The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-01-10 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We cannot answer the queries of "R. H." at present. In
our next we shall do so.
We have to apologise for the omission of several notices of
new publiCations, which we are compelled to defer till bur
next.

Ely ttherpool &tanbarb.

FRIDAY MORNING, JANUARY 10, 1840.

The arch-traitor O'Connell has just published the
form of an address to the Queen, which is to be for-
warded, in obedience to his instructions, from the dif-
ferent parishes in Ireland. This impudent document
demands a few observations. Like all ethe other pro-
ductions of the mendacious demagogue it is composed
of a tissue of atrocious falsehoods from beginning to
end. The very first paragraph in the petition is a lie
of the first magnitude. What will our readers think

of such language as the following in an address ema-
nating from the arch-rebel himself, and adopted by the

bloody Rihand confederacy of Ireland—" none of your
Majesty's subjects can exceed them (the petitioners) in
loyal and dutiful allegiance to your Majesty's person,
throne, and government i" Every one knows the con-
ditional loyalty of these. Popish conspirators. They
only profess their allegiance as long as their influence
at court is predominant. The moment the Queen ac-
quiesces in the appointment of a conservative adminis-
tration, and transfers to them that confidence which
• has been so outrageously abused by the 'Whigs, that
moment. will the boasted lip-loyalty of O'Connell and
his myrmidons be converted into implacable hostility
against the " throne, person, and government" of her
Majesty-,-that•momerit will O'Connell, begin to load
her Maje's 4 With all 'the malignant abuse and slander-

ous epithets which he has so liberally bestowed upon
her royal predecessors and relations. We feel perfectly
convinced that the day is not far distant when the yells
of savage execration will be substituted for the servile

adulations in which O'Connell now indulges towards
the person of her Majesty. We can scarcely refer to
a single individual, of any historical importance, upon
whom thiS Billingsgate orator has not alternately be-
stowed the slaver of his praise and the bitterness of his
malevolent abuse. In reference to the Royal Family,
to the Duke of Wellington, to Sir Robert Peel, to Lord
Melbonrne and his associates, to Lord Brougham, to
the Orangemen of Ireland, and to a host of minor
characters, he has been, at one time, as crouching, ful-
some, and indiscriminate in his flatteries, as he has
been, at another, vehement and unbounded in his
abusive denunciations. At one time, when he was
feasted and caressed by the mobocracy of England,
Englishmen were the objects of his exaggerated praises.
As soon as the people of England found him out to be
a cheat and an impostor, whose mountebank antics de-
served to be universally laughed at, he turned round
and declaimed against them. as the sworn enemies of
Ireland, and branded them as a nation of foreign ag-
gresiors. To expect consistency in the loyalty of
O'Connell and his degraded and priest-ridden adhe-
rents would, therefore, be as unreasonable as to expect
honesty. in a thief, to look for principle in a rogue, or
sincerity in a practised hypocrite. As long as he is
suffered to go, on unmolested in his career of plunder
and violence, he will offer no annoyance to any one ; but
the moment an attempt is made to unkennel the vaga-
bonds to expose his mendicant tricks, to punish him
for his insolence, he will display his true character, and
proceed to take the ordinary revenge of a fummard, by
diffusing around bins the stench of his native meanness
and vulgarity.
The next paragraph of O'Connell's address proceeds
to say, that he and his fellow-conspirators "are ready
to brave every danger, and incur every possible peril
of life and property, in defence of the rightful prero-
gatives of her Majesty's throne, and of the liberties
and privileges of the free people who have the happi-
ness to live under her government." Our readers
must bear in mind that these hyperbolical expressions
of loyalty and patriotism are put in the mouths of the
murderous Ribandmen, w—ose sole avocation seems to
be the plundering and destroying the Protestants of
Ireland, to whose unflinching loyalty, even under op-
pression and persecution, the integrity of the British
empire is, under Providence, mainly attributable. If
the address had stated that the O'Connellites were
ready to engage in midnight assaults upon the dwell-
ings-and persons of unoffending Protestants, to plunge
the dagger of the assassin into the most truly loyal
'
hearts in Ireland, to waylay and murder the clergy of
the Established Church, and to proclaim the supremacy
of the Pope, there would have been some approxima-
tionPlage employed. To profess
to truth in the language
all this is nothing but sheer and unpa-
the contrary of
ralleled hypocrisy.
The third paragraph disclaims the imputation of
" self-interested or mercenary" motives as the grounds
of Popish
.allegiance, and alleges that it is " founded
on the purest and noblest principles that can actuate
the human mind, or regulate human action." If such
be the real character of the " dutiful allegiance" of the
O'Connellites, how does it come to pass that in their
conduct towards the loyal Protestants of Ireland they
act upon such base and ignoble principles ? Is it a
" pure and noble principle" that forms the bond of
union between the Riband conspirators, whose object
it is to subvert the government of Ireland, and to as-
sert its independence ? Can any one believe that these
profuse protestations of loyalty have their origin in any
other feeling than a wish to deceive the queen ?
The fifth paragraph in the address contains one
statement which is founded in truth. It says—" We
feel deeply grateful to your Majesty for the selection
of the persons who administer the government of this
part of your kingdom; and we look with anxious soli-
citude to their continuance in office." Here the murder
is out ! The true secret of O'Connellite loyalty is the
continua e'6 of Lord' Melbourne arid his associates in
"ficenialigg as tlie wiiOle patronage of Ireland is
under the controul of O'Connell, he is prodigal of his

