desirable result be effected by the bill

of Lord PeninsToN, he will be entitled to the

thanks of the country for carrying out a measure

of really practical benefit.

PEACE SAYINGS AND WAR DOINGS.

THE condition of this country at the present
time, and the state of public feeling which gene-
rally prevails, present a curious contrast to the
sayings and doings of only a few years since. So
striking is the change, that one may almost doubt
its reality ; for it is not many years since nothing
was heard, from those who pretended to be expo-
nents of popular opinions, than egregious eulogies
on the blessings of peace. Conferences were held,
both here and on the continent, to advocate the
abolition of all War : it was confidently pronounced
that the promised reign of peace on earth had
actually commenced, and some went so far as to
say that even in case of an invasion it was better
to submit than to resist. The absurdity of the
reasoning upon Mich this assumption was based

IMERCIAL ADVERTISER.

people, prone to all the arts of peace; and yet, no
sooner is the tocsin of war sounded at the other
extremity of Europe, than they rush to the scene
of conflict with all the ardour of the young knights
of old, determined to win name and fame at the
sword's point. The glow of this martial spirit is
cheering ; for as our naval supremacy was won
with hard blows, so our commercial greatness can
only be maintained by proving to the world our
ability to defend it ; and so long as our army and
navy preserve their well-earned reputation, the
prestige of British valour will secure to us the full
advantages of our trade.'

THE CLYDE AND THE MERSEY.

IT is not many years since the skill and enter-
prise which had been evinced by the shipbuilders
on the Clyde threatened to distance all competitors,
and a Clyde-built ship, particularly a steamboat,
was deemed to be the ne plus ultra of nautical
skill. There are some who can recollect the sorry
joke which was perpetrated when Lieut. FAIRER
1
was removed from the command of the British
Queen, which WPS built on the Thames, and after-
wards sold to the Belgian Government. In all
the full-blown pride of Clyde presumption, it was
~.lred whether it wakfairer to expect Lieut. _Fayrer
to sail the British Queen against Clyde-built ships
than it was for Pharaoh, King of Egypt, to expect
the children of Israel to make bricks without straw.
There might have been then some ground for the
taunt, for the Clyde shipbuilders had obtained a
great superiority, and few were prepared to dispute
their supremacy. The honour of competition has,
however, been successfully undertaken by a single
individual, and the consummate skill and indomi-
table energy of Mr. JOHN LAIRD have.aehieved a
triumph which, not long since, was deemed all hut
hopeless. In not one instance, but in many, the
vessels built by Mr. LAIRD have shown a superi-
ority in every quality which renders steam-vessels
of value, and each successive vessel launched from
his . yards—at Birkenhead and on this side the
Mersey—has added new laurels to his world-wide
fame. Last week we had an opportunity of wit-
nessing the performances of the Bahiana, a steam-
ship just added to the magnificent fleet of the
Brazilian Steam Navigation Company. With en-
gines of no greater horse-power than vessels 600
tons less burthen, she accomplished a speed of 11
knots an hour ; and, so easy was the motion, that
a passenger would be puzzled to tell, without ex-
amination, whether she was under steam or not.
It was an intelligible triumph of skill in shipbuild-
ing ; and Liverpool has reason to be proud of Mr.
LAIRD, for a reason which Liverpool men can
appreciate—that he has given a character and
reputation to the Mersey which leaves that of the
once pre-eminent Clyde in the shade. In the
instance of the Bahiana, a great advantage has been
gained by the smaller engine accomplishing so
great a speed, in enabling the vessel to carry more
cargo, and consequently to prove more profitable
to her owners. It is almost impossible to over-
estimate the gain from such an improvement ; and
we allude to the circumstance because it is but fair
to all parties concerned to publish the fact as wide
as possible—that steam-ships built on the Mersey

may now fairly challenge rivalry with nll the world,

The magic which once rested in the term "Clyde•

built" is now no more : Liverpool has fairly borne
off the bell, and defies the world to competition ;

and when we hear, as we have heard, of Boston-
built clippers (the excellence of which we will not

attempt to dispute), we may complacently turn to

:he iron ecrew-steamers—the launch of which we

are so often called upon to record,—and ask in

vain for something better or so good. Steam-ships

are the pioneers to extended commerce—the only

effectual means of opening up new markets for our

foreign trade ; and those which Liverpool is now

sending forth, to take the advantage which cannot

rail to be derived from the free navigation of the

River Plata, will do more to increase the trade of
the port than and• single circumstance which has

occurred for many years past. The same facilities for

rapid intercourse are being extended :to our North

American colonies by the Canadian Stearn Navi-

ation Company, for which Mr. LAIRD has some

magnificent vessels in preparation ; so that the time

will not be far distant when the trade of the 3fer-

sey, in vessels built within the port, will far exceed
that of any other port in the world.

was almost too glaring for popular credulity, not
withstanding the advocacy of Messrs. COBDEN and
Baron, and the demagogues of the Manchester
school ; but, like nll political nostrums, it did not
want for sympathisers, however preposterous its
doctrines ; and so successful was the movement
considered by the unthinking many, that immunity
from further warfare, except with the Affghans,
the Kaffirs, or the inhabitants of the Feejee Islands,
was a settled conviction. Many of a higher grade
entertained a similar opinion, and defensive opera-
tions were deemed all that it was necessary to under-
take, even for the remotest possible contingency.
When apprehensions were entertained of an inva-
sion of the country by France, an event which was
deemed by no means improbable, it was not easy to
justify to popular opinion the necessity of increasing
the national defences, and a war was considered
almost impossible, except of a purely defensive
character, and then only upon the direst emer-
gency. The labours of the Peace Society were said
to have imbued the great mass of the people with
such a hatred of war, that governments would of
necessity resort to arbitration in all national quar-
rels ; while aggression, except from savages, was
placed almost beyond the pale of possibilities. A
very short time has since elapsed, and this country
is now in a state of actual and active war, and yet
apparently without an intelligible motive. We have
not been assailed, either at home or in our distant
possessions, and yet we have fitted out a warlike
expedition, for the sole purpose of.vindicating the
national honour and redressing the insult offered to
an ally ; and all this has been done, not simply to
carry out diplomatic arrangements, which not often
commend themselves to popular approbation, but
with the enthusiastic concurrence of almost the
whole people. Rarely has a war been entered upon
with more of public opinion in its favour, and yet,
with the exception of gratifying a general feeling
of hatred to Russia, it is difficult to show wherein
we shall derive the remotest advantage, even from
a series of brilliant successes. It is clear, therefore,
that the vaunted labours of the Peace Society have
been worse than useless. So long as we were at
peace we were willing to admit its advantages, and
even to listen with complacency to harangues
descriptive of the horrors of sanguinary strife ; but
the instant the necessity arose, although the point
at issue was the abstruse question of the balance
of power, all was forgotten, and the people buckled
on their armour and submitted to additional taxa-
tion with all the chivalry of ancient days. The
English, as a nation, are essentially a commercia