The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-06-29 00:00:00

MEETING OF THE SHIP CARPENTERS

From Great Crosshall-street, as we have said, our repre-
sentatives proceeded to Bond-street, where they were greeted
with the hearty applause of upwards of one thousand of the
ship-carpenters of the port.
Mr. TnossAs PRICE, one of the body, presided, and in
an excellent speech opened the proceedings. He said he
wished to impress on the minds of Lord Sandon and Mr.
Cresswell, whom they were proud to meet as their candi-
dates, and whom they hoped shortly to see as their repre-
sentatives again, that no person in the community had the
power of exercising any control over the votes of the ship-
wrights of Liverpool. He believed the shipwrights had
always voted on constitutional principles. Since the days of
Canning and Huskisson they had never swerved from the
maintenance of those principles, except upon one occasion
that a puny little fellow-townsman had come among them,
making large promises, but failed to carry them into prac-
tice. (Laughter.) They had at present another gentleman
coming forward, who also claimed to. be a fellow-townsman,
but they were somewhat wide awake for him. (Renewed
cheers.) The first occasion upon which the former went to
parliament he had attempted to disfranchise a large portion
of the electors of the borough ; it was, therefore, to be hoped
that there was not a single shipwright in the town who would
nffer to vote against the present candidates, who had invari-
ably supported the rights and interests of the body. (Great
applause.) However much some of the shipwrights might
differ from others in religious and political opinions, they
should all remember that if a reduction in some of the tim-
ber duties took place their trade would be blasted for ever.
They should also remember that if it were not for the North
American trade, the ship-carpenters would be absolutely
starving in Liverpool, inasmuch as there were fifty North
American vessels in the docks for one English. (Hear,
hear.) There was one evil—namely, the apprenticeship sys-
tem—existing in their trade, which he thought it right to
bring under the notice of their candidates. He believed it
was not generally known that there were seven hundred ap-
prentices in London, three-fourths of whom had never been
bound. If, therefore, a petition from the shipwrights to the
House of Commons condemnatory of this system should go
forward; he hoped their representatives would present and
support it to the utmost of their ability. (Hear, hear.)
Their trade wanted to have no illegal combination ; they
merely sought for fair English liberty • for it was a melan-
choly fact, that the shipwrights had often walked along the
quoys of Liverpool unemployed, while the apprentices were
doing their work, If there existed a law on the statute-book
which made it incumbent on apprentices to be regularly in-
dentured, the time had arrived when that law ought to be
enacted. (Hear, hear.) In conclusion, the chairman hoped
that the shipwrights at large would rally round the standard
of Sandon and Cresswell, conscious as he was that they were
their best friends, and sat down amid loud applause.
Lord SANDON then rose, and the cheering was renewed
for a considerable length of time. He said it was indeed
highly gratifying to him to find that all the great bodies of
men connected with the shipping interests of the port were
more unanimous on the present occasion than ever they had
been before, and that they were more than ever sensible that
his principles and those of his colleague would conduce to
the prosperity of Liverpool, and the extension of British
shipping, commerce, and industry. He had been just ad-
dressing a numerous body of sail-makers, from whom he
heard that they never were so uanimous as they were on the
present occasion. The same might be said of the ship-car-
penters. (Loud cheers.) The cause in which they were
engaged was not the cause of the candidates, but of the
community ; it was the cause of the prosperity of British,
that was attempted to be sacrificed to the promotion of fo-
reign, industry. (Hear, and cheers.) The question the
chairman had just proposed regarding the apprenticeship
system, was a very important one • and it was impossible, at
the first moment of the subject being mooted, to deliver an
opinion one way or the other. (Hear, hear.) The question
required consideration, and he was sure the ship-carpenters
would not require their candidates to express a hasty opinion
upon so grave a subject, and which had come upon them so
suddenly. The facts stated were quite sufficient to prove
that it was of the highest importance, and as such it would
receive the best consideration that he could afford it, if he
should happen to be returned. (Loud cries of " You Must.")
They knew that he had always been averse to holding out
flattering promises, or to tell them on the hustings that
which he might be obliged afterwards to unsay, and there-
fore he would not say that prosperity and increased industry
would be the consequences were the measures proposed by
her Majesty's ministers adopted. Their principle was that
' of not giving protection—a principle which would be found
eventually to work very disadvantageously for the public ge-
nerally. If they were to pay high taxes they should at the
same time receive high wages, and not be reduced to the
level of the foreign shipwright and to the rate of foreign la-
bour. He had no doubt but many of those whom he had
the honour of addressing had sailed in foreign vessels, and
had seen how foreign sailors were accustomed to live. Their
modes of living would ill suit those who had been accustomed
to English fare. If some people held up ti small loaf, others
had a right to hold up a black one; and he believed that the
small one, if made of good wheat, would be found to be much
better than the rotten black one. (Loud cheers.) The prin-
ciplts of her Majesty's government would be destructive of
all trade, and would afford no protection for British shipping,
for all descriptions of ships could then enter into competition
with English coasters. He was anxious to have protection
afforded, not to one interest merely but to all interests. He
was also anxious to have prices kept up, knowing that so
long as the latter was the case, it signified little what the
price of bread might happen to be if wages bore a fair pro-
portion to it. It was acknowledged by philosopers that the
British population were better fed and better clothed than
the population of any other country, but at the same time
that while wages were high labour was not dear, for the la-
bour of one Englishman was worth the labour of two French-
men. (Laughter and cheers.) If Englishmen had more
wages, therefore, they executed more work ; and this was a
condition of society which he was unwilling to change.
(Hear.) England was in some degree affected by what af-
fected other nations. She could not carry on a great trade
I with China, for instance, without being affected by what
affected her prosperity. The United States had, in recent
days, been in distress, and that was one reason why the Eng-
lish manufacturing districts were suffering at the present mo-
ment. In China also, our tea trade had been interrupted by
reason of the war which had brokeeut ,• and therefore it was,
that so long as ours was a country trading with a great va-
riety of countries, we must be subject to the changes to which
they were exposed. (Cheers.) The cloud, however, was at
present merely passing over England, and shortly sunshine
would break forth, enlivening the cities and towns of the
.land. The noble lord, after some further observations, sat
down amid loud applause.
Mr. CRESSWELL next presented himself, and was received
with loud and long protracted cheering. He rejoiced at hav-
ing learned from their chairman that the shipwrights of Li-
verpool were under no dictation whatever. It would give
him no satisfaction were he sent to parliament by men acting
like slaves ; on the contrary, he would scorn the paltry scut
given him as unworthy the minds of Englishmen. If he had
the honour of being placed among the representatives of the
people, he wished it to be by the fair and unbought voices of
should
by
their prove
votes himself
and unworthy
influence
of the trust, by
his fellow-countrymen. judging him by his opinions and his
conduct, discardingsuppboimrtinifg him he
if he should be found faithful. (Cheers.) He rejoiced,
therefore, at finding that the men whom he bad the pleasure
to address were superior to all control ; that they were able,
by their skill and industry, to obtain their living, and that
they were determined to exercise their votes in accordance
with their well-known principles. (Renewed cheers.) He
hoped his feelings went along with theirs. They were British
artisans. They were making ships to convey the manufac-
tures of England throughout the world. He had, therefore,
a common interest with them. (Hear.) He rejoiced that his