declarations of loyalty and allegiance ; but deprive him
of the power which he now possesses and delights to
exercise, and he will vent his blackguard abuse on the
Queen without.measure or remorse.

When O'Connell asserts that " a great and powerful
party exists, especially in England, adopting, as it were
by succession, as well as by choice, principles and
practices most hostile to the Irish people—a party
whose prominent leaders and auxiliaries exhibit the
bitterness of gall in their public attacks upon the mo-
rals and faith of the great and overwhelming majority
of the Irish people—a party who'sully the sacred name
of religion, by making it ancillary to sordid and selfish
purposes, and utterly dishonour Christianity, by mix-
ing it up with the most bigoted, virulent, and malig-
nant attacks upon the faithful people of Ireland," he
utters the most barefaced lie that malevolence ever
engendered, or impudence ever promulgated. The
only party that is hostile to the true interests of Ire-
land is that of the despotic Popish priesthood. They
" utterly dishonour Christianity" by their extermina-
ting edicts against the Protestants. The latter are the
only "faithful" people of Ireland. By what party in
England are they persecuted ur der religious pretences ?
The only machinations which Ireland has to dread are
those in which O'Connell and his fellow-traitors are

engaged.
O'Connell was never more unfortunate than in re-
ferring with satisfaction to the conduct of the Irish
people since her Majesty's accession to the throne ;
and especially when he boasts of the " peaceable and
good conduct" of the " millions" of Irish subjects
_ _ .

" distributed in the various towns, cities, and localities
of England." Did he never happen to hear of the
proceedings of his countrymen in Liverpool at the
period of the last general election ? Has he never
been informed that such was the violent and blood-

rsty conduct of the miscreant Popish population of

this town, that the electors were unable, in hundreds
of instances, to go up to the polling-booths, excepting
under the protection of the policemen's cutlasses ?
Whoever O'Connell may deceive by asserting the loyal
and peaceable character of the Irish Papists, he will
never deceive the people of Liverpool. We know
O'Connell and his " base, bloody, and brutal" fol-
lowers too well to be misled by their flimsy and hollow
professions.

Are the Whigs fairly demented ? If such be not the
case, how can we account for the monstrous announce-
ment in the Gazette of Tuesday last, that " the Queen
has been pleased to appoint •Lieutenant-General Sir
Lionel Smith, Bare., to be Governor and Commander-
in-Chief of the Island of Mauritius and its dependen-
cies ?" To those who know anything of Sir Lionel
Smith's career in Jamaica this announcement must have
appeared nearly incredible; and to those who know
anything of the present state of the Mauritius it must

have caused the utmost consternation. It is a matter
of notoriety that the eccentric conduct and absurd pro-
ceedings of Sir Lionel Smith chiefly originated the
misunderstanding between the Jamaica House of As-
sembly and the Imperial Parliament, which occupied
so much of the attention of the House of Commons
during the last session. Under his administration the
island of Jamaica—one of the finest colonies which
Great Britain possesses—was fast sinking into ruin.
While he remained in the colony there was nothing but
bickering and quarrelling, discontent and mutual dis-
trust, prevailing among all classes of the community.
Instead of promoting union and harmony, it seemed

to be his delight to foment discord and enmity. In-
stead of encouraging industry on the part of the ne-
groes, he uniformly praised them for their independ-
eace, and sided with them in all their quarrels. In-
stead of promoting the interests of the planters, which
are identical with those of the colony,' he appeared to
enjoy a savage delight in witnessing the ruin which was
rapidly threatening to overwhelm them. Such is the
man whom the Whigs have chosen to govern the im-
portant colony of the Island of Mauritius ! In that
colony there is an experiment in successful operation
with which the colonists have every reason to dread
Sir Lionel Smith's interference. We allude to the
immigration of Hill Coolies into the colony, and their
employment as field labourers. In the. present condi-
tion of the Mauritius there could not.have been a more
unfit appointment than that of Sir Lionel Smith, whose
inefficiency for the office of Governor of such a colony
is proverbially notorious.

The• Anti-corn-law campaign for the present season

was opened yesterday in Liverpool.

The enemies

of the Corn Laws have acted a cunning part in fixing

upon a commercial town like this in commencing their

operations. They wish to produce an impression that

,he mercantile interests of Liverpool are in favour o:
:he total abolition of the Corn Laws: Such a belief, i,

they should succeed in inculcating it, has no founda-
tion whatever in fact. The merchants of Liverpool, as
a body, have had no voice whatever in passing the re-
solutions agreed to at the meeting of yesterday. We
protest against the idea that it conveyed the opinions
of the commercial classes of the town. It was attended
by about eight hundred individuals, the great propor-
tion of whom consisted of idlers of all descriptions,
and nearly all of wh6m belonged to the Tradesmen's
Reform Association. Out of about three thousand
subscribers to the Exchange News-rooms, we do not
believe that there were two hundred present. The
whole appearance of the meeting, and the whole tenour
of the proceedings, convinced us that it was nothing
more than a political movement, got up to support a
tottering administration. We now clearly foresee that,
if the present ministry are kicked out of office, as they
deserve to be, they will be made the grand stalking
horse of the 'Whigs in their subsequent appeals to the
people of England. Every other expedient having
been exhausted, they are now driven to the desperate
extremity of seeking the ruin of the landed interests of
this country, as the only means of diminishing their
political influence.
The question of the Corn Laws is one of vast and

overwhelming importance. In legislating on this sub-
ject the greatest caution and circumspection are neces-
sary. As was very properly remarked by Mr. Rath-
bone, at the meeting of yesterday, one false step in this
matter may lead to irretrievable mischief and ruin. A
change such as that sought for by the anti-corn-law
agitators may not only fail of accomplishing the objects
which they profess to have in view, but also involve
the permanent derangement of all our commercial re-
lations. Such being the case, even on the admission
of those who are in favour of abolition, the subject
should be approached in a spirit of calm and dspas-
sionate deliberation. Is it not, therefore, to be deplored
that the itinerant orators in the pay of the Anti-Corn-
Law League should indulge in violent and abusive ti-

rades against the agricultural interest ? Is it a likely
mode to bring the question to a satisfactory settlement ?
While they denounce the landholders and farmers of
the kingdom as robbers and oppressors of the poor,
as exercising over their fellow-citizens a tyranny to
which history furnishes no parallel, how can it be ex-
pected that those who are in favour of the present sys-