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that to the ehip-carpenters the community at large were in-
debted for those wooden walls which had protected England
—(hear)—which were her security during war, and her glory
and happiness during peace. (Hear, and cheers.) Mr.
Cresswell then proceeded at some length to show that for the
debt England had incurred during the war she had received
full value, the horrors consequent upon the breaking out of
the insurrections having been kept far away from her shores.
He then proceeded to descant upon the ministerial topics of
cheap timber and cheap bread, showing that if those articles
were cheapened in price wages would be lowered in propor-
tion. He knew that certain philosophers in town disputed
this assertion ; and he had seen the following question pla-
carded on the walls :—" What had a donkey's ears to do with
the length of his tail ?" (Great laughter.) He knew not
what that had to do with the matter under discussion. It
had about as much to do with it as the length of,the mast of
a ship had to do with the captain's name. (Continued
laughter.) But he would tell them how a donkey's ears
might have something to do with the length of his tail. If
,the labourers were paid with donkey's ears and fed with
donkey's tails, then the quantity of ears paid for labour
would depend on the quantity of tail that could be purchased
for subsistence. (Great laughter and cheers.) Whether
this was a correct answer to the question or not he would
not pretend to say, but he would never think of a donkey's
ears or a donkey's tail without remembering the writer of
such a clever question, whether that writer was one of the
candidates for Liverpool or anybody else. In conclusion,
Mr. Cresswell hoped that himself and noble colleague were
entitled .to the confidence of the electors, and that they
should receive their support on Tuesday next. (Loud and
long-continued applause.)
Upon the proposition of Mr. Cresswell, seconded by Lord
Sandon, thanks were then voted to the chairman, and the
meeting separated.