tern of corn-laws, and who see through the shallow
sophisms of the anti-corn-law agitators, should abstain
from the use of retaliatory
language ? While we hear
the agriculturists branded
the question naturally suggestsitself
as tyrants and oppressors,
manufacturing capitalistsanybetter?,, "areHo the greatwcnoiesit
to pass that they have contrived to accumulate such
immense fortunes, while the operatives, by the sweat
of whose brows they have been enriched, are pining in
want and misery ? Have the manufacturers done their
duty towards those whom they have employed Have
they allotted to them a fair, reasonable, and equitable
proportion of their enormous gains ? If they attempt
to answer this question in the affirmative, we again de-
' wand why are they in the possession of their hundreds
of thousands, nay millions, while the poor, hard-worked
operatives are dragging on a miserable existence, sur-
rounded by all the squalid misery of distress and fa-
mine ? We cannot avoid asking these questions. We
do so because we believe, on the authority of Holy
Writ, that he who withholdeth from the labourer his
hire, is sure to meet with his reward. We warn the
manufacturers against the course which they are now
pursuing. Let them first do justice to their operatives,
and then they may expect to meet with a greater' de-
gree of indulgence from the legislature. Let them esta-
blish a claim to public sympathy before they venture
to appeal to the public suffrages of the empire. Above
all, let them remember that angry vituperation and
slanderous charges against the agriculturists are only
likely to provoke angry recriminations in return. They
cannot expect to modify the corn-laws, much less to

repeal them, by abusing their best customers and sup-

porters.

We have said that the question of the Corn Laws is
one of vast moment and importance. We feel con-
vinced that very few have bestowed upon it that con-
sideration which it so imperatively demands. The
agricultural interest, which is now assailed, is of incal-
culably greater importance than all the other interests
in the kingdom put together. Look for instance at the
pecuniary amount and value of the agricultural produce
of Great Britain. The number of acres in Great Britain
amount to 77,394,433,.0f which 46,522,970 acres are
under cultivation as productive land. The whole avail-
able income of this country is estimated at £514,823,059,
of which no less than £246,600,000 is declared to be
derivable from the produce of the land alone and directly,
whilst at one-half of the remainder is indirectly derived
from the same source exclusively. Now, as corn is the
principal article of agricultural produce, some idea of

the extent of the corn trade may be derived from the,
-
preceding statement. It is calculated that 60,000,000
quarters of grain are annually grown and consumed in
Great Britain. We believe this estimate to be much
under the mark. As it is given in the Anti-Corn-Law
Circular we shall take it as the basis of our calculations.
Sixty millions of grain at the average price of forty
shillings would alone produce £120,000,000, nine-tenths
of which is expended in this country. Of this immense
amount the Circular acknowledges that "only a small
portion goes into the pockets of the landlords." This
acknowledgment is important. If " only a small por-
tion finds its way into the pockets of the landlord,"
what becomes of the residue? Is it hoarded up by
the farmers ? The Circular answers " the greatest part
is thrown away." Thrown away, indeed ! By whom,
where, when, and how Shall we tell the simpleton of
the Circular what becomes of it ? More than three-
fourths of the £246,600,000 derived from the produce
of the land, after decucting the amount consumed in the
maintenance of the farmers and their labourers, finds its
way into the pockets of the tradesmen, artificers, manu-
facturers, &c. of the country. It is notorious that farmers,
with all their thrifty habits, are very rarely able to ac-
cumulate any considerable sums of money, even in the
most prosperous times. It is notorious that the
four millions and a half of agricultural labour-
ers and their families can have nothing to lay
by,

It is equally notorious that the landlords sel-
dom contrive to hoard anything out of their incomes.
The inevitable conclusion, therefore, is that the im-
mense amount of wealth annually created in this king-
dom is diffused over the whole community. The
value of the manufactured goods purchased and paid
for in the home market is at least six times as great as
the whole amount of our export trade. Is it desirable
to destroy this market ?

LIVERPOOL EPIPHANY SESSIONS